37 Chapter 37: Investments

July 8, 1976.

It had been 4 days since the festival, Severus and Hermione had spent those days with Gwen and Freyja walking around the USA.

Today Severus was looking in detail at the documents passed to him by his manager at Gringotts of the income he had earned from the sale of various heirlooms, treasures, and family items.

These documents recorded the proceeds of all the items, heirlooms, and family treasures that Severus had decided to sell.

Severus had already asked his house-elf Popper, the moment he met him, to gather all the valuables from the different Prince houses and Mansions.

And since the Prince family is a typical old family of pure-blooded wizards all the decorations in all the Mansions and houses are hundreds of years old with great value today.

Popper had just finished gathering everything last weekend, so Severus spent his free time in the SCoP program looking at all the objects Popper had put in the magical trunk.

When he finished, Severus listed everything on a list, which ranged from ancient armor and swords forged by goblins to all sorts of jewelry and magical silverware.

He then consulted with his finance manager at Gringotts about the approximate value of these antiques and discovered that they were almost priceless, so when the time came to sell them he would have a huge number of interested buyers bidding for them, especially if he extended the sale abroad.

It was then that Severus understood that it was not the number of gallons a family had in Gringotts that made them really rich, but their most valuable possessions.

In the magical world, the older families may have a large number of gallons, but other more recent families have managed over the years to match their wealth in gallons.

But Severus now understands that an ancient family is not defined by the number of gallons they have, but by the priceless possessions that others wish to have.

Wizards are very proud and have a large number of priceless heirlooms is a sign of power and wealth in the magical world.

That's why for the great families what is really worth is not only the stripes but their personal possessions, as well as each family's secret/prohibited books and items.

After making up his mind, Severus decided to sell everything that was useless to him or that would be of no use to him in the future.

So he contacted the goblin manager of the Prince family to take charge of auctioning all the items he listed to all the interested wizards in the world.

The things that Severus decided to keep were mostly those that represented the Prince family, many of which were gathering dust because having been stored for years.

All these things were entrusted to Popper to be cleaned and used as the new decorations for the Prince family mansions and houses.

Other things he kept were books, magical items, ingredients, and potions that he would later research.

At present, Severus did not have time to investigate all this, as he was too busy with the things he had found on his own in the forbidden section of the main Prince family Mansion.

This forbidden section was in a secret room that only the Prince heir had access to.

It was the last room that Popper discovered on July 1, but since he had not been able to enter to look for the magical objects, he had to inform Severus who quickly went to Britain by portkey to find out on his own what was in the allotment.

This secret room stored all sorts of dark magic books, dark potions, and many unique as well as sinister items.

Among all these unique items there was one that Severus was constantly using ever since he found it.

This item was a small hourglass that he found among all the things in the room.

It was a very old Time-Turner that had been acquired and kept by the Prince family.

Severus knew that time magic was one of the most mysterious fields of magic, as well as one of the most dangerous.

Little is known about this magic and that is why there are many regulations when it comes to using it.

This Time-Turner is quite old but still performs the same functions as the current one, the only problem is that it does not have the time-reversal charm set by the British Ministry of Magic, so if one is not careful he could travel in time for longer than his body can endure, dying upon returning to his time.

Severus knew that the maximum time to safely travel in time was 5 hours, so he stuck to that time.

He also knew that he could use the Time-Turner an indefinite number of times, but his body wouldn't hold it either, so after a series of tests, he discovered that the number of times he could use it without suffering any excessive strain on his body was twice a day if he wanted to use it every day without any problems.

Thanks to this, all his days now had 10 hours added to them, in which he spent his time studying his family's magical books and looking at options to increase his magical reserves and magical power.

Returning to the sale of the ancient items, Severus noted that so far only less than a quarter of the total he put up for auction had been sold, while the rest were still up for auction.

But with these sales alone he had already earned almost the same amount of gallons that he had at Gringotts when he inherited the Prince family.

With those sales, he had a total of approximately $33 million and it would be much more if he hadn't already spent $7 million.

But Severus did not stand still and invested the money he had earned in Prince Industries.

And with Prince Industries he managed to acquire several companies as well as make many important investments.

Among the most important for him were Anaconda Company, Microsoft, Apple Computer, and The Boeing Company.

What he got from these four was the most important thing for Severus so far.

In the case of Anaconda Company, Severus managed to buy 4 of its copper smelters for only $5 million.

This was because the company was currently suffering huge financial losses due to the loss in 1971 of the Chilean copper mines which were their major copper suppliers and they had 4 unused copper smelters which also generate a lot of expenses, so when he made an offer, the company quickly agreed to sell them even though the price was very low.

On the other hand, Microsoft, which had been founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen a year ago, Severus offered them through Prince Industries financing of 6 million dollars in exchange for 50% of the company, leaving them both as CEOs of the company.

Gates and Paul accepted the offer and with that money created and opened Microsoft's first international office.

While with the newly created Apple Computer.

Severus first bought 10% of the Apple shares that had been sold by Ron Wayne for $800, he acquired them from the buyer for five times the price he had paid Ron Wayne.

