《New Dawn - A Harry Potter Transmigration Fanfic》


 Chapter 1 - Transmigrating into Harry Potter and dealing with the Dursleys

    He woke up with a jolt and felt the pain course through his body. Something was wrong. He instantly knew it. He squinted his eyes through the pain searing through his back and his right hand and found himself in an unknown place. In a small room he had never seen before.


    Where was he?


    As his thoughts registered the fact that he was in a strange place, he realized that the room was not only small but way too small. And so was his bed. He looked at his hands and almost yelled in shock.


    His hands were small. Not only his hands, but his legs, his arms, his everything was small. And he came to the stoic realization that he was not his own body but in the body of someone else.


    A body that was badly wounded at that. But before he could even go into shock, he felt a burning sensation rise at the back of his head and soon his whole head was burning as new memories were planted in his brain and he clutched in head in pain and fell back on his pillow.


    After a few minutes of going through excruciating pain, he finally finished seeing all the memories of the boy whose body he was currently occupying. The boy whose name was Harry Potter. As in ''The Harry Potter'' from the books written by J.K Rowling.


    Not just some bloke named Harry Potter but the real, genuine one.


    As he registered this information, he brain went into an overdrive as went through many emotions at once before shutting down altogether and he lost consciousness.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When he woke up the next time, he felt strangely calm and the first thing he did was look for a mirror. The memories told him that he had no mirror in his small room (read cupboard) under the stairs but that there was a plate under his bed in which he could see his reflection.


    He took out the plate and his heart almost skipped a beat when he saw a younger version of Harry Potter looking back at him and he had to pinch himself to make sure that this was all real and not just a figment of his imagination or some kind of dream.


    It took him some more time to calm down and make peace with the situation. And soon after the initial shock wore off, he felt enthusiastic. He was a wizard. Fuck yes! He could do so many things now that he was never able to do in his past life.


    Wait! Past life?


    He concentrated and tried his best to remember his past life''s identity but it was all in vain. He had the memories from his past life and his personality as well but his identity was lost to him.


    What was his name? Why couldn''t he remember it?


    Did he had a family in his last life?


    Try as he might, no answer came to his mind.


    He just knew that he was a person living in a modern world and the year was 2019 when he was suddenly dropped in this fictional world in the year¡­ 1987. According to the original Harry''s memories


    Well, that made his sad and happy at the same time. Sad because his original identity was lost to him. Happy because now he won''t have any burdens from his past life. Thank god.


    Now where was he? Oh yes. Wizard. That''s great. He could do so many things as a wizard that the characters in J.K Rowling''s book never did or thought to do. If he could ignore the bipolar magical community that loved him one moment and hated him the other and the Dark Wizard that would inevitably try to kill him in the near future, then his life was going to be awesome.


    But then he realized that he was only seven years old and that he would have to wait four more years before he could start learning magic.


    Fuck that. He would start on his own and learn wandless magic until he was ready to go to Hogwarts. But before that¡­


    That fu?k?n? fat bastard would pay for what he did to the past recipient of this body.


    So in the dark room under the stairs, the new and changed Harry Potter schemed to bring the demise of his muggle relatives.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Abused children develop a fear and scepticism toward higher authorities. So much in fact that they never tell anyone that they have been abused.


    That was probably the reason why Harry Potter and so many abused children never receive any help.


    The new Harry Potter was anything but an abused child. He was in fact a proactive m?tur? ?du?t who knew how to get what he wanted in his life.


    So the next day, he went to one of his teacher who seemed the most sympathetic among the staff and told her everything. The fact that he had created even more injuries on his body before going to her was never noticed by his teacher or the headmaster or the cops.


    That evening, Child Protection Authorities arrived in his home along with the cops and arrested Vernon Dursley for violence, abuse and neglect of his seven year old nephew and after a long trial. He was thrown in Prison for 15 years.


    Petunia Dursley was let off with a warning that if she didn''t want to follow in her husband''s footsteps then she would treat her nephew like how she treats her son. She nodded in fear and watched with tears as the cops took her husband away.


    She was devastated but she had to take care of her little Duddikens who was bawling his eyes out in his room. And she also have to take care of her sister''s spawn who was the reason behind her husband''s imprisonment.


    But as much as she wanted to shout at her nephew, slap his face and wrung his ears, she couldn''t do anything for the fear of following after her husband''s footsteps. If she was gone as well then who will take care of her baby boy.


    So she gritted her teeth and quietly went to her her Duddikens in order to clam him down.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry punched Dudley in the stomach and dropped him on the ground along with his two cronies, put a foot on his throat and reveled at the fear he could see in the fat boy''s eyes.


    Chubby little Duddikens had thought that he and his friends could bully him and take revenge for his father.


    By the time they realized that the new and changed Harry Potter knew martial arts, it was already too late. And this new Harry was neither interested nor willing to play ''Harry Hunting'' with them.


    After putting the boy to the ground, it became relatively easy to threaten him and after that day, they never bullied him again.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Learning magic was a slow going for the new Harry. After a month of practice, the best he could manage was push and pull small objects like pencil and eraser.


    Whatever the reason might have been, Harry refused to accept them and continued to focus on his wandless magic. If he could achieve simple telekinesis within a month then surely he would be able to do more if given enough time.


    And he certainly had more time given how he was just 7 years old and had 4 more years before he could join Hogwarts.


    So he took out a water bottle, kept it in his bed and willed it to come.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Three months into this new life and Dudley was now a shell of his former self, forever cowed by his younger cousin who beat him into submission over the past few months.


    Petunia had tried to protect Dudley and showed dominance over her little nephew but he was not the same person who had been sleeping under the stairs some three months ago.


    She may not be able to prove it but she knew it deep in her heart that the boy may look the same but there was someone else occupying his body now.


    A monster who put her husband in prison and someone who Dudley feared greatly. She would not admit it but even she was quite afraid of the new Harry.


    She did not want to leave her Dudley alone with the freak in case she was sent to the prison like her husband so she never physically abused him like she used to in the past but the verbal abuse continued. Within limit of course. She may feel contempt for the boy but she didn''t want him to lash out at her either.


    But it was not the snake that frightened her the most. Oh it did frightened her and filled her with worry but what frightened her even more was the fact that her nephew or whoever was possessing his body could talk with the snake.


    She had no idea how such a thing was possible but the freak was able to speak with the snake. And the language, the hisses, they filled her and Dudley with great dread. So much so that when her nephew warned her not to harm the snake in his absence, she simply nodded and meant it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    7 year olds, Harry realized, were a nuisance. That was why when the next semester started, he asked to be advanced another class.


    Considering how he got full marks in all of the subjects last year, his teachers were inclined to agree and without any preparations, he passed the exam and was promoted to the next class.


    Where he found that 8 years old were not much better than 7 years old after all. So he asked to be advanced once again.


    His teachers were reluctant this time but a five minute talk with the boy convinced them that he was even smarter than they had initially ?ssumed.


    He gave the exam and was advanced to another class.


    Where he found himself in the company of 9 year old kids and realized that no, he was not going to connect with them either.


    By now, he was starting to get a reputation as the ''genius child'' in the school. Someone who didn''t show his knowledge because he was being suppressed by his devilish uncle.


    When he asked to be advanced once again, his teachers didn''t raise many questions and soon he was among the company of 10 year old children.


    He was not very impressed with them either.


    So he jumped classes upon classes until he sat with 13 year old kids and realized that if he went up any more classes, then he might raise one hell of a shit storm.


    There were already pictures of him being circulated in the newspapers as the ''wonder kid''. The names these foolish people come up with.


    He found that 13 year old kids were a bit tolerable but he was never really able to connect with them because of the age difference. They thought he was too young. He thought they were too young. So both party treated each other like a child and both party were enraged at the other''s behaviour. So after a few interactions, he stopped trying at all.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Over the months, Harry became more proficient with his wandless magic to the point that he was easily able to push and pull a bag filled with books.


    He was strangely reminded of the character Pain from Naruto series and wondered if he would become as strong as that character when he grew up and when his magical core m?tur?s.


    Most likely not, but a boy could always hope.


    His telekinesis had grown to the level where he could now make a stack of card fly in the air according to his wish. Something that he usually did to impress the beautiful girls from his class.


    Yet he was not satisfied with only this much improvement. Now that he had a taste of magic, he wanted more. Not just simple telekinesis but the more complex tricks that could be done with magic.


    And once he started thinking in that direction, he realized that he had been performing one such complex magic for some time now.

 Chapter 2 - Learning wandless magic and learning Mind Arts

    Despite sitting in a class with peers that were several years older than him, Harry found the subject utterly boring and uninteresting. So instead of focusing on the class, he sat on a back seat and played with Telekinesis under the table.


    At first the teachers had reprimanded him for not focusing on the class and only left him alone when he gave the correct answer to every question that they asked. After some time, they stopped bothering him and as more time passed, they simply started to ignore him.


    At first he had thought that they simply thought him to be rude and not worth their time but when even his fellow students started to ignore his presence as if he was not even there, he knew that this was not normal. That there was something magical at work.


    After some experiments, he found that his ''will'' to be left alone and to be ignored by irritating teachers and childish teenagers had merged with his magic and taken form in creating a shroud of magical aura around himself that hid his presence from the others.


    No, he was not invisible by any means but the shroud of magical aura made him seems so utterly boring in the eyes of others that no one even looked his way anymore.


    Of course, the shroud had it''s limits and could be broken if someone was trying to find him or if he did something that attracted attention from others. But otherwise, it was mostly impenetrable and a great boon for him.


    Once he realized that he was left alone, he started to use more of his magic in the school with reckless abandon and tried to find new ways to use his magic.


    The fact that he was ignored by most of his classmates still made him feel lonely but with some practice, he was able to remove the shroud from himself and talk with some of the studious girls and boys in his class who were more m?tur? than their counterparts.


    And during one such moment, when he was conversing with one of the studious girls in the class, he brought the attention of one of bullies to himself who had a childish crush on the girl he was talking to.


    Such a pity.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry was not surprised when he was suddenly pulled away with rough hands and then pushed in an empty storehouse meant for keeping broken chairs and tables.


    He was even less surprised when he found that the perpetrator of this event was the bully with the crush who had cornered him here in order to threaten him to stay away from ''his'' girl.


    But the bully was indeed surprised if not shocked when the 7 year old boy, who was half his age and size knocked him to the floor with a single wave of his hands.


    Another gesture from the boy and the ropes kept at the corner of the room seemed to come alive and wrapped around him tightly, making sure that he would not move, or try to run away from the storehouse.


    Or struggle.


    "It''s surprising for you, I ?ssume." Harry said as he took out a piece of cloth and filled the older boy''s mouth with it in order to make sure that he would not shout or scream for help.


    "If someone had showed me telekinesis in my past life then I would have been surprised as well." Harry said nonchalantly and reveled in the terror he could see in the eyes of the 13 year old teenager who looked very much his age right now.


    "But it''s not just telekinesis. No. There so much more to magic than simply moving things from one place to another."


    "There''s transfiguration, charms, runes, divination, potions, spells and so much more. Pity I can''t learn most of them right now." Harry said as moved around in the room before he stopped and looked at the boy bound by the ropes "Do you know what I ''can'' learn right now?"


    The boy shook in fear and Harry grinned at that as he went closer to his face and whispered "The mind arts."


    And before the boy could even understand his words, Harry said "Legilimens" and entered his mind.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Well, at least Harry had learned his lesson that Obliviation spell should be used subtly and in very delicate manner with as little magic power as possible. Otherwise the subject might suffer¡­ consequences.


    The first attempt had gone off the rails the moment he pushed all his magical power with the intent on wiping out the memories he''d read with Legilimency.


    From that point onward, he had simply stopped caring about the boy''s mind condition and did as he wanted in his mind.


    But he would do better the next time, he was sure of it.


    If a bumbling fool like Gildroy Lockhart could become a master in using this spell, then surely someone like him could definitely become good in it as well.


    But for now, he needed to do something to cover up his mistake.


    After all, normal children didn''t lose their IQ by 20 points in a single day.


    So after shrouding both of them with his magical aura, he dragged the boy to the top of the school. Which was a hard task in and of itself even after using telekinesis.


    ''But it was necessary.'' He told himself.


    A perfectly fine teenage boy turning into a fool during lunch break was suspicious.


    A perfectly fine teenage boy falling from a set of stairs, hitting his head on the way down and then turning into a fool was not.


    So with that in mind, Harry pushed the boy off the stairs and made sure that he landed on his head when he reached the bottom of the stairs so that he would at least have a head wound to show for it..


    The boy fell to the ground with a ''thud'' and the unnatural angle of his hand and the bit of blood covering his head scared the dozen of girls who were sitting nearby and simply enjoying their meal. That one event would probably give them nightmares for the rest of the week.


    The boy''s parents were called to the school and his mother almost lost her footing once she saw the wounds on her child. People from the hospital came and took the boy to the hospital for operation.


    The police came and asked some questions in order to know if the boy really fell off the stairs or if someone knowingly pushed him down but found nothing concrete.


    Harry watched all of his with apathetic eyes that would have seem strangely suspicious to anyone who observed him but alas, the heavy injury of a fellow classmate was more attention worthy than the reclusive ''wonder boy'' who never really talked with others.


    Nothing particularly changed in the school despite the injuries suffered by the boy and the rest of the classes continued on like nothing ever happened.


    And he realized that as long he was not caught by the ministry, he could get away with a lot of things and he found the thought strangely enthralling.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    At the next summer break, Harry decided that instead of remaining inside his house and practicing magic on his own, it was time to¡­ expand.


    Harry found that if he focused extensively on it, then he could make the shroud covering his body much more thicker and effective.


    He also found that with such a thick shroud, he could effectively go inside a shop, take whatever he wanted and leave without any customer or shopkeeper taking note of him.


    He was pretty sure that if he could somehow make the shroud even thicker, then he would be well equipped to rob a bank without anyone knowing about it.


    But he knew that even though humans might miss his presence, the CCTV cameras would not.


    So instead of robbing a bank, he settled himself with picking pockets for now.


    He also came to realize that his shroud that acts as a lesser version of notice-me-not-charm and the power of telekinesis made his job of stealing things much more easier than it would have been for any normal pickpocket.


    By the end of the summer, Harry had enough money to live on his own for years without any problems. He also realized that he learned more about magic when he was using it for something practical.


    So for all intents and purposes, he had no need to go back to school anymore. Neither was he interested in going back to Privet Drive and living with his ''family''. But Harry knew that Dumbledore had setup some kind of Blood Wards at Privete Drive that might be disrupted if he leaves the house for a long amount of time so he made sure to return back there every month or so.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the galleons in hand with a smile before putting it back in his purse. It took him some time to find the entrance to Diagon Alley since he did not know the exact location of Leaky Cauldron but given enough time, he was able to find it with ease.


    And the first place he went to after coming to the magical world was the Gringotts bank.


    He did not touch his own vault as that might alert Dumbledore who was his magical guardian but exchanged the money he''d collected (stolen) over the past few months that he kept in a bottomless purse.


    Now he had more than enough galleon to buy the things that he needed for his plans.


    A trip to the various books shops in order to buy books related to wandless magic, magical theory, etc. There were not many books related to such subjects. In fact, there were very, very few books even remotely related to those subjects and he was not sure about the quality of those books either but beggars can''t be choosers.


    Then he bought books that taught him the basic household charms among other things that he might be able to learn at his level.


    After that, he went to the potions shop where he was finally able to buy something that he desperately needed. Aging Potion.


    Unfortunately the old bastard only sold him five bottles but once again, beggars can''t be choosers.


    With one last look at Olivander''s shop, he turned and left Diagon Alley. He knew that Olivander would not sell him a wand right now so there was not point in even asking about it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the slightly confused man with vacant eyes in front of himself with a satisfied smile.


    It took him six months and countless people to finally learn how to use the Obliviation spell properly.


    He was still no master at it but with enough focus, he was now capable of removing the memories of the last few hours from the brain of any muggle.


    He had learned his lesson from the debacle in the school and made sure not to damage their brains when performing the spell on them.


    Still, rumors about people simply ''forgetting'' about important things in their life were starting to circulate in the streets. Thankfully, he had already mastered that spell and this was the last person he needed to experiment on.


    Harry went back into the shadows and watched quietly as his victim''s eyes finally gained some life after a few minutes after which he looked around with a confused gaze and upon not finding what he was searching, he simply got up, shrugged to himself and left.


    Well, with the Obliviation spell in his belt, things would be far more easier for him now.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at his new flat with some pride. It was not technically ''his'' as he had not really bought it but since the real estate broker who was tasked with selling this flat had conveniently forgotten that this flat even exists and he had removed it''s evidence from her house, he doubt anyone else would buy it anytime soon, if ever. So Harry could essentially live in it with no problem.


    He entered the door and upon noticing the dust covering every inch of his new home, concentrated on the dust and pictured all the dust vanishing in his mind before using all his will, intent and magic to make it happen and snapped his fingers.


    He smiled at the now clean room before he remembered that he would have to go to each and every room and repeat the same process and ?r??n?d at that thought. But there was also a grim satisfaction in his heart. A few months ago the only magic he knew was the basic telekinesis but now he could do so much more.


    He wondered how powerful and efficient his spells would become once he got a wand.


    Unlike other wizards, he had no interest in being overly reliant on a wand and he planned to learn all of his spells and charms wandlessly before he moved on to the wand but he knew that his magic would become more efficient with a wand so he was still excited at the prospect of having one in the future.


    However, he also knew that once he got his wand and went to Hogwarts, he would come under the radar of the Ministry and be registered as an underage wizard whose actions would then be monitored via the trace.


    And truthfully, he was not very happy with the prospect of going to Hogwarts either as he did not had a good impression of the sheep living in that castle who would worship Harry Potter at one moment and then shun him at the other. Nor was he very comfortable with being famous. But without the resources in Hogwarts, it would be harder for him to become the great wizard that he planned to become. Plus there so many things in Hogwarts that he''d always wanted to see and do. So despite his dislike for the people living in there, he would still go to that school.

 Chapter 3 - Selena the Horned Snake

    Harry looked at the pile of money in front of him and smiled wryly.


    His first bank robbery had gone as well as he could expect.


    No, it was not a daylight robbery like what''s shown in many movies but a night time robbery.


    Of course, there was just much danger of being caught at night than there was during the day but things become far more simpler when the robber is a wizard.


    An amateur wizard but a wizard nonetheless.


    The plan was simple.


    Capture the manager of the bank and read all his memory about the bank and where all the money is kept along with the number of guards, their shift times, the password of the vaults and things like that.


    Drink Aging potion before starting in order to look like an ?du?t under the mask and not a kid. Especially because longer legs allowed him to run faster.


    Go to the Surveillance room and Sabotage the security cameras and take out the recording device so his use of magic would not be taped.


    Knock the guards unconscious and then run to the vault.


    Use Alohamora to open the locks and then dump the cash quikly in the limitless purse with the help of telekinesis.


    Use the shroud and get out of the bank.


    The plan was as simple as he could make and safe enough for him to go with it.The actual robbery went far differently then he had ?ssumed and he had to change his plans numerous times in order to get out of there safely but his magic worked perfectly and he was finally able to get out of the bank from the front door along with the guards while the police surrounded the bank.


    He had a feeling that those policemen were probably still surrounding that bank and asking him to come out and surrender to them, even though he had already come back to his home.


    He realized that there must be more than 200,000 pounds lying on his bed right now. Along with the 40,000 pounds he''d stolen over the past few months, he had over 240,000 pounds on himself.


    That''s about 300,000 dollars. And converting that to galleons would net him about 60,000 galleons.


    That''s more than enough for him to buy just about anything the wizarding world could offer. Even a firebolt doesn''t cost more than 1000 galleons.


    He wondered how much the shares of Daily Prophet cost. If he should bother buying it or not. But then he realized that if the Daily Prophet caused too much problems for him, then he could simply burn down their building.


    With a feral grin he jumped on the bed and fell asleep on top of the pile of money, sleeping soundly after a hard day.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As much as the robbery was for the sake of money, it was also for the sake of learning practical ways to learn magic.


    Harry realized that he learned better usage of magic if he had some practical goal to work toward.


    If he followed the example of the book and was told to transfigure match into needle, he might be able to do it but it would not be that interesting for him.


    However, if someone challenged him to transfigure sand into a miniature medieval stone castle, then even though the project was hard, he would give it his all to complete it.


    That was how Harry progressed.


    But the biggest driving force behind his eagerness to learn magic would always be the fact that his soul came from another world where magic was not present.


    And there was also the fact that he would have to fight Voldemort at some point or another in his life, so yeah. He wanted to learn as much about magic as he could.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the various snakes kept in cages and felt a pang of hurt in his heart.


    He could talk to these snakes which meant that they were sentient.


    But how could anyone treat a sentient being like this. What right does humans have to treat other species like this.


    To keep them in cages and feed them the minimum amount necessary for their survival.


    As he moved among them they whispered to one another. Most had no idea that he could understand them so they talked freely among themselves as if he was not even there.


    And he did not like what he was hearing.


    How could the wizards do this to them. Did they not know that magical snakes are just as sentient as a human.


    He wondered how those same wizards would feel if some day some other species rose up to the top of the food chain and started dissecting them for potions material instead.


    He took a deep breath and turned to look at the shopkeeper once again.


    "You said that they are magical creatures?" he asked with a bit of skepticism.


    "Indeed they are child." The shopkeeper said with a patronizing smile that irked Harry to the bones. Actually, he hated whenever someone treated like a child.


    He would have consumed an aging potion before coming here but he had finished his supply last week and planned to buy more of them this time.


    "What do they do. What makes them magical?" he asked and the shopkeeper quickly moved to show him individual snakes in their own private cages.


    "This here. Greyskin Cobra. One of the deadliest of it''s kind. It''s venom is corrosive and some even compare it''s venom to that of a basilisk. One drop of it''s venom is deadly enough to kill an ?du?t troll." He said as the grey colored cobra shrunk back in his glass cage with a hiss and Harry wondered where the young cobra had learned all those profanities.


    "This here. Silverneck Python. It grows up to 35 feet in length and can live up to 100 years. It also has magical immunity which means that most spells will just bounce off of it''s skin harmfully." He said and then moved on to the next one.


    "This one here. The most of special of them all. And the most expensive one. A Horned Serpant. It was a bitch and a half to get this one." The shopkeeper said proudly and took out a small one feet long black colored snake with small horns growing on the crown of it''s head.


    Harry wondered if the snake was venom less or just too young at this point to release venom.


    One thing he could tell was that the horned serpent was much more intelligent than the other snakes he''d seen so far.


    His conjecture was proven true when the snake lowered his/her head to him and in greeting and hissed "Greetings Speaker" and Harry knew that he would not leave the shop without the Horned Serpent.


    The Horned snake had after all known that he could speak with them without him even speaking a single word so far.


    But there was something else he had to do before he could leave the shop.


    "I''ll buy them all." He said and the shopkeeper''s smile faltered for a bit and his eyes narrowed in an instant as he asked "All of them?"


    "Yes. I''ll buy all of them."


    It took some time for Harry to prove that no, he was not trying to prank the shopkeeper and yes, he had enough galleons to buy all the damn snakes but at last, he was able to buy all the snakes in the shop.


    He dumped all of them in his trunk along with a warning to not eat each other before he took them along with him.


    Most of the snakes he bought from the shop wanted to be free so Harry took them to a dense forest and freed them.


    There were a few who wanted to live with him as well but he knew that feeding so many snakes would be a chore so he asked them to leave as well.


    By the end of this, only one of the snakes remained with him.


    The Horned Serpent whom Harry named as Selena.


    And the little snake would spend most of the rest of her life wrapped around Harry''s shoulders.


    She would also be one of the few people that Harry would ever consider a friend.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "So¡­ you can sense other people through their magic?" He asked in confusion as he talked with his new friend in Parseltongue.


    "Yes. I can sense all manner of magical beings. Be it wizards, witches, goblins, elves, centaurs, unicorns or even squibs."


    "What about muggles?" he asked.


    "Muggles are¡­ harder to sense because they hold very little magic in their bodies but yes, if I concentrate hard enough, then I can sense muggles as well."


    "Hmm¡­ I didn''t knew that muggles had some magic as well."


    "And they don''t." Selena firmly denied. "But the earth is saturated with magic. There might be places like Hogwarts were there is more ambient magic in the air but there is magic everywhere. Even in the deserts and the Seas. So overtime, so of the magic seep inside their body. It doesn''t make them magical but it gives them a very small chance to produce a magical baby."


    "Huh¡­ I didn''t know that. I wondered if this is how the first magical beings were born." Harry mused to himself before he turned to his new friend and asked her another question.


    "What else can you do?" he asked.


    "How come you get to ask all the questions. It''s not fair." She complained and Harry was suddenly reminded that she might have been a mythical creature but she was still very young.


    "Very well then. Ask what is in your mind."


    "Tell me what you can do. Can you move your stick and make me fly?" she asked with a childish enthusiasm and Harry chuckled.


    "I can do it without the stick." He said and made her fly a few rounds around his small house while she made a sound that sounded strangely like ''Weeeee''.


    "Tell me what else can you do?" the little tyke asked after she wrapped herself around his shoulders and Harry sighed at her enthusiasm and hoped that she won''t always be this enthusiastic.


    He was mostly a stoic and boring man and her enthusiasm was already starting to tire him. But he was also happy to finally get a friend (little sibling) who would not have any hidden agenda for him.


    "I can do a little bit of Telekinesis. A little bit of¡­"


    "What''s telekinesis?" she interrupted and he explained it to her patiently. Hmm¡­ who knew that he could be so patient when explaining things to young people. Perhaps he might have it in him to become a good father after all.


    "Aside from that, I am fairly good at mind arts. I can also use a lot of household charms and I also developed a passive ability to remain undetected by others."


    He then went ahead to show her some of the household charms he''d recently learned like warming food, painting wall, cleaning dishes among other things.


    "You can use your magic without a stick. I don''t think I''ve ever seen any human use magic without a stick." The little snake said "Is that why you''ve so much magic in you than the kids of your age."


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Harry asked.


    "You''ve more magic in your body than any other humans of your height I''ve ever seen. Perhaps twice as much or maybe even thrice. Is that why you can use magic without a stick?" she asked curiously while Harry tried to digest this news.


    "I have more magic than my peers?" he asked and she nodded. "Do you know why that is?"


    "Not really. I''ve seen a few humans of your height but all of them had about the same amount of magic in them. You''re the first one who had so much more magic than the others. Your magic also have a different taste to it which was why I was able to tell that you are a speaker."


    "Huh¡­" Harry replied in a non committed manner while he wondered why he had more magic in his body than his peers. Was it because he used his magic so regularly.


    Was this was Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort were so much more powerful than others. Could the answer be so simple. That they just used more magic than most other people.


    "There''s also something else." The little snake said and flickered her tongue near his scar. "There''s a disgusting piece of magic attached to your head. It''s not your magic but it''s attached to you for some reason. Do you know what it is?" she asked and he nodded his head.


    "I know but I believe it''s my time to ask the questions." He said with a smile and she huffed.


    "Very well then. Ask away."


    "What other things you can do aside from sensing other magical signatures?" he asked.


    "Well¡­ I can shapeshift a bit and become invisible at will." She replied shyly and Harry''s head jerked around to meet her''s.


    "If you can turn invisible then how did they capture you?" he asked curiously.


    "I was very little back when they killed my mother and captured me and my brothers and sisters." She explained sadly and Harry felt anger rise in his heart before he damped it down and ??r?ssed his little friend in order to soothe her. In hindsight, it was a stupid question to ask.


    There was no question why her mother was hunted in the first place. By now some potion master had probably already turned her horns into potion material and her skin into leather belt or something like that.


    Humans were really ?unts once you moved past their civil appearances.


    "I''m sorry." He said and meant it. He would not have liked it if someone killed his mother for some potion material either.


    No, he would not have liked that a single bit.


    "It''s alright." She murmured and Harry had the suspicion that she was feeling a little sleepy. Well, she was still a child so that would explain her sleepiness.


    "Go to sleep then little princess. I''ll protect you from bad people from now on." He said gently as she fell asleep in his shoulders.

 Chapter 4 - Going to Diagon Alley and buying Stuff

    Harry never used any magic in front of Petunia since Dumbledore was a master Legilimens and could pluck the thoughts right out of her head if he ever met her.


    He wanted his true power to remain hidden because Dumbledore might connect his stunning growth with the scar in his head and might consider him possessed by Voldemort.


    Maybe he was just being too paranoid about it but there''s nothing wrong with having an ace up your sleeve. And considering how difficult his life was going to be in the upcoming future, he believed that he should have as much advantage as possible.


    So he made sure that he never showed his talent to Petunia when he returned home.


    At first she asked where he went. After getting a vague answer every time she asked him that question, she stopped asking him.


    Then she started asking why he even cared to return. It was a fair question. He didn''t like her and Dudley and they didn''t like him so there was really nothing holding him back from leaving.


    Except for the blood wards which would warn Dumbledore about his activities if he left his house for too long.


    Such a headache.


    Regardless, he continued to practice his magical powers, giving himself small projects to complete on a timely basis so that he would not become stagnant.


    After all, magic was in and of itself a truly wonderful thing. But however wonderful a thing might be, humans have the tendency of taking things for granted.


    So he made sure that such a thing didn''t happen to him by giving himself new and exciting projects to complete from time to time.


    Like robbing a bank, securing a home, make the whole house work on magic, among many, many other things.


    So he kept practicing like that and time passed and before he realized it, he was about to become 11 years old.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The letter from Hogwarts did not came as a surprise to him as he had already been expecting it for some time.


    Nor did it surprised him when Hagrid came knocking on the Dursley''s house a week later.


    He was sure that he had probably destroyed all chances of making friends with Hagrid considering his Anti-Slytherin disposition. But he considered it important that people knew this one fact about him as soon as possible since he planned to bring Selena along with him to the school.


    The little girl had become a close friend and confidant of his over the past three years and had grown to the length of four feet by now.


    He knew that he was unlikely to make any new friends at Hogwarts because of his highly antisocial tendencies so it was imperative that he brought her along with him.


    Moreover, he did not wanted to be seen as a puppet of the the leader of the light. He did not wanted to be seen as a strictly light wizard, period. And being a parseltongue would go a long way in achieving that goal of his.


    It was a humorous to see the half giant be so wary of him considering how close he and the original Harry were. But regardless of his own personal feelings of him, the half giant did took him to Leaky Cauldron where people gave him a wide berth simply for the fact that he had a snake hanging around his neck.


    No one asked Hagrid who he was and Hagrid might not be a bright person but he was not stupid enough to go about telling other people about his identity.


    Not when he turned out to be so much different than anyone could have thought.


    Releasing a little bit of his shroud made him utterly disinteresting to other people so they didn''t even bothered to glance his way and even when someone did glance at him by some mistake, the band aid he wore on his head did a good job of hiding his identity as they made their way through Diagon Alley.


    His first stop, predictably, Gringotts.


    And wasn''t that a disappointment,


    He could only take out 1000 galleons from his vault in a year. It was not much compared to his total wealth which was more than 100,000 galleons by now but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly put the 1000 galleons in his bottomless purse before they left for the next vault where Hagrid took out the Philosopher''s Stone.


    Then they went to various other shops where they bought his books, accessories, cauldrons, clothes, etc.


    He did meet Draco Malfoy in ''Madam Malkin''s Robes for all Occassions'' shop and could tell that the little tyke was interested in Selena but he was not the mood to indulge the pompous brat and gave him a glare before ignoring his presence.


    The blonde brat was not really happy about that kind of treatment but one or two hisses from Selena intimidated him enough to keep him away for the time being.


    The last visit was of course to Olivander''s wand shop where he promptly told the old man to bring out the brother wand of the wand that he''d given to Voldemort.


    He was a bit apprehensive about the holly wand and not entirely sure if it''ll work for him or not considering how he was not really Harry Potter but in the end, the wand gave off sparks as soon as it landed on his had and he felt the connection form between himself and the wand, as if two pieces of puzzle being connected and realized that he may not be the original Harry Potter but the wand will still work for him.


    That was a rather big discovery for him considering how people always said that wand chooses the wizard and all that. Now he knew that the wand probably chose the wizard based on his magical signature.


    Or that was his hypothesis at least. If he ever got interested in Wand Lore then this little bit of information might prove to be important.


    His birthday gift.


    Hedwig.


    He knew that Hedwig would become a good friend and a source of great comfort for original Harry but for him, that place has already been occupied by Selena.


    He simply could not leave her for someone else. Not even for dear Hedwig who gave her life for Harry.


    Such a pity.


    He rejected his offer and for once, Hagrid almost looked relieved. Harry wondered if the half giant thought that he was going to feed the little owl to Selena.


    Jesus, just because he was a Parseltongue didn''t make him a monster.


    But he wouldn''t put it past Hagrid to have such thoughts. Snakes and Parselmouths have really bad reputation after all.


    "You should know that snakes are not allowed in the castle Harry." Hagrid said as we reached near our house and he stopped to give him a stare.


    "Tell the headmaster to make an exception for me. Like he makes for so many other students. Selena is a my best friend. And if she''s not allowed in Hogwarts then I''ve no reason to join Hogwarts either. Tell that to your Headmaster and your prestigious school still doesn''t allow entry to my friend, then I''ll just find another school." He said.


    "Look Harry. Don''t be so stubborn." Hagrid said. "Your parents wouldn''t want you to¡­"


    "Don''t¡­ bring my parents into it." He said calmly but with a hint of coldness in his voice. "Don''t ever think that you can use my parents names to manipulate me into doing your bidding. Because one, they might have given birth to me but I don''t owe them anything. And two, if they were alive then I think that they would have loved me and supported my decision no matter what."


    "The offer is clear Hagrid. Either you allow me to bring Selena to school with me or I''ll find some other school that''ll allow me to do so." With that, Harry went inside the house leaving a confused and baffled Hagrid behind.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Two days later a letter came via an owl from Headmaster Dumbledore telling him that Selena was now allowed to go to the school along with him.


    She became ecstatic when she heard this news and was quite excited to go to Hogwarts. Perhaps even more excited than Harry himself.


    The spoiled little snake.

 Chapter 5 - Hogwarts Express and Parselmouth

    Ever since Harry bought a wand from Olivander, he felt a slight change in the magic around him. He could not exactly pin point what this change was about but could guess that it was the trace being put on him by the ministry.


    Now that he was being traced, he could not use his magic. At least in the muggle area where they would be able to tell that it was him using the magic.


    Maybe he was wrong and it was simply them tracing the magic he used with his wand but he was not sure about that. Plus, he was a cautious person by nature.


    For that reason, he drunk an aging potion, took the knight bus and went back to Diagon Alley where he took a room in one of the less known taverns in that street.


    He knew for a fact that the trace wouldn''t be able to catch him using any magic if he stays around other older wizards and witches.


    That was why the pureblood and halfbloods had such an advantage over others.


    But the downfall was that most of those kids took magic for granted and never took learning it seriously in the first place since they saw it as a part of their life and not something miraculous. Such a waste.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    He looked at the dozen of pillars in between platform 9 and 10.


    "Selena. Can you tell me which pillar holds the strongest magical signature?" He asked asked in Parseltongue and the invisible snake sitting on his shoulders flickered her tongue in the air a times before replying.


    "The third one. It should be the gateway that you talked about."


    Harry nodded his head and moved toward the pillar along with his trunk which had a charm attached to it to make it light weight.


    That trunk was one of the most expensive things Harry had bought in Diagon Alley. It was even more expensive than all of books he''d bought so far from Flourish and Blotts and that was saying something considering how expansive the books are in the magical world.


    He personally thought that the trunk was well worth it''s price considering how it held far more space than the house that he overtook three years ago.


    As per his habit of arriving early, he had come to the station quite a bit early than other people. Which was one of the reason he did not see or meet the infamous Weasley family.


    Not that he wanted to meet them anyway.


    From what he saw in the Harry Potter movie, he knew that they were a good family who fought alongside Dumbledore and the original Harry against the Dark lord and the Death Eaters.


    The train station was much more empty than he had seen in the movie but that was perhaps because he came so early than other people.


    The train looked majestic to him despite the fact that he had seen far more technologically advanced trains in his past life. There was just something¡­ magical about the Hogwarts express that was hard to put into words.


    Maybe it had to do with the fact that the train had been ferrying Hogwarts students for the past few centuries and their magic had unintentionally seeped into it overtime, changing it in a way that only those who are s?ns?t?v? to magic can feel.


    He gave one last appreciative glance to the train before the climbed on board.


    He looked at the first empty compartment and had to smother the urge to go and sit in it and moved to the back of the train.


    He knew for a fact that the early compartments were reserved for the older years and the Prefects. It was one of the unspoken rules followed in Hogwarts.


    He also knew that if he sat on a compartment and someone told him to get up and sit somewhere else, then that would only lead to a fight considering his stubborn and take-no-shit-from-others attitude and he would rather not waste his time fighting others when he could spend it doing something productive instead.


    So he took his trunk and started moving to the back of the train and the few students who were walking around gave him a wide berth because of Selena.


    And if not because of Selena then because of his use of Parseltongue. After all, even if you remove all the superstitions about the snake language, it was still a scary thing to hear.


    Which was something that Harry had planned to do.


    After walking past a few compartments, he came across one where he saw two girls and one boy who looked to be about his age were sitting across each other.


    From his memory, he could guess that they were Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot along with someone he didn''t knew and didn''t care about.


    He opened the door of the compartment and had to hide a smirk as they froze after looking at Selena. Wizards and Witches.


    "Is anyone sitting here?" he asked calmly and Hannah shook her head frantically before she realized what that meant. Susan gave a glare to the other girl but before they could say anything, he entered the compartment and took the empty seat.


    The seat was much more comfortable than any couch back in the Dursleys.


    Magic.


    A few moments of silence passed before the boy cleared his throat and said.


    "Hi¡­ I''m Ernie Macmillan." He said in a voice which would have sounded calm if it had not cracked in the middle.


    Harry gave him an unimpressed look and waited for a moment in order to unnerve the boy before he said "Are you¡­"


    An unnerving silence once again descended in the compartment before Susan Bones said "You know. It''s rude to not give your name when someone introduces themselves to you."


    Harry turned his head and gazed at her alongside Senela and waited for a moment before she started squirming under his gaze before saying "Then it''s a good thing because I''m a rude person by nature." in a tone that made it clear that it was the end of the discussion.


    He leaned back on his comfortable seat closed his eyes as Selena hissed in his ears. "Why are you scaring those kids?" in a humorous tone and he smirked back at her.


    "To create a reputation for myself." He hissed back in parseltongue and didn''t have to look to know that his three classmates had gone pale.


    Wizards and witches and their superstitions.


    And as enthralling as it was to watch others go pale at a few words spoken in Parseltongue, he had a feeling that this was going to get old pretty fast.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    From the silence in the compartment and the low whispers in which his three classmates talked with each other, Harry had a feeling that this trip was turning out to be far more tense for them then they had initially expected.


    The silence and the whispers stretched on until the door of the compartment opened and one Hermione Granger pushed her head inside the compartment with a young and shy Neville Longbottom trailing behind her.


    Hmm¡­ that didn''t happen in the movie. In the movie, she came alone when she entered Harry and Ron''s compartment. Has the timeline somehow changed because of him.


    It was entirely possible that there are rumors about a Parselmouth roaming the train and Neville might not want to go on a search all alone.


    Or was it possible that the things in real life would be a bit different than in the movies?


    "Excuse me." Little cute Hermione said "Has anyone seen a toad. Neville''s lost his somewhere on the train."


    His three classmates shook their heads before she turned to look at him and her eyes widened as she saw Selena for the first time.


    "You¡­ you have a snake around your neck." She said in a composed voice which shook a little and Harry could already see Neville turning pale behind her as he caught sight of the snake as well.


    No doubt the story about the scary Parselmouth had already spread through out the train.


    Harry gazed at her for a moment before he said "Thanks for telling me" in a calm manner which must have infuriated her.


    "You should know that snakes are not allowed in Hogwarts. I read it in Hogwarts: A History." She said in a haughty tone and Harry could see the four other watching this conversation grow a bit nervous at this.


    "Albus made an exception for me" he said calmly and Hermione''s eyes widened once again.


    "You mean Headmaster Dumbledore. You know it''s rude to take his name without using proper subtitles right?" she said haughtily and Harry could understand why she made no friends until the troll incident.


    He had a feeling that she was trying to look more confident in order to make new friends but she was a shy little girl so she didn''t really know how to look confident which was why she was coming off as a little arrogant.


    He stood up to his full height and looked at Hermione in the eyes as Selena hissed from beside him in order to intimidate her. Good Selena. Always ready to scare other children.


    He had a feeling that if he was Voldemort then Selena would undoubtedly be his Bella.


    He walked forward and Hermione stepped back until she was pushed on the wall of the compartment before he said "Then it''s a good thing that I''m a rude person." And then turned to look at Neville who looked like he was ready to fight for the girl who had been helping him despite being scared of the boy who he knew was a Parselmouth.


    Harry could respect this boy. Even if just a little bit. Neville was a sacredly little cat but at least he had the guts to stand up to him while the other three simply cowered in fear.


    "Your name is Neville I presume?" He asked and the boy nodded meekly.


    "What is the name of this toad that you lost."


    "Tre¡­ trevor" he gulped Harry dove into his mind to search for Trevor''s image without the boy knowing about it.


    When he got the image for the toad, he took out his wand from the Wand Holster attached to his right forearm and put the image of the toad in his mind and put all his will and intent on finding and bringing the toad to him and hissed "Accio Trevor" in Parseltongue and gave a wave from his wand.


    And then a small object sailed from the other end of the train before landing on Harry''s left palm.


    He saw his audience''s eyes widen and smirked inwardly before passing the toad to the boy.


    "Thank you." Neville squeaked as he held his lost pet once again and Selena hissed from his side.


    "Mind your toad around Selena." Harry said in a quiet voice which still rang in the apartment as he went back and sat on his seat before closing his eyes.


    Hopefully the peace would last a bit longer this time.

 Chapter 6 - Meeting Hermione and Draco

    In the past month when he lived in Leaky Cauldron, he had practiced innumerable spells with his wand and came to a realize a few things.


    Spells chanted in Parseltongue are two or even three times more powerful than spells chanted in Latin. Just like how spells chanted in Latin are more powerful than spells chanted in English or some other language.


    He has still not been able to figure out why that was but he was glad that he at least knew the strongest language out there.


    Well, not technically the strongest language. It was rumored that Merlin could talk with Dragons and if there was a Dragon language, then Harry had no doubt that that particular language would be even more powerful than Parseltongue. But so far, Parseltongue was the strongest language that he could find that was spoken by humans.


    There was also the various discoveries he made about his wand in the last month.


    The main one being the one which taught him the importance of a wand.


    In simple and short terms, wand was a tool that the wizards created in order to amplify their magic as well as act as a focus so that they would be able to perform delicate spells much more easily.


    And even though he had a bad opinion about wizards and thought that they were overly reliant on those sticks, he was not blind enough to not see it''s benefits.


    Still, he was not going to let his only power amplifier become a crutch for himself and had tried to put several charms on it to make it indestructible so that he would not lose it in the heat of a battle.


    Unfortunately, for some reason, most of his attempts to use magic on his wand failed and in the few times that he succeeded, he realized that his wand''s power had diluted a bit so he had to remove those charms as well.


    So essentially, his strongest weapon right now was also his most venerable one which was why he had bought his standard handgun along with him on his way.


    Just in case.


    Electronics didn''t work in Hogwarts and other highly saturated magical areas which meant that even if someone tried to blow that place up with rockets, they would fail. But handguns didn''t rely on any form of electricity so he was sure that he would face no problem in using a handgun at Hogwarts.


    His musings were cut off when he felt another person sit in front of himself. He opened one eye and was surprised to find that instead of leaving like how she did in the movie, Hermione choose to sit in front of him and was looking at him intently right now.


    "What was that spell you just used to summon Neville''s toad?" she asked and he held back a sigh.


    Of course, Hermione Fucking Granger would want to know about the spell. Especially one this is not taught until the third year in their curriculum.


    "It''s a summoning spell. Known as Accio spell. You''ll learn about it at Hogwarts in the future." He said in a dismissive tone, hoping she would leave him and closed his eyes.


    "Can you¡­ can you teach me as well?" she asked hopefully and he opened his eyes once more in irritation, intent on telling the girl to sod off when he saw her nervous gaze as she bit her lip as she looked at him demurely.


    Hah¡­. Of course. This was not the confident and older Hermione he saw in the later movies but just a little kid who had been bullied for being too smart most of her life and had no friends except her books.


    Still, he had a reputation to maintain. The reputation of a person who you don''t fu?k with. And you don''t get to create that kind of reputation by giving in to every little girl that gives you puppy eyes.


    "You''ll have teachers in Hogwarts who''ll teach you those spells." He said dismissively even though he highly doubted his own words. Those so called teachers might have a good heart but they never really taught Harry and his friends anything truly important during their time at Hogwarts.


    To this day, he felt disbelief that Harry Potter was able to beat Voldemort considering how much more powerful Voldemort was than Harry himself.


    The force of plot armour was strong in him.


    You don''t become the worst Dark Lord of the century and then get beaten by a 16-17 year old boy who had not even completed his Hogwarts education nor been taught any dueling tactics by anyone.


    Hell, Flitwick was an International Dueling champion and Voldemort would have destroyed him in a minute.


    Even when Minerva, Kingsley and Slughorn banded together, they were b?r?ly able to hold him back in the battle of Hogwarts.


    He really really doubted that he had the Plot Armour given to the original Harry by J.K Rowling or the protection of the prophesy considering how he was not essentially Harry Potter but someone else who had taken over his body.


    So when he faced Voldemort in the future, it would be imperative for him to be strong enough to hold his own against the no nose bastard.


    "That language you spoke in¡­" Hermione said slowly "I''ve never seen anyone use that language. Was that even a language because all I heard was hisses when you chanted the spell."


    Harry opened his eyes and realized that the other three classmates-to-be sitting beside him had gone tense.


    He once again held the urge to scoff at wizards and their superstitions.


    "It''s a language called Parseltongue and can only be spoken by very few people who are gifted with it from birth (Nope. Not gonna admit that he got it from the scar). Normal wizards and witches cannot speak this language and those who can are called Parselmouth." He said and looked at her to confirm if that was the end of her questions but of course it wasn''t. She was Hermione Granger after all.


    For the next half and hour, she continued to ask him various questions and he continued to answer her. By the end of her questions, even the other three classmates looked relieved and comfortable.


    Yes he had a reputation to maintain but a little help every now and then to other kids would definitely keep Dumbledore off his back.


    What''s the saying.


    And things went well, until one foolish Draco Malfoy strutted into the room along with his two goons like he was the father of Merlin.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Hermione looked at the Harry Potter in fear, then at the boy who had just introduced himself as Draco Malfoy and was now serving as a carpet for Harry.


    She didn''t even know what happened.


    One moment, the door opened and Draco along with two other mean looking boys walked in and said something derogatory about her and the others sitting in the compartment and the next second, the two big boys following him were sent flying and Draco himself snapped in attention like the soldiers and fell on the floor like a stiff board.


    After that Harry closed the door and said a few words in that scary parseltongue language and no one has come to their compartment since then.


    And to think that they were having a civil conversation just a few moments ago too.


    Of course, Harry had seemed very intimidating and scary at the first glance and his parseltongue ability was terrifying in and of itself but when she asked him questions to satisfy her curiosity, he had answered with patience that few kids of their age held.


    And when he did not show any annoyance like how most other children did when she asked them something, she started getting excited and continued to satisfy her curiosity from this well of knowledge, forgetting why she felt so threatened by him on the first place.


    And now as he sat nonchalantly with a peaceful expression on his face, an open book on his hand and a foot on Draco Malfoy''s petrified form, she wondered what she should do.


    Should she tell him that it''s against the rules to bind another student like this and then use him like a carpet?


    Should she go and ask others for help?


    But then again, Draco had called her a mudblood (whatever that meant) with disdain while Harry had patiently answered all her questions for the past hour and helped Neville with his toad.


    And aside from this one single action of his, he did not seemed like a bad guys. Perhaps¡­ he could be her friend. Her first friend aside from the books that she loved so much.


    She glanced at her three other companions and realized from their expression, that they were too terrified to do something themselves.


    Well, she was not feeling very brave either, but still, it''s just not right to break rules and treat your fellow students like this.


    She looked at the blonde boy who seemed to be frozen in time and wondered if she should tell Harry to let the boy go. To tell him that it''s against the rules to treat others like this. Would he even listen. Would he resent her for that. He probably would.


    So, in order to not be resented by the person would might become her first friend, she reluctantly chose to not mention Draco''s predicament and the rest of the train ride went by with them simply talking with each other about random things.

 Chapter 7 - Ravenclaw

    Hogwarts was far more majestic than he had seen in his memories. But then again, in his memories, he saw it in a simple movie but right now he was watching it in person. And seeing something in real life was always better than seeing it in a screen.


    Sitting in a boat in a serene lake and watching the large castle in the moonlight showed it in a regal light was one heck of an experience.


    Perhaps the tradition of bringing the first years from the boats was not as stupid as he had earlier thought.


    He looked at Hermione who was looking at the castle with awe struck eyes and wondered why she was so different than the one from the movie.


    In the movie, she was shown as a know-it-all who couldn''t stop talking and wanted to flaunt her knowledge to anyone that would listen. Something that only managed to alienate her from her fellow classmates.


    But in the train, she only asked him questions upon questions. It was a bit bothersome to be sure but he found that he liked sharing his knowledge if someone truly wanted to learn from him.


    Is this how teachers felt toward their best students.


    If so then it was not a bad feeling at all. Who knows, perhaps he might even become a teacher in the future.


    He chuckled at the thought and brought the attention of Hermione and the two other boys in the boat whom he didn''t know upon himself. He put the two of them in the category of cannon fodder and promptly ignored them and went back to look at Hermione and wondered why she was acting so differently from the movie.


    And then it struck him.


    From the moment he used the advanced ''Accio Spell'' and punished Draco for insulting Hermione and bothering him, she saw him as an kinda-authority figure.


    Plus, he was far more knowledgeable about magic then her so it was only fair that she would listen to him and try to impress him instead of filling his ears with the facts written in hundreds of books.


    Or maybe reality was just that different from a movie.


    Whatever the reason, he could probably make use of this situation. Turn the naive little girl into his trusted minion.


    Or lover.


    After all, she might have an insufferable personality but at the end of the day, she was the most brilliant witch of their generation and he was not going to forget that fact anytime soon.


    He heard Hagrid''s voice once again and realized that they had already reached the end of the lake and saw the 11 year olds disembarking from the boats.


    "Come on Harry. We need to go." Hermione gushed and for once, Harry allowed her to take him with her.


    His classmates chose to maintain a good distance from him simply for the fact that he had Selena with him.


    Well he could not blame them. Selena was not a friendly snake and Parselmouths had a bit of a reputation in the wizarding world. And even the muggleborns who had never heard about the legends feared him because of Parseltongue. It was terrifying to hear after all.


    Even Hermione flinched every once in a while when he talked with Selena despite her vehemence to stand alongside with him instead of maintaining distance from him based on pure superstitions.


    He could already hear Ron talking behind his back about him as the next dark lord and he had to actively suppress his anger in order to not throttle the gingerhead. At the same time, he wondered how Ron would feel when he realized that he was the Harry Potter. Their reactions would surely be fun to watch.


    Minerva came back once again and looked him with her lips pursed and he wondered what the old woman was thinking.


    Was she worried about that he was a Parselmouth? Did she believed him to be a dark-lord-in-making as well? Surely a well educated witch would not believe in such a thing. But then again, who can tell.


    He felt the need to use legillimency on her and read her mind but then thought better of it.


    He didn''t knew if she had occulumency shields or not. She probably didn''t but he was not about to risk it.


    After all, reading minds was a great advantage. And he would not lose such an advantage on a mere whim.


    "Silence." She said in a stern manner and all the murmurs died down at once. She sure does like to intimidate a bunch of 11 year olds.


    "I will now escort you to the great hall where the sorting hat will be placed on your head, it''ll tell you about your proper House." She said "I will call your names in alphabetical order." Her eyes lingered once more on him or was it Selena before she turned around and opened the door to the great hall.


    "Harry!" Selena exclaimed as soon as the door to the great hall were opened.


    "What is it Selena?" he asked.


    "The magic in here is very dense master. The most dense I''ve ever seen in my life." She said excitedly. "There''s so much magic in here that I can''t even see the end of the great hall properly."


    "Is that so. Well, that would make sense, in a way. The great hall has been used to host hundreds of powerful wizards and witches for hundreds of years so it''s only natural that it would become saturated with magic." He said "What do you see Selena?"


    "I already told you. The magic in this place is quite dense and the magic of the man sitting at the middle of the podium is greater than any I''ve ever seen." She said.


    "That''s to be expected. He''s Albus Dumbledore. The most powerful wizard in living memory. Remember his magical signature. I want you to know if he ever comes close to me."


    "Any reason why him in particular?" she asked and he nodded his head.


    "From what I know of him, he can be a bit manipulative so I need to be wary of him."


    "Very well then. I''ll tell you if he ever comes close to you." She hissed.


    "Thank you." He said and looked back at his fellow classmates only to realize that all of them had once again created some distance from him.


    Not only that, but the whole great hall was silent. He could see different expression in everyone''s faces. Expression like fear, shock and revulsion being the most prominent.


    They had heard him talking in Parseltongue.


    ''Sheeps'' he snorted at their antics.


    He ignored them and went back to feeling the ambient magic in the great hall. He had no natural talent in sensing magic like Selena but he was still able to feel the heavy presence of magic in the atmosphere pressing gently on top of him like a warm blanket.


    He gave a smile and wondered when he would be able to explore the castle and get the things that he wanted.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Gryffindor!" the hat shouted and Harry instantly realized his mistake.


    He had forgotten to tell Hermione to join Ravenclaw and because of some stupid reason, she had once again joined Gryffindor.


    After all, Draco had no cunning bone in his body and his highest ambition for now would only be to impress his father.


    And he didn''t even want to think about Crabbe and Goyle. That would just be wasting brain cells.


    With such thoughts, he watched in silence as the sorting continued.


    Every now and then, some people would point toward him with a bit of fear in his eyes but the cosmetic charm he applied on top of his scar made sure that no one was able to see his scar so no one really knew who he was.


    He had thought that he would enjoy the looks in their faces once they knew that he is Harry Potter but now, he doubted that he would enjoy their expression at all. After all, there was only so much attention and drama a man could endure and he was already reaching his limit.


    "Harry Potter" Minerva said and the hall, which had started murmuring by now went silent once again before it came back full force as he walked forward to the sorting hat.


    He hid a disgusted glare at the whispering sheep and wore the hat on his head before putting down all his occulumency shields in the dark places and only left behind the memories where he enjoyed learning and reading.


    After some thinking a few days ago, he had realized that the sorting hat would not be capable of reading his mind if he puts his occlumency over his mind.


    After all, the four founders might have been excellent wizards and witches in their own rights but he doubted that they would be able to create an artifact that would be able to read all the memories of a person no matter how strong his occlumency shields were.


    And as it turned out, he was right and even though his occlumency shields were b?r?ly paper thin, they did their job of hiding his dark memories perfectly.


    And after a short conversation with the hat, he was finally sorted into Ravenclaw.


    Which was exactly what he wanted.


    But as the Ravenclaws smiled and cheered at their latest addition and motioned him to sit together with him, he went to the last seat in the table and sat quietly while ignoring the rest of his housemates.


    He had to create a reputation for himself after all.


    Reputation of an anti social guy.


    After all, it would only hinder him if someone became too curious about his life.

 Chapter 8 - Benefits of learning Occlumency

    "What are you reading?" Padma Patil asked as she chewed on a chicken leg and Harry wondered if she knew how much it pissed him off when someone disturbed him when he was reading something.


    Regardless, he calmed his emotions and gave her a blank look for a few moments in order to unnerve her before he showed her the cover of the book.


    "The Simplicity of Wards?" she said and looked at him in the eyes and he suddenly realized how close she was to him and unconsciously shrank back and watched with some grim satisfaction as her face turned red as well.


    "Why are you reading such a high level book? And I don''t think it''s in the course either, is it?" she asked curiously and Harry wondered if he should tell her to ''fuck off'' and be done with it. But he wanted the reputation of a anti social guy not a rude ?sshole so he answered in as uninteresting terms as he could.


    "Hmm..." he said noncommittally.


    She gazed at her for a moment longer but when no reply came she blushed once again and Harry smiled in his heart before he went back to studying the book once again.


    "Why are you reading it?" she asked and he sighed before closing the book for good this time. He really doubted that he would be able to read it with her constantly pasturing him about it.


    "Because I want to increase my knowledge in setting up wards." He replied and looked past her in order to see why she was not bothering someone else.


    Turned out that the boy sitting beside Padma was a quidditch enthusiast who was talking rather excitedly with a girl from Asian descent who could be none other than Cho Chang. So she really had no choice but to talk with him or remain silent.


    Seemed like she didn''t want to remain silent on her first day of the school.


    "Aren''t wards the kind of things that keep thieves out of your house?" she asked curiously.


    "Among other things." He replied and upon her inquiring gaze, went on to explain the basics of ward and how they could be erected.


    Of course, this was third book he was reading on wards and he had already learned and set up basic muggle repelling wards around his house back in London among other things to keep someone from entering his house while he was away at Hogwarts.


    Setting up such simple ward was nothing impressive in his opinion but he was rather excited about the higher level wards that he would be able to set up in the future.


    The Fidalius charm might have been named a charm but it also fell in the category of wards and it was not even among the top five wards from what he''d read.


    He spent the next few minutes talking with her about Wards in hopes that she would quickly get bored by all the information and lose her interest but after ten whole minutes, he realized why she was a Ravenclaw.


    Truthfully, he could have used his shroud to cover himself and make himself seem boring so that she would lose interest but Dumbledore and Quirrlemort were both sitting at the head table and probably eying him every now and then so it would be rather unwise to use his shroud right now.


    It seems that sitting in the great hall might prove to be rather time consuming.


    Harry gazed at the head table in order to pass time and saw the different professors sitting in the long table.


    It always fascinated him how there were so few teachers in Hogwarts considering how it was said to be the greatest wizarding school in Britain or even in the whole Europe. And even among those teachers, some were rather useless like Binns, Snape, Quirrel and Trelawny. All of whom will be teaching him pretty soon.


    Oh yes, the different artifacts in here and the room of requirements. Plus, if he left Hogwarts then the future will change by a huge margin making his future knowledge practically useless.


    Not that he planned to rely on it either. But knowing something will be better than knowing nothing. And he knew quite a few things about Hogwarts.


    In fact, the simple presence of The Room of Requirement was more than enough to triumph over all the downsides of attending Hogwarts.


    As his gaze continued to rove over the head table he saw Dumbledore looking back at him as well and as their gazes connected Harry felt something touch over his occulumency shields and averted his gaze as naturally as he could and felt the touch disperse.


    So it was true that Dumbledore read the mind of students.


    Then it was a good thing that he learned Occlumency before coming here.


    He then continued to look over the rest of the professors in the table and had to once again avert his eyes when Snape tried to use legillimency on him.


    Truly, learning Occulumency was the best thing he''d done in his time back at home even though his shields were only paper thin.


    At that moment, he felt a searing pain pass through his scar and he immediately knew the cause of this as he saw the turban of Professor Quirrel turned toward him and quickly averted his gaze in order to look at Padma and felt the pain lessen by a bit.


    "Are you alright?" she asked with concern as she noticed the grimace on his face but he quickly donned on the stoic mask and shook his head.


    "I''m alright." He said and wondered why he could not have sat with someone who was willing to give him his privacy.


    "I think you are the only person in the whole school who reads a book on the first day of¡­" she was suddenly cut off as another boy sitting in front of them bent forward toward them and said "Are you a parselmouth?"


    His words permeated through the table and Harry found himself under the scrutiny of many gazes and sighed inwardly. Hopefully this is just a one day thing and once the kind of person he was, they would stop bothering him.


    "Yes." He said and gave the boy a cold stare which accomplished the job of shutting him mouth before he could ask anything else.


    The others continued to look at him for a moment longer but he took out a book and started ignoring them and when no one else asked him any more questions, their curiosity dropped and they went about doing their own thing and Harry found peace in his book once again until the end of the feast where Dumbledore announced that forbidden forest was forbidden and that anyone who goes to the third floor will meet a quick end and blah blah blah.


    Harry could feel Dumbledore''s eyes on him at the end of the feast but he completely ignored the old man and went with the Prefect who took them to the Ravenclaw tower.


    He had personally never seen the Ravenclaw tower in the movie so this was something new for him and he was rather delighted by their arrangements.


    Aside from the portrait that only allows them entry only when you give the answer to it''s riddle, he liked the rest of the house quite well.


    He was never really good with riddles.


    The tower was an ancient structure so he was not overly bothered or surprised by it''s old but majestic decorations.


    The ravenclaw common room was a large wide circular room with large windows that allowed ample sunlight for students to read their books. It was connected with the stairs that led to the girls and boys rooms along with the Personal Library that this house was so famous for.


    Harry could see some older students sitting and studying in the common room already and smirked at their typical Ravenclaw behavior.


    He was glad that he was selected in Ravenclaw. If he went to Gryffindor then people would bother him unnecessarily and expect him to be some kind of hero which was something that he deeply despised. If he went to Hufflepuf, he would have been swarmed by wellwishers who would want to help him at every turn. And if he went to Slytherin, he would be surrounded by enemies so he was not even willing to entertain that idea.


    It was not that the Ravenclaws wouldn''t bother him as Padma already proved that such was not the case but once the novelty worn off, they would not disturb him anymore which would allow him to go about with his plans as he wished.


    The Prefect¡­ someone whose name he didn''t care to remember told them about the basic common and unspoken rules of the house before taking them to their respective rooms.


    Unlike Gryffindor where all the students of the same class were tossed in the same room, Ravenclaw only allowed two students to live in a room. The older students could even apply for single rooms and if their marks are up to Professor Flitwick''s satisfaction.


    Not that it mattered to him as he never planned on spending too much time in the Ravenclaw tower anyway.

 Chapter 9 - Transfiguration class

    He stared at the cat who stared back unflinchingly at him.


    Animagus transformation had always fascinated him.


    How could a human change into an animal of another species and still retain his sense. How could Rita Skeeter, who was able to turn into a beetle still retain her basic brain functions after her brain was decreased by a hundred times.


    There were so many questions in his mind about animagus transformation. The whole subject seemed like a giant impossibility to him but then again, so was magic. So was transfiguration and if he could accept a matchstick changing into a needle then surely he could accept a human changing into another animal.


    Right?


    He felt the urge to pat the tabby in cat for a moment and wondered how Professor Minerva would felt if he really did that in front of the whole class and smirked at that thought. But then he thought better of it and left for his own desk at the end of the room from where he would be able to notice everyone else while he himself remained unnoticed.


    Soon enough the class was full and he could see Ron and Semus running inside the class, late and the shock permeated through the class as the cat changed into their Professor and took 2 points each from them for being late.


    Then the class started and Harry was bored out of his mind as Minerva spent the first hour of their class teaching them the simple basic rules of Transfiguration and the crucial mistake that all the novices made.


    The second hour was spent with Minerva teaching them how to transform a Matchstick into a needle and Harry found himself being bored out of his mind once again.


    Seriously, such transfigurations were too simple for him and he had to held back a snort as Minerva went about teaching them the necessary wand movements and proper spells.


    Magic had always been more about intent and will for him. He would not deny that flicking and swishing the wand in a particular manner did allowed his magic to flow in a particular manner which helped with spells, charms and transfigurations but the main thing would always be the intent and will of a wizard.


    He looked at the Matchstick in front of himself and without even picking up his wand, he visualized it changing a little by little in his mind. First the matchstick changed from wood to metal, then it became sleeker and sleeker until it resembled a very thin cylindrical metal stick after which he visualized it''s tip changing into a point and it''s end having a hole large enough for a thread to go through and then he used all his will and intent on the matchstick and watched in fascination as the matchstick changed into a needle flawlessly.


    Till this day, magic fascinated him. How he could use his will on some thing and change it as he wanted according to his will. He doubted that magic will ever stop fascinating him.


    ''That, he realized, was what made him so different from the other kids.'' He thought as he watched his classmate going about flicking their wands and murmuring the spells that they didn''t knew the meaning of.


    From his vantage point, he could easily see the difference between the muggleborns and the purebloods by the fascination in their eyes and the excitement in their body language.


    "Compisitus Verto" his deskmate said forcefully and flicked at the matchstick once again and just like before, nothing happened.


    He held the urge to scoff at the girl who was constantly making a fool of herself.


    Her wand movement was mostly correct and her spell who not off the mark either but still, nothing changed.


    He could clearly see why her matchstick transformation was not being successful. She put no will behind her spell.


    "You have to want the change to happen. Put more will behind it." He supplied helpfully and the blonde girl gave him a glare as if he had said something stupid before she scoffed and went back to flicking her wand at the needle, not even looking at his perfect transformation even once.


    ''Well, so much for helping others.'' He thought and added the lesson in his mind. Don''t help other people unless they ask for your help. Otherwise you would only end up looking and feeling stupid.


    "Compisitus Verto" his classmates continued to chant and then Minerva suddenly went to Hermione who was practically jumping on her seat for partially transforming her matchstick to a needle.


    He could see that the end point of her matchstick had turned into the tip of the needle and the rest of it''s body had taken a silvery color.


    Harry sighed as Hermione practically beamed under Minerva''s attention as the rest of the class gave her the stink eye. Even her deskmate Parvati Patel didn''t look all that happy at her success.


    No wonder she was given the nickname like ''teacher''s pet'' and ''know it all'' so early at the start of the term.


    He couldn''t help but feel pity for the girl before he realized something.


    She was the only one in the whole class (except him of course) who was able to transfigure her matchstick, even if the transfiguration was incomplete.


    He had thought her to be a simple bookworm but now that he thought about it, wasn''t she the one who usually completed all the transfiguration and charms before anyone else in the movies.


    Also, she was able to complete a Polyjuice potion which was a NEWTs level potion at her second year and gained an ''O'' in 11 subjects in her OWLs.


    Who else could achieve such a thing with hard work.


    How the hell did he missed her potential.


    Was he so influenced by the movies which focused primarily on Harry Potter that her sheer genius and accomplishments were lost to him.


    He wondered how high she will reach if he taught her the true way to use magic. Would she be willing to learn. Would she even be interested in learning. If yes then would she want to learn from him, someone who frightened her in the train by attacking another student and then treating him like a footstool.


    Well, he could only hope. If she did want to learn from him then he would gain an excellent student, not that he was much of a teacher.


    He may know more about magic then his fellow witches and wizards but in the bigger picture, he was nothing but a novice himself.


    He looked at the needle in front of himself and changed it into a silver bu??erfly which then changed color and started looking like a real bu??erfly.


    Just that this bu??erfly was lifeless.


    He had not learned how to transfigure an inanimate object into an animate object so far.


    Of course, if he followed the proper spells and wand movements then he might be able to do it but he refused to do it that way.


    He did not want to use magic that he didn''t even understand.


    He wanted to learn how the spells worked before he did them. He wanted to learn how the object became animate when they were transfigured. How they gained life when just a few moments ago, they were nothing but a dead object.


    How could a person who knows nothing about magic create life. Could a bird that had been transfigured from a cup even be called living. If yes, then where did the life came from. If no, then how was it able to act like a normal bird.


    Could a transfigured bird eat a worm. Did it had all the necessary organs required to digest it''s food. Could a transfigured snake inject venom into it''s prey, could a transfigured basilisk kill it''s prey or petrify it with it''s gaze, could a transfigured Phoenix use flaming apparition like a real Phoenix. Has anyone ever even tried such a thing?


    If you transfigure water into petrol then would it burn like the real thing? When you transform a person into a ferret then would the ferret weigh as much as the person? If not, then where does all the mass go?


    When you change wood into metal, does the wood really change into metal on a molecular level or does it happen in some other way. Can you burn a wood if it''s been transfigured from a metal? If yes then can you power a nuclear power plan by uranium that been transfigured from mere dirt?


    So many things to learn. So much knowledge to explore in the magical world.


    But one thing that he did knew was that the more he worked on his magic, the more he would become better at it.


    And that fact also applied to transfiguration.


    The more your transfigure something, the better you become at it.


    When you transfigure a matchstick into a needle for the first time, it takes all your power and concentration to complete the transfiguration. The next time it''s easier to do and then next time after that is even easier. And by the hundredth time, you can do it without even thinking about it.


    So if he can change a needle into a bu??erfly and then continue to do it again and again, then when he start pouring life into his transfigurations, it''ll be easier for him.


    He changed the bu??erfly back to it''s original shape and found that it had once again reverted to a matchstick.


    He then once again transfigured it into a bu??erfly and indeed, it was easier this time then the first time. And then he changed it back into a match stick and repeated the process again and again.


    Until by a bit of curiosity, he willed the bu??erfly to be live.


    And then suddenly the bu??erfly flapped it''s wings and flew.

 Chapter 10 - Taking the Marauders Map

    As quickly as he could, he willed it and the bu??erfly which had just taken off from his desk turned into dust while he looked around if anyone else had seen this as his emotions fell in turmoil.


    He was happy, no, immensely happy because he had been able to successfully create a new life (at least that''s what it looked like). But he was also wary that someone might have seen it and would learn the full extent of his capabilities which was something that he would never do willingly.


    He looked at Minerva who was reprimanding Draco about something and the rest of the class was giggling at him and felt a weight lift off his ?h?st.


    Thankfully, no one had seen his¡­ miracle. For what else would you call it when a person could turn a matchstick into a bu??erfly and then give life to it.


    But while he felt thankful that no one had seen it and learnt how truly talented he was, he was also a bit sad that everyone had missed this miracle. His miracle.


    And then he saw the movement and turned to look at his desk mate and grimaced at her gob smacked expression.


    She had seen him do it.


    "How?" she managed to ask before he flicked his wand and silenced her mouth and with his will, he put his Shroud of Concealment around the both of them so that Minerva would not notice what he was about to do next.


    She had only a moment to look panicked before he pointed his wand at her and said "Obliviate" and erased the last minute of her memory from her mind.


    As much as he was loath to rely on it, the wand was truly a convenient tool. If he had the wand with him from the start them maybe those homeless people whom he''d experimented on would not have turned into the drooling mess. Well maybe a few of them might still have lost all their memories but he guess that more than half of them would have held their sanity.


    With his new wand, the precision of his memory charm had truly reached a whole new level.


    He couldn''t wait to remove the trace from the wand and go back home so that he could use it on more test subjects.


    And he was once again reminded of how scary magic can be.


    A wizard can literally break into the home of a unsuspecting muggle family, **** the woman and then Obliviate her before leaving and she would continue to live her life as if nothing ever happened.


    He shivered for a moment when he realized that quite a few wizards all over the world would have done the exact same thing at some point during their lives.


    Some of them multiple times.


    Magic was a dangerous tool. And he would learn how to wield it better than anyone else.


    If only to keep himself safe the machinations of other people.


    He gave one last glance to Hermione who was still gushing under Minerva''s praise and went back to transfiguring a bu??erfly from a nail taken from the desk.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    BOY WHO LIVED ON THE PATH OF BECOMING A DARK LORD?


    Beneath the ominous headline was a whole article explaining how he was a Parselmouth and brought a snake along with him at Hogwarts along with speculations that he had been training under some dark wizards before he came to the school.


    He held the urge to scoff at the looks he was being given but as more and more owls delivered the newspaper, more and more speculated gazes fell on him. More pointed fingers, more whispered words behind his back.


    Ironic how he went from their saviour to a possible future dark lord in such a short amount of time.


    He looked at the name of the writer and realized that it was not Rita Skeeter. And wasn''t that a surprise.


    He had thought that she was the only one employed by the Daily Prophet who made money by vilifying other people.


    But apparently she not the only one in that industry. Just the best one.


    He had no doubt that if she was the one had written this article then it would have been even worse then it was now.


    He glanced from peripheral vision and watched as Padma who was sitting beside him squirmed in her seat and felt the irritation turn into anger.


    Sheep. All of them.


    Then he turned around and left.


    The Prophet had ruined his reputation, but he had already expected something like that to happen as he knew about how the rag worked from the movies but the instant negative reaction of the students in the hall still baffled him and he would never admit it to anyone but it hurt him a bit that even Padma, who had tried talking with him three times since the last day had squirmed with discomfort for just sitting beside him.


    Apparently there was big difference in knowing something and experiencing it first hand.


    But, oh well, now that he had a reputation, at least the students will stay away from him and allow him to start his plans with ease.


    He walked through the corridors under his Shroud of Concielement and followed a pair of unsuspecting Hufflepuff girls back to their dorm rooms.


    Once he found their dorms, it was easy for him to find the entrance to the kitchen where he asked the elves to serve him something so that he could eat his lunch in peace.


    After that, he had ''Defense against the Dark Arts'' class after which he could truly put his plans into motion.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Defense against the Dark Arts was boring class in more ways than one.


    Just like his previous class, he chose the last corner seat to sit in so that he would not be disturbed by either the students or the teacher before he used put on a low level Shroud of Concealment on himself and took out the book on Warding that he had been reading recently.


    Even his own desk mate, some bloke from Hufflepuff did not look at him even once during the whole class so he knew that his shroud was doing it''s job spectacularly but despite that, he felt several intrusions of legilimency probes during his time in the class and a prickle of pain in his scar every now and then.


    He had not looked at Quirrel''s eyes even once, so how had he use legilimency on him.


    But then again, he had not looked at Voldemort in the eyes at the feast either so it was sufficient to think that Voldemort could use legilimency without making eye to eye contact.


    Or maybe it was not legilimency at all and some other form of attack instead.


    Maybe wraiths simply had access to some different form of mind arts.


    Thankfully, he Occlumency shields held themselves together against all the attacks and he was spared the splitting headache that the original Harry Potter often complained about in the movies whenever he sat in the Defense against the Dark Arts class.


    At the end of the class, he had gone through two chapters in his Warding book and the other young witches and wizards in the class looked thoroughly bored and had learned absolutely nothing at all.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "It''s not easy to find you two you know." Harry said as he entered the abandoned the empty classroom where the two pranksters were brewing some kind of potion for god knows what.


    Both of them turned abruptly at his presence but before they could say another word, he cast two quick spell at them in which put them into full body bind at once.


    Before both of them could fall on the cauldron they were brewing on, he flicked his wand and sent them toward the two chairs at the corner of the otherwise empty classroom.


    Even in their partially petrified state, he could see the fear in their eyes as he bound them with ropes and took their wands for himself.


    He felt no need to check for a spare wand on their bodies because he knew that the Weasleys were a poor family who were not even able to buy a new wand for Ron so buying a spare wand was a luxury that they would hardly be able to affford.


    Then he removed the Petrifying spell from their bodies and watched in silence as their faces contorted with anger and a bit of fear.


    "Harry Potter" one of them said.


    "The Boy who lived." The another one continued.


    "The savior of the wizarding world." The first one said with a mocking voice.


    "The vanquisher of The Dark Lord."


    "A Parselmouth"


    "And a future dark lord."


    "What is the meaning of this?"


    "Why are you doing this to us?"


    "It''s not like we''ve ever¡­"


    Before they could continue their antics any longer, he swished his wand and both of their mouths shut together at once.


    "You have something that is created by my father, my god father and his friends." He said in a soft voice which reverberated in the empty classroom. Hmm¡­ interesting effect. Maybe he could use some kind of spell on his voice to always get this scary edge.


    Both of them shook their heads frantically at his words and he said "I''m talking about the Marauder Map you fools."


    At his words the both of them looked at each other and went into some kind of silence conversation.


    He let them converse among themselves but when they said nothing for almost a minute, he lost his patience and flicked his wand once again before imagining the Marauder Map in his mind.


    "Accio Marauder''s Map." He said and send forth his will and magic through the wand and in a few seconds, a roll of parchment flew out of one of the robes kept at the corner of the room which he caught in his hands easily.


    He wondered why he had not done this at the start. If he had then he would not have to converse with the annoying twins.


    Oh well. Live and learn.


    He unfurled the parchment and just like he had predicted, it was empty.


    "I solemnly swear that I''m up to no good." He said and tapped the parchment and watched in fascination as lines started to form int he parchment and soon enough, a large portion of the area he was standing on became visible in the parchment along with the footsteps and names of the people in the corridors and rooms.


    With a smile he rolled up the parchment and looked at the twins who were eyeing him with apprehension and pointed the wand at them.


    If he was better at the memory charm, he would have been able to erase the very existence of the Marauders'' map from their memory. But since he was not that good, he had to contend with simply erasing their memory of meeting him in the room.


    At some point in the future, they would realize that the map is missing from their robes but hopefully they''ll just think that they dropped it somewhere or something like that and not suspect that someone stole their map and obliviated them.


    With a jaunty tune, he unfurled the map to make sure that no one was following him and went to the seventh floor where the painting of Barnabus the Barmy teaching Belle dancing to the trolls was hung on the wall.


    And smiled.

 Chapter 11 - Rowena Ravenclaws Diadem

    Despite seeing the location of the diadem in the movie, it still took him two whole hours to find the Diadem in the Room of Hidden Things.


    And those two hours only made him realize how large the Room of Hidden Things actually was.


    And not only was it large but it was also filled with thousands of things that were filled with magic of one kind or another.


    Even Selena, who was exceptional at sensing magical auras was of no help because of the thousands of different kind of magical auras in the room that stung her magical senses so much that she could do nothing to help him in his search.


    Regardless, when he found the diadem, he made sure to not touch it under any condition.


    The original Harry Potter truly hated Voldemort for killing his parents and thus would never fall under the influence of the dark lord but he had no such defense so he had to be extra careful around the Horcruxes.


    He levitated the Horcrux from a distance before dropping it inside the bottomless purse that he usually used for carrying money.


    He had needed a container to hold the horcrux so he had emptied the bottomless purse in order to keep the horcrux inside of it.


    But even now, he could see the dark magic inside the horcrux fighting against the magic of the bottomless purse and it won''t be too long before the whole purse would be contaminated by it''s evil aura and lose all of the magical charms placed on it.


    And he was not even surprised by that as he already knew that a Horcrux corrupted anything it touched.


    The purse was worth 40 galleons but if he could use it to keep the horcrux in check for sometime then losing the purse would be worth it.


    Plus, it was not like 40 galleons meant all that much to him.


    He checked the Marauders'' map once again in order to make sure that the whole corridor was empty before leaving the room after which he started started walking outside the room once again.


    After all, the Diadem was the most valuable possession of Rowena Ravenclaw who was one of the greatest witch who ever lived. He knew that he was capable of destroying the daidem if it came down it. But he was not willing to lose such a precious artifact without actually trying to save it.


    So he had to find a way to remove the soul from the diadem without destroying it.


    And sure enough, Hogwarts answered his call and he entered the room once again to find a heavy tome lying on the center of the room on a pedestal.


    It seemed that he might be able to use the Diadem after all.


    He picked up the book with a smiled and started reading through it in order to find a way to gain the remarkable artifact known as Rowena''s Diadem.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Minerva finished checking the last parchment submitted to her by the first years and sighed in relief at the job being finished.


    Checking ?ssignments and giving appropriate marks had never been her favourite way to spend the day but it was a necessity that came along with being the Transfiguration teacher in Hogwarts.


    As she made the list that contained the names of the first year students, she smiled to herself as she saw the full marks that her little cub Hermione Granger had received.


    From what she''s seen so far, Hermione was a remarkable witch and had a bright future in front of her.


    Then looked at another name in the list and frowned a bit.


    Harry Potter, son of Lily and James Potter who had been one of her favourite students before their untimely death was turning out to be a disappointment more than anything else.


    In classes, he never bothered to answer any questions she asked to the students and didn''t show any interest in her subject either.


    In fact, she couldn''t even remember that he was in the class until the end of the period at which point he simply got up from his seat and quietly left the class.


    It was almost as if he vanished from her class while she was teaching the rest of the students.


    She scoffed at the thought and looked at the ?ssignment handed to her by Harry and frowned at the messy job that he''d done.


    Instead of the foot long essay she told them to write, he only wrote half a foot long essay and in a very bad handwriting on top of that.


    It was almost as if he couldn''t even be bothered to write an essay.


    As if he considered himself above such things.


    So she knew that he at least understood what she taught even if he didn''t show any interest in it.


    She sighed and rubbed her eyes once again and put the parchment back along with the others.


    In the next class, she would definitely pay attention to him and check his performance personally.


    Plus, Albus had also shown some interest in the boy so it was likely that he would ask her about Harry in the next weekly staff meeting.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry read a thick book at the back of the class while a jovial Flitwick taught the others about the history of Lumos charm.


    The Room of Requirement did not allow the students to take anything from the room. He knew because he had tried to take that one book regarding Horcruxes outside the room but every time he did so, the book simply vanished into thin air as soon as he stepped outside.


    Even hiding the book inside a limitless bag didn''t help.


    So people might think that you cannot take anything from inside the room but he found a loophole in the whole system.


    Just because he cannot take the book outside the room didn''t mean that he could not copy the text inside the book into another book.


    Neither did it placed any restriction on things that you copied from the original ones.


    The book he was now reading was the result of a simple Gemino charm performed on the original book. It was by no means permanent and would dissolve into thin air before the end of the day. But he had no qualms with that since he would go back to the room of requirement before the end of the day anyway and if he wanted the book then could simply make another copy of it once again.


    His knew face looked a bit haggard as he had been studying continuously since last night but his Shroud of Concealment made sure that others didn''t pay much attention to him.


    He ignored Flitwick''s rambling in the background and focused on completing the book as soon as possible and understand what he needed to do to remove the soul of Voldemort not only from the Diadem but also from his scar and the other horcruxes as well.


    After all, if he could save the Diadem, then why shouldn''t he do the same with Salazar''s locket and Hegla''s cup.


    A bump in his shoulder broke his concentration and he turned and looked at a very young Blaise Zabini who was pointing at the front of the class.


    "¡­Potter. Mr Potter." He turned to find Professor Flitwick looking disapprovingly at him for having ignored him in the class.


    "Yes sir." He said and pushed the book in his bag.


    "Mr Potter. Did you understand how to perform the Lumos charm properly." The diminutive professor asked from atop his pile of books and Harry gave a bitter smile as the whole class focused their attention of him.


    It seemed like Professor Flitwick was paying extra attention to him in the class otherwise he would not have broken through Harry''s Shroud so easily.


    "I believe I do Professor." He said with a confident nod.


    "Wonderful." Flitwick said with a childlike glee and Harry had to smile at the professor''s antics. There was just something so innocent about this man that Harry couldn''t help but respect him for it. "Then would you please show it to the rest of the class?" Flitwick asked.


    "Yes Professor." He said and pulled out his wand from the holster and pointed it in the air and hissed "Lumos" in Parseltongue and a bright white light filled the whole room, removing any darkness from it altogether.


    Then he stopped supplying more magic to the wand and the light slowly faded away from the room, leaving behind stunned children who rubbed their eyes in order to get a clearer vision of the room.


    "Ohh¡­ Wonderful Mr Potter. Absolutely wonderful." Professor Flitwick said cheerfully even while he was rubbing his eyes from being blinded by the spell. "That was an amazing application of the Lumos charm, if not a bit overpowered. Five points to Ravenclaw for such a good demonstration. You may sit down now Mr Potter." He said while practically jumping on his books from excitement.


    Harry sat back down on his seat and watched with some amusement as the rest of the class gave him a wary look at his liberal use of Parseltongue before going back to their work.


    "I''ve never seen such a strong Lumos spell." Blaise commented from beside him at Harry''s questioning gaze, he continued.


    "All I heard was a terrifying hiss followed by a blinding light. Did you really spoke the spell in Parseltongue?" he asked conspiratorially and Harry wondered if he should tell the truth to a Slytherin who might use this knowledge against him some day.


    But then again, even if the truth comes out that saying the incantation Parseltongue gives better results, it''s not like anyone else could do anything about it considering how Parseltongue was an ability that couldn''t be copied.


    "Yes." He replied "Incantations said in Parseltongue produce better result that incantations said in Latin." Blaise nodded his head at that and went back to jabbing his wand and trying to perform the spell, unsuccessfully.


    Harry of course didn''t inform the Slytherin that he could easily perform such overwhelming spell with the Latin incantation or even the English word just as easily.


    In fact, he could easily get the same results without even using a wand but he wanted to be seen as a genius, not a monster.


    The reason for his spectacular result was the fact that out of all the students in the class, he was the only one to understand the importance of using your will and intent behind a spell.


    Harry looked around the room and found Hermione looking at him curiously but as soon as their gazes met, her face turned red and she went back to practicing the charm. As it so happened, she was once again the only one in the room beside him who was successfully able to cast the charm by the end of their first period.


    Harry shook his head and observed the rest of the students discreetly. Now that everyone had gone back to their own task, he used his Shroud of Concealment once again and went back to reading the book on souls and Possessions.


    It was quite an interesting book after all.

 Chapter 12 - The simplicity of removing a soul from an artifact

    Harry put the book back inside his bag and left the room after all the other students had left.


    He had no motivation to chat and mingle with the other kids so he always strove to leave either before everyone else or after everyone else had already left and since he since sat in the last seat and the door was near the front seat, he went out after everyone else had already left.


    As he walked out of the room, he realized that it was lunch time and everyone else had already left for the great hall. He would have done the same but he didn''t felt like going to a place where he would once again come under the scrutiny of so many people.


    The episode with the Prophet declaring him a Dark-lord-in-the-making for his liberal use of Parseltongue was still fresh in his mind. So, while the rest of his classmates went to the great hall to the right, he instead took the left and with the intention of going to the Hogwarts kitchen instead.


    But as he started walking down the halls, Selena raised her head and swiped the air a few times with her tongue before hissing at him.


    "Harry. There''s four magical signature up ahead at the next corner hiding behind the wall." She said and gazed at the next intersection warily.


    Harry stopped walking abruptly and took out his wand and Marauder''s map at once.


    "Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Theodore Nott." He murmured with disdain at the four names in the map before he put it back in his bag, used the Shroud of Concealment to it''s full effect and sneaked behind the four Slytherins who were waiting to ambush him at the intersection.


    "¡­need to pay the halfblood filth for being so presumptuous." Draco said with disgust and Crabbe and Goyle nodded their heads like the perfect minions while Theodore frowned at them.


    "Are you sure about this Draco?" Theodore asked with concern which only made Draco even angry. He didn''t liked to be questioned in front of his subordinates.


    "Yes I''m sure. And it''s not like we''re going to kill him or something. Just stun him, take all of his clothes and stick him to a wall." Draco said with a grin and Harry raised an eyebrow at that. Seems like he didn''t scare the blonde ponce as much as he intended to.


    Or maybe Draco was just a retarded child who didn''t understood the concept of not playing with fire.


    "Yes yes. I''ve already heard the plan a thousand times before but what I don''t understand is why are you so hell bent on humiliating him. It''s not like he''s ever done anything to you. In fact, I''ve not even seen him talk with anyone so far." Theodore said. It seemed like the story of Draco''s first meeting with Harry didn''t get out for some reason. What a surprise.


    Draco went beet red at his words and Harry could tell that he was reliving the memory of lying still under his feet for hours on end.


    Hermione was never one to gossip nor did she had any friends to do it with and the three Hufflepuffs probably didn''t want to get under Draco''s radar so they chose to remain silent as well.


    Hmm¡­ That would explain it.


    He smirked as he saw the four of them whispering to each other and waiting for ''him'' to arrive so that they could ambush him with their superior numbers.


    ''Oh well, I guess I''ll forgive Theodore this time since he didn''t seem all that interested in harming me.'' With that thought, he raised his wand and fired off four stunners in quick successions and before they could fall to the ground, he pushed them to the wall and used a sticking charm to stick them to the wall.


    To was not hard to remove their clothes from Crabbe''s and Goyle''s bodies, which left them with only their und?rw??r. Of added effect he filled their und?rw??r with pink teddybears on a white background.


