77. A Fateful Meeting and Some Familiar Faces.

Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.

This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.

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Recap of the Previous Chapter –

Mark was really happy after his meeting with Nina, he meets up with Rose his only remaining but high loyal and competent assistant. After finishing up the interview he leaves for meeting up with Ms. Rowling but is interrupted by someone.

That someone turns out to be David Goggins the commander of the Overwatch. He is here on a hunt for Philip Schofield and his brother but due to him receiving information that Mark wanted early he decided to deliver it in person.

Mark is a bit angered at the confirmation that Eisner was the one responsible for the attack on River. He reveals some secrets about Philip to David and gives a bit of advice before taking his leave as he was getting later for his meeting with Ms. Rowling.

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– Quotes of the chapter –

~ A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step ~

— Unnamed Chinese Philosopher.

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~ Joanne Rowling's POV ~

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Date: Wednesday, 19th September, 1990.

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Location: Hestia, a cafe in the outskirts of London.

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Time: 05:03 pm.

She looked at her watch to see what time it was, 3 minutes past 5 was what her watch showed her, 3 minutes past their meeting time.

Mark from his letters gave her an impression of someone who was always in control and valued time very seriously, if he was late to their meeting then he must have been held up by something important.

She only hoped it wouldn't take too long, or else they would have to cancel the date. Her face immediately flushed as she thought of this meeting as a date in her mind.

She couldn't even lie to herself or ignore her feelings, Mark was someone who she definitely looked up to and respected. But he was also someone about whom she had fantasized about before in her mind.

Her self doubt was slowly creeping in, 'maybe he wasn't coming, maybe it's all just ruse.' As she was falling deeper in that rabbit hole, she heard the chiming of the bell by the door. It immediately drew her focus and she forgot all her absurd negative thoughts.

The door slowly swung open and a casually dressed man entered the cafe. She immediately took in his features, he was quite tall, definitely above 6ft in height. He had a really well built physique like he had gone to gym almost everyday of his life.

As she focused on his face, one thing instantly caught her eye. It was his verdant green eyes, 'they are so beautiful.' They just drew her in as everything else just lost its charm and she lost herself in his eyes.

She wasn't even sure that this man was Mark but she found an instant attraction towards him. It was odd because it never really happened to her before, she was so lost in his eyes and her thoughts that she didn't even notice him walking up to her.

"Hello, Anne." He called out to her in an affectionate, warm tone as if she was an old friend whom he was meeting after a long time. He simply pulled out a chair and took his seat across from her.

"Hullo, Mark." She replied back, a little surprised but quickly regained her cool.

"We finally met." She mutters looking at him in a daze.

"We finally did, you look beautiful in that dress." Mark replied, with a roguish grin.

She flushed at his compliment, the dress was something she decided to splurge on after knowing she would meet Mark today.

"Thanks, yo-you look good as well. Very young, actually. Wait, how old are you?!" She asked after putting two and two together.

Mark had a teasing smile on his face after seeing her reaction. "Your reaction was everything." He chuckled as he said that and then answered her question. "I am 20 by the way."

"What? am I too young? Wait, how old did you think I was?" Mark asked as he looked at her with a questioning look.

She was a little embarrassed, so she looked down. But Mark was just patiently waiting for her answer, so she just told the truth. "Well you never mentioned it in the letters, so I thought you were at least in your 30s."

Mark laughed at that and replied jovially, "well, sorry to disappoint you, Anne."

She just pouted at that and called for the waitress wanting to shift the conversation.

"Hello, welcome to Hestia. What would you like to drink or maybe some snacks?" She asked politely after taking out a notepad to note down their orders.

"Hmm, what's your favorite on the menu? I don't really have any preferences except for food that lacks flavor. Ms. Hestia." Mark asked with a smile as he pulled his bag off of his shoulders and placed it aside on the floor. It looked very clean so he wasn't concerned.

"Oh, then I would definitely like to recommend to you our vanilla infused cappuccino with your choice of milk. As for snacks I would recommend you try the curly fries covered in our house dressing." The waitress explained smoothly with a smile on her face.

"If you want something more filling then our chicken wraps are pretty good as well." She finished explaining their best dishes with a smile on her face.

She had already had her lunch but was unaware about Mark's so she asked him, "Mark, have you had lunch yet?"

"Yeah, I already did. I guess I will have the coffee and.. a side of fries as well." He replied while thinking if he can have the fries or not as he had a body to maintain.

"Make it two. Thank you very much." She replied, while wringing her fingers together not knowing where to put them. The waitress left them to it and went to ring in the orders.