After doing this, Severus arranged a dinner to formally meet his two new partners Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs this Saturday night.

When it was 8:30, Severus got ready to go to dinner.

Hermione on her own was interested to know what Severus had to do tonight but she decided to consult him at another time

Once Severus arrived at the restaurant where he had decided to meet he could see a familiar face at the table he had reserved.

That's right, it was Steve Jobs himself who must have been only 21 years old by now.

Next to him was another person who Severus guessed must be Steve Wozniak.

They both stood out a lot as they were dressed in very ordinary clothes while the rest of the people in the restaurant were wearing very elegant clothes.

"Hello, nice to meet you gentlemens, I'm Severus Prince your new partner" Severus formally introduced himself as he approached the table where his two current partners were sitting.

"Steve, Steve Jobs" said Jobs standing up and shaking his hand a little confused and surprised to see the young man of no more than 17 years old in front of him, but he omitted to comment on the matter as he saw the appearance of the young man that was that of a rich young man who could invest more money in his project.

"Steve, I've heard quite a bit about you, it seems you've been communicating with several potential shareholders, I even heard that you called one over 150 times," said Severus amused to see the embarrassed expression of the partner behind Jobs when he said about the calls.

"Yes well, Severus, welcome to Apple Computer," said Jobs ignoring Severus comment.

"Yes, thank you..."

"Hi, Steve Wozniak, you can call me Woz if you prefer, for short, I'm Steve's partner" Woz greeted respectfully after the two finished talking.

"Nice to meet you, well, how about we order something first?" said Severus inviting them to sit back down.

After ordering lunch, the three of them talked about many things.

Steve Jobs shared with him what he and Woz were doing at Apple Computers and what they had in mind for the future.

He explained that Apple I was just the beginning and that they had a whole new project planned that would be innovative and unique, the Apple II.

"So, let me get this straight, Steve, you want to make a computer already assembled and ready for users to use and enjoy."

"Exactly, imagine a future where there are no boards with components that users must assemble and solder themselves, but a computer that already includes the video output, keyboard, and all that is necessary to make its use easier. Anyone could buy it and use it, not just the most technical users," Jobs explained his vision for the future with enthusiasm and confidence.

Severus could only look amused at the future genius in front of him, he knew that Steve Jobs would succeed.

And he also knew that other big companies started to copy his ideas, creating more competition in the industry and making things more difficult.

So Jobs would have a hard time following his vision of a future with a computer being a part of every person because of not only competition but money and his futuristic way of seeing things.

In the present day doing what he sought was unthinkable and unfeasible for most.

But Severus knew that Steve Jobs could not be more correct in his vision and with his help he could recreate everything Apple did in the future without having to wait the years Jobs had to wait to achieve it.

If there was anyone capable of understanding and recreating what Severus knew about the future, it was none other than him, Steve Jobs was the person.

Severus believed that with his future knowledge and money along with the help of these two geniuses he could bring 21st-century technology in just a few years.

But more importantly, he believed that by doing so, he, Severus Prince, would become one of the most influential, important, powerful, and wealthy people in the world.

"Look, Steve, your idea is unorthodox and it is very risky, it would be worth a lot of money to do what you propose and there is no guarantee, but I will not deny it, I am impressed with your ideas, tell me did you already get interested investors?" commented Severus knowing that Steve Jobs would not miss the opportunity to sell his idea to a possible investor.

While Steve Wozniak was the designer of all the logic and electronics of the Apple I and the future Apple II, Steve Jobs was the creator of the concept and vision for the future of Apple, seeking to achieve his goals through negotiations and investors.

"Well not at present..." began Woz sincerely, but was quickly interrupted by Steve Jobs.

"Sure we do, we have several interested parties," said Jobs confidently.

"Oh, is that so?" asked Severus as he looked at Woz who wanted to nod.

"That's right" but Jobs affirmed what he said without giving him the chance.

"I see, strange, as I said before I've heard that you keep looking for investors, to the point where you call them hundreds of times"

"Yeah well, do you think I didn't get any takers on all those calls, we already have several that we are in contact with."

"Well, in that case, it looks like my 10% of the shares are going to start to be worth more over time."

"Hey Severus, listen to me, I think we have kindred spirits, we are both young and have a greater vision for the future than most, I know your instincts are probably the reason why you took an interest in Apple and met us today, you know what my instincts tell me?"

"I don't know, tell me."

"I have offers, but my instinct is telling me to allow you to join something big, something that will change our future. Tell me how much are we talking about?"

"Well, gee Steve, I said I'm impressed with your ideas not that I was going to invest in them."

"I know, but I can see you're interested, otherwise you wouldn't have bought those shares and you wouldn't have set this whole thing up just to get to know us, would you?"

"This...Steve, he's only about 17 years old man" Woz started to tell him quietly, but Jobs shut him up and continued to stare at Severus intently.

"Alright, Steve, I admit it, you're right, I'm interested, now how about we start talking in complete honesty, and then I'll make you an offer?" said Severus to him.

"What do you want to know?" asked Jobs.

"Everything, what do you think if you start from the truth regarding the investors to what you need to continue this project."