    He left Theodore alone but then he moved to Draco and a mischievous glint shone in his eyes.


    That day students of Hogwarts would find Draco Malfoy stuck to a wall while wearing a cute white girly dress with ''Priness of Slytherin'' written above his head. A name that would stick to him for years to come.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Where were you last night?" Terry Boot asked as Harry entered the room to pick up some books and clothes for later.


    "None of your business." Harry said and started packing his bag. He never truly planned to share the room with Terry but since the other boy stayed here every night, he might become a problem if he went to the teachers and told them about his absence from the room every night.


    "It is my business. You''re my roommate and you were not here last night. Tell me where you were or I''ll tell Professor Flitwick about your absence."


    Harry stopped what he was doing at one and turned to stare at the 11 year old boy with an odd look.


    Did the boy really just blackmailed him.


    How did someone as stupid as him entered Ravenclaw house.


    He grinned a bit and let out some of his power and willed it to pressure the boy from all sides for a few seconds until the boy literally crumbled under the pressure and fell to the ground while looking at him fearfully.


    "You do that and I''ll become your enemy. And you don''t want an enemy sleeping in the same room as you, do you? Keep your mouth shut and we''ll both get along just fine. Do you understand, room mate?"


    The boy whimpered in fear and nodded his head so with the b?r?st of nods, Harry removed the pressure from him.


    A foolish boy but just a boy nonetheless. No need to be too hard on him.


    And he still needed to read the book regarding soul and possession and the faster he did it, the better it''ll be for him.


    He did felt like a d??k for terrorizing his fellow roommate considering how the boy was only 11 years old. But he also knew that if he didn''t nip this problem in the bud then it would only come back to bite him in the ?ss in the future.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Creating Horcrux was one of the most obscure form of dark arts. So obscure in fact that only a few people in the whole Britain knew about it. All the books and tomes that contained knowledge regarding Horcrux had been removed from the world by people who were afraid of his art and considering how this knowledge could give people like Voldemort a form of immortality, they would not be considered wrong in taking such precautions.


    So when you ask someone to remove the soul from an object, usually people would think that it would be a really hard thing to do. And only that someone who has mastery over Soul arts would be able to perform such a task.


    The truth couldn''t be more different than that.


    A ritual circle created from human blood and a very simple potion created from ingredients found in the Potion master''s room and another object to house the soul after it had been banished from it''s original place.


    These were all the ingredients required for the ritual.


    The procedure was quite simple as well.


    Make the object that''s housing the soul so uncomfortable that the soul would want to transfer away from the object.


    In essence, it was no different than annoying a child so much that he would rather get up and sit in the next bench away from you then remain in the same bench.


    The potion was dripped on top of the diadem and it''s healing effects worsened the condition of the soul inside it.


    The runic circle helped the soul go from the diadem another object that Harry had selected randomly from the Room of Requirements. A silver mirror in this case.


    And by the time the whole potion had been dripped down on top of the diadem, the soul transferred from it to the silver mirror, leaving the diadem in pristine condition just like how it was before it was possessed.


    Harry pocketed the newly cleansed Diadem and kept the Silver mirror inside the Room of All Things so that he could destroy it in the future.


    He knew that he was a far more powerful than any of his classmates but he also knew that he was not strong enough to control the Fiendfyre otherwise he would have already destroyed the Silver mirror.


    He had seen the consequences of casting Fiendfyre without being able to control it in the movies so he knew the dangers of performing that spell. The Silver mirror will have to wait until he becomes powerful enough to cast Fiendfyre or until he gained some Basilisk venom for himself.


    Well, at least he had finally gotten his hands of Lady Rowena Ravenclaw''s precious Diadem.


    That ought to call for a celebration.


    Not that he had any friends to celebrate with. But still.


    Things were looking good.

 Chapter 13 - Once in a century Genius

    "Mr Potter. Our new celebrity." Snape drawled and Harry held the urge to bang his head on the table and groan.


    Could this things become anymore cliched?


    Why had he thought that coming to the potions class would be anything but a waste of his precious time.


    Oh, because it will keep Albus off his back.


    He''s not even afraid of the old man. Wary, yes? But afraid, no.


    Still, the rest of the staff might not notice the irregularities regarding him but Snape, who was a double agent for both Voldemort and Dumbledore, would definitely notice his actions and then report them to Dumbledore at soon as possible.


    So it was within his best interest to act like a normal kid in front of Snape.


    Now only if the bloke would not go out of his way to bother him.


    The only reason he was tolerating Snape was because he knew from the movies that no matter how badly Snape treated him, he always looked after him as well.


    "Tell me¡­ What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphedel to an infusion of wormwood?"


    Dear god! Even the questions he asked are the same ones.


    Does he keeps a list of questions that he usually ask to kid he doesn''t like.


    "Don''t know." He replied nonchalantly and saw the Hufflepuff girl sitting beside him squirm in discomfort. What was her name again? Who cares. If he didn''t already knew her then she was most likely a cannon fodder either way.


    "Don''t know, Sir." Snape said with his unusually soft voice that somehow still managed to echo in the dark room.


    Harry wondered if there was some kind of spell that produced that sound effect or if it was completely natural.


    "Don''t know sir." He managed to say after controlling his budding irritation.


    He could disrespect the man and then get into a childish argument with him but was there really a point to it all?


    Just act like you''re talking with a person whose mother died last night and everything will be just fine.


    "Good. Let''s try again." Snape said "Where, Mr Potter would you look at, if I asked you to find me a Bezoar."


    "I don''t know Sir." He said despite knowing the answer all too well. Just like he knew the answer of the first question.


    "And what is the difference between the Monkswood and Wolfsbane?"


    The only solace was the fact that at least there was no Hermione Granger in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff house. It would be terribly irritating if someone raised his or her hand to answer the questions for him while he was trying to hold back.


    He was even more thankful that there was no Malfoy in the class either. Because he was quite irritated already and if he would have to see that Blone Ponce smirk at him even once, he would sent the kid to the infirmary. After the class of course.


    "I don''t know sir." He said and wondered how long it will take for the class to end.


    "Pity." Snape said, a tad bit more irritated by his nonchalant attitude than the one he saw in the movie. "Clearly, fame isn''t everything. Is it Mr Potter."


    There was only so much he would take before he decided to blew up.


    Thankfully, that was all Snape said before he went back to the podium and wrote the instructions on the blackboard and told the kids to follow those instructions and create the potion.


    Harry had the distinct feeling that Snape should have told the kids a bit more about the ingredients and potions.


    About taking necessary precautions to the most common mistakes that new students usually made, but who was he to complain.


    Since creating potion was not something that alerted the trace, he had learned how it do it back in his home so he knew that he won''t face any problem in the class.


    He just needed to tolerate the man for four hours in a week and everything will be just fine.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Professor Flitwick?"


    "Ah¡­ Mr Potter. Come in come in. Please take a seat." Flitwick practically jumped with joy at seeing the son of his once favourite student coming up to him.


    He had always lamented over the fact that Lily was a Gryffindor despite being a brilliant student.


    The fact that Harry, her son joined his house brought him great satisfaction.


    The fact that Harry was able to perform brilliant charms work, as shown by the lumos spell in the last class made him feel even more excited for the future of the young boy.


    He had already planned to set up a meeting with young Harry in the future considering how the boy was a first year in his house and he made it his job to know each and every student of his house on a personal level.


    But the fact that Harry came to his room himself was even better and made him wonder why the boy would seek him out so early in the term.


    "Mr Potter" he said jovially once the boy comfortably sat down on the chair "What can I do for you?"


    The boy waited a moment before answering "I read about a charm in one of the extra books I bought before coming to Hogwarts. It had a charm on it that I was very interested about."


    "Oh! And what charm would it be Mr Potter?" Flitwick asked he found himself sitting on the edge of his with anticipation.


    "The Gemino Charm." Harry said and Flitwick felt his eyebrow shot up in surprise.


    "That is a Fourth year charm Mr Potter. I could understand why you would have difficulty in performing the¡­"


    "You misunderstood me Professor." Harry interrupted him and Flitwick was almost reminded of all the times when Lily did the same thing. She might have been a brilliant student but patience was never her strong suite. Especially when she was excited about learning something new.


    "How?" he asked getting even more interested in the conversation between the student and teacher.


    "I already know how to successfully perform the Gemino Charm Professor."


    "Really?" Flitwick asked in surprise and wondered how the boy was able to do it. The fact that he was able to perform a fourth year spell in his first year would make him nothing short of a prodigy. And despite all her talent, even Lily was never so good at understanding and performing such complicated charms at such a young age.


    Of course, that was if Mr Potter was not lying to him.


    But he wanted to give young Harry the benefit of doubt, just like how he would do for any other student.


    "Forgive me but can I see you performing the charm Mr Potter?" he asked and gestured at an empty cup sitting on his desk.


    Anyone else in his position, even Minerva might have called the boy a liar for saying that he was capable of performing a 4th year charm in his 1st year. But Flitwick was nothing if not indulgent with his claws.


    "Definitely Professor." Mr Potter said and within the next moment there were two identical cups sitting in front of himself and Flitwick was left wondering if he gotten too old and if his eyes were still performing as well as they should.


    Mr Potter had performed the charm perfectly. But not only that, he had performed the charm without the proper wand movement and without the proper incantation and with the ease of a master. As if he had done such thing a thousand time before.


    Now Flitwick himself could get away with things like this but he was a true master of his profession. Harry was not. And yet, the boy that done it.


    The boy, who had not even joined the magical world for a month and he was performing complicated spells like he''d been doing it for a life time.


    That was¡­ shocking, for the lack of a better word.


    This discovery needed some discussion with the other staff members and possibly the Headmaster. If only because he wanted to brag a bit about the once in a century prodigy in his house.


    "fessor... Professor?" Flitwick jolted from his thoughts and realized that Mr Potter was looking at him with some concern. "Is everything alright Professor?"


    "Yes yes. The charm was performed wonderfully Mr Potter."


    "Thank you Sir. But I needed your help with something else."


    "Oh Pray tell what it was Mr Potter?" he asked, getting excited once again.


    "As you can see, the charm was performed perfectly but as of now, the cup is still a simple magical construct that would disperse in thin air after a given amount of time."


    At Flitwick''s nod, Harry continued "I want to learn a way to make these constructs permanent."


    By now Flitwick was so surprised that he didn''t thought that he could be any more surprised. But Mr Potter had proven him wrong once again.


    "I can teach you how to make your constructs permanent. Or at least they''ll remain permanent until someone destroys a part of the construct at which point they''ll disperse into thin air. But that is a 7th year course material Mr Potter. Are you sure you want to learn it?" Flitwick asked seriously because he knew that such a project would take a lot of time. Perhaps even a whole month before Harry was able to successfully perform the charm and even then it was not even a guaranteed thing if he would be able to succeed or not.


    "I''m sure Professor." Mr Potter replied and managed to learn to make his magical constructs permanent by the end of the day.


    And Flitwick realized that he had not felt so exhilarated in many many years.


    For he had a genius in his hand the likes of which had never been seen before in Hogwarts as far as he could tell.

 Chapter 14 - Library in the Room of Requirement

    ''I want to see all the books in Hogwarts.''


    ''I want to see all the books in Hogwarts.''


    ''I want to see all the books in Hogwarts.''


    A grinding noise permeated through the hallway and he opened his eyes to see the wall slowly change into a large door in front of his eyes.


    He opened the map to make sure that there was no one around before entering the room.


    And the first thought that came his mind as he entered the room and saw the large amount of books kept in large bookshelves in a room that was four times larger than the Hogwarts library was ''Oh my God.''


    The second thought the came to his mind was ''Copying so many books will take a lot of time.''


    The third thought being ''I''m gonna need a bigger trunk to carry so many books.''


    He was allowed to take as many things from the Room of Hidden things as he could take with him but the same could not be said for the Room of Requirement.


    A pity.


    Still, he would take as many books from the Room of Hidden things that he could find before he would move onto copying the books in the Room of Requirement.


    As for time, he planned to do something about that as well.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    He looked at the chaotic realm in front of him known as the Room and Hidden Things and sighed once again.


    He was not sure if his ''Master Plan'' would bear any fruit or not. After all, he had no idea how long it had been since the time turners were invented.


    They could have only been invented for ten years as far he knew but he was confident that such was not the case. In fact, he was pretty sure that time turners were in production for the past few centuries.


    Well, he was going to find out soon enough.


    He looked at the room with some trepidation (because if he was unlucky then a whole bunch of things were going to fall on top of his head) and raised his wand in the air and said "Accio Time Turner"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Seven people. That''s how many people were irresponsible enough to lose their time turners in the past few centuries.


    Well, not all of them irresponsible considering how four of those time turners were broken in some form and merely been discarded because they had stopped being useful.


    He had hoped there had been more irresponsible people in Hogwarts in the past but he could make do with what he had.


    Three time turners.


    If he remembered correctly then a time turner could take a person as far a five hours in the past and be safely used once a day.


    Which meant that if he made full use of the time turners then he could have 39 hours in a day. Time, which he could spend learning from the wealth of books he found in the room of requirement.


    Learn what kind of charms and ruins were used to create a time turner and what not.


    If he could create a time turner of his own, then he would never have to worry about facing time shortage in the future.


    Such a thing was very important for him considering how he had Voldemort after his life.


    Still, until he could create a time turner for himself, he planned to use these three time turners to get as much time as he could.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "So¡­ What kind of person is he?" Anthony asked Terry as they sat in their great hall and Terry didn''t even have to bother to look up to know that the whole table was now paying attention to him and he ?r??n?d in frustration.


    "I don''t know." He said half heartedly because he knew that it was the truth and that no one would believe such a truth.


    "What do you mean that you don''t know?" Micheal Corner asked from his left side.


    "Exactly what I mean. I don''t know anything about him." Terry said with some frustration laced in his voice and knew that they won''t leave him alone until he gave them something juicy to talk about. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about Harry Potter. In fact, he had not seen that guy since that one time when he threatened him to keep quiet about his absence from their room.


    "But he''s your roommate." Micheal said in a tone that implied that since Harry Potter was his roommate, he should know everything about him.


    "I know." He said with a sigh "He just, never talks with me. He only comes to the room to sleep and then leaves quite early in the morning." He lied. Harry had not come to the room in order to sleep even once. But he was afraid of telling that truth to others for two very simple reason.


    1. Harry had threatened him.


    2. If the teachers knew that Harry didn''t sleep in his room at night, then they would force him to sleep in the room. And frankly, Terry didn''t want to sleep in the same room with someone who terrified him so much.


    "But he''s your roommate." Micheal Corner enunciated "Surely you two must have spend some time talking with each other."


    "In case you''ve not noticed before. Harry is not a very talkative guy." Terry said with some tiredness. When he had first heard that Harry Potter will be his roommate, he was quite excited. But that excitement soon turned into disappointment which then turned into anger until the celebrity boy threatened him. Now, he was simply tired of all the questions that people constantly asked him about the savior of the Magical Britain and he wished that they would stop.


    "But still¡­" Micheal said but was interrupted as Su Li raised her hand in order to stop him.


    "Terry is right you know." Su Li said "I''ve sat with him thrice so far in our classes and I have never heard him say anything. Even once. In fact, he was so quiet that I even forgot that someone was sitting beside me until the end of the class."


    Lisa Turpin, who was sitting beside Su Li chuckled at that "Yeah. I had the honor of sitting beside him in both the ''History of magic'' classes and forgot that he was sitting beside me in both the classes. In fact, I didn''t realize that someone was sitting beside me in my second class until he gave his attendance to Professor Binns."


    The chatter dropped down as soon as she said that and the whole atmosphere turned somber at once as they suddenly realized that such a thing was not natural by any means and started giving contemplative looks to each other.


    "You know guys. I don''t think I remember seeing him in any of the classes I''ve attended so far." Anthony said with a quiet voice. "I mean we all know that he attends every single one of his class but I don''t think I''ve ever seen anyone talk with him in any of our classes. In fact, I don''t remember seeing him at all in any of the class."


    "Except for the Charms class in which he performed the Lumos spell and blinded everyone for a few seconds." Padma said with a chuckle but stopped just as soon when she saw that no one was laughing along with her.


    "And no one here remember what he did after he performed the charm." Lisa Turpin said. "It''s almost as if¡­"


    "Almost as if he uses his magic to hide himself from others." Padma finished and the table went silent once again.


    "You mean like a invisibility cloak." Terry asked with a bit of fear in his voice at the prospect that his supposedly deranged roommate could come and go from the room without him knowing.


    "No." Padma rejected instantly "He doesn''t use an invisibility cloak but probably use some kind of magic that makes him unnoticeable to others or something like that."


    "That would certainly explain why I didn''t notice him in any of our class." Micheal Corner said. "Do you think he is sitting somewhere in the table right now?"


    At his words everyone turned and looked around the table in order to find anything suspicious that might give away the position of the Harry Potter but couldn''t find anything.


    "I don''t think he''s here." Padma said bringing their attention back to the topic "In fact, I don''t think I''ve seen him sitting in the table since the Feast at the Sorting ceremony."


    "Me neither." Su Li said "But then where does he eat his food."


    "I heard some Hufflepuffs talking about a kitchen near their dorms." Lisa Turpin said "Do you think he eats his food there?"


    "Probably" Anthony said. "But I still don''t see why he just can''t eat in our table. It''s not like we''ll bother him or¡­" then he stopped thinking about what he was going to say. Of course they would have bothered the boy if he was there along with them. After all, it was not everyday that you met the Savior of Magical Britain.


    A fact which had not changed despite the fact that the supposed Savior was attending classes with them.


    "Yeah." Padma chuckled at his expression. "I don''t think we would have simply allowed him to eat in peace if he was sitting here along with us."


    At her words, the rest of the group chuckled uneasily as well.


    They looked at each other with some apprehension before shaking their heads and going back to their food and day to day chats. The topic of Harry Potter thrown at the back of their minds but not forgotten.


    Never Forgotten.

 Chapter 15 - Consoling Hermione and Weapon testing

    "Why are you crying?" he asked as he sat beside Hermione who had been sobbing quietly at the end corner of the library. It was a sad picture really. Something that he would have easily missed if he had not looking for a book in this particular section of the library.


    Reading in the Room of Requirement was good and all but at the end of the day, he was a human as well and became lonely if he spent too much time by himself. So he usually went to read in the library from time to time.


    That''s what he usually did when he was back in the muggle world and he planned to continue this trend here in Hogwarts as well.


    Plus, right now a future version of him was studying in that Room so he did not have any choice in that matter either as meeting that version of him could create a paradox in time and that was not something he wanted to do. Time turners needed to be used with care.


    Hemione squeaked a little when she heard his voice and jerked up suddenly to see him sitting beside her.


    Oh yes, he had forgot to lower the intensity of his Shroud of Concealment so he must have gone unnoticed if he had not talked with her.


    The fact that she had not noticed him even when he was sitting a few inches away from her just went to show how advanced his ''Shroud of Concealment'' actually was.


    He removed his Shroud of Concealment and watched with a bit of sadness and a bit of annoyance as Hermione paled a little at the sight of his face.


    Really, he was not that bad of a person. And he had only made Draco his footstool in the train to teach the ponce a little lesson. That''s no reason to be scared of him.


    He wondered if any of her fellow Gryffindor (cough! Ron Wesley! Cough!) had told her bad things about Parselmouths or something like that.


    "It¡­ It''s nothing." she said with a stutter and wiped her tears with her sleeves before gathering her books and getting up to leave before he caught her wrists and sat her down on the chair before covering both of them with his shroud so that no one would notice his actions and think him as some kind of molester.


    "Sit down." He said with a slight frown and pulled her down to her chair facing him like he would do with a child that was being unruly. "I''m not a very talkative person but when I ask you something I expect to be answered." He said with a stare and then asked in a kind voice "Now tell me. What''s wrong. Why were you crying?"


    She fidgeted under his gaze for a moment before looking down at her shoes and bit her lips in an adorable way before she replied "It''s nothing."


    He raised an eyebrow at her words "So it''s your hobby to cry in the library?" he asked with a smirk which became even more pronounced at the glare she sent his way.


    "You look cute when you''re angry." He said and her eyes widened at once and her whole face turned scarlet before she looked at her feet once again, biting her lips in that adorable way, all signs of previous anger long gone and forgotten.


    He sighed a bit before he pulled his chair closer to her and sat in front of her so that they their faces would only be inches apart and took both her cheeks in his hands and wiped her tears with his thumbs.


    "It''s not nothing Hermione. Now tell me why you''re crying?" he asked kindly, ignoring the urge to kneed her soft cheeks. Gods she was cute.


    That little bit of kindness was all it took before she came apart and started crying. He gave her a hug and it didn''t take very long before she started telling him the whole story all the while sobbing in his arms.


    He wondered if he would have shown her the same amount of kindness if he had not known that she would grow up to become so beautiful in the future.


    He most likely would. Because her intelligence and drive to work hard was more attractive to him than a pretty face. Although he would admit that her pretty face gave her extra credits in his book.


    Her sob story was not that different than he had imagined.


    She had come to this magical world thinking that she would show her intelligence and show what an accomplished witch she was and make new friends in the school.


    But it so happened that none of the teachers aside from Minerva and Flitwick seemed remotely interested in her ability to cram knowledge in her brain and her house mates were not very pleased with her trying to show them up in the classes either.


    Harry had to admit that she did seemed a bit irritating in the classes but that was no excuse for her house mates to treat her so badly and crush her dreams and hopes like that.


    The fickle nature of these students was one of the reason why he usually stayed away from the kids even though he felt lonely from time to time. But he knew very well that someone as talented as Hermione was not easy to find and that he was very lucky to realize her true potential so early in his life.


    And he didn''t planned to let her go now that he''d found her.


    By the end of her crying/talking session, Hermione had gained her first friend in the school and Harry had gained his first¡­ well he didn''t knew how he saw Hermione. A friend? A minion? A student? All of them?


    Well, he didn''t knew her relationship with him but he knew that she was someone important to him.


    Someone who was worth being cherished.


    Someone who was worth being groomed.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the Handgun lying on the table in front of him and then turned to look at the opened book lying beside the table to read the charm written on it once more before applying it on the Handgun.


    Then he took out a notepad and started reading the list written on it.


    "Charm to handle the Recoil. Done."


    "Charm to handle the Noise. Done."


    "Charm to duplicate the bullets to shoot more than one bullet at once. Under Progress."


    "Charm to duplicate the bullets in order to get an indefinite supply of bullets until the magic runs out. Not started yet."


    "Charm to increase the weight of the bullet once it leaves the chamber? Not started yet."


    "Do you think I did it right this time Selena?" he asked as he transfigured a large piece of wood into a hand which would hold the gun during the tests in case something went wrong and the gun went Boom before he went and stood at a distance from that hand.


    "How am I supposed to know such a thing stupid?" Selena snapped at him. She had not been in a very good mood ever since he hugged and soothed Hermione back in the library.


    Turned out that snakes can have a mean jealous streak and can hold their grudges when you don''t give them proper attention.


    "Oh well. Just wish me luck in that case."


    "Eat a weak old dead rotten rat." She hissed and he had to stop himself from picturing the image before he put his focus on the task and used his wand to apply the charm on the transfigured hand that would allow it to shoot the gun at the transfigured human dummy in front of the gun.


    He waited with anticipation as the hand pulled the trigger and¡­


    BOOOM!!!


    He felt his ear drums ring at the unexpectedly loud noise as the chamber of the hand gun blew apart along with the transfigured hand.


    He thanked the gods once again that he was a cautious person and always took his safety in mind when performing dangerous experiments.


    It fascinated him how he could know absolutely nothing about an object and still repair it to it''s original state with a simple gesture.


    He had tried to shoot the gun when the applied the silencing and the recoil handling charm and it had worked perfectly that time so he knew for a fact that the blast must have happened because of the recently applied Gemino charm.


    He noted the reason behind the explosion on his notepad before he went ahead and tried to find the solution to the problem.


    He knew for a fact that Voldemort had sixty years on him and even if he used his time turners continuously on a daily basis till the end of his fifth year, he would be no match for the dark lord in a magical battle.


    But who said that he had to fight fairly when he could simply add enhanced muggle weapons under his belt.


    It would not make him as powerful as Voldemort, not by far. In fact, a simple degenerating shield could easily turn his bullets into fine dust before they ever reached the dark lord but it would definitely give him an advantage against unsuspecting opponents.


    So after he found out the problem behind the explosion (which happened because the bullets duplicated themselves when they were still within the chamber), he went about applying the charms all over again, in a different way this time of course.


    He didn''t expect to come up with the perfect weapon within a day.


    But sooner or later, he would create weapons that would force the wizarding world to bow down to him.

 Chapter 16 - The things I do for power

    After the Horcrux cleaning ritual, it did not take Harry very long to realize that Rowena Rawenclaw''s Diadem was a treasure on it''s own.


    Just like how the legends had told, the diadem did not make you wiser, but then again, it was never intended to do such a thing in the first place.


    Instead, it was supposed to increase your brain functions to the level where you get a memory compared to that of an eidetic memory.


    You still need to read everything properly and not just skim through the pages if you want to learn something but once you did, you would never forget it.


    After using it a few times, he did realized that using it for long times brought immense headache so he had to use it in spurts of time with a gap of a few hours in between but the headache was totally worth it in his opinion.


    With the time turners, he had a lot of time in his hands. Time that he spent in either the library, the room of requirement of some other empty room adding charms on the handgun to make it an even deadlier weapon.


    After all, he would have to fight a troll in the near future and and that was a fact that he had not forgotten even now.


    And as smart and powerful as he was, even he was not stupid enough to think that his hexes and curses would have much effect on a mountain troll whose skin is said to be so highly resistant that even most ?du?t wizards and witches are not able capable of killing it.


    So it would be best for him if he completed his handgun project as soon as possible.


    And he would only work if he had a lot of knowledge about charms and it''s theory. A problem that he was able to solve with his time turners and the diadem.


    He still didn''t understand how someone could be so foolish as to discard such a treasure and make it into a horcrux instead of truly using it


    Was Voldemort really that blind that he didn''t see the usefulness of the diadem. Or was there some other reason behind him not using the diadem.


    Is it possible that he hated the four founders for some reason or another. Is that why he took their treasures and instead of putting them to good use, he defiled them by turning them into a horcrux instead.


    Or maybe after making the first horcrux, he started turning into an idiot so as to treat the founder''s artifacts as trash.


    Well as they say, one man''s trash is another man''s treasure.


    And the Diadem was a treasure if he ever saw one in his life.


    He was sure that he would put the diadem to good use in the coming future.


    With that thought, he put the diadem on his head and started reading ''Advanced Charms Theory'' in the quietness of the Room of Requirement.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "You know, you really should pay more attention in the class." Hermione said in her bossy attitude and Harry wondered once again how long he''ll be able to tolerate her I-know-better-than-you attitude because by now it was seriously starting to grate on his nerves.


    But then again, he had chosen to sit with her in all their class together so he had to suffer the consequences as well.


    Maybe once he saves the girl from the mountain troll she''ll change her attitude and be more subservient to him.


    Most likely not. Since her bossy attitude remained in the movies even when Ron and Harry saved her. But then again, it was part their fault that she was in danger in the first place plus they were never really as smart or as studious as her so her bossy attitude was kinda explainable to them.


    But still, he had hearing her go on and on about the importance of all their classes for some time and that was seriously starting to grate on his nerves by now.


    "And tell me." He said and turned to face her for the first time in their classes with a grim face "Why should I be paying so much attention to Binns instead of reading something much more important."


    "But¡­ there''s nothing more important than the course work and if you don''t get good marks then you won''t get a good job in the future. Plus, Binns is a teacher so it''s obvious that we should listen to him." Hermione said in a single breath and Harry held the urge to pinch his nose and held his irritation.


    "First of all Hermione, Binns is not a very good teacher."


    "But¡­"


    "No but. And for once in your life listen to me. No truly¡­ listen. If you take a poll of all the students and ask them if Binns is a good teacher or not, then how many students do you think will say that Binns was a good teacher."


    "But¡­ he''s a teacher."


    "Yes. He''s a teacher. Not a god. Just because he''s an authority figure does not make his perfect Hermione."


    "But¡­ he¡­" for the first time since the school started, Harry had the privilege to look at her being confused and he wondered if even her parents had ever seen her looking like that.


    "Hermione. Sit down for a moment and think about it. If Professor Binns was not a teacher and simply a upper class student who was tutoring you for the end year exams, then would you truly want to learn from him. Don''t think of him as an authority figure and tell me if you''d still want to learn from him."


    That got Hermione thinking and he wondered if her teacher worship will decrease a little because of this or if he was just wasting his time once again.


    She would most likely not changer her perception in a single day but he was sure that it would be worth it in the long run.


    At least he hoped so.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    There are times in life when you have to do something especially stupid and hope that you won''t die as a result of your stupidity.


    And as Harry stood in front of the sink in the haunted girls'' bathroom at midnight, he realized that this was one such moment for him. And he might succeed in his venture or he might fail.


    He won''t know until he tried.


    With that in mind, he carried his trunk, which was filled with four cows kept in stasis and jumped inside the dirty slide with the hope that the basilisk with be more inclined to talk with him after having it''s fill.


    The things he does for power.

 Chapter 17 - How to deal with pests

    Harry looked at the Basilisk venom he had managed to procure and took a deep breath. Talking with the Besalla (yes, that''s the name that Salazar gave her) had been an¡­ experience.


    Thankfully being 1000 years old had given her enough patience to listen to him without first trying to eat him and the cows he gave her went a long way toward putting him in her good books.


    Add to the fact that he was one of the few people who were ever able to talk with her and he faced no problems in making the Besalla his friend. And after that, taking some of her venom was an easy and simple thing.


    Harry looked at the silver mirror had was oozing a dark aura and had been completely tainted by the Broken soul of Voldemort and removed the cork from the vial before dropping a few drops of venom on top of the silver mirror which instantly reacted with the new surface and melted right through the mirror.


    A shrill filled with terror came from the mirror and echoed throughout the entire room as it started melting under the basilisk venom and it wasn''t long before a ghostly figure rose from the melted remains of the silver mirror and dispersed into thin air.


    "Is it done?" Selena asked with a bit of tremor in her voice as she showed her face from under his clothes where she had hidden while he was dealing with the horcrux.


    Since she could see and feel auras far more clearly than him, the dark magic inside the horcrux affected her far worse than it did him so he made sure to keep her safe from it.


    "Yes Selena. It''s done. Now just 6 more to go along with the original essence of Voldemort and then I would be free from the prophesy, if it ever applied to me in the first place." With that thought, he collected the melted remains of silver mirror and put them inside a wooden box before throwing it along with the other broken and damaged furniture in the Room of Hidden Things before he left the room.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Seriously Harry. Why don''t you ever read the course book? If you did then you would be able to answer some of the questions that our Professors ask." He heard her voice and raised up head in time to see her sit in front of him with a huff before she threw down a bunch of large books in front of her.


    Then he went back to reading the book on Human Transfiguration that was published some 400 years ago. A pity that the subject was currently illegal to perform according to the Ministry.


    He found the book lying in The Room of Hidden things and felt rather interested in the subject which was why he was reading the ot right now.


    Of course, he had charmed the cover to look like an Advanced Transfiguration book just like how he charmed the Diadem to remain invisible to anyone else.


    Just because he was unafraid of the ministry didn''t meant that he would needlessly antagonize them.


    Milenda Servathel, the author of the book had written about all the things that could go wrong when performing human transfiguration and had warned to never make the transfigurations permanent no matter what in case something goes wrong.


    He had learned more about transfiguration after reading this one book than he had after reading all the other course books provided by Hogwarts in that subject. Which just goes to show how far the level of Hogwarts has fallen.


    Or maybe the Headmasters in Hogwarts just wanted to keep the children safe.


    He felt that he should not be judging the ministry and the Hogwarts staff without the appropriate facts. Maybe Human transfiguration was just a very dangerous subject and was discontinued and then restricted in order to keep the kids safe but he had a feeling that there was more to it than that.


    He went through pages and pages of text in rapid succession, remembering and understanding everything about human transfiguration before he heard someone coming toward him and kept the book down in order to greet the unwelcome guests.


    "Potter." Malfoy drawled with no small amount of venom in his words and Harry felt the urge to roll his eyes and the childish delinquent in front of him.


    "So this is where you have been hiding all this time. Along with your flithy mudblood pet." He said and the three goons behind him laughed like it the funniest joke in the world while Harry looked at him with disinterest.


    "You''re being a bother Draco." He said and sat down on his seat. "Leave, before I make you wear another princess dress."


    Draco''s face contorted at once as those words left Harry''s mouth and he took a step forward toward him. "So you admit that it was you. It really was you wasn''t it. You think you were so clever with that little trick of yours. Wait until I tell my¡­"


    "What do you want Draco?" Hermione asked as she gave an annoyed look to the four Slytherins.


    "Nothing with you, you filthy mudblood." He said and turned to Harry who had now closed his eyes in annoyance and was pinching his nose in irritation.


    "You know Draco" Harry said and stood up from his seat to face the ponce "You''re like an annoying pest that is bent on making a nuisance out of itself. Do you know what we with pests like those?" he asked quietly and Draco must have seen something in his eyes for he suddenly took a step back and looked more scared than anything else.


    "Pott¡­" before Draco could say anything else Harry changed the back of his hand into iron and backhanded Draco who threw up blood and a few teeth before falling to the ground, unconscious.


    Draco''s fall had brought attention to their table and now everybody was looking at the unconscious Malfoy scion with no small amount of shock.


    His three goons, Crabbe, Goyle and someone else looked at the scene with some confusion, not being able to understand what happened before they came back to their senses and moved toward him but they fell to the ground as three silent stunners hit them before they could even take their first step.


    "Harry. What have you done?" Hermione almost shrieked at the scene and Harry grimaced at her high pitched tone but he didn''t have to answer her as he heard footsteps coming toward him soon enough.


    Four students who had watched this scene belonged to Slytherin and had decided to intervene on behalf of Malfoy.


    "Potter. What have you done?" A tall guy, whom Harry remembered from the movie as Markus Flint came forward with a snarl and Harry quickly realized that there was no way this situation was going to be solved with Diplomacy now. But then again, he was never really that good at Diplomacy either.


    "You will not get away with this Potter." Another boy said and took out his wand along with the other and that was when Harry decided that he would rather deal with the consequences then be hexed by these morons and lashed out with a powerful banishing charm that struck the four Slytherins who flew back a few meters and collided with a bookshelf, taking the books and the shelf with them to the ground and creating enough noise to wake up the dead.


    "Oh my god Harry. What have you done?" Hermione asked fearfully from behind him and he sighed once again at the destruction in front of him.


    There was no way Madam Pince was going to allow him entry to the Library after this. Which meant that he would have to use his Shroud of Concealment whenever he came here.


    Such a bother.


    "Sit down." He said to Hermione with an authoritative voice which had the instant effect of calming her as she sat down on her chair and looked at him to tell her what to do.


    "You''ve done nothing wrong and you were not involved in this confrontation either." He said and saw Madam Pince coming toward him with a few older students. "Go back to your studies and let me handle this." He said and kept the ''Human Transfiguration'' book inside his limitless purse and turned to face Madam Pince with a bored expression.


    This was going to be a long day.

 Chapter 18 - False confession and hugs

    "He blatantly attacked my students in broad daylight. We can''t let him get away with this otherwise it will set up a bad precedent and everyone will start attacking each other in order to solve their little problems." Snape said in a voice louder than Harry had ever heard before and he wondered if Snape really wanted to punish him or if he was trying to protect him someway even now.


    In a way, he had to maintain his charade in front of other people so that when Voldemort returns, he would not doubt Snape''s loyalty. But at the same time, Harry knew that Snape never really liked him very much because he looked similar to James Potter so he could never be sure about all this.


    "Now now Severus. There''s no need to be so hostile about the incident." Dumbledore said with a calm expression while Harry observed the room with a bored expression and wondered if he could take out the Gryffindor sword from the Sorting hat as well. Probably not.


    He was never the foolish brave kind of guy like the original Harry.


    "Hostile? He attacked eight students of my house and sent them to infirmary."


    "With only minor injuries to Mr Draco Malfoy with the rest of the students being merely stunned. There is no need to escalate this simple child brawl Severus." Dumbledore said with a kind smile in a tone that clearly indicated that he knew better than anyone else.


    Had he not seen the movies, had he not known the kind of manipulator that Albus Dumbledore was.


    Then there was the fact that he had been setting up the original Harry Potter to die all this while as well. If he had not already known all this, then he would have probably fallen for his grandfatherly attitude as well. But as it was, he knew that Albus might be a good person but his plans for Harry were anything but good.


    "Still Headmaster, you can''t let him go away scot free like this." Severus pleaded and at last Albus turned his focus on Harry who was now looking at the proceedings with a bored expression.


    "Harry my boy." Albus said with a gentle and caring smile "Can you tell me what happened in the library."


    "Sure Headmaster." He said with a calm expression while making sure to not look Albus in the eye. Doing so would be a stupid mistake considering how Albus Dumbledore was amongst the few master Legilimens in Magical Britain.


    "But before I do, I am curious if you support the idea of purebloods being superior to muggleborns and halfbloods." He asked curiously to which Dumbledore gave another grandfatherly smile.


    "No my boy. Why would you think so?"


    "Because I''ve often heard Draco calling other students in my class names such a filthy mudblood, blood traitors and dirty halfblood and I''ve never seen any teacher punish him for that. In fact, I don''t think I''ve ever seen him any teacher reprimand him for that either so I was wondering if you or the Staff of Hogwarts condone such prejudice and discrimination."


    Dumbledore''s smile fell at once and suddenly it looked like he had aged a few decades of so.


    "No Harry. I''ve not heard any such reports regarding Mr Draco Malfoy''s behaviour." He said in a sad voice "But I''ll be sure to tell my staff to curb such behaviour in the future."


    At Harry''s nod, he continued "Now, can you tell me what happened at the library Harry."


    "It was not much of a story but if you insist."


    After that, he went ahead and started explaining that he hit Draco because he was calling Hermione a filthy halfblood. How he simply stunned Crabbe, Goyle and the third Slytherin because they were coming to attack him and the fact that he banished the four older Slytherins because they ganged up on him and he felt threatened by them.


    By the end of the explanation, Dumbledore merely looked sad and let him go without any house point deduction or detention.


    His Shroud of Concealment worked pretty much like an Invisibility Cloak, even better in some cases and he didn''t want to make Albus suspicious about him by knowing about things that could not have possibly known so with a last look at the Headmaster''s office, he left.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Oh Harry." And with that, he found himself being hugged by Hermione who was sitting in the courtyard near the Greenhouses.


    Harry hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back as well.


    He liked this feeling. No one has ever hugged him as far as he could remember.


    He had no such recollections from his previous life and Aunt Petunia or Uncle Dursley would never hug the ''Freak'' in their house.


    He liked this feeling a lot.


    He hugged her back and put his head on her shoulder and took in the fragrance coming from her hair.


    "You smell very good." He murmured in her ears softly and felt her stiffen under his arms before she dropped her arms from around him and stepped back, her face flushed red.


    "You know that was the first hug I''ve ever received in my life as far as I could remember." He said softly and her eyes widened at those words.


    "What? What do you mean by that?" She asked with a concerned look in her eyes.


    He thought for a moment before he took her soft hands and led her to one of the abandoned classroom.


    "What are we doing here Harry?" she asked in confusion and he gave her a look which said that he would explain everything now before he sat her on a empty chair and stood in front of her.


    "You already know that my parents died when I was a baby, right?" He said and at her nod he continued.


    "What most people don''t know is that after my parents death I was sent to live with my muggle relatives from my mother''s side." At her nod he continued "And what almost no one knows about is that my relatives¡­ they were not very good people."


    She looked like she was about to say something. Probably chastise him about talking bad about his relatives but he held up his hands and silenced her.


    "Listen to the whole story before you judge me and say something that you''ll regret." He said with a bit of steel in his words and she gave a sheepish look before nodding at him to continue.


    "Most muggle parents are a bit concerned when they see accidental magic. Some of the are those who take it in stride and go along with it, considering it a gift from the heavens. Some on the other hand, take it the wrong way and decide to hate the child and blame all that is wrong in their life at the child."


    "My muggle relatives were on that end of the scale." He explained and her eyes widened a bit at that news and he continued.


    "Until I was 5 years old, I used to think that my name was a Freak." He said, remembering the memories he had received from the original Harry when he inherited this body. "It wasn''t until I was sent to school that I realized that my name was actually Harry Potter and my ''guardians'' called me freak because a lot of accidental magic happened around me as a child." He explained.


    "My aunt¡­ she didn''t take it very well because she had some deep hatred toward the magical world so she taught me how to make food, tend to the garden and clean the house at a very young age. And by very young age, I mean very young age."


    "But my uncle, he was, worse." At this point his breath hitched for some reason and he suddenly realized that he had never really planned to tell his story to anyone.


    In fact, this was not his story either. He had only inherited the memories from this body when his soul entered it. It didn''t meant that he had actually gone through those moments.


    But still, he felt a bit sad and forlorn whenever he thought about the things that the original Harry went through.


    He wondered why that was because he was normally not an emotional person.


    Hermione nodded at him to continue and with her supportive gesture, he continued "My uncle, he is spending 15 year time in jail for child abuse and domestic violence."


    He then thought about telling her about what the original Harry Potter had suffered but then his thoughts went elsewhere and he stood up and removed his robes from his body.


    "Harry. What are you doing?" Hermione asked in a scandalized manner and looked away before he removed his shirt, her face flashing pink once again and he smiled sadly at that.


    "Look at me Hermione." He said softly and she slowly turned her head to look at his n?k?d ?h?st and her face turned beet red at that before her eyes fell on the scars that he''d received from his uncle at which point all colour drained from her face at once.


    "Harry. Oh my god." She said as a immensely sad look crossed her face and she took a step forward to look at his scars and she raised a hand to touch his scars but he stopped her and wore his shirt once again.


    "People in the wizarding world believe that I lived in some kind of large castle with a loving family, going on adventure from time to time, slaying ghouls and hags in my wake." He said with a chuckle and watched with sadness as tears formed into Hermione''s eyes "The truth is not so grand. Is it?" he asked and she jumped up and hugged him tightly once again.


    He smiled a bit and wrapped his arms around her waist as well before lifting her off the ground and inhaling her fragrance.


    "That was the second hug I''ve ever received in my life." He said softly with a sad smile and realized that this event had already changed something within him and that their relationship would never be the same after today.

 Chapter 19 - Rumors in Hogwarts

    "Did you hear what happened in the library today?" Lavender Brown.


    "No. What happened?" Parvati asked as she kept the book down in order to listen to Lavender who was usually the biggest source of juicy news and rumors going around in Hogwarts.


    "Well hear this," Lavender said and waited until all the girls in the common were paying attention to her before she continued "Harry Potter was attacked by Draco Malfoy and a dozen other Slytherins today in the library."


    A collective gasps went through the common room and Lavender once again basked in their undivided attention for a moment.


    "What happened then?" Parvati asked.


    "Why would Draco attack the Harry Potter?" Kellah asked from behind Parvati.


    Ron Wesley snorted at that. "He''s a evil prat that''s why. Just like all the other snakes. I bet they wanted the glory of beating the great Harry Potter." He spat with some derision and the girls rolled their eyes at his stupid hatred of all things Slytherin and his unreasonable scorn for the Boy-who-lived simply because he was not sorted into Gryffindor.


    "So what happened to the phantom-boy-who-lived?" Fay Dunbar asked.


    "Phantom-boy-who-lived?" Parvati asked with confusion.


    Fay shrugged at her inquiry "I dunno but that''s what his housemates are calling him. Apparently none of them had been able to even talk with him so far or seen him in the common room."


    "Really?" Semus Finnegan asked from the other side of the room.


    "That''s what those Claws are saying." Fay said while Parvati looked at Lavender with irritation "We''re getting out of topic. Tell us what happened to Harry Potter then. And why did the Slytherins attacked him in the first place."


    At that point, a sly look crossed Lavender''s face and she smiled at the girl "You know the time when the second years found Draco Malfoy stuck on the wall with a Princess dress."


    "Who doesn''t know about that?" Fay said with a smile with the rest of the students laughed at that.


    "Yes well, rumors say that it was Harry Potter who did that to Malfoy and his goons." Lavender said in a conspiratorial tone.


    "Oh! That would explain why Draco Malfoy would try to attack Harry Potter then. But you''ve still not told us what happened when those Slytherins attacked him."


    "Leave it to the Slimy gits to gang up on a single person." Ron snorted from the other side of the common room and the girls rolled their eyes once again.


    "Did they hurt him too bad?" Parvati asked.


    "What are you talking about?" Semus asked "He''s Harry Potter. Not some normal guy. I bet he beat the crap out of those Slimy snakes."


    "Seriously Semus." Parvati said with a huff "He may be the boy-who-lived but at the end of the day, he''s just a boy like all of us. Or don''t tell me that you actually believe those children books written about him."


    "Well that''s where the story actually become interesting." Lavender said with a b?r?ly concealed smile as she became the center of attention once again.


    "Tell us, what happened." Fay asked with excitement.


    "Well, Draco Malfoy and his goons along with Markus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch caption and their whole team attacked Harry Potter" she said and paused for suspense before continuing "And were all beaten black and blue by him and then sent to the Infirmary."


    "No way." Parvati asked with huge eyes while the rest of the common room broke into commotion at once.


    "How did he do it?" Semus asked once the commotion had subsided.


    "I don''t know what exactly happened but I''ve heard that a whole bunch of books shelves were destroyed in their fight and that Draco Malfoy was struck so hard that he apparently lost a few teeth and lost his consciousness immediately."


    "Good for him." Ron shouted and the whole common room cheered once again simply for the fact that Slytherins, there universal enemies, suffered defeat and for the fact that no one in the Gryffindor house really liked Draco Malfoy.


    "What happened afterwards?" Parvati asked with anticipation. "Was Harry Potter injured in the fight as well?"


    "And that''s an even bigger surprise." Lavender said with a sly smile "He didn''t even received a single scratch throughout the whole fight. Though I heard that Madam Pince came and took him to Headmaster after that. And no one has seen him ever since then."


    With that the whole common room devolved into conversations once again as the first years wondered what would happen to the elusive Harry Potter once he met the Headmaster and Lavender Brown preened under the attention of anyone who wanted to hear the whole story once again.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Severus my boy, would you like some lemon drops?" Headmaster Albus Dumbledore asked and Severus held the urge the scowl. Well¡­ scowl harder in his case.


    He always hated it when Dumbledore called him a boy but it wasn''t like he was in a position to argue with the Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump of Magical Britain. So he just held his tongue and ignored those words with a shake of his head to denote that ''no, he would not be eating any Lemon Drops. Ever.''


    "Alas. So few of us truly appreciate a good sweet after a long and tiring day." The old monster said in a grandfatherly tone. Yes, he knew that Albus was a monster on his own. A true Powerhouse. The dark lord and his cronies might call Albus a senile old fool and a blood traitor all they liked but even they were not stupid enough to attack Hogwarts under his supervision.


    He walked up and sat the room beside Irma Pince who he could tolerate better than most since she was a Slytherin and since she usually had nothing much to say in these meetings.


    He looked around at the other teachers in the room and his gaze fell on Quirinus Quirrel who looked at the him as well and then did the best imitation of a frightened mouse under the gaze of a cat. Why Headmaster Dumbledore ever hired that stuttering fool was beyond his comprehension but he could tell that there was something wrong about Quirrel. Something dark which made him a bit wary of the stuttering man.


    He had no proof of course. Just a simple feeling that there was something wrong. But in his profession of a double agent he had learnt to listen to his intuition above all else. Something which had served his well over the years.


    "Now that Severus is here as well." Dumbledore said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "We can start the weekly staff meeting." He said with that grandfatherly smile that put everyone at ease. Severus wondered how long it took the headmaster to master that smile to the point that it looked so genuine. Because of course, Dumbledore might look kind, innocent and grandfatherly on the outside but no on truly remains those things after going through two wars.


    He knew because he had participated in one of those wars himself.


    War always had a habit of changing people and bringing the worst out of them. And even someone as powerful as Headmaster Dumbledore was not impervious to those changes.


    Which was why there was now a Cerberus in the third floor in a school full of students.


    The Twin Wesleys were mentioned a few times and he wondered if he scowled harder at that. He never really liked bullies and that''s what those two were. Bullies. They might hide it under the disguise of being a prankster but he knew what they truly were. He knew about it all from his own experiences.


    How everyone else only saw James Potter, Sirius Black and their two friends as simple pranksters who only performed pranks for a good laugh or two. And how they made his life a living hell in his time in Hogwarts.


    How they took everything from him. Including his precious Lily¡­


    No. Don''t go there. Those memories are too painful.


    Thankfully, he was once again brought out of his thoughts and this time by none other than Madam Pince.


    That''s unusual.


    But after hearing about what she was complaining about, it didn''t take long for him to join her camp.


    Her camp, which had a rather simple motto.


    Ban the Potter Brat from ever taking a step inside the Library and give him the harshest of punishments so that he may learn from his mistakes.


    The boy was just like his father.


    He had already heard about the rumors that said that the Potter Brat had already once attacked his godson, Draco Malfoy and left him stuck on a wall with some Girly dress.


    He himself could remember such a thing happening to him in his school years. The embarrassment. The helplessness. The anger.


    He fought the hardest for the Potter brat to gain a harsh punishment. Even expelling him from the school won''t be good enough in his eyes.


    Of course, Minerva and Flitwick quickly sided against him in order to support the golden boy and claimed that he simply hated the boy because of his father.


    Those blind people.


    How could they not see that if they let him get away with it then he would just do it all over again.


    But in the end Headmaster once again supported the bullies and sided with his golden brat and gave him the simple punishment of Banning him from the Library for a month.


    Severus scowled at that but he knew when to accept a defeat. He would just have be more strict with that brat in his own class.


    "Thank you for your time." Albus said with a flourish and stood up from his chair, the rest of the staff standing up along with him "It does good for my old heart to know how wonderfully the children are performing in their classes."


    "Now I know that you all have better things to do then keep company to an old man like me. Thanks for your time." He said with a grandfatherly smile and the rest of the staff saw for what it was, a subtle and nice way of telling them to get the fu?k out of his office. And they did.


    Once the staff had left, only he, Flitwick, Minerva and Sprout remained. It was an informal private meeting between the headmaster and the four head of houses of sort that always took place after the staff meeting. One where the four staff members who interacted with the students on a personal level could bring more news to the headmaster about students of interests.


    Students like Harry Potter.


    Minerva had nothing to say about the boy as she had almost no recollection of the boy ever being in her class. Not that Harry Potter had not attended her classes. That he did. But the boy always sat in the last seat at the corner and stayed silent throughout the class, which was the reason why she was able to miss his presence.


    Permona had similarly nothing new to say about the Potter brat though she went to great length talking about Neville Longbottom of all people. Severus b?r?ly held a snort as the plump woman described how much of a prodigy Neville was in Herbology.


    Since the boy was just as equally prodigious in blowing up cauldrons.


    Then his turn came and just like always, he held his thoughts to his own self telling them that there were no exceptional students in his class, which was true in a way.


    Even if there were, he would never sell out his snakes and bring them to the light. Few cunning people ever liked to maneuver in the light. No, that stage was better left off for the foolish lions.


    And last but not the least, it was time for the Head of House Ravenclaw to lay down his cards and what the diminutive man next said shocked everyone present in the office by no small amount.


    A 1st year student capable of performing charms that a 6th year students would find difficult to perform.


    If Severus had not known the Flitwick for almost 20 years of life, then he would have directly accused the man of being a liar and a braggart but he knew the man too well and knew that he would not concoct such a half baked lie. Moreover, he had no reason nor motivation to lie to the headmaster for no apparent reason.


    Severus was not at all shocked when Headmaster Albus Dumbledore admitted that even he was not as good in his favorite subject, transfiguration, when he was a student in Hogwarts.


    Of course he was not.


    What kind of monster was capable of performing a 6th year charm in his 1st year.


    Then Flitwick shocked them once again by telling them that this prodigious boy was none other than the great Harry Potter.


    Snape once again held his tongue at that to cry out at the unfairness of it all.


    It seemed like Potter men always had all the luck in the world.


    Regardless, this was big news and after that revelation about the Potter brat, the room held a solemn air as everyone thought about the implication behind such a news.


    If it was true, which he believed to be the case, then they possibly had a once in a century, no scratch that, once in a millennium genius in their hands who had the habit of being a recluse and had made no friends so far.


    After some more small talk, which no one was particularly interested in, the headmaster told them to keep a news a secret, even from the other staff members and allowed them to leave to their respective rooms.


    As he left to his own office in the dungeons, Severus thought about the implications of having such a genius on their hands and how the Dark Lord would react to it once he came to know about the boy''s talents.


    And as much as Severus disliked the boy, he knew that he would do his best to hide the boy''s talent from the dark lord as well.


    For as long as he could.


    For Lily.

 Chapter 20 - Hug Machine

    Over the last month, Harry had spent considerable amount of time on the Handgun Project which finally bore success in the form of a sleek and deadly handgun filled with charms. Charms that would turn it into the deadliest gun in the world.


    But he was still not fully satisfied. He had charmed the handgun numerous times but most of those charms were only temporary. And even those that were permanent would only last as long as his magic did after which they''ll fade in thin air, leaving behind a normal handgun which would be mostly useless against things like Trolls, Basilisk, Acromantula, Dementors, Giants, etc.


    For his magic to last, he needed to carve runes into the handgun and he would admit before anyone else that he was totally ignorant about runes.


    But just like with Transfiguration and Charms, the Room of Hidden things was filled with books and tomes regarding the Ancient Runes and the necessary tools that were needed to carve them on a surface. And he would have gladly used them if not for the fact that Runes is a highly dangerous subject and can lead to very large explosions if any of the runes were carved on the wrong way.


    So in a sense, it was far more dangerous than even Human Transfiguration.


    And yet they still teach Ancient Runes but not Human Transfiguration.


    Hypocrites.


    But still, the danger was real this time and he not stupid so instead of plowing through on his own like he did with other subjects, he instead chose to stop and decided to ask Bathsheda Babbling, the Ancient Runes teacher in Hogwarts.


    Though on second thought, what kind of parent names their child Bathsheda Babbling.


    Well, there are worse names in the world. Her parents could have named her Bobby. And wouldn''t that be a name. Bobby Babbling.


    Or his parent could have named him Pitter.


    Pitter Potter. Pitter Potter.


    Upon searching, he found that the Room of Hidden things was filled with Trunks with expansion charms. But most of them were standard sized trunks and even those that were created with private commission were far smaller than what he needed so he knew that this time, he would have to create a trunk of his own.


    Which meant learning the expansion charm and learning how to do it well. Plus he would have to carve even more runes on the trunk to make the changes permanent and then add a wardstone just to be extra secure. So learning runes was an inevitability at this point.


    It needn''t be said that he would buy and use the best quality wardsone material for his first space expansion project. It was not like he was lacking in galleons. His trust vault and his bank robbery and other thefts had already seen to his needs and right now he was probably the wealthiest child in Magical Britain.


    But even if all his wealth somehow vanish into thin air, he was not worried because he could always ask Besalla to give him some of her Basilisk Venom and sell it at a high rate in the Knockturn alley. She was usually in a good mood when she finished feeding on a cow and would not mind parting with some of her venom if he asked her nicely.


    Or he just go and rob a bank once again.


    But until then, he would take all the books related to charms from the room of Hidden things and keep it in the original trunk that held a library room of it''s own. He had to admit that the more he learnt about charms, the more he liked the subject.


    Transfiguration was his second favorite subject at the moment and Defense in dark arts being the third favorite one.


    Of course, all this could easily change in the future if he found something else that caught his fancy. But for now, he knew that he was head over heels for Charms.


    While he was reading one of the books on Expansion charms, he also found that Newt Scamander, the bloke who wrote the book called ''Fantastic Beasts and where to find them'' had built such a large space inside his suitcase that he could easily keep thousands of species of endangered animals, birds and plants inside it.


    So in hindsight, his dream of creating a library that was five times larger than the Hogwarts'' library was really not that big of an ambition.


    Well, all those things would come later. He realized that reading continuously for the past few hours with the help of the Diadem had tired him out by quite a bit and he was in no position to study anymore.


    Plus, he was feeling lonely and he needed some fresh air, so after one last look at the Marauders'' map to make sure that there was no one in the near vicinity of the door, he left the Room of Requirement and watched it''s door fade in the wall.


    The Room of Requirement was a treasure on it''s own. A treasure that he was not willing to share with anyone else. Well maybe he would share it with Hermione sometime in the future. She was kinda like a friend so he was willing to do this much for her. And she gave him hugs so there was that.


    With those thoughts, he left the corridor in search for his hug machine.

 Chapter 21 - Damsel in distress cliche

    Hermione was currently dealing with the predicament of having girl friends who kept bothering her about Harry Potter, who was probably the first true friend she''d made in her entire life and someone who was far different then what the books and newspaper wrote about him.


    But still, she doubted that she could tell her friends that Harry Potter was an abused child and that he didn''t like people as a general rule.


    The problem was that somehow the news that she was with Harry when he fought the Slytherins had leaked out. And now she had the unfortunate task of dealing with her class and house mates who bothered her at every turn in order to get to know more about the mysterious Harry Potter.


    Though to say the truth, it was not like she knew a lot about him either. She just knew that he had been abused as a child by his relatives which was the reason why he was not comfortable with other people but that didn''t explain his knowledge about charms and transfiguration.


    It was hard for her to accept the fact that he was in fact, smarter than her in those subjects since she had always prided herself in being the number one in all of her classes and it was a big blow to her pride when she realized that Harry was far more knowledgeable in those subjects than her and that the only reason why she was the number one in her class was because he didn''t bother with those classes.


    But still, he was her friend and she was not going to tell the girls about him. Especially when all they see in him is The Boy-who-lived and not the real Harry Potter.


    But as it usually happened with her. What she wanted from her life and what she got from life were two totally different things.


    Which was why she was sitting in the common room and trying to complete her homework while being constantly harassed by Lavender Brown and Parvati Patel.


    "Do you know what he likes to eat. Or his favorite color?" Lavender asked excitedly and Hermione wished for the nth time that they would simply leave her alone.


    She was alright with the fact that they didn''t want to be her friend but to know that they were only talking with her because of Harry hurt her pride even more and filled her with sadness.


    "I don''t know." She said with gritted teeth trying not to let the irritation show in her face "Look, you might think that me and him are best friends because we were sitting together but that''s just not true. I was just there when he fought with Draco and the other Slytherins and that''s it. I don''t really know him any more than you do."


    "Granger. If you don''t want to tell the truth then you could just say so. You don''t have to elaborate such lies you know." Parvati huffed and left, Lavender only a step behind her with a scathing remark on her lips "Yea. I don''t know what he sees in the know-it-all."


    And with that, both the girls were gone, leaving her behind on the verge of tears. But she wouldn''t cry. She wouldn''t let them see that they''d won. That they''d hurt her. She wouldn''t let them have that satisfaction.


    But try as she might, their words had cut her deeply and there was only so much bullying she could take on her own. So knowing her limit and knowing that she would start sobbing any minute now, she decided to go to the bathroom to cry when a person suddenly appeared in front of her before she could react, she was enveloped in a tight warm hug by that person whom she soon realized was her new friend Harry Potter.


    It didn''t take long after she was hugged that she let go of her emotions and started openly crying in his arms. Feeling relieved at being hugged by a friend and horrified that she would dirty his robes and that he would leave her because of that.


    But all her thoughts were put to rest as he hugged her firmly as she cried and started soothing her instead. And she realized with some morbid fascination that she had not been soothed like this in a very long time. Mostly because of the fact that she hadn''t openly cried in front of her mom and dad in a very long time.


    They were already too worried about her lack of friends and she didn''t wanted to worry them even more by letting them know that she was being bullied in the school by her peers.


    Crying while being hugged like this made her feel safe. Safer than she had in a long time. Even though she felt a bit embarrassed about the whole situation.


    It was then that she suddenly remembered that they were still in the Gryffindor common room and she look around wildly for the commotion that might have occurred because of Harry''s presence and their close proximity but to her surprise, everyone in the common room was avoiding them and acting like they didn''t exist.


    "I call it the shroud of Concealment." She heard Harry murmur in her ears and felt a tingle go through her spine at his soft voice "It''s a passive ability of mine that keeps attention off of me." Then he broke the long hug leaving Hermione feeling a bit empty all of a sudden.


    "Now. Why were you crying. Did those girls said something mean to you?" he asked as he looked in her eyes and years of conditioning took over at once and she shook her head dramatically before he held both her cheeks and narrowed his eyes at her, looking more intimidating that she ever remembered him being and she was suddenly reminded of the fact that he had dealt with a few 7th year Slytherins like they were unruly children and gulped at that thought.


    "The truth now Hermione." He said and then added a bit softly "Were those girls being mean to you?"


    She wilted under his intense gaze and nodded her head, wondering what he''ll do with that news before he took her hand and pulled her toward the door and she suddenly realized something that she''d missed all this while.


    "Wait! How did you enter the Gryffindor common room in the first?" she asked and he slowly turned to her before giving her a toothy smirk that looked quite out of place in his usually blank face.


    "I used imperius curse of the Fat Lady and forced her to open the door for me." He said and her eyes went wide with shock.


    "W¡­ what?" she almost shouted but then realized where they were and lowered her voice though the urgency in her voice remained "Why would you? You know that it''s illegal to perform the curse and you could be sent directly to Azkaban for performing that spell."


    But instead of looking concerned, like her, he simply gave her a cheeky smile "Relax Hermione. No one saw me performing the curse and you''re the only person to know so I''m perfectly safe." He said with a smile that only went to irritate her even more.


    Couldn''t he see how serious this whole thing was.


    "Harry." She whispered with urgency before clutching his hands tightly to stop him from walking and turned him so that they would be face to face and said "Please promise me that you won''t use that curse. Ever again. Please." She almost begged but instead of getting serious, he suddenly stopped smirking and then smiling kindly at her instead.


    "I didn''t use the Imperius Curse Hermione. I was just saying that to take your mind of other things. In truth, I followed one of the Gryffindor boy inside under the Shroud of Concealment nothing more." He said with a smile and Hermione suddenly felt the urge to shout at him for making a fool out of her and rant at him for making such a stupid joke but his kind smile melted all the anger out of her and she realized that it would be pointless to try and get angry at him right now so she simply huffed and turned away from him but try as she might, the corner of her lips turned upward regardless as she realized that it was the first time anyone has joked with her in such a way in Hogwarts.


    It felt nice.


    Then he took her hands in his firm grip and took her out of the common room and she realized that she had not felt so good in a long time.

 Chapter 22 - A talk with Minerva

    "What do you mean you can''t do anything until you''ve definite proof?" he asked softly to the foolish old woman "One of your student is getting bullied and all you care about is the proper procedure instead of helping her. What kind of head of house are you?"


    Minerva looked miffed at his choice of words while Hermione looked horrified at his argument with her head of house.


    He wanted her to punish Lavender Brown and Parvati Patel who had bullied his one and only friend in Hogwarts so that they would not do so again. But the old coot refused to take any action without any proof.


    A part of him understood that she was right. That she could not simply punish another student at his word. That part of him also understood that even if those two girls were punished, that would only make them hate Hermione even more which would in turn make her life at Hogwarts worse.


    But another part of him that wanted to protect the girl didn''t listen to reason and so he had come to the old woman, knowing that she would most like disappoint him once again by not any action when it was needed.


    And just like he had expected, the woman had failed to live up to reputation once again.


    He talked with her for a few more minutes, asking the old woman to at least do something to make sure that the girl won''t be bullied in the future.


    But the woman had not listened.


    In the end, he realized that he was losing his patience a little bit and that talking with this woman was like asking a deaf dog to bark.


    It just wouldn''t work.


    So he had been about to lay off and leave along with Hermione to do something rather productive with his time when the woman had made a huge mistake.


    She gave him a week of detention and took 20 points from his house.


    The punishment was meaningless to him. He would attend his detention and he never cared about house unity or house points in the first place. But this action of her made him realize just how fu?k?d up this whole situation was.


    A boy was trying to ask for help for his friend who being bullied by her house mates but instead of being rewarded, he was being punished instead.


    Well, fu?k the woman in that case.


    Fuck the teachers.


    Fuck the house.


    Fuck Hogwarts.


    From this point onward, he would deal with his problems himself, like how he had always done.


    If any boys, even if it was Ron or someone else who hurt Hermione, he would beat them to an inch of their life and send them to the infirmary for a long recovery session.


    And if she was harmed and bullied by the girls, then he would humiliate them in such a manner that the thought of returning home would feel much sweeter than remaining here for them.


    Minerva also must have seen the determination in his eyes for she stood up from her chair in order to say something but he had already turned back at this point and he closed the door before the old woman could say anything.


    He could still hear the footsteps coming toward them from the other side of the door so he wrapped an arm around Hermione and hid both of them with the Shroud of Concealment.


    He offered his apologies to Hermione for upsetting her but she simply smiled sadly at him and gave him another of her hugs that he could never get enough of and he realized that maybe having friends was not such a bad thing after all. If those could give such nice hugs to him.


    He had originally planned to take her to the library but with all that had happened over the last hour, he thought that it would be better if they change their location for this one time and took her to the Great Lake instead.


    He had a few memories of the Lake from the movies of Harry Potter and one of the most prominent ones was the one in which the original Harry flew over the lake on the back of a Hippogriff.


    He also remembered that at the end of that movie, the original Harry and Hermione had flown on the back of the Hippogriff in order to rescue Sirius Black and wondered how it would feel to spend some time with her like that.


    He made a note in his mind to bring a Broom with him the next time he and Hermione came here. He knew that he was too prideful and would most likely not bow down to a Hippogriff. So a ride on the back of such a majestic animal was out of his reach. So he would have to content himself with a Broom for the moment.


    He was brought out of his musing by a tug on his sleeves and turned to see Hermione looking at him questioningly.


    "Harry, I''m not saying that this place is not beautiful. It is. And very peaceful. But why are we here?" she asked and he could see that she was simply curious about his decision to bring them here.


    "After that debacle back at Minvera''s office¡­"


    "Professor Minerva, Harry." She chided and he pinched his nose at her blind worship of the teachers and anyone with authority.


    He probably knew Hermione''s history better than anyone. How she only ever found any acceptance from her teachers which was why she even now tried to find acceptance from them instead of her classmates. But it still irritated him a bit that she would defend someone like Minerva who could not even be bothered to protect her from bullies.


    Hermione must have seen his irritation in his expression as well for her smile died away at once and now he felt even worse.


    "Alright. Professor Minerva" he acquiesced and continued "After that debacle in her office, I decided that it would be better for us to go outside and get some fresh air instead of sitting indoors so I brought you here for a study picnic." He said with a smile and was rewarded with a smile from her in return.


    "But Harry. There is no where here for us to sit comfortably and we have no books to study either." She said with a smile. A smile that did wonders to improve his mood.


    "I will admit that you''re better than me at Charms but that doesn''t mean that you can simply teach me without any book. Plus it''s evening already and it''s a bit cold out here so I don''t think that your plan of having a picnic right now is very good."


    At her words, he simply smiled at her. "Yes. I can see your problems but believe me when I say that I have a perfect plan for all of this."


    She looked skeptically at him but he just waved away her concerns and took out a time turner and showed it to her.


    "Do you know what this is?" he asked and she gazed skeptically at it for a moment before shaking her head.


    "What is it?" she asked, looking a bit miffed at the thought that he knew something that she did not.


    "It''s an artifact known as time turner." He replied and went on to explain what it was, how it was used and how it was highly illegal to own one without the knowledge of the ministry.


    By the end of their argument, he was able to placate her and just like before, she acquiesced to his wishes and he wrapped her with the chain of the time turner and revolved the time turner five times, which was, to his knowledge, it''s maximum limit.


    Time reversed itself and once the reversal ended, they were both standing near the lake at mid afternoon with a warm sun shining down upon them.

 Chapter 23 - First Occlumency Lesson

    Hermione was looking at everything with fascination, which was how he reacted the first time he used a time turner.


    It was a surreal experience after all.


    After all, time had been called the ultimate equalizer since time immemorial. To know that you had the power to change such a fundamental part of your life would be shocking to anyone.


    Just like when people realize that they can use magic and bend the laws of physics, gravity and many other things to their will.


    After the novelty of the experience wore off, Harry took out the Bottomless Purse and kept his eyes on Hermione, who was looking intently at his actions. And just like a magician would take out stuff from inside his hat, he took out a large bed sheet from the purse and was rewarded satisfactorily when Hermione''s eyes being widened at the sight.


    "I believe you''ve already seen the use of Extension Charm?" he asked with a grin, amused at the surprised expression of the cute little girl.


    If she had bought a trunk from Diagon Alley then there was no way that she would have missed the use of the Extension charm.


    But seeing the charm used on a trunk and then seeing the same charm being used on a small purse were two different things.


    She looked affronted at his grin and quickly reined in her expression before crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue at him in a childish manner which only made him want to hug the adorable little girl even more.


    So that''s exactly what he did and got a surprised squeal in return as he picked her up and spun her around a few times.


    "Put me down." She said with mock anger and punched him playfully in the shoulders while he kept grinning like a fool at her "Never" her replied and spun her around playfully a few more times before he started to feel a bit faint, which led to both of them falling down on the bedsheet and laughing uncontrollably for some time.


    "I''m glad I met you Hermione." He said after they stopped laughing. "Life was so much cold and boring without you."


    He himself was surprised by his own honest admission as he had not put any thought in those words as they had come from deep within his heart itself.


    "I''m glad to have met you as well Harry." She said with a kind gaze before leaning in and kissing him in the cheek.


    He smiled at her and then leaned in and hugged her once again, realizing that he had found something incredibly important in his life that he had not realized was missing all his life.


    They spend some more time playing with each other like children even though deep down he knew that he was not a child. But he allowed himself to feel and act like one for this one time when he felt happiness and warmth that he''d not felt in his entire life. As Harry at least.


    He never remembered anyone from his past life. The presence of any family member, friends or lover was totally absent from his mind and he had always wondered if someone had removed those memories intentionally from his mind or if he was just a reclusive person in his past life as well.


    He had tried not to think too much about such things over the last four years but he had been thinking about it more and more ever since he joined Hogwarts.


    So despite having a past life and despite being an older person, Hermione was probably the first person to ever befriend him and he planned to not forget that fact anytime soon.


    After they stopped playing, Hermione was finally able to divert her attention from him and started asking questions about Extension charms and the things he carried inside that purse and at that moment he realized what gift he would be giving her at her birthday.


    A moleskin pouch like the one that she used in the movie would go a long way to serve her. Maybe he would make the pouch himself. Yes, that ought to show his sincerity properly compared to if he simply bought a pouch like that and then gifted it to her as he was quite wealthy in his own right and he could buy and gift such artifacts by the dozen.


    "So you have books on charms and transfiguration in the purse?" she asked excitedly and he smiled at her excitement before nodding his head.


    "I have. But I won''t be teaching you about them today. Instead, I''ll be teaching you something far more important. Something that''ll serve you better in the long run."


    At her inquisitive expression he continued "Occulumency."


    "Occulumency? What''s that? And if it''s so damn important then how come I never heard of something like that before." She asked, not realizing that she was coming off as a bit rude.


    He would have to talk with her about this sometime in the future. But not for now.


    So he spent the next ten minutes explaining to her the meaning behind the terms Legilimency and Occulumency and a few more things about mind arts.


    And by the end of his explanation, to say the she was thoroughly shocked would have been an understatement.


    "So you''re saying that Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore could read my mind whenever they want just by looking at me in the eyes?" she asked with a horrified expression and he realized that for someone who prided herself on her knowledge, it must have come as a huge shock that some could simply get inside her mind and pluck the knowledge right out of her brain.


    And even though the truth was a bit different then that, he was not going to correct her if that little bit of misunderstanding made her more willing to learn the art of Occlumency.


    After all, now that he was going to spend a bit more time with her, he would eventually let her in on some of his more important secrets and so, it would be important that she learnt the mind art to an extent where she would at least be able to tell when someone is subtly trying to enter her mind.


    "So you''re saying that you can''t teach me this because?" she asked with her hands crossed and he held the urge to sigh.


    "Because you''re too young right now and me using legilimency on you could harm it to a large extent. It is one of the reasons why this thing is not taught to young people. The other being that it takes time to learn and does not show any substantial result and not many people are capable to maintaining the drive to learn it over a long period of time."


    "Then how did you learn it?" she asked petulantly and he realized that she was simply being jealous of him once again for the simple fact that he knew something that she did not.


    "Because I''ve been learning it for some time now." He explained "Before I even came to Hogwarts, I knew that I would be breaking a lot of rules and would need to know and learn everything that would help me protect my secrets."


    He then showed her the time turner for demonstration "This thing. It''s just one of the many secrets that I have. And some of them are far more dangerous than this. So before you''re able to protect your mind, I''ll not be able to tell you those secrets." He said, recalling all his knowledge about the Basilisk, Horcruxes, Voldemort, etc.


    Of course, he never planned to tell her that he was a transmigrator.


    Mostly because he himself wanted to forget that bit of information.


    He wanted to forget that he had unintentionally hijacked the body of the original Harry and probably killed his soul in the process.


    He wanted to forget that he came from some other time line and didn''t truly belong in this world.


    Oh no. He would be taking that bit of information to the grave with him no matter what.


    "But once you create a good occlumency shields, I''ll tell you more about my secrets and believe me when I say that those secrets will be worth it." He explained and could see the determination in her eyes as she decided to learn the mind art.


    "But until then, make sure to not make eye contact with the Headmaster or Professor Snape alright."


    "Alright." She said with a determined expression and then he started her first Occlumency lessons.


    Fair to say, Hermione''s occlumency sessions with him were far more peaceful and beneficial then the ones that Snape gave to the original Harry Potter in which the potion master simply ordered him to clear his mind before brutally attacking him with his strongest legilimency attacks.

 Chapter 24 - Teaching Hermione

    From that day onward, Hermione started to spend more and more time with him in abandoned classes where he would use the time turner and teach her Transfiguration or Charms.


    It wasn''t that she was behind him in the subjects. In fact, she had already completed all the theory of first year but reading a book on transfiguration does not make you a transfiguration expert.


    It just makes you a well read person.


    "It''s about your intent and will more than anything else." Harry explained "Saying the incantation and waving the wand in the correct manner will help but they''re only there to help. The main power comes from your will. When you point your wand at the cup, you need to focus all your intent on it and and then you must will it to change. And your magic will do the rest."


    "You know I''ve heard that explanation hundred times already." Hermione huffed angrily "But I still can''t change this blasted thing into a crystal ball."


    Looking at her angry and defeated expression, Harry thought about it a bit and tried to recall all the helpful tips he''d read in the books about transfiguration so that he could help her complete the task.


    "Well, how about you try visualizing the changes in the cup in various steps?" he asked.


    "Visualizing?" she asked.


    "Yes. Take a mental image of the crystal ball in your mind. Then start changing the cup into a crystal ball in various steps. First imagine the metal changing into glass from top to bottom. A bit at a time. Then imagine the cup shrinking in itself slowly until it gains a spherical shape. And there you have it. A crystal ball. Try it." He said.


    She looked skeptically at him but decided to follow his instructions regardless.


    Harry could understand her hesitation. After all, things such a will, intent and visualisation were never truly taught in the classes. He had no idea why Minerva never taught the students about this method of transfiguring things instead of doing it the easy way by relying on your will and intent,


    Harry had realized that incantations and wand movements were like crutches for a person who was learning how to walk.


    In his opinion, those crutches should never be used unless there is something seriously wrong with your magic and you can''t perform it without the use of the crutches. But not only does the students in this school rely on those crutches but they also come to overly rely on them as time passes to the point that once they become an ?du?t and their magic m?tur?s properly, it gets very, very hard for them to let go of those crutches.


    After something deep thinking, he realize that maybe there was a reason behind it all.


    After all, he had been practicing how to use his magic based on will and intent alone for the past four years without any incantation or wand movement. And he could easily recall the many failures he met in his early years when he was not even able to use his magic to call a book to himself.


    Maybe Hogwarts teaches magic they way it does because it provides instant results instead of the slow method that he chose when he started to learn about magic.


    Who knows how many of them would have dropped the classes and then the school after Minerva spent the first half of the year simply telling them to pull a piece of paper and they were still not able to do it.


    In it''s comparison, saying an incantation, waving a wand and then getting a result instantly was so much more satisfying.


    Yes, maybe there was a reason why the teachers did what they did.


    But that didn''t made them right. Or wrong. Just different.


    His path was different from theirs and in a way, he was grateful for his path because even though he had a shaky start, he was now far beyond the capabilities of his peers. Or even other students who were far older than himself.


    He was brought out of his musings by a shriek of happiness before he was once again engulfed in a hug by an excited Hermione who had just completed her transfiguration perfectly.


    "I did it. I did it. I did it. Thank you so much Harry. This transfiguration is taught to us at the end of the year and I''ve already managed to perform it perfectly."


    "Yes. You did." He said with a smile and let her have this moment of happiness before he continued "But there''s still so much more for you to learn."


    She looked at him with some confusion "But Harry, I''ve you already learned how to do all the transfigurations from the first yes. OH! You now want me to learn how to perform second year Transfigurations. Don''t you? Oh this is so exciting. I bet none of the other students have managed to do this so far." She said before breaking the hug and going back to the crystal ball.


    "Tell me what I should do next Harry." She said, bouncing in excitement and he felt a bit bad for what he was about to do next.


    "Now you''ll have to learn how to focus your will and intent on a object. Because the better you''re at it, the better control you''ll have over your magic." He explained in a sagely manner which only confused her even more.


    He sighed and decided that since he was about to do this anyway, he might as well show her the true extent of his talent.


    "Hold my wand." He said and gave his wand to her who just looked even more perplexed at his actions.


    In wizarding world, giving your wand to others was not something that people usually did. If ever. Because giving your wand to other signifies your giving all your power to the other person because most wizards and witches are not capable of doing much magic without their wands.


    Because of that, giving your wand to someone else also shows the sign of ultimate trust.


    Like how Narcissa gave her wand to Draco once he lost his own wand to Harry.


    But he was different from the others and made sure to never overly rely on his wand even if it was a huge help when performing magic.


    "Now look carefully. I''ll show you how to perform magic with just your will and intent alone. And a lot of visualizing. No wand waving and incantation. Just magic in it''s purest form. Watch carefully because this is the most farthest I''ve reached in transfiguration so far." Except for the human transfigurations he''d been performing as of late. But of course, those were two different things.


    And he doubted that she would like to see human transfiguration in the first place.


    Then he focused his magic, will and intent on the crystal and visualized it being transfigured into a sparrow before finally adding the key element, life, to it and watched in fascination as a live sparrow took the place of the crystal glass ball and ???ked it''s head to look at the two of them before it flapped it''s wings and flew away.


    He then turned to look at Hermione who was looking at him with a gob smacked expression.


    He chuckled at her expression which brought her out of her moment of shock before he was flooded with questions.


    "What? How? When? How could you? That''s¡­ Harry. That''s a¡­ I don''t know.. A 6th or 7th year transfiguration. And you did it without a wand or an incantation. How?" by now she was looking at him imploringly and he knew that he had chosen the right student for himself.


    "Well sit down then. And I''ll teach you how to do it." He said and watched in fascination as she followed his orders while looking at him like he was some like of Messiah. Or Merlin reborn.


    He really overdid it with that sparrow, didn''t he.


    Then he turned a matchbox into a piece of paper before giving the paper to her who looked at it questioningly.


    "Now keep you wand on the table. You won''t be needing it for this exercise." He said and spent the next ten minutes explaining her that she needed to use her Intent and Will and a bit of visualization to pull the paper toward herself.


    And she spent the rest of the day in frustration. Trying to pull the paper to herself without much success.

 Chapter 25 - Extension charms and Ancient Runes

    Hermione''s birthday was in two weeks. And although Harry had learned how to perform the extension charm perfectly by now, that didn''t mean that he was capable of creating a Bottomless pouch for her.


    Well, he could create one for her but it wouldn''t be good enough as a gift.


    There was far more to creating a Bottomless Pouch or a Trunk then simply performing the extension charm and being done with it.


    For example If you create a library inside a trunk, and then you flip the trunk, then would the whole library be turned upside down and be destroyed?


    No, that would be a disaster of epic proportions so there were charms in place to make the expanded space more stable. So that no matter how the trunk was turned from the outside, the inside will remain peaceful and stable.


    Then there were the charms that constantly changed the air inside the expended space so that it would not go stale and cause the person inside to suffocate.


    And if there was a whole library worth of books inside a trunk, then how would a person ever be able to pick up the trunk.


    So there was another charm that would negate the weight of the things kept inside the trunk.


    Then there were charms that would put things like food and potions in stasis so that it would not go stale or rot or become useless in a day or two.


    There were also charms for the proper lightening so that the space inside the trunk won''t remain dark.


    And shrinking charm that is placed on everything that a person puts inside a Bottomless Pouch. Otherwise it would be impossible to a hardcover book inside a Bottomless Pouch because of the small size of it''s neck.


    All in all, there were more than 30 different types of charms that needed to be applied and carved into the trunk in rune form and then the runes are connected to a ward stone that would keep providing magic to the trunk before a expanded space could be called a success.


    Sufficient to say that he might have been learned how to do the extension charm but he lacked the knowledge required to perform the other charms just yest. What it meant was that he was in no position to create a gift for Hermione.


    Maybe in the future when he learn those charms but not now.


    And since he couldn''t create it for her, it meant that he needed to buy it for her instead.


    And in order to buy it for her, he would need to go to Diagon alley. A place which was more than 400 miles away from Hogwarts.


    If he used one of the school brooms to go from Hogwarts to Diagon Alley then it would take about 3-4 hours to make the journey and the same amount of time to come back.


    It was one of the reasons why he left Hogwarts at midnight in order to get away from the wards that would impede the type of magical travel that he wanted to learn.


    Apparition.


    He wanted to learn how to apparate because it was the fastest method of travel that existed in the world as far as he could tell.


    He knew that this method of travel was uncomfortable and knew that if he made any kind of mistake then he would inevitably get splinched.


    In fact, many people get splinched when they first try to learn how to apparate.


    It was just a common thing that happened to just about everybody except a rare few who were able to perform flawless Apparition from the get go.


    Most of the people who get splinched however, suffers from only minor injuries like getting a small cut in their leg or arm. Or losing a toenail or a few strands of hair. Nothing major. Otherwise wizards would have long discarded this method of travelling due to fear.


    He would admit that he was a bit surprised when he managed to do a Perfect Apparition on his first try.


    Of course the apparition was performed in a short distance where the destination was visible to him but that still didn''t discount the fact that he was able to teach himself how to apparate without any damage.


    Apparition was one of the purer form of magic. You don''t need any wand movement or incantation to perform it.


    You just need visualization, will and intent. And that was something that he was a master at.


    So in hindsight, he should not have been surprised when he managed to perfect the art of Apparition without any problem.


    Maybe those people who were able to do successful Apparition from their first time knew the importance of Will and intent and were more intuned with their magic than other wizards and witches.


    But that still didn''t meant that Apparition was a perfectly safe mode of travel.


    It was just as safe as a car drive. Which means that if you''re careless, then no matter how good you''re at it, you''ll still get fu?k?d.


    Or splinched.


    So yes, he knew that he had to be careful whenever he wanted to do this form of magical travel.


    And that was a good news because he now had the means to travel instantly from place to place without any problems.


    So after drinking an Aging potion, wearing an ?du?t wizard''s robe and covering himself with a mild shroud of concealment, he finally apparated to Diagon Alley.


    And reached his destination without splinching.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Professor Bathsheda Babbling." He called out and was rewarded with an opened door after a few minutes of waiting.


    A middle aged woman with brown-red colored hair wearing black silky robes came out of the door and her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at him.


    "Harry Potter, my word. What are you doing here child?" she asked after she reined in her surprised expression.


    He felt a sting at his pride for being called a child but he knew that ''beggars can''t be choosers'' so he reined in his pride and gave her a smile in return, which probably just looked creepy on his face, if the slight cringe on her expression was any indication.


    "Hello Professor." He said and took out the basic course book on Ancient runes that he found in the Room of Hidden things and showed it to her. "I want to learn how to carve runes properly without blowing myself up."


    The looked at him questioningly for a moment before she sighed and shook her head sadly "You''re just a 1st year student Mr Potter. I cannot teach you Ancient Runes until you''re a 3rd year. And I''ll not make an exception for anyone. Not even you."


    "You misunderstood me Professor." He said while shaking his head "I''m going to learn Ancient Runes on my own and carve runes with or without your permission. Now you can either teach me how to do it safely or you can leave me to do it on my on and then later explain to the authorities how the Boy-who-lived blew himself up because the teachers in Hogwarts were unwilling to teach him." He said with a somber expression and watched in fascination as her expression hardened at once.


    "Is that a threat Mr Potter?" she asked in a cold voice and he shook his head with a blank expression of his own, not feeling the slightest bit intimidated by her.


    "No. Just simple facts. You can either teach me. Or I will be forced to learn on my own. There is no in between."


    With those words, a staring contest started between the two of them and lasted for almost a minute before she removed her gaze and let out a sigh and he knew that he had won this confrontation. Now he just needed to push her a bit more so that she would buckle under the pressure and accept to teach him about the subject.


    "Alright Mr Potter. I will teach you how to carve runes on a surface without blowing yourself up. But you will need the permission of Headmaster Dumbledore and a written parchment signed by all the other teachers that says that you''re well above your classmates in their respective subjects. Until you show me that parchment, I''ll not be able to teach you Ancient runes." She finished and he felt the irritation climb at those words.


    "I will not go begging other people to sign a parchment for me." He said with no small amount of venom in his voice and the woman looked at him as if he''d slapped her in the face.


    "You''ll either teach me the subject or you''ll not. But I''ll not play your games of authority like a sheep." He said and then the anger ebbed away from his face at once. "Now I''ll ask you one last time. Will you teach me Ancient Runes or will you not?" he asked softly and the woman looked a bit scared and worried for a moment before she schooled her expression and looked at him in a dignified manner before speaking.


    "I''m afraid you''ll have to give me a parchment signed by all the teacher and headmaster indicating that you''re well beyond your classmates in your subjects before I even think about teaching you my subject. I''ll not make an exception for you just because you''re a celebrity Mr Potter. You can either do as you''re told or I''ll refuse to teach you my subject. Am I clear Mr Potter?"


    He gave her a glare in return for her words for a long moment before he reined in his emotions. Then his expression went cold and he gave her one last glance and left the room without another word.

 Chapter 26 - Asking for resignation

    "Mr Potter. You cannot simply barge into the Headmaster''s office whenever you want."


    "Oh it''s quite alright Minerva. It''s quite alright." Dumbledore said with a raised hand and that was enough to cow the old lioness. "Harry my boy. What brings you to this here today. It''s not everyday that a student comes to meet this old man of his own violation." Dumbledore said jovially but Harry''s expression remained cold as he passed a piece of parchment to Dumbledore received the parchment with a raised eyebrow.


    "What is it my boy?" he asked without a look at the parchment.


    "My resignation letter from Hogwarts school sir." He said without a hint of emotion and heard Minerva gasp as his words while Albus went still at his proclamation before he lowered his spectacles and started reading the parchment with a grim expression and finished reading it just as quickly before shaking his head.


    "Why would you want to leave Hogwarts Mr Potter?" Minerva asked with more concern than she ever showed for Hermione.


    "Many reasons Professor. Would you like to hear them?" he asked calmly and at her nod, he started.


    "The number one reason would be the and discrimination I''ve seen in the school by the children of pureblood houses against Muggleborns. I do not want ?ssociate myself with an institution that condones such bigotry between it''s own students."


    "We don''t not condone Bigotry Mr Potter." Minerva said with a bit of steel in her voice this time but just waved her away.


    "You may not actively condone it but you never do anything against it either which only gives the purebloods even more freedom to discriminate against other muggleborns. That''s as good as condoning in my book Professor."