"Anne, relax. It's just me. We have talked dozens of times before, it doesn't have to be this tense. I am just a friend, it's okay." Mark said, trying to ease her mind.

"You are my friend Mark, but you're also the man whom I owe so much to. You gave me a house to live in and even helped me get a better job." She replied her voice cracking slightly.

"You were the one who encouraged me to chase after dreams and believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself." She said emotionally, her eyes were red.

"Though you setting me up to fail was just straight evil Mark. Why would you do that, Mark, you must have known that there was no chance I was gonna even pass the first round." She said indignantly, looking at Mark for answers.

Mark just had a smile on his face as he listened to her pouring her heart out to him. He looked like he was accepting all her feelings and was waiting for her to stop to give his reply.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than what you are now" He replied with a kind smile as if trying to teach her a life lesson.

"What do you think I can be?" She was baffled by his reply but wanted to see what he thought about her.

"One of the world's most renowned and best selling authors." Mark replied calmly as if what he said wasn't an absurd remark.

But he looked completely serious, as if he wholeheartedly believed in his view of her potential. She was just speechless, what did she say to the man who thought so highly of her.

She tried her best to find any hint of deception or falsehood on Mark's face but found none. Even her instincts that had warned her about her last husband were completely at peace with Mark.

"Bu-but you can't possibly know that." She replied with a flush embarrassed at Mark's indirect compliment.

"Not with my help to advertise and market your book." He replied nonchalantly as he leaned down to take out his gift.

"Here is your gift, sorry if the wrapping looks a little bad. It was too late at night so no shops were open, so I had to do it myself. But I am sure you will like my gift." Mark replied with a confident grin as he passed her the wrapped book.

The gift immediately pulled her attention, Mark was truly an eccentric man. Instead of jewelry or flowers, he always gave her books as gifts, though she found them more thoughtful and endearing nonetheless.

But she was a little stumped by his remark of helping her market and advertise her book. It made her really question who even was Mark actually, she gathered up the courage to ask.

"Thanks, Marc. But who are you really?" She replied as she took the poorly wrapped package.

"My pleasure, Anne. As for who I am, I can tell you if you promise not to freak out." He replied with a mischievous smile.

"Uhm, okay." She replied after taking a deep breath seemingly trying to prepare herself.

"I am Mark Spencer or better know as Marc Spector, it's my pen-name, I am the owner and founder of Eidolon Entertainment and your pen-pal so.. how has life been, Anne. Is everything alright?" He asked as leaned forward in a relaxed posture as if he wanted to hear her story after dropping that bomb on her.

"Wha?!" She was about to exclaim but she stopped herself. Currently one of the world's biggest names in writing was sitting across from her. The man infamously dubbed as the Elusive Spector. He believed that she had what it takes to become the one of the best.

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After gathering her wits and calming down. She told him how everything was going in her life –

her progress at work, how the professors was impressed with her work, how Jess was doing better now but still asked if her father would come back, she told him how his gifts to Jess had really helped her get over missing a father figure in life.

And that made him feel really happy because despite his manipulations he had been able to help the family of two. Because of him now Joanne had a better job and Jess had an easier time adapting to the fact that her dad might have abandoned her.

Well at least as easy as can be, which is not exactly much unfortunately. But they were all dealt the cards in their hands by fate and all they could do was play.

While they were moving to the topic of her book, she asked him again, "Did you have to force me to participate, Mark? You knew my first draft wasn't even ready yet. My short story based on Harry was shot down in the very first round."

"Have you heard of this proverb before –

A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step."

"I just wanted to push you to take that first step, to start your journey. So what if you stumble along it doesn't mean that you won't reach your destination." Mark replied with a pure conviction in voice.

"Why? Why do you believe so much in me?!" She was a bit emotional but trying to keep in control.

"Because, Anne, I can teach people to be good writers but not storytellers. To be a good storyteller you need that spark of creativity, you Anne, you.. you have a gift that even don't seem in yourself." Mark replied in a soothing manner as if trying to get her to calm down.

"So don't sell yourself short, keep your head up and believe in yourself, in your dreams." He said trying to instill that sense of belief in her.

"I-I will try." She replied, turning her head around to wipe away the tears in the corner of eyes.

"Do or do not. There is no try." Mark replied in a strangled voice imitating Yoda from Star wars.

She chuckled at his childish antics and kept the handkerchief inside.

"Your stories inspired me a lot, Mark. I hope you don't mind me stealing a few ideas off of you." She replied with her eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Of course, not. I gave you their general plotlines so that it would help you come up with ideas for your story." He replied in an easy going manner.

"But I would appreciate it if you would collaborate your story with me." He said at the end because he didn't want there to be any bad changes made to Harry Potter due to his interference/existence.

