Chapter 9: Nana and Mel's worries

After finishing up with cleaning the dishes for the day I headed upstairs to my room leaving Nana and Melony in the common room area downstairs. Entering my room I took a seat at my desk and started to write down notes about the ability I had received from the 'rules'.

[Canon Shift] – Activates when I (Oz) actively thinks of a 'being' in the canon. If the 'being' in the canon has made a move different from the canon at the point of thinking then I will be notified of a change. If I (Oz) don't think of the being actively, canon shift will not activate and I won't know if a change has happened. The 'being' doesn't necessarily have to be a singular person and can collectively be a group. Examples: 'Hogwarts', 'Death Eaters', 'Order of the Phoenix'.

This specific part I had written down was important information for me going forward. The ability and how it activated was something I need to keep noted in my mind. Curious about its application I started to think about Pandora again who I left with some advice 3 years ago when I went on a trip to Ottery St Catchpole. Waiting with baited breath I stared at the wall in front of my desk. Nothing appeared in my retina though.

From this I could deduce that canon shift would indeed only activate either at the point of the shift or after the shift had happened. It didn't give me future vision. If I saw a message pop up then explaining that my words had changed Pandora's fate then this ability would be far more powerful than how it works right now. After all that would be reaching the level of future sight rather than just a simple information guide as to what's happening in the canon and what's changing.

To explain what I mean further imagine a scenario where I decided to tell Dumbledore something important about the plot to sway him in a direction. If canon shift worked by giving me the information immediately, the second I gave Dumbledore this new information I would be able to tell straight away whether the information given was going to lead to a good change or a bad change. If canon shift showed me a bad change I would then be able to convince Dumbledore otherwise until a good canon shift message showed.

However with the ability working the way it actually does, only showing me a message 'when' or 'after' the shift had occurred due to my actions or words, it meant I had to be far more careful in what I said to people or what actions I take. The tricky thing about 'butterfly effects' though is that me simply acting different in this world to the original 'Leo' who was here will already start to cause a ripple effect, some things will change even if I don't actively say or do something. Even the slightest change could lead to a completely different scenario, that's why it was important to understand this ability of mine so I could keep on track with those scenarios.

After writing copious amount of notes down I committed the pages in front of me to memory. Afterwards I took the pieces of paper I had written down on and started to tear them to shreds so nobody could figure out what I had written down. Casting the paper scraps into the bin next to my desk, I picked myself up from my chair and laid down on my bed. Looking at the ceiling it started to hit me that it had already been 3 years in this world. Time had stormed by as I focused on magic and living here at New Leaf.

Only 3 more years remained until I would be at Hogwarts.

.

Whilst Oz was noting down information about his [Canon Shift] ability both Nana and Melony were sat in the common room downstairs having a late night snack and drink. Both of them sat on the couches opposite each other with their cups on the coffee table in front of them. A jar of biscuits had been brought to the table which were being used to dip into their cups of tea.

On Nana's side of the table though were a few sheets of paper, looking closely one could see that these sheets of paper displayed different cash amounts. The top of the papers all had the same word on it.

'Bills'

Nana sighed looking down at these bills in front of her, Melony reinforced that sigh also.

"Will we really be okay Nana? At this rate this orphanage will probably only be able to run for maybe 4 more years… and that's being generous"

"We will manage Melony. We need to keep it open until the kids here have all at least got somewhere to go to"

Looking to the right of the 'Bills' she had in front of her, Nana picked up a piece of paper that had all the kids within the orphanages names on it. Next to their names was a box in which there were notes about what school(s) the kids could be sent to. Underneath the school they could be being sent to there were potential foster families for each child with addresses next to each one. If you had a keen eye you would notice that the addresses of the families were always close to the potential schools listed for the child in question. The sheer amount of information written next to each child's name was a showing of how seriously Nana viewed her job and showcased her intent to give these children proper families.

For the last few years the orphanages funding had been slowly dwindling. Sponsors weren't coming in anymore and Nana could only work so much. Although Nana was stubborn at times, she wasn't an idiot. She knew she had to make necessary preparations for when the time came and this place had to be close down.

Melony reached over and grabbed the list of names slowly reading each child's name and their potential schools and foster families. Seeing the care put into each child's notes she felt a deep respect for her grandmother in front of her. After going through several pages of names, she landed on a name all too familiar to her.

[(Leo) Oz Osbourne]

Seeing Oz's name on the list she started to feel a bit emotional. It was clear to anyone at the orphanage how important Oz was to Melony as he was the one most closest to her. Looking to the right of Oz's name though, Melony was stumped seeing there was no notes next to him.

"Nana, why is there no notes next to Oz's name?"

Nana seemed to hesitate to answer at first. Seemingly showing a sad look on her face. It showed a mixture of concern and anxiety within it too.

"You know how difficult that boy is Mel. Unlike all the other kids who are sociable, he is cold and detached. Out of everyone here at the orphanage he only ever talks to me and you properly. I don't know if it's a side effect of losing his family however he is the type of child that doesn't like opening up to people. When I got to his name I just felt my pen stop…"

Silence filled the air for a moment as Nana and Melony looked down at Oz's name on the page. After some time staring at his name, Melony suddenly grabbed the sheet of paper and wrote in the box next to it. Nana watched on in curiosity as she did this.

'School: N/A. Potential Family: Nana & Melony'

Seeing Melony write this Nana felt a warm feeling enter her heart. She was too stubborn to admit the real reason why there wasn't any notes attached to Oz's name. Even though her earlier statement was true, with Oz being a cold and detached individual compared to the other kids, it wasn't the full truth as to why nothing was written next to his name. The real truth was that Oz was her favorite out of all the children here and she truly didn't want to part with him. Seeing Melony felt the same way, a wave of relief rushed through her body.

"I think that settles that right Nana?~"

"It does indeed my little Mel~"

Leaving the sheets of paper on the desk for now Nana headed to the kitchen with a smile on her face. She started to slowly finish up the chores that were remaining before she had to sleep. Wiping down the kitchen side slowly she pictured a scene in which her, Melony and Oz were all living in a house together. She felt warm thinking about that sort of family.

With that as her goal in mind she started to do her chores with a little more vigor. However just as she started to clean a bit more thoroughly, her vision began to blur. Her heart palpitated and before she knew it she was clutching the side of the kitchen counter with her knees on the floor. Her breath became sharp and painful. The final thing she heard before she passed out was Melony screaming her name.

Sometimes dreams could only be dreams.