    Before she could say anything, he raised another finger in the air and continued.


    "The number two reason would be the lack of good teachers in the school."


    Mivera''s expression turned grim at that but before she could say anything, he interrupted her once again.


    "Professor Binns. Who is ghost and whose classes are used a nap time by almost all the students in my class."


    "Professor Quirrel. Who stutters so much that it''s hard for anyone to even understand what he was saying let alone learn anything from him."


    "And Professor Snape¡­"


    "Professor Snape is a certified Potions Master Mr Potter." Minerva interrupted but he continued without a change in his voice.


    "That may be. But he''s not a good teacher. In fact, not only is he not a good teacher, he actively insults other students in his class and shows blatant favouritism for his Slytherins. Plus I''ve my own share of incidents where he actively tried to single me out and humiliate me in front of the whole class."


    "I ?ssure you Mr Potter. He meant no such thing by¡­" Minerva started but was interrupted by his glare.


    "Oh stop it Professor. You and I both know what kind of person he is. So don''t even try." He said.


    "Those three incompetent people teach us half of our subject." He snarled with contempt "You people say that Hogwarts is the greatest magical school in the whole world and maybe it was, a few centuries or a few decades ago. But as it is now, I don''t see how Hogwarts could even be called good. Let alone the ''greatest'' wizarding school."


    "Harry¡­" Dumbledore started but he was interrupted by Harry raising his hand once again.


    "I''m not finished yet Headmaster." He said gravely.


    "The third would be the fact that you professors blatantly ignore various instances of bullying by other students. And yes Professor Minerva I''m talking about Hermione."


    "Did I ever tell you about my History Headmaster?" he asked as he looked at Dumbledore''s eyes, knowing full well that if the old man tried legilimency on him, then he would know. "Did you know how I was treated back in that house by my relatives?" he asked with no small amount of venom laced in his voice.


    "No. I don''t think you do. Why would you? I was one among many other students attending your school and you''re a busy man so you probably don''t know but let you tell one thing."


    "Vernon Dursley, my uncle is currently serving 15 years of time in a prison on account of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence because he was caught in the act of beating me because I was freak." Both Dumbledore and Minerva flinched at that and it seemed as if Dumbledore had suddenly aged a full decade while Minerva gave him a stern glare which promised that they would be having a talk after they were done talking with him.


    "Yes. I''ve most of my life in an abusive environment where I was constantly beaten by my uncle and aunt while my cousin actively tried to harass me because I was a freak."


    "That was one of the reason why I usually stay away from other people. Especially older people. And also the reason why I don''t usually make friends."


    "But I made one in this school." He said and suddenly Dumbledore looked a bit hopeful but then he continued.


    "Hermione is perhaps the brightest witch in her class which was probably why I became her friend but imagine my surprise when I found out that my only friend was being bullied by her classmates and being call a know-it-all while the teachers watched from the sidelines and even her own head of house refused to help her on the account that we had not proof of her being bullied." He finished with a heated glare at Minerva whose face had gone pale at his lashing.


    "I don''t it when people discriminate against other people based on stupid things like someone''s blood status but I hate it even more when others are bullied simply because they''re better than others at something."


    "Those are my primary reasons for wanting to drop out of the school though there are a few other reasons as well. But that''s not important right now."


    "So please sign the resignation letter Headmaster so that I can get rid of this school that claims to the greatest magical school in the world" he said mockingly "And falls far short when it come to delivering on it."


    "After this I would probably talk with Hermione''s parents as well and tell her how badly she has been treated in this school and will make sure to take her with me when I''m leaving Hogwarts."


    By now Minerva had gone as white as a sheet because of his admonishments while Dumbledore merely looked sad.


    "Where do you think you''ll go after you leave Hogwarts my boy?" he asked sadly and Harry shook his head.


    "Frankly. It''s none of your business Headmaster. But since you asked so nicely, I was thinking of going to Bauxbaton in France or Castelobruxo in Brazil. Aside from that, I was also thinking about searching for magical schools in USA or Australia. And this time, I would make sure that those schools are actually delivering on their words so that I would not be hoodwinked like I was when I joined Hogwarts."


    "My boy, both of your parents graduated from this school. I don''t think they would have approved of your decision of leaving the school." Dumbledore said with a disappointed look that would have crushed any other student but this Harry knew how manipulate Dumbledore was behind is kind grandfatherly facade so he didn''t fell for his manipulations one bit.


    "On the contrary headmaster. I think my parents would want me to have the best education that their hard earned money could afford. Especially if they could see how far this joke of a school has fallen."


    "Mr Potter. I forbid you from saying anything more about Hogwarts." Minerva almost shouted but Harry simply looked at her with an unimpressed gaze.


    "Why? Can''t bear to hear the truth?" he asked mockingly which only infuriated her even more.


    "Harry. I don''t think any other schools will allow admission at this time in the year. So how about spending the year at Hogwarts and then thinking about your decision once again at the end of the year?" Dumbledore asked sadly, all the while maintaining his disappointed look and Harry held the urge to sneer at the manipulative bastard.


    "And spend a whole year by accosted by students simply because I''m the boy-who-lived? I think not Headmaster."


    And from there, their argument divulged from topic to topic as Dumbledore tried to reason with him to make him stay in the school, making promises about how he would try his best to improve it up to better standards while Harry remained unimpressed by his false promises.


    Dumbledore had also promised Snape that would do everything in his power to protect Lily and her child.


    From that single event, Harry knew all too well what Dumbledore''s promises were worth.


    The answer was Jack shit.


    And when his false promises didn''t work either, Dumbledore finally showed his true colors.

 Chapter 27 - Request denied and the truth

    "You may not know it Harry but the night you vanquished the dark lord, you made yourself the enemy of all his followers. I''m afraid that if you resign from the school then you''ll leave yourself vulnerable." He old man explained in a sad voice as if it was his life they were talking about. "So I can not sign this parchment of yours in a good conscience my boy."


    Harry sneered at him in return "I didn''t knew that this school was a prison. I''m frankly quite appalled by the length in which you''ll go in order to keep the boy-who-lived in your school."


    "Mr Potter." Minerva shouted "How dare you accuse the headmaster of¡­"


    "Oh It''s quite alright Minerva. It''s quite alright. He''s an angry child and it''s within his rights to throw a few tantrums every now and then." He explained in a calm and understanding manner and Harry was floored by his shamelessness.


    The old man was really quite a manipulator wasn''t he.


    If it was a normal child instead of him then he would have already lost his temper.


    But he knew that getting angry at this point would only give ever more credence to Dumbledore''s words so he remained calm.


    "Regardless of whether you see me as a child or not is not the point here. I would once again ask you to sign that piece of parchment so that I could leave this third class school of yours and find some other school where I would actually be able to learn something."


    "I''m afraid you''ll need the signature of your muggle and magical guardian in order to leave the school my boy. And seeing as I''m your magical guardian and I cannot sign the parchment for your safety, I''m afraid you''ll have to remain here until you''re deemed strong and wise enough to protect yourself on your own."


    "Wait right there. You''re saying that you''re my magical guardian?" he asked incredulously even though he already knew that to be the case. But if he doesn''t show any shock at the news then Dumbledore would get suspicious.


    "That is correct my boy."


    "And can I ask who made you my magical guardian?" he asked in mocking voice that showed what he thought about Albus being his magical guardian.


    "I''m afraid that I''m the magical guardian of every muggleborn student that attends the school and.."


    "And I''m not a muggleborn student. So I''ll ask you again. Why are you my magical guardian. Didn''t my parents left a will before they died or did they actually not see you for the manipulative old bastard you are and made you my magical guardian instead."


    "Mr. Potter" Minerva actually shouted this time "How dare you call¡­"


    "Oh it''s quite alright Minerva. He''s an angry young man. I remember the times I when I was a young man myself. I also had my moments when I became very angry and did foolish things. In fact, there was this one time when..."


    At that point, Harry thought that he''d heard enough from the old man and interrupted him instead.


    "Please forgive me if I''m not interested in your history Headmaster. But let''s get back on the topic. How did you become my magical guardian? Did my parents not left a will behind or did they actually made you my magical guardian." he asked.


    "Harry my boy¡­"


    "Just tell me alright. I want to know why I was chucked off to Dursleys who were not only muggles but also abused me at a daily basis instead of sending me to a magical family where I would at least be treated like a human. And since you''re my magical guardian then¡­" he paused and scrunched up his nose in frustration "You were the one who sent me to the Dursleys didn''t you." He accused with a snarl and Mcgonagall and Dumbledore both flinched at his words.


    "You did. Didn''t you. Oh my god. You were the people who sent me to live with my abusive relatives." He said and managed to look thoroughly shocked even though he knew that news ever since he came to this world. In fact, he was acting quite well so far.


    "You sent me to live with my abusive relatives and never checked if I was even alive. Is guess it must have be too low priority of a task for the Great Albus Dumbledore to visit a lowly abused child like me, wouldn''t it?"


    "Mr Potter, Headmaster Dumbledore is a very busy ma¡­"


    "11 YEARS!!!" he shouted. "For 11 years I lived in an abusive home. Do you know how much time it takes for someone with a Pheonix to flame from one place to another and check if your ward is even alive or not. Do you? My guess would be two minutes at most. At most."


    "You were so busy you couldn''t find two minutes to check up on your ward in 11 years. And I''m supposed to believe that."


    By now Mcgonagall was almost at the edge of crying and Dumbledore looked as guilty as he should have though Harry could never tell if his emotions were true or not. The man was a master in the craft of manipulations after all.


    "I lived in the cupboard under the stairs for god''s sake. If you had taken two minutes out of your day then you would have seen how they treated me worse than an animal but you were to busy for such things weren''t you. I wonder what the headlines will say if I tell the prophet about it."


    "About how Albus Fucking Dumbledore sent the Boy-Who-Lived to an abusive muggle home."


    "Mr Potter. Language." Mcgonagall managed to dish out looking quite scandalized.


    "Oh fu?k you too you old hag. You''re no better than him. You won''t even stop someone bullying my friend just because we can''t produce any physical evidence. Do you think I hold any more respect for you than I do for the old fart over here."


    "Mr Potter." Dumbledore snapped all of a sudden and suddenly, large amount of magic surged out of his body creating an oppressive atmosphere in the room, pressuring him from all the sides as Dumbledore looked like the Most Powerful man in Wizarding Britain. The man who even Voldemort was scared of fighting.


    "I know I''ve made mistakes but I''ll not allow you to stand there and disrespect me and my colleagues like that." He thundered and Harry almost felt intimidated. Almost. And would have if he himself was not rather powerful himself.


    In truth, he knew he was no match for Dumbledore. At least for now. But he also knew that he was 3-4 times more powerful than an average child of his age and would probably even surpass Dumbledore when he becomes older.


    There is a reason why the original Harry was able to disperse hundreds of Dementors in this 3rd year. A feat that even most ?du?t wizards are incapable of performing.


    There was a reason why he was able to stand against Voldemort on his own even if only for a brief amount of time.


    But despite that, the original Harry Potter was not known as a very powerful person simply because he never truly focused on his magic and was never truly trained by any ?du?t.


    So much wasted potential.


    But not anymore.


    He released his magic and pitted it against Dumbledore and even though his magic was no match against the raging thunderstorm that was Albus Dumbledore, he was perfectly capable of negating it''s effect from his body and stopped feeling any pressure at once.


    "Is this what you do when people accuse you of being a miserable ?unt. You show your power and pressure them into submission so that they will be too scared of going against you." He said and suddenly all the pressure in the room disappeared at once and Dumbledore suddenly looked ashamed.


    But just like before, Harry couldn''t really tell if that emotion was real or not.


    "You know what the funny thing is?" he asked "Voldemort..." cue for Mcgonagall''s flinch that reminded him that she was in the office as well "...might have killed my parents but it was you who sent me to live in an abusive environment. He was the one who took my parents from me but you were the one who made my life hell. So for me, you''re actually worse then Voldemort."


    "Mr Potter." Mcgonall gasped looking scandalized. She seems to be donning that expression a lot lately "How could you say that?"


    Harry just shrugged in response. In truth, he knew that he might accuse the old man for treating him like shit but in the end, the old man would just take out the card of ''For The Greater Good'' and then everyone would go back to ???k?n? the old man''s toes once again so there was not much point in taking these accusations any further.


    "The main point is." He said and pointed at the resignation letter that had been discarded in the table "Are you going to sign that letter or not?"


    "I''m afraid I''ll be putting you in grave danger if I did that my boy." Dumbledore said, looking immensely sad at his fate and shook his head slowly "Thus I can''t sign this in good conscience."


    "Ah¡­ It''s good to know that this school can be used as a prison as well. Good to know what kind of low life you actually. My parents would have killed you for treating me this way if they knew what you did to me. And what you''re doing to me. It''s so convenient for you that they''re dead aren''t they."


    "Mr Potter." Mcgonagall looked so sad by now that he almost felt pity for her because unlike Dumbledore, she didn''t use her emotions as a weapon and if she looked at sad then she must really be that sad. Which was a bit sad in itself because he knew that she actually liked his Lily and James Potter quite a bit.


    "So you will not sign the paper and will keep me in your school as a prisoner. Is that correct?" he asked and Dumledore simply nodded his head, looking disappointingly at him like Harry was the one who had done something wrong and not the other way around. The old manipulative bastard.


    "See you around then." He said and left the office without looking back at the two distraught looking people he left behind.


    As soon as he left the gargoyle the anger in his face ebbed away and a serene expression took it''s place instead.


    After all, he knew from the start that Dumbledore would not allow him to leave the school at any cost let alone magical Britain. After all, if he truly left Britain for good then what of the prophesy.


    Moreover, he had still not copied even a hundredth of all the books in the library from the Room of Requirement so he did not wanted to leave the school yet anyway.


    But now that his plea for resignation has been rejected, he had the leverage required to do as he wished in the school.


    Now if he stops going to some classes, like those of Snape, Binns and Quirrel, then the Headmaster would not be able to accuse him of anything since he never wanted to remain in this school in the first place.


    He might even stop going to the Transfiguration class since there was truly nothing that he could learn from the old hag. Though in truth, the same went for his Charms classes as well. But he liked Professor Flitwick and did not want to cause any inconvenience for the diminutive professor.


    So with a smile, he went back to the Room of Requirement where he would be able to do some reading on the Extension charms.

 Chapter 28 - Level of Discrimination in the ministry

    From that day onward, Snape, Quirrel and Mcgonagall would regularly turn in for the staff meeting and complain about one Harry Potter who refused to come to their classes.


    It went on a some time before Headmaster got tired of it and sent for Mcgonagall to call for the boy. But as it was, she was not able to find him anywhere in the whole school. No student of his house knew where he usually spent his time and when she asked Hermione about it, the little girl bit her lip but refused to tell Mcgonagall about his location as well. Claiming that she didn''t know and even Minerva was not cruel enough to interrogate the poor child so she simply dropped the matter and accepted her defeat.


    In truth, the only thing that Mcgonagall needed to do was call one of the house elves and ask them for Harry''s location but wizards had the tendency of ignoring those little guys and their usefulness. Thinking of them as nothing more than mere servants who only knew how to cook or clean.


    But even though Harry spent most of his time in the Room of Requirement or some other abandoned room which no one ever visited aside from him and Hermione, he did spend some time in the Charms class and Minerva finally caught up with him in that class. And as soon as she gave him the invitation, the whole school came to know that he held absolutely no respect for the Headmaster whatsoever.


    "Tell the old man that if he wants to meet me so badly then he can come here and meet me himself. I''ve no interest in wasting my time with the likes of you." He said with a dismissive gesture which angered Mcgonagall to no end but she was able to hold her temper.


    "I''m afraid that I must insist Mr Potter." She said through gritted teeth while he looked as unconcerned as ever.


    "You can insist all you want but my answer will remain the same Minerva."


    "Mr Potter. You''ll call me Professor Minerva or Professor Mcgonagal and treat me with the respect deserving of a Hogwarts staff member." She said icily and he snorted at that.


    "Oh I''m treating you with the respect that you deserve. I think you and me both know that. And if you don''t like how I treat you and Headmaster then just give me an expulsion letter and be done with this farce." He said and heard the whole room gasp at his words.


    Even Professor Flitwick who was looking at the proceedings with some concern looked quite worried now.


    "What is this about Minerva?" Professor Flitwick asked as the whole class now descended in murmurs. Especially the girls who looked quite interested at this latest gossip. The gossips turned up a notch when they realized that Harry was sitting in the class with them and they never even knew.


    But instead of answering Flitwick, Minerva saw this situation as the disaster it was and just shook her head and apologized for disturbing his class before leaving.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "But Harry. This is the greatest magical school in the whole world." Hermione argued and he held the urge to frown at her.


    Over the few weeks that they''d been friends, he had come to know that Hermione had a really fragile ego and read into his actions far more than he usually intended to convey.


    Meaning if he would frown at his words, then she would take it as a sign that her words had somehow displeased him greatly. Which would make her feel concerned for her one and only friendship and then she would go back in her own shell and refuse to be straightforward with him.


    So he knew that he had to walk on eggshells around her until he either proved her that he won''t break their friendship for something small like this. Or until she gained sufficient self confidence in herself.


    She was the most brillient witch of their generation, true. But she was also a work of art.


    And he did not meant that as a compliment.


    So instead of frowning at her words like how he wanted to, he instead smiled and sat her down the chair beside him and then maneuvered his own chair so that they were face to face once again.


    "Hermione." He said "You''re a smart person so let me ask you something. Do you really think that Snape¡­"


    "Professor Snape Harry." She interrupted him and he just stared at him for a while before she blushed under his gaze and ducked her head "Sorry. I won''t interrupt again."


    "Very well." He said with a smile "Now tell me. Do you really think that Snape, Quirrel and Binns are acceptable teachers?" he asked.


    She bit her lips in that adorable way and looked at the ground in thought for a long moment before she slowly raised her head in order to meet his eyes and shook her head.


    For all her worship of the authority figures, even Hermione was not blind enough to not realize who was a good teacher and who was not.


    Especially after Snape deducted points from her for being an insufferable-know-it-all and after he pointed out how she was the only person who ever bothered to stay awake in Binns class.


    Over the past few days, Harry had been showing her all the reasons for why Hogwarts was not the Greatest School in the world anymore.


    The constant bullying of the students. The constant discrimination of the purebloods against the muggleborns and the halfbloods.


    With students like Draco Malfoy and teachers like Snape, his job of destroying her love and respect for authority was not as hard a job as he had originally thought. Though he had come to realize that this project would take a bit longer than he had first thought.


    His job was made even easier when he showed her the true extent of his talent and showed her the method of learning about magic that was far better than the method that was used to teach students in Hogwarts.


    All in all, Project Destroy-Hermione''s-blind-worship-of-authority-figures was coming along quite nicely.


    "But still Harry. If you don''t go to all you classes then how will you pass your classes. In fact, I''m not sure if they''ll even allow you to sit in the exams considering how you never submit your ?ssignments and have very low attendance." She said worriedly and he smiled at how she wore her emotions on her sleeves.


    It was so good to talk with someone innocent like her after talking with a master manipulator like Albus.


    "Hermione." He said and held her cheeks in his hands. Her soft and round cheeks "I never meant to pass the exams. In fact, I don''t really care about them in the first place."


    Hermione looked horrified at his proclamation but managed to stop herself from saying the first words that came to her mind. Instead she took a deep breath and then looked at him with concern that melted his heart.


    He knew that the both of them didn''t see eye to eye in a lot of things but it felt good to know that there was somewhere in the world that cared so much about him so much.


    She did not care about him because he was the boy-who-lived. Oh there were plenty of people out there would would claim that they care about the savior of wizarding world even though they don''t even know what he even looked like. But she was the only one who truly knew and cared about real him.


    "Harry. How can you not care about the exams." She almost shouted before he gave her the look and she realized her mistake and then started talking calmly.


    "Harry. If you don''t take the yearly exams then you''ll never be able to take the OWLs and the NEWTs. And without those you''ll never get a proper job in the ministry or anywhere else."


    "And you think that you can get any job that you d?s?r? simply based on your high marks or hard work?"


    It must have been the way in which he asked the question because she blushed instantly and shook her head at once "Of course not. I know that I can''t become the Minister or one of the Head of Departments in the Ministry simply based on my marks. But I know that I can become one if I just work hard enough for it."


    She said it with such enthusiasm and such determination that he almost pitied her for a moment.


    Then he realized that his pity won''t be of any help to her. And that he must open her eyes right now otherwise the longer she held onto those beliefs, the worse she''ll feel when she fails later in her life.


    So as gently as he could, he held her hands and asked "Hermione. You know that the Ministry of Magic has been in existence for a long time right?"


    She nodded her head, looking a bit apprehensive and he continued.


    "In all these years that the ministry has been in power, can you name one instance in which a muggleborn became a Minister of the Magical Britain."


    She scrunched up her nose at that "Well, I can''t be expected to remember the names of all the ministers in the history of magical Britain but I''m sure there must have been a few." She said and he let out a sigh once again.


    She truly didn''t know how far the Purebloods in the magical society had oppressed others whom they thought were below them didn''t she.


    "Very well then Hermione. I''m giving you a task right now." He said and she perked up at that.


    "Go to the library and search for the names of all the Ministers of the Ministry of magic and how many of them were Purebloods, Halfbloods and Muggleborns."


    "Also, search for the names of all the different department heads in the ministry right now and then find out how many of them were Purebloods and how many were not."


    He might have given her the task but he already knew the answer to that.


    There were only two Minister in the last three centuries who were Halfbloods and that was only because they came from ancients houses. The rest had been been Purebloods.


    Similarly, all the department heads in the Ministry were Purebloods.


    It didn''t matter to them whether those department heads were competent or not.


    For a prime example, Arthur himself knew little about muggles but they made him the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office instead of giving that post to a muggleborn who would have done a far better job in that position.


    And Arthur was one of the good Pureblooded Wizard. So you can only guess what the bad ones were like.


    The Ministry truly was biased and totally corrupt.


    "While you''re at it. Also research a few things about Wizengamot and then tell me how many votes are held by Muggleborns and Halfbloods."


    He knew the answer to that as well. Only a few were held by the Halfbloods and the rest were all held by Purebloods.


    When Hermione research these things, it''ll open her eyes to the discrimination going on in the Ministry and how she''ll have to fight tooth and nail for a decent job in that organization if she ever wanted to work there.


    And considering how she was going to be a beauty in the future, there would definitely be people in the ministry would try to take advantage of her weak position.


    No, joining in the ministry will ruin her.


    In fact, trying to work under the Laws of Magical Britain will frustrate her to no end and she would never be able to reach her true potential here.


    So it was essential that he opened her eyes as early as possible and brought her under his protection.


    Both for himself and her.


    He knew that he was selfish in trying to manipulate the girl in such a way that she would come to overly rely on him in the future but at the same time, he also liked the girl and would make sure that she was treated as best as he could possibly treat her.


    "Go." He said "I''ll see you later in room 713 of the West wing as usual at 6 in the evening."


    "Very well Harry." She said and raised her from her seat and turned around to pack her bag. He smirked at her and smacked her bu?? playfully and she turned to glare at him.


    "Harry! That''s not very gentlemanly of you." She cried out though the pink on her cheeks made him wish he could do that again.


    "Who ever said that I was a gentleman." He said and crossed the distance between them and pecked her in the cheeks.


    Her cheeks became beet red in a moment and he held the urge to laugh at her shocked expression.


    "You look very cute when you''re angry." He chuckled playfully and she glared at him, though the glare once again lost it''s edge because of her embarrassed expression as she turned and practically ran out of the room.


    "You like teasing her." Selena commented from under his sleeves after the girl had left and he smiled at that.


    "Yep. Guilty as charged."

 Chapter 29 - A talk between teachers

    "Minvera." The floo flared and Flitwick''s head stuck out of the fire place "May I come in?" he asked, his tone somber instead of the usual excited one.


    "Yes Please Filius. Do come in." Minerva motioned before stepping away from the fireplace.


    Flitwick''s head dipped away from the fireplace for a moment before in a flash of green fire, he appeared in front of the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts.


    "Hello Filius. It''s rare for you to come to my office. How may I help you?" she asked as she set up a chair for him beside her own. Though in her heart, she already knew the purpose behind this visit. And even though she had wanted to postpone this meeting for as long possible, she knew that sooner or later she would have to talk with Flitwick about this little problem.


    Flitwick sat down on the chair at her gesture and held a somber expression "I want to know with is going on between Mr Potter and the Headmaster." He practically demanded and Minerva let out a long suffering sigh before she went to the nearest cabinet and took out a bottle of firewhiskey.


    Gods knew that she was going to need it for this talk.


    Flitwick himself seemed a little surprised at her reaction but aside from that, his expression remained passive and for the first time Minerva understood how much value he put on Mr Potter. For she couldn''t even recall how long it had been since she last saw him looking this serious.


    And in a sense, he would be correct in his stance as well. For if what he had told them was the truth and Harry indeed was a once in a millennium genius in Charms, then they had already lost the respect of this prodigy because of their carelessness and neglect.


    If only Dumbledore had not lied to her when he told her that Harry was growing up in a loving home with his relatives.


    If only she had not believed in his every word like a fool and gone to check on the Dursleys herself. Gods, she knew that they were the worst kind of muggles and then she had sent Harry Harry to that house regardless.


    Gods she hated Dumbledore for betraying her trust like this.


    And so, she started to tell Flitwick everything that she knew about Harry''s life.


    By the time she was through with the story, she was already on her sixth glass of Firewhiskey and openly crying out her grievances at Flitwick who looked both sad and angry at the things that Harry had suffered and at the blatant stupidity of their supposed Leader of the Light.


    "How could you have let this happen Minerva?" Flitwick asked in a devastated tone as he remembered Lily, his favorite student and a genius in her own rights though even she would fallen short to the prodigious talent of Harry Potter.


    But still, she was his favorite student for a long time and then she fought against the Dark Lord for the good of the Magical Britain and when she died protecting her baby, Dumbledore picked up that same baby and threw it in an abusive muggle house where he was treated worse than dirt.


    In all his years as a teacher Flitwick had never felt so awful about following Dumbledore as he did now and just like the media critics, he was truly beginning to wonder if the headmaster had not truly gone senile as well.


    If you cannot even protect a child from his abusive parents, then what''s the point of holding three different posts like that.


    Especially when the child was someone whose parents fought beside you in the war.


    "It was my fault Filius." Minerva sobbed "I should not have trusted Albus'' words and checked on the boy myself. Now the boy probably hates me just as much as Albus. Oh what have we done."


    After a long silence that was only broken by occasional sobs from Minerva and the occasional sip from the firewhiskey, Flitwick finally said weakly "We should let the boy go Minerva."


    "What?" Minerva jerked her head upward to look at her colleague incredulously. "What do you mean by that Filius?"


    "I mean what I said Minerva. If the child wants to leave Hogwarts then we shouldn''t stop him. He had been stifled in his home a great deal already. The more we try to keep him here, the worse he''ll feel."


    "And just like he said. Severus and Binns are not very good teachers." Flitwick raised his hands in order to stop her before she could refute his words.


    "I know we never talk about this in the staff meetings as it is rude to discuss the teaching methods of our colleague but we all know that Severus might have been an excellent Potion Master but he was never meant to be a teacher and we all know that he''s heavily biased toward his own house students. And the less is said about Binns the better. And then there is Professor Quirrel. I admit I don''t know anything about his teaching methods but if teaches in the same way he talks then I''ve no doubt in my mind that his classes must be an absolute waste of time as well." He finished and Minerva stared at her longtime colleague who had never before slandered another teacher like this.


    "But you yourself said that Mr Potter was a genius among geniuses. Don''t you want to teach him yourself?" she asked incredulously.


    "I do Minerva. Gods know that I do. But not at the expense of his own development." He said "I think we can both agree when I said that recently the Hogwarts standard have fallen to an all time low. It may have once been the Greatest School in all Europe, but I don''t believe that it can be called that anymore Minerva. At least not with the way that the Headmaster is running things."


    "So what are we supposed to do now?" Minerva asked sadly.


    "The first thing we can do is stop Headmaster from forcing the child to remain here as a prisoner. To use your authority to keep a child under your thumb like that is not only deplorable, it''s frankly disgusting. No wonder Harry neither trusts you nor like you all that much. In fact, it''s a miracle and dare I say, a small consolation that he''s attending my classes on a regular basis."


    "But Albus said that¡­"


    "Albus also said that the boy is safe in the loving house of his relatives." He half goblin spat "Look at where that got us Minerva."


    Minerva at least had the sense to look ashamed at his chastisement.


    "It''s a testament to the blind worship you have for Albus that you''ll even think for a second that forcing the child to remain here was ever a good idea."


    They could have talked in detail about this. In fact, Flitwick had to planned to tell her exactly what he thought about Albus'' action in this matter and how far his respect for the headmaster had fallen but one look at Minerva''s distraught face and he decided to change the subject.


    "Another thing I''ll do is that I''ll be giving the boy some extra classes in Charms." He said.


    "But Filius. Didn''t we all agree the before the start of the term to treat him like everyone else regardless of his fame." Minerva cried out but he held up his hand once again and Minerva stopped herself from speaking more in the subject.


    "That we did Minerva. But at that time we did not knew that he would turn out to be such a prodigy. In fact, I doubt he ever learns anything in my class either. Because whenever I ask him to perform a charm, he does it without a second thought, clearly indicating that casting those charms were of no difficulty to him." He said "Sometimes I still wonder why he even bother to come to my class." He said despondently.


    "Filius¡­"


    "No it''s true Minerva. There''s nothing I can teach the boy in my class that would ever interest him because he''s far above the level of his fellow peers. Maybe the only reason he bothers to attend my class is because I''m only one in the whole school whom he respect and who treats him with respect in return."


    Minerva sipped from her Fire whiskey and thought about his words and wondered when she had lost his trust and respect.


    Was it when he realized that she was one of the people who condemned him to his abusive muggle relatives.


    No, she lost his respect even before that. She had lost his respect when he came to him in order to save his friend from bullying and she had foolishly told him to show her some proof in order to be impartial.


    And she had condemned his friend to bullying with her own mistakes.


    She felt like banging her head on the table for her foolish mistakes and wondered if James and Lily would ever forgive her for the grave mistakes she made with their precious son.


    The son that both of her favorite students gave their life for.


    She sipped from her glass once again as both Flitwick and her tried to come up with ways to deal with the situation at hand for the rest of the evening.

 Chapter 30 - Hermiones thoughts

    Hermione was at a loss for words as the cold hard facts hit her on the face with all the subtlety of a bullet train.


    There has never been a Muggleborn Minister in the history of Magical Britain.


    There were no Muggleborn with a seat in the Wizengamot.


    No Muggleborn ever sat on the seat of the Chief Warlock or the seat of Supreme Mugwump.


    There were no Muggleborns who were Head of their Department in the Ministry.


    In fact, there were no half bloods Head of Department either.


    The highest position anyone who was not a Pureblood, had in the Ministry of Magic was the Senior Secretary of the Minister of magic and that woman by the name of Dolores Umbridge who was one of the most bigoted person to have ever existed as far as Hermione could tell since that woman had spearheaded several laws and regulations that put goblins, werewolves and centaurs in an even worse position than a 3rd class citizen according to the laws of the ministry.


    She wondered how she could have been so blind that she had missed how messed up this whole society was.


    Sure, Draco Malfoy, that pompous git had called her a mudblood in more than a few occasions and sure none of the teacher had ever punished him for that but that really didn''t mean anything, did it.


    It was all just a school level bullying, wasn''t it.


    She had hoped that he was just be one of those idiot boys who would bully her simply because she was smarter than them but that was apparently not the case here.


    Apparently, blood purity was actually a thing, a real thing in this society. And by their standards, she was just a 2nd class citizen with far fewer rights then that of a pureblood.


    Had she been so blinded by the discovery of magic that she even forgot to check on how her new world worked.


    Had she been lulled into a state of peace inside the safety of Hogwarts to such a degree that she utterly forgot that she would have to join the world outside once she departed from Hogwarts.


    Did she even want to live in a society which actively discriminated against her and treated her like a 2nd class citizen based on something as stupid as her blood purity, which was all just a hoax as far as she could tell.


    She wondered where she would be if Harry had not barged into her life and opened her eyes to the reality of the wizarding world.


    She would probably still be that naive doe eyed child who thought that she would get any job she wants if she just studied hard enough.


    But now that she knew.


    The problem was that she had no idea what she was supposed to do with this new information.


    She couldn''t go back to the muggle world and live like a muggle. Not after she had seen the beauty of magic.


    Well, she might still be able to go back to the muggle world and be able to the muggle world and join a new school and continue her life like nothing had ever happened.


    And now, for perhaps the first time in her life, she had no idea what she should do. For the first time in her life, she was well and truly lost.


    But then another thought entered her mind as she realized that for the first time, she was not alone either.


    Yes. Harry would know what to do considering how he was the one who opened her eyes in the first place.


    He always knew what to do.


    And she was glad that he was her first friend.


    She removed the tears that had come to her eyes when she had realized how she had been lied to when she first entered this world. And by none other then Minerva Mcgonagall herself. A woman whom she respected to no end in the beginning, but a woman who was rapidly losing her respect lately.


    Well, technically Minerva had not lied to them but not telling them about the Blood Purity and the war that took place about 10 years ago was wrong. She and her parents should have known about all of this before she entered the magical world.


    If they did then maybe they would have thought more before deciding whether to send her to this new school or not.


    Perhaps this was exactly why Minerva didn''t told them about the dark side of this world.


    A school where their children would be discriminated against because of stupid things like blood purity.


    She shook her head from her thoughts and stood up in order to search for Harry and felt a small pride in the fact that she was probably the only person in the whole castle who would have been able to find him.


    Whom he had honored with his friendship.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    She found him in one of the few abandoned rooms which he had taken for his own use.


    For a moment she stopped and wondered why there were so many abandoned rooms in the school.


    Was it possible that a lot more students attended classes in the past.


    From what she''d heard, a lot of magical families were wiped out in the past two wizarding wars.


    And from what she''d heard, a lot of subjects that were taught in the past had now been cancelled as well because of lack of students willing to learn those subjects.


    As of now, their whole 1st year class didn''t even have a total of 60 students.


    And that was the total amount of magical children in the whole Britain.


    Was it possible that fewer and fewer magical children were being born every year or was the decline in students because of the numerous wars Britain had gone through in the past.


    And that was when the good side won the wars.


    She shuddered to think what would have happened if the blood purists had won the wars.


    But then again, even though the so-called light side have won the past two wars, that didn''t mean that the situation got much better for them.


    It didn''t matter who won the war. In the end, the purebloods still held all the power required to change the laws in order to give equality to muggleborns and the other races.


    But why would they, when every law in existence are already in their favor.


    She suddenly wondered what would happen in the future when she had her own kids.


    Would she sent them to Hogwarts where they would be openly discriminated against only to graduate and join a magical society that''s filled with even more discrimination.


    She shook her head at that thought.


    No wonder why so few students attended Hogwarts now a days.


    She was starting to see why Harry did not like Albus-the-leader-of-the-light-Dumbledore that much.


    She entered the room slowly in order to not distract Harry from his work and quietly closed the door before putting a few locking charm on it.


    Then she attention went to the six 10 inch by 10 inch white plates with red colored ruins carved on it as Harry read instructions on some old tome before checking it with the tablets filled with runes again and again probably in order to find any kind of mistakes in it.


    She had no idea that he knew anything about ancient runes but then again, she did not knew much about him at all.


    And that was a rather sad thing considering that she was perhaps his only friend in the whole school as well. Well, except for his snake Selena whom he often talked with in Parseltongue.


    "What are you doing?" she asked softly as she stood behind him and gazed at the tome he was holding up that showed runes similar to the ones that were carved on the six tablets.


    He continued checking up the tablets for a minute before replying "Making sure that I''ve got the right thing and that I was not hoodwinked by the shopkeeper."


    "Hoodwinked?" she asked curiously before her gaze fell back on the tablets once again all of which held a white stone embedded at their center.


    She curiously tried to reach for the white stone but was stopped by Harry who held her wrist in a tight grip and gave her a reproachful look that made her feel like a child that''d been caught with his hands inside the cookie jar.


    "That''s a ward stone. They''re not harmful but you should not play with them unless you know a bit more about them." He said as he fell back in a lecture mode "That thing is called a warding tablet and creates a specific kind of ward around a given area when activated."


    She digested that information for a moment before asking curiously "What kind of wards do these ones create?"


    "These are simple Fire and Explosion containing wards. These wards that are commonly used in magical houses and act as an advanced form of fire alarm system that are being used in the muggle banks and other such building nowadays."


    "Though I would admit that most people don''t have buy these Ward Tablets since most of the Ward Specialist they hire are fully capable of constructing such simple wards on their own."


    "So why did you bought these Ward Tablets?" she asked.


    "Because I can''t really invite a Ward Specialist inside Hogwarts Grounds now can I?" he said and then with a wave of his arm, all the six Ward Tablets flew in the air and went on opposite directions.


    Four went to the four walls while the other two went to the roof and the floor of the room and then at once, they merged into the wall with some kind of magic before the wall returned to it''s original shape while she looked wide eyed at the spectacle in front of her.


    Even after seeing Harry''s command at wandless and wordless magic many times before, she sometimes still found it hard to believe that someone could have such a level of control over their magic.


    But then again, he had been learning how to do it since the past four years so that explained a bit about his mastery over his magic though she still doubted if she would ever have such precise control over her own magic that she would stop relying on the wand waves and incantations as crutches.


    Especially when after so many days of trying, she was still not able to move a paper by even an inch without using her wand.


    And he made it all seem so easy.


    She wondered how envious she would have felt if she still saw him as a fellow wizard and not a mentor, even though in truth, he was 10 months younger than her.


    Thinking of him as a teacher helped with her envy because she really respected her teachers.


    This was probably one of the few times when her blind worship of the authority figures actually helped her.


    "There. All set." He said with a grin that she saw whenever he finished a job properly.


    "Now I just need to make sure that the wards are working properly." He said and pointed his hand at a piece of paper before narrowing his eyes and in the very next moment, the whole paper ignited. The fire must have burned for a millisecond before a heavy pressure descended on the room and the fire was snuffed out before it could rise even a few inches.


    Silence.


    "It worked." Harry said with no small amount of enthusiasm and turned to her hungrily and she knew what he wanted and opened her arms before she was enveloped in a tight hug the very next second.


    Ever since the first time she hugged Harry, he''d gotten kinda addicted to that feeling and asked for one every time he succeeded in something.


    And considering how she never had any friends in her previous school and was attention starved herself, she never objected to those hugs that made her feel loved and wanted.


    She supposed that in a sense, it was both lovely and sad at the same time.


    Two children. One who was never able to make any friends. Another who was too wary of making any.


    But such thoughts were for another time, for now she was simply going to enjoy his warmth for as long as he deigned to hug her.


    "Mmm¡­ You''re so cozy." He murmured and she felt her cheeks redden.


    "Harry." She chided and he gave her another chuckle before allowing her to leave his embrace, leaving her feeling a bit cold without is warm touch but feeling satisfied all the same.


    He gave her another warm smile before he went back to experimenting with the wards once again.


    At first he simply lit something on a fire and saw the reaction of the wards and she had to admit that they were pretty impressive.


    Then he increased the level of fire in a steady pace and watched as the wards dumped down the fire time and time again until he increase the level once again and by the end of it, he was casting explosive curses left and right and each time the explosion was contained by the wards before it could scorch or damage anything too badly.


    By the end of it, there was a huge smile of Harry''s face and he looked thoroughly satisfied and then she was engulfed into another hug.


    "That was awesome." He cried out and she wondered what he was talking about. Sure the wards were pretty impressive but why did he need them in the first place.


    When she asked, he grinned at her and replied "Because I''m learning Ancient Runes on my on. And with no one to guide me, I''m pretty sure there will a lot of explosions going on around in here. So I bought these wards as protection."


    "Usually only one tablet is used for a single home but I''m loaded and these tablets were not very expensive so I bought six of them for additional safety."


    "I also bought a smaller tablet carved with runes that I will be wearing around my neck when practicing Ancient runes. It was much more expensive then these larger ones but it''ll do it''s job and keep me safe from any harm so it was totally worth it." He said with a smile that often made her realize how truly young he was.


    And whenever she saw that carefree smile, he felt the urge to curse his abusive relatives that were the reason why only she, whom he trusted quite a bit, was able to see that carefree smile.


    "That''s good and all. But why didn''t you ask the Ancient Runes Professor to teach you the subject in the first place?" she asked curiously though she instantly cursed herself for her line of thought as she saw his smile fade away and turn into a scowl.


    "I did went to her in order to learn." He said with a forced smile "And she told me that she would not teach me until I brought a signed paper from all my teachers saying that I''m well above my peers in their subject."


    "Oh¡­" she said and realized that Harry would never do such a thing.


    Even in the small time she''d spent with him, she had come to learn that he was a very prideful person. A bit too extreme if anyone asked her. It was almost as if someone had once taken everything from him and the only thing that he had left was his pride which was probably why he guarded it with such zeal.


    He would never discard his pride and go to the teachers and beg them to sign a paper for him. He was too prideful for that. Especially when there were teachers like Snape who were openly hostile toward him and would never sign that paper in the first place.


    Not to mention that he would never even converse with Mcgonagall on his own accord after her head of house refused to punish her bullies in any shape or form.


    So yes, she could understand why he would resort to such protective measures in order to learn Ancient Runes instead of learning it from the teacher who, in her mind, had no right to decline a student like Harry who respected knowledge more than anything else.


    But maybe that was just her bias talking.


    She sometimes suspected that the only reason why he even bothered to talk with her in the start was because she was the smartest girl in the class.


    And he had even called her cute on multiple occasions though she failed to see why he would ever call her that.


    No one, except her parents, had ever called her that. In fact, the boys in her last school were usually quite mean to her, calling her names like Beaverface and Bucktooth.


    Not that the boys in this school were any better, calling her names like know-it-all and mudblood.


    In the face of all that criticism, she found it hard to believe that someone would ever call her cute but at night when no one was watching her, she would smile to herself and admit that she rather liked it when he called her cute.


    What girl wouldn''t.


    She felt rather lucky that she was Harry''s friend and often wondered where she would be without his friendship and constant support.

 Chapter 31 - Rift in friendship

    Harry sat beside Hermione in the Herbology class and wondered if he should drop out of this class as well.


    Now that he had talked with Albus Dumbledore and they''ve made it clear between themselves that he was not really interested in remaining in this school anymore and the only reason he was even here was because Dumbledore couldn''t allow the Boy-Who-Would-Be-Sacrificed-For-The-Greater-Good to slip out of his fingers, he could literally stop coming to any class that he didn''t like.


    In fact, he had not attended the last two classes of Potions and History of Magic and the last three classes of Defense Against the Dark Arts.


    Now he was wondering if he should drop out of Herbology as well considering how he was not really all that interested in that subject.


    Learning how to plant and nurture Bubotuber might be good for anyone who was interested in learning about plants and wanted good marks in their classes but for him, it was nothing but a huge waste of his time.


    Time that he could spend doing something else.


    But then again, Pomona was such a nice woman and he didn''t want to leave Hermione all alone in case she might get bullied by her classmates which would force him to retaliate against them.


    Not that she''d been bullied by anyone recently.


    His name carried at least that much weight around here. Especially after he sent one Slytherin 3rd year to the infirmary for calling Hermione a mudblood behind their backs.


    No concrete evidence of his involvement was found as the boy simply tripped his legs and fell to the ground, hard, breaking his jaw and countless teeth.


    But regardless of any concrete evidence, everyone knew that it was him who did it so bullies now stayed well away from Hermione.


    Except for the few girls who were now bothering her even more now that they know how protective Harry could be when he wanted to.


    He wanted to teach the girls a lesson on his own but by some divine intervention, Minerva Mcgonagall took the incentive herself and called those girls to the office in order to deal with them.


    From the looks Minerva was giving him, it was clear that she was trying to turn over a new leaf.


    Or maybe she was doing it all under Headmaster''s order in order to make his stay in Hogwarts more comfortable. You could never tell with all the manipulations going around.


    And Hermione had also told him that Snape had also become a bit subdued lately.


    Maybe threatening the headmaster with leaving the school was not such a bad thing after all.


    Not that he was ready in any shape or form to leave the school in the first place.


    He still wasn''t anywhere close to copying all the books in the Restricted section and even if he did, he still needed time for using the Room of Requirement properly. After all, he doubted that he would be able to find any such room anywhere else in the world.


    He was brought out of his musings by an elbow on the ribs.


    He turned to look at Hermione who was sending him a glare telling him to focus on the given task and he sighed once again.


    He might have decreased the trust she had on the authority figures but there was still a lot of things about her that he didn''t particularly liked.


    He could still remember how she took 11 classes in her 3rd year and had to use a time turner simply so she could keep up and even then she seemed haggard and tired all the time.


    Of course, she would probably never get the top marks in Herbology because of Neville who was a prodigy in that subject but that didn''t change the fact that her obsession with getting the top marks in all the other subjects was very unhealthy.


    Especially when some of those subjects were Muggle Studies, Divination and History of Magic.


    Wait, didn''t she dropped out of Divination when Trelawny predicted Harry''s death once again.


    Huh, the exhaustion must have caught up to her otherwise she would have never insulted a teacher to her face no matter how batty the teacher seemed to be in the movies.


    He looked around the class and noticed the other students learning to plant the dark red seeds with the black spot in their respective pots.


    An overall boring exercise in his mind especially when he''d made it clear that he was never interested in Herbology in the first place.


    He looked at Hermione who was now focused on her task and sighed.


    He didn''t know if he could find some way to change her mind so that she would stop paying so attention to things like these that would not matter in the long term.


    If he did, then he would not have found The Chamber of Secrets or The Room of Hidden Things. Nor would he have created such a large following in the Slytherin house.


    You don''t win the respect of your fellow Slytherin peers by getting top marks in Herbology.


    And even though he was not much of a fan of Voldemort, he knew that there was always something that you could learn from people like these.


    He looked at Hermione and wondered what he could do that would break her out of her fantasy world in which Higher Marks equals to huge success in the world.


    Words would not work on her. Especially when his conversation skills were rather bad and he had doubts that he would win an argument against her even if he was on the right.


    She needed to go through a dangerous situation that would change her world view.


    Something that would make her realize that things like Herbology, History of Magic and things like these won''t really help her in the long run.


    Not that he had anything against Herbology but he felt that the both of them could do much more in subjects like Transfiguration and Charms if they just put their minds together.


    So where was he, yes, she need something drastic to happen in her life which would help her understand that using her precious time on things like Herbology won''t be of much use in the long run.


    And then he remembered a plan that he had scraped some time ago.


    The plan about the troll.


    The incident with the troll was something that he''d decided to stop when he became friend with Hermione.


    After all, there was not way he would endanger his friend and pit her against a troll just so he could come and save her at time.


    Such a traumatizing experience might bond them together like how it did in the real movie but that didn''t mean that he would continue with that event.


    What''s more, with all the changes he''d made in Hogwarts, he doubted that anyone would bully Hermione anytime soon, or that she would ever have to run to a bathroom in order to cry her tears out.


    So the troll incident was something that he''d scraped up some time ago and decided that he would rather leave it to the Headmaster and the other teachers like how it should have been.


    But here was a great learning experience for Hermione and if he was careful then no harm would come to Hermione.


    And who''s he to say ''No'' to such a bonding experience.


    But regardless, he still felt like a d??k for betraying his friend like that.


    "Say Hermione." He said in order to get her attention and when she looked at him with scrutiny, he continued "You already know about my confrontation with the Headmaster. If, I leave this school at the end of the term, would you come with me?" he asked hopefully cause he considered himself a good friend if you ignore the incoming troll attack which might traumatize her a bit.


    Hermione looked at him in a complicated manner and chewed her lips for a moment but when she didn''t replied for a long moment, he felt something shatter in his heart.


    "You''re a very good friend Harry. But I don''t know if my parents would allow me to change school just because of a friend." She said slowly and he felt a stab in his heart.


    Because he had genuinely believed that he was her best friend and that she would follow him to the ends of the world with him.


    Well, maybe not to the ends of the world but he still believed that she thought more about their friendship than he did.


    But maybe it was just him.


    Or maybe she simply valued her education more than her friendship with him.


    A heavy feeling settle in his heart and he felt something prickle in his eyes.


    "I see." He managed to say which out a bit croaked because of his emotions and he could see Hermione''s face suddenly turn pale but before she could say anything, he turned his Shroud of Concealment to it''s fullest and watched in sadness as Hermione suddenly looked a bit unsure before she went back to her work.


    And he had thought that he had a friend in her who would always stay with him no matter what.


    The fact that she valued the school more than him felt like a stab to his heart.


    It should not have been as the logical part of his brain knew that such a feeling was a bit childish but his emotions didn''t let him think about any such logic.


    And he felt like she had betrayed him in some way even though she really didn''t.


    She really just... didn''t valued their friendship as much as he had thought.


    Well, in the end, you cannot really expect a person to leave his or her school just because their friend did so as well.


    And what made him even more of a hypocrite was the fact that if Hermione left the school then he would not have followed her, though he would try his best to make her stay.


    But that didn''t change the fact that he felt like utter shit right now.


    He left the class without anyone noticing anything strange and it would be a few minutes before even Hermione would realize that he''d left her side.

 Chapter 32 - Harrys Gift

    Hermione looked at the trunk in her bed and read the note attached to it before tears prickled down her face.


    It was the only gift she had received throughout the day.


    None of her other classmates knew that today was her birthday or even bothered to care and even tough her parents cared a great deal about her, they couldn''t send a gift to her here in Hogwarts because no muggle Post would ever reach here and they had no magical owl with which they could send their gift.


    The only gift she received was given to her by Harry and she hadn''t talked to him in the last two weeks.


    No, it was not that she had not talked with him but more like she hadn''t even seen him in the school till now.


    She searched for him in all the abandoned rooms in which they studied together but found that those rooms were just that now. Abandoned. Just like she was.


    She still remembered clearly how Harry had asked her if she would leave the school with him if she did and she remembered how she had hesitated and then said that she wasn''t sure that parents would allow it even though she knew that it was just en excuse and nothing more.


    After all, the school was becoming better these days for her.


    All the bullies now left her alone.


    All the teachers now paid more attention to her and even Professor Snape seemed in a better mood these days as he hardly took any points from them without reason.


    And all her roommates treated her better now. Even though most of the time they only wanted to know about Harry.


    All in all, her life was turning out to be pretty good here in Hogwarts which was why she had made that excuse when he asked if she would transfer with him if he left the school.


    She only later realized the weight behind those words.


    He had wanted to know how deep their friendship was.


    He had wanted to know what their friendship meant to her.


    And then she had gone ahead and gave that excuse about her parents but in the end, that''s just what it was. A flimsy excuse.


    As soon as she had given that excuse, his expression had turned to stone before slowly crumbling away as his eyes became wet and at that moment, she knew that she had made a horrible mistake.


    He had not come to meet her in the abandoned room to teach her about charms that evening.


    She had tried to find him after that and hadn''t stopped her search till the curfew but found no signs of him anywhere in the castle.


    The same thing happened the next day. And the next. And she soon figured out why none of the teachers were able to ever find him no matter how much they tried.


    And why he was given the cheesy nickname of the ''Phantom'' even though none of the students dared to call that name to his face.


    She had felt utterly alone the first few days without his constant presence. Without his constant hugs.


    And that feeling only got worse along with time and by now she had even forgotten how many times she had cried over the last few days.


    Unlike how it was at the start of the term, none of the boys bullied her or called her names as all the teachers had now become quite strict about this and gave quite harsh punishments to anyone who was caught in the act of bullying but that didn''t mean that she was treated any better by her housemates who had now actively begun to shun her.


    Harry had once threatened Ron in front of the whole class when he had called her a know-it-all and the red haired boy had almost pissed his pants in fright.


    The Gryffindors hadn''t taken kindly to the fact that one of their own had been threatened by someone from outside the house even though they had conveniently forgotten that she belonged to Gryffindor as well and Ron bullied her all the time before Harry set him up straight.


    No all the housemates had actively alienated her at her time of need and she felt utterly horrible.


    At this point, if Harry even suggested to change the school, she would have jumped at the chance to do so.


    But that chance had come and gone a long time ago.


    She had failed to see that the only reason why her housemates and classmates were treating her better was because of Harry''s constant presence.


    She on the other hand, had conveniently forgotten that he had no interest in Herbology or History of Magic and the only reason he attended those classes was so that he could sit with her and protect her from others.


    She had conveniently forgotten how much she was bullied before he came into her life and rescued her.


    She read the instructions given behind the note and carefully opened the trunk before stepping inside it.


    Her own trunk was nothing special and only held two times the actual space that a normal trunk of that size would hold. And there were only a few charms on that so that she would find it easier to carry.


    Her parents had bought that trunk for her so that she would able to carry the extra books that she bought in Florish & Botts.


    Of course she had known that there were trunks that had such such large spaces inside them that a whole house could fit inside of it. In fact, her parents had seemed downright fascinated by those trunks and had shown the d?s?r? to buy them but those trunks were terribly expensive and despite the fact that both her parents were Dentists and had a lot of money to spare, they decided that those trunks were a ''luxury'' and didn''t bought them in the end.


    And now Harry had gifted one such trunk to her even though she had not seen him for two whole weeks even though the actual time seemed so much more to her.


    She held the urge to sob and entered the first room on a ladder.


    It was a small bedroom with a cozy looking bed and a wardrobe that was filled with dresses of her size.


    She could only guess how much Harry must have spent on these things and held a sob. Thoughts related to him made her feel like crying all over again.


    She closed the dresser and moved to the second room which was a large study room which was also filled with various tools and trinkets that she knew from her Charms and Transfiguration classes along with a cauldron and a large amount of supplies of Potion ingredients for her to practice with.


    She remembered Harry telling her that he was quite rich but she had never truly asked him how much. Now she had a little idea about that but at this point she didn''t even care about frivolous things such a money.


    She just wanted her friend back.


    Oh, if she could only go back in time and remind herself to not take his friendship for granted.


    She sobbed once again and moved to the last room with held two large selves and was a library for all intents and purposes.


    She browsed the books and saw that they were divided under various subjects such as Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmency, Potions, Alchemy, Ancients Runes, etc.


    She didn''t knew anything Alchemy but knew that books related to that subject were horribly expensive. And there were more than a dozen of such books in the shelf.


    But that was not the end of it either.


    She read the last instruction on the small note and went to the third row of the second shelf before pulling the 8th red colored book in it and was startled as the whole shelf suddenly moved to the side like how she''d read in some of the detective novels.


    She giggled at that thought and realized that only Harry would do something so dramatic like this and sobbed as she was once again reminded of their broken friendship.


    A library almost as large as half of the Hogwarts library was in front of her and she gaped openly at that sight for a long moment before her gaze hungrily went to the books upon the various shelves.


    She did not even had to go through the first bookshelf completely before she realized what this was.


    All the books kept in the Restricted section of the Library were present in front of her plus a few more books that even their library didn''t have.


    How had Harry gotten hold of these books? Had he bought them. They all seemed so new. And she suddenly realized why this whole library was hidden. She could not show these books to anyone else. There was a reason why these books were kept in the restricted section.


    She was so lost in this new world that she almost missed the note that was kept in the first table.


    Knowing that it must be something from Harry, she immediately left those books in their places and jumped at the note before picking up and reading it''s contents.


    ~~A gift for someone who values Education over Friendship~~


    If anyone else had written the note, she would have taken it to be sarcastic or mocking. But coming from Harry, the note seemed to be filled with sadness.


    And was that an indent made from a water drop at the corner of the note?


    The world might see him as their The Boy-Who-Lived. The Vanquisher of The Dark Lord. The Savior of Magical Britain. A Mysterious Boy. A Phantom. But she and only she knew about his abused childhood. About why he never made any friends or why he held such hostility toward most ?du?ts.


    And now she had hurt him even more with her actions.


    She sobbed as she clutched that note tightly to her ?h?st before her sobbing turned into crying and before long, she was openly wailing in the empty library.


    She did not need this gift.


    She needed her friend back.

 Chapter 33 - The-Boy-Who-Ditched

    Harry''s bloodshot eyes gazed at the runic array murderously as he took a sip from the coffee brought to him by one of the house elves serving at Hogwarts.


    After the debacle with Hermione and her apparent betrayal to him, he had thrown himself into his studies so that he would be able to ignore the feeling of something stabbing his heart whenever his thoughts veered toward Hermione and their broken relationship.


    He had no idea who he was in his previous life so for all intents and purposes, she was the first human friend he ever made.


    He was also aware of the fact that her choices were her own and that he had no right to ask her to transfer school if she didn''t want to to but as he had recently realized, logic and emotions were two completely different things and it was hard for him to remain logical when his emotions were under such turmoil.


    So instead of giving him any time to think, he spent all his time working on studying Ancient runes.


    He had to admit that despite his current emotional state, he found the subject to be quite interesting. Thus he found himself to be even more irritated when he made very little advancement in this subject.


    Most of the runes he''d created so far had resulted in explosions, which although were suppressed by his wards, still made him feel like he''d wasted all his time for nothing and the few that worked showed fluctuating results which was not something he could accept.


    So after all this time, he''d finally come to realize that if he wanted to learn more about this then he would have to ask someone to teach him this subject.


    The problem was that he was not sure that the Ancient Runes teacher would be willing to teach him the subject after their last conversation.


    Especially when he was so rude to her when she was just telling him something that she would have told anyone else.


    After that last conversation with the Runes teachers, he had found something about himself. Something that he was fool to not realize till now.


    He was prideful for his own good and some of his morals were rather twisted.


    He wondered if he was some kind of mafia goon in his last life.


    With that realization, he also realized that despite his huge pride, deep down he was still just a child who was enamored with magic.


    Except that where a child''s tantrum is annoying, his temper tantrums are just plain rude.


    So perhaps stowing away his pride for a single conversation would not be that hard right.


    Right?


    A large explosion brought him out of his thoughts as he realized that his runic array had once again failed spectacularly.


    Well fu?k. Now he was not even able to concentrate on one thing.


    Thankfully he was at least able to complete the runes this time before it blew up.


    Not that it was much of a consolation.


    Still. He needed to understand at least the basic about this subject otherwise he would just keep blowing shit up instead of making any progress.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Flitwick looked over at the newspaper and sighed once again before gesturing at Minerva who filled his glass with Fire Whiskey once again.


    He looked at the newspaper once again with a frown before taking another sip of the Fire Whiskey.


    In the front page of the Daily Prophet was the picture of an empty chair with a title of ''The Boy-Who-Ditched'' written by Rita Skeeter.


    That woman had somehow found that Harry had not been to any of his classes for the past few weeks.


    Well, it was more of an open secret by this point than anything else but none of the students really minded his absence until this article came along.


    And now the whole student body was up and at arms. As according to the article, the teachers were favoring Harry Potter simply because he was famous and were allowing him to get away with anything and everything.


    This situation would not have become so bad had it not been fueled by both Slytherins and Gryffindors who had been taught a lesson by Harry at point or another for bullying Hermione.


    He had no idea what they were supposed to do now. If the students knew about Harry''s actual childhood then they would probably understand the reason why Harry doesn''t like to ?ssociate with other people.


    Especially now that he had lost his first friend in the school due to some unknown reason.


    But he knew that Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn''t allow him or Minerva to tell everyone about Harry''s childhood. Nor would he allow them to leak out the fact that Harry doesn''t even want to be in this castle and is only living here because he''s being forced to do so by Albus Dumbledore.


    And he even had to gall to say that he''s doing everything for the greater good.


    Greater good my ?ss.


    But the problem still remained the same. The students were asking, no, practically demanding Harry to attend all the classes or they''ll stop attending their classes as well.


    If only the Slytherins were no so vocal about this.


    The fact that their head of house, Snape, hated the child for his father''s sins and was rather vocal about it in the staff room only made this situation even worse.


    It seemed like they''ll just have to wait out this storm and hope that the repercussions won''t be too bad.


    Because he knew that if he the choice between supporting Headmaster and Harry, then he would choose the Prodigy without much thought.

 Chapter 34 - New Tutor

    "What do you want now?" Professor Babbling asked with a sigh as she looked at him from the half opened door and he wondered if she would slam the door on his face after their conversation because frankly, he didn''t really believe that she would change her mind and start teaching him all of a sudden.


    "Will you teach me?" he asked feeling all the exhaustion after not sleeping for the last two days in a row.


    "Not until you bring a signed paper from all your teachers." She said a bit sympathetically "You must understand that I can''t be seen being partial with you. Especially after all the things that the Daily Prophet wrote about you."


    Daily Prophet?


    He had no idea what that shitty paper published about him. Most likely not something good.


    The truth was that he held such disdain toward that paper that he''d never even read one of it''s publications so far.


    That just went to show what he thought about it.


    He could clearly remember the paper publishing pure bullshit about the Original Harry and his personal life at the Goblet of fire event in the fourth year.


    Though those gossip articles were not even comparable to how they destroyed his public image after he told the minister that Voldemort had returned.


    Harry knew that in the end, the paper was nothing but a way to spread the propaganda for the ministry so he vowed to never read it.


    But that was not important at the moment.


    He looked at the Ancient Runes'' teachers in the eyes and sent a subtle legilimency probe to her mind before saying "If you are not going to teach me then can you at least tell me the name of the student with the best score in that subject."


    The name Penelope Clearwater and Cassius Warrington passed through her head for a moment before she shook her head. "Sorry but I can''t tell you that Mr Potter. Student-teacher Privacy and all that. I hope you understand."


    Harry nodded his head, having gotten what he wanted and left with a farewell. Leaving a surprised teacher behind who was probably wondering about his lack of persistence.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Do you know what they are saying about you in the Prophet?" Penelope Clearwater asked a bit worriedly and he wondered if she was acting or if she was really worried about him.


    A kid she didn''t even knew.


    A subtle legilimency probe showed that yes, she cared. Especially because she knew that the Slytherins and Gryffindors were only after him because he stopped them from bullying his friend.


    Huh, he had no idea that the Slytherins and Gryffindors had started some kind of smear campaign against his name.


    Sigh¡­ Did these people had really nothing better to do with their time.


    "No. And frankly, I don''t really care." He said nonchalantly "But that''s not why I called you here."


    "Yes, I was a bit surprised when I received that note from you. Especially considering how you''re such a hard person to find." She said and giggled as if she was just reminded of some personal joke "I''ve heard that the Slytherins and Gryffindors are still trying to find you and have combed through the whole school a few times in order to find you, even going as far as to accuse us Ravenclaws. Saying that we''re hiding you inside or common room."


    Harry felt mildly amused at their stupidity but nothing more so he continued "I called you here because Professor Babbling told me that you''re one of the best student in Ancient Runes. And since she can''t teach me that subject as she might get accused of being partial I can only learn from one of her favorite student."


    Penelope blushed at his words and he wondered how she came to be Professor Babbling''s favorite student considering how there must have been many other students who were older than her in the school.


    She must have been really talented in that subject.


    "I''m not really that good." Penelope said modestly and even though she was being modest on the outside, she was clearly proud of her achievement in her mind, whatever that achievement might have been.


    He didn''t probe too deeply in case she might notice something.


    "As long as you can teach me the basics of the subject and the way to carve runes without blowing shit up, I will make do."


    "I''m not really¡­" he could read the hesitation in her mind but also the thought that she wouldn''t mind teaching him if he could pay him for her time since she came from a poor family and he jumped at that thought.


    "I don''t expect you to teach me for free. That would just presumptuous of me. In fact, I''ll pay you 2 galleons for every hour that you teach me. How does that sound to you?"


    2 galleons per hour was a generous offer for a student. Especially for someone with muggle parents and a poor household like her so it was not long before she accepted and they came to an accord.


    "This is your employment contract." He said and passed her a piece of paper, something that had her eyes widening with surprise.


    It seemed like she had not understood the seriousness of his offer so far.


    Regardless, she quickly composed herself went through the parchment twice before she frowned and looked at him with a bit of worry.


    "I cannot teach you for four hours everyday." She said with a grimace. "I don''t have that much free time on myself."


    He smiled at that statement. At least she wasn''t lying to him.


    "You don''t need to worry about time." He said and passed her another piece of parchment.


    "What''s this one about?" she asked curiously.


    "A non disclosure agreement." He deadpanned.


    "Seriously?" she asked in a ''are you joking with me'' manner and he simply shrugged in response.


    "I take my privacy very seriously."


    "Yeah. I think I know a thing or two about that." She said jokingly but signed the parchment nonetheless.


    It wasn''t long before he showed her the Time turner after which she signed the Employment parchment as well and thus Harry was able to bypass another obstacle in his path.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Penelope Clearwater was envious of Harry Potter.


    She was envious of his Eidetic memory that allowed him to retain all that he ever read.


    She was envious of the fact that he had so many books on Ancient Runes in his library that even Professor Babbling''s personal collection fell far short of anything that he had.


    She was envious of the freedom he had in the castle. Even though he was technically a prisoner as he didn''t want to remain here any longer and was being forced to do so by the Headmaster.


    She was envious of his wealth which allowed him to hire her without blinking an eye though a part of her will always remain glad that she was able to earn such a large amount of galleons from him for such little and simple instructions.


    She was also envious of the fact that he was a genius when it came to using his magic. The fact that he was also magically powerful than her, someone who was four years older than him was a fact that just rubbed it in for her.


    And she was envious at the speed with which he learned Ancient Runes and devoured any knowledge provided to him by either herself or the numerous books under his possession.


    Still, she was glad that she had the chance to teach him something personally.


    Especially because after knowing him a little better, she could clearly see him for the enigma that he really was.


    By the gods, he could use magic like it was his third arm.


    Things like wandless and wordless magic, something that she believed could only be performed by legends like Albus Dumbledore came absurdly easily to him and she couldn''t help but feel inadequate in his presence.


    In fact, she had decided that even after he surpassed her in Ancient Runes, which she believed would happen very soon, she would continue to spend some time with him. Gods knew that the boy could get careless if left alone to his own devices.


    She considered herself lucky to have made his acquaintance. She couldn''t call him a friend because she could tell that he was hesitant about such things after what happened to his last friendship so she decided that she would try her best to just be close to him.


    And it was not like she was losing any of her time anyway considering how he used a time turner everyday when she came and they would spend the next few hours in each others company simply learning.


    And over the past few days she had surprisingly grown to care for him like how she would care for a little brother and she hoped that they would be able to continue like this even after she didn''t have anything left to teach him.

 Chapter 35 - Rage

    Most people celebrated the Halloween Day as the day in which You-Know-Who was vanquished by Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.


    And just because they were happy about it, they felt that others should be happy about it as well.


    But Penelope Clearwater, who had known Harry for some time knew very well that he would not be celebrating this day.


    After all, how can a person celebrate the day their parents died?


    Halloween might have been an happy event for the Magical Britain but the same couldn''t be said for Harry Potter.


    That was the reason why instead of joining her friends for the feast, she went to the abandoned room where she usually tutored him in order to spend some time with him.


    She found him reading from some ancient tome that might have sold for over a thousand galleons if sold in the black market and she wondered where he brought all these obscure books from.


    He never shared the source of his endless amount of books and she never deigned to ask. It was not her place to ask and if he decided that he trusted her enough to tell her about it someday then he would do so on his own.


    Looking at his haggard appearance and his messy appearance, she also wondered when was the last time he slept.


    Despite the initial hiccup in his journey to learn Ancient runes during which time he blew up just about everything that he carved with runes, he was now getting better and better at it everyday.


    She envied him for that sometimes. How he could simply ignore everything else in the world and simplemindedly focus on that one particular thing no matter the time or date.


    She saw the plate left on the table beside his work table filled with food that had gone cold who knows how long ago and sighed with the realization that she must remind him to eat properly as well. Once again.


    She might as well have adopted him for all that she cared about him nowadays.


    She had always wanted a little brother for herself and she felt like she had one now but by the gods, couldn''t he at least take care of his health and hygiene himself.


    He heard the footsteps and inclined his head toward her in greeting.


    "Is it time for our classes already?" He asked with a frown that was directed toward the material in front of him as he went back to reading the tome while carving a rune on a wooden plank. She would have ducked him in the head for being so careless with such a dangerous item if she had not known about all the numerous precautions he''d already taken that made the room far safer than even the Ancient runes class supervised by Professor Babbling.


    "I thought we still had three more hours to go." He said and then looked at the magical clock on the wall with a frown "Is the clock not working properly?"


    "The clock is working as it should." She replied and took the chair to sit beside him, her gaze fixed on the runes he''d carved in the wooden planks.


    "You''re early? What happened?" he asked in a rare show of concern "Is everything alright?"


    And with a start, she realized that he didn''t even remember what day it was.


    Of course, he spent almost all of his time away from other students and worked day and night while using the time turner on a continuous manner to the point were the day and night blended together with each other. So it was quite natural that he forgot what day it was.


    ''Only he would forget what day it was in such a crucial day as well.'' She thought with growing exasperation and no small amount of fondness but decided that if he didn''t remember what day it was, then there was no need for her to bring it up and open some old wounds and ruin his mood. She would rather keep the news to herself then cause him sadness.


    "Everything''s alright." She lied easily "Just had free period today so I came here to check up on you."


    "There''s really nothing for you to check up on here. You should spend your free period with your friends." He said with a yawn "You''ll simply be wasting your time here."


    She frowned at him for thinking that she was wasting time on him and had the urge to smack him in the head so that she could bring some sense to him but realized that doing that to an abused child might not be the best idea so she simply glared at him instead.


    An action which was ineffective on him as he didn''t even bothered to look up at her.


    Little prick.


    "On the other hand, I seemed to have noticed that you didn''t finish your breakfast." She said and watched him cringe at her words. She didn''t like to nag at people like Molly Weasley, her boyfriend''s mother but that didn''t mean that she would let him get away with not finishing his meals properly.


    "Or is it the dinner from last night?" she asked with a frown.


    His grimace turned worse at that question and she realized that it was indeed the dinner from last night. Which meant that he had gone for more than 18 hours without any food.


    Possibly even longer if he had used his time turner during that time.


    That thought pissed her off to no end and he seemed to have realized that as he stopped carving his runes and slowly turned to look at her with a strained smile.


    "Now Penelope¡­ I think we should talk about this calmly, like civilized peopl¡­"


    "Harry James Potter" she thundered and watched with some twisted satisfaction as he wilted under her gaze "When was the last time you ate something?"


    He gulped at that and gave her a weak smile and all her anger ebbed away at that and she sighed once again. After learning of his abused past, it was rather hard to stay angry at him.


    Still, that didn''t meant that he could skip his meals.


    She was about to tell him to call for an house elf for some food when one suddenly popped up in the room and she looked at it in surprise and wondered if the house elf had read her thoughts or something but it''s next words broke all such notions from her mind and left her with a cold chill down her spine.


    "Harry Potter Sir. Missy Grangy is being in danger. Missy Grangy is being attacked by giant biggy thingy. Missy Grangy is bleeding."


    The time froze for a moment as the words of the house elf sank in her mind and then the moment passed and she was brought out of her shock as a look of utter fury came upon Harry''s face and he snarled at the house elf "Take me to her."


    If she had been thinking properly at that moment, then she would have realized that catching onto him while the elf was apparating them away was a truly stupid thing to do and had things gone wrong then they could have splinched quite badly. But she had not been thinking at that moment and had latched onto Harry as both him and the elf chose to go after Hermione Granger who was apparently attacked by some older student.


    She had a feeling that she was going after him in order to protect that Harry from that big student. And interfere if things got too rough.


    If only she knew.


    The feeling of being squeezed out of a thin tube passed and before she could even properly orient herself, she was ?ssaulted by the foul smell of a series used toilets and she held the urge to gag at that but then the vertigo passed and she looked up and met with the sight of a devastated bathroom.


    It looked like a hurricane had passed through the bathroom.


    All the toilets and their doors were broken and laying on the ground along with the sinks and water was freely leaking out of the broken pipes, gathering on the ground.


    Water that turned red at¡­


    And then she saw it. The body of a student lying under a pile of broken door and wall.


    She froze at the sight of the 12 feet tall beast that seemed to be bringing it''s club down one last time on the still form of Hermione.


    She felt utterly helpless at what was happening in front of her and was about to close her eyes in fear when¡­


    A rage filled shout shook her to the the core and brought her our of her shocked state and she jerked around to look at Harry clutching at his hair in dispair and looking at the troll with wild hateful eyes which also held a world full of pain.


    "Aaahhhhhdd." He let out a mixture of an enraged cry and a sob as tears started to fall from his eyes before he put his hands inside the purse that he usually carried around with him and took out a¡­


    Was that a handgun?


    And then she didn''t have the time to think anymore as the troll, who had stopped his club mid swing stopped and looked at both of them with a confused glare before it started to walk toward them and she fumbled with her wand in order to come up with some way to protect herself and Harry.


    She shouldn''t have bothered.


    "YOU BASTARDDD!!!" Harry yelled "YOU BASTARDD!!!" he screamed before pointing the gun at the troll and at that small moment, the madness in his eyes worried her far more than the 12 feet large mountain troll for some reason.


    "I WILL KILL YOU!!!" he shouted and pulled the trigger.


    Or so she thought.


    Thus she was totally unprepared for what happened next.


    The first shot struck the troll''s shoulder and took out it''s hand along with a large portion of it''s shoulder.


    She didn''t even had the time to register what had happened. And neither did the troll as before his confused gaze could even be wiped off it''s face, Harry shot it once again.


    This time she heard it''s pain filled cry wide and clear as the bullet tore out a large piece from it''s left abdomen.


    And then before her very eyes, Harry yelled madly and continued to shoot at the large beast, all the while moving forward at a steady pace looking utterly unafraid of anything.


    On the fourth shot, the troll lost it''s head.


    By the sixth shot, the troll had lost both it''s arms and a large portion of it''s ?h?st.


    By the twelfth shot, everything atop it''s legs was splattered in the opposite wall of the bathroom in a gory mess of meat, bones and various organs with it''s entrails dropped around it''s legs.


    A person whom he apparently cared for a great deal.


    He was removing the body from under the debris all the while shouting something like ''Don''t die. Don''t die'' again and again in a crazed fashion, not caring about any shrapnels that scraped his fingers and cut into his bones.


    And as she watched this whole scene with a faint sort of detachment, she realized deep down that she must have gone into shock.


    And then she looked up at her surrounding once more and wondered how this peaceful day had turned around this way so drastically and wondered if she was actually awake and not in fact, dreaming.


    Then the feeling of calmness passed and she promptly fell to the side and vomited all the contents in her stomach on the floor.

 Chapter 36 - Flitwicks worry

    The enraged scream was the first sign that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong as Flitwick along with the rest of the staff members moved toward that enraged scream and he once again cursed his small legs as he fell behind his peers in the race to rescue one of their poor student.


    And as they got closer and closer, the words in the scream became clear to them.


    "I''ll kill you."


    Flitwick remembered that voice.


    He would have remembered that voice anywhere as it belonged to one of the most talented students that ever stepped on the Hogwarts ground and he internally realized that the situation had somehow just become even worse. Thus, he forced his feet to move faster in order follow Dumbledore, who despite being the oldest of them all was still able to lead them in the race to save their student just fine.


    And then screams took an almost feral form and they were hardly able to understand what Harry was even saying anymore and for a short moment, they all ?ssumed the worse.


    But it was only when they heard the pain filled roar of the mountain troll did they realize that maybe there was yet a chance for them to save their student.


    And as they went closer, the Beast roared in pain only last time before it''s voice was cut off at once and Flitwick, who had taken part in the last war and seen too much death for his own good instantly knew what had happened.


    Mr Potter, had somehow managed to kill the troll without dying himself.


    And they knew that Harry Potter was not dead because he sorrow filled screams had yet to subside.


    When they reached the bathroom, the scene was so gruesome that almost half of the staff members instantly lost their recent lunch. And it was only when they moved aside in order to vomit their guts out that Flitwick got a chance to look at the scene and he was ashamed to admit that despite being a veteran of two wars, he almost joined his colleagues in puking out his guts as well.


    Half of the bathroom was covered with blood and scattered bit and pieces of meat here and there with the floor completely covered with the troll''s blood.


    He absentmindedly saw a young girl, Penelope Clearwater, one of his claw, puking out her guts at the side of the bathroom but most of his attention was once again back on the troll.


    Or what remained of it.


    The two unharmed legs were the only indication that all the blood and gore in the room came from a single being.


    The whole wall behind the troll was covered with it''s organs and bones and he distinctly saw what he might have guessed to be an eyeball and felt the bile rise in his throat once again but pushed it down in order to survey the situation.


    The troll was dead. Deader than dead. It was blasted to smithereens and despite never having fought one before, he was well aware of the fact that a troll''s skin was highly magic resistant.


    He doubted that he would have been able to do such damage to the troll himself.


    Kill it, most likely, as he had a lot of tricks in his pocket but he was far from powerful enough to be able to blow it to smithereens like this.


    In fact, there was only person he personally knew that could achieve this feat.


    He silently glanced at Headmaster Dumbledore and realized that the old wizard was frozen in his place and was now silently staring at something behind the troll.


    He moved to the side in order to gaze at what the headmaster saw and the tragic sight that he saw in front of him shocked him to the core.


    A distraught looking Harry Potter held onto the pale body of Hermione Granger as he rocked her back and forth in his arms and kept mumbling ''don''t die. Please don''t die.'' Again and again.


    Then Snape arrived in the scene as well and his loud spashes made by his footsteps must have brought Harry''s attention as he suddenly stopped rocking back and forth and went very very still and silent.


    Then he looked up at them and Flitwick felt his own heart shatter at the devastated expression as he saw in the child''s eyes and as he distinctly remembered Harry''s history, he was once again reminded of the fact that Hermione had possibly been the first friend he ever made in his life.


    Harry''s eyes moved from him to Headmaster Dumbledore and in that moment, all of them felt something change in the atmosphere as Harry''s expression froze instantly at the sight of Dumbledore and then just as quickly, it was replaced by madness induced rage that burned so brightly that Flitwick himself felt a bit of fear despite his veteran status.


    He glanced at Dumbledore who expression looked as blank as ever and he wondered if the headmaster also felt that slight pang of fear when he facing the full brunt of that hate filled, madness induced rage.


    "You¡­." Harry growled out in an almost animalistic manner and Flitwick held his breath for he had the feeling that whatever was going to happen in the next few moments might change their future a great deal.


    "You¡­" Harry growled once again and somehow, the glare got even worse.


    "You¡­" he growled "You did this¡­" he said softly enough that Flitwick almost didn''t hear those words.


    "You caused this." And then Harry gently put Hermione''s still form down on the ground and then stood up to face Dumbledore and Flitwick found himself reaching for his wand once again.


    "I''ll kill you." Harry growled under his breath but in the silence of the bathroom, sporadically broken by staff members who were still retching on the ground at the grisly sight in front of them, his words were heard by all of them.


    "I''ll Kill You." He said once again and this time it was clearly heard by everyone in the room.


    "I''ll¡­" a Petrificus Totalus spell from Snape hit him right in the ?h?st and he froze where he stood and started to falling to the ground, before he broke through the magical binding as if it was something totally insignificant.


    And then all went silent for a moment.


    "AVADA KEDAV¡­" that was as far as he went before three overpowered Stupify from Dumbledore, Minerva Mcgonagall and himself struck the poor child who flipped two times in the air under the power of the spells and struck the wall before dropping on the ground, out cold, beside the still form of Hermione Granger.


    Flitwick felt his shoulders shag as he looked around at his colleagues and he suddenly felt far more older than he did in the morning.


    And then he and Dumbledore were savagely pushed aside as Pomfrey moved forward and shouted.


    "She''s still breathing you fools. Help me carry her to the infirmary." And then the mediwitch was on top of the girl, weaving and chanting the kind of spells that would possibly diagnose and save the life of the girl whom Harry Potter had named his friend friend.


    And suddenly Flitwick felt hope rise in his ?h?st as he realized that perhaps, not everything was lost.

 Chapter 37 - Blaming the Sheep

    Headmaster Dumbledore had taken their magical oaths. Oaths which entailed that they never talk about this particular event with anyone else. And Penelope had a cold feeling in her heart that if it had been in his power, then Dumbledore would have obliviated everyone present in the scene who had seen Harry Potter almost cast the killing curse at one of their professors.


    She looked at the sleeping form of the boy and wondered how someone so small could cause so much trouble.


    Then she looked at Hermione Granger sleeping beside his bed and sighed.


    So much for not being friends.


    Penelope realize that she would lying to herself if she said that she was not afraid of Harry Potter after what happened yesterday. And that fear was not something that would simply go away just like that.


    After all, few ?du?t wizards and witches could take on a fully grown mountain troll all on their own and live to tell the tale.


    But Harry had not only killed the troll. He had obliterated it.


    She still felt a bit nauseous at the reminder of that scene and decided that it would be in her best interest if she thought about something else instead.


    She wondered why Harry held such animosity toward the Headmaster and why he blamed him for the supposed injuries of his friend.


    Well, the headmaster and the staff members always liked to gloat that Hogwarts was the safest place and in some instances, that would true as well. For example, Voldemort attacked many places in the last war but refused to attack Hogwarts because of Headmaster Dumbledore''s presence.


    But for them to proclaim such a thing far and loud and after all that his only friend was attacked and almost murdered right under their noses.


    No wonder he got so mad when he saw Dumbledore.


    Of course Dumbledore had then interrogated her about her presence in the bathroom and she had told him the truth while making sure that she made no eye contact with him.


    After all, Harry had warned her that he could read her memories if she looked in her eyes. If anyone else had told her such a thing then she would have laughed at their face but this was Harry and he was unusually serious when he told her to be wary of Snape and Dumbledore so she made sure to take his words to heart.


    She told them that she tutored Harry in Ancient Runes and had been doing so for the past week or so.


    By this point, the upheaval about Harry''s absence from his classes had already stopped and faded away like all other rumors in Hogwarts so she doubted that she would receive any backlash from the students if this story spread among the student population but even if she received some prejudice for helping him, she would not allow it to come between their friendship.


    On a completely different topic, she had to admit that the look of fear in the eyes of the staff members as they saw the destruction caused by Harry was rather amusing.


    Especially when they still think that he did all that damage with his wand.


    Though she had to admit that she would have never guessed that a handgun could be charmed to be so damn powerful. But then again, this was Harry she was talking about so she should have expected something like this in the first place.


    With one last sigh, she placed a flower beside Harry''s bedside before leaving for her classes.


    Harry might get away with ditching his classes but not everyone had that luxury.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Guilty.


    That''s what felt when he woke up for the first time after being stunned by the Headmaster and the other professors.


    He felt immensely guilty over the fact that he had let Hermione die.


    Sure she had decided to choose her education over his friendship and that had hurt. But she was still his friend. His first friend and despite all her misgivings, he had grown to care for her over the time they spent together.


    And now she was dead.


    He felt tears slid down his cheeks and knew that he was crying by now and that he must looked rather pathetic but he didn''t care.


    He didn''t care about anything anymore.


    And her still form as he held her in his arms amidst the remains of the bathroom and the troll.


    Why did that happened?


    Why did she had to die?


    Didn''t his presence in this world caused the bu??erfly effect and changed the events?


    Then why was she in that bathroom in the first place.


    Was she being bullied once again by her housemates. Was that why she was there. Had they started to bully her once again once he stopped meeting her.


    A rage started burning in his heart as he thought of that.


    Yes, that must have been it. Why else would she be in that bathroom all alone while the rest of the sheep celebrated in the Great Hall.


    She was bullied by her classmates.


    The thought angered him to no end and he decided then and there that he would purge the whole Gryffindor house if that was the last thing he did in his life.


    A fiendfyre spell would do nicely.


    Yes, he didn''t knew how to cast that spell right now, but there were a lot of books on dark curses in the Room of Requirement and he wouldn''t have to search for long in order to find that spell.


    Of course he was not strong enough to control the cursed fire at this point but he didn''t need to.


    He could just cast the spell in the Gryffindor common room and then throw away his wand before leaving the room and closing it shut so that no one would be able to get out of the room.


    And then they would all burn.


    They would all fear for their lives when they realize that there was no where else for them to go and that their lives would be snuffed out at any moment now.


    Just like how Hermione must have felt when the troll attacked her and there was no one else around to help her.


    He had been too late.


    For killing his Hermione.


    Of course he would have to run out of the castle in time before they caught him as well. Once they realize what he''d done, they would come after him and there was no way in hell that he would ever let the sheep punish him for doing the right thing.


    With such thoughts, he got up from his bed and looked around the white room, faintly remembering that it was the Infirmary of Hogwarts before his gaze fell on the bed beside him and he froze.


    He couldn''t believe the sight in front of him and rubbed his eyes a few times to make sure that he was seeing the right thing.


    Hermione.


    A living breathing Hermione was sleeping in the bed beside him.


    Was this a dream?


    Or had he died along with her and this was some kind of after life.


    But then he saw the various bandages wrapped around her tiny petite body and realized what had happened.


    In fact, she had never died in the first place.


    Just wounded. Badly wounded from the blow. And unconscious with a weak heartbeat.


    And in his grief, he had ?ssumed her to be dead.


    Huh! Hadn''t Romeo and Juliet done something stupid like that as well.


    They had ?ssumed one another to be dead and had taken poison in order to kill themselves or something similar.


    Except that in his grief induced rage, he had tried to kill the staff members instead.


    He almost laughed at that thought.


    Who was it that he had almost thrown a killing curse at.


    He was too angry at that moment to really care and now he couldn''t be bothered to remember.


    After all, they were not important. Not to him at least.


    He got up from his bed and slowly walked toward the sleeping form of Hermione Granger, his first friend and smiled as her ?h?st went up and down with each breath and unknowingly a genuine smile broke out in his face.


    He ??r?ssed her face gently and wondered how long it''ll take for her to wake up. He wanted to talk with her. He wanted to make sure that she was truly well and alive and that this was not a joke.


    He lowered his head on her ?h?st and felt her heartbeat.


    Dub-dub Dub-dub Dub-dub Dub-dub


    A smile broke out in his face as tears of joy formed rolled down his eyes.


    She was alive.


    She was well.


    She was not dead.


    He didn''t need to care about killing the sheep in their tower.


    But he would not forget.


    And he would not forgive.

 Chapter 38 - Gift for Madam Pomfrey

    Hermione woke up with a start, abruptly remembering the last scene that she saw, a club coming toward her and screamed.


    The next moment, there was movement in her peripheral vision and before she could register what was happening, she was promptly embraced.


    There was a short amount of hesitation before she subconsciously realized whom those arms belonged and she leaned into the hug and cried.


    The last memory of the troll still fresh in her mind.


    The feeling of helplessness.


    The feeling of being trapped.


    The terror of knowing that she was about to die.


    And her lasts thoughts that were filled with regrets that she would never be able to apologize to Harry.


    And now she was somehow alive, though a bit battered.


    And she was being hugged by Harry.


    It seemed like everything will be alright now.


    Yes, everything will be alright.


    And as she sobbed, she realized that Harry was patting her back gently, giving her the support she needed.


    "It''s alright now. You''re safe now. And I''m not going anywhere."


    Words that she knew to be true. But words that filled her with comfort all the same.


    And after going through a few stress filled weeks, being attacked and indirectly bullied by her housemates, she finally felt safe.


    "Harry."


    "Hmm.."


    "You''re here."


    "I''m here."


    "Please don''t go."


    "I won''t. I''ll stay here as long as you like." He said and at that moment, she raised her head to look at where he had been sitting and realized that he had been sitting in the chair beside her all this time.


    A chair and a table that were filled with large books that seemed as ancient as the school on the topic of Healing Bones, Healing Trauma, etc, etc.


    It was so typical of Harry that she let out a chuckle which then turned into giggle and before she could stop herself, she was laughing at the whole situation.


    Trust Harry Potter to continue his education even while waiting for a patient to recover. Well, not like she expected anything else from him. He was never the kind to sit idly and do nothing.


    And now he was looking at her with eyes filled with so much concern that she couldn''t help but let out another giggle at that.


    She had got her friend back.