"Of course, you would be my first beta reader, Mark." She replied with some sass, getting back in her groove.

"Haha, very funny. Ms. Rowling." He replied back in a deadpan voice but then shifted tone as he remembered something important he had to ask.

"Oh I forgot to ask but how is Jess, is she still having trouble sleeping?" He asked in a slightly concerned tone.

She chuckled, and replied with a smile, "she is doing better and definitely has been getting more. Your bedtime stories really helped her a lot, you know you should definitely look into getting those published." She said at the end thinking how much Mark had done to help her and her child.

"What are you thinking 'bout Anne?" He asked as the waitress finally came back with their drinks.

"Here, you go sir. A vanilla cappuccino with full fat milk and the same for you but with skimmed milk, ma'am." She said placing their ordered drinks in front of them.

"The fries will take at least a few more minutes, so please enjoy your drinks." She explained as she left them to continue their conversation.

She took a sip of her drink and said what was on her mind. "Just thinking about the book, I have so many ideas that I can't decide which I should go with or if what I have come up with is good enough."

"Writing that short story definitely helped me decide on the start of the story but a lot still needs to be worked out." She muttered frustrated at her indecisiveness.

"Well, that's what you got me for right. So tell me what things are you planning to rip off from my books?" Mark asked with a teasing smile as he drank his third coffee for the day.

"Well, you could say I am mostly basing it off of Naruto. As it is the most similar to what I already had in mind for Harry." She replied and paused as she recollected all her plans for her little hero.

"Naruto? A Ninja and a Wizard? Their worlds couldn't be more apart." He replied in amusement even though he knew what she was talking about as he had to keep up the charade of not knowing Harry's story.

She started drawing parallels between the two protagonists.

"While their worlds are poles apart with one being an assassin/mercenary while the other is a fantasy wizard their personal stories are quite similar. In fact, here let me tell you what I have in store for Harry -

a boy whose parents were murdered when he was an infant. His adoption was manipulated by an old man who he looks up to as a grandfather or trustworthy person.

He grew up deprived of love and affection, only so that he could be easier to mold into the hero he needs to be, so that he put the life of others before his own.

A man orchestrated the death of his parents eventually comes back to life to hunt him down and kill him as well." Her smile just grew wider with every point she made."

"Okay, okay. When you put it like that it does make a lot of sense." He said with his hands raised in surrender.

"And I am not done yet. I was really fascinated by a character of yours whose archetype I think would do wonderfully as the villain for my book. He who shall not be named." She really wasn't done, Mark was really happy to see her so excited.

"Why? Do you want to create some suspense by not revealing his name?" He asked as he finished his cup of coffee.

"Yup, but also because of magic. I plan on writing in that his name is cursed and the people will have a superstition that if you dare speak his name then something very bad will happen to you."

"But actually it's just ritual magic that allows him to know who you are and your location if you speak of it." She said, revealing one of her ideas regarding her villain.

"Pretty neat, so which character of mine did I choose?" Mark asked back despite already knowing the answer.

"Well if I were to choose the one closest to my villain it would have to be Orochimaru." She replied while nodding in thought.

"Him?" Mark asked, in fake skepticism.

"Yeah, I planned to give my villain some special abilities that would make him stand out from the rest of the wizards." She replied as she finished her cup as well.

"So, what did you have in mind?" He asked, leaning back as he relaxed on his chair.

"He can speak to snakes." She said with a wide grin, as if she knew something he didn't.

"Doesn't sound that impressive but looking at your smirk, I can tell you got a plan." Mark said while narrowing his eyes, playing along.

"Maybe." She replied with a chuckle.

"So, they both have got a connection to snakes, anything else?" Mark asked amusedly, wanting to see how far she had planned.

"Well, for starters, he is also very power hungry and has gained some form of immortality. I still haven't figured it out yet but I did get a few ideas from Indian folklore."

"Hmm, you're already trying to think outside the box. That's good." He said, complimenting her, it was his influence as he had given her reference material about folktales from around the world.

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Mark had been trying to inspire Anne to create the Harry Potter series earlier than the last time but also with a more world building, a more diverse cast of characters and more a wizarding Britain with a deeper lore.

"Yeah, there was this old story about a witch that sealed away her life in an inanimate object. It was a pendant I think and she gained immortality. As long as the pendant wasn't destroyed she couldn't be killed no matter how badly her own body was damaged."

"My villain will also gain immortality in a similar manner, but instead of just 1 object there would be 7 as it's a symbolic number as it's considered sacred or magical in many countries and religions."