    And the only thing she needed to do for that to happen was get almost killed by a troll.


    She ought to write a book about that. ''How to mend Relationships by getting attacked by a Mountain Troll''


    "Are you alright?" he asked with worry and she felt warm in her heart.


    "I''m sorry." She said as she suddenly remembered what had tore them apart the last time.


    And then she hugged him again and clutched him tightly to herself, afraid of letting him go in case he might leave her once again.


    "I''m sorry." She murmured "I''ll never leave you again." She sobbed "If you want to change school then I''ll come with you. Wherever you go. Just, don''t leave me alone okay."


    He nuzzled himself in her hair and her cheeks went red as she remembered this particular habit of his that embarrassed her to no end.


    It seemed so¡­ affectionate.


    Not like the affection between a friend and another friend but between two lovers.


    Which was why she felt embarrassed whenever he did that but now she felt a warmth in her heart that she had never felt before and she leaned into him as well so that there cheeks were almost touching.


    "I''ll sorry as well." He mumbled, his face still nuzzled in her hair "I shouldn''t have left you alone. It was my mistake¡­"


    She opened her mouth to protest but then Madam Pomfrey was there.


    "Oh move aside Mr Potter." She said as she came running down from outside the infirmary with a tray filled with different kind of bottles in it.


    "You can hug your friend all you want later on Mr Potter but do so when she''s properly healed. Now move aside and let me do my job." She said and roughly pushed aside Harry from the bed and Hermione felt fear for a moment at the thought that Harry might retaliate with anger but felt relieved when he simply nodded at the mediwitch respectfully and stepped back, leaving her to the Mediwitch''s administrations.


    "How do you feel Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she raised her wand and started casting diagnostic spells all over her as Harry watched on from the sidelines with focused gaze and Hermione wondered if Harry even knew what those spells were meant for or if he understood the results that they were showing.


    She wouldn''t be overly surprised if he did. He was a genius just like that.


    It took the mediwitch a few minutes before she had accurately ?ssessed her current situation and given her a three different potions according to her condition.


    One of them was a Skelegrow Potion for all the bones that the Troll broke, some of which were still not properly healed, with the other two being a Calming Draught and Dreamless Sleep Potion.


    Yes, she badly needed the last one otherwise she had strong suspicions that she might have nightmares where she was bashed again and again by the Troll with no one coming to help her.


    Then she was gently helped back to the bed by the mediwitch and she felt her eyes starting to droop already.


    Then the mediwitch turned to Harry and Hermione was surprised to she the women looking embarrassed for the first time in her life.


    "Mr Potter. I know I have no right to ask this of you but can I borrow Sir Saevaliavon''s book. I ?ssure you that I''ll treat the book with great care and not harm a single page of the book."


    Madam Pomfrey looked really excited at that moment and her eyes never left the large ancient looking black colored tome left opened in Harry''s desk and Hermione realized that the book must be truly significant for the mediwitch to act like that.


    But she was not surprised. Not truly.


    Not after he had gifted her a whole library filled with book from the Restricted section and some more that were not available in that the restricted section either.


    Harry nodded at Madam Pomfrey before he raised his wand and pointed it at the book and before long, there was an exact copy of that tome, lying on the table as Madam Pomfrey looked on at the charm with wide eyes.


    After all, that was particularly high level magic and from what she knew, even the 7th years would have problem performing that particular charm.


    And Harry had done it without any incantation and with the ease of a job that he''d done a thousand times before.


    Which he probably had, if the books lying in the hidden compartment of her trunk were any indication.


    At that moment Hermione felt proud of her friend.


    "Please accept this as a gift Madam Pomfrey for saving my friend''s life. It''s a permanent copy of the book and won''t dissipate until it has suffered a considerable amount of damage which would be rather hard to do as I''ve added the unbreakable charm on it as well."


    Now Madam Pomfrey was openly gaping at Harry and Hermione would have chuckled had she not been feeling so drowsy. As it was, she gave one last look at Madam Pomfrey''s gaping expression and another look at Harry''s calm face before falling asleep.

 Chapter 39 - Fragile Peace

    It took two more days before Hermione was totally healed and ready to leave the infirmary.


    Harry had spent all that time beside her bed and no amount of persuasion by either Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Minerva or Professor Flitwick managed to move him from his post as her guardian.


    And she might have been have just imagined it in her drowsy state but she felt that Professor Minerva was looking at Harry with a small amount of fear.


    During that time, another older Ravenclaw girl named Penelope Clearwater, the Prefect of Ravenclaw house joined them a few times as well, if only to teach Harry about the Ancient Runes.


    Harry had later told her that he was paying the older Ravenclaw in order to learn the basics of Ancient runes from her but from the way they both looked at each other, she realized that they had moved beyond the relationship of a employer and an employee and were now good friends.


    A part of her felt betrayed and sad over the fact that during their time apart, Harry had gained another friend but another part of her was happy that he had gained someone else who also cared a great deal about her.


    And now that she was getting discharged from the infirmary, she realized that she had missed something very important regarding her condition. Something that she should not have missed at all if she have not been actively trying to push the subject out of her mind.


    So she went closer to Penelope and whispered in her ear "Umm¡­ Do you know what happened to the Troll after¡­ you know."


    The question was hard for her to ask as she was a little traumatized by that event but she had not expected Penelope to pale at her words.


    What had really happened to the troll for her to get so pale at it''s mere mention. Not to mention that she looked a bit sick as well.


    Did it try to attack her too?


    Before her thought could turn any wilder, the older Ravenclaw turned to her and gave her a weak smile and whispered ''Later'' before she left the room in a hurry.


    It was only later that she would know how brutal Harry could be when the people close to him were hurt. And even though the unexpected death of the Troll disturbed her a bit, she did not let it show in her face and didn''t let it come between her and Harry''s friendship.


    Because at the end of the day, Harry had done what he had done because he cared for her so it would be hypocritical of her to berate him for his actions.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Her housemates were scared of her.


    Hermione came to that conclusion as soon as she entered the common room and that thought was later confirmed when the rest of the girls refused to enter their room while she was in there.


    The fear in their eyes made her uncomfortable but she knew that she would now be spending most of her time with Harry so there was no point in thinking about it.


    As long as they stayed out of her way and let her go about doing her own thing, she was satisfied.


    It was only later that she would know why they were so scared of bothering her.


    But the sight like that would traumatize anyone and quite a few teachers had felt uncomfortable about the whole event and had come together to talk about it.


    As it so happened, their whole talk was over heard by some older Gryffindor students who had then later told the truth of the Troll''s demise to other students of their house and the rumor spread from there.


    How Harry Potter destroyed the Troll in his rage because the troll hurt Hermione.


    In essence, the teachers never leaked the news knowingly so the magical oath didn''t effect them in any manner so no one was able to confirm who spread the rumor and so, the few skeptical students still did not believe the rumor.


    But the Fred and George Wesley asked Headmaster Dumbledore about the truth in front of the whole school at the Great Hall and even though Dumbledore didn''t gave any reply, the expression on the face of the staff members sitting beside him and their silence confirmed everything for the students.


    This all happened while Hermione was still in the infirmary and by the time she was allowed to leave, she had come to a whole new school where all the students were now terribly afraid of Harry Potter.


    It must be said that a lot of older witches, while afraid of him, were also terribly impressed by him and would bother Hermione a bit so that she could set up a blind date for them with Harry Potter but a curt reply was all that it took for the girls to leave her alone because even though they wanted to be together with such a powerful wizard, they were also scared of him.


    But as with all things, a few weeks later, the rumors started to die down then the attention of the other students was taken from Harry Potter to other things like Quidditch and other day to day matters.


    Still, the rumors had done their job and it would a long time before anyone would dare to antagonize Harry Potter and his friends.

 Chapter 40 - Understanding Ancient Runes

    Harry looked at the Handgun with some apprehension.


    The charms in it had worn off after he had used it against the Troll.


    This was something he had already predicted but that didn''t mean it made him feel any better.


    He had pumped the handgun full of different kind of charms and the he only able to use it that one time before it lost it''s effectiveness.


    What would he have done if there was giant in the castle instead of a troll.


    Giants in this world were monstrous humanoid looking mindless creatures that could grow up to 25 feet which was about twice as big as a troll with even more tougher and magic resistant skin.


    What would he have done if his magic enhanced handgun was not able to bring it down before he ran out of bullets.


    He was magically stronger by three times than an average wizard of his age but even he knew that he would never been able to pierce the troll''s magical resistant skin with a Reducto curse.


    So he needed to make sure that his enchanted weapons would not lose their enchantments mid battle.


    Which meant that he needed to learn how to carve runes on the handgun so that the charms would stuck and then add a small wardstone which constantly supply magic to the enchanted weapon.


    It would still only work until the wardstone runs out of power but it would take a long time for such a thing to happen and he could always recharge it after a battle so it was would make his enhancements permanent for all respects and purposes.


    Which was why he was he was learning all about Ancient runes even now.


    So one of the other projects that he wanted to work on right now was to give his robes magical and physical resistant.


    When Snape had used the full body bind charm on him, he had not really put a lot of power behind it which was the reason why he was able to break through it. But if he had put some more power behind it, or someone more powerful like Dumbledore or Voldemort had put him in a full body bind then he would not be able to do anything.


    So his next project in charms would be to charm his robes to be magically resistant somehow or at least charm it in a manner that it would negate all the common hexes and curses out there.


    Then there was the fact they had stunned him before he could even complete the Incantation of the Killing curse.


    Which was a good thing in a way because if he did performed then killing curse and it had struck one of the staff members then even Dumbledore would not have been able to prevent him from his one way ticket to Azkaban. Which would seriously fu?k up his plans.


    He was sure that he would easily be able to escape Azkaban but do so would esentially cut him off from the magical community which would be rather annoying.


    But still, the fact remained that he was stunned in a rather pathetic manner.


    Only the fact that he had never bothered to learn about duels and the fact that it was his first fight was the reason his ego and pride were still intact.


    But now he knew his weaknesses. Which were quite a few now that he thought about it.


    First. He lacked any form of experience when it came to a duel. He might be magically powerful and he might be a genius in transfiguration and charms but the fact remained that he had never fought in his life before and he frankly didn''t knew how to do it.


    So he needed to learn how to duel. Hmm¡­ it seemed like he would have to go to his head of house for that. What with him being an international duel champion and all.


    Second. He needed to be faster.


    For gods sake, he knew how to perform basic human transfiguration and could have used it on his legs to make himself faster but such thought never even occurred to him.


    If he had did it and if he was more experienced then he was confident that he would have been at least able to defeat a few staff members before being stunned himself.


    Though in hindsight, using such an illegal magic in the full view of the staff members would also earn him a one way ticket to Azkaban.


    So he needed to practice more human transfiguration so that he would be able to enhance his muscles to be faster. Or he could even change his skin and turn it into a magically resistant one.


    Hmm¡­ he would probably need a live human to perform some of these experiments so he would have to hide this from Hermione and Penelope. Fortunately they didn''t knew about his two other time turners or where he slept at night so he could go down in the chamber of secrets and set up a laboratory where he would be able to practice human transfiguration.


    But where to find a live subject.


    Oh¡­ wasn''t there a rat in the castle named Scabbers who was an animagus known as Peter Pettigrew, the betrayer of James and Lily Potter.


    Wow¡­ Isn''t that the most convenient thing ever. He won''t even feel any guilt while experimenting on him.


    And aside from him there were so many death eaters in this society walking around without any repercussions who had killed and tortured who knows how many innocent muggles. If he needed more experimental subjects then he knew where he would be able to find them.


    Third. He might be magically powerful but in the end, he was just a child and his magical core would not m?tur? until a decade or so. But he would have to fight Voldemort sooner or later so he needed to find some way to increase his magical power.


    The most common ways to increase your magical power was to perform magical rituals. And that was exactly what Voldemort did which was the reason why he was able to become so strong that he was able to contend against Albus Dumbledore.


    But from what he knew, there weren''t many books about rituals in the castle.


    Seems like rituals were forbidden a long time ago in Hogwarts. Otherwise there would have been more books on that topic in here.


    Or maybe rituals were not very famous in Britain. Who knows.


    But still. Such a shame.


    It was said that Voldemort went around the world for 10 years or so before he came back and when he did, he was already quite powerful.


    Hmm¡­ It''s not like there''s anything stopping him from going around the world just like Voldemort either. But still.


    That would still waste too much of his time and he had too much pride for his own good so he couldn''t see himself begging others for help either.


    He would have to find his own way to get stronger.


    He looked at Hermione who was lost in the books related to Potions and realized that whatever plans he made for himself, he would have to include her in them as well.


    Which meant that would lose her innocence sooner or later.


    Such a pity. As her innocence was one of the best things he liked about her.


    But oh well¡­


    He focused back on the runes once again. He had lost his focus again. Seems like he had become a bit more tired then he had anticipated.


    A little bit of rest and a bit of entertainment would be prudent.


    "Hermione¡­" Poke poke.


    "What?" she asked without even looking up at him. She had tendency to get really lost in her books.


    "I''m bored." Tickle tickle.


    She giggled a bit but didn''t let go of her book.


    "What am I supposed to do then?" she said while slapping away his hands gently "Go bother someone else."


    "There is no one else here. Beside you and me." He murmerred and laid down on the floor. He was really bored and Ancient Runes was simply not coming to him as easily has charms or Transfiguration did.


    Why was that?


    Hadn''t he been diligently studying in the subject? He had also got a tutor for himself and he studied all the basic things about it which he didn''t for either Charms or Transfiguration.


    So why was he not getting much success in it.


    What was the reason behind it?


    "Hemione?" he asked


    "Hmm¡­" she replied once again, without even looking up at him and he felt the urge to take away her book so that she would give more attention to him.


    That was a rather childish thought on his part but it was what it was.


    "What do you think Ancient runes is?" he asked.


    "Ancient runes are a form of writing which Witches and Wizards used hundreds of years ago." She said in a monotone and he already knew that she was reciting the passage from some book. Which was not really helpful in any way or form "It is also a subject at Hogwarts." She continued without even looking up from her book and he wondered if she was actually reading, while reciting from her memory. Now that would be truly terrifying "Classwork and homework in the subject intones¡­"


    "Stop stop stop." He cried out. "I''m not asking you to tell me what you learned about the subject from a book Hermione. I''m asking for your own opinion. What do you think about Ancient Runes."


    She looked up from her book (and wasn''t that a miracle) and thought for a while "I don''t really know as I''ve never even studied any runes. How would you describe it?"


    That was a good question, if a rather simple one. And a question that he should have thought about a long time ago.


    How would he describe Ancient Runes.


    Come to think of it, why had he never thought about it in the first.


    "Hmm¡­ If you ask me to describe it to you then I would say that¡­ A rune is simply magic in writing." He mused but his own words registered in his mind and it was as if he was struck by thunder and he felt an epiphany about the whole subject.


    "Runes are nothing more than magic in literary form." He mumbled and thought about those words a few more times in his head. Like how potion and alchemy were magic in material form.


    Runes are nothing more than magic in written form.


    Runes is magic for all sense and purpose.


    Then why was he treating it any different then Transfiguration and charms.


    The most important thing when doing transfiguration and charms was intent and will.


    So why was he so focused on learning about different rune signs and their meaning when he never bothered with the incantations and wand waving in the other two subjects.


    He suddenly felt like he was nothing but a fool but at the same time, he understood what had happened.


    He was affected by the sheep mentality.


    He saw how others learned Ancient runes and unknowingly followed their lead, without even questioning if there was a better way of doing things.


    Now he could understand why most people are never able to go past the hurdle of the sheep mentality.


    If someone like him, who understood that the true magic was all about intent and will could get lost like then, then how would other people, who had never been taught about such things know any different.


    But now he had figured it out.


    Runes were magic in written form.


    They were not about signs or such things in the first place.


    It was not about learning the correct signs and writing it in perfect calligraphy just like how charms and transfiguration was never truly about incantation and wand waving.


    Surely you could get a good enough result by waving your wand and saying the incantation correctly but you would never really understand true magic with it.


    It was all so fu?k?n? simple.


    How had he not noticed it before.


    He went back to his desk and threw down all the basic books about runes and signs from it along with the calligraphy book (which Penelope had recommended after a look at his abysmal handwriting) and all other things from the table until only a rune carving blade and a small wooden plank were left in the table.


    "What are you doing Harry?" he heard Hermione''s worried voice coming from behind him but ignored her. He could not allow himself to be distracted right now.


    Then he lifted the blade and started carving in the wooden plank.


    But he did not carve any signs that were shown in the books.


    Because Runes was never about that in the first place.


    Magic was never about that.


    It was always first and foremost about will and intent.


    Like everything magical should be.


    He carved into the plank "Levitate 1 meter above ground." All the while channeling his will and intent in the word along with his magic that passed through the rune carving blade and into his words.


    "Harry. I don''t think that would work." He heard Hermione say from behind him but ignored her and continued with his work.


    When he was done, he activated the runes and watched in utter silence as she wooden Plank started floating up and up and up, until I was about 1 meter above the desk and stayed there.


    He could practically feel Hermione''s shock from behind him but he didn''t care about any of it in that moment.


    For just like charms and transfiguration, he was about to become a prodigy in Ancient Runes as well.

 Chapter 41 - Finding a duels teacher

    It was not long before Penelope came to tutor him on Ancient Runes.


    Neither did it take her long to realize that the way Harry was now going to learn runes had changed drastically.


    Nor did it took her very long to understand that Harry was now essentially a prodigy in that particular subject because of all the things he could do with his next subject now.


    Of course, Harry was still learning new things about this new way of carving runes and with time, he did realized that not all his hard work over the past few weeks had been a waste.


    For example, the rune symbol of power still provided a lot more power to the runes for some reason than simply carving ''POWER'' in the wooden plank.


    The same was true for a lot of other symbols as well and Harry was now carving all the symbols he had learned so far one by one to check the extent of it.


    He supposed it was similar to how saying ''Wingardium Leviosa'' generated a better result than if simply pointed at the feather and said ''Float''. And how the result became even better if he said ''Wingardium Leviosa'' in Paseltongue.


    Some languages were just more powerful than others.


    He did not know why that was. Maybe he would research the reason behind it sometime in the future as he did not have either time or magical knowledge to go in for such a research right now. For now, he''ll just have to made do with what he had.


    Harry tried to teach Penelope about the new way of carve runes but just like how Hermione failed in Transfiguration and charms, Penelope failed in Ancient Runes.


    They had just never practiced focusing their will and intent like he did.


    And he had been doing magic based on simple will and intent for the past 4 years without any help from any other source so it was a given that they won''t be able to replicate his results anytime soon.


    Regardless, now Penelope had also joined Hermione in her ''Paper Pushing and Pulling'' exercise.


    Not like he had expected her to. In fact, he knew how hard it was to do wandless magic. Which was the reason why so few wizards and witches were able to do it.


    He had little doubts in his mind that not even Dumbledore and Voldemort would be very efficient in it because wandless magic was not simply doing magic without a wand.


    You needed will and intent to do it which was not very necessary when performing spells with incantations and wand waving. That was a fact that few people understood.


    In fact, many wizards and witches before him had tried to perform wandless magic. But instead of focusing on will and intent, they focused on pushing more magic out of their body which of course didn''t work and bore them little result.


    If you compare wandless magic to a boat, then the ''will'' part would be the direction and ''intent'' would be the destination. Without it, no matter how much power you put behind rowing the boat, you would never reach your destination.


    So after telling both Hermione and Penelope to continue with the exercise, he went back to the project that he had been intending to start for such a long time.


    Using runes on the Handgun.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    But the rest of the class did not have his years of experience and openly gaped at him like he was some kind of exotic beast.


    Well, he was a celebrity in their world, a mysterious one at that and his recent escapade with the troll did not help his obscurity by any means.


    Then there was the fact that he had decided to not use his Shroud of Concealment in the class. Which was a mistake because by the end of the class, he was close to losing his temper and hexing all the idiots still staring at him. Even if more than half of the idiots were girls who were gazing at him with a starstruck gaze.


    Frankly, it was a bit disconcerting. But there was a reason he was here.


    If Flitwick was surprised by the fact that he stayed to talk with him after the class, then he did not allow the surprise to show it in his face either.


    But he did indeed looked surprised when he asked the professor to teach him how to duel.


    Now under ordinary circumstances, Flitwick would not have showed such favouritism to him and would have probably refused to teach him. And he would be right to do so because being a professor who had to handle 7 different classes while being a head of house took a lot of time.


    But Harry was a special case and after Headmaster Dumbledore heard about how Professor Babbling had refused to teach him Ancient Runes, he had authorized, no, he had practically given them an order that they would have to teach Harry Potter if he ever came to them in order to learn something.


    For some reason that the staff members couldn''t fathom, the Headmaster was willing to go to great lengths in order to accommodate Harry Potter.


    Flitwick knew that it was not because of Harry''s fame and he knew that it was not Harry''s unparalleled genius either but he just couldn''t figure out the reason why the Headmaster was willing to go to such lengths to keep Harry in Hogwarts.


    But at the end of the day, he was a teacher who taught in Hogwarts and had to follow Dumbledore''s orders. Plus, he himself wanted to get to know the boy even better. So when Harry asked him to teach him how to duel, he accepted readily without much question.


    And that was the day Harry Potter formally started to learn how to fight. Or duel, as the wizards like to call it.

 Chapter 42 - Another teachers meeting

    "I heard that you''ve been teaching Harry how to duel?" Minerva asked curiously as they sipped the pumpkin juice while sitting in her quarters.


    Ever since the troll incident, no, ever since this chaotic year started, they had been meeting together like this in order to talk with each other about their students. Though they both knew that by students, they mainly meant Harry Potter.


    Especially since the Headmaster wanted to know everything about the young boy who only ever spent his time with Flitwick out of all the staff members and despite being curious, the old man could not directly ask Flitwick about the young boy.


    Thus Flitwick and Minerva had these friendly talks once a week during which they would occasionally talk about Harry and Flitwick would tell everything that he knew about the boy to Minvera who would later send the report to Albus Dumbledore.


    Flitwick didn''t like the fact that he was indirectly reporting Harry''s actions to the Headmaster, someone who Harry didn''t like very much and was the reason he was sent to live with those abusive muggles. He just hoped that the headmaster would not use this news against Harry somehow.


    "I''ve heard that you''ve been teaching the boy how to duel. Filius, is that true?" Minerva asked with a disapproving glance, clearly showing what she thought about this business of favoring one student over everyone else even if it was Headmaster Dumbledore who told them to do so.


    "That is true Minerva." He said without flinching under the stern woman''s gaze. They''d colleagues for so long and he had since gotten used to her glares though he could see why the young students are so scared of her stern facade despite her being a big softy deep in her heart.


    "The boy is clearly not attending any classes and even when he does, I could tell that there is nothing that he could learn in those classes. And the headmaster will not allow him to leave the school until the end of the year" at this both of them frowned. "At least this way he would learn something from the staff members."


    "But if he want to learn dueling then why doesn''t he attend Defense Against the Dark Arts classes?" she asked and then grimaced as they remembered who taught those classes.


    Quirrel was a good person, though a bit cowardly. But they all knew that he was anything but a good teacher.


    When Minerva had shared Harry''s reason for wanting to leave the school, i.e having bad teachers like Binns, Quirrel and Snape, Flitwick had agreed with him thoroughly.


    The quality of staff members in the school had degraded by quite a bit in recent years and even Flitwick who loved to teach in Hogwarts would agree that perhaps Hogwarts was not as good a school as it used to be in the past.


    Such a degradation had happened after the war with Gryndalwald in which many pureblood and halfblood families died and the degradation of Hogwarts became even worse after the last war with Lord Voldemort.


    Those days the strength of each class each reached over 150. Now it''s b?r?ly a third of that.


    Many wizards and witches, especially the muggleborns and Halfbloods left the country during the last war and sometimes Flitwick wondered if they had made the right choice after all and if he should have left the country as well.


    Especially since the discrimination between the muggleborns and halfbloods and the so called halfbreeds like him had not decreased even a little bit despite the fact that the light side had won the last war.


    "Well, I don''t think I can argue with your decision when you put it that way." Minerva said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "So tell me, how are your dueling classes with Mr. Potter progressing?"


    At the topic of the prodigy, Flitwick sat straighter in his chair and became excited at once, forgetting all the depressing thoughts going through his mind a few moments ago "Oh! Mr. Potter is an absolute delight to teach." He piped cheerfully. "An absolute delight Minerva. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a student as talented as him in learning spells. He learns just about every spell I''ve taught him in a single day. In a single day Minerva. How many of us can do that. Of course, the fact remains that I''ve not shown him any particularly dangerous or complicated spells just yet but I doubt he''ll take much time in learning those either if I ever decided to teach him."


    Minerva raised one eyebrow at this excitement. Learning that Harry was not simply good at Charms but other things as well was news to her. If only he showed this much interest in her subject as well.


    "Yes. But that''s not even the most exciting part." Flitwick squeaked cheerfully, almost jumping from his seat in excitement. Ready to discuss even more things about the brilliant student with her.


    "What is the most exciting part then?" Minerva asked, sitting on the edge of her chair as Flitwick''s excitement seeped into her as well. He always had that kind of affect on other people. Not that she would allow her excitement to show on her face. She had a stern facade to maintain after all.


    "The most exciting part was his adaptability against spells." He replied sagely, as if that explained everything while in truth, she didn''t really understood anything.


    "What do you mean by adaptability?" she asked.


    He smiled at her in a way that clearly said that he knew something that she didn''t and stayed silent in order to frustrate her for a few moments before he replied "The first day I used few simple spells like Jellyleg jinx, Leg Locker hex, Tongue tying curse, Tickling hex and a few other simple spells. It surprised me that he was able to learn all those spells within the hour. But what surprised me even more was what happened the next day."


    Minerva looked at his curiously and he continued "The next day when I used those spells on him, none of them worked. No matter how much power I put behind them. No matter how skillfully I performed them, they refused to work on him. In fact, one of those spells even backfired on me."


    By this point both of Minerva''s eyebrows were raised to her hairline in surprise "How?" she asked, clearly as confused about the subject as he had been when he first encountered this ''Phenomenon''.


    Flitwick smiled turned even wider at that "He charmed his clothes to either neutralize or destroy those spells. He had even carved a series of runes inside those clothes for holding up those charms so now no one would be able to use such spells on him."


    "And he did it for every spell you performed?" Minerva asked, finding it a bit hard to take in this bit of news and feeling a bit jealous of Flitwick for getting such a brilliant student.


    "Yes. He is a true genius. In fact, I would not be surprised if one he managed to find a way to neutralize the three unforgivables within a few years as well." He said with a grin on his face.


    "That''s impossible." Minerva denied without a second thought "No one has ever managed to find a way to counter the unforgivables. If they had then so many people it last war wouldn''t have to die."


    "Perhaps. But I believe that he would be able to do it." Flitwick said in a serious tone this time "In fact, had had already made a few plans to counter for the killing curse and the imperius curse and from what I heard, I have to say that his ideas have merit. He may not be able to succeed in a few days but I believe given chance, he''ll succeed eventually."


    Minerva wanted to deny his claims. To tell him that if it was such a easy task then someone would have already done it. But the look in his eyes made her realize that he was serious about this. That he truly believed in Harry.


    She once again wondered what Flitwick saw in the young boy that he would have such faith in his abilities.


    But then again, she had also seen what the boy had done to the Troll, hadn''t she. How the boy destroyed it without even a scratch in his body.


    Maybe there was something about him after all.


    Is that why Headmaster Dumbledore did what he did?


    Allowed him to live in a harsh environment so that his magical talent could come out.


    No... don''t think that way.


    A single right cannot excuse a hundred wrongs.


    Now that she thought about that event, the boy must have used some kind of enchanted weapon to do that much damage as simple spells would not work against the Troll''s magical resistant body and a young boy, no matter how powerful, would never be powerful enough to harm a troll with any explosive spells.


    Hell, she was one of the most powerful witches in all of Britain and she knew that she would not be able to do so much damage to a troll.


    So yes, perhaps it was understandable that Flitwick would have so much faith in him.


    She also realized that if what Flitwick had told her so far was the truth, then they were seeing the birth of a truly powerful wizard who would fight by relying on charms.


    Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in all Britain used Transfiguration to fight along with a bit of charms as support.


    Voldemort, the second most powerful wizard had use all manners of dark spells to get an advantage.


    But she had never heard about anyone winning battles with charms.


    Even Filius Flitwick, who was a charms teachers used his great arsenal of spells and his experience as a duelist to defeat his opponents.


    She had never before heard of someone who fights in battles with charmed weapons.


    But currently, Harry has not even completed his first year and he had already created enchanted weapons that could obliterate an ?du?t Mountain Troll.


    And if Flitwick was to be believed, he was currently working on a charming his clothes so that they would repel any kind of spells thrown at him.


    If Harry continued in this path then he might truly be able to do what no one had done before. And for once, she was truly excited about the possibilities of such a future.

 Chapter 43 - Basilisk skin

    "Harry¡­"


    "Yes Hermione?"


    "What is that?" she asked as she pointed at the large piece of skin lying on the table that was still dripping blood on the ground a drop at a time.


    "That''s Basilisk skin Hermione." He said it in such a casual way that she wondered if she had heard him wrong.


    "Basilisk skin?" she asked.


    "Yes" he nodded nonchalantly while still focusing on the task ahead of him, as if there was nothing wrong with there being a Basilisk skin in his table.


    "Harry?"


    "What is it Hermione?"


    "You do know that Basilisks are XXXXX class creatures and that there is a ban in breeding them?" she asked worriedly. Harry was a smart person. No, that was an understatement. He was the smartest person that she''d known in her entire life. But he had the tendency to avoid general things that everyone else thought as common sense.


    "Yes I do Hermione." He replied "I also know that while it is illegal to breed them, there is no ban on their parts like hide, venom or eyes. So you don''t need to worry about me."


    She let out a breath at that and felt a bit embarrassed. In fact, she had not known that buying it''s hide was not illegal but had simply ?ssumed that it was as breeding the snake was illegal as well. Just goes to show how much she knew and how much she had yet to learn.


    But just as she was feeling relieved that Harry was not doing something illegal, he spoke once again. "But even if it was illegal, I would still not care. And you know that better than anyone else Hermione."


    He said it with such seriousness that she took a step back in surprise and a bit of shock.


    Yes, he had already told her that he would do many illegal things in his quest for understanding magic. And that if she felt uncomfortable, then she was free to leave him at any moment.


    But she had also given him her word that she would not leave him no matter what. And she would stand by her words.


    "Yes. I know." She said and moved forward in order to observe the Basilisk''s skin. It was the first time she had seen such a thing and she would be a fool to miss such an experience.


    "Harry. Where did you get this skin?" she asked curiously as she waved her hand over the cold skin that felt as tough as steel to her.


    "Asked a friend for it."


    "Friend?"


    "Yes. She was reluctant to give it to me at first. But I was¡­ persuasive."


    Hermione must not have liked the way he said it because her eyebrows crinkled for a bit before the worried look in her eyes returned full force.


    "Harry, you do realize that this¡­ skin is still dripping blood right?" she asked with concerned laced in her voice.


    "Yes. It was¡­ under stasis till just now." He lied easily, though he did felt a bit bad about lying like that. He had really forgotten about Hermione when he brought the skin in this room. Continuous time travel day in and day out does that to you.


    "I see." Hermione said though the skepticism in her eyes was clear and he knew that she wouldn''t forget this anytime soon. "I just¡­ be careful Harry. Alright?" she asked while holding onto his shoulder and he gave her a nod before going back to his work.


    "What are you going to do with the Basilisk skin anyway?" she asked.


    "Experiment." He said and wondered if he should stop right here but then decided to continue in case she might make some ridiculous ?ssumptions on her own. "I wanted to see how magical resistant a Basilisk skin is. Why it was the way it was. What properties it holds that allows it to shrug off spells that would easily kill an ?du?t wizard¡­ or witch." Then he wondered if he should tell her the whole truth and the decided that since he''d come so far, he might as well tell her everything.


    "I also wanted to see if I could transfigure my skin into Basilisk skin or something close to it. On a temporary basis of course" he added hastily as he saw Hermione''s horrified expression. "So that I could become magical resistant during a battle and all that. You understand?"


    Hermione gulped a bit at that. She knew that Harry wouldn''t let anything stop his d?s?r? to learn more about magic and she thought that she would be able to deal with it when the time comes. But this was happening all too fast. She had not thought that he would do something so highly illegal like human transfiguration so soon.


    "Harry, human transfiguration is highly illegal, not to mention dangerous. There''s a reason why it has been banned by the ministry for such a long time." She said, trying to persuade him to¡­ to do what? She had no answer to that. And she knew that he would not listen to her anyway. He was stubborn when it came to magic and a part of her highly respected him for that. But another part of her was equally afraid of him and for that as well.


    Harry looked in her worried eyes with a blank expression and the room descended in a long silence before he finally dropped the runic tools he was working with and cupped Hermione''s cheeks with both his hands.


    Such a brilliant witch. But so naive. And so thoroughly bound by chains controlled by authority and laws.


    "I''ve told you this before Hermione. And I''ll tell you this again." He said. "In my quest to understand magic, I''ll do many things. A lot of them will be illegal. And a lot of them will be unethical. If you think that you cannot do this, then feel free to leave."


    "I would not lie to you and say that your departure won''t hurt me because it will. But I''ll not keep you here against your wishes. I''ll not have you work halfheartedly when you could do so, so much more with your talent."


    "Go back to your room and think about what I said. Take your time. Then come back and tell me your answer. Now that you''ve seen a little bit of what I''m willing to do in order to understand magic, you have a new and better perspective. So think about it once again. And then give me your answer. Alright?" he asked, hiding the bitterness in his heart.


    He really didn''t want her to go. Not only was she a really brilliant witch whose talent and work ethic far outstripped anyone else in the whole generation but she was a good friend as well. His first human friend.


    He did not know how and when she grew up on him. But she did.


    And he did not want to lose that.


    Did not want to lose her.


    With a shaky breath and a hesitant nod, Hermione turned away and left the room and he moved the Basilisk skin inside his purse.


    Was it a bad idea to show her his dark side so early in their friendship.


    Possibly.


    Because for all her brilliance, she was still quite young and still held authority in high regard.


    But he did not want his friendship to be build on a lie.


    Though he would still prefer if she choose to remain his friend.


    Then he sat down on his chair and started to think.


    He needed a way to avoid detection from other people.


    Albus Dumbledore was the headmaster of this ancient castle and Harry did not know what kind of things the old man could do in order to keep an eye on him.


    He needed a place where all his future experiments could be hidden.


    He needed a place that was his own.


    And he knew the perfect way to gain such a place.


    Though in order to gain such a place, he would have to learn a particularly hard charm that even most ?du?ts would find extremely hard to cast.


    The Fidelius charm.

 Chapter 44 - Philosophers Stone

    Philosopher''s Stone.


    Harry remembered seeing it in the first movie.


    How this whole debacle with the dark lord started with the life giving, gold generating stone.


    How Voldemort patiently waited behind Quirrel''s turban for a whole year so that he could get his hands on that stone.


    How the Headmaster and the rest of the staff set up stupid tests that were easily solved by a bunch of 1st years.


    How Harry finally confronted Quirrelmort at the end of the year and how he managed to burn the shit out of the dark wizard with the power of his mother''s love.


    And how in the end Albus Dumbledore and Flamel agreed that it was best to destroy it so that it would not fall under wrong hands.


    What a load of rubbish.


    First thing first, why the Flamels be afraid of Voldemort. They had lived for six centuries. There must have seen more than a dozen dark lords in their life. A lot of those dark lords at some point in time might have decided that it would be cool to have a gold generating machine or maybe they would have tried to get the stone for it''s ''Elixir of Life'' generating properties.


    And not just the dark lords but any sort of ambitious wizard would at one point or another have thought of trying to steal the stone.


    And yet, after 600 years, the Flamels still had it.


    And why not. With 600 years worth of knowledge and skills, they must have such great defenses in place that even Dark lords would quiver in fear from those defenses.


    But all of a sudden, they decided that they cannot keep the stone safe since a half dead Dark Lord decided to steal it from them.


    How the hell did anyone ever believed that story.


    Oh yeah, because Albus Fucking Dumbledore said so.


    There were so many things wrong with the Philosopher''s Stone that Harry didn''t even want to think about it.


    First of all, who knows if the Philosopher''s stone is real.


    Well, the Flamels are immortal but their immortality could come from other things.


    Maybe they just created the Philosopher''s stone as a distraction so that they could hide the real reason behind their immortality.


    After all, only a fool would ever think about advertising the fact that they''ve created something that allows them to live for as long as they want.


    Then there''s the thing that maybe the Stone is real but only those who''ve mastered Alchemy, like the Flamels could generate Elixir of Life from it.


    Or maybe the Philosopher''s Stone is just one small ingredient when it comes to generating Elixir of Life.


    There was so little knowledge about the Philosopher''s Stone in the history books, or any other kind of books that Harry was not sure if it ever even existed.


    But even if he ?ssumed that it did, what would possess the Flamels to give it to Dumbledore for safekeeping.


    It would be immensely stupid to give away the source of your immortality to someone else.


    And after living for 600 years, Harry doubted that the Flamels were so stupid.


    But let''s just say that all his logical statements were somehow proven wrong and that there was indeed a real ''Elixir of Life'' generating Stone in there.


    How would he steal it.


    And more importantly, how would he leave with the stone once he steals it.


    And even if he did steal it, how would generate elixir of life with it when he knew nothing about Alchemy.


    Let''s start from the first point.


    He knew that the stone was hidden behind numerous traps that he were cleared by a bunch of 1st years.


    But were those the only traps kept in that place.


    Maybe there were other hidden traps that others didn''t see.


    Maybe the potion that they drank in order to clear fire wall would have put them to sleep in half an hour.


    Maybe Dumbledore never even left for the ministry and was his absence was a ruse to make the dark lord act while he had behind one of those traps in order to ambush the dark lord once he gains the (fake or real) Philosopher''s stone.


    There were so many ifs and maybes and what nots in the existence of the Philosopher''s Stone that in the end, he decided to do the wise thing and leave it all alone.


    He was not a fool like the original Harry to go after something like that in order to save it from the dark lord. Nor was he someone who would let greed overwhelm his common sense.


    Oh, he would make sure that the Dark lord wouldn''t gain it because he would kill Quirrel with his own hands before the end of the year.


    But not because he hated the guy or something.


    But so that the events in real life could move as smoothly as they did in the movie.


    At least he hoped they did.


    But even if they didn''t, he didn''t really cared because he planned to become the strongest wizard in history and a mere dark lord was not something that phased him.


    As for the elixir of immortality, once he becomes older, he would create something like that on his own.

 Chapter 45 - Dueling with Professor Flitwick

    Harry ducked and rolled to the left just in time for a stunner to phase past him by a few centimeters.


    He had no doubt in his mind that if Flitwick was taking this seriously, then he was have sent two more stunners to the places where he would try to dodge, which would have ended with him being stunned.


    But just like Flitwick, he was not giving his all in the duel.


    For one thing, they were only use low level spells against one another.


    For another, he was not wearing his robes for this dueling session since Flitwick had told him that he would never learn how to dodge properly if her relied overly on his charmed clothes which might prove to be dangerous in an actual battle.


    So here he was. Jumping from one place to another like a fool, trying to save his skin from the monster known as Filius Flitwick who seemed to be enjoying this way too much then he should.


    Harry transfigured a shield from the floor in order to take a breather but the shield was destroyed but a weak reducto curse the very next second and he was forced to duck and dodge the next few spells once again while he tried to throw a few of his own every now and then, most of which didn''t even reach anywhere close to the Professor.


    He realized that despite being a genius in charms, transfiguration and other subjects, he was absolute pants in a duel.


    And his aim with a wand was absolutely horrendous to the point that he wondered how the original Harry Potter had ever managed to hit anything with it.


    Then again, deep down he knew that it wasn''t the wand that su?k?d. It was him.


    Oh well. Practice makes perfect.


    He dodged a few more red stunners from the professor but he had been doing this for some time now and was too exhausted and too slow to dodge anything and before long, a stunner struck him in the left shoulder, effectively ending this pathetic duel.


    He woke up with a start and found Flitwick stowing away his wand while standing beside him as he himself laid on the ground in a sprawl.


    One thing knew about duels was that Dignity was the first causality of any duels.


    "You did good Mr Potter." Flitwick said with a huge smile "You''ve got an athletic build and have great reaction time. Not many new duelists are able to dodge as well as you did back there."


    Yet despite all the praise, Harry felt lost.


    He knew that Charms, Transfiguration and Ancient Runes were far apart from Dueling.


    There was the fact that his aim was absolute shit. And even without it, he found it hard to concentrate properly while he was being pelted with spells.


    He lost almost all of his concentration while fleeing for his life and coming up with a successful plan to defeat an opponent seemed like a far fetched dream.


    He knew that unlike the other subjects that came easily to him, Dueling was something that he would have to work very hard to improve.


    But he also knew that he had advantages that other didn''t have. Like three times larger mana capacity than an average wizard of his age.


    Then there were his enhanced weapons like the hand gun that he was still adding new charms on. He had yet to use an enhanced weapon against Flitwick because he knew that his weapons were dangerous but in a real life and death situation, he would not shy away from using every advantage that he had.


    Then there was the enhanced defensive robes that he was working on. He knew that at this point, they were only capable of stopping low level spells but this was just the start.


    His end goal was to neutralize every spell in existance so that he would be able to get the ultimate defense.


    Of course, he knew that such a thing would be almost impossible to achieve as there was no such thing as an ultimate defense but he would still try to make his defense as strong as possible.


    Aside from that, there was the human transfiguration that he was working on that would improve his senses in a real battle.


    So even though Dueling was a weak point of him, he knew that he would be able to make do with all his other skills. Still, it would be better for him if he learned as much as he could from the Professor.


    After all, it was not everyday that an International Dueling Champion takes out his time to teach you.


    "Thanks Professor." Harry said and stood up from the ground and dusted his robes off before realizing that he had recently charmed it to clean itself.


    But then again, habits die hard.


    "That will be all for today Mr Potter." Flitwick said with his usual enthusiasm "If there''s nothing else, then I''ll meet you tomorrow at the same time." Saying that, he turned to move but Harry already had something on his mind that he needed to consult the professor about.


    "Wait Professor." He called out and Flitwick stopped on his tracks and turned around to look at him curiously.


    "There is something I wanted to ask you about?"


    "Something?"


    "A charm." Harry nodded "A very complicated charm that I''ve heard very few know about and that even fewer people can perform."


    Now Flitwick looked thoroughly interested. "Which charm would that be Mr Potter."


    "The same charm that my parents used in order to hide from the Voldemort." Flitwick flinched at that name and Harry inwardly frowned at this. He had forgotten how every wizard and witch in the magical world feared the Dark Lord name. But the fact that even his own teacher was frightened of that name left a bad taste in his mouth and put things into larger perspective.


    As of yet, he was far weaker than Flitwick.


    And Flitwick in turn was far weaker than Voldemort.


    Who in turn was a bit weaker than Dumbledore.


    Yup. Becoming the world greatest wizard was going to be a long road. But that''s not what he needed to focus on right now.


    "I heard that my parents used the Fidelius charm to hide from the dark lord. And that he was utterly incapable of finding them and would have never been able to attack them if they were not betrayed by their own friend."


    "Where did you hear that Mr Potter?" Flitwick asked sadly, looking a bit pale at he memory of his lost students.


    "It was written in all the newspapers from back in the day." He lied smoothly. "It''s not really much of a secret when you think about it." He said and pretended to look sad at the memory of his not-parents.


    "I''m afraid I''ve never used that charm myself as I''ve never needed to. But I know a thing or two about this ancient charm. Tell me Mr Potter, what do you want to know about the charm?"


    "The first thing I want to know is that if this charm was so powerful and if it was so good at hiding people then why didn''t more people use it in the last war?" he asked.


    Flitwick smiled sadly at that and started his explanation which went on for the next half an hour during which Harry continued to ask questions upon questions regarding the charm for when he himself would need to cast the charm.


    Turned out that only a very complicated charm that very few people are proficient enough to cast.


    Moreover, it was a very ancient charm. Perhaps one of the most ancient charms. So very few people know how to cast it.


    Those were one of the few simple reasons why it was not widely popular in the last war.


    After the explanation, Harry thanked the professor profusely before leaving for the rooms.


    Truthfully, he had wanted to cast that charm on three adjacent rooms and make Penelope or Hermione the secret keeper. Plus a house elf or two for food and coffee and other basic necessities.


    That way, no one would be able to tell where he spends most of his time and all his projects and experiments will remain hidden.


    The problem was that even if he knew how to perform the charm, which he didn''t at the moment, he was still not powerful enough to cast the charm right now.


    At least he was not powerful enough to cast the charm on three whole rooms.


    Perhaps he''ll cast the charm on one single room and then use other charms to enlarge the room and divide it in different sections so that his time travelling counterparts won''t be able to see each other in case something goes wrong.


    After all, playing with time might be beneficial but if you do something wrong then the repercussions might be just as bad. So he was very careful whenever he used the time turner.


    He looked up front and realized that he had already taken various shortcuts and reached the last room in the 6th floor in the east wing which was so abandoned that not even the people inside the portraits bothered to come here.


    He shook his head and entered the room where all his books and study table were kept in a neat and orderly way, no doubt the actions of one Hermione Granger.


    Then he took out the book on ancient charms and dived into it with full fervor.

 Chapter 46 - Tracking Charms

    Hermione let out a whoop of joy as the paper landed in her hand for the 10th time without fail.


    She had finally done it.


    After two whole months of practicing diligently, she had finally managed to get it right 10 out of 10 times.


    Which meant that she was ready for the next exercise.


    Harry had told her that it had taken him about 3 months before he was fairly proficient in it.


    And she had done it in 2 months.


    Which means that she had done it faster than Harry.


    She let out another whoop of joy, in her mind of course, at finally besting Harry at something.


    And then there''s the fact that she''s 12 years old right now and he was merely 7 years old when he created and completed this exercise.


    She wondered if she would have been able to do such a thing at his age and her excitement dimmed down a bit.


    But still, she had completed this exercise and that called for a celebration.


    And celebration for Hermione Granger meant more books and tasks to do.


    So she instantly jumped from her bed, ignoring her roommates who had taken to ignoring her as well and left for the room in which Harry must have been doing his thing.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    She was on her way to that room as she turned the corner when suddenly something fast and small blurred past her head scaring the living daylights out of her.


    She turned around to see that the thing was a beautiful white colored hawk. Though where it had come from, she had no idea.


    Then she heard the large foot steps coming from the other direction and realized that yes, she did have an idea.


    "Hermione." Harry called out loudly as he ran toward her, looking for all the world like he had been running around the castle for the whole day and knowing him, he probably did.


    "Did you see a brown hawk pass by this area? I think I was flying this way when I last checked it." He said, huffing every now as he took out a crude handmade device from his pocket which held a single needle which was pointing in the direction in which the hawk was flying while he wiped the sweat on his brows with his other hand.


    "Yes. But why would are you chasing after it?" she asked without any surprise at his shenanigans as she was well used to his odd projects and experiments by now. Then she thought of something and took out a hankerchief and passed it on to him who waved it away without a second look.


    Boys.


    "I was working on a Blood tracking charm and had been learning for it for the past three hours. It took me one more hour to catch that hawk. And let me tell you, it is damn hard to catch a bird that''s flying in the sky even with a Nimbus 2000."


    Hermione distantly recalled that the Nimbus 2000 was some kind of hotshot broom for the quidditch players but didn''t paid much attention to it. Instead she looked at the device in his hands oddly as it fluctuated a tiny amount every now and then. Possibly still tracking the hawk.


    A part of her reminded her that blood tracking charms were borderline illegal but she ignored that part.


    By now, she had seen Harry doing so many illegal things and breaking so many laws and rules that she didn''t even care about little things like this.


    "Isn''t this working just fine?" she asked "Why are you running after the bird yourself?"


    Harry was taking deep breaths now and Hermione had the sinking suspicion that the only reason why he stopped to reply to her was because he was too exhausted to chase after the hawk anymore.


    "Because¡­ I wanted to do more experiment on it before it almost bit my fingers off and flew out of the window. I''ve been chasing it for the past ten minutes throughout the castle."


    *


    "But why are you chasing after it. Wouldn''t it be better to just pick up another bird and continue with your voodoo project. Or did that hawk had something special about it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and Harry looked at her like she was a complete idiot, which she was not.


    "Hermione. Did you hear what I said. It took me an hour to catch that blasted bird. I won''t go outside searching for another when I could still catch this one while it''s still inside the castle." He said looking annoyed.


    "But¡­ why didn''t you just used the owls from the Owlery for your projects?" she asked curiously, wondering if there was some limitations in the the blood tracking charm. But as soon as she asked the question, Harry froze in his place and a tinge of red suddenly took over his cheeks.


    No he didn''t.


    "Well¡­" he stammered out, looking highly embarrassed "The books said that¡­ I thought that¡­ I¡­"


    "You forgot. Didn''t you?" she asked b?r?ly holding in her laugh at his occasional stupidity and despite her best efforts her lips started twitching up wards and she knew that she won''t be able to hold it in for long.


    Apparently, he knew that as well cause he crossed his arms like a child and scowled petulantly at her "I might have¡­ overlooked that possibility."


    And Hermione lost it and started laughing uncontrollably at that.


    This was so typical of Harry.


    A genius at so many things that it left her envious but completely forgetful about some of the most basic things sometimes.


    By the time she stopped, tears has formed at the corner of her eyes and Harry was looking at her with an indulgent expression.


    "Alright. Ruin my fun." She complained "Okay I won''t laugh at you anymore but you have to admit that it was pretty funny."


    He gave her a gentle smile and shook his head at his own antics "Yeah. That was rather foolish of me. I was just so damn excited about the tracking charms and all that that I formed a tunnel vision for the subject. Then the book showed how the author caught a bird and then placed the blood tracking charms on it and I never even thought that instead of going outside and capturing a bird for myself, I could have just gone to the owlery instead."


    "But leaving that aside. What are you doing here?" he asked as he started going back to their study room. "I thought you still needed two more hours for practicing?"


    At his words, Hermione perked up once again and clutched his hands excitedly.


    "Harry, I completed the exercise you gave me. I performed it 10 times continuously without failing even once." She told him smugly and he gave her an indulgent smile before they reached the room and upon opening it, Hermione realized that Penelope was sitting at the corner of the room, studying an old book about something. Probably ancient runes as that was her favourite subject.


    Unlike Hermione, Penelope had found that exercise particularly hard and dropped it after a whole month when she still didn''t see any significant results. She had said that she was already too old to be practicing something so completely new and that even if she started focusing on it right now, she would not become proficient enough by the end of her graduation.


    She giggled at that thought, causing Harry to look at her with a raised eyebrow before going back to the table he had been working on previously.

 Chapter 47 - Quidditch Obsession

    "Penelope." He called out to the older girl who dropped the old book with a frustrated sigh. Hermione knew from her long experience as a bookworm that this is what a student usually with when he/she found a topic too hard to understand.


    "What is it?" the older girl asked in a defeated tone and Hermione noticed her dark lines under her eyes and realized that she probably looked the same.


    Harry was a really good teacher and the subjects that he taught were always very interesting, if you could ignore their illegal aspect. On top of that, he often gave her books that even professors like Mcgonagall, Flitwick and Snape didn''t have the access to so it was a given that she would study till late at night.


    Which was the reason behind her own exhaustion and she could guess that Penelope was in the same page as her.


    "We''re taking a break." He said and Hermione felt the earth shift away from under her.


    "Who are you and what have you done with Harry?" she asked, half jokingly because another half of her was still shocked with the fact that Harry would want to take a break.


    The only time she had ever seen him take a break was when he took her to the lake and even then, it turned into their first occlumency lesson rather than a break so in essence, this was truly the first time she had ever seen him talk about a break.


    And wasn''t that a surreal thought.


    No wonder he was such a genius.


    "I stuffed the real Harry Potter in a trunk and took some of his hair so that I could use it for Polyjuice" he said and chuckled at some joke that neither she, nor Penelope understood.


    "But seriously. You two have been working rather hard for some time now and I want you to take a break. So we''re going back to the lake in order to cool our brains for higher efficiency in the future."


    Hermione wanted to argue with him and ask him to give her the next exercise so that she could start practicing with it but if she had learned anything about Harry overtime as his friend, it was that he was a very stubborn and a very decisive person and changing his decisions took a great deal of time and energy and most of the time, it was just best for all of them to go along with his plans.


    Penelope must have learned this lesson as well as she grudgingly stood up from her seat and started packing up her books.


    Then Harry bent down and took out three brooms from under his desk. Brooms that looked far better than the ones used the school for teaching new students.


    Not to mention that those brooms looked rather expensive as well. And the fact that two of those brooms were still gift wrapped.


    She remembered seeing one such broom in the shop that sold Quidditch supplies store and wondered how much they cost.


    She knew that Harry was rich, he always reminded her of that fact when he wanted to give her something and she didn''t wanted to accept it. But she never knew how ''rich'' exactly he was.


    "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god Harry." She squealed in excitement as she held the broomstick with reverence. "This is a Nimbus 2000 broomstick. One of the best brooms in the world right now. Even the professional level quidditch teams use this broomstick." Then she went silent as a grave and looked at Harry with no small amount of apprehension "This is for me, right?"


    Harry chuckled at her before nodding his head and Penelope squealed once more before crushing him in a hug.


    Safe to say, it took a while for her to finally settle down.


    Hermione on the other hard was even more apprehensive than her.


    "I didn''t knew you were a quidditch fan." She commented as she checked her own broom for any cracks or what not. She never really trusted flying all that much after that accident in their first class when Neville broke his arm.


    "Are you kidding me." Penelope said, her voice a few octaves higher than usual indicating that the excitement was still there. Just suppressed for now. "I''m one of the biggest fan of the game in the whole school. And I''ll have you know that I''ve never, ever, missed a quidditch game no matter what."


    Harry gave her a look that said ''Really. Don''t you have anything better to do with your time?'' kind of look and Penelope flushed at that.


    "It''s my hobby. And we''re all entitled to have a hobby you know."


    Hermione and Harry both gave her a look that clearly said that they didn''t believe her for a second.


    And for some strange reason that Hermione was never able to understand, wizards and witches were highly obsessed with the game.


    "Enough dilly dallying. Let''s go." Harry said and pushed both of them out of the room before locking it and leading them to the opposite direction of the shortcut to the school gate.


    "Where are we going Harry?" Hermione asked, not liking the fact that she was not informed about something.


    "To the Astronomy tower." Harry said and looked at his¡­ was that a watch. Since when did he bought one. "There no one in the tower right now." He informed and she realized that it was not a watch but had something to do with the marauder''s map. A device that tracked the whereabouts of everyone in the castle.


    And wasn''t that a scary thought.


    Just like Harry had said, the Astronomy tower was totally empty and it took Hermione some time to understand why they were here and what they were going to do now and she froze.


    She did not like heights.


    She did not like flying.


    She might have fought both her fears for Harry but this was too much for her.


    "Harry." She squeaked and realized that her voice was too soft for anyone to hear.


    "Harry." She said a bit louder this time and he turned to look back at her and a look of understanding crossed his face. She wondered if he had known about her fear of flying. Had she told him about that?


    He turned and whispered something to Penelope who nodded and instantly jumped off from the Tower with her broom under her legs before he turned to her with an understanding smile.


    "I know you don''t like flying very much. So thanks for doing this for me." He said and took her broom before stowing it away in his expendable purse which she eyed with no small amount of envy.


    He chuckled at her expression and told to come closer. "You''ll ride with me today." He said softly and she felt her face flush at his words.


    "Come" he said and positioned the broom between his legs in a flying position.


    She eyed the broom with some apprehension and a bit of fear before she gathered up the courage and sat on it in front of her. Hoping that she would still be in one piece by the end of the day.


    As she sat on the broom, she felt like she was sitting on a soft cushion and not a thin branch. Probably some kind of charm that she didn''t knew about.


    Her back was to his ?h?st as he put his arms around her securely while holding the broom. "I''ll keep you safe princess." He whispered in her ears and she flushed once again.


    He was such a tease.


    And they flew.


    It would remain as one of the best days of her life for many years to come.

 Chapter 48 - Occlumency

    "You ate apple pie last night before you¡­" Harry shuddered and a look of revulsion crossed his face "And then you kissed Percy Weasley goodbye." He made a retching sound at that while Penelope swatted his shoulders playfully and Hermione giggled from the sidelines.


    "There is nothing wrong with Percy Weasley. And I''m his girlfriend." She said and crossed her arms "What? You don''t approve?" she asked playfully but there a hint of seriousness behind those words and Harry knew that whatever he said next would mean a great deal for her so he chose his words carefully.


    "I personally don''t know the bloke so I can''t really say. But he is suffering from Hermioneflu."


    "Hey!" Hermione shouted from the sidelines and was promptly ignored.


    "Hermioneflu?" Penelope asked with mirth in her eyes.


    "Yes. When people suffer from Hermioneflu, they tend to fall in the state of blindly worshipping authority figures and the rules created by them like it was the word of the god."


    "He''s not that bad." Penelope protested weakly and crumbled instantly when Harry gave her a pointed stare.


    She knew that her boyfriend had the habit of blindly worshiping authority or as Harry said, he was suffering from Hermioneflu.


    But that didn''t mean it was that bad, right?


    "So you don''t approve?" she asked, a little hurt by his words for some reason.


    "He''s your boyfriend and I think that you should not let my approval or disapproval come in between your relationship." He said slowly, as if walking on top of a minefield "But personally, I think you can do better."


    Penelope slumped her shoulders at that.


    She knew that Harry had not said more because of the respect he held for her otherwise he might have mentioned other shortcomings of Percy Weasley, the main one being his stuck up attitude and the fact that he always thinks that he''s in the right.


    She''ll have to think about her relationship some more before she took it to the next level. If she ever took it to the next level because now she was not as sure of it as she once was.


    "But that''s not the main problem here." Harry said and brought her attention back to the topic. "The problem is that I was able to bypass your basic occlumency shields without you ever knowing. And if a novice like me could do it. Then someone experienced like Dumbledore or Snape could easily do it as well."


    Penelope shuddered at the thought of Snape reading her mind before she controlled herself and let out a sigh.


    "I need more practice." She admitted.


    "That you do." He said and asked her to sit with Hermione who was patiently waiting for Harry to probe her shields and check for any sign of weaknesses.


    As it turned out, Hermione had created enough shields that even Harry was not able to bypass her shields without her knowing about it.


    Penelope felt a bit jealous at that even though she had long admitted that Hermione was just a better witch than her and that she learned things at a much faster rate than anyone she knew.


    After praising Hermione for a bit he send the younger girl to her and they both sat in silence before she took up her wand and pointed it at Hermione.


    "Legilimens."


    Harry had told both of them that they were girl so they should feel comfortable with probing each other''s minds.


    He told them that this was another way of fortifying one''s mind.


    If a person is repeatedly attacked by a legilimen, then his mind and magic start forming its own occlumency shields in defense.


    And that was exactly what she was doing right now.


    After a few legilimency probes that were just hard enough to put a lot of strain on Hermione''s occlumency shields, she broke the eye contact and lowered her wand.


    Hermione looked a bit tired and Penelope could already tell that they both will be having mild headaches this night.


    They always did after their occlumency lessons.


    Hermione calmed her breathing before she raised her wand and pointed it at her head and said "Legilimens."


    ----------


    After spending so much time together, Hermione felt that she that she understood Harry pretty well.


    He was the kind of person that was fiercely devoted to his goals and would do anything (as long as she didn''t stop him) in order to achieve his goals.


    And as it so happened, his goals right now were to understand as much about magic as there was to understand.


    And to become the greatest wizard the world had ever seen.


    Hermione did not doubt his words and from what she''d seen so far, she even believed that he would be able to achieve his goals.


    That was why she was not surprised when she found that their study room had been converted into¡­


    A room that was three times larger than the original one.


    She knew that Harry was learning the Undetectable Extension Charm (another illegal thing) and he must have performed it in this room but wasn''t that a bit reckless.


    What if anyone else came here.


    Then she realized that she was worrying over nothing and that he must have cast a number of charms so that other students and teachers would ignore this room, if they ever even entered this abandoned corridor in the first place.


    Then she stepped in the room and was in for another surprise as the floor sunk in a few inches as if she was stepping on a cushion and she realized that that was was exactly was it was.


    He had either trasfigured the whole floor into a cushion or he had cast a cushioning charm on it. Both of which were highly taxing.


    But then again, he had told her that he was three times more magically powerful than any wizard of their age so maybe it was not that hard for him as it was for her and the others.


    Wait, could the others of their age even cast this charm.


    Of course not. It was a third year charm. How foolish of her.


    Then she touched the walls and realized that Harry had turned it into a cushion as well.


    He really did go overboard with his craziness this time didn''t he.


    And beside him lying on the ground was¡­ the dismantled form of what looked like dozens of broomsticks.


    She felt a pang of hurt as she found his Nimbus 2000 among the dismantled group.


    She had some fond memories of that broom and to see it lying discarded like that made her angry for some reason.


    So she walked up to him with angrily, or as angrily as you could in a floor that sink a few inches every time you take a step and stood in front of him with her arms crossed in her ?h?st and waited for him to see her.


    He didn''t.

 Chapter 49 - Flying Robes

    Of course he didn''t.


    The jerk.


    "Harry." She said and waited as he completed his set of runic symbols in the robe before looking up at her curiously.


    "Good morning Hermione." He said cheerfully and she could instantly tell from his cheerfulness that he was about to do something reckless today.


    Then he noticed her expression and asked "Is something wrong?"


    "Is something wrong. Yes there is something wrong Harry. Why have you dismantled these brooms?"


    "To study them of course." He said proudly as if expecting her to give him some kind of cake for his accomplishments "And let me tell you. It was really hard for me to get these older broomsticks." He said and pointed at some broom parts that looked, for the lack of a better word, ancient.


    She didn''t even want to ask whom he murdered for that broomstick.


    "Harry." She said


    "Yes Hermione?" he replied.


    "Why have you dismantled your broomstick?"


    "These are all my broomsticks Hermione. And as I already told you. I dismantled them so that I could study the charms and runes inside them." He explained patiently as if explaining a particularly hard piece of puzzle to a dim witted child. Oh he knew that this would get a rise out of her. The irritating boy.


    "That''s not what I meant and you know it." She said sharply, her anger slowly rising at his childish taunts "Why did you dismantled your Nimbus 2000."


    "Why do you care?" he asked.


    "Because I liked it." She shouted and he looked puzzled for a moment before shaking his head with a defeated expression.


    "Alright. If you like it then I''ll reassemble it when I''m done with this project." He said and went back to writing runes in the robes.


    It was a brand new robe, she noted. Not the one that he usually used when he went to practice dueling with Professor Flitwick.


    Which meant that this really was a whole new project for him that wasn''t entirely focused on stopping harmful spells from killing him.


    This was new and interesting.


    So she sat down on the soft ground beside him and watched patiently as he wrote runes upon runes on the robes that she guessed that even Penelope wouldn''t understand.


    He had surpassed her in that field a few weeks ago after all.


    He really didn''t liked it when people disturbed him when he was doing something important.


    In that way, he was much like her and only now she knew how bad of an impression that made.


    No wonder she had no friends before this.


    It didn''t take long for him to finish whatever it was that he was doing and she took this chance to ask him what she wanted.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Carving runes" he deadpanned and at her irritated expression, he smiled smugly at realizing that he''d got under her skin once again.


    The irritating prat.


    "You know that not what I meant."


    "Oh." He said softly in the same tone that sent bu??erfly down in her stomach "What did you meant then Mione?" he asked huskily as he came closer to her.


    It wasn''t everyday that he used her nickname. And do it so in such an affectionate manner.


    Gods, she felt weak when he did that.


    And now she couldn''t even be angry at him.


    He smiled at her in way that meant that he knew that he''d got to her and she flushed bright red and looked away in embarrassment.


    "Sorry." He said with a smirk, not meaning it at all "Come. I''ll tell you what I''m doing." He said and took her hand gently and brought her to a table where dozens of hand written papers filled with different kind of runes were being kept.


    She understood a few words like Fly. Stability. Always on top. Fast, etc but the rest were in runic symbols that she knew nothing about.


    She looked at him in confusion and he nodded before going back to his ''Professor Persona'' as she and Penelope liked to call it.


    "I know you''ll not understand all the jargon if I went into too much detail so I''ll just explain it to you as simply as I can." He said and she waited with a baited breath as he unraveled his master plan.


    "I''m creating a robe that''ll help me fly." He said and she blinked for a moment before the words registered in her mind.


    Then it all made sense to her. The room filled with cushioning charm. The dismantled brooms. The runes. All of them and she squealed before jumping at him with a hug.


    "Oh Harry. That''s such a great idea." She gushed in excitement as she realized what it would mean if he succeeded in this endeavor. Which he most likely would because he was¡­ well, because he was Harry.


    No one had ever successfully created a robe that would help them in flight.


    She heard about people who tried to do the same with Levitation charms and what not before meeting a greasily end.


    No one tried to make the same mistake after that.


    But she believed that Harry would be able to do it even though she had no idea how.


    "There''s no need to get so excited." He said as she broke the hug "I''m making this robe while taking myself as a basis and it''ll only work because I''m quite accomplished in applying my will and intent on something. That was how I''ll tell it where to go and how to move. Without my particular skillset, no one else would be able to do it. So no, we won''t have wizards flying to their work place in a few years if that''s what you''re thinking."


    That dampened her mood a bit but then she remembered that she was also learning this will and intent thing so she should also be able to fly with it. Right?


    He looked at her hopeful expression and let out a loud chuckle "Yes you''ll be able to fly with it as well. In fact, I guess you and me will be the only people in Britain who''ll be able to do it."


    She flushed at the fact that he was able to read her so well. And it did made her feel good that there was something that only the two of them would be able to do.


    "In fact. You came at a good time." Harry said and she perked up at that as she realized what he meant.


    "I need your help." He said and she smiled, knowing that she''ll finally be part of one of his project.


    "You''ll be acting as my ?ssistant and take note of everything that I say. Then we''ll see what we need to improve on or what we did wrong. You understand?" he asked and she nodded her head, her bushy hair bobbing up and down in excitement.


    "Good then." He handed her a note and paper before wearing the robe.


    "Let''s start then." And he flew.


    More like Levitated in fact. But the fact remained that the robe was working.


    And she started taking notes.


    They spent the rest of the day pointing out the mistakes and inefficiency in the robe and adding and removing runes from the robe in order to make it better.


    Mistakes and improvements. Mistakes and improvements. And so the cycle went.


    It was just another day with Harry that she enjoyed thoroughly and by the end of it, she had a good idea about what all of the runes in his robes meant.


    She had a suspicion that if they continued like this then she would learn about all the runes without even trying.


    And wasn''t that a thought.


    Though the fact remained that despite all their hard work and all their improvements, the robes still flew rather slowly.


    The next day, Harry brought a flying carpet to the class (which was once again, illegal in Britain) and they went back to dismantling and studying why it flew so fast so that they could add the new information to the robes.


    She never even asked where he bought the Flying Carpet from considering how they don''t sell any in Britain.


    It took them a whole week before they succeeded in making the robes fly at 1/3rd speed of a Nimbus 2000, which was an accomplishment in her eyes though as usual, Harry remained unsatisfied.


    But for now, he was fed up with this project and seeing as how they''d run out of ideas for now, he proposed that they move on to another project (and there were a lot of unfinished projects) for the time.


    Though she knew in her heart that they''ll be returning to this project sometime in the future.


    And that once she become sufficiently good at using her will and intent to control magic, she''ll have her own means of flying that''ll beat the blasted broomsticks any day.

 Chapter 50 - Coming out in the open and Suspicion

    "Remind me once again why I''m here." Harry mumbled to Penelope who gave him a forced smile.


    "Because staying inside that class day and night without ever seeing the sun will rot your brains." She quipped.


    "I very much doubt that being stared by half of the whole damn school will be any good for my brains either." He replied drolly.


    Penelope had been nagging him to come out of the rooms in order to socialize for a few weeks now.


    He knew that he was very bad at socializing and apparently, she knew that as well and had taken it upon herself to help him get rid of this aspect.


    He had ignored her at first. Thinking that she would leave him be after some time. He was wrong.


    She had been strangely persistent in this endeavor of hers and would not take no for an answer.


    After a few weeks of getting constantly annoyed by her, he had finally decided that stepping outside for once would be better than getting constantly annoyed by her and had joined her as a spectator in the latest Quidditch match.


    The problem was that as soon as he entered the stadium, the whole stadium had gone silent and everyone was now looking at him like he was some kind of weird animal.


    Maybe coming here was not such a good idea after all.


    He decided that it was time for him to use the Shroud of Concealment so that everyone could go about doing their own thing but a soft hand held his own as Penelope smiled at him and led him forward up the stairs at the top seat in the stadium.


    The students continued to stare at him for a few moments before silence gave way to whispers which gave way to chatter and soon enough, everyone was openly talking about him.


    He did not like the attention they were giving him.


    How they thought of him as Boy-Who-Lived and not as a living breathing human.


    How they could openly comment anything about him as they liked.


    He wanted to tell them to mind their own business but the soft hand held him firmly and continued to pull him up the stairs.


    It took a long time before most of the students stopped staring at him. Even then, the ones closest to him still continued to stare at him like he an alien.


    To them, he probably was.


    The ones sitting closest to him, tried various method to talk with him.


    And by that, he meant that they asked him some rather stupid questions.


    Had he killed a bunch of hags when he was 5 years old?


    Did he remember killing Voldemort?


    He had wanted to span at them. Turn them into a rat and leave them to get trampled by others.


    Well, maybe not that drastic but still, he was angry.


    But Penelope held his hands through all of this and warded off most of the ones asking the rude questions and he answered the polite ones with a simple yes and no.


    He didn''t even remember seeing the Quidditch match at all. Not that he was ever all that interested in the game.


    The only thing he managed by going in the stadium was get a mild headache.


    At least the warm smile that Penelope constantly threw his way when going back to the castle was worth something.


    She had told him that if he went out among people on a constant basis then they''ll get used to his presence. After that, it''ll not be all that hard for him to make another friend.


    Penelope had given the same speech to Hermione who herself was a bit of a reclusive type. That if she couldn''t make friends within her own housemates and if they didn''t see her for the wonderful person she was, then she should at least try to make new friends in other houses.


    She might even find a few study friends in Ravenclaw.


    Harry had felt a knot form in his stomach as Penelope had said that.


    The idea that Hermione would find new friends and forget him worried him a bit and he wanted to tell Penelope to sod off and leave them alone but he couldn''t muster to energy to do so. Moreover, he knew that she was trying to do this for his own good so couldn''t really blame her for anything either.


    Tired with all the day''s event, he bade Hermione and Penelope goodnight despite the fact that it was b?r?ly evening right now and left for his private room in order to sleep.


    Funny how talking with strangers could be more tiresome than studying day and night.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Dumbledore had taken his appearance in public as a good sign and had called him to his office the next day.


    Harry was not particularly interested in talking with the old wizard and had planned to make him wait for a few days before meeting with him but Penelope had told him that that would be a rude thing to do and Hermione had, unsurprisingly, sided with her.


    Once again, he was pressured by his friends to do something that he didn''t wanted to do and once again he wondered if his friends were trying to make his life better or worse.


    He held a snort and refused the offer.


    Then Dumbledore had gone on to explain how proud he was that Harry had finally decided to spent some time trying to make new friends and he once again wondered if the old man was really that optimistic and naive or if all of this was just a facade.


    Whatever it may be, he remembered how Dumbledore had plotted for the original Harry to die at the hands of Voldemort near the end of the war. And he was never going to forget it.


    But what about now?


    His actions so far had clearly indicated that he was not much of social person and that he would likely not sacrifice himself for the good of the others.


    So what would Dumbledore do now, knowing that he was a horcrux and that as long as he lived, Voldemort would never truly die.


    If Voldemort got resurrected, and he had every plan to let that happen, then would the old man simply cast a killing curse at him and chalk it off as the greater good.


    The sheep that was the wizarding population would probably buy it as well, congratulating him for giving mercy to the Boy-who-once-lived whose soul was utterly corrupted by the Dark Lord.


    No, he would not be falling for his grandfatherly act any time soon.


    By the end of the meeting, Dumbledore had told him how proud he was of him and how he would look forward to seeing him attend more classes and more social gatherings in the future.


    Harry left with a suspicion in his mind and wondered if Penelope truly wanted to help him or if she had been forced into this somehow.


    Dumbledore could easily bypass her weak occlumency shields without her noticing and cast a few subtle compulsion charms on her and she would never realize that anything was wrong with her.


    He needed to do a Legilimency check on her to make sure that everything was alright and that she was not a puppet dancing on the tune of someone else.

 Chapter 51 - Getting a House elf

    Penelope was not being mind influenced by anyone. He was good enough in the mind arts that he would have known if someone had tampered with hers but there was no outside mental influence in her mind.


    That was a good thing.


    But she only allowed him access to her mind on the condition that he would attend dinner with her in the great hall for the next five days.


    That was a bad thing. And he doubted that he was going to like being stared at while eating his breakfast either.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    House elf were wonderful creature.


    Show them a little bit of love and respect and they''ll stay loyal to you until the end of your days.


    They were pretty much like puppies in that regard.


    Both looked at you with huge adorable eyes and both jumped around you when excited.


    Bitty was an house elf who had been serving at Hogwarts ever since the family she was serving was wiped out in the last war.


    She was also the elf who had been devotedly serving him his meals and other necessities since the start of his term in Hogwarts and he had rewarded her by bonding with her.


    She was his house elf now.


    And despite being rather s?ns?t?v? to magic, he was not able to tell any difference in his magic once he was bonded to her.


    How Betty looked far more bright in her vision than before when she was connected to the castle.


    How whenever she used up a lot of her magic in some household task, the thin line connecting them would glow and his magic would get transferred to her in small amounts.


    After that explanation from Selena, he had decided to not bond with any other house elf.


    He did not know if the bonding would harm his magic development in the long run but he was not willing to risk it.


    So the plan to bond with a dozen or so house elf and turn them into an army for his future plans would definitely need to scraped up now. Not that there was really much of a plan in that regard. Just a few thoughts here and there. He knew too little about house elves to make any plan regarding them.


    Regardless, Betty was now, for all intents and purposes, his family member.


    Just like Selena.


    And he would make sure to treat her as best as he could.


    And when he introduced her to Hermione, he would make sure to do it in a good light.


    For now, he had simply told Betty to go back and continued to serve the castle as him as she used to do before the Bonding.


    Betty had told him that elves couldn''t tell when another one of their race was bonded with a human or not so there was not much of a problem with that plan.


    Maybe he could even use her to spy on other Professors.


    Hmm¡­ that thought thought definitely merited some consideration.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry had not wanted to come to the classes. But once again, Hermione and Penelope had tricked him into joining them for a week.


    He did not even knew how it had happened.


    One minute he was telling Hermione to eat more because she was clearly missing some of her meals in order to spend more time studying and then next moment she had told him that she ate more than him. Things had escalated from there and in the end, Penelope had told them to hold a food eating competition.


    The loser will have to the winner''s demand for one week.


    He knew that if he used human transfiguration or some other kind of spell to vanish the food from his stomach, then he would win. But his stupid pride and his fondness for the bushy haired girl had held him back which had resulted in his humiliating defeat in the food eating competition.


    Selena had snickered at his foolishness and had told him how he would have easily won against the little girl if he had the capabilities to eat like a snake.


    Hermione had looked a little embarrassed and a little smug because of the victory.


    Betty had jumped up and down with all the excitement that her little figure could hold at feeding her master properly.


    Penelope had simply smirked at him which had given him the suspicious feeling that she and Hermione had planned all of this.


    Shame, that he would never know.


    Hermione had asked him to attend all the classes with her at first but had taken pity at him after a while and told him that he could choose to not attend Potions, History of Magic and DADA classes.


    Thank gods for the small mercies.


    And now he was here. Once again. Sitting with her in the Transfiguration class in the first row wondering if this is what Karma felt like.


    If it made her and Penelope happy then he was willing to waste two hours out of 37 hours every single day.


    After all, he might be an anti social guy by choice but even he knew that proper and long terms relationships takes a lot of compromise.


    Thankfully, there was some good that came out of this whole drama, which was that he was once again in talking terms with his transfiguration teacher.


    Minerva Mcgonagall.


    "Is there anything else you want Mr. Potter?" she asked as he approached her along with Hermione after the end of the class.


    "Yes Professor Mcgonagall." He said with a borderline bored expression that came rather easily to him. "I was very interested in that animagus transformation of yours. I don''t think there''s any mention of it in any of the transfiguration books. Not even the 7th year transfiguration book."


    "That''s because it isn''t taught in the school Mr Potter. Animagus is a difficult and complicated branch of transfiguration. It takes more than a year for a person to achieve their animagus form and despite all that hard work, quite a few people fail in their endeavor. On top of that, not every one want to turn themselves into an animal so this rare art of transfiguration was never added to the syllabus."


    "However¡­" she continued "If a student is very good at transfiguration then he or she can definitely try their hand in this branch of transfiguration. In fact, successfully completing their animagus transfiguration before their NEWTs exam can provide you with bones points."


    Hermione''s eyes shone at that bit of information while he held the urge to sigh.


    The Knockturn alley itself is filled with examples of such people whose life had been destroyed by the system and now they have no other choice but to work in that dark and dingy alley.


    In fact, quite a few muggleborns and halfbloods leave Britain after they are not able to advance in their careers because of pure blood prejudice.


    And that''s only about people who are wizards and witches.


    The fate of Werewolves vampires and other such creatures is even worse to the point that they had to resort to day to day jobs in the muggle world in order to sustain themselves despite the fact that they''re just as capable as any of person he''d seen here.


    But it would be pointless to have such a conversation with Minerva. She was just as powerless as anyone else who wanted to change the system.


    That was why Voldemort was a necessity.


    He kept his expression in check and spoke "Can you tell us more about Animagus transformation Professor. About how to check if an animal or insect is truly an animagus and I''m also curious about how people stop an animagi from running out of prison."


    Minerva looked a bit askance at his line of questioning and he realized that she must have thought that the ''prison'' part was meant for her. But regardless, she replied to his inquiry. In fact, she answered every single question he asked after that as well.


    He could clearly see Dumbledore''s hand behind her willingness to give such information to him but for once, the old coot''s actions were helpful for him.

 Chapter 52 - Peter Pettegrew and Letters

    Peter Pettegrew was perhaps the most slippery character in the Harry Potter movies.


    Peter''s animagus transformation and his cowardly nature allowed him to get away from situations that most other people would not.


    So he was very careful when he made the plan to capture the rat animagus. And he was even more careful when he created the prison for him.


    It took him a few days to create a multi layered prison in the chamber of secrets with runes adorning it''s grey walls that stops any kind of transfiguration magic from being used inside it. Especially the animagus transformation.


    He did not know how to create wards that stops apparition and portkey travel so he had to rely on runes to make do.


    Still, creating this prison made him realize that he had absolutely no knowledge about wards. A problem that he would be sure to overcome in the future when he is not working on so many projects at once.


    Regardless, he had done an excellent job with the runes but even if the runes somehow stop working and Peter was able to transform into a rat, he would not be able to run away as the prison walls had so little space between them that even a rat would not be able to escape from within it''s confines.


    The runes also made sure that Peter won''t be able to dig a hole through the walls.


    All in all, he thought that he had done a wonderful job and if despite all these preparations, the rat animagus was still able to escape then he truly deserved his freedom.


    With such thoughts, he waited in front of the portrait of the fat lady with patience.


    The freedom of one Peter Pettegrew was about to be forfeited.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Madam Amelia Bones,


    It has come to my knowledge that my godfather, Sirius Orion Black, Lord of House Black was thrown into Azkaban 10 years ago without a proper trial.


    But that is not true.


    I have evidence that it was Peter Pettegrew who betrayed my Parents to the Dark Lord and I also have evidence that Peter Pettegrew is not dead.


    I know this might all sound rather preposterous, especially when coming from an 11 year old but this is the truth.


    I have heard that you''re an honest person who believes in following the law and doing the right thing without any discrimination so I''ll ask you to ignore my age and give serious consideration to this letter.


    If you still find it hard to believe me, then search in the achieves of the DMLE. There you''ll find that Sirius Black was thrown into Azkaban without ever receiving a proper trial.


    After that, you can contact me in Hogwarts for the location of Peter Pettegrew.


    I''ll be waiting for you.


    Good day,


    Harry James Potter


    Mrs. Andromeda Tonks,


    It has come to my knowledge that your cousin, Sirius Orian Black was never given a proper trial before he was chucked into Azkaban on the groundless accusations of being a Death Eater.


    I don''t know if you and Sirius were close or not but I can ?ssure you that he truly considered James and Lily Potter as his family and would have died a thousand times before letting any harm come to them.


    Now I''m going to tell you what really happened in the night when my parents were killed by Voldemort.


    You may believe me or you may think of this as the stupid rambling of a madman but I implore you to read the full letter before making any judgement.


    (Then he went on to briefly explain the true history of the Potters.)


    (How Sybil Trelawny gave a prophesy that claimed that the Dark Lord will be vanquished by a child born at the end of the 7th month which became the reason why he went after the Potters and the Longbottoms.)


    (How under Albus persuaded the two families to go into hiding.)


    (How Sirius thought that he would be too obvious as a Secret Keeper of the Fidilius charm which was why they changed the Secret keeper to Peter Pettegrew instead.)


    (How the curse rebounded and Voldemort died instead of him.)


    (How Sirius, consumed by rage and grief over the death of a friend whom he considered his brothers, chased after Peter in the muggle london and how Peter deceived him, killing the muggles and framing him for their deaths.)


    Whether you believe me or not, that choice lies entirely up to you. In case you did believe in me, I would ask you to persuade your husband to take up Sirius Black''s case in the court when the truth of the matter is revealed to the masses.


    I don''t think any other attorney would be willing to take up his case and I myself am too young and too ignorant of the Wizarding to laws to be of any help to my god father.


    Whether you try to help me or not, I will expect a letter from you. Because even without this event, my grandmother was still your aunt, which makes you the closest thing to a family that I''ve got.


    Good day,


    Harry James Potte

 Chapter 53 - Experiments on Peter Pettigrew

    "Hello Peter" Harry said without much emotion as he unlocked the first three gates.


    "H¡­ Harry." Peter groveled pathetically just like how he did in the movies and Harry wondered if the rat animagus was actually frightened of him or if this was all an act to make himself look weak and pathetic so that Harry would drop his guard around the man at which point he would attack him with a surprise and run away to his freedom.


    As if.


    If Harry had learned anything from the movies, it was to never underestimate anyone.


    His own godfather, Sirius Black would be a shining example of someone who underestimated other people and paid the full price for it.


    After all he was stupid enough to underestimate Bellatrix and died for his stupidity.


    Oh well¡­


    "Stupify."


    A red light and the rotund man fell on the ground, unconscious.


    "Stupify."


    Another red light. Just to be double sure.


    "Bind" a spell he made after extensively studying the ''Petrificus totalus'' spell. This one was a tad bit more stronger in exchange for using more magical power.


    Just to be triple sure.


    He then opened the last lock and levitated the unconscious man out of his cell.


    Bitty on the other hand, quickly cleaned the chamber pot kept at the corner of the dark room and filled the rack kept at another corner with a few loafs of bread and a bottle of water.


    He took the man to the table he''d set up at the center of another room and put a bind on all of his limbs with tight charmed ropes.


    If the man was somehow able to transform to a rat despite all the precautions, the charmed ropes would continue to tighten along with him and by the time he transforms into a rat, he will have no limbs to run away with. One a head and a torso.


    He had told about the ropes to the rat the first time he brought him here. Peter was so scared that he pissed himself and after that he never even thought about using his animagus form in his presence.


    "Wake up" he said and with another wave, the unconscious man regained his consciousness.


    "Hello again Peter." He said without bothering to look at the man who suddenly started whimpering in fear.


    "Now now. No need to be like that Peter. We''ve done this before, remember. There''s no need to be afraid." He said in order to soothe the man''s nerves. After all, a nervous and fearful test subject was not a good test subject.


    Harry kept all the tools on the table beside the one in which the rat animagus was lying down and took out another hawk he''d recently captured.


    "Today, we''ll once again try and see if we''re able to transfigure your eye to that of a hawk." He said and with another wave of his hand, the self writing quill he''d created and another paper started floating in the air and began to follow him as he went around the table.


    "Test Subject 001. Do you still have that itch from that experiment from last night?" he asked and the quill wrote his words in the notepad.


    "No¡­ doctor." Peter said fearfully. Harry had asked him to call him a doctor and nothing else.


    He didn''t wanted the rat animagus to call him with his names as that made him seem too familiar, like the rat actually knew anything about him. So he had stopped the man from calling him ''Harry''.


    The word ''Potter'' seemed to remind him of Snape and the other professors who always called him ''Mr Potter'' and that was not a good felling either.


    So in the end, he had gone ahead and asked the rat animagus to call him Doctor. He was not a scientist and held no actual Phd. But he was a scientist when he was performing these tests.


    He was a scientist when he was researching new methods in human transfiguration.


    So that''s what he wanted to be called within his lab. Though truth be told, his lab was more of a dungeon at this moment than anything else. But who cared about specifics anyway.


    "Influence of putting more magical power behind duplicating the nerves has subsided." He said as he checked the man''s eyes and the quill floating behind him noted everything down on the notepad.


    He did not really knew if the things he was trying to do would ever work.


    Experiment with a live human subject without someone to guide him was like stumbling in the dark with no light in sight.


    He was like Vasco da Gama, searching for new land in the vast ocean without knowing whether he''ll actually succeed in his endeavors or not.


    It was such a pity that no matter how many times he searched, there were no books in human transfiguration that actually taught how to do all the things that he really wanted to do.


    So he would have to do all the research on his own.


    Find what works and what doesn''t with trail and error.


    He had a feeling that he would be needing more test subjects pretty soon. But that was a problem for the future.


    After all, he could always find a few low level death eaters stumbling around in Knockturn alley.


    No one would really care if they actually went missing.


    And when one day, Hermione finds out about his experiments, because she will find out, then he could say that none of his test subjects were innocent people and he would be saying the truth.


    "Do you know how many nerves are there in the eyes of a rat Peter?" he asked.


    "No doctor."


    "Do you know how different the organs inside a rat are when compared to that of a human?" he asked again.


    "No doctor." the rat animagus whimpered.


    "Do you actually even know anything about rats?" He asked curiously.


    "A few things doctor."


    "Go on then. Tell me."


    "Th¡­ They like dark places. That their children are not able to open their eyes until a few days after their birth. They like cheese. That they¡­"


    "Stop¡­ Stop. I was not asking you to recite common things that everyone else already knows." He interrupted and pinched his nose at the ignorance of this guy. How the man could live as a rat for a whole decade and still not know anything about them was beyond his sense of comprehension.


    "And for your information rats don''t particularly like cheese. Oh they''ll eat it if you give it to them but the fact that cheese is their favourite food in just a myth and¡­ and I don''t even know why I''m telling you all this." He said and shook his head for a moment before slapping both his cheeks and focusing on the task ahead of him.


    "Very well then Peter." He said and took out Voldemort''s wand from his sleeves. The Yew, Pheonix feather core wand had taken a liking to him for some reason and seemed to work almost as well for him as his original Holly wand.


    He had found Voldemort''s wand along with Peter''s own wand in his clothes when he had captured the rat and had been using it ever since.


    Just for the sake of being cautious and all.


    In truth, he would have preferred to perform his research without a wand but controlling magic with a wand gives more precise results and he wanted that precision for what he was about to do.


    "Today we''ll transfigure your iris and pupil and make it as close to that of a hawk as possible. Then you''ll tell me what you''re able to see and we''ll go forward from there. Alright?"


    The rat animagus fearfully nodded his head and he started the surgery.


    If the things he was about to do can even be called that.

 Chapter 54 - Serious conversation and realization

    "Harry my boy." Dumbledore said with a smile as he entered the room. "Would you like a lemon drop?"


    "No thanks Headmaster." He replied curtly. "I would rather we go straight to the business about why you''ve called me here."


    Sometimes he wondered how a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore could allow other people to treat him with such disrespect.


    Maybe he was the only person who could treat the old man with such disrespect and get away with it without facing any repercussions.


    Still, he wondered if he would have ever tolerated such disrespect from someone if he was as powerful as Dumbledore.


    Probably not.


    But then again. Both of them were two very different people.


    Dumbledore was person who had seen his own little sister being killing in front of himself. He had also fought in two wars against Dark Lords, acting as a leader for the light side.


    And even though, Dumbledore might not have brought many changes to the wizarding world, he cannot blame the old man for all of that.


    At least not without knowing the full truth.


    Maybe when Dumbledore was young, he did try to create new laws and pass new regulation for the other magical people like Werewolves, centures, etc.


    Perhaps he had tried to bring changes to the wizarding world and had been thwarted by the Wizengamot that was ruled by purebloods. And maybe over time, when he saw no results being brought from his actions, he just stopped trying.


    Or maybe he didn''t try at all. But the point was that hating a man for something that he didn''t do was¡­ well, it was not stupid because often the inaction of a person can cause the death of another person. So hating the man was at best¡­ illogical, for the lack of a better word.


    In fact, he realized that he only reason why he hated the old man was because he had three of the most powerful and influential positions in the Magical Britain and the old man had done absolutely nothing with it.


    He never really thought that perhaps he should not blame the situation of their society on others.


    He shook his head and wondered since when did he started to become so prejudiced himself.


    Dumbledore may have sent the original him to his death but he also looked genuinely regretful about it (though you could never tell if the expression was real or not) and this might have sound like a cliche but the old man truly did it for the greater good.


    So should he forgive and forget?


    Not really.


    Maybe Dumbledore was truly the Paragon of good, but he himself was a cynical person and would always be wary of the old man.


    Still, perhaps it was time he started to cut the old man some slack.


    He stayed silent for a while in contemplation before he spoke "Do you know why I don''t like you Headmaster?"


    Dumbledore''s jovial expression dimmed a bit at that and he looked genuinely sad at that moment "I ?ssume it would be because I sent you to live with your muggle relatives."


    Harry shook his head. Because in truth, he might have disliked the Dursleys for what they did to the original Harry who was the owner of this body before him and suffered a lot under their hands but he never really gave them enough consideration to hate them and after Vernon was sent to the prison, Petunia and Dudley had always lived in fear of him so hating them was rather pointless..


    "No headmaster. Though a small part of why I dislike you is because you send me to live with them but it was not the biggest reason."


    "Oh" Dumbledore raised in eyebrow in curiosity and he continued.


    "The main reason I dislike you so much is because you''re the holder of three of the most powerful and influential positions in Wizarding Britain and you''ve also helped the light side win the last two wars. Yet you''ve also failed to destroy the prejudice and disrcimination from this world."


    "The light may have won the last war but a lot of death eaters still roam free without any fear and the purebloods still hold all the powerful positions in the magical Britain."


    "The reason why I disliked you was because despite being the most powerful person in the whole country, you''ve not really done much for it except for fight in the war. While if there was someone like Lucius Malfoy in your position, he would have taken advantage and destroyed all the dark families after the last war and would have made sure that the purebloods no longer hold all the power in the country."


    Dumbledore looked like he didn''t know what to say in this moment so he continued.


    "But now I don''t dislike you as much as I originally did. Do you know why?"


    Dumbledore closed his mouth "Please do tell Harry."


    "It''s because I''ve realized that perhaps blaming all that is in our society on a single old man is illogical at best and childish at worst."


    "That''s¡­ very m?tur? of you my boy." Dumbledore said with a faint smile.


    "Not really. Now I just dislike you as much as I do all the other ?du?ts." At this reminder of the fact that I didn''t like ?du?ts, Dumbledore became sad once again and he continued.


    "But we''re not here to talk about my likes and dislikes. So tell me why I''m here headmaster. I''ve got something to study and I would rather not waste my time if possible."


    Dumbledore nodded at that "Harry, I wanted to ask you if you want to go back home or remain here in Hogwarts during the Christmas."


    Harry frowned at that "Do you personally ask all the other students this question?"


    Dumbledore flinched at the accusation in his tone "No my boy but your circumstances are different than theirs."


    Harry remained silent so Dumbledore continued "As you earlier said, many of the followers of the dark lord managed to get free after the last war. So it''s not safe for¡­"


    "What are you getting at Headmaster?" Harry interrupted rudely and Dumbledore remained silent for a moment before he took a long breath and continued.


    "What I wanted to say Harry, was that despite your dislike of the Dursleys I must implore you to go back to them and not to the home of one of your friends."


    Harry raised and eye at that and wondered if the original Harry would have been angry at that. Well, he disliked the Dursleys and stayed in Hogwarts during Christmas holidays so he might have. But he personally could care less about such small things.


    "Why?" he asked casually even though he already knew the answer.


    How the wards are connected with blood and as long as he remain close with Petunia, the blood wards will remain strong and all that.


    In the end Harry simply nodded at that. "I don''t like the Dursleys very much but they been keeping their distance from me after Vernon was sent to the prison. And despite what you might have thought, I never really had any plans to live in one of my friends homes since both of my friends are girls." He explained with a shrug and Dumbledore perked up at that.


    "If there''s nothing else Headmaster." He said and after getting one final nod, he left the room.


    Of course he would not spent all his time in the Dursleys. He had plans for how to spend his time during this Christmas so he would likely not spent all his time in their home but there was no point in telling that to Dumbledore and getting into an argument with him.


    What the old coot doesn''t know will not hurt him.

 Chapter 55 - Christmas Gifts and Wands

    It was perhaps the hardest thing he''d created till this day.


    A small ring that he''d enlarged to the size of a table and then filled it with various kinds of runes for protection, for sensing the wearer''s mood, for connecting it with blood so that no one else would be able to use it. For sending him a message when the wearer was in danger. For enchanting it like the magical mirrors so that the wearer would be able to talk with him through the ring. Among many, many other enchantments.


    In the end, he created three rings after spending almost a week on them.


    In a way, there was nothing really innovative about it.


    Most the charms and runes he''d carved in the rings had already been created and have been in use in some way or another. But he very much doubted that there were artifacts like this in the wizarding world.


    He had also wanted to enchant the ring so that it would gather the wearer''s magical power over time and give it back to them during a battle so that they would have an advantage but he didn''t really know how to do that and researching something like that might take weeks if not months so he had drop that idea for the time.


    In the end, he finished writing all the instructions on a notepad and the duplicated the notepad so that there would be one notepad for each of the rings before he removed the enlargement charm from it.


    It looked like the ''One ring'' from the Lord of the rings. And it should considering how it was made of pure gold and how he had purposefully enchanted it to look that way.


    He smiled in satisfaction at this work before he wore one the rings and packed the other two in a small box along with the notepad and a warning to not take it the wrong way.


    It would a disaster if Hermione''s mother opened her gift and thought that some boy was sending her an engagement.


    After all, when a boy gives a girl a ring, there''s a lot of chance that it would be taken the wrong way so a warning was needed.


    It had been hard for him to hide this new project from Hermione and Penelope and he suspected that they already knew that he was working on a gift for them. They were frighteningly perceptive sometimes.


    But he had finally made the necessary gifts for his two friends and learned a great deal more about runes and enchantments while he was at it.


    So, win, win.


    He took out a piece of stone from his collection of stones and set it down on the ground before getting to work.


    Transfiguring the stone into wood. Changing it''s size and shape to represent two boxes. Turn the joints into iron but let it look like a wood from the outside. Add a shiny ruby in the center that he found from the Room of Hidden things. Draw a few simple but elegant designs annnnnd¡­ done.


    Oh wait, one last permanent enchantment. Wouldn''t want to box to turn back into a stone now would we.


    Annd¡­ done.


    There, Christmas present is done.


    Now if only there way a way to look at their father''s expression when they find that some boy had gifted a ring to their daughter.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry stunned the rat animagus before levitating him inside the trunk.


    Christmas was about to arrive and despite the ?ssurances that Betty would be able to take care of the rat-man, he had decided to take Peter back with him. After all, Amelia has still not sent him a reply and if she did came to him to find answers, it would be better to have Peter in hand than not.


    The 7 room trunk that was once filled with various ?ssortments was now filled to the brim with books copied from the Room of Requirement.


    There were more than twenty thousand books in the Room of Requirement. Till now, he had not even managed to copy three thousand. Of course, he could have copied more books if he had spent more time and energy in the task but he was too preoccupied with all his personal projects and had not given much time to copying the books.


    Regardless, he was going to stay in the school till the end of 2nd or 3rd year before leaving so he had more than enough time to copy all the book inside Hogwarts.


    Including the Vanishing cabinet.


    He would never forget how useful such a thing could be.


    In the last war, usually when a death eaters attacked someone''s home, they set up wards around the house for anti apparition and anti portkey along with disabling the floo before attacking. Because of that, most people are not able to escape but he already knew that Vanishing cabinet can bypass such wards easily because that was exactly how the death eaters entered Hogwarts in the movie.


    So once he studied the cabinet and learned how to create one himself, he would have a method of travelling that would keep him safe from any death eaters.


    Not to say that he was afraid of them but he knew his limits and knew that if he was attacked by a bunch of death eaters, then he would most probably die.


    So until he becomes strong, he would have to make sure that he''s untouchable.


    Right now if someone entered his trunk, they would find that all of the rooms were filled with books and one of the room with various jewelleries. No one would find the hidden room that was filled with five prison cells.


    He opened one of them and chucked Peter inside of it.


    He never planned to keep the trunk back in Privite Drive near his home so he''ll have to find a new place, hopefully an underground basement to hide the prisoner and open a lab.


    He had also carved runes in the new prison to stop an animagus from transforming but if somehow Peter still succeeded in doing so then he''ll go to an early grave because of the venomous snakes guarding the prisons.


    With all that done, he left.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry stared at Voldemort''s wand in fascination.


    This was a wand that had been the medium for the death of countless people.


    This was a wand that was used by the second most powerful wizard in all of Britain if not all of Europe.


    This was a wand that worked for him almost as well as his own wand.


    Maybe it was because it was a brother wand to his own wand.


    Or maybe it worked so well for him because he held a part of Voldemort''s soul within him.


    Whatever the reason, the fact remained that he had now found a wand that worked for him just as well as his own wand and this wand didn''t have any trace either.


    Which meant that this winter, he would be able to perform magic as he wished without facing any problems.


    Not that the trace ever stopped him before as he has used his magic without any problem.


    But continuing his research without a proper wand would have been annoying as he couldn''t be very precise without a wand. Perhaps he should thank the rat for bringing this wand to him.


    And now that he thought about it, how did that even worked.


    How was the rat able to keep the wand inside his rat body for a whole decade.


    When he was working on the rings for Hermione and Penelope, he had thought of shrinking a wand and keeping it inside the rings so that if they''re ever captured, they would still have a spare wand inside their rings.


    But he was not able to shrink the wands.


    He did not know if there was some kind of enchantment that stopped him from shrinking the wands or if wands were generally magic proof but he knew that wands cannot be changed in size.


    Or at least that''s what he thought.


    But then he found Peter carrying both his and Voldemort''s wand with him when he captured the rat so how did that work.


    Did the wand shrink with him when he transformed into a rat. If so, then were did he kept the wands.


    Inside his body?


    An interesting theory to check in the future.


    Perhaps he would be able to hide a spare wand inside their rings after all.

 Chapter 56 - Hermiones and Penelopes parents

    Harry,


    I''ve known Sirius for most of my childhood and he never seemed like the kind of person that betray his friends.


    Especially James who he considered more of a brother than Regulus.


    So I was shocked when I heard what he did in the Daily Prophet.


    You must understand Harry that during that time in the war, betrayals were a common occurrence. Even if most of those betrayals were done under Imperious curse.


    People did not know whom to trust and whom to remain wary of.


    Reports such as a wizard coming back home from his work at Ministry and then killing his whole family were a common occurrence during that time of the war.


    And more and more people were siding with the dark lord every single day.


    That was perhaps the reason why I was not as suspicious as I should have been when I heard the report of Sirius'' betrayal.


    In hindsight, it was terrible judgement on my part and I should have done more for Sirius who has been rotting in Azkaban for a decade.


    Yes, I believe your words and I''ll ask my husband to fight for Sirius in the court.


    Now we just need to make sure that we''re able to open a case for Sirius Black and if we''re able to capture Peter Pettegrew then that would go a long way to proving that Sirius was innocent as well.


    Without Peter''s presence, this case will be hard for us to win as the Ministry will try it''s best to cover up it''s mistakes and this might possibly be their biggest fu?k up of the decade.


    Be safe,


    Andromeda Tonks


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry stepped out of the train along with his trunk and glanced around at the various reunions taking place in the platform.


    A part of his felt sad that he had no one who would come for him in the platform.


    For a moment, as observed the various families in front of himself, he felt truly and utterly alone.


    His ?h?st tightened and he felt his eyes prick for a second.


    But then the moment passed and he steeled himself as his expression went blank.


    Being alone meant that he would not receive support from other people like the rest of his classmates did but it also gave him freedom that none of the classmates had.


    In that sense, he as lucky.


    "Don''t stop in the way you idiot." He heard someone say from behind him and he didn''t even have to turn back in order to see who it was.


    Draco Malfoy.


    He turned in order to look at the boy who in turn paled when he realized whom he called an idiot.


    The blonde boy muttered a few hasty apologies before Harry gave way and allowed him to go.


    Up ahead he could see Hermione hugging her parents and Penelope doing the same on the side.


    Those two girls were pretty similar in that way.


    Both having muggle parents and both being the only child in the family.


    Or was Penelope really the only child in the family?


    He never really asked her about it but from the way she usually acts toward him, he would have thought that she had some younger siblings.


    But if she did have younger siblings then they were not in the station.


    Now he felt like a d??k for not asking them more about their families.


    Shouldn''t a friend at least know more about their friend''s family.


    "Harry" Hermione''s shout brought him out of his thoughts and he moved toward them along with his trunk.


    If his trunk had been empty then he would have shrunk it and kept it in his pocket but Peter was still in the trunk and using multiple Space Extension charms can have devastating side effects if they''re done while a person is still inside the Extended space.


    He was sure that he would not make any mistake and that if he did shrunk the trunk then Peter will still be alright but there was no point in taking chances.


    "Harry" Hermione squealed and took his hands before bringing him to her parents like he was some cat that she found in the forest. "Meet my parents."


    "Dan and Emma Granger." He said without her needing to continue "I know. You''ve told me enough times about them Mione." He said with a soft smile and the excited girl blushed at that while Dan and Emma looked curious.


    "I''m Harry." He said and raised his hand to Dan who shook it at once "I think Hermione might have mentioned my name in one or two of her letters."


    "One of two." Emma said and gave her daughter a mischievous smile who was now looking rather horrified "More like¡­"


    "Mum¡­" Hermione whispered forcefully while pulling Emma''s hands who looked even more amused at that.


    He brought his hand to Emma and when she held his hand, he flipped her hands up and placed a chaste kiss on the knuckles.


    He was not much of traditionalist but there were still some traditions that he liked to follow.


    "Oh my. You''re a charmer." Emma said with a huge smile. "I can see why Hermione finds you so interesting."


    "On the contrary maam. I''m a rather boring guy." He said with a shrug "Why Hermione sticks with me is something beyond my understanding." He chuckled.


    "I think you''re the only person in the entire world who considers yourself boring Harry." Penelope''s voice forced him to turn and he was met with another set of parents.


    It took even more time for them to introduce themselves because this time not only did he have to introduce himself to her parents but then Hermione and her parents had to introduce themselves as well.


    Thankfully, Hermione''s and Penelope''s mother instantly took a liking to each other while Dan and Penelope''s father Roger simply stared from the sidelines as their wives and daughters gossiped with each other along with Harry who found this situation more than a little amusing.


    Until Penelope''s mother said something that abruptly destroyed the mood.


    "I heard your daughter was attacked by a troll. Is she alright? I hope she didn''t have any scars from that."


    And it was the first time Harry had the privilege to see someone looking so thoroughly confused while being so utterly horrified.


    The scathing look Hermione received from her mother, who was clearly upset that she had to know about her daughter''s injuries from some stranger, did not bode well for her either.


    Then it came to light that he killed the 12 feet troll, with a handgun (which no child should have access to) while the staff members were¡­ somewhere and the whole meeting simply went down hill from there.


    Suffice to say, Sophie and Rover Clearwater left the site as soon as possible. But not before he levitated my gift over to Penelope''s pocket.


    He wanted to give it to her under a better conditions considering how much hard work and efforts he put into making them but realized that it was either now or never since he didn''t have an owl that he could use to send it to her at a later date.


    Then he turned to look at Dan and Emma Granger who were suddenly looking unsure about whether they wanted him near their daughter or not.


    They were of course very thankful that he saved their daughter''s life but how do you treat a 11 year old kid who always carries a handgun with himself.


    "Come Dan, Emma. I''ll escort you to outside the station." He said, having gained the right to call them by their first names during their short talk earlier.


    "But about your parents Harry. Aren''t they coming to get you?" Dan said all of a sudden. The question about how my parents even allowed me to carry a hangdun was probably hidden somewhere in that line as well.


    Hermione suddenly went very very silent as he gave her a curious glance.


    It was apparent from the way that Emma talked with him that Hermione frequently mentioned his name in her letters back home. But it was also rather apparent then she does not mention a lot of things about him in it.


    Probably things like how he''s a celebrity, how his parents died protecting him, how he broke at least three laws every morning before breakfast.


    That made sense.


    Why would she tell them things that would put him in a bad light when he was her friend.


    If he had a friend and he had a letter to write to his parents then he wouldn''t tell them about his bad habits and circumstances either.


    Still, a part of him had hoped that she would have told them the truth about him. Well, she had not essentially lied about him or at least he hoped she didn''t but the fact remained that she didn''t tell them everything.


    And now he would have to face two angry parents who didn''t knew that their daughter was almost killed and they were not even informed about that.


    A part of him wished that he could just turn around and apparate back home but that would leave Hermione all alone to face her parents'' anger and he didn''t want that either.


    So in a quiet voice, in hopes that it would garner some sympathy and perhaps thwart some of their anger, he said "My parents are dead Mr Granger. They died 10 years ago protecting me from¡­ someone." He finished, deciding that it would be wise to leave the topic of Voldemort for some other time. His plate was already full as it was.


    Regardless, his ploy worked and in exchange for his words, he gained a sad look from both Dan and Emma plus a long moment of awkward silence which even Hermione didn''t knew how to break.


    In the end, Dan Grager decided to plow all the way through and asked "But you must live with someone. Didn''t you tell your relatives that you''re coming home?" he asked.


    And Harry realized that his life was nothing but a set of sad stories.


    Or rather, the life of the original Harry Potter.


    "I do. I live with my uncle and aunt." He said and while Dan and Emma looked a bit hopeful at that, Hermione, who knew the whole story however, looked even more dejected at his words.


    "Then your uncle must be coming to get you, right?" Dan asked, looking hopeful.


    And at that moment, Harry realized that Dan just wanted to ask his ''uncle'' why he was allowed to carry a firearm with himself. At school none the less.


    "My uncle¡­ is spending 15 years of time in Prison for Child abuse and neglect. He was sent there when he was caught beating me with a belt when I was 7 years old."


    Hermione had openly started to sob by now. Perhaps living with him for so long, she simply forgot that he had such a past.


    Dan on the other hand looked shocked an appalled at that while Emma was now holding onto Hermione tightly and looking at him despondently.


    He decided to finish the story as there as no need to make them suffer any longer than necessary. "My aunt now gives me enough food and doesn''t make me clean the house and tend to the garden, afraid that if she did then the people from the child services would notice and send her to a prison as well. So I guess it''s all well" He said nonchalantly, as if talking about someone else life (which was true in a sense) all the while ignoring the sobbing from Hermione and the gasps from Emma.


    "We now have come to an unspoken agreement that we would both tolerate each other''s existences as well as we could. That she would give me proper food and clothes and leave me to my devices and I would not tell the people from child services that she forced me to cook food for them and that she used to hit me with a frying pan when I didn''t do a good job."


    At this point, tears had started to fall down Emma''s cheeks though at least she was trying to hold down her sobs for Hermione''s sake who was crying while holding onto her mother.


    Dan¡­ he just looked like someone had kicked him in the nut with an expression that clearly stated that he didn''t know what to say anymore.


    Sad story well executed.


    And now that their anger had ebbed away and they won''t start hammering down on Hermione once he left, it was time for him to make a quick escape.


    So he went to Hermione who was not wiping her nose with a handkerchief and gave her a soft smile before taking out the small gift he''d prepared for her and putting it gently in her hands.


    "Your Christmas gift." He said with a smirk while Hermione suddenly looked ashamed for some reason. Oh, she probably haven''t bought a present for him yet.


    Then she started sobbing once again before enveloping him in a tight hug which he wanted to reciprocate as well.


    But since her parents were nearby, he simply patted her head affectionately in a brotherly manner.


    Can''t very well lose the sympathy card now by suddenly acting like her boyfriend now could we.


    After one long hug, Hermione finally looked a little consolable and even Emma seemed to have composed herself though her tight hand grip on Dan''s shoulder said otherwise.


    "I would like to visit Hermione some time during our holidays. You wouldn''t mind that, would you Dan?" he asked innocently, as if there was anything innocent about him.


    That question seemed to have woken Dan from his stupor and he spluttered a quick affirmative under his wife''s stern gaze.


    "It was nice meeting you. Dan. Emma."


    "Goodbye Hermione." He said and then he apparated back home.

 Chapter 57 - Theory on different magical creatures

    Petunia was not happy to see him. But that was to be expected.


    And it was not like he cared about the woman or her overweight child either way.


    Harry had thought that Vernon''s absence in the house would remove a bad influence from the boy''s life and that he would lose his weight in the coming months after his dad went to prison.


    But that didn''t happen.


    The stress of taking a daytime job and living with Harry didn''t stop Petunia from over feeding the boy and as a result, the boy had accumulated even more fat in his body than he did in the movie.


    Harry wondered if Dudley was bullied in the school for being so fat. If he was, then it would truly be karma at work.


    After showing the woman his face and having lunch, he went to his room and closed it so that no one would be able to enter without his permisson.


    Now he just needed to create an underground basement for himself so that he would be able to continue his research without the ministry bothering him.


    Hmm¡­ there was an old and abandoned building some miles outside his old school that kids had claimed to be haunted.


    With that in mind, he took his trunk and jumped out of his window while covering himself with the shroud of Concealment.


    After that, he walked a good distance away from 4 Privet Drive before apparating out of the place and landing outside the dilapidated old building.


    "Bitty." He called out loud and within a few moments, the house elf was in front of him.


    "Master Harry Potter be calling Bitty. What can Bitty be doing for Master Harry Potter Sir?"


    ''Jesus, these house elves and their perfect English.'' He inwardly ?r??n?d.


    "Do you see this building Bitty." He said pointing at the old building. "I want you to create a basement under it that looks like this." He said and took out a diagram of his labs in the chamber of secrets.


    Actually, the chamber of secrets was larger than was shown in the movie. But that was to be expected.


    There was no point in showing the rooms that might have once been Salazar Slytherin''s private quarters or living rooms or any such things in the movies.


    Nor was there any need to show all the hundreds of tunnels that connected the place to the sewer lines going outside Hogwarts.


    "Bitty''s be doing as Master Harry Potter be saying." She said happily before going inside the house and digging in the floor and vanishing the earth under it a bit at a time while making sure that the house won''t collapse upon itself.


    Digging such a large area must have been hard because he could literally feel his magic being transferred to Bitty in large amounts.


    A good thing that House elves were just loyal beings otherwise there were so many ways in which they could kill wizards and witches that it wouldn''t even be funny.


    Now that he thought about it, how did House elves even came into existence.


    Was it possible that they were formed naturally or did some wizard created them so that he could have the perfect servants.


    Well, considering how giant fire breathing dragons were a real thing in this world, it was quite possible that house elves were formed naturally as well.


    But there were often times when he realized that a lot of magical creatures and beings are not as¡­ natural as they might look at first glance.


    Maybe an immensely powerful wizard that lived a few thousand years ago one day simply thought that merging a lion an an eagle might be fun and thus Hippogriffs were created.


    Then the next day he thought the experimenting on muggles and adding other animals to their lower body might be fun and thus centures and mermaids came into existence.


    If you continue that line of thought then it''s entirely plausible that some very powerful wizard or witch might have created goblins and house elves as well.


    In that same line, you could also say that dragons could have once been lizards who were then enlarged and given the fire breathing ability along with the wings.


    After all, if a novice wizard like him, who had not even started learning about magic six months ago could change a human''s eye to that of a hawk so that the human would be able to see like them, then a wizard who have experimented on such things for hundreds of years could easily create whole new species as well.


    That line of thought made him wonder if he would be able to do something similar in the future.


    Maybe.


    If he lived long enough then such a thing was definitely possible.


    But there was not much point in thinking about it for now.


    He entered the house and saw a one meter large hole at the center of the living room.


    Then he took out his rune carving tools from inside the expandable purse along with magical unicorn blood (courtesy of Quirrelmort) and lit up a torch before jumping inside the hole.


    It was time for him to get to work.

 Chapter 58 - A parents worry

    Dan Granger was worried for his little girl.


    Well, that was nothing new since all fathers worry for their little girls, even when the girls are not so little anymore and are more than able to take care of themselves.


    But Dan''s little Hermione was still little and he was immensely worried about her.


    And rightly so since only this morning, he heard that his little girl had been in a life threatening situation during her stay in the school.


    In fact, she was attacked by a troll.


    If Mrs Clearwater had not told them about it, then perhaps he and Emma would have never even known that such a thing had happened at all.


    That their little precious daughter was almost taken away from them.


    It was hard for him to believe such a thing. But the instance those words left Mrs Clearwater''s mouth and the instance Hermione''s gaze became fearful and guilty, he knew that what she had was the truth.


    His next thought was to immediately take her out of the school.


    A school which doesn''t even have the decency to inform the parents when their children are almost murdered by a gods forsaken Mountain Troll.


    He didn''t even know how he was able to keep his anger to himself at that time.


    Oh how he wanted to meet the sweet talking Professor Minerva and rip into her for lying to them that their girl would always be safe in Hogwarts.


    And how she didn''t even have the decency to at least tell them when their girl suffered a life threatening injury.


    But he was in front of strangers so he and Emma had held each other''s hands, forming a silent promise to talk with each other and with their daughter after getting back home and not a moment before that.


    Hermione already looked rather apprehensive and he didn''t want to scare her even more by demanding answers from her in a place where all her classmates could see.


    So he had held his anger and Emma, his lovely wife had quietly inquired how such a thing had happened and Mrs Clearwater told them what had happened.


    It pricked his heart that his daughter wouldn''t trust them enough to tell them about such an important thing but he was a logical and reasonable man and knew that she was most likely afraid that he would pull her out of the school, which he would admit that he had thought about doing.


    But he listened to Mrs Clearwater quietly with her daughter supplying words from the sides quietly and before long, he and Emma had the full picture.


    How Hermione was bullied by her peers. (and hadn''t the sweet talking Professor Minerva ?ssured them that such a thing won''t happen in Hogwarts)


    How Hermione had left for the bathroom in order to cry.


    How instead of finding a door in front of her, she had found a 12ft tall mountain troll instead.


    How that thing had almost bashed her brains in with it''s club.


    And how in the end, it was only the intervention of Harry, her friend that she talks about in every letter, that saved her life.


    He would have felt relief at that bit of information if not for the fact that he felt that Mrs Clearwater and Miss Clearwater were hiding something from him and Emma.


    Upon probing, it came out that instead of stalling the troll like how he had thought would happen, the young boy, no, the young man had flown into rage at the sight of his friend''s body and brutally murdered the mountain troll with an enhanced handgun.


    Good riddance, he said but despite all his gratefulness for the young man, he was even more apprehensive about his relationship with his daughter Hermione.


    He had clearly seen how close the both of them were with how easily they were able to communicate with each other with their eyes and he wasn''t sure he knew how he felt about that.


    The boy had saved his girl''s life. Yes. But he was also an eleven year old who carried a gun around his pocket with him all the time.


    What kind of eleven year old carries a gun around with him. In a school.


    Where were the Professors and the oh so vulnerable Headmaster when their daughter was in danger


    Why was it that their daughter had to be saved by a little boy, who was even younger than her, then by the Hogwarts staff.


    By now it was quite clear to him that the Hogwarts staff couldn''t be trusted.


    But he still had no idea what to make of the young man who had saved his daughter''s life.


    So while they were going out of the station, he had noticed the apparent lack of the boy''s parents and had taken that as a means to gain more information about him.


    And hadn''t that been a cluster fu?k of epic proportions (mind the language.)


    He had once thought that their''s daughter''s life was hard, what with all the bullying she suffered from her peers in the school and the fact that her closest friends were books and not¡­ well, real kids like it should have been.


    After hearing about young Harry''s life, he couldn''t help but think how lucky Hermione had been her whole life.


    She had parents who loved her immensely.


    Nor had they ever starved her or thrown her inside a cubbord.


    He was still eleven years old for gods'' sake and he had already gone through more hardships than his entire family.


    He had never thought that Harry''s life would be this difficult.


    Hermione''s letters had portrayed the picture of a person who was a genius that left behind even their own daughter in the dust.


    A boy who was immensely caring of those around him even though he was distrustful of the ?du?ts around him. (And hadn''t that been the clear sign of an abused childhood.)


    When he had heard about him from her letters he had thought about how he would have to deal with him in a few years in the future. Tell him to stay away from his princess and all that duty.


    He had never thought that the boy would be so different from what he had imagined him to be.


    And he wondered if he had faced such hardships in his life, then would he have started to carry around a hand gun for his protections as well.


    Probably not.


    But then again, he had never been in that young man''s shoes so he would not know what he would have done either.


    For now, he was just grateful that the young man had put the handgun to good use and protected his daughter with it.


    He looked at Hermione''s sleeping form and clutched Emma''s hand a bit tighter.


    The day had gone far different the both of them could have thought and it had thrown them out off so much that they still didn''t have any idea about where they should even start.


    But they needed to sort this out. Whatever this mess was.


    And then they needed to talk, if they would allow Hermione to return back to the same school where she almost died once the Christmas holiday''s end or not.

 Chapter 59 - Capturing Death Eaters

    Meeting Andromeda Tonks had been a surprise.


    The woman was more kind than any other woman he''d personally known in this life. And yet, she was also firm when it was needed of her.


    He had taken an instant liking to the woman in their first meeting.


    And judging by the way she treated him over the next few hours, he knew that the feeling was mutual.


    She had treated him far better than Petunia Dursley ever had. But then again, that not much of an achievement considering how every other ?du?t woman he''d met so far had treated him better than Petunia.


    It''s a sad day for a person when he realize that his own blood treats him worse than strangers.


    So it was perhaps a good thing that he never really saw the Dursleys as his own blood.


    But regardless, the point stood that Andromeda Tonks had treated him with kindness and respect.


    Ted Tonks had put on a more serious front but it was instantly clear to Harry that the man just as kind if not more, than Andromeda. Then again, he was a Hufflepuff and there were few people from that house that weren''t inherently kind.


    Their only daughter, Nymphedora Tonks, the only Tonks he had seen in the movies, was ironically not present and from what Andromeda told him, she was currently getting drilled by Madeye Moody in some training area.


    It was clear to see that the woman was proud of her daughter who, despite her inherent clumsiness, had put a lot of effort into becoming an auror and had caught The Mad eye Moody''s interest who had made her into his Portege by the end of their first meeting.


    After all, both were legends in their own rights.


    Andromeda Tonks had tried to make him comfortable by talking about his time in the school. And if the other kids gave him problem for being a Parseltongue.


    And when he had shown how disinterested he was in that conversation, she had dropped it just as quickly and then they had moved on to talk about Sirius Black.


    The innocent man who was wrongfully imprisoned in that hell for a whole decade.


    He then repeated what he''d told her in the letter and had told Ted Tonks that if Sirius is able to get a trial then his innocence would come to light without much problem and Ted had agreed to help him considering how Sirius could practically be considered family.


    That talk went on for a while and by the end of it, he had a good idea about how the judicial system in the ministry worked though not much more then that.


    Then they talked about other things that he had planned to deal with for a good while.


    Fictional books regarding his life, that had nothing to do with his actual life. Figurines, clothes, toys that showed his face and the scar without his express permission or ever sending him any royalty for it.


    All these things needed to be taken care of sooner or later.


    By the end of the their talk, Ted had promised him that he would deal with those people and he had left the house in a good mood.


    If Ted was able to legally win the case against those who used his name without his express permission, then he would become even richer than he was now.


    Which was a good thing in his mind.


    The richer you are. The better.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    It was just another day at work for Walden Mcnair.


    He had just finished another case given to the hit wizards where a woman was complaining about a Werewolf being too loud on the moon night.


    He didn''t knew what kind of self respecting witch lived with a werewolf for a neighbor.


    The witch was probably a mudblood or a halfblood.


    But regardless of how dirty their blood was, they were still wizards and witches. And they would always stand higher than the half breeds known as Werewolves who should all be put to death in his mind.


    But he didn''t make the rules so abominations like them still lived in their society. Acting like animals and dirtying the space.


    The case was simple enough at first but then they heard that there had been a small fight and the woman had brutally wounded the werewolf in anger with curses and jinxes.


    Now, he was a proper pureblood wizard and he was proud to work in a ministry where upstanding citizen like Lucius Malfoy kept things under check but he also knew that there were a few blood traitors working in the ministry.


    People who would not like it if the news about this attack was to be known by others.


    So he, the Executioner for the Committee for the Disposal of Creatures at the Ministry of Magic was sent in order to calm down the situation and show the disgusting halfbreeds their proper place.


    At seeing the Executioner, the injured Werewolf had paled and after a few threats, he had promptly dropped the charges against the woman and had deserted his house soon after that.


    Now that was a job well done.


    If only he could show those halfbreeds and mudbloods their proper place every single day. Then his life would truly be complete.


    Or so he thought as he entered his small office where he kept his executioner''s blade and his executioner''s dress.


    He was halfway through undressing when he saw a red light coming out of thin air from the corner of the room and then he knew no more.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    He woke up in a cold and dark cell, totally n?k?d, without his wand feeling cold, thirsty, hungry and above all, afraid.


    What had happened?


    Where was this place?


    Where were his clothes?


    Why was he brought here?


    This was not Azkaban, was it?


    He had been to that hell hole of a prison once before in his life and had promised himself to never go back there. Ever again.


    Was this Azkaban?


    Has someone thrown him here by mistake?


    He squinted his eyes and looked around the dark cell in order to find something to wrap around himself as the cold was starting to get to him by now and lo and behold, at the corner of the cell, he could see a set of dress along with a loaf of bread and a bottle filled with water.


    He dove upon the dress with energy that he didn''t knew he had and after wearing them, he fell on the loaf of bread without caring for the lack of manners that his mother had so fervently installed within him since when he was child.


    There was no one nearby to see his manners anyway.


    Moreover, how long had he been in this cell?


    How long had he been unconscious.


    Taking a proper look around made him realize that there was no windows in any of the walls and the only light that illuminated the cell was coming from two candles kept at the other ends of the room.


    He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a groan coming from the other side of the wall.


    "Hello." He shouted, his voice echoing loudly in the closed space. "Anyone there."


    "Walden. Walden Macnair. Is that you?" a voice from the other side of the room answered him. The voice of a female.


    A voice that he''d heard many times in his days as a death eater when he was still in the service of Lord Voldemort.


    "Alecto. Alecto is that you."


    "Yes it''s me you idiot. What are you doing here?" she snapped and he held the urge to snap back at her. But if she was here then it was likely that her brother was here as well.


    And he didn''t want to get on their bad side.


    The twins were not very spectacular witch or wizard but they both always worked together and both of them had impeccable coordination so going against them would be a bad idea.


    So he held back his anger and replied "I don''t know. One minute I was in my office in the ministry and then¡­ I think I saw a red light. And then I woke up here. Alone and hungry."


    "You''re not alone." The other voice, that he now recognized as Amycus Carrow replied.


    "Yes." I can see that as well you fool. "Do you know how you came here? Who took us?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know." Amycus Carrow replied in a defeated tone. "I''ve seen the person who captured and brought us here but he always wears a mask.


    He also takes out one of us every time he comes around and¡­ experiments on us." He finished and Walden felt a shiver go down his spine at that.


    "Experiment?" he squeaked.


    "Nothing particularly harmful." Alecto replied. She was always the bold one of the two. "At least not yet. And for your information, Peter Pettegrew is here as well. Though the son of a bitch who captured us had taken him outside for his stupid experiments."


    "What kind of experiments?" he asked fearfully.


    He was surprised by the fact that Peter Pettegrew was alive. But he didn''t really cared at this moment considering how his own life now hung in the balance.


    Whoever had brought them here clearly had a vendetta against Death eaters.


    He himself had killed his fair share of muggles in the last war despite the fact that he had participated in very few battles against ministry aurors or the members of the Order of the Pheonix.


    That was also the main reason why he was able to escape the fate of being sent to the Azkaban after the last war.


    When you kill a muggle, it''s rather easy to hide all the evidence leading to that muggle''s death.


    But now.


    What the hell was he supposed to do now?


    He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a door being flung open. He got up to his feet and tried to peer through the bars in his cell at the person who had just entered the room.


    Two sets of footsteps. One calm, the other forced. One filled with confidence. The other hurried and fearful.


    He could only see their shadows cast by the light entering through the door so he was not able to properly guess the identity of the two men.


    Still, Alecto had said that Peter Pettegrew had been taken for experiment so perhaps one of them was Peter.


    But then that would mean that¡­


    "Looking for me. Walden Macnair." He fell down on the floor as a masked man¡­ no, child suddenly came in front of his cell.


    The man, no, boy was wearing a full black dress with a hood that hid his hair. And a silver mask, similar to the one they wore before going on raids.


    The attire of a death eater, he realized.


    The voice he heard was distorted by magic so he still had no idea who the boy was but for some reason, he felt more fear than he had originally felt as the boy scrutinized him through the slitted holes in that mask.


    As if the boy was looking at an insect and judging it''s value.


    And before he could say another word, a red spark came out the boy''s wand and he lost consciousness once again.

 Chapter 60 - Experiments

    Warning:- This chapter is a bit dark and has mild torture in it. Please don''t read it if you can''t stomach such things.


    I''ll post the summary of the chapter in the comments section for those who want want to skip it.


    "Excuse me." Harry said in a childish voice.


    "Yes." The woman asked as she kept down her newspaper and peered at him.


    "Do you have a dog?"


    "No." The woman said with a smile "I used to have one when I was a child but not anymore. Are you here with your parents?" she asked and started looking around for an ?du?t responsible for the strangely curious child.


    At the same time, Harry used his Shroud and covered both of them without her noticing anything strange and pointed Voldemort''s wand at her.


    "Obliviate."


    "¡­"


    "Excuse me." He called once the woman regained her focus after being obliviated.


    "Hmm¡­ Oh¡­ I didn''t see you there. Do you want something little guy." She asked curiously.


    "Yes. Do you have a dog?" he asked.


    The woman seemed confused at the question for a moment before she mulled over that question for a while before finally shaking her head "No. I have never had a dog before. But what are doing alone here. Are your parents nearby."


    "Yes. They''re buying me ice cream."


    "Oh¡­ then you should go with them." She said "In fact let me escort you to them. Where is the ice cream parlor again."


    "Thanks but there''s no need." He said with a warm smile and left the cafeteria in search for his next random victim.


    That old man sitting alone in the park seemed to be as good a victim as any.


    "Excuse me." He said in his best childish voice.


    "Hmm?" the old man looked at him with a raised eyebrow.


    "Can you please tell me the direction of to the nearest library."


    "Why not. You see¡­"


    "Obliviate"


    "Excuse me."


    "Hmm¡­ Ohhh¡­ Do you want something son?"


    "Can you tell me the direction of the nearest library?"


    The old man closed his eyes for a second before shaking his head "Sorry little buddy. I seemed to have forgotten a lot of things with my old age. How about you ask that kind lady over there. I''m sure that she''ll remember the way."


    "Okay. Thanks."


    "No problem son."


    He found the next victim walking alone in the busy streets of London and the process repeated.


    Ask them about something related to their life. That something must not be a very important part of their life.


    Because the more important a memory is. The harder it is to erase it and the worse repercussions that the victim will suffer.


    If you wipe out the memory of a victim''s family from his mind, then even though he won''t remember anything about them, he''ll still feel that something big is missing from his life and if he meets his children or wife in the future, then there''s a good chance that some of his memories might even return.


    So he was starting with small questions.


    After all, ''Partial Memory Obliviation'' was the second most important type of obliviation after the ''Immediate Memory Obliviation'' and would be of great aid to someone like him who wants to become great in mind arts.


    Immediate Memory Obliviation spell was easy to learn and just about every Obliviator in the ministry learns this basic spell within 1-3 months.


    But the same could not be said for Partial Memory Obliviation which takes more skill and a goo grasp of the mind arts. Especially Legilimency.


    By this point, he was already quite good at Legilimency which was why he was getting the hang of Partial Memory Obliviation at such a rapid manner.


    And thanks to the small amount of magic he put behind his spells and the fact that he was using Voldemort''s wand, no ministry official ever came to investigate his Obliviation spree.


    This form of power was scary on it''s own.


    Since a wizard could practically barge into a woman''s home, **** her and then leave after obliviating her and no one would know anything.


    A part of him was happy that he was a powerful wizard and that such a thing would never happen to him but another part of him felt pity for those poor muggles.


    With that thought, he walked on in search for his next victim.


    After all, practice makes perfect.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Your name is?"


    "Walden Macnair."


    "Your age?"


    "49"


    "Do you work for the ministry?"


    "Yes."


    "Do you hate muggleborns?"


    "¡­No."


    "Really?"


    "I mean¡­ I¡­"


    "Answer in yes or no. Do you hate muggleborns or not?"


    "¡­No."


    "Legilimens"


    Walden squirmed in the chair against the ropes as memories after memories passed through his mind as he was mind r?p?d by the masked boy before a few memories where he talked with his peers about his hatred for the filthy mudbloods and muggles surfaced through.


    "Walden... Walden. I told you not to lie. Didn''t I?"


    "Wait. Let me explain. I can¡­"


    A hand gesture from the boy and he lost his voice. "You know, the only good thing about you lying to me is the fact that I get to practice healing spells because of that. Thanks for volunteering Walden. You''re such a good man."


    And then Walden watched in terror as the boy took out a hammer and a nail and removed the ropes that held his arms to the chair.


    But even without the ropes, no matter how hard he tried, he was not able to move his hand even an inch.


    And then with another gesture, his hand was forcefully pulled on top of the wooden table.


    "Don''t worry Walden. It won''t hurt as much as a crucio." The boy said as he placed the nail above his hand


    "Though on second thought, I''ve never been placed under crucio nor have I been nailed so I can''t really tell."


    Walden could only watch in absolute horror as the boy talked about his situation as if he was talking about the weather before he struck with the hammer.


    Walden let out a soundless cry as pain ?ssaulted his hand and he promptly lost all control of his bowls.


    His shoulder jerked back and forth in pain but no matter how much his arm moved, his hand remained stuck in place under the influence of the masked boy''s powerful wandless magic.


    The boy waved his hand again and the wetness in his pants was removed at once before he calmly kept the hammer and the nails beside his nailed hand and calmly sat back down on the chair like nothing had ever happened.


    And then Walden heard himself sobbing, realizing that the silencing charm have now been removed him his mouth.


    "Why are you doing this to me?" the words came out with a sob and the boy chuckled at that. His distorted voice sounding eerily haunting to Walden.


    "Isn''t that clear Walden. You lied. And lying is a bad, bad habit. If your mother had taught you not to lie, then you would not have felt any pain today."


    "Now I''ll ask you again. Do you hate muggleborns Walden."


    "Yes." He sobbed "Yes I do."


    "See. Wasn''t that easy." He said and clapped his hands joyfully, filling Walden with more and more dread.


    He was hurting right now. And that was not something you feel happy about.


    The only person he''d seen laugh like that at someone else''s pain was perhaps Bellatrix Lestrange. And¡­ the dark lord.


    Shit. Now he understood why he was so afraid of the masked boy.


    Because the boy reminded him of the dark lord.


    And the snake wrapped around the boy''s shoulders didn''t help in that matter either.


    "Next question." the boy spoke calmly "Are you a death eater?"


    Walden''s first impulse was to deny it. But then the pain reminded him of what would happen to him if he lied to the boy and he thought better of it.


    After all, it was not very hard for a person to check if he had the dark lord''s mark on his left hand or not.


    Even if the mark had faded after the dark lord''s death.


    And something told him the boy won''t fall of the ''I was under imperius'' story either.


    So he simply nodded his head and replied "Yes."


    "Did you became a death eater willingly Walden?"


    "Yes¡­ Doctor." He replied.


    "And what did you do to become a death eater?" the boy asked.


    "Pardon?" He asked, feigning confusion even though he knew very well what the boy was talking about.


    "I heard that having a dark mark was considered an honor. And that you could only gain it by completing a mission of some kind."


    "So tell me. What did you do to gain that tattoo. What kind of missions did you complete. I''m curious."


    Walden once again considered lying. Because the thing he''d done to gain that mark from the dark lord was not something that would gain him any sympathy from the boy.


    Especially if the boy loved muggles.


    "Times up." The boy said and before Walden could even speak another sentence, he was silenced and within the next ten seconds, they boy had hammered another nail in his arm. This one slightly larger than the last one.


    By the time the silencing charm was removed, he was sobbing from the pain once again.


    "Now I''ll ask you again. And I want you to answer as quickly as possible as I don''t like to waste my time. Do you understand."


    He nodded his head.


    "I didn''t hear you." The masked boy said and shook his head and before Walden even had to time to be terrified, the boy had silenced him once again and put another nail in his hand.


    By this time, he was practically whimpering with pain but the boy once again continued on as if nothing had happened.


    "Now when I ask you a question I expect a proper answer from you. Not a shake of your head or something. Do you understand?"


    "Yes. Doc¡­ doctor.." He whimpered through snot and tears.


    "So what did you do to gain the dark mark?" the boy asked and this time Walden didn''t even hesitate before confessing his crimes.


    "I killed a muggle family." He said without any hesitation. The price of hesitation had already been hammered into his hand and he would rather not feel another nail piercing his hand if possible.


    "Why?" the boy asked in a disinterested manner and Walden wondered if the boy was actually bored with this interrogation.


    If so, then why couldn''t the boy simply let him go.


    It was not like he had actually done anything wrong after all.


    Just killed a few of those filthy muggles who are not even as good as animals.


    But those thoughts passed by quickly in his mind and the fear and conditioning opened his mouth.


    "The woman. She was beautiful." He acknowledged. She might have been a filthy muggle but she was beautiful.


    "You fancied her." He boy asked without any hint of emotion in his voice.


    "Yes." He admitted. "I r?p?d her. Then I killed her before disposing the rest of her family and lighting up their whole house so that no evidence would remain." He said between sobs and waited for the next nail to pierce his skin.


    But nothing happened.


    "Good." The boy said "You see. You just need to tell the truth and nothing bad will happen to you. Isn''t that simple enough?"


    Walden wondered if that was actually a question or such a statement but just to be sure, he replied "Yes doctor."


    "Good." The boy replied and with another negligent wave of his hand, the ropes binding his hand vanished and his hand was forcefully pulled toward the table and his now both his hands were laid of it before a few metal bindings flew from somewhere behind the boy and held his arm firmly in place.


    Then the boy tore off his sleeves and the Dark Lord''s mark was b?r?d in front of the boy.


    "Now Walden." The boy said softly before standing up from his chair "I''m going to make a few changes in the dark mark and I want you to tell me exactly how you feel as I go through the process. Do not even think about lying to me." The boy cautioned "Because I''ll know. And this time your punishment will be much much worse."


    Walden didn''t even want to know what that worse punishment entailed so he hurriedly nodded his head before he remembered what the boy had earlier said and gave voice to his thoughts. "Yes doctor."


    "Good." The boy said and took out a snake from within his sleeves and talked with it in that scary snake language for a while before he once again paid attention to the dark mark.


    And then, the experiments started.

 Chapter 61 - Daphne Greengrass

    "Father." Daphne said tersely and gave a proper bow like how her father expected from her.


    He gave a nod in return and scrutinized her for a long and uncomfortable moment before giving a grunt of approval.


    She let out a breath at that and he gestured her to sit on the chair opposite to the table in his study.


    "How was Hogwarts?" he asked and she realized without even anyone having to tell her that he was not really asking about her well being, her studies or her friends. But the social connections that she made in the school.


    And so, she went on to explain the hierarchy in their Slyterin house.


    Who supported whom. Which person was a potential ally and who could turn out to be a formidable enemy.


    If any boy has tried to court her or not. Which, by the way was true.


    It sickened her that there were older boys in her house that held intentions of courting her and some had even tried sending her meaningless things like cheap jewellery or flowers.


    But she knew that she might very well end up marrying one of those boys in the near future so she held her disgust within her and told her father all the names of the boys who had tried to court her.


    Then she went ahead and explained the factions in her own class.


    The largest of which was headed by Draco Malfoy since his father had such large influence in the Board of Governors and in the ministry. Not to mention that Professor Snape was his godfather and supported him at every turn.


    She also explained how Draco in fact, held little Slytherin qualities and might be easy to manipulate in the future if needed.


    "There''s one thing you missed." He said after a long and oppressive silence.


    She simply stared back at him with her own blank expression. Not knowing what to say. She wondered whether asking him would be seen as rude or not.


    Whether she was seen as rude or not would mostly depend on his mood which was unfortunately something she was never able to read.


    "Harry Potter." He said with a snort as if he was talking about someone insignificant and that she should have understood what he meant.


    "What do you know about The Boy-Who-Lived?" he said with b?r?ly hidden sarcasm. He had always hated ignorant people. And believing that a one and a half year old child could defeat the dark lord was the height of ignorance for him.


    But whether the boy defeated the dark lord or not was now beyond the point. The boy''s fame and renown was what held his interest now.


    Fame might be a fickle mistress but if used properly, it could be a great ?sset.


    And he wanted to know if she could somehow use that ?sset for the family.


    "He is¡­ a reclusive person." She said carefully as she tried to remember every bit of news and rumors she''d heard about the boy.


    "At the start of the term, I tried sitting beside him a few times without giving myself away but he always seemed to live in his own world." She explained "He is perhaps the most anti social person I''ve seen in Hogwarts."


    Her father hummed at that, which probably meant that she should continue and she did.


    "It is rumored that his muggle relatives abused him to a great degree when he was a child and because of this he doesn''t trust other people easily now." Meaning that it was unlikely that she would be able to influence him even if she wanted to .


    "It is also rumored that he is a prodigy in Charms and that Professor Flitwick is giving him private tuition these days on the subject."


    Then she went on and told him about all the rumors about the boy and in truth, there were really a lot of rumors about him circulating in the school. Most of them were quite absurd so she discarded them without another thought.


    After all, no eleven year old boy, no matter how smart, would ever be able to defeat, let alone kill, a fully grown mountain troll.


    So she filtered those rumors out and told her father only those rumors that she believed to be true.


    In the end, her father merely gave another grunt, like he always did and stood up from his chair from behind the desk before walking around and looking at her with a firm gaze.


    She held her breath as he continued to gaze at her with an expressionless face before he finally nodded and she let go of her breath.


    "Did you continue your Occlumency exercises like you told you to?" he asked and she nodded at that with a straight posture, like how a pureblood lady should act.


    "Yes father." She said "I carried out your instructions to the last letter without wasting a single day of practice."


    He grunted at that "We''ll see." And then without giving her any warning, he said "Legilimens" and dove into her mind, shuffling through her mind like it was worthless book not even worth his effort before he came across something that made him frown for some reason and she froze.


    What had he seen in her mind that had caused such a reaction from him.


    Had she made some huge mistake without knowing about it?


    She tried to recall the memories he was shuffling through when he stopped and frowned but it was to no avail.


    She was a mere novice at mind arts and without him telling her what had caused him such displeasure, she would remain in the dark.


    Then he removed his presence from her mind and she bend down on the chair, taking deep breaths and fighting the headache that she knew that she would soon feel.


    He let her catch her breath before revealing the news to her


    "One of your memory have been tempered with."


    And she froze as a chill went down her spine at those words.


    Someone had tempered with her memories. Which meant that she had no recollection of what had happened to her within a given time frame and that could mean bad things for her.


    Very very bad things.


    There was a reason why pureblood girls who knew about mind arts always remained in the company of one or more of their friends and refrained from going to places all alone where they could be accosted by other people.


    The implications of her father''s words were clear to her.


    She might have been r?p?d while she was in Hogwarts.


    This was something that wizards often did with muggle women.


    But in rare instances, this was something that happened among wizards and witches as well.


    And such a thing was fairly easy to cover up.


    An older boy could have ?ssaulted her before taking her inside a class before proceeding to **** her. Then when he was done with her, he would simply vanish all the blood and other evidence before forcing her to drink a potion that would numb all her pain before obliviating her and soon enough, she would forget that anything had even happened to her.


    And she hoped. Really really hoped that the worst case scenario in her mind was not the truth.


    That she simply seen a couple making out and in order to keep their relationship a secret from the school, the boy had obliviated her and let her go.


    She hoped that the truth was something like this and not one of the horrible scenarios that her mind was still coming up with.


    She subconsciously touched her crotch wondering if someone will still marry her if she was not a maiden. After all, Pureblood families were a stickler for traditions and if anyone came to know that she had lost her v?r??n?t? then it would be very hard for her to marry into a respectable family.


    Even someone like Augasta Longbottom, who was firmly in the side of the light would refuse to accept her as a Daughter in law.


    Her father simply stared at her without showing any emotions and for a moment, she hoped that she mother was alive right now. That she was here to comfort her in her time of uncertainty.


    That her passing had not left her father a cold emotionless husk.


    That there was someone in the world aside from her who would take care of her sister Astoria aside from herself.


    That she was stronger than this.


    "I''ll contact a mind healer." He said at last as he stood by the window and looked outside at the peaceful scenery "And then we''ll see if it''s possible to salvage your memory."


    "There''s a mind healer in St Mungos?" She blurted out before she could stop herself. The emotional roller coaster that this meeting had turned into was already taking it''s toll.


    The glare that he sent her way told her exactly what she wanted to know. That she shouldn''t have spoken without being asked to. And not in such an unlady like way on top of that.


    "No." He said before he removed his gaze from her "But there''s one staying in France right now. I might have to pull in a few favors in order to set up a meeting with her. It shouldn''t be too hard."


    "You''re not to leave the manor for the rest of the week." He said with a finality, giving her the punishment for her earlier slip up.


    "Yes father." She replied demurely wondering what her mother would think of the man her father had become now, if she was alive.


    "Hng¡­ Dismissed." He said without even bothering to look at her and she bowed to him before leaving his solar making sure to keep a lady like and not hurry out of the room as she wanted.


    Then she went directly into her room before locking it shut and jumping down on her bed.


    She had some crying to do after all.

 Chapter 62 - Christmas gifts from friends

    Amelia Bones was just as serious about her work and just as impartial as she was in the movies.


    This gave his some form of comfort. Pity that she would die in the future at Voldemort''s hands. Maybe he would save her?


    Yes. Saving her seems like a right decision. Because after that she would owe him a life debt and having a capable woman like her owing him a life debt would be of great help to him in the future.


    Though he was still unsure if rescuing Sirius was a good thing.


    After all, Sirius might have been of great help to the original Harry with all his love and support but having an ?du?t in his life who tries to get close to him at all cost would be annoying.


    Plus, having a godfather who wants to compensate for the lost decade by coddling him and keeping him safe would also hinder his plans.


    So once Sirius is out of Azkaban, he would have to find a way to deal with the overly emotional dog animagus and tell him to mind his own business and not get in his way.


    Having a godfather would get Dumbledore off his back as well. So that was perhaps one of the few benefits he would get from this situation.


    Amelia Bones had come with three aurors. Nympadora Tonks, Kingsley Shaklebolt and a third one he didn''t recognize.


    Talking with Amilia was a simple affair. She did not ask unnecessary information or any unnecessary question so the whole story was explained to her quite quickly.


    But when she asked him how he knew all that, he of course couldn''t tell her that he''d seen it in a movie.


    So he told her the second best thing instead.


    "I got it from interrogating the death eater known as Peter Pettegrew."


    The shock in their faces was a sight to see.


    Which he did.


    The rat animagus was stuffed in a cage and presented to them without any further ado.


    The third unknown auror scoffed at him and mumurred something about delusional boys and wasted time while Amilia''s gaze turned even more stern.


    "I don''t like being made fun of Mr Potter. And I don''t like to have my time wasted. If you have Peter Pettegrew then please bring him to us so that we could take him into custody. My patience is running thin as it is."


    Harry gave her an amused glance before he looked at Nymphedora and asked her to perform the spell which turns an animagus back to it''s human form.


    After all, he couldn''t very well use underage magic in front of Ministry workers could he.


    Nymphedora glanced at Amelia who gave her a nod before performing the spell.


    And boy they were in for a shock when they found Peter Pettegrew, the person whom everyone had thought to be dead for the last decade in front of them.


    "How did you find him Mr. Potter? I find it unlikely that you would be able to capture an ?du?t wizard on your own." Amelia asked and he gave her a shrug in return.


    If she didn''t wanted to believe that he would be able to capture a death eater on his own then that was even better for him.


    He guessed that Susan Bones had not written to her about the troll incident.


    Because if she did then Amelia would not underestimate him so much.


    But then again. What kind of sensible person would believe in such a rumor?


    "The answer is simple. I didn''t capture him. He came to me on his own."


    "What do you mean Mr Potter?" Amelia asked.


    "He felt guilty." He replied "He might have become a death eater and betrayed my parents and framed Sirius but the never forgot that they were his good friends once. Nor did he forgot how he left me an orphan. So when I joined Hogwarts, he came to me and confessed his guilt and told me to do with him as he liked."


    The story was not a solid one but he had done some serious work for it.


    Creating a memory in Peter''s mind where came to him and confessed his guilt had been one of the hardest task he had ever done in his and even the end result was not a very good either but it''ll hold under any Veriteserum that they might use on Peter so essentially, there was nothing for him to fear.


    He never told them that Peter was once a rat of the Weasleys. There was no point in giving away useless information which might hurt innocent people. Not that he cared much about innocent people but Hermione did and he rather not do something that would cause her to look down upon him, even though she didn''t knew what he was doing right now.


    Then just as he had predicted, Amelia used Veriteserum on Peter to be sure of his identity and asked him a few questions that sealed the rat animagi''s fate and gave credit to his words.


    In the end, Amelia looked horrified at the thought that the letter wrote to her was the truth and that they had sent an innocent man to Azkaban for the last decade.


    The ramifications of such an injustice happening to the lord of the noble and ancient house of Black would definitely hit the ministry hard.


    But Amelia was one to seek justice no matter the ramifications and she would not changes her ideals no matter what.


    So with a last few words, they took put Peter into chains and apparated out of the place.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the three christmas gifts lying in his room in Privet Drive and smiled despite himself.


    There were only two girls who he knew that would send him a gift.


    And the third one must be from Albus Dumbledore which probably held the Invisible Cloak.


    He had thought that after seeing his antisocial behavior and showing all the signs that he had no inclination of being the Wizarding World''s savior, Dumbledore would refrain from giving him back his family''s heirloom.


    Or perhaps the last few days in Hogwarts that he spent while attending the class because of Hermione and Penelope''s ''Make Harry Sociable'' project made gave the old man the wrong idea that there was still a little chance for him being the wizarding world'' savior.


    He wondered that if he went back to school after the holidays then will he still come across the Mirror of Erised just like how the original Harry did in the movies.


    He shook such thoughts and took out the cloak from within the wrapper.


    It had silvery color and a silky and slipperly feel to it, giving him the feeling if you didn''t held it firmly enough then it would slip right out of your hands.


    It also weighed almost as light as a feather and he wondered if the thing about deathly hollow was real or just a myth.


    After all, the wand was said to make a person invincible and yet Dumbledore defeated Gellart Grindelwald all the same.


    He had never seen any other Invisiblity cloak in his life so couldn''t tell the difference between them and this one.


    And last but not the least, the cloak with filled to the brim with all kinds of tracking charms.


    Or so Selena told him but even he could guess that Dumbledore would do such a thing.


    Well, at least that solved the mystery about how Dumbledore was able to see Harry and his friends even when they wore the cloak and hid in Hagrid''s hut.


    How simple.


    It would take him some time to identify and remove all the charms in it but he had a feeling that it would be worth it.


    Then he moved on to the other two gifts that were unsurprisingly given to him by Hermione and Penelope.


    ''Hmm¡­ Bitty must have fed their owls and kept the gifts here for me.'' He thought and went forward and removed the covers from both their gifts.


    Hermione had given him a travel guide. He could instantly tell that the book must be expensive with it''s hardcore cover and silky pages.


    It showed all the places in Britain that attracted tourists to them.


    The implications of this gift was simple for him to see.


    She wanted him to get out of home and spend some time outside instead of being cooped up in his labs. Even if it meant that he had to travel to exotic places which were filled with people.


    Hmm¡­ Perhaps he would try that one day.


    He kept her book aside and opened the one book gifted to him by Penelope.


    And realized that it was not a book at all.


    But an album.


    And album filled with the images of Lily and James Potter from their younger days.


    He had no idea where she got all those images from nor did he really cared about it.


    He was not Lily and James'' son. He might be occupying Harry''s body but he never felt any love for his parents. Especially when they were people that he never knew.


    So in summary, this gift was useless to him.


    But he knew that Penelope must have put on a lot of hard work and effort in order to gather so many images and create this album for him and that meant a lot to him.


    He carefully put the album alongside with Hermione''s travel guide and took the invisibility cloak.


    He couldn''t go back to his usual lab with an object that was filled with Tracking charms.


    It was time to open another lab. An underground lab that he would use for his charms and runes practice. Hmm¡­ that seems reasonable.


    He would use the first underground base and the test subjects for Researching Human Transfiguration, Healing magic and things like that and he would use the second base for charms and runes work.


    One for practicing perfectly legal magic and the other one of illegal ones.


    "Bitty."


    "Yes Master Harry Potter Sir." The elf replied as she appeared in front of him.


    "I have another task for you."

 Chapter 63 - More human experiments

    "Minister." He said in greeting as he entered the room.


    "Ohh¡­ come Auror Dawlish. Come. Have a seat." The minister said jovially. "Come. Tell me what would you like. Tea or Coffee."


    "Tea." He said without any fanfare. The minister must have suspected that he had brought him a valuable information otherwise there was no reason for him to treat an auror with such respect.


    Maybe the minister is not as daft as everyone else seems to think.


    But then again, he had been in power for such a long time. He might not be bright in other departments but he is one heck of a politician.


    You can ask that to the people whose life Minister Fudge destroyed one way or another simply because they went against him.


    Dawlish knew that the minister could be ruthless when the time demanded it.


    He also knew that the Minister gave great rewards to people who served him well.


    And this was a news that could sink Fudge''s whole ship so he knew that he would be greatly rewarded for this.


    He could already smell the golden galleons and the promotion coming up his way.


    "I have something to report Minister." He said and went on to explain the whole debacle about Sirius'' and Peter Pettegrew''s case.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "The last time I added muscles in your brother''s legs, I thought I had done a good job." He said as he as he went around the table in which Alecto Carrow was strapped down without any clothes.


    If he was a teenager and if his harmones had kicked in then he would probably not be as calm upon seeing her in such a situation.


    But as it was, his harmones had yet to kick in so he had no trouble remaining calm at such a sight as he went about perform minute transfiguations in her th??hs and bu??ock.


    "Do you know that there more than a dozen muscle segments in our legs. Tweaking the right one in the right way is the key to making a person run faster, jump higher or lift more weights."


    Alecto said something that sounded like a curse but the cloth wrapped around her mouth did a good job of muffling her voice.


    Now he could have simply use a silencing charm on her but tying her mouth with a cloth seemed more¡­ muggle. More like his style.


    And a room that was filled with silence bored him.


    At least seeing her trying to curse him every now and then gave him some amusement.


    "I hope that it would work this time." He said and tied an enhanced shock collar around her neck.


    "Now get up and wear your clothes. It''s time to see if the experiment was a success or not." With those words, he backed away a few steps and removed the ropes binding her to the table.


    She gave him a loathe filled glare that he''d gotten so used to these past few days before turning around and waking up to where her und?rw??r and pants were kept.


    "Now let''s move you to the next room." He said with a smile, his wand no where in sight.


    If he was a normal wizard then he had no doubt that she would have already pounced at him and probably even subdued him with her huge size.


    "You''re not following the orders fast enough Alecto." He said with a sigh and a look of fear came into her eyes as he activated the enhanced shock collar and gave her a shock once again.


    Her fingers twitched a bit after he stopped the shock and he wondered if the shock collar was his version of Cruciatus curse.


    He had experimented on his test subject quite extensively and therefore she knew that he could not cast that curse which was why he had to rely on muggle methods to get the job done.


    After all, in order to cast the curse, you have to fill your heart up to the brim with hate and malice for the person you''re about to cast the curse on.


    And he simply couldn''t be bothered to conjure such deep emotions for a few nobody.


    And he had a suspicion that casting that particular curse affected the caster as well.


    After all, Bellatrix and Voldemort were one of the few people who used that curse extensively and both of them were not right in the head.


    Or maybe they used that curse so much because they were insane in the first place.


    But either way, he was not going to cast a curse whose full ramifications he didn''t knew about.


    Though he knew that he would have to learn the Partonus Charm sooner or later.


    He could probably use the memory of his first hug from Hermione for that.


    But there was not much point in thinking about all that for now.


    He led Alecto to the next room where a large 100 meter pitch had been carved underground by him and Betty last night.


    It would be good for testing how his leg enhancements were working.


    "Good. Now you''ll run from one end of the pitch to another." He said in his usual calm and bored tone, which was then made even scarier by the voice distorting charm he''d placed in the mask.


    After erasing Peter''s memory of the past few months, he was sure that his identity as a Researcher was safe.


    Even if these Death Eaters are somehow able to escape his lab, they would not know who he was.


    Oh they could guess his identity because of his Parseltongue but he had obliviated those memories out of their minds so they had no idea that he was a Parselmouth either.


    No, not really.


    Alecto gave him a hateful glare but then started running in the pitch as he started the stopwatch.


    And boy was she fast.


    In fact, she covered the whole pitch in 10.03 seconds.


    Damn.


    It was not a world record but it was damn close.


    And with this, he knew that his Experiments was successful.


    Because normally the female death eater would not been able to cover that distance in even 20 seconds.


    Now he just needed to enhance those muscles a bit more and tweak them a little bit here and a little bit there to see what kind of results he would get.


    "What are you feeling Alecto he asked."


    "Fuck you." She replied.


    Shock collar at work.


    "What are you feeling Alecto."


    Sob¡­ sob¡­ "My legs burn." She replied.


    "Hmm¡­ Too much Lactic acid produced by the enhanced muscles." He said and the notepad and quill noted down both of their words.


    He should have seen such a complication.


    "Subject is too tired after completing the 100 meters. Perhaps enhancing the lungs so that the subject could take deeper breaths would do the job." The quill noted down his words obediently and he smiled.


    He still had no idea what he was doing or if his experiments would bring any success but he was learning and that meant everything to him.


    "Good job Alecto." He praised "Maybe I''ll let you sleep with your brother tonight as a reward for a job well done."


    She smiled at that and he wondered what he felt about ?n??st.


    Well, it''s their life and their actions are their own so who was he to judge.


    "But before that. We need to do a few more test runs." He said, withholding his amusement from showing up in his voice as her smile fell at his proclamation.


    Playing god was amusing.


    He could see how Voldemort turned out the way he did now. So he would need to be careful or else his ego would become as large as the dark lord.

 Chapter 64 - Mind Healer and the plot

    "Now stay still and calm your emotions." The mind healer said and got a nod form Daphne in return as her father watched the proceedings from the side lines.


    Daphne wondered if it was even possible for her to calm down with her father watching her like a hawk but the calming draught seemed to be doing it''s job properly.


    After crying on the very first day when she returned home, she had gone to the bathroom and checked her h?m?n which was thankfully intact.


    Now she knew that she was not r?p?d so she was not as scared of the memory as she once was. But she was still a little fearful of what she''ll see once the mind healer did her job.


    "Now lower your occlumency shields." The mind healer said in a gentle hypnotizing manner and Daphne fought against her instinct to strengthen her shields and let them fall so that she would enter her mind.


    The feeling was uncomfortable but the mind healer was gentle, unlike her father who simply rummaged through her memories without even asking for permission.


    She did not felt like she was being mind r?p?d as the woman went about doing her job inside her mind.


    She would never focus on any of her personal memories or any of her memories. Simply passing through them like a breeze and feeling them for a while before leaving them be upon realizing that they were not tempered with.


    This went on for about a minute or so before the woman found something and clamped upon it hard.


    "It is an old memory." She heard the healer''s voice in her semi consciousness state. "Her memory was removed from her mind forcefully. An obvious sign of the Obliviation spell." The woman informed her father.


    "I could try to see if there''s anything salvageable but be warned that the memory will most likely be blurry and some parts might be missing. Not to mention that Daphne might not want to see those memories." The woman kindly told her father watched on the procedure with his dead emotionless eyes.


    "Are you sure you want to go through with the procedure?" the mind healer asked and her father gave a grunt of acknowledgement and Daphne saw the woman nod her head.


    "Are you ready Daphne?" the woman asked and she gave a nod before the Mind Healer dove into her mind once again.


    Half an hour later, they had a test tube in their hands with a silvery glowing memory of the event that had been erased from Daphne''s mind as her father took it to the pensive before escorting the Mind Healer to the floo.


    Daphne on the other hand sat on the other hand sat on a chair and wondered how she could have missed something like this.


    The memory, when recovered, had come out as a bit distorted, a bit broken and rather blurry.


    But she was still able to make out it''s contents with a bit of guess work.


    First day in Transfiguration class.


    Her sitting beside Harry Potter.


    Him turning a matchstick into a living bu??erfly. Something that''s not taught to them until the 5th year.


    Him instantly turning the bu??erfly into ask before looking around to find anyone who might have seen it.


    But seeing as both of them were sitting in the last desk and how Minvera was busy with other students, she was the only one who had witnessed his power. This true power.


    And then he had turned to her with an annoyed expression.


    And¡­


    "Obliviate"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The charms applied in the cloak made him distrustful of the Headmaster.


    Maybe the old man only wanted to know his location so that he could keep him safe but Harry still saw this as a breach of trust and privacy.


    Not that he ever trusted the old coot anyway.


    He picked up the cloak and wondered about it''s efficiency.


    In truth, the cloak did a wonderful job of making him invisible. Even from Selena and that was saying something considering how she was able to see right through most of the other magical enchantments.


    But the problem was that sight was just one of the many senses that a person has.


    Sound being one of it''s most glaring weakness.


    Anyone walking while hiding inside the Invisibility Cloak was bound to make some noise.


    Even if you ignore the footsteps, the cloak itself made a lot of flapping noise when walking.


    In fact, beings like snakes who are s?ns?t?v? to vibration could even feel his heart beating from some distance.


    So he pelted the Cloak with four different Charms that would negate all the sounds and vibration from leaving the influence area of the cloak.


    Then there was the smell.


    Any werewolf worth his salt would easily be able to snuff him out in a room.


    Charms for removing smell were added just as easily in the cloak.


    And then heat.


    Some of the magical creatures are able to pick up on heat, so charms to stop heat signatures from leaking out of the cloak were added as well.


    After that, Harry continued to find weakness upon weakness in the Cloak and continued to add charms upon charms upon it.


    He wanted to make it perfect so that not even the human machines like radar and other such things would be able to find him.


    At this point, he could wear the cloak and walk up to Lord Voldemort and say "Boo" in his ears and the dark lord would still not notice his presence.


    But there was still one glaring weakness in the cloak.


    That one weakness being the mass inside the cloak.


    For example, if you walk in a place filled with people then even if you wear the cloak, you''ll still hit other people which will instantly alert them about someone present inside a cloak and that will instantly break his cover.


    And if he walks in a road filled with mud then he''ll eventually leave a foot trail.


    Then there was the problem of him walking in a rain.


    People will instantly see his silhouette and know that someone is hiding inside an invisibility cloak.


    And of course, he could never use the cloak inside water since his silhoutte will be clearly visible to all inside the water.


    After some careful thinking, he was able to come to a solution to a problem.


    And even if the charm did work like how he intended it to do, he was not yet capable to casting it.


    Yes, that charm was the Fidelius Charm.


    The ultimate hiding charm.


    If he could apply that in his Cloak then that should apparently give him the ultimate stealth ability.


    But he would only know whether that charm could be applied on something like an invisibility cloak when he gains more strength and enough experience in order to cast it.


    Till then, he simply have to work with this highly modified Invisibility Cloak.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Lucius. You must help me." He said frantically as Lucius Malfoy came out of the Floo.


    Everyone seemed to think that he was a weak and indecisive minister who couldn''t wipe his own ?ss and he had no problem with that as long as he stayed in power.


    Till this day, even Lucius thinks that he is the one who truly controls the minister of magic, him, from the shadows and he had no qualms about the blonde ponce thinking like that as long as he kept giving him donations for his ministry campaigns.


    "Calm down Cornelius." Lucius said irritably "What is the matter and why have you called me here so abruptly."


    "That''s because I needed your help and advice Lucius." He groveled. The things he did to remain in power "I''ve heard news. Terrible news that could sink all of us."


    Lucius'' irritated expression became somber in an instant. After all, for all the time that Cornilius went to him asking for help, he never used such serious terms.


    No, he used such terrible terms like ''sink all of us'' for instances which could truly sink them all.


    This Black''s case was just that bad though even if the truth came to light, he still had many cards to play. For once, he would simply give an Order of Merlin to the ex-convict while destroying Barty Crouch''s image as he puts all the blame on him.


    Still, it would be better if his hands remained clean from this case.


    And knowing Lucius as he did, he knew exactly what he needed to do in order to give the blonde the perfect incentive to move.


    "What happened?" Lucius asked and he told him everything he knew about this case.


    How Amelia Bones brought Peter Pettegrew into her custody. How Sirius Black never received a trial and was an innocent. And how his godson, Harry Potter was about to open a case for freeing Sirius Black with the support of Amelia Bones soon enough.


    But he kept the most important news for last which he delivered as subtly as he could.


    The news that once Sirius Black is released, he would become the Lord Black once again.


    The problem with that was that if Sirius had simply died in Azkaban then the whole Black vault, it''s seat in Wizengamot and all it''s wealth and properties would go to the male heir of it''s remaining members.


    Which meant Bellatrix and Narcissa as Andromeda was cut off from the family like.


    But with Bellatrix in Azkaban and the fact that she was infertile, it meant that all of Black Family''s properties and wealth would go to Narcissa''s son Draco Malfoy once he came of age.


    But if Sirius Black became free then it was unlikely that Draco would ever become Lord Black. In fact, the seat would then most likely go to Sirius'' own son, if he even sired one or to his own Godson, Harry James Potter.


    After Cornelius subtly dropped this news, he could see the mind in Lucius'' gear turning.


    For being a supposedly member of Slytherin House, Lucius was sometimes very easy to read.


    After a long silence, Lucius finally looked at him sadly "This would indeed be a terrible news for you Minister. In fact, such a news was leaked out then it could possibly end your entire carrier."


    "Yes Lucius. It''s terrible. I don''t know what to do. Please help me." He begged with years of practice and waited for a while before Lucius put his hands in his shoulder.


    "Don''t worry Minister. You''ve been such a good friend to me for such a long time. Do you really think I''ll let something like this happen to you?"


    "You''ll help me?" he asked with a hopeful expression.


    "Of course I will. But you''ll owe me for this."


    "Of course Lucius. Of course."


    "Good. I''ll talk to you after I settle this mess for you." He said and stood up abruptly and Cornelius followed his lead clumsily, not dropping his mask of a fat and jovial fool who was easily manipulated by anyone and everyone.


    "I''ll see you later." Lucius said and with one final handshake, he left the room via the Floo and Cornelius dropped down on the couch once again.


    That had gone better than he had expected.


    Lucius will most likely take care of this whole mess without even him having to bother about it.


    But still, he would be ready if Lucius somehow managed to fu?k this up.


    After all, he had not remained in power for so long with being careless.

 Chapter 65 - Dark side of the Magical World

    "Hello Dan." Harry said with a nod to Hermione''s father who opened the door. Dan''s eyebrows shot up in surprise upon seeing him which was to be expected as he had come to their house unannounced. "A belated Merry Christmas to you."


    "Ahh¡­ To you as well. Harry." Dan said but remained stooped in his place. Huh! His presence must have surprised the middle aged man more than he had thought.


    "May I come in Dan?" he asked politely.


    His words seemed to have woken Dan from whatever stupor he was in and the middle aged man spluttered a bit before saying "Come in. Come in. Of course." and moved aside to make way to him.


    "Dan. Who is it?" Emma''s voice came from inside another room, probably the kitchen as Harry noticed their home for the first time.


    The walls were painted light yellow and gave a calming effect while the ground was covered with a soft red carpet with blue stripes.


    The living room was lined with comfortable looking sofas along with a large shelf that was filled with family photos.


    All in all, the house gave a warm and familial feeling that was absent in the Dursleys house back in 4 Privit Drive.


    "It''s Harry Emma." Dan shouted.


    "Harry." A surprised voice came from the room upstairs. The sound of running footsteps was followed by the sight of Hermione who quickly climbed down the stairs before jumping at him and wrapping him up in an embrace.


    "Oh Harry. I missed you so much."


    Harry could see Dan''s jaw dropping at the blatant show of affection and the slight smile on Emma''s face who had come out of the kitchen to receive him.


    "It was good to see you too." He said as he tightened his arms around her. Getting hugged by Hermione never got old. He leaned into her ears and whispered "My personal hug machine."


    That got a sweet blush out of the girl but she continued to hug him for a moment longer before she let go.


    "Happy belated Christmas Hermione. I hope you liked my gift." He said with a warm smile and Hermione''s smile turned wider at that.


    "Yes Harry it was beautiful. I absolutely loved it. Thank you." And with that she jumped in for another hug.


    By now, Harry could see that Dan had regained his composer but had no idea what he should say to the boy who was so affectionately hugging his daughter in front of him. Emma on the other hand, had a mischievous glint in her eyes and seemed to be enjoying the situation.


    "Yes Harry. The gift was quite beautiful." Emma said from behind Hermione "Though Dan seemed to have flown into a rage when he saw your gift until he read the note sent by you along with the instruction manual."


    Dan looked a bit embarrassed at that while Hermione simply turned red.


    "I''m sorry I forgot to send you gift as well Emma." He said as he realized that he should he done that as well. After all, impressing the parents of the girl you liked was common sense.


    "Nonsense." Emma said with a smile "There''s no need for you to spend any money on us old people."


    Harry simply smiled back at her and didn''t said anything as Hermione broke her hug.


    "Did you liked my gift Harry. I''m sorry I couldn''t buy you a better one. But I had no idea what you would have liked as a gift. And I couldn''t buy you any books because¡­"


    He stopped her with a ''calm down gesture'' before she started with her tirade.


    The girl had the habit of speaking incoherently when she was flustered. A habit that he found rather cute most of the times.


    "I loved your gift Hermione. In fact, I''m just coming from one of the places suggested in that Book."


    "Really?" Hermione asked with a surprised and hopeful expression.


    "No." He replied in a deadpanned expression with and then smirked as he watched her expression changed into mock anger before she shook her head in exasperation.


    "Harry. You really should go out more often." She said before her expression turned serious "And I asked you to come to my home for Christmas. Why didn''t you?" she asked fiercely as she came to his face, demanding answers.


    By now, Harry doubted that she had even forgotten about her parents who were just standing behind her. But he hadn''t so he slowly backed away from her.


    Dan didn''t seemed like one of those Dads who went after his daughter''s boyfriend with a gun but there was no harm in being cautious.


    "You sent me a letter?" he asked.


    She nodded then asked with in frustration "You¡­ Don''t tell me you forgot to read it?"


    He rubbed his head in an embarrassed fashion because he really had forgotten to read any letters as he had his head deep down in research and hadn''t found the time to go back to his room in 4 Privet Drive where Bitty deposited his letters.


    "I might have forgotten it." He said slowly.


    "Harryyy¡­." She said with some mock anger but then simply shook her head in fond exasparation "Well. Leave it be then. But it was really boring, what with all those cousins of mine. Come, let''s go upstairs. There so much I want to talk with you about." She said and started pulling his upstairs, a sight that Emma found rather amusing if the slight quirk in her lips was any indication.


    He held Hermione''s hands and put a stop to her tirade with another hand on her lips "Quiet Hermione."


    This was a thing that had happened between them many times in the past. Times when Hermione would simply forget to care about what the other person is thinking about and simply continue to say whatever she ha in her mind.


    All those time, he would put a finger on her lips and told her to calm down and focus on the other person''s feeling and to check if the person was even paying attention to her before speaking anything else.


    These gestures happened a lot in the first few weeks but they had been happening less as of late as her social interactions became better..


    But she would sometimes still fly into her tirade so it was still up to him to put a stop to her.


    "I''m here to talk with you Hermione. But I''m also here to talk with Dan and Emma." He said and both her parents raised an eyebrow at that.


    "Oh¡­" Hermione managed to say before embarrassment took over and she simply hid her face with her hands.


    And looked really adorable while doing so.


    "Now. Is there anywhere we can talk Emma?" He asked her and she nodded her head before leading them to the living room.


    "Would you like something Harry?" Emma asked as Dan, he and Hermione sat on the sofas.


    "No thanks Emma. And¡­ it would be better if you stay here to listen as well. This is important." He spoke with a mildly serious expression to imprint in their mind that he was not here to joke around this time. "In fact, why don''t you take a seat and I''ll ask Bitty to bring us refreshments and drink." He said and pointed to the sofa in front of him before he called out "Betty."


    The house elf appeared with a pop in the middle of room.


    And the Grangers, to his eternal amusement, squeaked in fear at her sudden appearance. Even Dan let out an unmanly squeak before he regained his composure.


    "Please calm down everyone." He spoke in a calm and authoritative voice which had the intended purpose of calming them down.


    "This is Bitty my House elf. You don''t need to fear her." he said "Bitty. This is my friend Hermione. You already know her. And these are her parents, Dan and Emma Granger."


    Hermione had remained composed because she already knew about them but Harry could tell that Dan and Emma were still a bit spooked out because of Bitty''s sudden presence.


    "Ahh¡­ Hello." Emma said a bit awkwardly as she moved forward to inspect the unknown humanoid creature in front of her "I''m Emma. Emma Granger."


    And now Harry knew where Hermione got her reckless courage from. At least when she was not being a stickler for the rules and worshiping the authority figures.


    You would not think about it but the girl could could show a lot of courage when it was needed of her.


    "Emma Grangy. I being Bitty. House elf of Master Harry Potter Sir." Bitty said courteously before turning to face him "Does Master Harry Potter be wanting something."


    "Yes Bitty. Could you prepare some refreshments and some soft drinks for everyone here?" he asked politely and she gave a nod before vanishing into thin air.


    Leaving an awkward silence behind in her wake.


    "Harry. Who was that?" Emma asked curiously, breaking the silence.


    "Could she come in and out of our house like that whenever she wants?" Dan asked his own question before he could reply to Emma''s inquiry.


    And what a good and reasonable question it was.


    In fact, it was so logical and reasonable that most wizards and witches never ask that question throughout their entire lives.


    Could a house elf simply come to your house whenever it wants?


    "Yes." He said, answering Dan''s question without giving any other explanation before turning to Emma "And she was Bitty. My house elf, servant, personal secretory, friend and magic su?k?n? parasite." He said the last part only half seriously.


    Considering how she used a lot of his magic whenever he gave her a large task to perform.


    It gave perspective to the reason behind why young children where not allowed to bond with house elves.


    Though there must be some sort of barrier that stops the house elves from putting their masters in danger since he had never heard of anyone dying because of a house elf bond.


    But there was no point in telling Dan too much as that would only cause the middle aged man more panic.


    Frankly, he doubted that Dan would take it well if told the man that he could pop into Hermione''s room anytime just as easily as the house elf had done once he''d seen her room.


    No, the man would not take that well at all.


    But he was not here to talk about house elves but something much more important.


    With that thought, he reached for the spatial purse and pulled out a stack of news paper and put them on the table.


    It had taken him a few hours to find these papers and a bit more time to copy them all but after copying thousands upon thousands of books from the room of requirement, this task didn''t even phase him all that much.


    "What''s this Harry?" Hermione asked curiously as she eyed the newspapers dating well back to a few decades.


    "The last time I met you Dan, Emma, I had the feeling that Professor Minverva might not have told you the darker secrets about the magical society" Dan snorted at that but his interest became even more apparent because of that "This¡­ is a simple and short summary of the history of our world." He said as he pointed at the newspapers.


    "A history that you should have known about before sending your daughter to the magical world."


    In truth, the whole stack consisted of nothing but the duration before Voldemort''s war started and the duration after his war ended and a lot of his followers still got away.


    And then he went ahead and explained that bit of history among other things to the both of them.


    How their society was still divided into the high class society controlled by purebloods and everyone else.


    How the purebloods still ruled the whole system and most of the muggleborns either adapted to their new station after graduating or left the country in order to find some work in other magical society.


    "Do you know what the harshest punishment the Lord of an ancient and noble house would suffer if he killed you two?" he asked after an hour long explanation.


    Dan and Emma looked wary at that question and it looked like they were not very eager to know but he told them anyway.


    "Three months of prison at most."


    "What?" All the Grangers shouted at once before they went about how morally wrong and unfair it was but he cut them off as he continued "And that''s taking into account the presence of your daughter. If you were simple muggles with no connection to the magical world then they would have simply buried the case and your death would be chalked up as mysterious disappearances in the non magical newspapers."


    Now that simply made them look sick.


    "You may not believe me but that''s the truth. But you must also remember that a lot of the followers of Voldemort never went to prison for their crimes. And these were the same people who were seen killing countless muggles at one time or another."


    And now all the color seemed to have drained out of their faces.


    "I''m not telling you all these things in order to scare you Dan, Emma." He said sympathetically. "But it is imperative for you to know that the magical world is not as safe as it seems from the outside."


    "Especially for me. Someone who killed the dark lord."


    "In fact, if his followers ever found me in a dark alley, then they would not hesitate to butcher me." He explained "If you ever thought why I ever carried a handgun with me at all times even during my stay at Hogwarts, then that is your answer."


    Dan swallowed his saliva at that "I¡­ I think I, I think we both need a bit of time to think about all of


    this." Dan said and stood up with Emma before they both left the room with shaky steps.


    To know that they and their daughter were living in such a dangerous situation all this time must be shocking for them.


    "Oh Harry. Is this all true?" Hermione asked worriedly while biting her lips and he wondered how she could look so adorable while worrying.


    "I''m afraid you already know the answer to that question Mione." He said affectionately while pulling her in a one armed hug as she leaned into his ?h?st.


    It took a few minutes for Dan and Emma to return and see him holding her like that but they didn''t say anything to that but simply sat down with a somber.


    "Why did you tell us all these things Harry?" Dan asked as soon as he sat down and there was a bit of acquisition in his tone.


    Hmm¡­ perhaps he didn''t take everything that Harry said with face value after all.


    Smart of him.


    "That is a good question Dan." He said as he sat up straighter "And there is a very good reason why I told you all these things today."


    Then he went on to explain the reason behind why he had told them everything.

 Chapter 66 - Protecting friends

    Lucius looked at the Dark alley with some disgust but continued on his way to the dingy looking pub that he would have never stepped into if not for the current circumstances.