"And also because he is paranoid like that." She muttered as she glanced and stopped speaking as the waitress was approaching with their snacks.

"Here you go, I'm sorry for the delay. How was the coffee?" She asked as she apologized for the delay.

"It's fine, the coffee was great. I am surprised this place doesn't have more people in it." Mark told her complimenting the coffee.

"It's because of the economy, but our regulars still visit us whenever they can. It helps us tide over to the next season when things will be better." She replied with a smile in an optimistic tone.

Mark nodded in understanding, the waitress took away their cups and left.

"I'm definitely leaving a nice tip." He said, looking in his wallet to see if he was carrying enough cash with him.

"That's kind of Mark." She replied with a gentle smile.

"As a business owner myself. I know how hard it can be to manage your expenses and keep the business up and running despite lower profit." He replied, while thinking about all the headache he had to go through to set up his real estate company.

Finding competent work staff that understood and followed his orders to the T was not easy, even with the connections and network he had with his father's help.

"Oh, yeah, you are a business owner as well. I watched the commentary on the Tonight Show here. It's really impressive how far you have come, Mark."

"So are there any new businesses you bought recently?" She wanted to know more about his life.

"Well, have you heard of Warhammer?" Mark asked back.

"I think I have. A few of the students at our college have talked about it before. They said it was a tabletop strategy game, but I don't really understand what it means." She said not getting why he was talking about a board game from here in UK.

"Wait.. you can't be serious. Did.. did you buy Warhammer?!" She said, finally guessing it, she was excited as it was something from her country and filled her with pride that it caught Mark's eyes.

"Well, I bought the company that makes the game. Only a 66% stake though, It's called Games Workshop Group or GWG." Mark replied as he tried some fries.

"Mhmm. These are actually good. I am surprised by how empty this place looks, the economy must really be in a bad spot, eh?" Mark said as he looked at her.

"Like you wouldn't know it, thankfully I got a full time job now." She said with a sigh of relief.

"Anyways, you the GWG though? I doubt you are a fan of tabletop strategy games." She asked, teasing him with a smile.

"Hey, just because I workout a little doe-" Mark was replying was it was cut off short by –

"A little?!" She exclaimed, unable to hold back.

"Mark, you are built like the statue of a Greek god. Like you have spent almost every single day of your life exercising." She said with complete honesty and some courage which even she didn't know she had in herself.

Mark in the meantime was blushing hard at her statement, because first, it was actually true and second because he wasn't really good at receiving compliments.

"Thanks, I guess." He replied trying to control his blushing.

"So Anne, do you want a tour of the GWG?" He asked, trying to change the topic.

"Nice save. But yeah, I would love to see the place." She replied with a happy smile.

She could feel the chemistry between the two of them and loved the banter they shared. The smile that graced his face when he talked about his work, she could tell that he genuinely loved it from the bottom of his heart.

"Returning back to your question. The reason I bought GWG is because Warhammer and its newer version 40k are both great stories."

"Stories that could easily be adapted into other media like comics, video games, maybe even movies when the CGI technology is more developed."

"I believe in the power of good stories, Anne. They place you in the shoes of the protagonist, make you empathize with these fictional characters and feel an emotional bond with them."

"Good stories will always sell and I am a storyteller at heart, Anne." Mark said with a happy smile on his face because he was doing something that he genuinely loved from the bottom of his heart.

"And Harry Potter is one such story as well. I believe it has the potential to completely grab the attention of this nation and its kids and make them fall in love with the world you're creating."

"Thanks, Mark. For your support and for believing in me." She replied with her head down trying to hide her blushing face.

They talked about some of their favorite fictional characters and books as almost an hour passed. Mark then asked her if she could give him a tour of the place and he could show her the GWG HQ in the morning.

She agreed and then had a relaxing stroll through the streets watching picturesque old buildings and streets. They hailed a cab to King's cross station, Anne had told him that it was the place where she had gotten off when she had dreamt of the idea of the story on the train.

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~ Third Person POV of Chris Kepler~

— Part of the Inner Circle.

Working on Knives Out was an experience for sure, hands on experience is very different from anything one can learn from reading about it from a book. There is so much that goes into keeping a film crew and set; up and running smoothly.

But he still felt like there was more to do so for the last two months since Knives Out had finished filming he had been helping out on other sets. Doing menial work, his sole purpose was to see the director at work.

He had success and failure in this endeavor of his, as instead of learning things to adapt from another director he instead learnt things not to do as a director. Mark, his friend and leader, is a man who is always in control, never losing his calm or composure.

Whereas the director of the crew he had been working on rages on every member of the crew about the littlest mistakes or even when something is not done to his liking even though he failed to communicate his ideas with the crew.

The only silver lining to his situation was that he had learnt a lot from this "unique" experience and also that it was finally over. Not the film, no, with the way that direct was filming, he would be surprised if he was done by next year.

He had decided to end his work contract after finding a fill-in and left for Renton his hometown in Seattle. His friends had called him up after the success of Knives Out and wanted to celebrate.

They also told him that they had some news to share and that they need his help with something. Chris knew that they were good people and not looking for a hand out like the bloodsuckers he had for friends in his highschool.

After a bit of R&R after coming back home after many years and spending some quality time with his family. He went to the party his friends had thrown to celebrate his success.

"Peter. Terry. Ken. I can't thank you enough for this. Ahh." He said after taking a sip of the beer, happy to see these familiar faces after many years.

"Hey, what are friends for. But I must say Mark must be from some different planet to create such a film at such a young age." Peter said grabbing Chris' attention.

"You get used to it." He replied as he took another sip.

"User to it?" Ken asked in confusion.

"His brilliance, I mean. He is the only person I have ever met in my life that humbled me so easily and he wasn't even trying. His mind works in a different manner, from the rest of us mortals." Chris replied with a fond smile on his face remembering the first year of Uni and his first meeting with Mark.

"But despite his genius, he is very genuine and straightforward in his intent and truly on the best friends I had after you guys." He replied a bit emotional from recalling the stark difference between college and uni life for him.

"Hey, it's all good. You moved on and now look at you, the movie you worked on has made over $150 million dollars at the Box Office. Its on track to become the biggest hits of the year." Terry said trying to bring up the mood.

"Sorry, I started think about stupid things. Your right its time to celebrate. But first what did you want to talk about wanting my help with something." He said coming back to what peter had told him before.

"No, we can talk about it at a later date." Peter tried to deflect as it was a day of celebration.

"Peter it's fine, what is it? I have know for over a decade, we have obessed over DnD campaigns together. I know most of embarrasing shit you did growing up, so why are you hesitating now to speak up."

"Do you not think of me as a friend?" Chris asked slightly buzzed from the alcohol.

"Hahh, okay. So we decided to start a game publishing company of our own. I am tried of selling my games, to other only to get a small share of the pie despite all the hard work and effort I put into it." Peter was emotional, his eyes slightly red.

"Have you decided a name for it yet?" He asked interested in his proposal.

"Yeah, you remember The Guild we created together for our campaigns?" He asked with an excited grin.

"Of course, how could I ever forget. Those were definitely most of the most best days of my life." He replied with a fond smile as nostalgia hit him in the face.

"Wizards of the Coast." They all said together as they clinked their mugs of beer.

"I am in." He said after chugging down his beer.

"What do you need?"

"An investor. I have some money saved away but we definitely gonna need more if we need to get into morr retail stores and publish our games on a large scale."

D-Do you think this would be something Mark would interested in? I know I am putting you in a bad spot asking you to do this.

But I don't want to bring in an investor who would limit our options or be too controlling. I would really appreciate it if you could connect me with Mark. Just help me get a foot in the door.

"Of course, Pete. It's the least I can do for you, for us actually. As even I would love to be a part of this. How much money are we talking about here?" He asked wanting to know if he could swing by the pitch.

"3.5 million dollars." Peter replied squinting his eyes as he knew it was a big ask.

"Hmm, its doable. Pete, if it weren't for the resources of Eidolon that could help you in scaling your operations, I would offer to be the investor myself."

"Mark is out on an international tour. But he should be back in 2 weeks, I would be happy to introduce you guys to him."

"You wouldn't know it looking at him but he is a nerd at heart and a really great DM as well, the weird scenarios he comes up with were so fun to play on."

Oh sounds like an interesting story, telling about one of the weirdest campaigns you had to play through with him.

"Well, there was a time where we had to save a bandit for a slaver who had him captive. And to do that we all had disguise ourselves as women to get on his ship, as a hulking barbarian, Kevin a friend definitely didn't make the cut…"

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{Author's Note: And CUT! This was definitely a fun chapter to write, the interaction with Mark and Ms. Rowling is only starting I assure you. We all know where this is going but I am going to take my time with it. After all Ms. Rowling isn't a Hollywood starlet or a model who is used to throwing herself at Hollywood execs to get herself ahead in life.

Also selling her on the idea of a harem is also something which wont easy but its a problem for future me LOL. Wizards of the Coast had been recommended to me by a dear reader who has supported me for quite some time now and I really appreciate it.

Thank you [Somnifer] for this idea and I am glad as with this purchase Mark's content library will expand even further.

Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day. (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}