    And now that he was here, he realized how out of placed he looked in his silky robes and dashing blond hair. Perhaps he should have used Polyjuice and worn battered and dirty looking clothes but his pride would not allow such a thing.


    But now that he was here, he was having second thoughts about entering the place.


    The fact that Lord Malfoy had gone to such a dirty looking place and meeting a shady character just before the ?ssassination of Sirius Black.


    But regardless of current thoughts, he was now here and there was no going back.


    He pushed the wooden door open with his cane, not wanting to touch anything with his hand. He would probably have to take a few baths and dispose of these robes once he returned home from this meeting.


    The door creaked open and showed a dark room filled with chair and tables along with a few customers, most of whom were simply dodging in their table, no doubt still hungover from last night''s drinking binge.


    Lucius sneered at them but didn''t said anything before he searched around the room for the person he was about to meet.


    His eyes caught a hooded figure sitting at the right end table just like he had said in the letter and Lucius moved forward, cringing as he stepped over some kind of viscous liquid splashed on the floor.


    He would have to burn his shoes when he returns home.


    "Lord Malfoy." The figure greeted him with a handshake as the reached the table "I see you''ve made yourself inconspicuous."


    "And I see that you''ve forgotten your manners and how to respect to your betters." Malfoy replied with a sneer and the figure, whose face was still hidden under the hood, went silent.


    "My apologies Lord Malfoy." the hooded figure replied after a long moment "You spent as much time as me in Azkaban and you start to¡­ forget things. I''m sure you can understand."


    Lucius sneered at the reminder of his short imprisonment in that hellhole of a place after the last war before he had bribed his way out of it. But the man was right. That place¡­ had an effect on people so simple disrespect can be forgiven once or twice. He was a magnanimous lord after all.


    "Will you be able to do it?" Lucius asked after a long silence.


    "Yes. It shouldn''t be too hard. No one checks their food in that place before eating. Not that they would have any way of knowing if their food is poisoned or not either way."


    "Good." Lucius said with a nod before he reached down in his pockets and took out a vial of Widow''s Kiss.


    He have had to pull a few favors from some of his shady connections and pay a good amount of galleons for this.


    But it would all be worth it if Draco is able to become Lord Black when he reached his age.


    Yes, it would all be worth it.


    He then passed the vial to the man who looked at it''s content for a moment, as if a simpleton like him would even know what it was before he kept it inside his pocket with a nod.


    "It will be done my Lord. What about the¡­"


    Lucius understood his meaning and took out a bottomless purse and passed it on to the man who checked it''s contents for a long moment before eyeing him once again.


    "Half before the job is done and the other half after. As per our¡­ agreement."


    The man nodded and Lucius b?r?ly held a sneer at that "And in case you fail¡­"


    "This meeting never happened. I understand Lord Malfoy."


    "Good. Because I know where your family lives and I know a few good werewolves who''ve been¡­ inactive since the last war who would not mind a bit of good sport."


    "I''ve never met you Lord Malfoy." The man replied stoically once again and Lucius nodded his head.


    "If that''s all." The man said, asking for permission and Lucius nodded, eager to get out of his dirty and disgusting place.


    "That''s all." He said and left the alley in the dark.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Hello. I''m Bill Weasley. And this is Carlile and this is Mike." The red haired man said as he shook his hand enthusiastically and Harry gave them a stoic nod in return.


    "I''m Harry Potter." He said, as if the cursebreakers didn''t knew his identity already. Just because they worked for the goblins didn''t mean that they spent all of their time underground. "This is Hermione and these are her parents Dan and Emma Granger."


    "Pleasure." Bill said with a smile and they exchanged some more pleasantries before Bill, who was leading this ground went ahead and started explaining the usefulness of wards to Dan and Emma.


    Which had been the main purpose behind his visit.


    He knew that no one attacked Original Harry''s friends in the movie until Voldemort was resurrected so there should no reason for him to worry. But his capture of Peter Pettegrew and various other death eater for his research should have had quite a large impact in the fabric of time and so he couldn''t just rely on the information from the movies any longer and hope that everything will be alright.


    The cost of the wards that Bill and his colleagues would erect around the Granger''s house would not exceed more than 1000 galleons and that much wealth was chump change to him. Especially when more and more galleons were coming back to him everyday in the form of royalties and fines as Ted Tonks sued the people who used his name for their own benefits.


    He also weighed Hermione''s life and her friendship very highly and if he could pay some galleons and keep her parents safe then he found no reason not to do it.


    That plan, however, came crashing down when Dan told him that he would pay for the wards himself and thus an argument between him Hermione''s father started in which he tried to convince the middle aged man that his friendship with Hermione was the very reason why they were in danger in the first place so it''s only right that he should pay for the wards but the old man remained steadfast and refused to take his money.


    In the end. Both Emma and Hermione stepped and took them apart and solved this with a compromise.


    Now both of them would pay half-half.


    And considering how the Grangers were not poor by any means, he didn''t have worry about them spending so much money either.


    But he put it in his mind to have a better argument when he put the wards around Penelope''s family home as they were not as rich as the Grangers and would not be able to afford the wards.


    It took Bill and his friends six hours to create all the wards and put all the wardstones around the house.


    He had selected one of the moderately expensive package from the goblins so it was only right that they work hard for it as well.


    The wards wouldn''t hold a second under an ?ssault from someone like Voldemort but they should easily hold for a few minutes under the ?ssault from normal death eaters.


    That would give Dan and Emma enough time to escape with the help of the Vanishing Cabinet that he would gift them as soon as he finished studying it''s design and understood all the charms and runes that went to work on it.


    With a hearty dinner and a last surprise goodbye kiss on the cheek from Hermione, he finally left the Granger''s resident and returned to one of his underground bases in order to rest.

 Chapter 67 - The story of a death eater

    Alecto woke up to the sound of the door opening along with the room filling with light and the silence in their little prison was broken was two men were forcefully shoved inside the room.


    She held up the bed sheet to cover her body and protect her from the cold as she stood up and tried to see who those two men were.


    They cursed at the masked boy as they were roughly shoved inside their own cells with no clothes on their bodies.


    Huh¡­ this was new.


    She remembered that she was knocked unconscious before she was brought here. As was her brother and Walden Macnair.


    She wondered why those two men were brought here while they were still conscious.


    Were those two easier to capture than her and her brother.


    Or was it simply that the masked boy had now become more arrogant.


    Not that he did not have the right to be arrogant.


    But still, if he was growing arrogant then maybe, there was a chance that he might make a mistake and they might still be able to escape this place.


    She remained silent as the two men continued to curse and tried to remember where she''d heard those voices.


    She had a good idea about who they were. They were purebloods. Both of them. And death eaters. Just like her and her brother.


    She just couldn''t connect the voices with their faces. It''s been a long time since she and her brother broke contact with other pureblood families as those families had shown nothing but scorn and disgust to the both of them for their ?n??stuous relationship.


    She felt a bit of hatred bubble inside her head at that thought but manage to control herself in time.


    She didn''t want to think about the injustices they had suffered at this point.


    Didn''t want to remember the scorns and disgusted glares they had received.


    As if those morons were any better than her and her brother with all that pureblood crap.


    Yes, she had never truly believed in all that pureblood crap and she knew that deep down, none of the other death eaters did either.


    But she still went ahead with all that crap and joined the death eaters because it was convenient for her and her brother. Though she had doubts that her brother was now starting to believe that they were truly better than other wizards and witches from humble births because of his blood purity.


    The fool.


    Even though she would never be known for her intellect, she had the uncanny ability to discern the lies from the truth. Her loving brother on the other hand, had always been a bit dense. Not that she loved him any less for it.


    She and her brother only became become death eaters in order to gain more respect from their fellow pureblood wizards and witches.


    She knew that she would not gain respect from them even if she become death eater but if she proved herself to Lord Voldemort and was selected in his inner circles, then at least they would not


    dare to say anything to her face.


    And she had chosen correctly as well since Lord Voldemort was winning the war. They were winning the war. Spectacularly at that.


    Dumbledore for all his power and title, had always been a sympathetic fool. He might have been a good teacher in his time but he never made for a good war general.


    The ministry on the other hand had been crippled by the relentless indirect ?ssaults from them with the help of the Imperius curse.


    They had finally gained the respect that she thought they deserved.


    And then one day, Snape came to the meeting. Grovelling about a prophesy some crazy bint made.


    She herself did not gave the prophesy another thought but Lord Voldemort did.


    So after they found Peter Pettegrew and turned him into a death eater, he finally went after their Prophesied children.


    And never returned.


    Destroyed by one the Prophesied child he sought to kill.


    Most of the death eaters were captured soon enough after that but because a lot of those still held a lot of connections and lot of sympathizers in the corrupt ministry, so all but the most fervent servants of the dark lord were able to plead innocence and escape Azkaban.


    If it had been to her brother, then she had no doubt in her mind that he would have done something truly stupid like declaring his allegiance in the court but she had reined him in and they had been able to escape justice by using the ''Imperius curse'' card that everyone else seemed to be using and by bribing a few important people with the money that they had collected over the war.


    And they had escaped being Imprisoned in Azkaban just like many other death eaters.


    But it seemed like justice has finally caught up to them.


    The two men continued to curse long after the boy in the death eater attire left.


    And wasn''t that an irony in itself. To be tortured by someone wearing death eater attire.


    After that, she continued to focus on the two voices before she gradually remembered who they were.


    Travers and Mulciber.


    Low level death eaters. Nothing powerful or special. Though in essence, she and her brother were not very powerful either so she had no right to judge them.


    But she and her brother at least knew a fair bit of dark curses and knew how to hold their own against the weaker aurors. She doubted that the other two low level death eaters would be able to do so. Though that could simply be her scorn for the Purebloods speaking.


    So Travers and Mulciber.


    Such a pity.


    Why couldn''t it be someone more interesting.


    Bellatrix Lestrange had been interesting.


    But Bellatrix had also been mad and a devout follower of the dark lord so she had been very wary of the woman. Not that she ever let it show in her face. It would be foolishness to show weakness to others in the death eater circles.


    Regardless, there was no one interesting in the cells aside from her brother at the moment.


    She looked at his n?k?d sleeping form and felt her lips tug upward.


    Last night had been¡­ tiring.


    She had gone along with the wishes of the masked boy and did as she was told without any resistance.


    When he told her to jump, she did.


    When he told her to lift weight, she did.


    It grated on her pride to do as he told her to do but she was a prisoner. A test subject.


    She had little choice and putting up resistance would only get her those terrible shocks from the collar that she still wore on her neck.


    So she had gone along with his whims and as a reward, he had allowed her to sleep with her brother last night.


    ''Small mercies.'' she thought bitterly.


    It won''t be long before he returns for a test subject.


    She couldn''t tell the time in this dark prison cell. Whether it was night or day outside.


    Or how many days it''d been since they were brought here.


    But she could guess that it would soon be time for new experiments and she didn''t knew how long it''ll be before she get the chance to spend more time with her brother.


    He was certainly dense enough to still put up resistance every now and then.


    So she might as well make the most out of their time together.


    Hopefully her brother would last longer this time then he did last night.


    With that thought she leaned in wake him up with her body.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Tonks ran to her Boss'' room.


    This was bad news.


    This was very bad news.


    She almost tripped a few times on her way out of the ministry cells because of her inherent clumsiness brought by her gift of Metamorphmegus but continued her run regardless.


    And when she finally reached her Boss'' room, she opened in without any warning and met with the sight of Amelia and Rufus Scrimgeour both suddenly pointing their wand at her at nose point.


    She gulped in the resulting silencing that followed after her arrival as Amelia gave her an unimpressed look while Rufus simply glared at her like he always did.


    "May I ask what it meaning behind your abrupt arrival in my office Auror Tonks?" Madam Bones asked in a cold tone.


    She gulped once again.


    She could tell that Madam bones was angry by this blatant show of disrespect and felt fear for the punishment that she was going to receive for this transgression before she remembered why she was here and all her fear ebbed away at once as she replied.


    "Madam Bones. Peter Pettegrew. He has escaped."

 Chapter 68 - News in Daily Prophet

    Hermione pulled with all her will and intent behind her magic and was rewarded as the stack of cards came to her one by one.


    It was just one of the five exercises that Harry had asked her to perform during the stay in her home over the winter holiday.


    He had promised her that she would not be caught by the ministry for her use of underage magic and be then be expelled from Hogwarts for her trouble.


    And against her better judgement, she had followed his orders blindly and was rewarded with a holiday during which she was able to use magic in front of her parents.


    She still felt scared from time to time that the Ministry would somehow find out that she had been using magic and the aurors could come and capture her and send her to the prison for breaking the law so blatantly.


    But she trusted Harry. And he had told her that such a thing would never happen.


    And even if by some chance it did, he would break into Azkaban and free her.


    And she had believed him once again.


    She sometimes felt rather stupid for falling for all of his words without ever thinking about it. For trusting him so blindly but he was her friend.


    And he had never led her astray either.


    Maybe she would still be bullied by her class and housemates for being a know-it-all. Or maybe she would have managed to make some friends in her house and would be learning magic like how it was taught in the school.


    The mediocre way.


    Huh¡­ even her thinking was changing and becoming similar to that of Harry''s. At least she had not called any of the student in her class a sheep. Yet.


    Still, she couldn''t lie and say that she wasn''t enjoying learning magic in the new way that Harry taught her.


    And even though she would never admit it to Harry, she felt a certain thrill in knowing that she broke some kind of rule and got away with it.


    No, she would never admit such a thing to him.


    Though she had a feeling that he already knew about that part of her as well.


    He always seemed to know her so well.


    She sighed as she realized that she had stopped her exercise while thinking about him. She had been doing that a lot lately. A bit too much for her comfort in fact. Not that she didn''t like thinking about him. But¡­


    She shook her head and looked outside the windows.


    The surrounding neighborhood looked just as peaceful as ever as their neighbors went about doing their daily activities without any care of the world. Not knowing about the hidden society in which people could use magic and so much more.


    Not knowing that the leaders of that hidden society had been waging war among themselves just a decade ago and that the death of these people would be counted as mere collateral damage to them.


    She shivered at the thought as she looked at the garden where the employees from Gringotts had buried the wardstones.


    She knew that there were wards around her home now and that knowledge made her feel safe.


    And even though the wards were invisible to the n?k?d eyes. she was still able to feel them thrum with power every now and then.


    Harry had told her that as she learns more about magic, she''ll get more in-tuned to it and would start to feel it sooner or later.


    The fact that she could feel the wards around her house was a sign that she was becoming better at using magic. If only just a little bit at a time.


    Nothing like Harry who could simply look at an object for a single moment and name all the charms used in it.


    For all of his frustrating tendencies, he could be surprisingly humble when it came to magic. It just showed how much he respected magic, which made her respect for him grow even more.


    She felt the thrum of the wards around her house and knew that she was safe.


    It was kind of him, to think about her and her parents and go to such length for them. She knew that only a few people would ever see such a kind side of him because of all the mental shields he''d built around him.


    She cursed his abusive uncle and aunt in her mind once again for what they did to him.


    No child should ever be treated this way. No¡­


    A tapping sound from outside the window broke her out of her thoughts and she looked up to find a brown tawny owl looking at her impatiently with a copy of daily prophet in it''s talons.


    She quickly opened the window and let the owl in, depositing the newspaper (which had lost all of her respect for their baseless slander of her friend at the start of the year. He might have been a Parselmouth but they had no right calling him a Future-Dark-Lord just because of that) in the bed and giving owl treats and a bowl of water to the owl who happily nibbed away at the treats before flying away.


    Harry never bothered to read Prophet, claiming it to be just another way to control the sheep of the wizarding world and she agreed with him.


    But another part of her, the intellectual part told her that even though the newspaper showed rumors and gossip most of the time, there was still a little bit of truth in it every now and then. So she ignored his grumblings and bought herself a subscription of the Daily Prophet anyway.


    Biggest supporter of You-know-who takes his last breath!!!


    Betrayers of the Potters and murderer of 12 muggles, Sirius Black, who was also said to be the right hand man of You-know-who finally succumbs to his injuries suffered from in the last war during his time in Azkaban.


    She read the whole article within the next few moments before reading article all over again in order to make sure that she had not missed anything.


    This was huge.


    Who was this Sirius Black.


    Did Harry knew that this man had betrayed his parents?


    Did he even knew that this man has finally died? Most likely not.


    Still, she should tell him as soon as possible. Maybe she would be able to comfort him through whatever he would feel when he heard the news.


    She wondered how he would feel once he hears this news. That the person who betrayed his parents had finally been served his due.


    But this man was the reason behind the death of Harry''s parents. He was the reason why Harry suffered so much in his life.


    Yes, see needed to give him this good news as soon as possible.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Do you know who was the last person who was this talented in transfiguration at such a young age?" Daphne''s father asked after a long silence and she thought upon this question and came up with the most likely answer that she could find.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore?" she guessed "He was said to be a genius in Transfiguration and¡­"


    "No." He cut her off with his stoic reply "Dumbledore was a genius, true. But even he was not capable of transfiguring an inanimate object to an animate object at the age of eleven."


    "So who was the last person as capable as such a thing?" she asked after mustering up some courage. He didn''t like it when she questioned him most of the time but she had a feeling that he wanted her to know more about this event for some reason.


    He still sent her a glare for questioning him before he dropped it and simply stared at her unnervingly for a long moment before saying "No one."


    "No one?" she gasped in surprise. Which was rather unlady like behavior but the news was just that surprising to her.


    "Yes. No one in living history has been so good at any of subjects being taught in Hogwarts." He said "There are no records of such a genius ever being born in any of the Pureblood families either."


    His words rang into her mind with the intensity of a large bell as she realized how truly talented Harry actually was.


    And when she stopped to think about it with a clear whit, that fact did made a little of sense to her.


    After all, inanimate to animate transfiguration was not taught until the end of fifth year. And you have to be a once in a millennia genius to able to do it in his first year.


    But still. Was it true no one ever managed to achieve such a feat in the past?


    Her thoughts must have shown in his face cause her father sneered at her before he stood up and went to the corner where he had kept his pensive.


    She couldn''t even remember how many times he had seen the memory by now but she knew that something in that memory truly fascinated him.


    Something that even she had not managed to see.


    Something that she missed.


    "I know what you''re thinking." He said as he gazed at the pensive. "I know because that''s what I thought at first as well. That the Potter boy used a 5th years spell to turn the matchstick into a bu??erfly but that''s where I was wrong."


    "Wrong?" she asked, confused. He usually never admitted that he was wrong about anything so this must be something huge.


    "Yes. Because the boy never used any spell." He said and she froze.


    What?


    She closed her eyes and recalled that bit of memory with the help of occlumency and realized with growing fascination that yes, Harry never chanted any incantations before turning the matchstick in to a bu??erfly.


    He never used any spell.


    He just¡­ did it.


    As the implications behind that thought struck her, she gazed at her father, who simply nodded at her, confirming that she had reached the right conclusion.


    But¡­ how?


    The thought was baffling.


    The thought was frightening.


    There were rumors that he was exceptionally good at charms.


    Did that meant that he was hiding his talent at Transfiguration.


    Or was he equally good at charms as well.


    Her brain was already hurting from all the implications that this memory brought with it.


    The most important of it being that Harry Potter had the potential to be a far greater wizard than even Dumbledore.


    And that he wanted to hide his powers for obvious reasons.


    She sighed in her mind as she realized what her father wanted from her.


    In fact. It was pretty clear not that she thought about it.


    He wanted her to build a relationship with him.


    Being a friend would be good but she knew that her father would pressure her in being more than a friend with him and it was not like she had much of choice in this matter either.


    If she failed to do what he wanted her to, then he would set up her marriage with some other pureblood snob who might ten or twenty years older than her and then he would give her sister the same option. To either seduce Harry Potter or marry some old dude.


    She had thought about running away many times but she was just a minor and had no idea how she would support herself once she runs away from her home. And if she runs away then she would have to take her little sister with her as well otherwise she would not be able to live with herself.


    They talked some more after that. And by talking she meant that her father talked and she just nodded her head before she was allowed to go back to her room.


    That night, she made plans to get in the good graces of on Harry Potter.


    Her father might be a bastard but he was right. If she married Harry Potter then she would be able to live her life in luxury so she should at least give this courting business a try.


    Author''s Note:- For all the Sirius fans who were hoping to see the Godfather and Godson duo get up to some pranks, I''m truly sorry to disappoint.


    I know you were hoping to see some fluffy moments between the two of them like in the movies and other fanfictions but I don''t think I would have been able to create such a dynamic between the two of them because of this Harry''s anti social tendencies.


    So in essence, Sirius'' presence in Harry''s life would have made things even more complicated which is something that I''m trying to avoid.


    So yes, Sirius had to die.


    Sorry about that and I hope that you''ll accept this decision of mine and not hate the story because of this one chapter.


    Hope you a have a good day.


    And if you like my work and have a few changes floating around then please support me at:- Pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 69 - True Magic

    Sirius death had been¡­ inconvenient.


    And telling Hermione the truth behind his imprisonment and the reason behind his death was even more inconvenient.


    But it had to be done, plus it helped in shaking her trust in the authority figures of the wizarding world so it was totally worth it.


    Except now he had to console a crying Hermione.


    Surprisingly, the task was not as hard as he had initially thought since all he had to do was hold the girl and let her cry it out.


    Hmm¡­ maybe he was not so bad in this ''dealing with girls'' thing after all.


    He looked outside the window at the passing scenery.


    The ride from the train station to Hogwarts always calmed him down.


    And as he calmed down a bit, he started to remember how different the things were in this life than in the movies.


    In the movies, Sirius died at the end of Harry''s 5th year which left Harry devastated.


    He, on the other hand, didn''t really feel anything at Sirius'' death.


    A stranger who might have helped him in the future by keeping Dumbledore off his back, but a stranger nonetheless.


    So Sirius'' death didn''t meant much to him.


    Still, someone had foiled his plans and he had a pretty good idea about who that someone was.


    Sirius was most likely murdered by either Fudge or Lucius. Or maybe both of them as they were the people who would benefited the most from his death.


    And he would take revenge for that.


    He didn''t care for Sirius but that man was still his godfather so his pride won''t be sated until he killed those two men.


    And he would do that.


    When he was strong.


    Which meant not anytime soon.


    After all, he didn''t want anyone to disturb the two of them during such an emotional moment.


    Well, not so much emotional for him as it was for Hermione but still.


    He liked hugging the girl and he would rather not be disturbed while he was doing that.


    Truthfully, he had not even planned on riding the Hogwarts Express and had simply planned to apparate to the school. Such a decision would save his time and would allow him to remain inconspicuous.


    But Hermione had asked him to meet him in the train station and he did not want to leave the girl all alone either in case she was bullied by her peers once again so he had decided to join her instead.


    Of course, he had to ship his test subjects off to The Chamber of Secrets inside a trunk with of help of Bitty before he came to the express.


    He had been seeing some rather spectacular results lately and didn''t wanted anything to come between him and his research.


    Of course, most of the research he''d been doing so far had been pretty simple.


    Tweaking specific muscle groups and seeing their effect on day to day activities.


    Nothing drastic or permanent so far.


    But he knew that sooner or later he would have to go deeper into his research at which point, it was imperative that he knew what he was changing and what kind of results he wanted.


    Magic was a tool. An amazing tool to be fair, but a tool nonetheless. And a tool can only show it''s true potential in the hands of a master.


    He was not a master but then again, there was no other practitioner of Human Transfiguration in the Magical Britain as far as he knew.


    In essence, it was all an uncharted territory for him.


    Which meant that sooner or later, he would have to read on the subject of human anatomy so that he could understand what he was actually doing at a deeper level.


    That was one of the reasons why he had brought a microscope with him this time. He planned to learn as much about human transfiguration this term as he could.


    A gentle nudge on his ?h?st reminded him of Hermione and he looked down and a gentle smile blossomed at his lips at the form of a sleeping Hermione.


    Seriously. This girl needed to stop studying so late at night. It was never wise to give away your health for knowledge.


    Hermione was perhaps the most hard working person he''d ever seen.


    People see her raising her hands in class and judge her to be a know-it-all. They never see the hours upon hours that she spends in the Library studying the course material to make sure that she stayed the top in her class.


    If only she would give up on the course related material like the History of magic and other such useless subjects and start studying other more important things like Ancient Runes and Human Transfiguration or Alchemy then that would help her a lot more in the long run.


    He knew full well that the only reason he was able to study so much and still retain all that he read in his mind was because of Rowena Rawenclaw''s Diadem, which was one of the reasons why he never showed it to her.


    Because deep down, he had a feeling that if he ever gave it to her, then she would spend even more time studying and never give the diadem back to him.


    It was just that amazing.


    That didn''t mean that he would not share the diadem with her in the future but for now, he wanted it to remain with him so that he could stay ahead of her in every thing.


    After all, if a teacher starts to fall behind his student then is he still a teacher?


    Still, there was something about Hermione that confused him very much.


    For all her supposed hard work, Hermione always stayed behind him in the magic of will and intent.


    He didn''t understood why it was.


    She definitely worked harder than him when he first started learning magic on his own and she had him for a teacher as well while he had no one.


    But still, he had shown more progress in one month than she did in three.


    Was this because she was less magically powerful then him.


    But that wouldn''t make sense because he was rather weak when he first started learning how to control his magic through will and intent.


    But if not magic then why did it her so long to grasp this concept.


    Was this because of age?


    Was it possible that the younger you started learning this kind of magic, the easier it''ll be for you to grasp it.


    If that was the case, then that would explain why it took so long for Penelope to make such little progress.


    Maybe people who have been too accustomed to using magic via a wand start to rely on it too much and lose their touch with the true magic.


    To learn more about this subject, he would have to teach more people about this kind of magic and he was not ready to share this treasure with anyone else in case he lose his advantage.


    So knowing why Hermione was so slow in making progress will have to wait.


    And just because Hermione was not as good at wandless magic as him didn''t meant that she was someone to be underestimated.


    Because he knew very well that the day Hermione stops believing in the system of Hogwarts and starts learning on her own, she''ll easily be able to contend with him on any subject that she chooses to focus on.


    She was just that good.


    ''My own little prodigy.'' He thought with a smirk and place a gentle kiss on her forehead, trying to ignore how cute she looked while sleeping upon his ?h?st.


    Then he opened the bottomless purse and took out a medical book that he''d recently been studying to better understand the muscles on human body.


    He had a feeling that he would have to go to Medical College to copy their books so that he could increase his knowledge on human body.


    But that was a thing for the future when he gained better understanding of the subject.


    For now, he would simply contend with a young Hermione and a simple Anatomy book.


    Author''s Note :-It always surprises me how little witches and wizards knew about human body but are able to use complex medical spells regardless of their ignorance.


    It must mean that magic must help a lot when performing such spells.


    Still, I believe that if you want to delve deeper into human transfiguration, then you need to have better understanding of human body as you can''t just rely on magic to solve every problem for you.


    What are your thoughts on this matter?


    Please tell me below in the comments section.


    Hope you like the chapter :)


    And if you like my work and have a little bit of cash lying around then please support my work at:- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 70 - Lure for the rats

    Hermione moved the shroud around her just like how Harry told her to do.


    Creating a ''Shroud of Concealment'', as Harry like to call it, had been the next exercise given to her by Harry.


    She was rather excited when she finally got to learn something with the Will & Intent magic that was not related to telekinesis. Not that there was anything wrong with telekinesis. In fact, it was very helpful for doing daily chores and in duels but she had doing learning the same thing for the last few months and now she wanted to learn something else.


    So Harry had asked her to create a Shroud of Concealment of her own.


    And after a lot of hard work. she had finally managed to create something that pushed people''s interest away from her. And Selena (who could practically see magic) had confirmed that yes, her shroud was indeed similar to Harry''s if only a lot more primitive and weak.


    Hermione had a feeling that Selena didn''t like her for some reason and could only guess that the snake was jealous of the attention Harry gave her.


    But regardless of how Selena treated her, she had always held the Horned snake in high regard since she was Harry''s first friend and because Selena knew more about Harry then either she or Penelope did.


    In the last few days however, she had come to understand that creating a shroud was one thing and controlling it was another.


    Unlike Harry who was able to maintain the shield passively, she had to use actively use all of her concentration just to maintain it.


    So it was understandable that moving it around herself would be even harder.


    But she had never shied away from hard work. In fact she loved these kind of challenges and thrived upon them.


    Her concentration was broken once again as all the students suddenly stood up and started leaving the class.


    She sighed and started putting her books inside her bag as she wondered how much she had changed over the past few months.


    At the beginning of the year, she would never think about not focusing on the teacher in a class, even if the teacher was someone like Binns.


    But then Harry had come into her life and changed her would perspective.


    She didn''t really agree with all his methods and way of doing things and he didn''t agree with her on many things either (first and foremost being her respect for the authority) but they had built a very good friendship regardless of their differences and that was something that she will always be grateful for.


    In fact, they were such good friends now that she couldn''t even think where she''ll be without him.


    She shook her head to bring her out of her thoughts because she knew that she would able to fondly of their friendship all day long if she let herself. But there were classes to attend so she stood up in order to leave before another person came in front of her and blocked her path.


    "Hi. I''m Daphne. Daphne Greengrass." The girl said enthusiastically as she brought her hand forward in an offer of friendship.


    And Hermione wondered what Harry would do in this situation.


    He would probably say something along the lines of ''And I don''t care'' before leaving the poor girl behind. He can be cruel like that to people he didn''t knew personally.


    It was one of the things that she hated about him at first. But that was before she knew that he had an abused childhood. Now she simply accepted him for who he was and hoped that she''ll able to change him for the better at some point in the future.


    She shook her head inwardly and gave a small smile to the blonde girl and shook her hand before introducing herself "And I''m Hermione. Hermione Granger."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Penelope knocked the door three times in quick succession and waited a moment before knocking four times just as quickly.


    It was their would secret code, which seemed rather childish in Penelope''s mind. Especially because Selena could usually sense the magic of a person from the other side of the room and tell their identity.


    Regardless, no one ever accused Harry of being too m?tur? and if she had to go through some stupid customs to meet her Runes teacher (yes, their roles have been reversed by now) then she would gladly play along with his wishes.


    The door opened and she stepped inside only to stop in her tracks at the sight in front of her.


    Over the last few months, she had come understand that Harry was a rather¡­ eccentric person and had learned to expect the most unusual things from him and his projects.


    That was the only reason why she did not gaped at what he doing in the room right now.


    The whole room had been emptied by Harry (which was not an unusual thing) and in it''s place were ten long transparent tunnels.


    And all those tunnels were occupied with a rat each as they moved forward in order to eat the food kept in the plate.


    Penelope wondered if this was some kind of race that he was hosting for his own entertainment.


    With Harry, you could never really tell where the entertainment ended and where the projects started.


    Just like how she had thought that he bought a Nimbus 2000 for himself because he enjoyed flying but that changed when the very next day, he dismantled the broom in order to study it so that add the enchantments to the magical robe he was working on.


    So instead of putting too much thought in it, she simply sat beside Harry, who was noting down the results of the rat race in a notepad and asked.


    "Harry. What are you doing?"


    He remained silent for a while and kept writing in the notepad before he flicked his hand and all ten rats flew back to their own respective cages.


    "I''m trying to find the best kind of lure for these rats." He replied with a frown as if she had just asked a stupid question.


    She held the urge to bonk him in his head and gave a sweet smile in return "And why are you trying to find the best lure for rats. You''re not trying to create an army of them in Hogwarts."


    He was not really considering her idea of creating a rat army was he.


    Though at this point, she wouldn''t be surprised if he did.


    "You know, that is not a bad idea." Then he shook his head "But no. I''m not trying to create a rat army here. This is just for research."


    "Research?" she asked.


    "Yes. I''m trying to learn human transfiguration." His words sent a chill down her spine and she grimaced at that thought but he continued as if he didn''t see the change in her expression "But since human transfiguration is so dangerous, I will first try it on rats. But the transfiguration I''m going for is rather¡­ dangerous so quite a few rats will die during research. And sending out Bitty every day in order to catch rats seems like such a waste of her time and talent. So instead I''m trying to create a lure that would attract rats from over a large distance so that I could capture a whole bunch of them in one go."


    "Isn''t that a great idea?" he asked happily while looking at her with a childish.


    She on the other hand was feeling too nauseated to reply "I''m think I''m about to be sick." She replied and promptly emptied her food right then and there.


    Author''s Note:- Yes. Doctors, Scientists and Researchers usually find animals like rats, frogs, rabbits and monkeys to do their tests so that''s what Harry will start doing from now on as well.


    He might have jumped to human experiments at the start of his research but now that he''s delving into dangerous waters, the chance that his test subjects will die had become higher.


    And he knows that the human test subjects are rare so he''ll be doing the tests on Rats from now on.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a little cash to spare then please support me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 71 - Lie Exposed

    "Is she alright?" Daphne asked as soon as she entered the room and noticed how pale Penelope looked.


    Then she looked at the room which at this point, didn''t really resemble a classroom anymore, though she did notice the clever use of an extension charm being used to make the room longer than it should have been.


    "I don''t think so." Hermione replied and ran up to the older girl, leaving Daphne behind to study the room.


    And frankly, she had no idea what she was even looking at.


    Transparent pipes? Rats? Cages?


    What was going on here?


    Wasn''t this supposed to be some kind of secret place where Hermione and Harry came in order to study some kind of obscure magic?


    The only thing she could relate to after studying the room was the muggle horse races that she heard about from Tracy who seemed to have gone to one of those things.


    Was this some form of entertainment for them?


    Some kind of way to blow off steam after studying for a long time.


    But still, rat racing.


    She couldn''t understand it.


    And suddenly there was a person in front of her and she almost squeaked in fear at his sudden appearance.


    "Harry. Don''t scare her like that." Hermione''s chiding voice came from the other end of the room where she was talking with the older girl whose complexion seemed to have returned by now.


    "Sorry." Harry replied in a voice that clearly indicated how he didn''t really felt very sorry at all.


    Then he looked at her and she suddenly froze at the curious expression in his face.


    The same expression that a child held when looking at a particularly interesting toy.


    "And who are you?" He said with an easy smile though she could still feel the caution he held toward her with the slight tension in his posture.


    "I''m Daphne. Daphne Greengrass." She said, trying the hide the nervousness she felt under his scrutiny with a smile and raised her hand for a handshake, or a hand kiss or whatever he wanted to do that would stop him from look at her like that.


    He looked away from her for a moment with a faraway look on his face, as if trying to remember something and she was about to thank the gods for getting her away from his scrutiny when he started staring at her once again, this time his eyes on the scarf on her neck, her hand forgotten.


    "You''re a SSsssslytherin are you?" he asked in an amused manner and the fear in her heart rose another level at the hissing sound that he made and the snake that was now wrapped around his shoulders.


    Was the snake always there?


    If so, then how come she didn''t notice it until now.


    "Yes." She mumbled and the fear in her voice must be quite apparent to him as his smirk turned even more predatory.


    "Tell me Daphne." He said and then came close to her in order to whisper in her ears "Wasss your father a Death eater?"


    She gulped in fear at his question and thanked the gods that her father had remained neutral in the last war.


    She didn''t knew why she feeling so afraid of him. She was not even that afraid of her own father but for some reason, she couldn''t help but shiver in fear in his presence.


    "N¡­ no." She replied and then suddenly, the fear vanished into thin air, as if it was never there in the first place and he gave her a soft and fake smile before leaning away from her.


    Now he was looking at her once again but the fear was not present anymore.


    Why?


    Why was she so afraid of him just a moment ago?


    What did he do to her?


    But her Occlumency shield¡­ they were in place, thankfully.


    But then how?


    He smirked at her confused expression and she had a feeling that he was able to read her despite her Occlumency shields.


    She quickly removed her confused expression from off her face and tried to regain the cold mask that she was known for, though it was bit hard for her to try to salvage her dignity at this point.


    "Good." He replied after a long silence "They are a bunch of idiots anyway." He said with a scoff "Trying to preach pureblood values while following a halfblood maniac."


    "What are you talking about?" she asked before she could control herself and then berated herself for her lack of control. Her mouth had the habit of running away on it''s own whenever she feel unsettled.


    And saw was feeling very unsettled right now.


    "You didn''t know." He said with a raised eyebrow "I guess it is understandable that you don''t."


    "What do you mean?" she asked once again. Now that she had shot herself in the foot once, she might as well do it twice in order to know what he was talking about.


    He had said that the purebloods, the death eaters, were following a halfblood but that can''t be the truth, right?


    The purebloods followed Voldemort and Voldemort was a¡­


    He was a pureblood wasn''t he?


    Everyone called him Lord Voldemort so he must be a lord of some ancient house right?


    He had the gift of Parseltongue and everyone said that he was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin and what not so he must be a pureblood right?


    Then she looked at Harry and realized how stupid that sounded.


    Harry Potter was a Parselmouth as well and he would be the lord of an ancient and noble house when he comes of age but that didn''t mean that he was a pureblood.


    Everyone knew that his mother was a muggleborn wizard so that makes him a halfblood.


    So did that mean that Lord Voldemort was a¡­


    She lost her pattern of thoughts as Harry Potter smiled at her and answered "That''s not something that you need to worry about right now."


    "Tell me, why are you here Daphne?"


    The question was asked in a nonchalant manner but she could hear the sharpness in it and knew that whatever she said next could either make or break her future relationship with Harry.


    So she took a deep breath, donned on a confident expression and said "Because I want to be your friend."


    The smile was gone from his face before she could blink.


    And the very next moment, he was inside her mind.


    She didn''t even know when he Occlumency shields fell or if they fell at all but she knew that he was inside her mind now.


    Sorting through her memories rapidly with the ease of an experienced Legilimens and nothing she tried could put a halt to his progress at al.


    The memories passed through her mind as he went though them one by one.


    The memory of her trying to search for him and failing time and time again.


    The memory of going after Hermione and talking her into letting her join their group.


    She tried to look away from him but her head was stuck in it''s place and her whole body was frozen shut. She could only stay in her place and hope that this horrible experience who end quickly.


    She noticed that he was not even using his wand to get inside her mind. Gods, was she really that weak.


    She felt a tear falling down her cheek as he went through memory after memory before at last, he found the one in which her father told her to get close to Harry Potter.


    The reason why she was truly here. And realized at that moment that he had caught her lie.


    And then he was out of her mind before she could think. At his absence, she felt the whole world swimming around her and fell on her knees weakly.


    "Harry." She heard Hermione''s panicked voice from somewhere across the room but felt too sick and too weak to care. "Harry. What did you do?" the voice was coming closer now.


    Harry said something in return but she felt too woozy to understand what they were talking about anymore.


    She felt the world around the edge of eye go black as the floor came to meet her.


    And then the darkness claimed her.


    Author''s Note:- I didn''t like the fact that he forcefully used Legilimiency on the girl but he is ruthless in such matters and in the end, using mind arts was a wise decision on his part because he wouldn''t have found Daphne''s lies otherwise.


    Just my two cents.


    Hope you guys like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of cash to spare, then please support me at:- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 72 - Salazars last defense

    "Legilimens" he said before entering Penelope mind and slammed against her shields softly.


    It would not be good if he used all his powers in the attack as he would simply break through her shields at that point.


    Purebloods, by rule, always practice Occlumency in order to hide the secrets of their families from other people.


    Of the five death eaters he captured over this summer, four of them were quite proficient in this art which came as a surprise to him as he had earlier thought that not many people knew occlumency.


    Well, live and learn.


    But regardless of whatever he thought, the presence of four occlumens at hand gave him the chance to practice legilimency as he wished.


    So he entered their mind and broke their shields again and again and again, sharpening his legilimency probes at each practice session.


    Of course, whoever he chose to practice on suffered severe headache after those sessions but that was not his problem to begin with. A simple pepper up potion along with a dreamless sleep potion put them out of their misery for the next few hours after which they would wake up feeling like they have a bad hangover and nothing else.


    By the end of the winter holiday, he had become so good at the mind art that he was able to slip inside their minds most of the time by bypassing their occlumency shields without them even having any idea about it.


    That was how he was able to bypass Daphne''s shields so easily.


    He could have easily demolished her shields if he wanted to do so but doing so would leave her with severe headache and he didn''t want that problem in his hand so he simply entered her mind by bypassing her immature and weak shields.


    Doing so would also make her realize just how dangerous he truly was.


    He knew not to trust her the moment she entered the room and the memories he found in her mind seemed to support his point as well.


    He shook those thoughts from his mind and tried to find the weakness in Penelope''s mind. And yes, there were many gaps in her shields from where he could enter her mind. Plus there was the fact that her shields were not that strong in the first place.


    And if someone like him could find so many weaknesses in her defense then someone like Dumbledore would find reading her surface thoughts a piece of cake despite her shields.


    For now the their best defense would be to not meet Dumbledore''s or Snape''s eyes at all.


    Regardless, he continued to pelt her weak points with his probe in a gentle manner.


    Practicing in such a gentle manner would leave her with a mild headache by the end of the session but it was the only way he knew to increase the quality of their shields in a short amount of time.


    After he had given her shields a good battering, he finally left her mind and gave her a faint nod.


    Then he looked at Hermione who gazed back at him with a determined expression and dove into her mind as well.


    After a few minutes, he came out of her mind with a genuinely satisfied smile. It seemed like Hermione had worked hard on her shields during the holiday.


    "Penelope. You still need to work a bit more on your shields." He said with an apologetic expression. She had become a good friend over the past few months and he didn''t want to upset her by being seen as doing something partial.


    "I understand." She said with a kind expression "And I don''t mind if you can''t share your secrets with us right now. Just because you can''t tell me your secrets until I''m strong enough to protect myself won''t change our friendship." She finished her words with a hug which he returned.


    She gave him an elderly sister feeling which was something that he liked quite a bit.


    "Very well then. We''ll see you later." He said and after bidding her goodbye, he took Hermione''s hand and led her through many secret passageways.


    The reason why he did so was to make sure that no one would follow them to where he was about to go right now.


    "Where are we going Harry?" Hermione asked as he finally came out from a secret passageway behind a large tapestry.


    "Do you remember the friend who gave me the fresh Basilisk skin?" he asked at at her nod he continued "We''re going to meet that friend of mine right now."


    The smirk in his lips must have definitely unsettled Hermione because she suddenly looked rather unsure about this whole endeavor.


    "Come on Mione. Don''t you trust me." He asked her, giving her hand a gentle nudge and her uncertain looked evaporated at once.


    "Of course I do Harry." She said with a smile and he gave her one last nod before they entered the abandoned girl''s bathroom on the first floor.


    "Harry, are you sure this is the correct place?" she asked as she looked at the bathroom. "I mean¡­"


    "I know." He said and remembered the ghost that he exorcised not long ago. He would usually bribe Moaning Myrtle to keep his secret with a wink and a flower most of the times. But he knew that she would always be a security risk.


    That was why he had removed her altogether before leaving for the winter break.


    None of the students will miss her.


    And the ghosts might notice her absence but he doubted that they would care either.


    He pitied her for that and wondered if he had not done her a favor by exorcising her from such a miserable existence where she had no one to care about her.


    Regardless, the bathroom had been in disuse for too long for it to be used properly anymore and no one came her even after he removed the ghost so this place was safe for now.


    Still, there was no point in being careless so he checked the Marauder''s map one last time before hissing at the sink.


    "Harry. What are you doing?" Hermione asked, looking at him weirdly.


    "Watch." He said and the very next moment, the sink moved aside to show a slide going underground.


    He knew that saying ''Stairs'' will bring stairs for him to use but he never bothered with it.


    "Ready for a Slide Hermione." He said with a dark smile and she flipped her head and look at him with fear. "You wouldn''t?" she pleaded and his smirk became even more pronounced before he held her by her waist and jumped down the slide despite her protests with a "woooohoooo." while she screamed in fear beside him.


    "I hate you." She said as they reached the bottom of the slide.


    "No you don''t." He said with a self satisfied smirk and let go of her waist so that she could stand up on her own.


    Not long after he bonded with Bitty, he told her to clean this whole area along with the slide during her free time and she had done a wonderful job of it.


    There was not even a speck of dirt in the whole area let alone the graveyard full of bones that this place once used to have.


    He had also added a cushioning charm under the entrance of the slide so that he would not get any scratches upon landing on the ground.


    Hermione stepped away from him with a huff and he had a feeling that she was about to berate him but then she looked around the area and got lost in herself.


    "Where are we?" she asked, looking at the dark underground area that was b?r?ly lit with some light coming from around the other tunnels.


    And indeed, she had a reason to be surprised as this was perhaps the lowest level in Hogwarts.


    "This place is known as the Chamber of Secrets." He explained as took her hands in order to comfort her.


    "Chamber of Secrets?" she asked.


    "Yup. Created by Salazar Slytherin as the last line of defense for Hogwarts students if a war ever broke out in the wizarding world and Hogwarts'' other defenses failed." He replied.


    And it was the truth as well.


    If you ignore the fact that Salazar had ordered Besalla to only protect the purebloods and not the muggleborns. He was against the idea of Muggleborns attending the school after all.


    But it could be said that his worries were not unfounded as during those days, events like burning of wizards and witches were common occurrence where anyone who was found to be doing any accidental magic was captured by the people and burned on the stake.


    Salazar didn''t wanted any muggleborns to attend the school because he believed that their presence will only endanger their society to the muggles and nothing more.


    And when his beliefs clashed with that of the other three founders, he simply left because he believed that this place will fall sooner or later because of their kindness and stupidity.


    A pity that his words are nowadays twisted and used by Dark Lords as a sign that they should attack the muggles and whatnot.


    "Really?" Hermione asked, looking skeptical of the claim and he shrugged.


    "That''s what I know at least."


    He knew that talking anymore about this topic might lead to an argument with Hermione and if he''d learned anything over the past few months then it was that arguing with her would just be a waste of time for both of them.


    "So¡­ if Hogwarts was breached then¡­ students were supposed to hide here?" she asked skeptically.


    "Yes." He replied "Or at least that''s why he made this place. But he never told many people about it''s existence and since this place was never truly used for it''s express purpose, people simply forgot about it''s existence and it faded into the legends."


    Hermione still looked a bit skeptical but at least she didn''t question him anymore.


    "And your friend meets you here?" she asked.


    "No. My friend lives here." He said with a smirk.


    She froze at that and shook her head "Yeah right. What is you friend, a goblin?" she asked sarcastically.


    "No. Not goblin." He said and opened the door leading to the main part of the chamber of secrets where Harry had fought the Basilisk and Hermione froze.


    You don''t get to see Salazar''s handiwork every day after all.


    "Harry¡­ Is that a¡­" she asked, her voice filled with fear.


    "Yes." He replied calmly and squeezed her hand once more "Hermione. Meet Besalla. Salazar''s last defense of Hogwarts."


    Author''s Note:- Be honest, how many of you guys thought that he would kill the Basilisk.


    Personally, I believe that without the corrupting influence of Voldemort, any Parselmouth would have had a fair chance of being the Basilisk''s friend since snakes are generally inclined to listen to Parselmouths and the Basilisk would be rather lonely after having no one to talk with for more than 50 years.


    Plus, I took the liberty to name our 1000 year old resident snake, Besalla.


    Of course, the only reason he showed Hermione the Basilisk was because of her strong Occlumency shields. Since Penelope''s shields were far weaker, he didn''t show her this secret.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of cash to spare, then please support me at:- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 73 - Dueling with Professor Flitwick

    Harry fell on the ground, exhausted and defeated without much effort on the International Dueling Champion''s part.


    He had stopped using his self created weapons and his cloak to support himself and only used his wand during his duels with Flitwick which was probably the main reason why he''d never won a single spar against his professor.


    If he used the used his hybrid magical weapons and his magic repelling Cloak, then he would most likely win the duels but then he would not learn anything from the Professor.


    Flitwick was just¡­ better than him. And far, far more experienced.


    Not to mention that he never used his wandless magic during any of their battles either.


    If he did then he would have probably won a few of the duels but that was his trump card and he was not willing to reveal it for something simple like a training duel.


    "That was wonderfully done Mr Potter. Wonderfully done. Few students in Hogwarts are capable of standing against me for as long as you did." Flitwick said jovially and words went a long way to soothe some of his pride. But of course, pride was not the important thing here, despite how much he valued it.


    Skill was.


    And he could feel himself getting better and better everyday.


    Every time he fought against Professor Flitwick, he could feel his spells getting faster and faster.


    By this point, he was proud to say he could almost match Flitwick spell for spell. Not that it saved him since most of his spells were simply batted aside easily of missed completely because of his bad aim. But he was learning. Slowly and Steadily.


    The first time he had fought Flitwick, all he could do was run around like a headless chicken, hoping to dodge all the spells thrown his way and failing miserably regardless. That is no way to win. You cannot hope to dodge all the spells and win a duel like that. Sooner or later the spells will hit you. They always do.


    Now, he at least had enough presence of mind to create a shield of some form and send some attacks of his own.


    Now a days he was capable enough to think a few steps ahead in advance. That didn''t help him much against Flitwick who was capable of thinking a dozen of steps in advance but he had made progress and that was the most important thing in his mind.


    He stood up and dusted himself off. The habit remained despite the fact that his robes never got dirty anymore because of the dirt removal charm he applied on them.


    Trying to wipe dirt from your clothes where there was no dirt in it might make you look like a fool sometimes but it''ll never harm anyone.


    But if he didn''t get strong soon enough, then he was sure that his loved ones would die in the coming war.


    And a war coming.


    He knew that because even if he had all the pieces to stop the war, he wouldn''t do so.


    The magical world was corrupt to the core and no amount of negotiations or manipulations will change that.


    No, the wizarding world needed a wake up call.


    A wake up call that their time is about to end. And that if they didn''t change, then they would be left behind by the times.


    Because he had seen the future.


    He had seen how humans invented mobiles in the near future that could easily capture any image or video of a wizard flying around. And he had seen how the Internet took over the world.


    Not when every person starts walking around with a Smartphone and internet access at all times.


    And when the new dawn arrives and the muggles come to know of the existence of the magical world. And understand their part in the second world war, they would not take very kindly to this hidden society. (Note- Grindelwald took a huge part in the 2nd world war.)


    A hidden society which actively looks down on everything that was muggle.


    At that point, a confrontation would happen between the two world and countless innocents will die.


    He knew that if the wizarding world is not ready for the new dawn, then the whole wizarding race might get wiped out in the near future if they maintain their condensending attitude of the non magicals.


    So he knew that the wizarding world needed a war.


    A war that he would have to win so that he could take over and create a new government that would be willing to work with the non magical government.


    So that he could make the non magicals his ally and not his enemy.


    He looked at the three training dummies the room presented him with and let out a smile.


    It was the first time the room had generated three dummies for him. Till now he only received two. He guessed that it''s Hogwarts way of telling him that he''s improving.


    But even if he was, he was improving very slowly.


    Flitwick had 2 decades of more experience than him. And Voldemort had 4.


    He would not be able to defeat them in five years if he continued like this.


    That was why in a real fight, he would have to rely on weapons like his enhanced gun and magical defense like his robes to aid him in the battle.


    Because he was genius when it came to creating such items and he would be a fool if he did not take advantage of his strong points.


    He let out a smile as he saw the three dummies circling around him like vultures vying after a piece of meat.


    He knew that this session will be even more exhausting than the last ones but he would pay that small price if it meant he could get better in the long run.


    As soon as he completed the apparition, Hermione promptly bent down on the side and emptied her whole stomach.


    He had heard that side along apparition can be disorienting for inexperienced people but had not thought that it could be so bad for someone.


    He bent down and pulled her hair back from her face and gently rubbed her back.


    He had never been in such a scenario before and had no idea if he should say something or not.


    If should then what should he say?


    The choice was taken out of his hand as Hermione stopping puking and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief before looking at him apologetically.


    "Sorry." She mumbled weakly "I don''t know what happened but I don''t think that side-along apparition is for me."


    "Oh. Don''t worry." He said as he gently cupped her face "This is not your fault. In fact, disorientation after your first apparition is a very common thing among wizards."


    "Then why didn''t you tell me?" she asked with a frown.


    "Skipped my mind." He said honestly.


    "Why did you bring me here with you when you could have done this yourself?" she asked irritably and he held a sigh.


    This journey was already not going as well as he had thought it would but such was life.


    "I wanted you to get a taste of apparition. So that if you ever wanted to learn how to do it, you would at least have an inkling about how it should happen and not panic when trying to perform it." He explained.


    At his explanation, her annoyed expression disappeared and she mumbled a silent ''thank you'' while looking both grateful and a bit apologetic.


    "Anyway. Let''s do what we came here to do." He said and led her outside the dark alley to a rather empty street with old and dilapidated buildings.


    "You sure this is the best place Harry?" Hermione asked as he took out the trunk from his pocket and let it regain it''s original size.


    "Absolutely." He answered and that was enough.


    "Selena. Do you sense them here?" he asked to his oldest companion who was resting comfortably on his shoulders.


    "Yes. A lot of them." She replied and he gave her a nod return before setting up the trap above the nearest sewer line outlet.


    He knew that an empty trunk lying around in an empty street would catch attention so he applied a few notice-me-not charms and muggle-repelling charms before she turned to Hermione with a nod.


    "We''re done here."


    "Would we have to return here for the trunk?" Hermione asked and the crease in her forehead showed that she didn''t like the idea too much and he didn''t fault her for that. Side along apparition can be unpleasant.


    "No." He shook his head "I''ll ask Bitty to retrieve the trap after an hour."


    Hermione nodded at that and he gave her a smile before giving her his elbow.


    She frowned a bit at that but held onto him regardless.


    "Don''t let go." He said before they apparated back to Hogsmeade from where they took the secret passageway to Hogwarts and returned before anyone could notice Hermione''s absence.


    Author''s Note:- Harry learning how to duel from Professor Flitwick and setting up the trap for catching the rats whom he would use as test subjects in the future for the more dangerous experiments.


    Hope you guys like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of cash lying around, then please support me at:- pat reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 74 - Penelopes small contrebution

    Harry looked mildly surprised at the noise and smell coming from inside the trunk and Penelope laughed at that.


    "It seemed like you over did it with the lure Harry." She commented as she finished transfiguring her 7th cage, trying very hard to ignore the 80 or so cages created by Harry in the same amount of time.


    Even Hermione seemed to have done better than her by creating 18 cages in the same amount of time.


    She held a sigh at that. She would not lie and say that she didn''t felt envious of their talent. She did.


    But she was also happy for them. Especially for Harry whom she now saw as a little brother and felt glad that he would involve her in his projects despite her not being of much help.


    "Yes. I would seem like I did went a bit overboard at that." Harry said in a mildly amused tone "Wonder if I should open a shop for lures and baits. Name would be ''Harry''s delicious worms''."


    "Did you really crack a joke just now." Hermione gasped from the side "Who are you and what have you done with my Harry?"


    Penelope wondered if she was the only one who noticed the ''My Harry'' part in her words.


    "Come on Mione. I''m not that bad." He said with a scowl though the slight crease near his eyes clearly showed his mirth.


    She and Hermione looked at each other at that and then chorused "Yes you are."


    Harry mock huffed at that before he gazed down inside the trunk once again "Well, I don''t think these rats are going to go inside the cages themselves so let''s get to it."


    With that, he waved his hand and a few rats flew out of the trunk and went into the cage with each wave.


    Penelope stared in awe at the blatant use of wandless magic on Harry''s part for a moment before she regained her senses.


    That never, never got old.


    Then she mumbled ''Wingardium Leviosa'' and started doing her part as well.


    ''Her little part.'' She thought with a bitter smile.


    "Harry. Are you going to put it in that place?" Hermione asked after they had put all the rats (who have now advanced to lab rats) inside their cages and told Bitty to release the rest back into the London Sewers.


    "Yes." Harry replied and gave Penelope an apologetic gaze.


    She just shook her head at his apology, indicating that the apology was unneeded as she realized that they must be talking about the new secret that Harry had showed to Hermione.


    The secret that she was not let in on because her occlumency shields were still not that strong.


    And hadn''t that been a surprise.


    To know that the Headmaster and Professor Snape could just enter your mind and find out your surface thoughts without you ever knowing about it.


    "Wouldn''t¡­ she¡­ eat them." Hermione said and Penelope realized that ''she'' must have something to do with the ''secret'' and didn''t comment on it.


    "No. I''ll talk with her." He said before he started levitating all the cages inside another newly made trunk.


    Penelope wondered where he got these trunks from. Or all those other resources that he used in his projects but knew that this must be another one of his so called ''secrets'' which they''ll learn eventually once their occlumency shields become strong enough.


    With that thought, she also took out her wand and started levitating the trunks inside one by one, trying to ignore the stench coming from so many rats.


    You might need to do these distasteful things once in a while when you''re with Harry but you can be ?ssured that there will always be something new to do and to learn when you''re with him.


    That''s just the kind of person that Harry was.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Bombarda" Harry said lazily and the rat was blasted into pieces.


    Hermione looked at the grisly sight in shock for a moment before she ran to the dustbin Harry had conjured for her and emptied the contents in her stomach inside it.


    She seemed to be doing that quite a bit these days.


    Harry had said that it was all for magic and deep down she agreed with him but that didn''t change the fact that she would definitely be seeing that scene in her nightmare.


    Perhaps she would ask Harry for a Dreamless Sleep Potion.


    She knew that Harry didn''t kept such potions for himself as he was not bothered by such sights but she also knew that if she asked him for it then he would definitely bring it for her.


    He was just that resourceful. And caring.


    Her thoughts were interrupted as the mangled remains of the rat pushed it''s way to her thoughts and she retched inside the dustbin once again, feeling absolutely miserable until a hand took pulled her hair to the back and another gently massaged her back.


    And just like that, she felt fine.


    She wondered if Harry used some kind of intent magic to help her feel better or it his touch was just that magical for her.


    She realized that she didn''t want to know the answer to that question.


    "Test subject 0001 was demolished under the influence of the Bombarda curse otherwise known as the ''Exploding curse''." Harry said while massaging her back and she could hear the quill scratches on the paper as the quill wrote down all his words in the notepad, something that was supposed to be her job.


    She was not much of an ?ssistant if she was busy emptying the contents of her stomach instead of focusing on the task at hand.


    But she had asked him for this and she knew the risks beforehand so she won''t back down now.


    With that thought, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and stood with with renewed determination and snatched the quill and paper hovering in the air.


    "The Bombarda curse seemed to be doing it''s job perfectly." Harry continued, as if the episode with her never happened and she was grateful for it.


    Then with a wave of his hand, the spattered remains of the test subject 0001 vanished from the wall as if they were never there in the first place.


    "Readying Test Subject 0002." Harry said and she noted down all his words along with a few details that he might have missed like the size of the Bombarda curse and the distance between the caster and the test subject.


    Harry agreed to her becoming his ?ssistant because he knew that she had a detailed oriented mind and that she would not look over things during an experiment that he usually did. And she was eager to prove that he made the right decision. Eager to prove her worth.


    After that, Harry took out another rat from the cage numbered 2 and then proceeded to wrap a parchment around the rat. A parchment that was filled with runic arrays. All with a wave of his hand of course.


    She had stopped being envious of his prodigal talent some time ago but she still felt a pang of envy every now and then at the ease with which he did¡­ everything.


    But then she thought about her own improvements and consoled herself with the fact that she might be far behind him as a witch but she was also far ahead of her peers who were still learning how to change a leaf into a glass marble.


    "Test subject 0002 equipped with a paper vest filled with runic array number 0089 made especially to stand up to Exploding curses." He said and she noted down everything just as quickly.


    "Preparing for casting the Exploding curse on Test Subject 0002 at 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Bombarda."


    The curse was cast.


    The curse was temporarily halted by the magical protection provided by the runic array written in the parchment.


    The parchment then burned out due to overheating, erasing the protection of the runic array after which the curse went forward unimpeded.


    The rat was splattered.


    The empty stomach was emptied. Once again.


    And the floating quill and parchment took over her job. Once again.


    "You don''t have to be so hard to yourself Mione." Harry murmured a soothing voice as he gently rubbed her back. His gentle touch doing it''s wonders once again. "We can stop if you want. And continue some other day if you''re not feeling well."


    She must look like an absolute mess right now and despite that, he remained gentle with her.


    While she simply wasted his time.


    Time that she knew he could have spent focusing on his projects and experiments instead of her.


    She could not give up. She would not give up. She would not allow herself to be a burden for him.


    "No. I''ll do it." She said and stood up with renewed determination and snatched up the quill and parchment hovering in the air. Once again.


    "Very well." Harry replied and went on to explain the recent failure in detail. Why he thought the test failed and she noted it all down, while adding a few more details that he might have missed.


    "Redying test subject 0003" He said and took out the rat from the cage numbered 3.


    "Test subject 0003 equipped with a cotton vest filled with runic array number 0089 made especially to stand up to Exploding curses." He said and she noted down everything just as quickly.


    "Preparing for casting the Exploding curse on Test Subject 0003 at 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Bombarda."


    The test subject survived this time. Thankfully. And did not have to empty her stomach once again.


    But her positive thoughts came to an end as he said "Increasing the power of Bombarda curse by 2 times."


    The bombarda curse struck.


    The cotton runic shield held for a moment before it broke.


    The test subject died.


    The nausea hit her full force.


    She endured.


    For a few seconds.


    Then she ran to dustbin once again.


    "We''re taking a break." Harry said as he massaged her back gently and she shook her head "No we''re not."


    "We''re taking a break Hermione." He said, a bit firmly this time and she shook her head once again and snarled at him. "No we''re not." She determination in her words must have got through to him because he raised an eyebrow in surprise at her before rewarding her with a nod.


    "Don''t make me regret this Mione." He said gently before tying her hair in a ponytail so that they won''t get in her way if she puked once again.


    She won''t.


    He gave her a glass of clean water that she gulped down greedily before he continued the experiments once again.


    Test subject 0004 was wrapped in Acromantula silk with dark runic symbols on top of it.


    And when she said Acromantula silk, she meant pure white Acromantula silk that seemed to have been brought directly from an Acromantula''s nest.


    Knowing Harry like she did, he probably did brought it fresh from an Acromantula''s nest.


    She''d heard rumors that there there was one such nest deep in the forbidden forest.


    She shook her thoughts and focused on the experiment.


    The Acromantula silk runic vest held remarkably well and was able to protect the rat until Harry threw a Bombarda *8.


    Then the Acromantula silk runic vest crumbled as well.


    Hermione was frankly surprised that the Acromantula silk runic vest was able to hold on for as long as it did.


    She was even more surprised that Harry was able to throw such powerful curses one after another without showing any signs of fatigue.


    And lastly, she was surprised that she was able to hold down the water she just drank.


    But regardless, the experiments continued.

 Chapter 75 - Hermiones dilemma

    Different test subjects. Different material. Different strength of the spells.


    And at last when they were on Test Subject 39, they found a material that was able to hold under the ?ssault of Bombarda Maxima*4.


    Any other wizard would not be able to over power such a powerful spell but Harry was able to over power it up to 4 times.


    That just went to show how much control he had over his spells.


    Still, the protective vest was able to shrug off his Bombarda Maxima*4 and that was the best result they''d gotten all day.


    And she could tell that the spell was powerful because even Harry looked winded after casting that large ball of destruction continued on it''s path after bouncing off the test subject and opened a 6 meter large and 3 meter deep hole on the wall behind it.


    The protective vest was made up of Basilisk skin with runes carved on it with Unicorn blood as any other kind of ink did not work on the highly magical resistant Basilisk skin.


    And from the strength behind Harry''s spell, she could guess that if that protective vest was able to throw off such spells, then it was highly unlikely that any other Exploding curse would not effect it either.


    But the experiments were not over.


    Far from it.


    In fact, they were just beginning.


    After that, Harry used another Protective vest made up of simply Basilisk skin which broke under Bombarda Maxima*1.


    She was rather surprised by the large amount of difference between the spell resistance that was generated by his runic arrays but in hindsight, she should have been.


    Harry''s runic arrays were just that amazing and Unicorn blood was highly magical as well.


    After that, they continued the experiments but this time, Harry used different kind of runic arrays on the basilisk skins to see which one would work the best.


    She had a feeling that Harry would have to ask Besalla for more skin soon enough.


    The process of taking skin was rather disturbing to her but the giant Basilisk seemed rather well the last time she saw it so she believed that it much have high regenerative power or something.


    As for the Unicorn Blood, she had no idea where he got it from but she highly doubted that Harry had killed a Unicorn because anyone who kills such a pure being is cursed by magic. Or at least that''s what she heard and Harry didn''t seemed cursed in the least. So he most likely bought it from some shady person in the black market of the Knockturn Alley.


    They spent half of the day in their experiments by which point, they had run out of both Basilisk skins and test subjects.


    And she had finally gotten over the nausea she felt upon seeing dead bodies.


    The nausea was not gone completely and she still felt a bit sick upon seeing their deaths but she was now able to do her work without stopping even once.


    She counted that as a win.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Hermione was bored.


    She was sitting in a Transfiguration class and she was bored.


    That one fact just made her realize how much she had changed since the start of the term.


    Because at the start of the term, she never felt bored during a class.


    But now she was bored out of her mind in a class which once seemed highly interesting to her.


    The task given to them by Professor Minerva Mcgonagall was just that easy for her.


    In fact, she was fairly sure that she would be able to complete all the transfiguration exercises of first year with her eyes closed at this point.


    That''s just how good she had become after spending a few months studying under Harry and practicing the Magic based on Will & Intent instead of the Magic based on Wand movements and incantations.


    She was still not advanced enough to give life to her transfigurations like how Harry did but she was still sure that she would be able to do most of the transfiguration spells up to 4th year.


    And yet, she had to sit in this class, bored out of her mind and witness her classmates swinging around their wands, trying to say the words in the correct manner so that they would be able to change a metal spoon into a wooden spoon.


    Pathetic.


    Oh how she wished that she could shout at them about how they were doing everything wrong and how magic was really all about will and intent and not whatever they were doing.


    She had promised him that she would keep all of his secrets and Magic based on Will & Intent was one of his most important secrets so her Vow would never allow her to reveal the secret to others.


    The most she could do at this point was practice with the Shroud of Concealment and hope that her classmates and teacher would not notice her until the end of the class.


    Was this how Harry felt when he went to a class?


    No, he probably felt like he was sitting between primitive savages who didn''t even knew the M of Magic.


    She giggled at the image of Harry''s scrunched up face as he was forced to sit in a class filled with monkeys who each carried a wand and chanted Kuku kaka.


    Then she remembered how despised him at the start of the year for disrespecting the teachers and missing her classes.


    She was so very naive back then.


    She had a feeling that in Harry''s eyes, she was still a naive little child and she would not say that he would wrong because a part of her still respected authority figures to an unhealthy degree and sought for their approval.


    But she had grown over the past few months.


    At that point in time, she had even thought that if she forced him to attend his classes then maybe, just maybe, he would start liking his classes and start attending them regularly.


    She was so very naive and stupid back/ then.


    She shook her thoughts and focused on the Shroud of Concealment.


    She had better control over it now, but she was still no where near Harry who could use it like he was born with that ability.


    Yet another thing he had that she was envious of.


    And yet another thing he taught her that she was thankful for.


    She wondered if she could find some way to pass her exams at an earlier date so that she would not have to attend the classes.


    Maybe not.


    For one, they would not be so partial as to hold a separate exam for her.


    She knew that no matter what, she would not get the same treatment as Harry who had already applied for leaving the school and which was denied to him by the Headmaster.


    She was not the boy-who-lived.


    She was not a genius born once in millennia.


    She was not¡­


    She was brought out of her thoughts as the rest of the class started leaving the room.


    It seemed like the boring class had finally came to an end.


    She let out a yawn and made to stand up when another figure stood in front of her and she felt a deja vu experience.


    "Daphne" she said coldly.


    Daphne was the source of a huge fight between Harry and her. A fight that she regretted ever starting.


    Since she was the one who had brought Daphne to Harry, she felt personally responsible for the girl to see Harry knock her unconscious angered her to the core.


    It took a good amount of time for her to calm down after which Harry told her the main reason why Daphne came to him was because she knew about his true abilities and that her father had ordered her to ?ssociate with him.


    He had given her the cold shoulder for the next couple of days and only continuous insistence from Penelope''s side and a huge amount of apologies from her made him forgive her at last.


    But she had no doubt that Harry would never forget that moment. He could hold his grudges.


    In hindsight, she realized that trusting Daphne over Harry was not something she should have ever done.


    And why she had done that despite her promise to never leave Harry''s side again?


    Because of that, she felt a large amount of hatred for Daphne. For fooling her and using her to get to Harry and for being the reason behind their fight.


    And now the girl had the audacity to stand in front of her with a simple apologetic expression.


    Like she would ever fall for the Slytherin girl''s plots ever again.


    "Hermione." The other girl replied in greeting. "Please let me explain."


    "There''s nothing to explain Daphne." Hermione cut her off without any remorse "You used me to get to Harry. Just so you could get close to him and seduce him over time. I''ll never forgive you for those things."


    "Hermione." Daphne said weakly but she had already heard enough bullshit for the day.


    "Stop. I don''t care why you''re here Daphne. And I''m not going to be fall for another one of your lies ever again. So don''t even try. And if you know what''s better for you then stay away from me." She said and picked up her bag in order to leave "I don''t think Harry would like it very much if I told him that you''re bothering me. So don''t come to me ever again."

 Chapter 76 - Intricacies of the Soul

    Harry looked at the runic array he''d created with acromantula blood and sighed.


    Despite all the help that Hogwarts provided him with, he still lacked in resources.


    Besalla, the miserly basilisk had been reluctant in giving him any more skin these days. And as for the Unicorn blood, his existing stock was already starting to run out and he couldn''t get any more until Quirrelmort goes to the Forbidden Forest in order to hunt once again.


    So for now, he simply had to make do with Acromantula silk and their blood which looked rather beautiful with it''s bluish-green and despite being mildly toxic.


    Thankfully, there was no lack of Acromantulas in the forbidden forest and he simply had to go out on a hunt once a week to refill all of his stock.


    He had kept their eyes and other organs under stasis for now as they could probably be used as potions ingredient in the future or might just gift it to some Potions'' master on a whim.


    Hermione was sitting behind him and working on inanimate to animate transfiguration. He knew that he would not be able to help her this time since he didn''t truly understood the subject of life himself.


    When someone transfigures a piece of rock into a sparrow, how does the sparrow gains it''s life.


    Selena had told him that any transfigured animal or bird created by him held a magical signature similar to his own.


    Did it meant that the animal worked because of his magical signature and because it had a soul.


    Or because he gave away a small part of his own soul to bring like to the animate object.


    When he first thought about the possibility of giving away a part of his own soul in order to bring an animal to life, he would admit that he was scared.


    After all, he had seen first hand what happens to people who give away a part of their soul in the form of Voldemort.


    But when he studied the subject in a little depth, he realized that truly complicated human''s soul was.


    And how easy it was for him to use his own soul in order to give life to another smaller being.


    In fact, the soul of an ?du?t wizard or even a muggle regularly gives life to a million of tiny little sp?rms.


    Those lifeforms might not contain much sentience but that didn''t change the fact that the tiny bit of soul inside them was given to them by the wizard''s soul itself.


    After understanding this, he came up with a theory that whenever wizards try to give life while performing transfiguration, they take a little bit of their own soul and give it to the animate object they''re trying to create and then magic takes that soul then grows and molds it to fit the lifeform.


    Since Selena was incapable of seeing a soul, all this was merely a conjecture at this point in time but he realized that this study of him could probably earn him an Order of Merlin if he simply published him to the wizarding world.


    But he would never do such a foolish thing because he never really cared about the medal or the honor and fame that came with it.


    In fact, he would keep this study of his as a well hidden secret and do some more research with it in the future.


    He had a feeling that if he just keeps taking a miniscule amount of his soul over a long period of time and kept it contained in an artifact, then over time the artifact will turn into a kind of Horcrux without the actual cons that came with it.


    The actual process of course won''t be so simple and he was not sure if this will even work at all but there was no danger in trying.


    Still, soul magic was not a field that he wanted to step into just yet so he had not started the process.


    He would probably do so sometime in the future.


    The scratching of a quill on paper reminded him that Hermione was working behind him as well.


    He turned around and looked over her shoulder at the runes she was working on.


    Since the runes she was learning was based on will and intent, his learning style was far different than the one used by the other Ancient Runes teacher.


    For now, Hermione was simply writing ''Float, Float, Float¡­'' continuously on a piece of parchment with a simple quill and ink while pouring her intention in the paper and willing her magic to do the job.


    She had not met with any success just yet but he knew that was persistent and won''t stop until she gets the result.


    He felt slightly mischievous and pulled her cheeks and got a ''Harry'' in a mock-annoyance tone and a huff from her in return before he smiled and went back to his own work.


    Just as he did however Selena bristled in his shoulders about something.


    "What is it Selena?" he asked while stroking her head trying to calm her down.


    "It''s that woman again." Selena said angrily "That woman who wanted to seduce you. She''s coming here once again."


    "She is?" he asked, trying not to let his annoyance show in his voice "Is she with anyone?"


    "She is. She''s with Pineapple right now."


    "Penelope Selena. Not Pineapple." He chided gently though the slight quirk of his lips must have shown his mirth at the nickname Selena had given to the older girl.


    "Sure whatever." She huffed before settled down on his shoulders once again.


    A few seconds after she informed him about Daphne, there was a knock on the door. He gave a wave and seals he''d placed in place flew away, opening the door in the process.


    Magic can be convenient like that sometimes.


    "Is there a reason why you''ve brought her with you Penelope?" he asked without looking up from his desk. It gave him a mysterious all-knowing air even though Penelope should have easily guess that it was Selena who told them of their arrival.


    "What are you doing here?" he heard Hemione say venomously before Penelope could even explain herself. He could imagine that the girl must be really angry right now. As she should be.


    "She''s here to apologize." Penelope replied "And tell you the whole truth about her circumstances. I think you should at least hear her out once Harry."


    "Remove your shields Penelope." He said without looking up from his workdesk.


    "Harry?" Hermione asked from beside him. His request was odd after all but there was a reason behind it.


    "I need to make sure that you''re not under compulsion charms." He clarified.


    "I am not that bad you know." Daphne said in a soft and sad tone from behind Penelope "I won''t put someone under compulsion charms just to get what I want."


    "I don''t know that." He replied as he turned to face the blonde girl, oh wait, both Penelope and Daphne were blonde."I don''t know you. And you must admit that you didn''t make a very good first impression either." He pointed out.


    Daphne let out a defeated sigh at that and he looked questioningly at Penelope who gave a short nod to him "But you''ll be buying us lunch this holiday." She said and he gave her a slight nod in return before he gently slipped into her mind.


    She was not under any compulsion charms.


    But apparently, the Slytherin girl could be very convincing with her desperate act.


    Or maybe she was just desperate in truth.


    He didn''t know.


    He didn''t saw a lot of her memories the last time he forcefully entered her mind in fear of causing her mental damage and her dad did seemed like a d??k whenever he talked with her.


    Maybe he should give the girl one more chance.


    He glanced at Hermione who did not looked very happy to see the Slytherin girl but didn''t wanted to come in between this discussion either.


    She was learning not to barge into other people''s business.


    A trait that most people don''t learn in their entire life time.


    "Very well then." He said "I''ll hear out what you have to say. But do expect a few legilimency probes as I still don''t trust you all that much."


    Daphne nodded demurely at that, something he saw her doing a in front of her father.


    He could already tell that he was not going to like this talk.

 Chapter 77 - Tutelage Price

    He did indeed not like situation at all.


    Apparently the idea to befriend him and seduce him was not something that was concocted by her but her lovely father instead.


    Though he could tell that she was not entirely against that idea either.


    She was a pragmatic person and knew that his talent would take him to heights that few people reach and that by ?ssociating with him, she would reach a higher place as well.


    He couldn''t fault her for her thinking as she had little choice in regards to her future because of her father who made it clear that if she didn''t manage to get close to him, then he would simply cart her off to some other pureblood bloke with a rich background.


    That last bit certainly made him pity her cause he was from 2019 and such arranged marriages rarely, if ever, happened in that time.


    His pity however didn''t make him any less cautious toward her.


    She had said that she would be truthful in her explanation to him and saw was. But that still didn''t tell him what she wanted from him.


    And he knew better than to underestimate a clever person like her even if she might be far more weaker than him.


    So yes, just because someone was weaker than him didn''t meant that he would underestimate them.


    "So what do you want?" he asked her after getting the whole truth out of her.


    "I¡­ I want to apologize to you for¡­"


    "That is not why you''re here." He said shaking his head "You may apologize while you''re here and that''s good and all but it''s not the main reason why you''re here."


    "So I''ll ask you again. What do you want? Why are you here?"


    Daphne looked uncertain for a moment before took a deep breath and bowed before him "Please teach me."


    "Teach you what?" Harry asked looking unimpressed.


    "About magic." She answered. "You''re one of the greatest genius of our time. And Hermione has advanced by leaps and bounds under your tutelage. Please teach me." She looked hesitant before she added "I''ll do anything you want me to do."


    Harry could tell that she was throwing away her pride right now and just hoping for the best. She was also a bit disgusted by herself when she said the last sentence though a small part of her wanted him to take advantage of situation and make her his own as well.


    But he didn''t trust her.


    She was the kind of person who was loyal to herself and her sister before she was loyal to anyone else.


    And he did not want someone like that as his companion.


    It would be so easy to tell her to get lost and then get back to his experiments.


    But she was rather downtrodden at the moment and he was not the kind of person that too joy in kicking someone who was already down.


    But he did no want to teach her either.


    He thought for a while before he answered.


    "I''ll teach you but my tutelage will cost you a lot of galleons."


    "How much?" Daphne asked looking hopeful.


    "1000 galleons." He said and heard Penelope gasp from behind him.


    Cause 1000 galleons was a lot of money for a young student.


    In fact, a poor student who bought 2nd hand books, 2nd hand robes and didn''t splurge any galleons in luxuries could probably spend his 7 years in Hogwarts with that much money.


    "1000 galleons in a year?" Daphne asked looking a bit downtrodden though her eyes still held some hope.


    He knew that the Greengrass was a rich and noble house. So if she asked her father about it and he agrees with her plan then she might be able to scrounge up a 1000 galleons after all.


    But he was not asking a 1000 galleons for a year.


    "No." He replied "1000 galleons for a month."


    Daphne looked like she didn''t knew whether he was being serious or sarcastic and after a long pause, she finally managed to say "That''s a lot of galleons. I don''t think I''ll be able to pay that much. Couldn''t you lower the price a little bit. I mean Hermione and Penelope here are¡­"


    "They''re friends." He interrupted her without a second thought "And you''re not."


    She took a gulp and nodded "I can be your friend."


    "I don''t want a friend who only wants to use me for her own purposes."


    She looked sad for a moment but she knew that he was telling the truth so didn''t oppose his words.


    "You can not lower the price a little. I don''t think anyone in Hogwarts could afford you right now."


    "That''s their problem not mine." He said with a shrug. "In fact, if your life story was not so depressing then I would have asked for 5000 galleons though I believe my tutelage is worth much more than even that. I''ve already given you a low price. But I won''t go any lower for you."


    "Please." She begged and he felt sad for her. He really did because he could feel her desperation from her surface thought right now.


    He felt like he she was an actress who was asking for a small role in a movie that could make or break her future and he was the director was denying her request simply because¡­ simply because he could.


    He took a deep breath and wondered how to deal with this situation.


    He wanted a student who was resolute and hard working like Hermione. Who used her time to learn new things about magic and not follow in the footsteps of the old. Someone who could brave the new future along with him while discarding the past.


    After a long moment of silence, he finally came to a decision.


    "Our mid term exams are about to start in a few weeks." He said and Daphne nodded though she did look a bit perplexed at the change in topic.


    "You''ll fail those exams." He said and her shock was clearly visible in her face.


    "Which ones?" she asked with a gulp.


    "All of them. You''ll fail all of those exams."


    She looked uncertain for a moment as she thought about the repercussions of such an action for a while before she answered "I can do that. Is that all?"


    "No." He replied "That''s just a small part of it. After that, you''ll fail in every other exam that you give in Hogwarts. Again and again and again."


    The color drained from her face as she stared open mouthed at him with an expression like he had just killed puppy.


    "I''ll¡­ They''ll expel me after I fail three times in a row." She begged.


    He knew why would not want such a thing to happen to her as no one has been expelled from Hogwarts for failing three times in a row in living memory.


    "They will. I''m counting on it." He said "That''ll be the price you pay for my tutelage." He shrugged "And you won''t another chance for me. Either you take this or you leave and don''t come to bother me again."


    Daphne looked downright distraught at the task he''d given her. But then she managed to gather up the last of her dignity and asked "Can I think about it?"


    He nodded "You''ve an hour and no, you won''t contact your father for this decision. It''ll be yours and yours only. You won''t leave this room for the next hour and I want your answer by the end of it." He said and went back to his work.


    Hermione looked rather surprised at the choices he''d given her, even a bit fearful as she probably couldn''t even imagine what it would feel like to fail your exams.


    Penelope on the other hand look sympathetic and tried to help Daphne the best she could so that she girl would at least be able to think upon her choices.


    An hour passed in silence as Daphne and Penelope whispered amongst each other at the corner of the room and in the end Daphne resolutely walked up to him and said.


    "I''ll do it. I''ll fail every exam conducted in Hogwarts and then get expelled by them as a price for your tutelage."


    "Good." He said "But words are empty. How do I know that you won''t simply renege on our deal sometime in the future?"


    "I¡­ I can give you an Unbreakable vow." She said with nervousness.


    "Good." He replied.


    And that''s how he bound Daphne Greengrass to his ship.

 Chapter 78 - Facts about Harry

    Hermione looked uncertainly at the door from where Daphne had just left.


    The talk with Daphne had been¡­ dramatic and she didn''t really thought Harry would ask for such a price from the girl. And what''s more, the girl even gave an Unbreakable vow for that.


    How can someone willingly fail their exams.


    The thought was hard for her to grasp.


    "Weren''t you a bit hard on her?" she asked once Harry had closed the door with all the paper filled with runic arrays that probably stopped even a single sound from going out of the room.


    "I mean. Now she''ll probably be the first person to fail in¡­ I don''t even know how long. A few people have be expelled from Hogwarts over the last century for one reason or another but I don''t remember anyone being expelled for failing three times in a row. The disgrace that would come with that kind of expulsion will be¡­"


    "She won''t be the only one failing." Harry replied before she could continue and she stared at him, completely dumbfounded for a few moments before she understood what she was hearing.


    "You want to fail alongside her?" she asked, scandalized by the mere thought of such a genius failing his exams.


    "Yes." He replied "And I''ll be very happy if you could accompany me when I''m expelled from Hogwarts."


    He said those words in a soft voice but they reverberated in her ears like a thunderclap.


    The thought horrified her.


    Could she even do it.


    Sit in an exam, look over at all the test paper, knowing that you could answer all of those questions easily yet still not write their answers in order to fail the class.


    Was such a thing even possible for her?


    He must have seen the dilemma inside her cause he smiled and pinched her cheeks in an affectionate manner "You don''t have to do it if you don''t want to. That''s just a suggestion Hermione, nothing else."


    And then his touch was gone and he had turned around to get back to his work and she was left with a dilemma.


    She didn''t knew what she should do anymore.


    Did he meant it when he said that he wanted her to join him when he''s expelled with Daphne.


    The thought of Daphne and Harry doing something together, something that she was not a part of grated in her mind.


    Daphne was, she was someone who had just joined their group. She should not be given the privilege to do something like that with Harry.


    As she thought of this, she wondered since when failing their exams had turned into a privilege.


    And what if this was really as test from Harry. To see if she''ll stick together with him and she doesn''t.


    She didn''t even want to think of the consequences of betraying him ever again.


    She sighed as she folded the paper in front of her.


    Her mind was under too much turmoil for her to be able to properly work at the moment.


    She needed to think upon Harry''s words a bit more before and decide what she was going to do with her life before she did anything else.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Lisa had yet to understand how she felt about the boy who had become more of a legend during the last few months despite being in the same class as them.


    Of course, the fact that the boy hardly attended any more classes with them was a moot point.


    The rumors about his absence from their classes were as numerous as the hair on her head.


    Some said that he was being trained by the staff members to become the next leader of light.


    Some said that he was so advanced that he simply found the classes boring.


    Others said that he didn''t like Hogwarts and wanted to leave but was being detained here by the Headmaster and this was his way of showing his defiance.


    Some said that he was simply too anti-social and didn''t knew what to do in a class full of students.


    While others said that he didn''t like his fame and simply didn''t attended his classes in hopes that the hype about his presence would die down, though it never did.


    Some other outrageous rumors said that he was in fact, the illegitimate son of the Headmaster and lived with the old wizard in and the other professors gave him private lessons which was the reason why he didn''t attend hi classes.


    Some even more outrageous rumors claimed that he was half human half vampire and couldn''t stay in the light for too long because of that.


    Lisa knew that most of those rumors where groundless and held no ounce of truth in them just like most other rumors circulating in the Hogwarts rumor mill.


    But that didn''t change a few facts that she knew about Harry.


    1. Harry was a Parselmouth. She knew that most of the things they said about a Parselmouth were nothing but superstitions but that didn''t change the fact that she still felt a bit afraid of the boy because of his abilities.


    2. The teachers were afraid of him. She didn''t knew if the rumor about him killing the troll was the truth or not but that didn''t change the fact that they were indeed afraid of him. Of course they never showed any definite signs but the signs were still there for anyone who would look.


    The slight tension in their bodies and the way they stiffened once Harry entered the room. The way they continued to gaze at him through the corner of their eyes through the rest of period. They way they treated like he was a time bomb ready to blow off any second now.


    3. He was a once in a century prodigy in Charms and was being given dueling lessons by Professor Flitwick. She knew this because the Professor himself had admitted to this when they asked him about it once in the common room. And the Professor never lied to them.


    4. Hermione and Penelope were probably his only friend. And that the reason why he stayed away from everyone was because of his anti social tendencies and because he hated his fame. She learned this from none other then their own Prefect Penelope Clearwater.


    Of course, there were probably a dozen more secrets about him that people didn''t know about.


    And she was still a bit afraid of him.


    But that didn''t change the fact that he was probably the most intriguing boy she''d ever met.


    He was like a puzzle to her. A puzzle that beckoned you to solve it. A mystery waiting to be solved.


    How could one simply sit there and eat their food and still be so damn interesting.


    The way he and Penelope whispered to each other like sharing some secret they didn''t want others to find about.


    The way his face scrunched up as if he''d heard some rather grievous news.


    The way he turned to stare at her with those emerald green eyes of his, opened his lips and said "You''re staring."


    You''re sta¡­ wait what?


    Her face went beet red faster than one could drink a cup of water and she removed her gaze to look at something else. Anything else.


    Oh¡­ the shame.


    She had been staring at him with a star struck gaze just like any other brainless fangirl of his and she didn''t even knew about it.


    She gazed at her friend sitting beside her and realized with surprise that Su Li looked just as embarrassed as her.


    In fact, now that she thought about it¡­


    She looked at the rest of the table and realized that most of the girls and a few boys were not looking away in embarrassment.


    Harry had not said those words to her specifically but to the whole table as all of them had been staring at him through out the meal.


    Wow¡­ That must have made an impression.


    She felt her cheek burn in shame at the mere thought of what she had unknowingly done.


    No wonder he never sits with them anymore.


    She needed to fix this.


    She didn''t know how but she did.


    She would apologize to him. He would probably not accept it because of her earlier rudeness but if it abetted a bit of his anger at them then it should be with worth it.


    With that resolution, she turned to face him once again in order to apologize to him for their rudeness but¡­


    He was not there.


    She didn''t knew when he left and how. She had certainly not heard heard shift his chair or seen him leave the table. But he was not there anymore.


    And now Penelope was staring at her, no, at all of them angrily.


    And she suddenly remembered how Penelope had told the girls at the start of the week that she would probably ask the boy-who-lived to join their table and she was also warned them to not openly stare at him and they had done exactly that.


    She could already hear the scolding they were about to receive from their Prefect once they went back to their common room.


    She hung her head in shame and pushed her food away.


    She was not feeling hungry anymore.


    She was feeling like shit in fact.


    And as she sat in her seat and waited for the lunch to end, she wondered how she and the rest of her friends managed to fu?k this up so badly.

 Chapter 79 - Copying Medical Books

    "What are you reading?" Hermione asked as she sat beside me with her plate.


    She had stopped eating in the Great hall some time ago as well and now ate her meals with him in the study room.


    "An apology letter." He said and burned the letter before scattering it''s ash to the wind.


    "From who?" she asked curiously.


    "From Amelia Bones." He replied nonchalantly "For her fu?k up with Sirius Black."


    Any other time Hermione might have chided him for his language but now she just looked sad.


    "Oh I''m so sorry Harry."


    "Don''t be." He shook his head "It''s not like I ever knew him. And now he''s probably in a better place than the hellhole they call Azkaban."


    Hermione looked unconvinced but didn''t continue on this topic.


    "Did you know that Ron and Draco are in the infirmary right now?" she suddenly asked.


    "No. Their lives are not important enough for me to keep tabs on them."


    "Harry" Hermione said exasperatedly, probably at the lack of care he showed toward people he didn''t personally knew about. "Anyway, this is important so listen."


    He shrugged and she took it as an affirmation and continued.


    "Last night, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley were sent to Hagrid for detention."


    "Let me guess the rest. Hagrid took the both of them to the forbidden forest and they suffered an accident there."


    "That''s surprisingly accurate¡­ How do you know all of this?"


    "Because last night I went to the Forbidden Forest and found a dark wizard feasting on a unicorn''s blood. I stunned that person and before he could recover, I stole the unicorn''s body and left." He replied nonchalantly "Now let me guess what happens next. The ginger and the ponce probably met this dark wizard and got cursed or something."


    "¡­yeah. I don''t exactly know all the details but apparently that how it happened."


    "Are they going to die?" he asked, trying not to let his amusement show in his voice.


    "No. Why would you think so?"


    "Because that''s what usually happens when you get cursed by dark wizards." He said, trying not to let his annoyance show.


    The magical world was already overcrowded with stupid people. Two more stupid children didn''t make it a better place.


    "Why were two young children sent to the forbidden forest during night time anyway?" he asked, trying to understand the level of stupidity possessed by the staff members of Hogwarts.


    "I¡­ Wait? What were you doing with going to the forbidden forest and fighting a dark wizard. What would you have done if he had cursed you instead."


    "Simple." He said with an innocent smile, which no doubt looked absolutely out of place in his face "I would asked you to kiss the pain away."


    Hermione flustered at that "Harry. I''m trying to be serious here."


    "So am I." He said with a smirk and she hit him in the shoulder lovingly for his trouble while shaking her head.


    After they settled down once again Harry remembered something and turned to her.


    "Hey Hermione. How would you like to join me on an adventure tonight?"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Harry. I don''t think I like this adventure very much." She said from under the Invisibility as they broke into the library of one of Britain''s best medical college.


    "Oh come on Hermione. Don''t tell me you''re not excited about all these books just lying there, waiting for us to take them." He said in an innocent voice and she just knew that he was looking at her with that damnable smirk of his right now.


    "Wait here." He said before she could enter the room and took out his wand from pocket and¡­ did something with it. Since his magic was mostly focused on intent and will, there was not much need for an incantation of wand waving.


    But for him to take out his wand must mean that had just performed some delicate magic.


    "Now we can enter." He said and she removed the Invisibility cloak and followed after him.


    "Harry. What do you do just now?" she asked curiously as he went about reading the subject names written on the shelves, in the darkness. She had no idea how he was able to read anything in such darkness. He was most likely using some kind of transfiguration to change his eye to look better in the darkness.


    "Oh that. That was just me putting any electronic device in this room to¡­ sleep, I guess would be correct term. We don''t want any CCTV cameras to capture our presence here would we."


    "And how did you do that?" she asked.


    "I just put my intention behind the idea, pushed my will behind that intention and my magic did the rest. Just like always."


    "But Harry, do you even know how your magic accomplished it. I mean, those devices can be put to sleep in thousand different methods. Your magic can probably change the CCTV cameras into ducks and that would still accomplish your task of making those devices useless. Or it might do some complex space time magic to stop it from recording your presence here. So do you know what your magic did?" she asked and he stopped what he was doing in order to stare at her.


    "That¡­ is a very good question Hermione. We''ll do a few tests regarding this once we get back to Hogwarts. But for now, help me find the anatomical section. You know, the one that gives me the basic overview and knowledge of the organs, muscles and all the things that comprise of a human body without going into too much detail."


    "But Harry¡­ I can''t see anything in this darkness. And using Lumos might alert the guards petrolling the campus outside of our presence."


    He stopped his search once again in order to look at her and this time, he didn''t say anything for a long moment. But just as his silence was beginning to unnerve her, he spoke.


    "Hermione. Do you trust me?" he asked.


    "Of course I do. What kind of silly question is that?"


    "No. Let me change the question. Hermione, do you trust me enough to change a part of your body?"


    Hermione gulped at that question as she suddenly realized what he meant.


    He wanted to perform Human Transfiguration on her. To give her the eyesight so that she would be able to see in the dark just like him.


    If this was any other person then she would have thought about all dangers that this kind of magic might pose to her.


    But as it was Harry who had asked her this, she just give him confident smile and said "Of course silly. I trust you."


    He must have liked her answer cause he gave her one of his rare genuine smile before giving her a nod and pointing his wand at her.


    One moment, she couldn''t see his face properly in the dark and the next moment she could.


    She liked the simplicity with which he used magic.


    Because that''s how exactly it was supposed to be used.


    She noticed that his pupil had enlarged to take over his whole eye and not even a slight bit of white of his eyes was visible.


    In essence, his whole eye looked like a giant black hole which gave him an alien look and she wondered if her eyes looked the same as his right now.


    They most likely did.


    She ignored the unnerving feeling that thought gave her and they continued with their search in the huge library.


    It didn''t took them long to find the required section at which point Harry started to copy the books he needed while she made a list of everything he was copying and keeping those books back into their proper place.


    It wouldn''t do if people knew that someone had moved those books at night even if Harry was technically not really stealing anything from here.

 Chapter 80 - Diadems overuse

    Hours upon hours passed quietly as they continued to work and by the time the sun started to rise, Harry had already copied some of the most important books that she had thought would help him in his pursuit of learning Human transfiguration.


    Frankly, the amount power that Harry held and the ease with which he performed magic never stopped surprising her.


    And she could only hope that one day, she''ll be able to become as good as him and stand shoulder to shoulder with him.


    But till then.


    She concentrated her will and intent and started depositing all the copied medical books properly inside the small box that they had brought along with themselves.


    The books they had copied would probably keep her occupied for a whole year or two if she even understood their contents but she knew all too well that Harry would probably finish all of them by the end of the month.


    She never understood how he read those books so fast and how he retained everything that he ever read but she was always envious of that ability of his.


    Perhaps it had to do with one of the secrets that he always talked about.


    Maybe he''ll tell her one day.


    She could only hope.


    As the sun started to rise and her eyes begin to burn with it''s brightness, Harry came to her and waved his wand at her once again and then everything went back to it''s normal brightness.


    "We''re done here." He said with a smile and pocketed the box that was now filled with hundreds of books with advanced medical knowledge.


    She wondered when she would be able to learn apparition. Because despite it being a very uncomfortable mode of transport, it was also very time saving.


    From Hogsmeade, they took one of the many secret passageways going inside Hogwarts and within half an hour, she was standing in front of the Gryffindor girls'' common room.


    "Thank you for the glorious adventure." She said teasingly and got a chuckle in return "And thanks for escorting me back. That was kind of you."


    He simply gave a warm smile and a nod in return and she yawned.


    They had been working all night long and she now felt more tired then ever. Such a pity that she couldn''t skip her classes like him.


    He must have noticed her discomfort because she suddenly came across a cotton like invisible wall that stopped her from going forward.


    She turned to looked at him and asked "What?"


    "Come here." He said.


    "What for?" she asked.


    "Just come here you lazy bum."


    "You¡­ just did not call me a Lazy Bum." She said with mock anger but went toward him anyway.


    "Come closer." He said and she did.


    And when they were standing face to face, he took his time turner from his pocket. No wait¡­


    It was not his tie turner.


    Or at least the one that he used on a regular basis.


    She gazed at him with accusing eyes and said "You had one more time turner?"


    "Two." He said in a smug voice "I have two more time turners. 3 in total."


    "And you didn''t told me about it before because?" she said and folder her hands, giving him the ''look'' and waiting for his explanation.


    "You never asked." He said with a shrug.


    ''The Look'' intensified and he held on for a few seconds before he sighed and answered "And your occlumency shields were not powerful enough at that time. If someone found out that I had been using time turners then the Deparment of Ministry would come and definitely take it away from me. If that happened, then I didn''t wanted to lose all of my time turners at once."


    Hmm¡­ That explanation made sense.


    But that didn''t meant that her anger was abated in the least.


    "You''ll make it up to me?"


    "I''ll make it up to you." He said with a sincere smile and her anger melted away at last.


    She found it hard to remain angry at him when he smiled at her like that and that weakness only served to irritate her even more.


    Then he wrapped the chain around her neck and after five turns, they were back in time around 11 at night and now she would finally able to get the beauty sleep that she wanted.


    Though the fact that she would be able to use three time turners to study even more exited her too much to get a good enough sleep anymore.


    "I''m going to sleep then. Good night." She said and turned to leave but was stopped as a pair of arms wrapped around her and she froze.


    He was hugging her from behind.


    "Good night." He whispered in her ears and the next moment, she felt her lips touch upon her cheeks and her frozen form stiffened even further.


    By the time she came back to her senses, he had already left.


    She touched her cheeks and wondered if ''that'', had actually happened


    If the Harry Potter, the genius of the millennia had actually just kissed her. Her, the bookworm, the beaver face, the bucktooth, the bushy hair, the know-it-all or if all that had been just a figment of imagination of her sleep addled brain.


    She turned to the stairs and stumbled up to her room all the while holding the cheek where she had felt his lips.


    And as she opened the door and looked at the her bed, she knew that she would not be able to sleep this night.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry closed the book the kept it back on the table before rubbing his head in order to soothe the searing headache that was beginning to form in his head from the overuse of the Diadem.


    It was foolish of him to continue reading those books even after the headache start to form. If he had, then the headache would have be cured after a few hours.


    Such a pity as those books were rather interesting as well. And full of knowledge. So much knowledge that he was not able to stop himself when he should have.


    He clutched his head and tried to remember where he kept the pepper up potion but the searing pain in his head made him realize that he should probably not think about anything right now.


    "Bitty" he called through the headache.


    "Bitty is¡­ oh master Harry Potter Sir. What happened to you?" she asked with concern but her words fell like hammer in his ears.


    He wondered if this is was hangover felt like.


    "Bitty. Pepper up potion." He managed to say before he fell from the chair.


    He could distantly hear the little house elf panicking over his fallen form before she apparated away, only to apparate back the very next second with a bottle in her hand.


    "Master bes drinking Pepper up potion and bad headache be going away." He heard her say before the liquid that tasted like a used week old socks entered his mouth and went into his stomach.


    He kept clutching his head for the next few moments before the potion start to show it''s miraculous effects and the headache lessened in intensity.


    Jesus, he didn''t even wanted to look at that thing anytime soon.


    He pushed it inside the purse and took out the Pepper up potion from inside it and drank it as well, lessening his headache even more though the drowsiness increased in return.


    He was warned by the person who sold these potions to him to never drink more than two pepper up potion so he didn''t even thought about taking out another vial of it from his purse.


    That would be just stupid and he was already feeling stupid enough as it was.


    Still, the time he spent over the last 12-14 hours going over the books was not was waste. Not at all.


    In fact, during those hours, he probably learned more about human bodies than he did in either of his lives.


    In fact, it was hard for him to believe how ignorant he was about all this stuff.


    It was truly a wonder that any of his experiments ever succeeded because for all intents and purposes, they shouldn''t have. But that was magic for you.


    That thought made him feel inadequate as he left that most of his successes were nothing but a fluke.


    But at the same time, such a thought brought up new possibilities as well.


    Because now he knew that now he should be able to do things that normally shouldn''t have been possible according to the medical science.


    For example, until now he was simply thinking about using the human transfiguration to take his senses to a superhuman level and make himself stronger and faster.


    But now. Now it seemed like he had a whole new world opened to him.


    Now he could do so much more.


    He could transfigure his back into wings and fly.


    He could grow eyes around his head to see at 360 degree. It won''t look pretty, sure. But could use that transfiguration during a fight and it would give him an enormous advantage when dueling against a group.


    He could grow additional arms and¡­ do something with them.


    He could change his whole skin to resemble that of a dragon or a basilisk and gain magical resistance without even using his robes.


    He could transfigure his kidneys so that none of the poison in the world would effect him.


    He could transfigure his tear ducts into that of a Phoenix and cry tears with healing properties. This particular experiment would probably not work but it would be worth a try.


    The point was, there was so much for him to do.


    And he was simply sitting on his chair and wasting precious time while he should be down there, experimenting.


    He rose up from the chair but was suddenly hit with intense drowsiness and fell to the ground with a thud. Thankfully, he had charmed the floor to act like a cushion or be would be sporting a broken nose right now.


    Maybe the experiments could wait until he gets some rest.


    With those thoughts, he lost his consciousness and went into dreamland.

 Chapter 81 - Experiments on Rats

    Harry was said to be something of a legend in Hogwarts.


    People said that as long as he didn''t want to be found no on would be able to find him and that fact was true for most of it''s part.


    With the Marauder''s map in hand and Selena as his companion, Harry always knew if someone was coming toward him and if he didn''t want to face that person, he would hide himself from them which was not hard for him to do.


    Still, for someone like Hermione who was a good friend, he was not that hard to find.


    She had seen most of his bases that he''d created in the abandoned rooms. And she''d said most because she knew that he probably still had a few bases that she didn''t know about. He was just that secretive, even with friends.


    Still, most of the time if was not in his usual lab you wanted to find him, then you just need to do one simple thing.


    "Bitty." Hermione called and the house elf appeared with a pop.


    "Miss Grangy be calling Bitty. What can Bitty bes doing for Miss Grangy."


    "Thank you for coming Bitty. Can you tell me where Harry is?" Hermione asked gently to the house elf who had the misfortune of being Harry''s house elf. Misfortune because Harry usually missed most of his meals and the poor house elf had to act like a mother and force feed the genius unless he dies of hunger and thirst without knowing about it.


    Hermione wondered if Harry would someday forget how to breathe without Bitty there to remind him about it.


    She chuckled inwardly at that thought.


    "Master Harry bes closed in the room with the rats. He''s not bes eating his meal either. Will Miss Grangy bes telling him to eat his meal?" the house elf asked hopefully and Hermione sighed.


    Sure enough, that reckless boy had forgotten to eat his food, again.


    "Of course Bitty. Give me his breakfast and I''ll pass it to him." She said and the house elf popped away and appeared the very next second with a box.


    "That will be all Bitty. Thank you." Hermione said and the house elf bowed before leaving.


    She on the other hand went to the empty wall beside one of the large doors in the corridor and started cleaning the dust off one of the bricks. After she was done, the bricks in front of her moved and revealed a passageway and she entered.


    After that she entered a few more passageways while wearing the invisibility cloak just to be sure that no one was following her before reaching her destination which was the abandoned girl''s bathroom on the first floor.


    There she raised her ring, which was given to her by Harry as a gift on last Christmas and rubbed it three times and a hiss came out of the room.


    A recording of parseltongue that Harry had added to the ring.


    A recoding that said ''Open'' in parseltongue and allowed her to enter the chamber of secrets when he was not around.


    She looked at the slide with some humor as remembered the first time they''d come here and how Harry forced her to jump along with him.


    That reckless boy.


    She was still not very comfortable riding this slide and she had a feeling that she would never be. But that didn''t meant that the slide would stop her from meeting Harry.


    Thankfully Harry had charmed the ground to act like cushion otherwise she would be sporting some bruises and cuts from that fall.


    She cleaned her robes, a habit that had not left her either just like Harry despite the robes being charmed to always remain clean and moved forward in the direction of the main chamber.


    There, she witness Besalla the Basilisk once again and remembered how afraid she had been the first time she had met the large snake.


    Now that she had fed her a few times by herself, she thought of the Basilisk as more of a cow than anything else.


    The ministry had banned anyone from breeding Basilisks, claiming that they were highly unstable and dangerous.


    But the ministry claimed the same about werewolves and vampires and Harry had hammered into her head that such was not the case. Those werewolves and vampires were just like human and won''t attack you unless you attack them first.


    She bowed in greeting to Besalla and despite the cloth wrapping around her eyes, the Basilisk was able to see or perceive her movements and slight gave her a nod in return which indicated that now Hermione could do as she wanted in the chambers.


    Besalla went back to sleeping and she went back to searching for Harry.


    She could only guess that he must have read something interesting in the books that they stole from the medical colleges last night.


    The kiss she had received on her cheek was still vivid in her memory and it was unlikely that she would forget it anytime soon. If ever. She had not slept very well last night because of her emotional turmoil either.


    She felt a tingle pass through her stomach at the thought of meeting Harry once again.


    Would he act like he always did.


    Or would he kiss her once again.


    And what should she do if he does. Should she kiss him back or not?


    At times like these, she missed the presence of her mother. She would probably talk about this with Penelope. The older girl had a boyfriend so she would know what to do.


    Boyfriend. The thought flustered her more than she thought but then she remembered why she was here and focused on the task up ahead and opened the door¡­


    And gasped in shock and terror.


    In their place were now these¡­ abominations.


    She had a feeling that Harry would not like her calling his experiments that word but she couldn''t think of any other word to describe these¡­ creatures.


    Oh, what has he done¡­


    She went forward and examined the new life forms he''d created in his madness. No, he would not like her calling it madness either. But then what else should she call it.


    The first cage held a rat,


    Just that it looked nothing like a rat anymore.


    The rat had eight legs that were a combination of a rat''s leg and a spider''s leg. On top of that, the rat had another meat bag of something that was attached to it''s back and led to it''s tail.


    Since the rat was shooting what she ?ssumed was Acromantula silk, she could only ?ssume that Harry had implanted the silk gland from an Acromantula into the rat.


    How had he done it.


    At least not within one night and not with the ease he seemed to have done it.


    She could see that the rat was still trying to regain it''s balance and failing miserably.


    It seemed like just adding new legs did not meant it would gain new motor functions over night.


    Maybe the rat just needed some more time with the¡­ new legs. Like how a toddler learnt how to walk.


    She felt a bit sick at such a comparison.


    Babies are so pure and innocent unlike¡­ this creature that looked like the stuff of nightmares.


    She averted her gaze from it and went to the next one.


    This one had reinforced steel bars on it and was larger than the cage they normally used.


    And she could understand why.


    Of course, one of the head was now simply dangling from the body and she ?ssumed that Harry must have failed in properly attaching it to the body but the other two heads were still intact.


    She wondered if he had gained inspiration from a Cerberus for this.


    He most likely did.


    Wait! Is this how Cerberus were created as well.


    The courtesy of a mad scientist who wanted to see how far he could go in his madness.


    No, she refused to think of her friend as mad. He was not mad. Just¡­ inspired.


    She went to the next cage which was about five times larger than one holding a Cerberus and she could understand why.


    The rat had bat wings attached to it''s back after all. Just that the rat was not really using to wings and dragging them along with itself.


    She could guess that Harry had probably hoped that the rat would try to fly or something but apparently the rat was too stupid to understand what to do with it''s new wings.


    So this was most likely a failed experiment. Still, the thought behind this one was nothing short of genius and she wondered if he attached the wings on the back of a more sentient being, then would it learn how to fly.


    Wait! Is that how Pegasus were made in the first place. The thought boggled her mind and she tried to ignore that thoughts that came along with it.


    Thoughts that beings like Mermaids and Centaurs were just the creation of a wizard who had gone too far with his experiments.


    She went to the next cage and it held a rat with¡­ enlarged grasshopper legs. Harry had removed it''s front legs to¡­ she didn''t know, so that the rat would have no choice but to learn how to work it''s new legs? Probably.


    She shook her head and went to the next one. And the next. And the next.


    By the time she was done with half of the cages, she was feeling strangely tired and felt no need to see the rest of them.


    So she moved to the other end of the room which led to another room where the experiments actually happened.


    She gritted her teeth and entered the room to find¡­


    Harry working on another rat.


    And the rat did look normal in all sense of the word except for the large mouth that should never have been there and the fangs jutting out of that large mouth. Wait? Didn''t those fangs looked similar.


    "Harry. What are you doing?" she asked and the genius, who was now turning into a mad genius whirled around to look at her and she balked at the crazed expression on his face.


    That and the bloodshot eyes along with the pale skin.


    How long had he been here. Did he even slept at all last night?


    He most likely didn''t


    "Oh Hermione. Come. come. Join me. Let me explain what I''m doing here."


    And he did.


    In detail.


    Supposedly, he was trying to create a new species of rats that held, wait for it¡­ ''Basilisk Venom.''


    Then he went to explain how he had spent a considerable amount of time on it''s jaws and neck to make them more expandable so that it would be able to swallow large things.


    He had also attached a small venom gland that he''d copied from Selena and transfigured it to hold the Basilisk''s venom.


    She could see through his explanation that he had put a lot of thought into this¡­ project of his and was not merely doing this simply because he wanted to.


    In fact, she could not see that there was lot of thought put into all of his experiments.


    There was certain amount of genius at work here but then again, of course there was.


    She however hoped that the rat wouldn''t survive and that the experiment would fail because having a new rat species that could produce Basilisk venom was a terrifying thought.


    He must have read her thought on her expression clearly because he suddenly started chuckling. "Oh Hermione. I know what you fear. Don''t worry. I won''t leave them in the forest and even if they did, they would most likely not survive because these new changes are far from perfect."


    He then chuckled once again and went back to the work but she could already see that he was deeply exhausted and she not be playing around with Basilisk venom in such a mental state.


    "Harry. That''s enough experiments for today." She said and was herself surprised by how authoritative her voice sounded.


    "Hnn¡­ What are you talking about?" he asked while scrunching up his face and she could now see that he was clearly not all up there.


    "Harry. Oh my god. Have you been drinking?" she asked worriedly as she pulled him away from the experiment and sat him down on the chair before examining his face that now held a goofy expression.


    She was such a fool. How had she not noticed it when she first entered the room. Oh yes, she was too fascinated by his genius to realize how much of a fool he could be.


    "What? No. I don''t drink Hermione. What are you talking about?" he said clearly but now that she was searching for it, she clearly clearly hear him slurring some of his words.


    "Harry. You''re too tired to carry on with these experiments anymore. You need to eat something and then you need a proper sleep before you could do anything else."


    "What? What are you talking about? I''m not tired." He said and tried to stand up but she pushed him back easily, realizing for the first time how truly tired he seemed.


    This fool.


    "No Harry. You need to rest before you do anymore of your experiments. Understand?" she asked but he remained stubborn and tried to stand up once again.


    "Get off Hermione. I''ve too many ideas to just sit around and do nothing. There''s so much for me to do. So many tests to perform. So many new things to find out. How can I sleep when there''s so much for me to do?" he said and tried to get up once again but Hermione have had enough.


    She sat him back down and looked at him with puppy dog eyes and pleaded "Harry. Please."


    She of course didn''t forget to bite her lips. She knew that her doing so had some effect on him. She didn''t knew what but it did went a long way to make him agree to his demands so she now bit her lips whenever she wanted something from him.


    And as she begged him this time, his face went through a multitude of emotions before at last, his shoulders shagged and he lowered his head with a sigh and that single action made him look so much more tired.


    "You''re right." He said in a low voice "I''m too tired to continue anymore."


    With those words, he fell to the ground. Unconscious and she jumped in order to protect his head from hitting the ground before she remembered that of course, he had charmed the ground around here to act like cushion as well.


    She shook her head and pushed the chair with her mind and laid him down gently on the ground.


    Then she transfigured a stone kept nearby into a pillow and laid it under her head as his ?h?st moved up and down slowly.


    He looked¡­ so peaceful when he slept.


    And with those thoughts, she realized that it was the first time she had seen him sleep.


    And he had forgotten him meal as well. Once again.


    For a supposed genius-of-the-millennia, he sure acted foolishly most of the time.


    She took another stone and transfigured it into a thin blanket and laid it on top of him.


    It was not much of a sleeping arrangement but there was no bed here in the Chamber of Secrets and this would have to do.


    Then she took out a book from a limitless bag, once again, a courtesy of Mister Harry Potter who always seemed to some more galleons hidden in his back pocket and sat down on the chair.


    Now she would have to wait for him to wake up from his sleep.

 Chapter 82 - Flitwicks Complain

    "The boy is a genius. And absolute genius." Flitwick complained as he chugged another glass of Firewhiskey from Minerva collection. One of the good things about coming here and talking with Minerva. She always had good Firewhiskey hidden somewhere in her office.


    "Then why do you look so glum Filius? Are you not happy with his progress?" Minerva asked curiously and Flitwick sighed.


    "I''m indeed happy with his progress. Immensely so in fact and I''m proud of the things he had achieved and will achieve in the future. But¡­ I fell so old and useless every after every session that I spend teaching him."


    "Why is that Filius?" Minerva asked so concern and he knew why that was. It was not often that his colleagues saw his down like this.


    Years of torment that he suffered as a child had made him thick skinned and nowadays he was hardly phased by small things like envy.


    But he was envious of his student.


    It took his a lot of time to come to terms with his feelings but he now realized that he was indeed envious of Harry Potter.


    And why shouldn''t he be.


    "The boy learns at a speed far faster than any other person I''ve ever seen." He said slowly "In fact, the boy has become so good nowadays that he is able to match me spell for spell."


    "Do you know how long it took me to reach the level where I could throw spells as fast as I could?"


    Minerva didn''t ask but he knew she wanted to know so he answered anyway.


    "Decades." He replied bitterly "Decades of hard work and perseverance. And the boy was able to do it within a few months."


    "When I was a child, I knew that the world was an unfair place. That not all of us are born equal. But I learned to endure. I learned to look past such feelings in order to look at the brighter side of things."


    "But every time I go to teach young Harry. Every time I see the ease at which he learns things. Every time he achieves a feat that took me years of hard work to do, I am reminded of how unfair this world is and such thoughts make me feel so¡­ hollow."


    "I know should not feel like this Minerva. Believe me, I do. And I try my best to smile and encourage Mr Potter instead of letting him show how much his growth affects me. But it is what it is."


    "What makes me feel worse is that I know that as a teacher I should not feel envious of my own student. And that makes me think that I''m not suitable for this task of teaching young Harry."


    Minerva quietly filled his glass and he emptied it without another word.


    Despite the fact that he never showed it, he was immensely grateful to Minerva for holding these talking sessions with him even if this was just a way for Dumbledore to keep an eye on his Claw.


    He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Minerva looking sympathetically at him.


    "It''s alright Filius. We''re humans. And it''s in our nature to be imperfect."


    "Thanks Minerva" he said and gave a nod to his older colleague.


    In moments like this, he could see why the Headmaster trusted her so much and felt so free to leave the school in her capable hands whenever he had to go and attend a meeting somewhere else.


    "Would it be possible to ask Headmaster to take some time out of his schedule to teach Mr Potter?" he asked with some hope because at this moment, he felt like he did not deserve the privilege to teach someone as talented as young Harry.


    "You know he can''t do that Filius." Minerva replied "He is already too busy with his three jobs as it is. Some times he''s not even able to perform all of his duties as a Headmaster, leaving me to fill in for him. Him teaching Mr Potter is¡­ unfeasible."


    "But that''s where I think you''re wrong Minerva. You must understand that Harry is unlike any other student I''ve ever seen in Hogwarts. I can already tell that he''ll be a very important part of our community in the future. And I think that you can you."


    "We do not discriminate between our students Filius." Minerva said calmly but he could see how she didn''t instantly reject his proposal.


    "I know. But you must understand that not all students are equal either Minerva. And treating Harry as a normal student will only hamper his growth."


    "Filius I¡­"


    "Minvera." He interrupted "Albus is an old man. I know we all wish that he wasn''t but he is. And no one stays forever in this mortal world."


    "One day he''ll leave this world, just like we all will. Wouldn''t it be better for him and for all of us to have a successor that would carry on his will and his ideals in the future when he does."


    "I know that his job as a Supreme Mugwump and the Chief Warlock are important and so is his duty as the Headmaster but having a successor that''ll carry on his will in the future is just as important."


    "Think about it Minerva." He pleaded. He knew that this was a ploy to get Harry a more capable teacher than him but he also believed that nurturing Harry would be very important for their future.


    For all of their futures.


    Minerva took a sip of the firewhiskey and let out a sigh "You make a good point Filius. Perhaps I''ll talk with Albus see what he thinks about this."


    "You do that Minerva." He said with a smile "And if nothing else, we could always call them the Dark Slayer duo."


    They both chuckled at the weak joke before he raised the cup in the air.


    "For the future." He said with a smile.


    "For the future." Minerva said with a rare indulgent smile of her own before they finished their glasses.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    * Daphne came to learn from Harry.


    "Whatever you''ve learned about magic throughout your life. Forget about all of it as it is unlikely that such knowledge would only hamper you with what I''m about to teach you."


    Daphne frowned at those words, not understanding what he really meant by that but nodded anyway.


    He smiled at her nod and shook his head "You''ll understand the reason behind my words soon enough."


    And by the end of the class, she had probably learned more about magic from him than she had from anyone else in her entire life.


    And she could tell that his words were not meaningless because he showed her live examples after every explanation, using magic in a way that others would consider impossible.


    After all, wasn''t she taught as a child that Wizards and witches couldn''t perform magic without a proper wand.


    She now understood why he would tell her to forget all that she had learned.


    Because whatever she had learned, whatever she had been taught by her father and by the magical society was wrong.


    Well, not really wrong but not totally right either.


    She could now see why he was so better at magic than others.


    She also realized that it would take her a lot of time to get as good at controlling her magic as him so she promised to start the exercises as soon as possible.


    Because if Hermione could do it, then she could do it as well.


    "So all I have to do is try to push and pull this paper with my magic. Even if it doesn''t work." She asked incredulously.


    "Yes. You have to do it until it work. I know this is boring work but that how you start." He said with a shrug, not giving her any encouragement at all.


    He really was a shit of a teacher, wasn''t he.


    "Abusing me in your mind won''t help you, you know." His words gave her a shock and she quickly averted her gaze, not trying to remember how he slipped inside her mind last time without he even knowing.


    He chucked at her actions, as if there was anything funny about reading someone''s mind without their permission.


    "I know what you''re thinking and no, I did not read your mind to know that you were insulting me in your mind. It was clearly written in your face so I had no need for it in the first place."


    She frowned at her words. Telling her, the ice queen of Slytherin, that her face was readable was one of the worst insult anyone could give her.


    "And I don''t make a habit of reading someone''s mind either. That time when I did was a one time event though I think you can understand the necessity behind my action. You''re a smart girl after all."


    She gave a nod at that, not wanting to say anything to him at this moment.


    "I know that the exercise sound boring as hell and trust me, it is. But that''s how we all started and I don''t know any other exercise to start with. Although you could always try to come up with something yourself. Still, once you complete the minimum requirement, you''ll be ready to learn the more advanced stuff."


    "You know. You can stay if you want. I don''t think either Hermione or Penelope would mind your presence."


    "They may not but the students in my house will. And I may have joined your group but I don''t want to be estranged by the rest of my house just yet." She said and left the room before remembering that she was still under the influence of the time turner and that there should be another Daphne of the past walking around in the halls with her friends.


    With a sigh she went back to the room and sat down with Harry.


    It seemed like she would have to tolerate his smug face for the next three hours.


    Until then, she would work on the new exercises she had been given.

 Chapter 83 - Helping Daphne

    Dear Aunt Andromeda,


    It has recently come to my attention that you were quite an accomplished potions mistress in your time. Before you were cast out of your family tree for loving and marrying a muggleborn.


    I do not know why you never followed your passion and choose to became a potions mistress after the demise and imprisonment of your family members. I could only guess that you must have had your own personal reasons.


    Be that as it may, I''ve recently taken a girl under my wing who seemed to be very good with Potions herself.


    I''ve seen her skills and believe that she has a lot of potential to be a great potion''s mistress. But we both know that her skills will only stagnate under the teaching of Severus Snape.


    So I want you to teach her the subject instead.


    Of course, I do not expect you to work for free. So here I''ve sent 3000 galleons as teaching fee for the next 6 months. Along with the money, I''m also sending you additional books regarding potion that might interest you along with a beginner book in the subject of Alchemy in case you want to pursue something new.


    If you consider the fee too little then send a message with Bitty, my house elf and we could negotiate the price at a further date.


    You don''t need to worry about the absence of a potions'' lab as I''ll provide it for you along with the girl you''ll teaching in the future.


    You can also use that potions'' lab in your spare time if you want.


    I hope you accept this request from me.


    It might give you something to do with your spare time and who knows, maybe you might even get back your passion for Potions once again.


    Your loving nephew,


    Harry James Potter


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry entered the room of requirement and smiled at the 4 training dummies waiting for him.


    Apparently the room decided to increase his opponents from 3 to 4. Hogwarts must have thought that he had become better in dueling now.


    He was glad that his training was showing results because he had put a lot of effort into learning how to fight.


    After all, he knew that sooner or later a war would take over Wizarding Britain and he would eventually have to step in and kick the shit out a few people.


    And he couldn''t do it if he didn''t even knew how to fight.


    So yeah, training how to fight or ''dueling'', as the wizards so eloquently put it, was always something that he needed to work on.


    So over the past few months he had been coming here everyday and practicing for at least 1 hour in the least.


    This was one of the main reasons why he was getting so good in his duels against Professor Flitwick, who, despite all these months of training was still kicking his ?ss though now a days the man had to work for those wins.


    Still, to see that he was improving was always a nice feeling.


    If he fought the training dummies while wearing his robe that was filled to the brim with Defensive runes and patched up with Basilisk skin then this fight wouldn''t even be called a fight as most of the low level spells launched by the dummies would never hit him in the first place.


    On another note, now that Hermione knew about all three of his time turners and has started to use them alongside her, she would notice his absence more easily and sooner or the later the truth about this room would come out.


    So it might be best for him to tell her about it instead.


    And while he was at it, he would start teaching her how to duel as well.


    Just because she was young didn''t stop her and the original Harry from chasing after Quirrelmort or the Basilisk or an escaped convict in the movies so he didn''t see why it should stop her now.


    Plus, as his subordinate/friend/future-lover she would have to take part in her own share of battles so it was important that she knew how to fight and he would do his best to prepare her for the upcoming war no matter what anyone else says.


    With such thoughts, he flexed his shoulders and stood in between the four dummies, waiting for the beating that he was about to suffer soon enough.


    Because just like the Pheonix that rises from the ashes, he will too¡­ wait, that just sounds cheesy now.


    The point was that he may lose this fight but he''ll get better and eventually win the war.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Sitting in the Quidditch stadium with all the people had always made him uncomfortable. He was just that anti social.


    Thankfully, Hermione and Penelope had taken it in account this time and had allowed him to keep his Shroud of Concealment active throughout the whole game.


    Penelope had told him that it would be one of the most important matches of the year because the winner of this match will play in the final and being the Quidditch fanatic that she was, she could not miss it no matter what.


    The problem was that like all other fanatics in the world, she had to wanted to spread her fanaticism to other people and being one of the closest person to her in the school aside from her boyfriend, she had pleaded him to come with him.


    He had of course refused because he had better things to do than to watch some stupid teenagers trying to kill each other with heavy metal balls.


    But Penelope had taken the art of pleading to a whole new level this time and when Hermione suggested that he could join her while wearing his shroud of concealment and Penelope had agreed, his defense faltered and they finally overpowered him into coming to this stupid event.


    The only saving grace was that he was able to create a spell for himself that would allow him to lower the volume from his surroundings as he wished so if the students got too loud, he could just use the spell to lower their voice.


    And the fact that Hermione had decided to come along with him and Penelope.


    Not that she would ever be loyal to a house that openly allowed it''s members to bully her and almost caused her death no matter how indirectly.


    Her words.


    So here he was, sitting in the top last seat in the stadium along with and excited Penelope and a hidden Hermione.


    He was proud of the fact that Hermione was able to use the Shroud constantly nowadays even if she had to focus on it most of the time.


    These next few hours would prove to be good practice for her.


    He also wondered about his other group member who was sitting on the other side of the stadium along with her friend Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini.


    Of course, he had just escorted her future version to the underground hidden Potions'' lab he recently created so there was that as well.


    After the first few days when she had joined his group, he had come to realize that she was very good in Potions.


    And by very good, he meant Very very good.


    Apparently after her mother had died, her father had started new classes for both her and her sister and Potions was among one of those classes since it doesn''t require magic to create potions and she wasn''t breaking any laws by learning it.


    Because of that, she had become very good at it, not that she ever showed her expertise in the class, what with her being a perfect Slytherin and all that crap.


    Still, she was very good at the subject and because of that, she started gaining interest in it as well.


    In fact, after they had become a little comfortable with each other, she had disclosed to him that she wanted to become a Potions mistress in the future as that position would give her both respect and a high standing in the society.


    Getting rich off of her potions would just be a side benefit.


    But now that she was under his wing, he would of course not be satisfied with her being a simple Potions mistress.


    If it''s worth doing, then it''s worth doing well.


    It was one of the motto that he followed.


    So if she was going to be a Potions mistress then he would see that she becomes the best in her field.


    He had even given her all of Snape''s books from 1st to 7th year as a gift.


    And being the clever Slytherin that she was, it took her only a few days to find out the real identity of the owner of those books.


    And from the looks that she kept giving Snape after she came to know the truth, he had doubts that if Snape was a half decent bloke and a bit good looking then she would have developed her first puppy love right then and there.


    Thankfully, Snape was a rather repulsive person, even for those who respected his skills so he didn''t have the misfortune of watching one of his friend/ally salivating after the man.


    Because that would be just¡­


    Eughhh!!!


    The sound of the whistle along with the cheers brought his attention back to the stadium and he realized that the match had started and by this point, he doubted that Penelope even remembered that they were there.


    By the way she was shouting and jumping on her seat, he had a feeling that she didn''t.


    ~Sigh~ Why was he here again?

 Chapter 84 - Accio Stupid Dragon

    It happened when everyone else was totally focused on the game and only he was interested in finding the snitch.


    He wanted to test his transfigured eyes and see if he would be able to find the snitch in the air before the other seekers.


    Turned out that trying to find a small shiny thing in a large stadium didn''t not help with the disorienting feeling that came with using some other bird''s eyes.


    It was more like seeing through a telescope with 20x zoom. Even the smallest bit of disturbance would change your view to some other place so trying to find the snitch was a futile attempt.


    Maybe if he had Selena''s eyes then he would have been able to see the magical signature of the snitch and find it through that trail.


    But he had tried to change his eyes into that of Selena''s as well and had not gained any special powers because of it.


    As it was, his goal of finding the snitch before the other seekers was doomed to failure from the start.


    But just as he was going to give up and read a book instead of wasting anymore of his time, he saw a trail of smoke coming from the other end of the school.


    What was that?


    He didn''t know. But he was sure that so much smoke coming from the near the forbidden forest could not be a good thing.


    And why was no one else worried about the smoke.


    Oh. 20x zoom eyes and all.


    Should he even care about it at all?


    He tried to recall any such event from the movies but came up empty handed.


    Apparently the bu??erfly effect was already showing results.


    "Hermione. Penelope." He tugged at the two girls.


    "What is it Harry?" Penelope asked, a bit louder than necessary. It seemed like she was still in the high of the game.


    "There''s a fire going on somewhere near the Forbidden Forest." He informed them "Someone might need our help."


    Well, he did say that but the main reason for going after the fire was that he was bored out of his mind in the stadium and going anywhere else might be better than staying here for another hour.


    Penelope was not willing to go but he and Hermione were somehow able to persuade her to tend to the fire despite the game.


    "Shouldn''t we tell anyone else Harry. I mean, like some teacher or Prefect." Hermione asked as they descended the stairs of the stadium.


    "The fire is not big enough that we would need the intervention of a staff member and we already have a Prefect." He said pointing at Penelope.


    "Now that I think about it. Why can''t I see the smoke from here Harry?" Penelope said as she tried to take a peek at the forbidden forest from this distance.


    "Because I have the eyes of the hawk." He said giving a nod to Hermione who instantly understood his meaning and gave a nod in return.


    Once they came out of the stadium all of them took out their Nimbus 2000 from their personal limitless pouch and flew toward the smoke.


    And as they came closer to the fire, they finally realized what was burning.


    It was none other than Hagrid''s hut.


    "Oh my god. Hagrid needs our help Harry" Penelope panic upon seeing his burning hut and he could tell that Hermione must be panicking as well and probably having second thought about bringing a teacher.


    Well, at least it was not the forbidden forest that was on fire.


    That would have been harder to control.


    But Hagrid hut should be easy.


    "Relax Penelope. He''s alright." Harry said as he used the hawk eyes and saw the half giant throwing water one bucket at a time at his burning hut.


    On top of their brooms, they were able to cross the distance of half the school in record time and he could hear Hermione and Penelope gasp at how badly the hut was burning at this point.


    "Oh¡­ Fang. Oh Norbert. What have you done my baby." The half giant was openly crying at this point while still throwing bucket after bucket of water at the burning hut.


    Wait who were Fang and Norbert again.


    He used his occlumency and took a trip down the memory lane and remembered who those two characters were.


    Norbert was a fu?k?n? dragon that Hagrid thought he would be able to control.


    In the original timeline, the original Harry, Hermione and Ron had managed to knock some sense into the thick skull of the half giant and had given the dragon to Ron''s elder brother Charlie who worked in a dragon reserve.


    But this time, there was no one who could tell Hagrid that keeping a fire breathing dragon inside a wooden hut with grass straws for a roof might not be such a good idea.


    Especially since the dragons grow at such a rapid pace.


    And the dragon grown.


    He could still the it belching flames at the hut even now. A foolish dragon for a foolish master.


    Hermione and Penelope instantly came down from their brooms and started conjuring water and throwing it at the hut.


    Hermione was doing a far better job at it but Penelope was doing best as well.


    He would have loved to say that it was the thought that counted but it really didn''t.


    "Stop. Stop." He said as he descended from the air removing his shroud and making his presence known to Hagrid. "Get back." He ordered "I''ll handle this."


    He could see that Hagrid wanted to tell him something but he was in no mood to hear.


    With a wave of his hand, a translucent dome formed over the hut, covering every part of it inside the dome.


    Then he took out his wand his it''s holster as the next bit of magic was going to take a lot of concentration from him.


    Then he pointed at the hut, used his intent to transfigure the oxygen inside the dome into carbon dioxide and willed it to happen.


    Anyone else would need a lot of concentration to do such a delicate transfiguration work.


    After all, changing air was far different and far harder than changing liquid or solid because it is harder to point at a specific place in the air.


    In fact, he had no doubts that even Minerva would find such a thing extremely hard to do.


    But he knew he would be able to do it.


    Just like how he trusted his magic to make up the neural pathways along with the arteries and the veins when he added more muscle to someone''s body.


    And just like always.


    His magic followed his will and the air inside the dome saw a subtle change happen to it.


    All the fire raging inside down down at once.


    Well, not all as some flamable parts of the hut still burned with their dying breath and Norbert was still belching flames every now and then but everything else was alright.


    With a wave of his hand, a dog muzzle appeared in thin air and closed Norbert''s mouth once and for all.


    "Now use the water in places which are still burning." He said to the girls but Hagrid might have heard him as well cause he followed after the two girls with his bucket as well.


    Then Harry removed the dome and Hermione and Penelope started dealing with the last remnants of the fire in Hut.


    "Accio stupid dragon." He mumbled and the magic followed his will and brought Norbert to him.


    Transfiguring all the oxygen molecules inside the hut inside the dome had taken out more from him than he had expected.


    But he was still not so exhausted that he would let the unruly dragon burn anything else.


    With another thought a large amount of acromantula silk came out of his limitless purse and bound the wings, tail and legs of the dragon.


    He felt the urge to use even more of the silk and turn the dragon into a cocoon but discarded the idea as soon as it came to his mind as such a thing would be needlessly cruel to the dragon.


    Then he remembered another thing and pointed at the hut once again and called "Accio dog."


    And a large dog came out the hut just as Norbert did. Except that this dog had suffered from numerous 1st and 2nd degree burns along with a few 3rd degree burns.


    The dog let out a pitiful wh?n? as it landed on his feet and he gave the slobbering beast a disgusted glance and said "Stay Still."


    And roots came out of the ground and bound it to it''s place, stopping it from moving around and making it''s injuries worse.


    He could not tell how long the beast will live with such injuries but without proper medical treatment, it''s chances were not looking very good.


    "Oh¡­ Fang." Hagrid cried from somewhere in the distance but he needed peace and quiet along with a lot of concentration for what he was about to do next.


    So with a thought, he conjured another shield to cover both him and the dog so that the half giant would not disturb him and fu?k this shit up.


    Then he pointed his wand at the dying dog, put all of his will and intent behind his magic and said in Parseltongue "Heal."


    A golden mist came out of the wand and covered the dog a little at a time, healing all of it''s wounds as the mist rolled over it''s body.


    The whole thing was a bit too dramatic and a little to showy for his liking and he had never seen the golden mist come out when he was healing his test subjects but oh well.


    The mist seemed to be doing a good job of healing the dog and¡­ wait¡­ why did he saved it in the first place.


    Because he did not like this one all that much.


    Not that he didn''t like dogs in general but dogs were supposed to be loyal and brave and this dog was anything but that. On top of that, it was bu?? ugly and the saliva contantly dripping down it''s mouth only filled him with more disgust toward the beast.


    And then he remembered.


    Hermione and Penelope were here as well. And they would have been sad if the dog had died despite their best efforts.


    The golden mist vanished into thin air after going over it''s entire body and the dying dog was not dying anymore.


    Hurreeh!!


    That was was sarcastic hurreeh by the way.

 Chapter 85 - Harry my boy

    He removed the dome surrounding them and made to stand up, and almost lost his footing in the process because of the sudden feeling of lightheadedness. Signs of magical exhaustion, he realized with some anger toward himself.


    It was a disgrace for him to use up all of his magic for something as trivial as thing.


    Apparently the girls didn''t think so as two missiles suddenly raced toward him and enveloped him in a tight hug.


    He stood still for a moment at the sudden onslaught before he eased into the hug and hugged them back as well.


    Hugs were warm.


    Hugs were good.


    He liked hugs.


    But before he could enjoy the moment any longer, Selena slithered out from under his sleeves and hissed "Harry. People are coming."


    Harry frowned at that bit of information and turned his head toward the castle and indeed, a bunch of students and staff members could be seen descending the stairs and coming toward the hut.


    He let out a sigh and broke the hug.


    Hermione looked at him questioningly and he pointed her in that direction and she gave an understanding nod.


    "Penelope." He said, brining the older girl''s attention back to himself. "Use the invisibility cloak and hide the dragon."


    "Why?" Penelope asked in confusion and he gave her a deadpanned stare in return.


    "Because dragons are XXXXX level creatures. Said to be one of the most dangerous creatures on earth." Hermione explained in his stead "And because it''s highly illegal to keep a dragon in¡­ your house and the offense is punishable by a long stay in Azkaban."


    "Oh no." Penelope said fearfully and ran with the Invisibility cloak in order to hide the dragon.


    Thankfully, she was able to able to hide the dragon before the worried teachers and the curious students arrived.


    "Keep it with behind you at all times." He whispered to the older girl who gave a nod and followed his orders quietly as the mob descended upon them.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Hagrid, my word. What happened here?" the old woman asked as she led the staff members and the curious students into the clearing in front of the hut which had turned white because of the ash that came out of the burned hut.


    Hagrid, who was now holding tightly onto his dog sobbed a bit and wiped his tears before he opened his mouth to say something. Only to be cut off by Hermione who thought that the gentle half giant would definitely blurt out the truth in his emotional state. Something that would earn him a one way trip to Azkaban.


    "It was an accident Professor. Hagrid here baking some of his rock cakes and had gone outside for a while in order to feed some of the creatures when the fire went a little out of hand and¡­ burned his hut." She said and then gave the half giant a pleading look to make sure that he wouldn''t dig up his own grave after she went out of her way in trying to save his hide.


    "And what manner of creature did he went to feed?" the silky voice came from behind the other staff members as Snape made his presence known to all present in the scene, trying to poke holes in Hermione''s lies.


    Hermione looked like a kid caught with her hands inside a cookie jar and looked around frantically, trying to come up with an answer.


    He sighed in his mind. This girl really had no cunning bones in her body.


    "Thestrals." He answered in a disinterested tone "He went to feed the thestral herd down by the forbidden forest." He said before he turned and gave a glare to the half giant which clearly said that ''I''m helping you now as well you miserable shit. So if you fu?k this up then I''ll eat your dog.''


    The half giant seemed to have caught his meaning cause he frantically nodded his head in return.


    "And how¡­ do you know about Thestrals Mr Potter." Snape asked in his silky smooth voice that almost made him roll his eyes. Couldn''t the man simply talk like a normal person for once or did he always had to sound so dramatic.


    "Frankly that none of your business¡­ Mr Snape." He drawled "But since you''ve asked. I''ve seen my mother being murdered in front of my eyes as a young boy. Or perhaps you hated my mother so much that you didn''t even counted her as a person."


    He knew that this was a low blow but it did had the intended effect of shutting him up at once.


    "Enough." Minerva said firmly. "We''re not here to interrogate these children Severus. Now. If you all follow me to the Headmaster''s office. I believe you all have a few questions to answer." She said and turned to leave and he wondered if she really said what he just thought she said.


    Did she really ordered him to do something.


    Did she thought that she could tell him to do something, tell him to go wherever she wanted him to go and he would obey like a good little dog.


    Ohh¡­ she was a delusional woman if she thought that he would follow her anywhere. And he must remove such delusions from her mind at once because if he didn''t then who knows, tomorrow some other professor would come along and ask him to do their bidding as well.


    Well, maybe not. And maybe he was just being overly dramatic with all of his bu the didn''t do well with orders and he sure wasn''t going to follow the order of a woman he didn''t respect.


    So¡­


    "I don''t think I will Mrs Mcgonagall." He said, deliberately leaving out the Professor from her name to indicate that the Headmaster might have kept him in the school, but he never considered himself a part of this institution.


    Everyone froze at his words and turned around to face him.


    "I don''t think that was a request Mr Potter." Minerva said and gave him her best stern glare. As if something like that would work on him.


    "Oh but it is. You''re kindly requesting me to come to the headmaster''s office and I''m declining. In fact, I don''t think Hermione and Penelope would be going along with you either. We''ve better things to do than to waste our time talking with the old coot."


    And that was when things went to shit.


    As Hermione hit him in the head and chastised him for talking bad about the headmaster.


    And the students standing behind the staff members chuckled at the sight of his getting humiliated.


    Any other time¡­ any other time, Hermione could have hit him in the head and chastised him for his language and he would have ignored it or laughed along with her.


    Any other time.


    But doing so now.


    It felt like a betrayal.


    He was trying to take a stance in front of these people. Telling them clearly that Hermione and Penelope would follow him in whatever he did.


    And then Hermione had hit him and told chastised him in front of them.


    Humiliated him in front of them.


    Made him a laughing stock in their eyes.


    And he could not forgive such a thing.


    The air blowing around them stilled at once and the leaves flowing down in the wind simply stopped and fell down on the ground. Lifeless. As everything around them suddenly went cold. Very cold.


    The students who had not realized that gravity of the situation stopped laughing as their breath suddenly became visible to them and they clutched their arms instinctly in order to keeping themselves warm in the freezing temperature.


    And as they stopped laughing, everything went absolute silent and he stood still for a while, gazing at the people who had just laughed at him before he slowly turned to face the girl had just humiliated him in front of these people.


    "Harry." Penelope said cautious from the side but a cold look from him shut her up at once.


    "Harry." Hermione said as she looked at him pleadingly.


    She had betrayed him before. On two different occasions. And he had forgiven her on both different occasions.


    But he had not forgotten.


    Was there a reason to keep a person beside you if that same person would betray you in your most important moment.


    Was there?


    He didn''t think there was.


    It seemed like he was never going to have a good and meaningful relationship with anyone in the first place.


    He had been stupid to think that there was a chance that such a thing would happen.


    To be stabbed in the back like this was.


    Painful.


    And it made him angry. So angry.


    He took a step toward the girl whom he should have never ?ssociated with.


    The girl who he had so desperately wanted as a friend. The girl who had betrayed and humiliated him when he needed her the most.


    The girl whom he thought he could build something with in the future.


    He had been naive. So very naive and at that moment, he wondered if Voldemort''s mantra of never making friends, of never feel affection for someone else was the right thing to do after all.


    Because this pain he was feeling in his ?h?st. This rage that was burning in his mind surely indicated that he was doing something wrong.


    Right?


    He raised his hand to grab her throat.


    To punish her for her betrayal.


    For his humiliation.


    For this pain.


    But the hand never reached her as another fell upon his shoulder, freezing him in his place and the the cold temperature was gone. Just like that. As if it was never there in the first place. And as he frowned at the sudden change in temperature, he heard a gentle voice coming from behind him.


    "Harry, my boy¡­"

 Chapter 86 - Suspicion

    His gaze was cold. Colder than anything Flitwick had ever seen before and that was the first indication that something was wrong here.


    The boy stood there, all alone and glanced at everyone and everything as if he was looking at something that was beneath his notice.


    The headmaster sat on his desk and gave his grandfatherly smile but for once, that smile was not enough to remove the oppressive feeling from the room.


    All the other staff members were present as well. For what, he didn''t know.


    He just knew that Hagrid hut''s had burned down for some reason and Harry, along with the two girls who were now wearing incredibly downcast expression were found in that place.


    He had heard some of the students say that it was Harry himself who had burned down Hagrid''s hut he didn''t believe those rumors for one second.


    Harry would never do such a thing.


    But because Harry would consider it beneath himself to burn down Hagrid''s hut.


    The boy was a proud person and would never do something that would require him to stoop so low.


    No. The boy had not burned Hagrid''s hut and he was sure of it.


    Now if only everyone else would have the same amount of trust in the boy as he did. But alas, such was not the case.


    Minerva and Severus were looking at the boy suspiciously. And so were most of the other staff members.


    Dear Pomona simply looked confused and out of place in this gathering. She had probably came to the Headmaster''s office because every other staff member had come here as well. But unlike him, she didn''t even knew what was going on.


    Ah¡­ the kind and gentle woman shouldn''t have come here.


    His instincts as a International Duelist were telling him that something was about to go horribly wrong and he''d rather keep the kind woman away in case something did go wrong.


    With those thought, he slowly started moving toward the plump woman and because of his small height, no one really noticed his movement.


    And that when it all started. As the boy he had taught for the last few months opened his mouth to speak.


    "You''re wary of me." Harry said, his cold dead voice reverberating in the office and Flitwick wondered if the temperature in the room just dropped of if he was just his imagination.


    "You think I burned down his hut." The boy said with disgust and Flitwick jumped inwardly in his mind for the confirmation that Harry had not burned down Hagrid''s hut. Because his student''s words was all he needed.


    He believed in him.


    Sadly, the rest of the staff members didn''t share his trust in his student.


    "Then pray tell Mr Potter. How did Hagrid''s hut burned down. And why were you three there in the scene when that happened?" Snape asked.


    Hagrid, who had been coddling his dog till this point stood up, trying to say something but a look from Minerva and Snape made it clear that it was not his place to talk right now.


    Flitwick wondered what it was that Hagrid wanted to tell them.


    Then he gazed back at Harry whose cold eyes roamed over Snape for a moment before he turned to look at the two girls standing a few steps behind him with their head hung low and a multitude of emotions passed through his face for a fraction of a moment before he reined in his expression and donned on his cold facade once again.


    The boy was in pain. A lot of it. And the pain made him angry.


    Why was that? What had cause the boy so much pain?


    Flitwick gazed at the two girls, the little one specifically who was looking so ashamed that she couldn''t even raise her head to meet the boy''s eyes. And he wondered what had the girl done to cause so much pain to the boy.


    Wasn''t she supposed to be one of his best friends.


    Then the boy turned to face Snape once again and after a long silence, he said "That''s none of your business Mr Snape."


    "But it is our business Mr Potter." Minerva said in a firm manner "A staff member living inside Hogwarts had his house burned down. You can''t expect us to not do anything about it. So please tell us what happened."


    The boy looked at her coldly for a moment before he gave a shrug and didn''t say anymore.


    Flitwick wondered if he should interject. The way these people were questioning him seemed like they were trying to accuse him of something and he didn''t that. He didn''t like that at all.


    But before he could say something, the headmaster stood up from his seat and gave a benevolent smile to the boy "Harry. If you have something to tell us, then please feel free to do so."


    A cold laughter that sent chills down his spine.


    "Ohhhh you''re good. You''re so good at acting. So good at maintaining your grandfatherly facade that never let it show how much you actually fear me."


    What?


    What was Harry talking about?


    Why would Dumbledore fear him? Sure he was a prodigy but surely Dumbledore wouldn''t fear him simply because of that.


    But the slight fall in Dumbledore''s expression said otherwise.


    There was story here that Flitwick didn''t know. What didn''t he know.


    "I know you''re afraid of me Dumbledore." He boy said with a chuckle.


    "You''ve always been afraid of me."


    "Afraid that I''ll become the next Voldemort."


    Flitwick felt his blood freezing at the name of the terrible man whose actions still brought him nightmares to this very day.


    "After all, we both shared a very similar history." The boy said.


    "He was brought up in a muggle orphanage. Bullied and abused by his fellow peers."


    "And I was brought up in an abusive home. Abused and beaten by my own relatives."


    The staff members su?k?d in a breath at that bit of information.


    Both the fact that Voldemort was once a child. A child who was bullied and abused by other muggles. And the fact that Harry lived in an abusive home.


    Flitwick knew a little bit about Harry''s living problems thanks to Minerva who had let slip a few things in her drunken state. But that didn''t stop him from glaring at the headmaster who suddenly looked far older than he did a few moments ago.


    "A home" Harry continued "Where my uncle beat me with a belt and my aunt hit me with a frying pan just because the food I cooked for them wasn''t good enough."


    Flitwick heard a sobbing sound and saw that Hermione had openly started to cry at this point. The poor girl. Did she knew about this?


    "But you should know Dumbledore. That you are not wrong."


    "I''m indeed a lot like Voldemort."


    That sentence brought in a lot of sharp intakes from the staff members and Flitwick noticed how Dumbledore''s eyes changed from tired to sharp in an instant.


    Had the old man been faking his tiredness.


    Flitwick was in too much shock himself to think about others at this moment but he saved that memory to be reviewed in the future.


    For now, he wanted to listen to what his pupil had to say.


    "I do not like this magical world Dumbledore." Harry said coldly but Flitwick could see that the boy was feeling a bit tired at this point.


    This whole confession and being stared at by everyone was taking a toll on him.


    "It is too stagnant. Has too much corruption in it. To much discrimination. Too much prejudice. Too much stupidity."


    "Did you know that I thought make name was ''freak'' because that''s what relatives called until I became 5 years old and started attending school along with Dudley."


    "When I first entered the magical world, I thought that things will finally be different. That I will finally be treated just like everyone else and guess what happens."


    "Everyone gathers around me and tries to shake my hand. Staring at my scar like it was the 8th wonder of the world. Asking me if I remember the night Voldemort killed my parents and what not?"


    "Do you know that I felt more like a freak put up for a show in a freakhouse during my stay in Hogwarts than I ever did in my school back in the muggle world."


    "I do not like this world Dumbledore. And I don''t like the people in this world either." The boy gave a short glance at Flitwick and added "Most People."


    And Flitwick had to stop the sudden urge to cry.


    Why had he never asked about his childhood when they were dueling. Why had be never tried to understand him more. Why had Minerva never told him? Why had he never asked her or the Headmaster about his home life in more detail?


    "I tried to ask you to leave the magical world Dumbledore. I gave you my resignation letter. So that I could leave this school and join some other school, away from this place where other students would at least treat me like a human. But you rejected it."


    "You rejected it because you, Dumbledore, wanted to keep me under your thumb in order to make sure that I won''t turn into an evil dark lord."


    "Wonder what parents would have said to that if they were alive."


    Flitwick felt his eyes become wet at his words and he took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears.


    At the same time, he tried to think of a way to help Harry from now on. The boy may have been a genius but he was also an abused child. A child who needed all the help he could get. Especially when people like Dumbledore and Snape would rather throw him inside a prison cell in order to make sure that he won''t turn into a dark lord.


    "I know I''m not a good person." The boy admitted.


    "I know that. In fact, I consider myself a rather bad person because not doing so would make me a hypocrite."


    "But I''m not the evil monster that you think I am either."


    "Why would I burn Hagrid''s hut? What do I have to gain by doing such a thing?" the boy asked and went silent.


    And for a long moment, no one in the room said anything.


    Until one of them did.


    "Then why do you not tell everyone what happened?" Madam Pince asked "Why would you hide that bit of knowledge if you have not done something wrong."


    And just like that, the tiredness and sadness along with any other emotion that might have been prevalent on his face vanished. Replaced by the hard cold expression he had donned when he first entered the office.


    "You want to know why I didn''t tell you how Hagrid''s hut caught fire?" he asked coldly and Madam Pince cautiously took a step back, only now realizing that she should perhaps not opened her mouth in the first place.


    The boy took a step toward her and asked "You want to know? Do you?"


    "Harry." Penelope''s pleading voice rang in the silent room but Harry paid no attention to it as he turned around to face the staff members.


    "You all want to know. Don''t you? Why I''m hiding the answer to how Hagrid''s hut burned down? Don''t you?"


    "Then I''ll tell you."


    And with the wave of a wand, the sound of something falling to the ground reached their ears and Flitwick realized that there was now something invisible lying in front of them.


    And what that ''something'' was, was made abundantly clear as with another wave of his wand, Harry removed an invisibility cloak and everyone in the room gasped at the sight in front of them.


    A dragon.


    A young dragon.


    What was it even doing here?


    "You wanted to know what caused the fire Dumbledore. Here''s your reason." The boy said as he pointed his wand at the young dragon that currently tied with Acromentula silk.


    "It seems like Hagrid here had planned on raising a dragon by himself." The boy said as his gaze shifted to Snape "I did not wanted to tell you people because if the news about this got out then Hagrid would have earned a one way ticket to Azkaban."


    The whole room was silent as a grave at the revelation as the boy continued.


    "I went Hagrid''s hut because I saw the smoke rising to the sky from a distance. I went there and doused the flames. I saved the dragon. I saved and then healed his dog. I protected his secret so that he won''t have to go to Azkaban. And you people stand there and accuse me of torching his hut."


    "This is reward I get for all the good that I''ve done?" the boy whispered but everyone clearly heard him and a long silence once again ensued in the room.


    "Harry my¡­" Dumbledore started but was interrupted as Harry raised his hand.


    "Enough." He said "Enough Dumbledore. I''m not in the mood to hear any more of your lies and deceits today. I''m done here."


    Then the boy turned around and gave a painful glance to the Ravenclaw Prefect who gave him a nod in return and left the room.


    And the rest of them were left standing in silence, still reeling from the scolding they just received from the boy and wondering what they should do next.

 Chapter 87 - Ritual

    Bone of the Centaur. Check


    Blood of the caster. Check


    5 Petals from a moonflower. Check


    Dust from the wing of a Cornish Pixie. Check


    Draught of New beginnings. Check.


    After making double sure that he had everything from the list, he started drawing the circle for the ritual in the solitude of the Room of Requirement.


    He had never been particularly good with rituals, hiss only other experience being the ritual that transferred the soul from the Diadem on to the Silver Mirror.


    And that ritual, despite what some people might think, was fairly easy to perform.


    This one was¡­ a little harder.


    So he had double checked every ingredient. Every procedure. Every rune drawn on the ground.


    And only when he was sure that he had not made any mistakes did he went ahead with the ritual.


    The purpose of the ritual was very simple.


    The ritual broke his connection with any other part of his body that was not connected with him.


    Which meant that after the ritual was done, any strand of hair he''d left in his pillow, any drop of blood he''d dropped somewhere, any scrap of skin from his body. Every such thing will lose the magical essence of him that they had within them.


    It meant that if anyone had stolen a bunch of hair strands from him and was planning on his those hair to create a polyjuice potion and impersonate him, they would fail.


    It also meant that if anyone had taken his blood when he was young and was using that bit of blood to track his location, the the artifacts trying to track him will stop working at once as the blood will lose all connection with him.


    So after making sure that everything was as it should be, he stepped within the ritual circle drawn with numerous intricate runes.


    And five minutes later, half a dozen devices kept inside Dumbledore''s office simply stopped working.


    "He didn''t seemed very upset about the whole situation." Minerva commented as she sat on a chair besides the head of the three other houses in a round table as the Hogwarts house elves brought them refreshments without ever being seen.


    "Oh come off it Minerva. We both know that he looked downright happy after Harry left." Pomona said with some anger. She had not known about Harry''s past and had not taken the new information about his abusing relatives very well. "You have known him for the longest time among all of us. Do you have any idea why he looked so smug when he should be worried instead?"


    Minerva took a sip of the pumpkin juice and said "I don''t presume to know Albus any better than any of you do. But if I have to guess, then he must be happy because despite Mr Potter''s harsh words, he did helped Hagrid a great deal and even went out of his way to hide the dragon''s existence so that Hagrid won''t go to Azkaban."


    "Yes. So noble of the great Harry Potter." Snape drawled from the sidelines but this time his words lacked their usual bite and he seemed to be disparaging young Harry simply because of his old habits.


    He had seemed a little out of it ever since he came to knew about Harry''s terrible past.


    Regardless, he was ignored by the other three head of houses as they continued on with their discussion.


    "I can see why that would make Albus happy." Flitwick said "This was probably the first time Mr Potter had ever done something good for a person he didn''t consider his friend simply because he could."


    "The headmaster must have seen this as a sign that perhaps there''s still some good in Harry''s heart and that he could probably be brought to the light side and all the other things that the Headmaster usually goes on about." He added.


    "Minerva." Pomona suddenly asked "Is it true that Mr Potter asked Headmaster Dumbledore to sign his resignation letter at the start of the school term and that the Headmaster refused his request?"


    "Yes." She said after letting out a long sigh "Unfortunately. That is indeed the truth Pomona."


    "And what about the other claims that the boy made?" Snape suddenly asked and the other three head of houses gave him a weird glance.


    It was highly irregular of the Potions master to attend this meeting along with them as he usually chose to stay away from people and social interactions.


    It was even more irregular for him to openly ask questions about the well being of Mr Potter.


    Someone whom Snape seemed to have hated ever since the start of the term.


    So such inquiry from him threw them off for a bit before the recovered and glanced at Minerva for answers.


    Minerva quietly took another sip of Pumpkin juice before she let out another sigh and spoke "I do not know if what Mr Potter said was the truth or not. But I do know that Mr Dursley is currently spending 15 years of time in a prison for child abuse and neglect."


    "How could you have let this happen Minerva?" Pomona asked with a disappointed gaze. "Wasn''t it you who kept him wit those relatives of his. Don''t tell me you didn''t go and check upon the boy even once during all these years?"


    Minerva wilted under those accusing glances and sniffed a bit.


    "I wanted to." She finally confessed "I wanted to check upon him many times in these past eleven years. I knew that his relatives were not the good sort of muggles and that I might be condemning young Harry to a hard life by leaving him in their doorsteps but Albus told me that the boy could only remain safe as long as he lived under the protection of the blood wards. And the blood wards were connected with his aunt so the boy would have to live with them as well."


    "Albus told me that it was the necessary thing to do and I believed in him."


    "And later when I wanted to check upon Harry, he once again told me that Harry was living a good enough life with his relatives and that we wizards and witches should not bother him. I trusted his words and¡­ and I didn''t even check on little Harry even once." Minerva sobbed in her hands and Pomona''s stern expression broke as she started to console the older woman.


    They talked for some more time after that. Mostly discussing about what kind of penalty the half giant would have to pay for raising a dragon in his wooden hut.


    They all knew that Hagrid''s mistake would most likely be covered by the Headmaster and the aurors would likely never know that someone ever raised a dragon inside Hogwarts and they were okay with it. Because despite his foolishness, Hagrid was usually a kind and gentle bloke who would never intentionally harm another person.


    After that talk they all dispersed back to their own rooms and even though it might seem like nothing have changed on the outside, they all knew that they would never be able to trust the headmaster anymore as they once did.

 Chapter 88 - Golden Mist

    "You do have a gift. But then again. Harry endorsed you so I guess I should have expected this much in the least." Andromeda, her new potions teacher said as she closed her bag and prepared to leave.


    "Endorsed?" she asked. Harry had told her that he had found a potions mistress who would teach her potions 4 hours every day had been found but he didn''t tell her much more than that.


    And to say that she had been shocked to hear that she would taught by Andromeda Tonk nee ''Black'' would be a huge understatement.


    After all, Andromeda was somewhat of a legend in their social circles, not at anyone ever admitted it. But most pureblood girl out there respected her for marrying for love, leaving the family and then staying alive.


    Not many pureblood girls could do the same and stay alive.


    She most likely wouldn''t have if Harry had not taken her under his wing.


    "You don''t think I''m think I''m teaching you for free. Do you?" Andromeda asked with a raised eyebrow and she thought about it for a while before she replied.


    "I didn''t think that there''s anything free in this world but I don''t know what he gave that you so readily agreed to teach me. After all, you''ve stayed away from the Pureblood social circles ever since¡­"


    "I know. And just because I''m teaching you doesn''t mean I have any interest in joining those stuck up bints any time soon. I''m only teaching you because Harry asked me to. And because he paid a price that I couldn''t refuse."


    "And you would not tell me what that price was, would you?" Daphne enquired, a bit boldly then she usually would have.


    Andromeda gave a hearty laugh and said "Oh¡­ Let''s just say that he has some rather rare books in his possession. Books that he decided to share with me in exchange for teaching you. Along with this lab and a lot of galleons."


    Daphne almost lost her composure at that bit of news.


    She knew that Harry must be paying for her but she didn''t knew how much he paid. And she didn''t knew that this new underground potions lab was his creation either.


    ''No wonder it looked so new.'' She thought.


    "Anyway. I think you should leave now. Your ride is here." Andromeda said with a smile and she turned around to find Bitty patiently waiting for her at the end of the lab.


    "Okay. Thanks for your lessons once again Madam Black."


    "Tonks. Daphne. Madam Tonks."


    "Madam Tonks." Daphne corrected and Andromeda gave her a smile and said "See you tomorrow kid." Before she used the portkey to get out of the lab since there were apparently no window or doors in the whole lab.


    She would have to admit that it was a rather ingenious design. Which meant that even if some of her enemies finds this place, they would not be able to enter because of the anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards which meant that they would have to either try to collapse this lab, which was not possible because of it''s location 30 meter underground. Or they would have to dig there way to the lab, which gave her plenty of time to pick up her supply and leave.


    And the best thing was that even the most powerful magical detection charms cannot penetrate 30 meters of solid ground.


    Which meant that she could easily practice with her wand in that underground lab and the trace wouldn''t be able to find her.


    And something told her that this was just the start of her fortune.


    The book that Andromeda had given her to study during her stay in Hogwarts was a very old and very rare book as well and she had no doubt now that the book was given to Andromeda by none other than Harry.


    She took a long breath and took Bitty''s hand.


    She must thank him when she returns back to Hogwarts.


    Then the house elf took them to Hogsmeade where she entered the secret passageway to Hogwarts and went back to the castle before the time turner''s time could run out and anyone could notice her absence.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The sight of Hermione crying on Penelope''s shoulder was not what she had expected to see when she entered Harry''s lab.


    She remembered that from before she used the time turner that the three of them were sitting in the Quidditch stadium before they abruptly left for something.


    So whatever the reason was behind Hermione''s grief, it must have happened once they left the Quidditch stadium.


    She must know what caused this and see if she could use it for her advantage in some way.


    And since Hermione was too busy crying and Penelope was too busy consoling her, none of them paid a second glance at her and she went to her workbench without any fanfare, trying to listen on their conversation with one ear and hoped that they won''t muffle out their conversation.


    Thankfully, they didn''t.


    "He''ll¡­ he''ll never forgive me again." Hermione said between sobs and Penelope rubbed the girl''s back in a gentle manner trying her best to soothe her.


    Daphne wondered what the young girl had done this time to catch Harry''s displeasure.


    She didn''t knew what Harry saw in that girl. Sure Hermione was probably one of the most studious and hard working girl in the whole school. And sure she had learned the wandless magic or will and intent magic (as Harry liked to call it) far faster than Daphne herself had but aside from those few facts, there was nothing truly remarkable about the girl.


    In fact, Daphne had noticed that Hermione had a lot of weakness in her character. The lack of proper social skills and etiquette being the most glaring of them.


    She knew that Harry had some fondness for the girl but even that fondness would only take her so far.


    If Hermione continued to disrespect Harry time and time again, then he would most likely cut her out of his immediate social circle.


    Just like how the Dark lord cuts those who had displeased him out of their inner circle.


    The thought sent a chill down her spine but in a good way.


    She knew that Harry would sooner or later rise above both Dumbledore and Voldemort. And when that happens, she planned to stay beside him no matter what.


    And this latest quarrel between Harry and Hermione might be the chance she was waiting for. The chance she needed to get in Harry''s good graces and replace Hermione once and for all.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "It''s not working." Harry said with some anger as a rat whose body was filled with numerous injuries laid dying in front of him.


    "What''s not working?" Selena asked curiously from her place on his shoulder.


    "The golden mist that I used to heal that dog. It has not worked ever since that one time when I tried to heal the numerous burns on the damned dog."


    "Perhaps the mist only comes out when you''re trying to heal burns?" Selena suggested and he shook his head.


    "I doubt it would be something simple like that. But I don''t think why I should not test that theory just to be sure."


    After two minutes a badly burned rat laid dying in front of him and he pushed all of his magic, will and power to his wand and said "Heal" and the rat did heal to quite an extent.


    But this healing was not as good as the golden mist which almost seemed to have given the dog a second life.


    The golden mist was one of the best healing spell (if it could be called a spell) that Harry had managed to conjure up till now. But he couldn''t bring it out once again.


    "If only I had a pensive. It would help me a lot if I could see what I had done that moment when I used the golden mist." As soon as he thought of that, another thought entered his mind.


    "Hey. If you want something then why don''t you go to that room that gives you everything you want." Selena commented from the sidelines and he gave her a grin.


    "You know, that''s exactly what I was thinking just now." He said.


    And after healing the rat properly, he left for the room of requirement.


    He had three pensieves in his possession. Courtesy of the Room of Hidden things.


    But the problem was that all of the pensieves had suffered some form of damage and none of them were in any working condition.


    So unless he knew how to repair a pensieve, he couldn''t use these to see his memories.


    He cursed his misfortune and left the room only to stop outside before he started roaming outside the gates once again.


    "I want to see my memories in a pensieve."


    "I want to see my memories in a pensieve."


    "I want to see my memories in a pensieve."


    He muttered to himself continuously and after the third round, a door finally appeared in the wall and inside the door was an empty room with a single artifact kept in the middle of the room..


    A pensieve.


    He thanked the gods for his luck and took out the memory of the incident near Hagrid''s hut.


    And after ten minutes, Harry had finally found the reason why the golden mist didn''t work in the lab no matter how much he tried.


    The answer was that¡­


    The golden mist was a Parselmouth magic.

 Chapter 89 - Learning to use the Golden Mist

    "We''ve not seen him in three days." Hermione said in a distraught voice as she sat beside Penelope who was working on deciphering some of the runic arrays created by Harry over the past few months.


    Harry was a genius and his runic arrays were a work of art in and of itself. But they were based on will and intent magic. Something that normal witches and wizards couldn''t use. So Penelope had taken over the job to decipher his runes so that even common people like her would have access to those runes.


    The exercise also went a long way in teaching her about runes and she was learning something new every single day as she tried to decipher his runic arrays.


    She put her rune carving tools down on the table and looked at Hermione with some sympathy.


    The girl had large bags under her eyes and her hair were all over the place.


    It was clear that she had not slept well over the past three days.


    And she did want to help her as she saw the girl as a little sister but when it came to Harry, she was just as helpless as any other person out there.


    "I know." She replied "Perhaps he just need some more time alone."


    The look on Hermione''s face said that she clearly didn''t believe in her lie. Good. Because she didn''t believe in her own lie either.


    Harry was a proud person.


    A bit too proud in her opinion but then again, he was a boy and a boy having a big ego was hardly something new.


    But Hermione didn''t.


    And because of that, the girl had unintentionally made a mistake and humiliated him in front of other people.


    No one would take such a humiliation very well and Harry had taken it worse than most people would have.


    And if nothing else, then the teachers had only made it even worse by interfering and accusing him of burning Hagrid''s hut.


    That had a been a very stupid decision on the teacher''s part.


    And now they have not seen Harry in the last three days and Penelope wondered if he was even eating his meals properly.


    The boy had the tendency of ignoring his meals whenever he went too deep into his projects.


    And he always went deep into his projects when he was feeling some form of emotional turmoil.


    That was his way of escaping the pain.


    "Perhaps I should go to him. Perhaps if I tell him how sorry I am¡­" Hermione breath hitched as tears started forming in her eyes once again and Penelope went forward to console the poor girl once again.


    Hermione had turned into a mess ever since Harry left them three days ago and Penelope didn''t knew what she could do to change the situation.


    If only she could use a time turner to go back in the past and change what had happened but apparently time turners didn''t work that way.


    "Do you have any suggestion to give Daphne?" she asked the girl who had quietly been listening on to their conversation up until this point.


    Daphne had been the newest addition to their team and Penelope frankly didn''t know what to think of the girl.


    Daphne had always been polite toward her but there was something about the girl that stopped Penelope from trusting her completely.


    But there was no harm in asking her for a bit of advice, was there?


    The Blond Slytherin turned to gaze at them and then shrugged nonchalantly "We Slytherins are known for our manipulations and lies. We make allies and opponents. Not friends and enemies. So asking me for friendship advice is really not a good idea." Then the girl went back to studying a book that was probably given to her by Harry.


    "Perhaps I should go and talk to him." Hermione said while looking at him hopefully "Maybe he is not as angry at me as he was before?" the girl asked but Penelope could clearly see that she didn''t believe in those words herself.


    "I don''t think that would be such a good idea Hermione. But it''s not like we''ll achieve anything by sitting here on our ?sses so you might as well try reaching out to him." She said and watched with some sadness as hope blossomed in the girl''s face.


    She knew that Hermione would most likely meet a dead end in her endeavor but she didn''t knew what else she could do to help.


    Her occlumency shields were still rather weak so Harry had not told her about his other ''hidden bases'' inside Hogwarts so she had no idea where he and Hermione usually went and she didn''t try to ask them either.


    But because of that, she now had no idea where Harry could be and even though Hermione knew where he was, it was unlikely that he would talk with her.


    She could only hope that Harry would have forgiven Hermione by now and would listen to her for a bit even though she knew in her heart that such a thing was unlikely to happen.


    "Okay. I''ll do that." Hermione replied and packed her books back in her bag before leaving.


    "Good luck." Penelope said as Hermione quietly left the room and now there were only her and Daphne Greengrass left in the room.


    Daphne was too engrossed on her book so it was unlikely that she would be able to make any conversation with the Slytherin.


    A pity, as she had wanted to get to know the new girl a little bit more.


    Oh well, it is what it is.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry cried out in pain as another cutting curse lanced through his shoulder, creating a shallow cut that still hurt like a bitch.


    He jumped to the side and took shelter behind a fallen desk.


    The environment this time changed into that of classroom so there were quite a few obstacles he could use to hide behind.


    His pride stung at the fact that he had to hide from training dummies like this but it was necessary for his growth.


    He focused on his magic and after a few words in Parseltongue, the golden mist came out of his wand and healed the cut in his shoulder in no time.


    This training was turning out to be a bit more painful, what with the training dummies now using weak cutting curses and blasting hexes that took a chunk out of his body every time they hit.


    That didn''t mean that he would stop these training exercises because it was unlikely that he would master the use of the golden mist without experiencing at least some amount of pain in the battlefield.


    When he had first found the existence of the golden mist and how it could only be used by him because of it being a Parselmagic, he realized that he had just found another huge advantage over other witches and wizards.


    But to do that, he had to step into a battlefield and suffer actual injuries.


    Well, he didn''t have access to a real battlefield but he knew where to find training dummies who could totally kick his ?ss if they wanted to.


    And that was why he was no suffering from so much pain in this training session.


    Well, this might be a painful experience but this would at least give him a taste of what an actual wizarding duel looks like, though he of course knew that an actual duel would be far more deadly than this one where the most fatal injuries he suffered was deep cut on the calf which had healed within a moment under the influence of the Golden Mist.


    So after the cut on his shoulder was healed, he waited a few seconds before he jumped out from behind the table and the battle started earnestly once again.

 Chapter 90 - Trying to gain Mage Sight

    Hermione knew that she had failed in her friendship with Harry time and time again.


    Now the least she could do was apologize to him properly and hope that he would forgive her.


    That was why she had entered the Chamber of Secrets, hoping that he would be here and that she would at least be able to talk with him.


    That plan of her had failed even before it could start.


    Because she soon as she entered the Chamber, Besalla had swiped dropped her large tail in front of with a shake of her head, clearly indicating that Hermione was no longer allowed to even meet Harry.


    That had hurt because she thought that Harry would at least meet her and listen to her apology before telling her to ''get lost''.


    But knowing that he did not even want to meet her anymore had hurt.


    Though she would have to admit that the prospect of a thousand year Basilisk acting as a guard dog was rather funny.


    Still, he had told Besalla to stop her from entering the rooms where his lab was situated.


    He had not told Besalla to kick her out of the chamber so she knew that there was hope.


    Hope that he would forgive her this one last time.


    And she do anything to earn his forgiveness.


    He would have to come out eventually. And when he does, she would get the chance to apologize to him. He may not forgive her but she had to try.


    And she just knew that she would be waiting a long time before he would show himself to her so she took out a book from her bag and started reading.


    Not noticing the boy who was staring at her from just a few feet away.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Do you feel any different now?" Harry asked curiously "See anything different?"


    "N¡­ no doctor." Test subject 0004 answered.


    Harry just shrugged at his answer and continued transfiguring the horn jutting out of the test subject''s forehead.


    "See anything different now?" he asked after a few minutes and the test subject replied negatively once again and Harry continued.


    He knew that he would not get success any time soon in this project of his.


    And if he got success just on his first try or even one first day, then that would have been disappointing.


    After all, he was trying to copy Selena''s horn along with it''s magical properties so that a wizard like him would be able to see or feel magic as well just like how the Horned Serpent did.


    And he knew that if he gained magical sight then his understanding of magic would shoot through the roof.


    And once that happened, he would be able to do¡­ well, he didn''t actuAlley knew what he would be able to accomplish once be was able to see or feel magic but he was sure that it would be something truly great.


    So with that thought, he continued transfiguring the horn on the subject''s head.


    Selena was of course helping him from the sidelines and telling him if he was doing the right thing or not but even with her help, he was not able to get any substantial results by the end of the day.


    Perhaps it was not simply about the horn but also about the nerves connecting the horn to the brain.


    Hmm¡­ he''ll have to work on it tomorrow.


    For now, he would work on transfiguring the kidney of those rats to see if he was able to make them immune to poison.


    "Let''s go Selena. I''ve run out of ideas for transfiguring the horn for the moment." With those thoughts, he went out of the room only to met with the sight of Hermione sitting near Besalla on a chair, reading one of the books he had gifted her previously.


    "She''s still here." Selena whispered in his ears and he frowned slightly.


    It had been three days and the girl was still sitting here. Of course, she didn''t spent all of her time as she had to attend her classes and what not but she spent the rest of her time sitting beside Besalla, waiting for him.


    When he had first left the headmaster''s office, he had been very angry and had decided to not forgive her anymore.


    But the girl had shown a surprising amount of resilience in order to ask for his forgiveness and he knew that his anger would run out sooner or later and then he would probably forgive her for her mistake.


    But he would never forget.


    And he still had a bit of anger left from that day so he would let her wait for a few more days or even weeks before he decided to talk with her.


    With those thoughts, he entered another tunnel that led to his second lab that was dedicated to his studies of the rats and what not.


    And since he never removed his Shroud of Concealment, Hermione never even noticed his presence and continued sitting in her chair without the knowledge of his appearance.


    "The ministry declined your request?" he asked blandly, not really surprised by this move from the ministry.


    "Yes. Apparently all the prime places in Diagon Alley had already been bought by other people." Andromeda said with some bitterness.


    And he could understand why she was feeling so bitter. He truly did.


    Andromeda was someone who had stepped upon the pride of Pureblood houses by declining a pureblood marriage and her marrying a muggleborn instead.


    Until now she had been out of the radar of other people and the purebloods were content with that. But she opens a shop in Diagon Alley then she would come into full view of everyone and the pureblood girls who are not content with their betrothed will realize that they can indeed choose to defy their parents and do as they like with their lives.


    And the traditionalist purebloods couldn''t have that now could they.


    So the ministry had instead banned her from stepping into the wizarding world by refusing her request to buy a shop in Diagon Alley.


    And with no land available in Diagon Alley, the only place she could open a shop in was Knockturn Alley or perhaps in Hogsmeade.


    But Knockturn Alley had a rather bad reputation and no one really went to Hogsmeade with the intention of buying potions so it opening a potions shop there would be a waste as well.


    The situation was made even funnier when he realized that most of these old men and women had chosen the light or the neutral side during the last war.


    Seemed like saving tradition was more important to those old fogies than things like personal freedom and morals.


    Harry had always found hypocrites a bit funny.


    He had always found them a bit annoying as well.


    So when he changes the magical world, those old fogies would be the first ones to go.


    "Don''t let this set back worry you too much." He said with a smile "Just brew your potions and wait. I have an idea that''ll solve all of your problems and then you''ll be able to sell your potions as you wish."


    "Really?" she asked skeptically.


    "Yes. That idea will take some time however. Maybe a year or two. So if you can wait that long then I''ll be able to solve all your problems and more."


    Andromeda gave him a skeptical look for a moment before she took a deep breath and thought about it.


    "You know. The idea of opening a potions shop in Hogsmeade still sounds better to me even the shop won''t be very profitable in that place." She said "But I don''t think that the old fools in the ministry would let me go just like that either. In fact, I am almost sure that they would definitely try some way to get me to close my shop."


    "In light of that, I think I would rather put my trust in you and see if you''re able to live up to your promise."


    "I will. Trust me." He said with seriously and she nodded before apparating away.


    He looked at the empty space for a few more moments, wondering if he should get started with his plan already and then with one last nod, he apparated away from the place as well.

 Chapter 91 - Meeting aurors in Diagon Alley

    "No."


    "No? Nothing?" he asked.


    "No. I don''t see anything different." Test subject 0005 replied and Harry sighed once again.


    Her had really thought that creating a new form of nervous system that looks similar to the ones in Selena''s head and then connecting them to his brain would have worked.


    It turned out that maybe it was not about the nervous system. Maybe it had to do with something else.


    Maybe it had to do with the eyes.


    Maybe Selena was able to see/feel the magic around her because of her snake like eyes.


    Most likely not, because she was able to sense magic even when her eyes were closed.


    But he was running out of ideas at this point so maybe it was worth a try.


    With that thought, he looked at Selena''s eyes and after creating a mental image of those eyes in his mind, he projected that image in the eyes of the test subject and transfigured his eyes to look like that of Selena.


    The transfiguration was a success.


    The project was not.


    Just as he had thought, the reason why Selena was able to sense magic had nothing to do with her eyes.


    Why was she able to see/feel magic and no one else was.


    Why was she so unique.


    Was it possible that copying magical creature''s specialty was not possible.


    Just like how no one had even been able to copy the flame apparition of a Phoenix or create the venom of a Basilisk.


    That would make sense but he did not want to believe in such a half ?ssed theory.


    Not until he had used every last of idea he could think of.


    Edison had failed 10,000 times when he tried to create a light bulb.


    He had not even failed a 100 times.


    No, he would not give up now.


    But for now, he needed a short break.


    With those thoughts, he escorted the test subject 0005 back to his cell before leaving his lab.


    Outside, he was once again met with the sight of Hermione waiting for him beside Besalla.


    He held a sigh at that.


    A week had gone by and the girl was still here.


    He could see that she was determined to meet him and wouldn''t budge on that no matter what.


    And because of that, he was now starting to feel like a d??k for making her wait like that for hours upon hours.


    But he really didn''t wanted to simply forgive her for betraying him like that back there.


    Though as he started leaving, he felt a tad worried that one day, Hermione would simply think that waiting for him was just not worth it and leave to find new friends.


    Well, if that happened then that would just mean that they were never meant to be friends in the first place.


    With such thoughts, he left the Chamber without her ever knowing about it.


    It was time for him to start on his new project.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A polyjuiced Harry, wearing the face of a random muggle entered apparated in a dark alley near the Leaky Cauldron and proceeded to enter Diagon Alley from there.


    From there, he confidently walked into the shop known as Borgin & Burkes.


    "What do you want?" the shopkeeper asked without even looking up from his copy of the Daily Prophet and Harry was taken aback at the indifferent and rude tone of the shopkeeper for a moment before he shook his head.


    This is what happens in places where there are no business competition.


    Small wonder why the goblins are always so rude to everybody.


    They held the monopoly on the wizarding currency and they knew it.


    "I want a two-way mirror." He replied without any fanfare.


    The shopkeeper stopped reading his newspaper and kept it down on his ??p before he narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Harry''s clothes closely before shaking his head.


    "It''s too expensive for you. You won''t be able to afford it." He said before he picked up the newspaper and started reading it once again while Harry tried to reign in his temper at the blatant disrespect that was being showed to him by this man.


    With a wave of his hand, the newspaper was ripped off from the shopkeeper''s hands and before he could even realize what was happening, his lips were sealed and there was a wand in front of him.


    "You''re wasting my time Mr Borgin. Or was it Mr Burkes. Frankly. I don''t even care at this point. The point is that you''re wasting my time. And I don''t like it when people needlessly waste my time. So do your fu?k?n? job and bring me the thing that I want."


    "Mmm... Mmm¡­" the man tried to speak something but when that didn''t worked because of his closed lips, so he just nodded his head and Harry gave a nod back before lowering his wand a little.


    Then the man went the back of his shop and came back with a pair of mirrors.


    It didn''t take Harry very long to test the mirrors to make sure that they were the real deal and not a cheap knockoff. And after he was sure that they worked as they were supposed to do, he kept them aside and removed the seal from the man''s lips who gave him a glare but didn''t say anything else.


    "There should also be a large cabinet in your shop called the Vanishing Cabinet. Bring it out as well."


    The shopkeeper gave a slight nod and went into the back of the shop once again while Harry walked behind him and made sure to always keep him in sight.


    After a few minutes of rummaging through numerous things, the shopkeeper was finally about to take out a candle sized cabinet thrown beside other useless things.


    "I''ll warn you right now. That this cabinet doesn''t work." The shopkeeper said "It was supposed to have a brother cabinet that worked along with it but that cabinet is either damaged or destroyed so this thing will probably be of no use to you."


    "Are you sure that you still want to buy it?" the man asked and Harry nodded.


    "Well, it your galleons." The man said with a shrug and went to the counter where Harry passed him the necessary galleons before leaving the shop.


    Only to come face to face with four aurors who had their wands pointed at him.


    "Hah! Thought you could threaten me and get away with it scott free, did you?" the shopkeeper''s annoying voice rang out from behind him and Harry almost rolled his eyes.


    "Keep you wand down and come with us." One of the auror said and Harry wondered if this was the reason why the man took so long to find the two-way mirror and the vanishing cabinet. So that the aurors could arrive and capture him in time.


    Still, the man had some nerve to call the aurors on him considering the amount of dark objects he keep at the back of his shop.


    "Don''t make any funny move." The lead auror said "You''re charged with threatening an upstanding citizen of the society. If you''ve done nothing wrong then you''ll be allowed to go without any problems. But if you resist then it won''t end pretty for you."


    "Alright." He said and raised his hand in the air. "I surrender."


    "Where is your wand?" The auror asked.


    "In the holster in my right forearm." Harry replied while raising his arm further in the air. He could see a few spectators crowding around the Alley to look at this scene and realized that he needed to end this fast enough.


    "Sherry. I need you to secure his¡­"


    That was as far as went as with the flick of a finger, the wand shot in Harry''s hands and in the next moment, a bright light blinded all the aurors and people surrounding the area.


    Harry, who had closed his eyes at the up until now opened them and sneered at the aurors who were not rolling on the ground while clutching their eyes.


    Okay, he might have over done it. Hopefully they won''t go blind because of him.


    With those last thoughts, he wore his Shroud of Concealment and was about to leave the area before he remembered something.


    He looked at the Borgin and Burkes shop and pointed his wand at it before saying "Bombarda Maxima." And half of the shop was immediately exploded into pieces.


    Let the shopkeeper pay for the damages now.


    No one fu?ks with him and then gets away with it scott free.


    This much punishment should be enough for him.


    With such thoughts, he left the scene of the crime before dapparating back to Hogsmeade from where he went back to the Hogwarts and then the Chamber of Secrets.


    He had a new project to work on after all.

 Chapter 92 - Inventing Magical Phones

    It was not difficult to find and study the charms, runes and enchantments applied in the two-way mirror with the help of Selena who was able to see and tell him precisely where all the magical signature in the mirror existed.


    And truly, the mirrors were a work of art.


    Whoever had created them must have been some kind of genius or it must have created by a group effort or it must have taken a single person very long time to invent it. That much was clear to him.


    But because of his knowledge, the words and symbols that would seem like complex arithmetic equations to someone else, seemed like normal addition and subtraction to him.


    Especially when he wore the Diadem which enhanced his brain functions by a fair amount.


    And by the time he was done with the mirrors, he had learned everything there was to know about them.


    How they worked.


    Why they worked.


    Why it was that these mirrors only worked in pairs.


    Why were they so damn expensive.


    And last but not the least, how he could change the mirror and add new charms of his own.


    Because he would have to make some more changes to the mirror if he was to create a magical mobile phone with it.


    But for that, he would have to study the charms and runes carved inside a fire place or floo as people call it.


    Because just like how it is with a mobile phone, you can contact anyone of your acquaintance from the floo if they have given your their floo address.


    Quite uncomfortable. But the wizards and witches have been using it for a long time and they don''t know any better.


    The problem was that the muggles didn''t knew any better because mobile phones were a kind of luxury at this point in time and very few people ever used it.


    So in essence, if he was able to create a magical mobile phone at this point in time, then he was confident that it would instantly go viral and everybody would be clamoring up to buy it.


    After all, why would anyone want to sit on his knees and put his face in the fire if he could just pick up his magical mobile phone and contact the person he wanted to talk with.


    And he was confident that he would be able to invent such a thing if he was able to combine both the two-way mirror and the floo.


    So all that remained now was to study the floo system and how it worked.


    Problem was that there was no floo in the Chamber of Secrets.


    And there was no floo in the Room of Requirements.


    Which meant that he had three choices.


    The third option seemed the bes to him out of everything else, so that''s what he did.


    The next morning, the students of the Ravenclaw house would see the very strange sight of their Fire place being dismantled and studied by a disgruntled looking boy-who-lived who was also covered in soot and ashes.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry prided himself for his cold heart. Because it was the main reason why he was able to make rational and logical decisions most of the time.


    But when a girl waits three whole weeks for your forgiveness then it''s hard for even him to remain angry at the girl any longer.


    So after the 22nd day, when Hermione was still sitting beside Besalla in order to get his forgiveness, he finally decided to make his presence known to the girl so that they could finally have a ''talk''.


    The ''talk'' started with Hermione apologizing to him profusely and him telling her that he forgave her and that he was willing to talk with her once again.


    But he also told her that if she expecting the both of them to go to being best friends that they were before this incident then she was sorely mistaken.


    And so the talk went well.


    Or at least that''s what he thought.


    Until she started sobbing all the while promising him that she would anything to earn his trust and at that moment, he realized that no matter how much he tried to distance himself from this girl, she would always have a soft spot in his heart.


    And wasn''t that fu?k?d up.


    He wondered if the affection he felt for the girl made him a pedophile.


    The thought made him sick until he remembered that a Pedophile was a person who was s?xu??ly attracted to children and he was not s?xu??ly attracted to Hermione.


    In fact, he was not s?xu??ly attracted to anyone. What with the severe lack of hormones in his young 11 year old body and all that.


    Hell, he was not even a teenager at this point.


    So with the conformation that he was not in fact someone who needed a trip to a psychiatrist, he pulled the little girl in a hug as and her sobbing turned into full time crying as she wailed in his embrace.


    ~Sigh~ This whole plan of ''gaining a minion'' had really gone off the tracks, hasn''t it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "So what are things that you need to work on to make a successful Magical Phone?" Hermione asked.


    "The main point is that it should be capable of calling anyone''s magical phone if you have their phone number. Just like how you''re able to talk with anyone in the floo if your have their floo address. If you''re only capable of talking with a few selected people with the magical phone then it''s not that different then a two-way mirror." He replied as he walked around in the spacious and bright room.


    He had been cooped up in the labs down in the Chamber for the past three weeks and coming back to this lab that was situated at the 6th floor was a good change for him.


    In fact, this was the room where both Daphne and Penelope came to study most of the time and by now he should have probably given this room a name or something.


    Oh well, better late then never.


    He would call this room the ''Study Room'' from now on. A place where all of them came to study and where he performed his smaller and harmless experiments.


    But back to the topic at hand.


    "And what the secondary points that we should keep in mind when making this ''Magical Phone''?" Hermione asked while tapping the quill on the notepad.


    "It should be affordable." He said "If it''s too expensive like the two-way mirror then no one would buy it. If no one would buy it then it''s a failed invention." He said.


    Hermione scrunched up her eyebrows and said "But Harry. If what you''ve told me so far about these Magical Phone is true, then I can already guess that it will be one of the most sophisticated artifacts created in the magical world. So in practice, it should be even more expensive than the two-way mirror and the floo." She said.


    "No." He replied instantly "I won''t sell the Magical Phone for more than 20 galleons."


    "But Harry. If you sold those Phones at such a cheap price, then how will you pay for the rune carvers and the enchanters who mass produce those phones for you. And how will you pay for the shop in which you sell those phones?" she asked worriedly.


    Oh¡­ she was not thinking that I was doing this for the good of the wizarding world was she.


    Wow¡­


    As if I would ever do such a thing.


    "We''ll earn money in a similar way to how the telephone companies make their profits."


    "You''ll charge them for calling each other?" Hermione asked.


    "Yes." He replied with a smile.


    "I don''t think the wizards would like that very much Harry." Hermione said.


    "Oh it won''t be that expensive." He said with a negligent wave of his hand.


    "If you say so." She said and noted it down on the paper.


    "What else?" she asked.


    "It should be light. And small. Small enough to carry in your pocket everywhere." He said as he remembered the mobile phones being used in this world right now that were the size of a large calculator.


    "Alright. Light and small enough to carry." She said "What else?"


    "Add an Unbreakable charm to it as well." He said "My company would never sell something that would break easily. I want my brand to be known for it''s high quality."


    "Company?" Hermione asked.


    "Yes. I''ll create the first magical Company in this world." He said with a feral grin and she gave a smile back before jotting it down in the notepad.


    "Have you thought about the name of the company, it''s logo and all other things?" she asked and he nodded.


    "You do know how a company works?" she asked and he shook his head.


    "But don''t worry. I know the perfect man for this job." He said with mysterious smile and she huffed before shaking her head at his childishness.


    "Okay then. Let''s get back to the track. What other things do you want in that Magical Phone of yours?"


    And he spent the next hour explaining what he wanted in his Magical Phone.


    He knew that it would take some time for him to create a prototype and even more time to launch the product in the magical world but he knew that in the end, all of his hard work will be worth it.

 Chapter 93 - Daphnes seduction attempt

    Harry removed the transfiguration and the Horned Serpent in front of him changed back to Alecto Carrow.


    "Did it work?" he asked knowing full well that it didn''t yet still holding a bit of hope that it did.


    The death eater shook her head but he did not trust her so he used Legilimency to be sure and just as she had said.


    It did not work.


    Even in a Horned Serpent form, she was not able to feel or sense any form of magic in her surroundings.


    What a pity.


    He had gotten this idea when he was going through his memories of the movies and saw the fake Madeye Moody transfigure Draco in a ferret.


    He had hoped that the subject had turned into a horned serpent then perhaps he or she would be able to sense magic like how Selena did.


    But deep down, he knew that this would not work.


    Just like how if you transfigure a human into a basilisk, it''s hide would not have magical resistance nor would it''s gaze kill anyone.


    There was something that he was missing.


    Something that the magical creatures hold that allows them to have those magical powers.


    What was that something?


    He didn''t know.


    To his knowledge, no one had tried to do what was trying to do right now.


    And now that he had run out of ideas, he didn''t knew what he should do next.


    It seemed like he would have to discard this project until he learns more about magical creatures and their special powers along with transfiguration or he comes up with some revolutionary idea.


    And he was so excited to get a magical sight too.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry was a busy person.


    Daphne knew that one fact very well.


    He might be an unparalleled genius but that only served to increase his hunger for knowledge even more.


    He spent most of his time either learning something new or working on one of his so called ''Projects''.


    The only time he was not doing those things was when he went to practice dueling with Professor Flitwick. But the point remained that he spent every waking hour of his life trying to improve himself.


    She envied the freedom he had.


    Envied how he could do whatever he wants in his life and get away with it without any repercussions.


    Thankfully, she knew that envy won''t change her situation. Only careful planning and hard work would.


    Which was why she worked so hard under Andromeda''s guidance.


    So that she would be able to make something of herself when she eventually leaves Hogwarts.


    No¡­ not leave. Expelled.


    She was not a fool and knew that once a Unbreakable Vow is given, there is no escape so her failing for 3 years in a row and then being expelled from the school was a given.


    But the unbreakable vow never said anything about NEWTs or the Masters exam.


    So if she was able to take a Mastery in Potions before the end of her third year, then she would instantly gain the fame required for her to make a name as a Potions'' Mistress.


    Or least that was the plan for the moment.


    And she had to thank Harry for providing her with all the right opportunities that would help her achieve her goals.


    Even if he hardly ever taught her anything in person.


    Even the later exercises of ''Will and Intent'' magic was taught to her by Penelope because Harry and Hermione had not come of his lab for the past few weeks.


    She had no idea what they were doing in there but from the way Hermione smiled whenever she asked the bushy haired girl about it, Daphne could only ?ssume that it must be something really amazing.


    Well, if Harry was spending so much time in it, then she guess it must be amazing considering his other achievements.


    But still¡­ it would have been better if she was able to spend some more time with him.


    After all, one of her plans was to seduce and marry him in the future.


    By now she knew that such a plan would likely not work but a girl could always hope.


    Which was why she was so surprised when she saw him sitting alone in his chair when she entered the ''Study Room'' after lunch.


    She had no idea where Hermione or Penelope were but she didn''t care.


    This was her chance to get close to him and she would not miss this opportunity no matter what.


    "Hello Harry." She said as she moved toward him and he replied without looking up from the book he was reading "Hello Daphne."


    His cold tone threw her off balance for a moment before she took control of her emotions and gave him a soft smile. Not that he noticed.


    He had always been far more interested in his books and projects to make time for anything else.


    Oh well, she would try to change that.


    With those thought, she put her arm on his shoulders and started massaging them.


    She was not very good at it but she hoped that it would bring him some relief so that he would let down his guard against her.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t show any reaction to her massage ands simply kept turning pages after pages.


    She wondered he was even reading them or only searching for something specific in the book. Hermione had once mentioned that he read books at a very fast pace but surely she didn''t meant this fast. Right?


    She gazed at his book and felt her mind boggle at the pages that were filled with Ancient Runes.


    She did not know much about runes but she had seen Penelope''s books and these Runic Patterns and Arrays were far more complicated than anything she had seen in those books.


    Penelope had told her that Harry had only started learning Runes from her about 4 or 5 months ago.


    Surely he could not have become so advanced at Runes in such a short amount of time.


    Right?


    Yeah, maybe he was just searching for something in that book.


    But the search did not stop.


    And he did not give her any indication of whether he liked her massage or not and after a minute of silence, she was caught in the awkward position of not knowing what to do.


    To be frank, after a whole minute of being ignored by him, she did realize that this might not have been such a good idea but if she just left all of a sudden then that would just be awkward.


    Thankfully, Harry seemed to have realized this as well as the next moment he closed his book and slightly turned his face to looked in her direction.


    "Thank you Daphne. You can go now." He said softly before opening the book once again and she fumed a bit at being treated like a servant.


    But then she controlled her anger and started going back to her seat when she heard him once again.


    "You are a very talented person Daphne. Put those talents to use and become a great Potions Mistress and I''ll make sure that you''re not left wanting for anything in your life."


    She processed hi words in her mind for a moment before she nodded at him. But then she realized that he was not looking in her direction and said "I understand."


    He bobbed his head a little while reading the book and she took it as affirmation and left for her own table at the other corner of the room.


    Well, so much for trying to seduce him.


    Maybe she would try it when he''s a bit older.


    But then his words rang in her mind and she wondered if he''ll really stand by those words if she did as he asked her to do.


    Unfortunately, that was something that only time will tell.


    She opened her fourth year potions book and started to study up on potion she would be making the day two days from now on.

 Chapter 94 - First Invention

    Harry looked at the first pair of Magical Phone and smiled.


    He had finally done it. After a whole month of crafting and refinement and countless hours of working on runes and charms, he had finally invented the first Magical Phone in the history of the magical world.


    He turned around and abruptly pulled Hermione in a very tight hug.


    She froze at the touch for a moment before she gave in and hugged him back as well.


    He could understand why she would freeze upon his contact. That was mainly because he had kept his distance from her for the past one month ever since they made up. He still treated her kindly but they were not as close as they once were and they had not hugged each other even once in all that time that they spent together.


    But he was too happy at the moment to care about such at thing.


    She had been a huge help to him in creating this phone. Not only had she helped him a great deal in solving a lot of problems that he faced while creating the magical Phone. But she had also kept track of his food and sleep and made sure that he was well rested and well fed. Something that would not have happened if she was not here with him.


    And he was willing to forgive everything for the amount of dedication she had shown him in the past month and the three weeks before that.


    He let go of the hug and smiled brightly at her.


    He was usually not someone who showed his emotions to other to such an extent but creating a Magical phone was a huge milestone for him and the satisfaction of knowing that you''ve created something that''ll change the lives of people in the future brought him a great amount of joy and p???sur?.


    "Do you want to try it?" he asked.


    "Are you sure?" she asked, looking a bit concerned.


    "Of course. You helped me create it, so you should also be one of the first ones to try it."


    Then he passed one of the prototype to her and took the another one for himself.


    "You do remember how they work. Right?" he asked and she gave a nod and pushed the bu??on at the top of the mirror, that looked less like a mirror at this point and more like a Smartphone from the future.


    Hermione clicked the bu??on and and the phone flashed a light for a moment before going still. Just like how it was supposed to do.


    "What should I do now Harry?" she asked.


    "Do what you do in order to call someone in a floo." He replied.


    "I''ve never used a floo Harry. Remember?" she asked and he smiled at his forgetfulness and said.


    "Well. Just say ''Contact Harry''s mobile''." He said.


    "Okay. Contact Harry''s mobile." She said and the next moment his Magical Phone vibrated (courtesy of a vibrating charm extensively used by witches.) for a few seconds and showed Hermione''s face in his phone.


    A red and a green bu??on appeared on the screen and he gave a smile at his invention once again.


    Making the phone a screen-touch had taken a lot of his time and effort. He had to transfigure the whole mirror from ground up so that the screen would be receptive to touch.


    He even had to write a few key programs himself. Like what would happen if a person clicks on the green bu??on. What would happen if the same person clicks on the red bu??on. And how long will the phone vibrate if you don''t pick up the call.


    He knew that the phone was still in it''s prototype phase and would need to go through a lot of changes before it will be ready to be launched in the wizarding world but he was happy with his accomplishment.


    "We did it." He shouted and kept the phone down before pulling her into another tight hug.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "So. You''re saying that I could call anyone with this¡­ Magical Fon?" Daphne asked and Harry let out a chuckle before answering.


    "Phone. P H O N E. Magical Phone." Harry corrected "And yes. You can call anyone who is carrying this phone."


    "Anywhere?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and his smile faltered for a moment before he smiled once again and answered.


    "No. As of now it''s range is only 200 miles. But I''m working on a magical tower that would amplify it''s signal and allow people to contact anyone from a long distance. According to my calculations, I would have to create 31 such towers and plant them all over Britain. And by the time all the towers have been activated, you should be able to talk with anyone who has a mobile in Britain."


    "And you''ll sell it for merely 20 galleons?" she asked, just to be sure that her hearing had not gone faulty.


    "Yes." He replied in all seriousness.


    "That''s¡­" she said and tried to think of correct word for this invention.


    Unbelievable?


    Revolutionary?


    Something that no one had ever done before?


    "That''s¡­ I don''t think I correct word for what you''ve just created Harry." She said and thought about it a bit more "It''s almost like a small portable floo."


    "No." Harry replied seriously.


    "No?" she asked and wondered which of her words he was denying.


    "No. It is not merely a portable floo." He said "I mean for now you can say that it is. But it won''t remain a mere portable floo forever."


    "So¡­ you''ll add more features to it?" she asked curiously.


    Deep in her heart, she already knew that this product would sell like hotcakes as soon as it would be released in the market. But to think that Harry was not satisfied what just that and wanted to add more features to it.


    How the hell did he even create something like this?


    It''s almost like he had merged the two-way mirror and the Floo into a single product.


    Wasn''t he just supposed to be a 11 year old boy.


    Well, he was a genius. A very powerful genius in fact and she knew that but this...


    This was¡­ something totally above that.


    And now that she thought about it¡­ how come no one else ever thought about creating something like that.


    The idea of a Mobile Fon¡­ no wait¡­ Phone was in it''s core, rather simple.


    So how come no one ever thought about inventing such a thing before.


    She suddenly felt a deep sense of embarrassment for the whole wizarding community who thought themselves so amazing but were left behind by a young 11 year old boy.


    "So¡­ is this what you guys were working on for the past month?" she asked.


    "Yes." Harry and Hermione replied proudly and despite their happiness, she could see the deep exhaustion they both were feeling.


    "Well, we did technically abuse those time turners everyday so it should be about a month and a half I guess." Harry replied while yawning and her eyes went wide for a moment before they narrowed back at him.


    "Time turners? How many of time turners do you have Harry?"


    Harry''s yawn was cut short by her question and he grimaced for a moment before giving her a shrug and said "Three. But I didn''t trust you at the start so I only showed you one."


    She felt her eye twitch at his blatant admission of his mistrust toward her but decided to let it go.


    "And Penelope?" she asked "Why do you look like you''ve not slept for a week?"


    The older girl who by now had developed eye bags under her eyes sighed and dropped down on the chair beside her in exhaustion and said "OWLs study and Deciphering the runes he''s adding on the Magical Phones."


    Harry pursed his lips at her exhausted state and said "You don''t have to push yourself so hard Penelope. If you can''t do it, then¡­"


    "No." Penelope instantly cut him off "I can do it. I can tell that this is very important to you. And I''ve learned far more about Ancient Runes by deciphering and studying your runes than I''ve in my classes. In fact at this point, I think that I can give my NEWTs exam in Ancient Runes and pass the exam with flying marks."


    "And anyway. If I don''t get good marks in school then you''ll just have to give me a job in your new company." Penelope said with a smile before she plopped down her head on a table in order to get some more sleep.


    Harry just smiled at her joke but Daphne knew that if Harry''s company became successful then Penelope wouldn''t even have to complete Hogwarts in order to get a job in that company.


    "So Harry. Is this Magical Phone the only thing you''re going to invent?" Daphne asked curiously because she doubted that Harry would sit down and do nothing after his company takes off.


    Even now he was usually tackling 4-5 projects at a time so she knew that after this Magical Phone, he would definitely invent some new things.


    She was just curious about what those things would be.


    But he just gave her a mysterious smile and shook his head, as if already guessing her thoughts.


    She gave him a fake pout and he started chuckling in return.


    "And have you searched for people who will become your future employee?" she asked.


    "No." He replied frankly "I have my eyes on a few people and but I''ll need a middle man to contact them first."


    "Middle man?" she asked curiously but he simply ignored her curiosity and gave a nod in return "Yes. Middle man."


    "But you don''t need to be worried about all that. Just keep doing what you''re doing and I''ll provide you with a job once you''re expelled from Hogwarts." He said with a smirk as if getting her expelled had been the greatest idea he have ever had.


    Daphne could see Hermione biting her lower lips at his words and wondered what that was about. The bushy haired girl always bit her lips when she was nervous but Daphne didn''t thought that there was anything Harry said that she needed to be nervous about.


    Regardless, she decided to keep an eye on the girl for some time in the future.


    Perhaps the girl was still insecure about her position in the group.


    Daphne could prey upon such weakness and if increase her insecurity over time so that one day the girl would simply break down and leave.


    But she very much doubted that Harry would miss her schemes.


    The boy could be surprisingly perceptive at times. So she choose to not do such a thing and instead see if anything will come out of those insecurities.


    If yes, and Hermione leaves the group then Harry would be heartbroken and she could use that time to get close to him.


    If no, then her position remains the same which was not that bad of a situation.

 Chapter 95 - One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

    "Yes, I remember him from my time in Hogwarts." Andromeda said as she sipped on a tea "He was a bright student. One of the top ones in our class. Our teacher used to call him a charms prodigy. But before he could graduate, he made a big mistake."


    "And what would that be?" Harry asked curiously.


    "A mistake that a lot of Muggleborns make." She replied "He pissed off a few Slytherin boys that belonged to the pureblood families."


    "Why am I not surprised." Harry said with a sad smile "Let me guess what happens next. He doesn''t gets a job in the ministry. And doesn''t get the license to open a shop in Diagon Alley either."


    "Yes. That''s exactly what happened. Except that the pureblood bigots went ahead and botched up his exams so he couldn''t even get a Master''s degree in Ancient Runes."


    "Wait! Wasn''t the Master''s degree supposed to be given by the ICW. I heard that even the examiner is sent by those people."


    "It does. But who ever said that the ICW was corruption free." She said with a chuckle and he frowned for a moment before he schooled his expression once again.


    The Harry Potter movie doesn''t show anything about the ICW. So he had no idea if the ICW was corruption free or not and had foolishly ?ssumed that it was not.


    Now he knew better. And he would not make the mistake of ?ssuming something like this before getting the proper facts ever again.


    "So he didn''t get his Masters degree?" he asked and she nodded.


    "Unfortunately he didn''t. And without such a degree very few people showed any interest in hiring him. The goblins even outright refused to allow him to take an interview."


    "I see." He said.


    "It''s sad. And despicable. I know. But it is what it is. The magical government is full of corruption and I don''t think that will change anytime soon."


    A long silence fell between the two of them before he asked "Do you know what he''s doing these days?"


    She shrugged and replied "The last I heard of him, he was doing a part time job as a salesman in the muggle world. He had three kids and a muggle wife was is a shopkeeper." She said "A good story if you ask me. Most of the muggleborn that piss of Powerful people in the Ministry don''t get such a peaceful ending.


    "He might be living an unsatisfactory life but he''s alive and is able to afford food for his kids. A lot of people are not even that lucky." She said "If you ever go to a Werewolf community, you''ll notice what it means to live a miserable life. Those people are truly unlucky to be born in such a bigoted country.


    " Once you become a werewolf, they''ll stamp that seal over all of your certificates. After that your chances of getting a job in the wizarding world are close to nil. But the magical society cannot allow them to join the muggle world either because of their status as XXXXX class creatures. They''re truly stuck between both the worlds. Getting nothing but scorn from everyone else."


    "And people wonder why newly bitten Werewolves never register themselves in the Ministry." She said and took another sip of the tea while he started thinking about the situation in front of himself.


    "The Rune Prodigy. What was his name again?" he asked.


    "Selvin." She replied before giving him a shrewd glance "Why? You interested in giving him a job in


    this new company of yours."


    "Yes." He replied "Are there more people in our community like him?"


    "Are you serious. Harry, there is a whole separate community of people like him in the Wizarding World. People who are rejects of the magical world. Quite a few of them choose to leave the country in order to search for better prospects in other magical communities rather then go back to the muggle world. However, most of them stay because of their family and the fact that they know that the other magical communities are not that good either."


    "I see." He said and tried to hide the smile that was threatening to break out of his face.


    Truly, one man''s trash is another man''s treasure.


    These people who''ve been rejected by the Magical community and are treated like trash will become the base of his company.


    And not only that but these people will also be fiercely loyal to him because of the chance he''ll give them.


    This situation couldn''t have been better for him.


    "Can you give me a way to contact these people?" he asked and she gave him a nod in return.


    "I''ll ask my husband about it." She said and got up from the chair and left the room.


    And in the silence that ensued, Harry allowed a feral grin to cross his face.


    Truly, it was as if even the heavens were on his side this time.


    And he would make sure to make the best out of the opportunities provided to him by the world.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry looked at the newly created Magical Phone in his hand.


    After the initial euphoria of creating a new phone wore off, they started trying to find the flaws and faults in the prototype.


    And they had spent the past two weeks working on the bugs and improving the Prototype and this newly created Magical Phone was a result of their hard work.


    He had no doubt in his mind that if he and Hermione tried very hard, then they would able to find a few more bugs in this one as well.


    And that was exactly what they were going to do now.


    After all, he couldn''t simply sell faulty merchandise to the customers. Especially when he was going to attach his own brand to it.


    Thus they would go through this process a few more times till the end of the year before they decided that the Magical Phone was ready to be launched among the masses.


    Thankfully, the new changes and corrections did not require a lot of change so Penelope was not as over worked as she was during the initial stage of the creation of this product and was able to give some more time to her OWLs.


    But despite the new corrections made in his inventions, he was not satisfied with his product anymore.


    Yes, it was now working better than the prototype did, but in the end, the only thing that the Magical Phone could be used for was to video call another person.


    And was getting rather bored of this project at this point.


    But now he wanted to add new features to the product.


    And as he looked at the three damaged pensives kept in the table in front of him, he smiled at the sensation that this new function would cause.


    Provided that he did succeeded in completing the project.


    The failure he had received so far in trying to attain a mage sight for himself (like Selena) made him realize that he might be a genius but even he had his limits.


    And this new project of his would definitely be a very good test for those limits.


    He could feel his books shaking in anticipation as he kept the Magical Phone back in his pocket and dove at the Pensieves in order to study the magic that created them.

 Chapter 96 - Body modifications

    "Tap on the Phone." He spoke in Parseltongue "Just tap on it with your tail when I cross the finish line. Okay." He said to Selena who looked at him with droopy eyes and he wondered if waking her up for this was really such a great idea.


    Maybe he should have just run with the phone on his hand but then he would not have been able to give his best shot at the 100 meter sprint that he was going to perform pretty soon.


    The Stop watch he had added in the Phone, along with the calculator, the clock, the alarm bell, the calendar and Message were one of the few new functions that he had added in the Phone recently.


    Adding these new functions in the Phone had been surprisingly easy for him. And Hermione had said that just the alarm bell function ought to rise the cost of the Phone by at least two dollars. Not to mention all the other functions that he had added or might add in the future.


    But Harry had remained firm in his stance of selling the Phone for 20 dollars. After all, he wanted every household to have one such phone.


    And he wanted to make it so that even someone as poor as the Weasleys would be able to buy it.


    But he was not standing here in order to check the function of the Phone.


    In fact, he was had come to this empty field in the middle of the night in order to check his new Transfiguration changes.


    Knowledge that he was now about to put to test.


    He gaze at the other end of the field where he had planted a flag and instantly apparated to their side and looked back at the other flag on the other end of the field.


    The distance between the two flags was of course 100 meters.


    With a wave of his wand, the muscles in his th??hs, calves, feet, abdomen and lower back started to go through a huge change.


    After a few seconds, the change was complete. And even though he didn''t look any different now then he did before the changes, if someone looked closely, then they could see the slight budge in the muscles of the areas where he had just used transfiguration.


    And indeed, after the changes, he felt more power in his legs and abdomen.


    Power that should not normally exist in human legs.


    After moving around for a few more seconds and making sure that the muscles were working properly, he got ready in the sprint and stood at the ready position.


    He sent a signal to Selena and waited for a few seconds, before a loud ''Bang'' put him into motion and he started running to the other end of the field like there was a Cerberus on his tail.


    Good.


    It meant that all his knowledge and study of the muscles of various different animals, birds, fishes and insects did not go to waste.


    He reached the end of the flag and ran for a good few dozen meters before he was able to stop himself.


    He could feel his heart hammering inside his ?h?st and his body temperature had risen to a unnerving degree.


    With another wave of his hand, the transfiguration was removed and without the additional power, he almost fell down on the ground.


    The might have studied the muscles but he had not studied heart and other organs so using those enhances muscles still exhausted him to a great degree.


    He placed a cooling charm on himself to lower the temperature of his body before going back to Flag where he had left Selena and his Mobile Phone.


    He could only hope that Selena had not fallen asleep while on her duty.


    Thankfully, she hadn''t.


    6.13 sec


    Hmm¡­ about 3 seconds faster than a world class Olympic Athlete.


    Not bad.


    But not very good either.


    Any other person might be satisfied with these results but he wasn''t.


    But at the same time, he also knew that until he found a way to reinforce his heart, he would not be able to enhance his muscles anymore. Otherwise his heart would simply rupture under the immense pressure and that was not something that he wanted.


    After his breathing became normal and his heartbeat calmed down, he turned both the flags back into the dirt before going to the forest nearby.


    Now that he was done with the Speed, he needed to test other aspects of his body.


    Like how much weight was he able to lift from the ground.


    What kind of power his punches and kicks held?


    And these were just the basis tests.


    The night was young and he had a feeling that he would spend a lot of time in this forest this one night.


    With such thoughts, he took a deep breath and started with the tests.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Harry usually thought that he was one of the most brilliant mind in Hogwarts.


    And that statement, while sounding narcissistic, also held a grain of truth in it.


    And that was why he was so appalled by himself for making such an elementary mistake.


    His company was going to open in a few months. But that didn''t change the fact that he already had employees working for him under himself.


    But it also didn''t change that they were giving away hours and hours of their life to help him with his invention.


    And they were doing it for free.


    Well, not any longer.


    The problem was that he had never given a wage to anyone.


    And he in a situation where he realized that if he paid too much to his employees, then his company might sink before it was even launched.


    And if he paid too little, then, well¡­ that would be embarrassing and simply humiliating.


    So he did something that he did whenever he faced a problem that he couldn''t solve on his own.


    He went to Hermione and enlisted her help.


    And the end of the day, he had received a list of the amount of money that people made in the magical world.


    Well, he guessed that that is what happens in an economy which doesn''t has the concept of minimum wage and in which the people in the higher ladder of the society discriminate openly against the people in the lower ladder of the society.


    Frankly, how the hell had their economy not collapsed upon it self until now.


    He could guess that the interference of the goblins must have paid a huge role in ensuring that the wizards are not able to fu?k up the economy but still, this only made it even more clear to him about how pathetic the Wizards were.


    After all, half bloods and muggleborns create the massive bulk of their society and the purebloods discriminate against them.


    The house elves were one of the most loyal servant one could ever ask for and the purebloods treat them like shit instead of being grateful for them.


    The goblins are the only one who are keeping their economy afloat and the purebloods hate them as well.


    Really, how has the wizarding society not destroyed itself until now was something that he would never understand.


    Even more disturbing was the fact that there had never been any muggleborn rebellion against the stupidity of the inbred purebloods.


    Especially when groups like Death Eaters were activally prowling around a few years ago, trying to find and kill any muggleborn they could get their hands on simply because they wanted to show how their blood was superior to everyone else.


    All Harry saw was a child throwing a tantrum because his mother didn''t love him as much as she used to do anymore.


    He took a deep breath and looked at the statistics that Hermione had brought in front of him.


    Well, if there was anything regular in the whole chart, it was the wages of the teachers in Hogwarts.


    Which was about a 200 galleon give or take. Of course, head of houses earn more than that and the Deputy Mistress Minerva Mcgonagall earns even more than that but he was talking about average so a 200 galleon a month.


    Which would be about 1200 dollars a month and 14,400 dollars in a year.


    Well, this was a time when the minimum wage in USA was about 5$ for an hour of work and he guessed that according to 2019, this much money should be about 50-70,000 $ in a year.


    It was surprising to him how the average of the salary came so close to the average salary earned by an average American citizen.


    That was something that he couldn''t allow to happen.


    Because from his perspective, Wizards should earn at least 4 times more because of the things they could do and the simply because of how rare they were.


    Yes, Hermione had taken out a ratio of Muggle to Wizard for him and it was about 1:1200 people.


    So yeah, wizards were rare. Magic was rarer.


    And rarer things get paid more.


    So when he opens a company, he would pay triple the amount of wage to his employees.


    And that plan of his created even more problems than it solved.


    Because he also wanted his products to be cheaper so every wizard and witch could buy it.


    And he realized that he could not have it both ways.


    Either he would have to decrease the wage of his employees or he would have to increase the cost of his products.


    This whole situation made his head hurt.


    He was never much of an accountant and at this point, he realized that he would have to take the help of a professional who could actually help him.


    Hmm¡­ perhaps it was time to pay a visit to the Finance Minister of Birtain.


    If there was any such post in their government.


    Regardless, all of that was for later, for now, he would simply pay Hermione and Penelope in the same scale as the Hogwarts teachers.


    Except that they didn''t work for him all day long.


    And in essence were just part time workers who spent more time studying their own stuff.


    So in the end, he paid Penelope and Hermione 500 galleons for the month as salary for their part time job.


    They of course refused to accept it but he did not want to take advantage of their hard work and made them accept the pay.


    And gave Hermione a badge of Assistant Researcher and Personal Secretory.


    While the badge of Ancient Runes Decipherer went to Penelope Clearwater.


    All in all, by the end of the day, he was a wiser and happier man.

 Chapter 97 - Story of a Paper Pusher

    Andrew was what people would call a ''Paper Pusher''


    Well, the title said Senior Executive Clerk in the Takeon Telephone Communication but regardless of how fancy the title sounded, the only thing he did all day was keep records, accounts and undertake other routine administrative duties.


    All the while making sure that the army of Paper Pushers working under him don''t fu?k it up some how.


    And he was tired of this life.


    Hell, the only reason he had got this job was because his lovely wife had asked her brother, who was the manager of this branch of their company, to land him a job.


    And Andrew was grateful for that.


    And he was grateful for his lovely wife and his two beautiful daughters.


    But no matter how much gratefullness he wanted to be toward his job, at the end of the day when he left the office and went home, he always felt empty.


    And there was a good reason why he felt so.


    Yes, Andrew was a wizard. A rather talented and powerful one at that. And when he had graduated from Hogwarts, he had done so with great marks and a shine in his eyes and he was sure that he would do something great in his life.


    All of those plans came crashing down when he began to date on of his classmates whose grandfather was Pureblood Bigot and had some pull in the ministry.


    That Pureblood Bigot especially didn''t like the fact that his precious granddaughter was frolicking around with a Mudblood boy.


    And by the end of month, he had lost his job that he had worked for his whole life.


    Not only that, but all of his other prospects of getting a job were cut off as well and by the end of this whole situation, he realized that if this keeps going on, then he would probably have to find a job as a waiter in the Leaky Cauldron.


    Before the end of the second month, because of the pressure put on her by her family, his girlfriend broke up with him.


    That heartbreak was the last straw that broke the break of the camel and he decided that he would rather live in the muggle world where he would at least be treated like a fellow human being instead of a 2nd or 3rd class citizen.


    The problem was that once he came back to the muggle world, he realized that he had no muggle education and was wholly unsuited for any sophisticated job in this new world.


    So he worked as a salesman for a few months before he became an ?ssistant in a library.


    But as his family increased, so did the expenses. And after her first delivery, they realized that his simple job as an Assistant in a library just won''t cut it for them.


    So now here he was.


    A Paper Pusher who had practically been doing the same thing every day for the past few years.


    And he felt empty.


    Empty because he knew that he was capable of so much more than this.


    That if he could only return to the magical world. If he could only show those people what he could do, then maybe someone would hire him.


    And maybe he would finally be able to do something meaningful with his life.


    That was the reason why he was so surprised and excited when he received the letter from Selvin claiming that there was someone in the magical world who was not only interested in giving them a job but also brave enough to deal with the backlash that would come with hiring people like him, who were rejects of the magical world.


    Which was why the shock and disappointment was even worse when he realized that he went to give and interview and realized that the one who was taking his interview was an 11 year old child.


    So despite the deep disappointment he was feeling in his heart, he did not let it show in his face and gave the interview in as professional manner as he could.


    And was actually surprised when the boy looked at his numerous works and pointed out the various mistakes in it.


    By the time the boy¡­ no, the young man was done going through his whole portfolio, he was feeling like a dumb child in the presence of a great prophet.


    Harry Potter might have been a young but his knowledge of Ancient Runes ran far deeper than even his own.


    In fact, by this point Andrew was feeling deeply ashamed of even sitting in the same room as this young man.


    And then the other aspects of the interview started.


    Questions about his job. His family. His hobbies, etc, etc. All questions that were there to make sure that he was a responsible man and someone who would arrive late in his work and waste the time of everyone else.


    And then the Young man brought out his invention that he called Magical Phone and Andrew was floored.


    The device was a work of art.


    The interview went on for two more hours after that at which point the interview became less like an interview and more like a test in which he did his best to show every last bit of his talent to his future employer.


    He couldn''t tell if Harry was satisfied by his work or not and that fact struck a little fear in his heart.


    Had his skills degenerated a lot because of the lack of practice.


    Was Harry dissatisfied by his work?


    Would he miss this chance of joining the magical world once again?


    And would he have to spend the rest of his life in the muggle world as a paper pusher.


    The incessant questions ate at his heart as the worry and insecurity threatened to overwhelm him but years of patience won in the end and when Harry asked to him to leave send in the next one, he complied.


    But when he reached the door and was about to open it, he heard the young man''s voice once again.


    "You''ve gotten a bit rusty over the years Mister Andrew. I expect you to polish your skills over the next few months so that when you eventually join my company, you would be able to give it all you''ve got."


    That night, he made love with his wife with such passion that he had not been able to muster in years.


    Because after all these years, he was finally feeling alive inside.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    * Harry goes to the headmaster and said he wanted to meet with one of the best friends of his parents. Remus Lupin. After some bullshit, Albus finally agreed to find Remus for him.


    "Harry my boy. What brings you to my office today?" the headmaster asked gently as he entered through the door.


    "A few questions headmaster. Nothing more." He replied calmly as he took in the surroundings. Wondering if some of these instruments were once used to track his whereabouts.


    He had no doubt that the old man must have already realized that the devices he used to keep track over me had stopped working.


    But magical artifacts that keep track of others based on their blood were highly illegal and frowned upon in the first place so it was not like the old man could do anything about it.


    Well, the old man could try to find some other way to keep track of him. Maybe secretly take the blood of Hermione since she always stays near him or he may try some other method that he''d never heard of before but Harry was confident that he would be able to deal with anything that the old man throws at him.


    "Questions?" Albus asked with a raised eyebrow "What questions might those be my boy."


    Albus still seemed perfectly at ease but Harry could almost hear the wariness in his voice.


    "I recently came to know that my parents had other friends. Some of whom survived the war." He said as he removed some of the devices from one of the table and sat upon it "I want to know why none of those friends came to check up on me throughout these years. I want to know what kind of friends they were if they couldn''t even look after the only remaining child of their best friend."


    Dumbledore seemed a bit saddened at his words but just as he was about to open his mouth and say something about the blood wards and the necessity of him staying with his relatives and whatnot, he raised his hand and interrupted the old man.


    "I know what you''re going to say." He said "You''ll probably make some excuse about how it was all for my own good and how it was necessary that they stay away from me or something along those lines. I do not want to hear it."


    The old man closed his mouth and looked at him sadly and Harry wondered if the old man was actually sad for him.


    He probably was. Harry didn''t believe that Dumbledore was a blackhearted old man who was totally incapable of feeling remorse. But you could never tell with Dumbledore considering how good an actor he was.


    "I want the names of the people who used to be my parent''s closest friend. I want to know how to contact them. And I want to look at them in the eyes and ask them if your words were really all they needed to condemn me to a life of abuse."


    "Harry I¡­"


    "I want their names Dumbledore. And I want to meet them. And I will do that whether you help me or not. So you might as well tell me their names while I still hold some respect for you."


    Albus looked remorseful for a long moment, looking like a defeated old man who had nothing left to live for before he gave a small nod.


    "You don''t need to search for them yourself Harry. I''ll send them a letter and ask them to come here so that you could meet them. Is that good enough?" he asked and Harry nodded his head


    "Yes. That should be good enough.Now. If there is not anything else Headmaster." He said and turned to leave but was stopped in his tracks as Dumbledore called for him.


    "Harry. The end of the term exams are near. Despite your lack of attendance, the staff members willing to give you a chance to sit in the exam. I hope you''ll give your best in those exams and pass your 1st year with flying colors."


    "We''ll see about that." He said with a shrug and asked "If there was nothing else Headmaster?"


    The old man gave and nod and Harry left the room with a smile on his face.


    Now he only had to wait a week or so before he would get his middle man for the werewolves.


    Remus was fiercely loyal to Dumbledore but he was also someone who was very easily manipulated because of the guilt he felt for everything that happened to the original Harry.


    And once he was able to manipulate Remus, he would get the key to the vast amount of potential that existed in the form of the Werewolf community.

 Chapter 98 - Adding new functions on the Magical Phone

    Hermione was worried.


    That was not something unusual as she was the type of person who got worried for just about everything. But this time she was so worried that she was not able to concentrate on her books.


    And that meant a lot to her because she saw books as sacred things that were bestowed to mankind by the gods themselves.


    Well, maybe not something that dramatic but the point stands that she respected her books very much and the fact that she was not able able to focus on her books meant that there was something drastically wrong with the world.


    And this time, that something drastic had to do with her friendship with Harry. A friendship that meant the world to her.


    A friendship that had been strained unnecessarily because of her foolish actions and her blind respect for the authority.


    Yes, she had spent numerous hours in the chamber of secrets in order to seek his forgiveness and yes, he had forgiven her eventually.


    But even after that bit of reconciliation, she could see that there friendship was not what it used to be once.


    It was strained and there was always a sense of tenseness they Harry felt around her now.


    As if he was simply waiting for her drop the shoe and betray him once again.


    He was probably not even aware that he was doing it but being a girl, she was able to sense such subtle things.


    And the worse part was that she only had herself to blame for all of this.


    Oh how she wished that she had not been so foolish.


    Well, at least Harry was allowing her to help him in his new projects.


    And gods those projects excited her.


    She could even understand why he would ditch every single one of his class. Working on those projects was just that exciting.


    To know that you''re inventing something that would be used by many other witches and wizards in the future.


    With those thoughts she reached their ''Study room''¡­ and was shocked to see Harry''s face submerged in one of the Pensieves that he had been recently been trying to repair.


    Her heart hammered in her ?h?st and she almost ran to take him out of the pensieve before she remembered that it was exactly how the pensieves worked.


    Only when she was sure that his heart was beating and that he lungs were still working perfectly did she let out a sigh of relief and plopped on the floor.


    In hindsight, the fact that Harry would die by getting submerged into a dish of metal was completely ridiculous.


    "You know. It''s rather rude to touch people like that without their permission." She heard his voice and blushed at those words before looking up and meeting his bright green eyes. She felt her heart hammer in her ?h?st once again because of the devilish smirk in his expression before she controlled her emotions and huffed.


    "I was not trying to¡­ touch you." She managed to say without blushing.


    "I know." He smiled and lifted her up from the ground "I was just teasing you." He smiled and she huffed back.


    2 months ago, he would have hugged her in greeting by this point but now, he just gave her a pat on her shoulders before getting back to his work.


    The change in his behavior hurt her a little as she liked those hugs a lot as well. Not that she ever showed it. But then again, she only had herself to blame for her mistakes.


    She shook such thoughts from her mind and went beside him to check on the Pensieve that was definitely damaged until a few days ago.


    "You repaired it?" she asked. Not really sure if the Pensieve was working properly or not.


    "Yup." He said with a smile, looking rather proud over the fact that he managed to get the blasted thing to work "Took a lot of hard work and time but yes. I did. And it''s working perfectly now."


    "And how would you know if it was working properly or not?" she asked "How you ever used it before?"


    Her question brought him up short and he opened his mouth to say something but then stopped and the said "Not really. But I''ve read about how it works in a book."


    She felt that he was lying to her but didn''t point it out.


    If he wanted to keep a secret from her then she should not push him.


    She would be surprised if he didn''t have a hundred other secrets already.


    "Can I see it as well?" she asked curiously. She had never really used a pensieve before in her life and was curious as to how it worked.


    "Yup. But not now." He said with a smile "Because now, we have to do a little more research in Pensieves."


    "Research?" she asked "Is this a new project?"


    "Nope." He said with a feral grin that made her realize that he must be really excited about this project. Whatever it was.


    "This is not a new project Mione." She felt a little warm at the sudden use of her nickname. He had not do so in such a long time "In fact, this is the same one as the one that we''ve been working on for quite some time now."


    "Same one?" she asked and then her eyes widened "You couldn''t mean."


    "Yes." He said with a smile "I''m thinking of making a miniature Pensieve and incorporating it in the Magical Phones. The miniature ones don''t have to give a 360 dimensional view of the memory but the memory should be clear enough that the viewer would still understand everything in the memory."


    "Think of it as a portable Pensieve. With this function, the possibilities are endless."


    Her eyes wide at his proclamation before she realized how hard this project was going to become.


    Because if creating a miniature pensieve was so easy then someone would have already done it. Right?


    Right?


    Somehow she was not so sure considering how few innovative people there were in the wizarding world.


    "Harry. This project. It''ll be¡­"


    "Awesome. Right?"


    "I was going to say hard. But I guess that if we succeed then it will be awesome as well."


    "I knew it." He said with a large grin on his face that made her smile.


    "But¡­" she said, bringing him back to the world "This new function of yours will spike the prices of the Magical Phones by at least 2-5 times."


    "Pensieves are not easy to make." Or at least that''s what she thought. "If they were easy to make then everybody would have one. And even if you create a miniature version of it, it will still be a hard task to complete for the rune carvers and the enchanters."


    "So if you add this feature to the Magical Phones then selling them for anything less than 50 galleons would be a loss for your company." She informed him and he frowned at her words, the earlier enthusiasm all gone.


    She felt bad at delivering the bad news to him because she knew that he wanted the Magical Phones to be cheap and affordable enough to be bought by even the poorest wizarding family.


    To tell him that this new function will increase the price to such a large extent must have been a blow to him.


    He kept frowning for a few more moments before he shook his head and smiled at her.


    "I guess you''re right. I''ll still think of some way to make my Magical Phones affordable to everyone." He said "Maybe I''ll release two different versions of the Magical Phones. The simple ones and the ones with the miniature Pensieve function."


    "The first one for the poor and the lower middle class household and the second one for the rich people. What do you say?"


    "The idea has merit." She said and smiled at how easily he was able to solve this problem.


    And she knew that even if they were not able to create two different versions of the Magical Phones, he would have thought of some other way to get across this problem.


    He was just that good.


    "I know right." He said and a smile and then handed her the Notepad and the quill "Then let''s get ready. Because I know that this project would be one of the hardest ones we''ve worked on over the past few months."


    She nodded enthusiastically at his words and got ready for the project.


    She knew that what Harry was doing would forever change the wizarding world.


    And she wanted to be a part of that no matter what.

 Chapter 99 - Dealing with Quirrelmort

    Harry was on the brink of magical exhaustion.


    And this was not normal because he had 3-4 times magical power than his peers.


    But permanent transfigurations were always a magically exhausting.


    And permanently transfiguring a piece of Basilisk hide into a piece of cloth was probably one of the most magically exhausting transfiguration he had ever performed.


    Even transfiguring all the Oxygen near in Hagrid''s hut into Carbon Dioxide had not been as exhausting as this.


    And the worse part was that after fully exhausting his magic, he was only able to transfigure a small piece of the Basilisk hide that was not even the size of a small handkerchief.


    Yes, creating a robe from magically transfigured Basilisk hide was going to be a very exhausting task.


    But then again, he had known that from the start.


    After all, there are only a few magical races in the whole world whose skin is more magically resistant than a Basilisk.


    But magical resistance didn''t meant that it could totally negate the effect of magic.


    Which was why he was able to transfigure that small piece of basilisk hide after exhausting all his magic.


    And then he would have to carve numerous runes on it with Unicorn blood and that task itself would take a lot of time because Unicorn Blood is very magically potent and even the smallest mistake could blow his whole lab into smithereens.


    He was already feeling tired knowing the huge task ahead of him but it had to be done.


    Such a pity that he could not delegate this task to someone else.


    Because even if some ?du?t wizard who was good at transfiguration tried to do replicate this feat, he would only be met with failure.


    After all, it took a lot of will and intent on his part to make this transfiguration possible.


    Only Hermione or possibly Dumbledore would be able to do what he had done here.


    Hermione because she was getting very good at will and intent magic and Dumbledore because of his mastery over Transfiguration and his large magical core.


    No one else would be able to do this.


    If they were capable of doing this, then the rich people in the magical society would already be wearing robes that were transfigured from Dragon hide.


    And this was just one of the many defenses that he was preparing for himself.


    By the time Voldemort enters the society once again, Harry would wipe the floor with his ?ss.


    He was sure of it.


    With those thoughts, he laid his head down on the table as sleep claimed him.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    * Harry feels someone crossing his wards at night and follows this person to the forbidden forest. There, he finds Quirrelmort already feasting on a dead Unicorn. Harry hates the fact that Voldemort was able to kill such innocent beings for his own greed. He also hates the fact that he could have saved all those unicorns if he had killed Quirrel earlier so he felt bad as well. In the end, he attacks Quirrelmort and steals the Unicorn body. He decided that it was time to kill Quirrel and kills the wizard.


    Harry was working on the second damaged pensieve late in the night when he felt a prick on his senses.


    Then he felt Selena move from under his robes as she poked her head out of his robes and said "Harry¡­ Someone with a very dark signature just entered the forbidden forest once again."


    Harry grimaced at that and gave a nod to her and she went back into his sleeves.


    That time when he had to watch Quirrelmort kill a Unicorn and drink it''s blood so that he could salvage the body for himself without getting cursed for killing a Unicorn.


    Despite his indifference to the populace of the Wizarding world, he was not a monster and watching something as pure and innocent as a Unicorn die and not doing anything about it always made him feel like shit.


    Worse part was that he knew that he could simply kill Quirrelmort and stop all these deaths but Unicorn blood and the other parts of it''s body was not something that you could buy in the black market.


    Letting those pure creatures die at the hand of that monster was perhaps one of the few things that he truly regretted in his life.


    He shook his head and wore the invisible cloak before opening the window and flying out of the room.


    By the time he reached the Forest, Quirrelmort had already struck down a young unicorn and was feasting on it''s blood.


    While the unicorn still lived.


    Harry was appalled by this sight because of how young the Unicorn was.


    It was not even a young ?du?t.


    If Quirrelmort wanted to drink blood then he could at least have chosen a fully grown Unicorn.


    Why would be even go after a child.


    Was the dark wizard truly that desparate.


    He saw the pain in the Unicorn''s eyes and felt the guilt overwhelm him.


    He saw the tears roll down it''s eyes and was suddenly reminded of Hermione when she was being bullied by her housemates.


    And he wondered how he would have felt if someone did the same thing to Hermione.


    No.


    He couldn''t do it anymore.


    He couldn''t simply stand aside and watch as Quirrelmort killed another innocent being.


    It was time to end this.


    With that thought, he flew around the dark wizard, ready to slice of his head without a moment''s delay.


    But it went to show how capable Voldemort was because even after adding all those charms in the Invisibility cloak, he was still able to sense him.


    "Fool behind you." The voice hissed and Quirrel turned around just in time to see a cutting curse separate his neck from his shoulders.


    The DADA teacher''s head rolled to the ground and he was dead before his body could even hit the ground.


    A moment of silence took over the dark forest.


    Before a shrill scream pierced his ears and a dark fog rose up from now decomposed head and shouted.


    "Who was it?" the fog screamed, looking one way or another yet not able to see him hiding under the invisibility cloak.


    "Who did it?" it screamed once again.


    "Whoever you are. Know that I, Lord Voldemort will have my vengeance one day."


    And with those last words, the fog flew off in the distance and Harry let go of the breath that he didn''t knew he was holding.


    Seeing the dark wizard in movies was one thing.


    Seeing him in real life was another.


    He shook those thoughts from his head and bent down over the heavily injured Unicorn foal that laid on the ground and felt a wave of immense sadness wash over him.


    "I''m sorry." He murmured to the innocent child.


    "I''m so¡­ so sorry."

 Chapter 100 - Meeting with Remus

    Remus was nervous.


    Harry could tell that just by looking at the man''s countenance.


    Harry had no idea what the old man had told the werewolf about him but he doubted that it would be something good.


    If he had to guess then he would guess that Dumbledore would have told the werewolf that he was an emotionally unstable child who needs all the protection he could get.


    He might also have told Remus to ask him to attend his classes.


    And in the off chance that Dumbledore decided not to interfere and did not tell anything to Remus, he must have still known about his Parselmouth status.


    Something that none of his parents or their parents were.


    So Remus must have suspected something. After all, despite his lack of confidence in himself, he was a rather smart guy.


    Which would explain all the nervousness.


    Or maybe Remus was nervous because of the icy cold glare he was sending toward the man.


    Who could tell.


    "Have a seat." He said, b?r?ly withholding a sneer.


    Remus didn''t even have the time to widen his eyes before Harry applied a few paralysis charm on th werewolf, just to stay on the side of caution and took away his wand.


    "Harry. What are you doing?" he asked, not looking afraid in the least but still a bit worried.


    "Interrogating you. I thought that was clear enough to you. What with the rope and all that." Harry said with a blank expression before he pointed his wand at the werewolf and fired a dozen or so bug removing charms.


    And yes, there were a few charms placed on him that would allow the caster to eavesdrop on them.


    Harry didn''t know if Remus knew about these charms or not but if Werewolf didn''t then Dumbledore was probably even more powerful and dangerous than he had initially thought.


    He performed the dozen or so charms on himself as well but thankfully there were no charms placed on himself.


    Still, he knew needed to be sure and he turned to the magic revealing expert.


    "Selena. Is there any other kind of magic on or around our body."


    Remus visibly flinched at his liberal use of Parseltongue and shivered a little as Selena came out of his sleeve and started flickering her tongue around in the air.


    Why had he not thought of that before.


    Whelp¡­ at least he now had one more thing to try in his research of the Mage Sight.


    Maybe this would work.


    He jotted it down in his mind and after Selena gave him a ''Clear'' he pulled her back in his sleeves and sat down on the chair before performing a dozen or so privacy charms.


    "Nonverbal casting. You''re very advanced at charms Harry. I can see why people would think of you as a prodigy in that subject. Even your mother was not that good in that subject when she was of your age. Your parents must be very proud of you." Remus said with a warm smile though there was a little bit of wariness in his expression as well.


    "No." He replied "I don''t think they would. Especially if they knew that ypu came to have a private conversation with me while have a bunch of tracking and eavesdropping charm on your body."


    Remus''s expression fell at his words and a look of hurt and betrayal cross his face and Harry realized that yes, the man did not know about the charms placed on him.


    Or maybe he was just that good at acting.


    Maybe he was in truth Albus Dumbledore himself who had polyjuiced himself into Remus in order to talk with him.


    So Harry performed a charm to check and no, this was no Albus. Though that situation would have been fun as well.


    "I guess now that we''ve purged you off all the outside influences, we should start with the interrogation." He said and sat down on the chair once again.


    "Tell me Remus. If you had a son during the last war and you died during that war, then do you think that my parents would have taken care of your son."


    Remus calm facade turned guilty at once but he remained silent.


    "Give me an answer Remus. Would my parents have taken care of your or not?" he asked once again but with a bit of steel in his words this time.


    "They would have." Remus admitted trying to find solace at the lace of his shoes.


    "They would have." Harry admitted with a nod"I never knew them personally but from what I''ve heard of them, I can safely say that they would have raised your son to be a proper wizard no matter what."


    "They would have." Remus repeated, still not looking up at him.


    "And yet you left me in a muggle house with my abusive relatives where I thought my name was a Freak until I was 5 years old."


    "Harry I¡­ I wanted to raise you. Please believe me. I did. But¡­"


    "But Dumbledore told you that leaving me with my abusive relatives was for the greater good and you followed his words without a second thought. Is that what you''re trying to tell me."


    "Harry¡­ I know you''re angry." Remus said while looking up at him "And I wanted to raise you. I did. But I couldn''t do it even if I wanted. Not with my condition."


    "What condition?" Harry asked, fully knowing what Remus was talking about but wondering if the Werewolf would admit to it.


    "Harry¡­ I¡­"


    "What condition Remus?" Harry snarled and Remus flinched before he lowered his gaze and said.


    "I''m¡­ a werewolf Harry. I was mauled by Fenerir Greyback when I was a child for something that my father did and survived those wounds and turned into a werewolf." Remus admitted, looking like he was expecting some kind of scorn from him as well but Harry just shook his head at the Werewolf''s antics.


    "I know Remus. I already knew that you were a werewolf. I just wanted to see if you would hide that fact from me or be man enough to admit it. But don''t worry, I don''t hate werewolves. They''re just people who lose their sanity for two days in a month because of their condition. Nothing more nothing less."


    Remus looked slightly hopeful at that news before he frowned once again.


    "That is¡­ good. There are few people in the wizarding world who know about us werewolves and still don''t hate us. But Harry¡­ how did you come to know that I was a werewolf?" Remus asked suspiciously and Harry gave Remus the look.


    "That is a secret Remus. Do you really want to know?" Harry asked, laying out the bait for the trap.


    "Yes. I know that Dumbledore wouldn''t have told you about it. And besides Dumbledore, very few people in the school currently know about my¡­ condition. Wait¡­ it wasn''t Snape was it?" Remus snarled but Harry shook his head.


    "No Remus. It was not Snape but a friend of yours that you trusted very much."


    "Friend?" Remus asked, looking confused.


    "Yes. A friend that betrayed you. A friend whose betrayal killed my parents."


    "You met with Sirius." Remus almost shouted while looking pale. "Harry¡­ When did you¡­ How?"


    "You want to know?" Harry asked and Remus nodded sternly.


    "I want to tell you." Harry admitted "But how do I know that I can trust you."


    "Harry¡­ I would never betray your trust. Never." Remus said seriously.


    "So you say." Harry said with a wave of his hand "But Sirius must have said the same thing when he was made their secret keeper. So you must understand when I say that I still don''t believe you. I do not trust you Remus."


    "I¡­ I can understand Harry. But¡­ this is serious. I need to know who told you about my condition. That person might pose a huge threat to your life." Remus enunciated.


    "Maybe. But I still don''t trust you enough to tell you any of my secrets."


    Remus sighed at that. "Harry¡­ I know I''ve failed in my responsibilities toward you as one of the best friend of your father. And I know that I don''t have your trust right now. But at least tell me what I can do to earn your trust."


    Harry went silent at that inquiry and looked outside the room for a long moment before he said "You must make an Unbreakable Vow Remus."


    Remus eyes widened for a moment but before he could say anything else, Harry continued "You must make an Unbreakable Vow that you''ll never tell my secrets to anyone else. That you''ll never betray my trust. Can you do that?"


    Remus looked worried about his conditions and remained silent for a long moment and Harry''s face fell.


    "I see¡­ So you were planning to betray me from the start. I hope I could say it was nice knowing you but it really wasn''t. I hope we don''t meet ever again."


    Harry got up from his chair and turned to leave for the door.


    5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­


    "Harry¡­ Wait! Wait Harry¡­ I''ll take the vow." Remus shouted and Harry smiled without looking back.


    Hook, line and sinker.


    And there goes your trusted spy Dumbledore.


    By the time Harry turned back, his expression had turned somber once again and he looked at Remus suspiciously for a few moments before he said "We would need a witness for the Unbreakable Vow."


    "Yes." Remus admitted sadly "I''ll call the Headmaster and we could¡­"


    "No." Harry denied "Not Dumbledore. I don''t trust the old man."


    Remus looked like he wanted to berate Harry for disrespecting the headmaster but he stayed quiet and Harry almost laughed at how similar Remus and Hermione were.


    Both were die hard book worms and worshipped the teachers to a blind degree.


    "I''ll call a friend of mine to act as the witness."


    Half an hour later Daphne had witnessed the Unbreakable vow and left him and Remus alone. But the performance had not ended.


    Not in the least.


    For he still have to shake the blind trust that Remus had for Dumbledore.


    With the wave of his hand a Pensieve came out of his Bottomless purse.


    "Now that I know that I can trust you. Let me show you how I captured Peter Pettegrew and interrogated the truth of out him." Harry said while taking a memory out of his mind and Remus'' eyes almost popped out of his eye socket at the news.


    Harry spent the next few hours telling Remus about the truth behind his parents betrayal. His life at the Dursleys and how he suspected that he had Voldemort''s soul in his scar which was the only reason why Dumbledore was keeping him here.


    He also told Remus about the prophesy about him and Voldemort and how Albus deduced the


    And the best part was that everything he said was the truth.


    By the end of it, Remus was looking more pale than ever.


    Of course, the news that the son of your only friend was a living horcrux and that he would have to fight Voldemort in the future might have given the Werewolf a big shock so Harry gave him some space to think about it.


    Harry knew that he was taking a bit of a risk in telling Remus all these things but he had a good reason for him.


    Werewolves are natural occlumens and Veriteserum didn''t worked on them because of their different physique so no one would able to take the information out of Remus''s mind forcefully.


    And if someone captured Remus and tortured the werewolf for information regarding him then the vow would kill him before he could give out any information.


    So yes, his secrets were safer than Mcgonagall''s v?r??n?t?.


    And now Remus not only trusted him, he his faith in the old man was also shaken.


    And now if he wanted someone to contact the werewolves for him, then Remus could definitely help him in order to abate himself off the guilt he felt for leaving him with the Drusleys.


    Win win.

 Chapter 101 - Playful Banters

    Harry landed on the uninhabited island and dropped down on the grass.


    This island was about 450 miles away from Hogwarts and he had to spend the last 4 hours on a broom flying above the sea in order to reach here.


    And he was not disappointed.


    This particular island named Litfa Dimun was one of the island in the Self Governing Archipelago known as Faroe Island which was situated about 400 miles up north from Britain.


    Litfa Dimun was the smallest island in the whole Archipelago which consisted of about 20 islands.


    This island was so small in fact that you could zoom in the world map five times and still not see it.


    The whole island was nothing but a small mountain that was surrounded by sea from all the sides and had an area of less than 1 sq km in total.


    The cold wind of the night made him shiver a bit before he cast another warming charm on himself, the last one having run out some time ago.


    It was a bit difficult to see the whole mountain because of the darkness but a simple wave of his wand and everything became crystal clear to him.


    Jesus, there was not even a single tree in the whole mountain/island.


    That might have something to do with it''s rocky structure.


    If he had his facts correct then no one owned this island and only a dozen or so tourists ever visited this island every year.


    Which meant that if this island were to suddenly disappear from the face of earth, then no one would particularly miss it.


    The problem was that putting the whole Fidelius charm would take a lot of power.


    So much power in fact that even Dumbledore and Voldemort combined would not be able to do it.


    So he would have to make a few changes in that charm so that he would be able to cast the charm in the island one small bit at a time.


    He knew that even with that, this whole project of making the island his own personal property would take a lot of time and magic just like with the Basilisk hide robe Project but when had he ever been afraid of such adversities.


    So with one last look at the island and capturing the place in his mind so that he could apparate here the next time he wanted to come here, he apparated back to Hogsmeade.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Harry. Did you know that Quirrel left the school?" Hermione asked "Dumbledore announced his departure at breakfast in the great hall and said that the professor went out of the country for some personal reason."


    "Yes Hermione. But Quirrel did not leave the school as Dumbledore claimed." He said.


    "Huh! What do you mean?"


    "I meant that I killed Quirrel last night in the forbidden forest." He admitted while working on the runes of the Miniature Pensieve.


    "What are you talking about Harry?" Hermione asked with a frown.


    "Just what you heard. I killed Quirrel last night in the forbidden forest."


    "What? Are you serious Harry? Why would you do such a thing?" she asked, looking a bit worried now.


    "He had was possessed by Voldemort." Harry said with a shrug "Had the dark wizard''s face sticking out from behind his head and what not. It was bad business but I had to take care of him or he might hurt innocent children in the future. I do not regret it."


    Hermione looked at him incomprehensibly for a long moment before she picked up her book and started hitting him in the shoulder with it.


    "That. Was. Not. Funny. Harry" she said with each hit and gave her a smirk.


    He always got a kick out of it when he told people the truth and they didn''t believe him simply because the truth was just that unbelievable.


    "Alright alright." He said with a smile "You people really don''t appreciate honesty you know."


    "Yea sure." She said with a huff and sat down beside him and started studying the runes he was working on.


    "How far had you come to creating a miniature Pensieve?" she asked and he laughed.


    "Creating a miniature Pensieve is not a problem Hermione. I could just enlarge a dish, write all the proper runes and cast the proper charms and then remove the enlarging charm and there you have it, your miniature Pensieve."


    "But we don''t simply have to create a miniature Pensieve." He said "We have to make a pensieve that could show the memories without someone having to put their face inside the dish and we have to design it in such a way that it would fit inside the Magical Phone."


    Hermione nodded at that and asked "And how is that coming along?"


    "Not very well. But we''ve just started and I knew that this project would take a few months at least before we even started so not making any progress so soon was something that I expected." He said and she gave a nod.


    "You need to sleep a bit more as well Harry." She said "I can see the dark bags under your eye. Did you even sleep at all last night or did you kept working on the Project."


    "Nah." He said, waving away her concerns. "Yesterday, after I dealt with Quirremort¡­" Hermione''s scoff "¡­I went flying in oder to find myself a nice private island where I could make my own secret base in the future. My own secret lair where I could experiment on my human test subjects and work on all manner of depraved experiments. The flying itself took me 4 whole hours which was why I am so tired right now."


    Hermione just rolled her eyes at his words "Harry. You can just admit that you have been working on the project all night long you know. I''m not going to berate you for it."


    He gave her a look and she flustered "Okay. I may have berated you for not looking after your health a few times but you don''t have to come up with such outrageous lies. I am just trying to look after you, you know." She said with a hurt look and he patted her head gently.


    "There there." He said with a smile "Alright. I spent the last night working on the runes. Happy now."


    "Yes." She said "I mean no¡­ You did not sleep at all last night. And you cannot give it your best if you''re so tired. You need to sleep." She said while crossing her arms and huffed her cheeks and he felt the intense d?s?r? to pinch her cheeks.


    And he gave in to his d?s?r?s.


    "Harryyyy¡­" she complained as he pulled her soft cheeks and he gave her a large grin.


    "You''ve such soft cheeks Hermione." He smiled as he stepped back and she mock glared at him in return.


    "Come then. Let''s put you to bed." She said and started pulling her to the next room where he had set up his bed.


    To say the truth, he was indeed feeling rather tired after all that adventure last night. So he did not resist at all and allowed himself to be pulled away by her.


    "Would you join me in the bed?" he asked slyly and grinned inwardly as her face turned red at once.


    "Harry." She shouted and mock glared at him once again before stomping his foot with her own.


    "Ouch." He cried and hopped in one foot for a few moments as she smirked at him in return.


    "Serves you right." She said and pulled him out of the room but he couldn''t help but notice the smile on her face.


    Such banters had become a common thing between them and even though he saw her as nothing more than a little girl at this point, he knew that eventually she would grow up.


    And grow up rather well at that.


    And when she does¡­ Muhuhahaha ~creepy laugh inside the head~

 Chapter 102 - Advice on Love and Seduction

    "You''re not paying attention girl." Andromeda chided and pulled the book out of her hands and she ?r??n?d in frustration.


    "Take a break Daphne. You might be reading right now which was the only reason I''m letting you get away without any punishment but I don''t want to see you getting distracted while making potions. You very well know how volatile some of the potions can get."


    She gave Andromeda a short nod and her mentor sighed and took her to the corner of the room and sat her down on a chair before sitting in front of her.


    "What is it?" Andromeda asked and she sighed and brought her head down in defeat.


    "Come on. Tell me why you''re so distracted these days Daphne."


    "I¡­ I don''t know¡­"


    "What is it Daphne?" Andromeda asked gently "Is there some problem in your house. Tell me and I''ll do my best to help you."


    She sighed at those words once again and said "Harry doesn''t notice me."


    "Harry doesn''t notice you? What do you even mean by that?"


    "He¡­ I¡­" Daphne bit her lips and finally shouted "I want him to notice me."


    "You want him to notice you?" Andromeda asked incredously and Daphne wondered if she had made a mistake by opening up to her mentor but she had already started so she might as well get it out of her heart.


    "Yes." She admitted. "And I want him to notice me. Like how a boy notices a girl."


    "You want him to¡­ Daphne, aren''t you a bit young for all of this."


    She frowned at those words because of how much truth those words held.


    And in this case, the bird was unfortunately not her but Hermione.


    In fact, by the was that Harry treats her, she sometimes wondered if he even realized that she was a girl and not a boy.


    "I am." Sh admitted to her mentor "But Pansy Parkinson already had her hands all over Draco Malfoy."


    "You want Draco Malfoy?" Andromeda asked with mock horror and Daphne threw a cushion at her mentor.


    "No. I don''t want that git. I want Harry." She shouted but then realized how childish that sounded and blushed.


    "Daphne, you do realize that just because Pansy Parkinson sticks to Draco like a leech doesn''t mean that they''ll get married right?"


    "Yes." She admitted. Despite all the love that Pansy shows for Draco, it would only take a word from her father and the pureblood girl could end up marrying Crabbe Jr instead.


    She shuddered at that thought.


    Marrying someone like Crabbe and Goyle would be a form of lifelong punishment in and of itself.


    "Daphne. Why do you want to be noticed by Harry anyway?" Andromeda asked.


    Daphne frowned at that question. Wasn''t it self explanatory.


    "He''s powerful." Daphne said "And intelligent. And rich. And ambitious. And driven." And he has already invented an artifact that would change the face of the Wizarding world.


    "Why would any girl not want to be noticed by someone like that?" sh asked in return and her mentor gave an exasperated sigh.


    "No. I meant that do you like him. Like how a girl is supposed to like a boy."


    Daphne thought about that for a moment. Yes, Harry had the potential to become a great or even greater than Albus Dumbledore in the future. But did she liked him like how a girl is supposed to like a boy.


    "Aren''t I too young to think about such things." He replied and got a light smack on her head for her cheek.


    "You know that''s not what I meant." The mentor said "I want to know if you can see yourself with him in the future. If you got together with him, then what role will you both play in each other''s lives. Will be even be happy if such a thing happened?"


    Andromeda''s questions brought her up short and Daphne stopped and seriously pondered over that question for a long moment.


    "Can she see herself with him in the future?"


    "Well, she could if she tried. But she knew that she was going to be a potions mistress and he¡­ he would be some sort of inventor or who knows what. He was too unpredictable for her to guess what he wanted from his life."


    Hermione had told her that Harry wanted to understand magic but that didn''t really told her anything about him.


    And for a moment, she wondered if they ever got together, will he even have time for her.


    Why was she even pondering about such things. It''s not like her husband would care about her that much if she married with some random Pureblood idiot.


    But really, could she see herself with Harry.


    When she thought about it a bit more then she realized that Hermione and Harry were indeed much more compatible than her and Harry.


    If she had to make a comparison then she would say that Harry and Hermione got along like water and juice while she and Harry got along like water and dirt.


    The dirt might dissolve into water over a long period of time and after a lot of hard work but would it even be worth it.


    She frowned at that thought.


    Was she really destined to lose Harry to that bushy haired girl.


    Few pureblood girls ever got to marry for happiness.


    They were betrothed by their parents at a young age and then got married to some other pure blood house in order to bring more prestige, wealth and connection to her family.


    Where did the happiness part even came from?


    But then she remembered who she was talking to.


    Andromeda Tonks nee Black


    Someone who braved against numerous dangers and married someone because of love.


    Love.


    The thought was foreign to her.


    Could she really love someone for love.


    "I don''t know Andromeda." She replied sadly after a long time.


    Talking with her mentor had confused her even more and she was now really wondering the wisdom of her choice.


    "It''s alright Daphne." Andromeda smiled and pulled her in a hug and she froze.


    The last time anyone had hugged her like this was before¡­


    ¡­Before her mother died.


    She choked at that thought as unbidden tears formed in her eyes.


    "It''s alright. You''re young right now and have a lot of time in your hand to think about such things." Andromeda said and rubbed her back and she broke into sobs.


    "Personally, I don''t think that you could go wrong by choosing Harry but at the end of the day the choice will be yours and yours only. And I expect you to think about it for some time before you come to a decision. Alright?" Andromeda asked.


    "Alright." She managed to reply in between sobs and the buried herself even deeper in the hug.


    She had wanted this for years.


    She smiled a little and thanked Harry in her heart for providing her with such a kind mentor.


    At this point, she knew that whatever her choice would be, she would always be there to support Harry no matter what.

 Chapter 103 - Youre a hard man to find

    "Remus, my boy. Please come in." Dumbledore said jovially as he motioned the werewolf to join him in the office and Remus could already tell that he was not going to like this conversation.


    Because even though Dumbledore never outright said it, he knew that he was spy for the old man.


    A spy and a ambassador for the werewolves from the light side.


    And had done his best to bring the werewolves to their side in the last war as well. Not that his efforts bore much fruit but Dumbledore knew that he tried his hardest so the headmaster was not disappointed in him.


    But Remus knew that after this talk, Dumbledore would be highly disappointed in him.


    Not that he could bring himself to care at this point.


    The news that Sirius was innocent and Peter was the real betrayer still rang in his ears. And the cold hard truth that they had let an innocent man rot in Azkaban for a whole decade before he was ?ssassinated because the truth was about to come out had rattled him far more than he would care to admit.


    Especially when that innocent man had been his best friend at one point in his life.


    And to think that he had hated the man without ever even trying to talk with him.


    If he had just talked with Sirius for once, then everything would have become clear to him.


    But no, he had turned his back on his best friend on the word of ministry officials.


    Hah! The irony.


    The guilt of what he had done was overwhelming him even after he took two whole to calm himself down after that talk. And he kept asking himself if Sirius would be alive and free right now if he had just got off his bu?? and went to meet him even once.


    And then there was the question of whether Dumbledore knew or not.


    Remus was sure that he didn''t. Dumbledore had hidden his status as a werewolf and allowed him to attend the school and had given him a life when no one else did.


    Dumbledore had helped him when he was at the lowest in his life and had made him the man he was today. In fact, he practically owed half his life to the headmaster.


    Dumbledore was not a bad person.


    He was not the kind of person who would let an ally rot in the prison for his own benefits. Right?


    Right?


    And when his heart didn''t gave out it''s affirmation, he realized that perhaps for the first time in his life, he had lost his faith in Dumbledore.


    At this moment, he felt lost for the second time in his life. The first time being the night when he lost all of his friends to Voldemort.


    He let out a tired sigh and plopped down on the chair and could practically feel the headmaster''s gaze on him.


    And wasn''t that a funny thing.


    Even after he had left the school for more than fifteen year, he still called the man headmaster.


    "So how did your talk with young Mr Potter go?" Dumbledore subtly fished for information "I''m sure that talking with him after such a long time must not have been easy."


    Remus was about to open his mouth and tell the old man how the meeting went far different then he could have ever anticipated but a sharp prick at his heart made him realize that the Unbreakable vow was still in effect and giving away any of Harry secret to Dumbledore was not effectively impossible.


    He then opened his mouth to tell the headmaster that he would not be able to tell him anything about Harry Potter because of the Unbreakable Vow but his heart clenched again and he realized that he could not reveal the truth about the Vow either.


    He had not thought that Harry considered the Unbreakable Vow as a secret but upon further consideration, no one ever flaunted having taken an Unbreakable Vow. Such things were usually kept private behind hidden doors so the Vow counted as a secret as well.


    But if that was the case, then what the hell was he supposed to tell the headmaster.


    After thinking for a while about it, he finally said "It was good. Harry is a m?tur? person and talking with him was indeed not easy."


    The Unbreakable Vow didn''t act up so he was safe for now, but the headmaster didn''t look very pleased by his lack of description and Remus sighed inwardly.


    This meeting was going to be very tiresome. He could already tell that.


    "Yes yes. Young Mr Potter seems very m?tur? for his age. Such a pity that so suspicious of us ?du?ts." Dumbledore shook his head in sadness "But despite all that, I''m sure he''ll be able to see the goodness in your heart and in time, come to understand how much you truly care for the boy."


    "Yes Headmaster. He is suspicious of us ?du?ts and didn''t talk with me in great detail. I''m afraid I really don''t have much to tell you at this point." Remus said with a grimace, realizing that the Headmaster was not going to buy this line at all.


    "Really. Because I''ve heard that abused children normally instantly start trusting people who show that they truly care for them." Dumbledore said and Remus felt a pang of anger rise in his heart at those words.


    Mostly because that was exactly what Harry had told him as well.


    That one of the reasons why Dumbledore sent him to live with his abusive relatives was so that he would instantly start trusting the ?du?ts in the wizarding world. Mainly the professors and the Headmaster himself along with Hagrid. All of whom worked for Dumbledore in one way or another.


    He was trying to trust Dumbledore here. He really was. But the more he thought about Harry''s words, the more the facts lined up against Dumbledore.


    The next few minutes were spent with Dumbledore subtly trying to gain more information from him and him trying to tell him vague things about Harry that didn''t trigger the Unbreakable Vow.


    By the end of it, both he and Dumbledore looked tired and with a forced smile, Dumbledore finally allowed him to leave the office.


    And he had never been so relieved to leave that room than he was now.


    And that more than anything else made him realize how low his faith in Dumbledore had become.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    While Dumbledore and Remus were talking, Harry had left Britain once again on his trusted Nimbus 2000 while wearing his invisibility cloak and was riding toward his next destination which was the United States of America.


    Harry could see the man was talking with some of workers in his new company and waited patiently for him to finish his conversation and at last, the man finished his conversation and came back to his office and tiredly sat down on the chair.


    And just as the man sat down on the chair, Harry performed a few charms to make sure that no one would either hear them or disturb them during this conversation and after he had applied all the charms, he removed his invisibility cloak and came out from the dark corner of the office and said.


    "You''re a hard man to find Mr Steve Jobs."

 Chapter 104 - Steve Jobs

    It was a tough day for Steve. Just like how it had been for a few years now since he was fired from his own company.


    The company that he from his own hands into billion dollar colossus.


    Being fired from his own company had devastated him and he had not been able to eat and sleep properly for weeks.


    But he came out of his depression. Because he had faced numerous setbacks in his life and had defeated all of them one way or another.


    And being fired from his own company was just that for him. Another setback.


    A few months after he was fired, he pooled up all his capital and started yet another company.


    Under his leadership the company flourished and this time, he learned from his previous mistakes and became a better leader.


    Previously he was a great visionary but not a very good businessman. With his new company, he tried to solve that problem and learned how to become a great businessman.


    And now, a few years after being fired from Apple, he realized that getting fired was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.


    It opened his eyes to his many glaring weaknesses that he refused to acknowledge at that time and thus helped his become a better version of himself.


    But regardless of how good a leader he had become, the fact remained that his company was still in the early phases and he had to be there constantly in order to make sure the whole thing doesn''t collapse upon itself.


    It was like creating Apple all over again. Just that he had far more experience this time.


    It was thrilling.


    It was exciting.


    It was exhausting.


    And that was why when he saw the young boy coming out from the dark corner of his office wearing some kind of medieval robes, he wondered if he was hallucinating.


    Gods, if this was another one of Xavier''s prank to loosen him up then he was so getting it.


    Then as he was thinking about how he was going to deal with this cosplaying kid, the kid spoke


    "You''re a hard man to find Mr Steve Jobs." The child said with an air of casualness that still seemed to ooze authority for some reason and he realized that even if this was Xavier''s idea, there was no point in getting angry at the kid who had such a great talent in acting. So he decided to stay silent listen to what the kid had to say.


    After all, a little bit of entertainment never killed anyone.


    "But then again. That might have been because it''s hard to find addresses from up in the air." The kid said with a smile and then he remembered something and added.


    "Oh, how negligent of me. I forgot to introduce myself. Hello, I am Harry Potter. A wizard." The boy said and gave him his hand which Steve shook with a smile.


    "A wizard." Steve asked, getting intrigued. So this was Xavier''s idea of entertainment. To get a child magician to perform for him.


    Well, it was¡­ innovative, he would admit to himself.


    "Then¡­ I guess you''re going to perform some magic for me?" he asked.


    The kid looked at him curiously for a moment before he smirked and said "I wasn''t really planning on showing you magic so soon. But I guess that if we''re going to have a proper chat then it is mandatory that you understand the seriousness of this situation."


    Now he was really intrigued. The kid was a dam good actor and seemed capable of making up lines on the go. Maybe he would give the kid a hefty tip when he leaves.


    "Hold my hand Mr Steve. And don''t let go, no matter what." The kid named Harry said and he grabbed the kid''s arm tightly and wondered what would happen next.


    Would the kid pull out a coin from behind his ears.


    He hoped that was not the case.


    The trick with the coin behind the ears was an old thing and he really, really wanted the kid to do something awesome.


    Well, the kid did do something awesome.


    In fact, what happened next would change Steve''s whole life.


    All of a sudden, he felt himself getting pulled from his navel and then he felt like he was being forced to squeeze in a small straw, and his body was travelling at a very rapid pace.


    Then he was suddenly deposited in a place filled with sand feeling more disoriented than he felt as a child that one time when he and his friends decided that spinning around was a very good idea.


    He was on a beach.


    That was as far as he thought before the disorientation overwhelmed him and he emptied the contents of his stomach on the sand.


    Then he felt a small hand massaging his back and he heard Harry say "It''s alright. The first time is always very disorienting for everyone."


    And he would never admit to anyone that he looked at the boy and then screamed like a little girl.


    No. That never happened.


    "Wha¡­ What? Where? Who¡­ Who are you?" he asked as he fell on his bu?? and started pulling himself away from the boy in panic.


    This was not real was it?


    This was¡­ this was just some sort of weird dream.


    He pinched himself a few times but the pain was real.


    He chanced a gaze at the terrifying boy who had brought him from his office in Silicon Valley to¡­ here. Wherever here was.


    And he realized from amidst his fog of panic that he boy was giving him an amused smile.


    "I guess Minerva deserve some respect after all." The boy said with a grin "She usually does this part of explaining magic to muggles without scaring the shit out of them. But I have to admit that this is quite amusing."


    "Perhaps I should find a few more muggles to do this with." The boy said with a grin and Steve gulped.


    He had never really believed in devils and gods but if those entities existed in reality, then the devil must look like this child.


    Maybe this child was the nephew of the devil or something.


    "But I don''t want you panicking for this meeting. So here." The boy said and took out a vial from¡­ a purse? And threw the vial at him which caught with fumbling hands "Drink this. It will calm you down."


    "What is it?" Steve asked, not really sure if he wanted some random green liquid given to him by a stranger.


    The liquid could turn him into a radioactive rat for all he knew.


    "It''s a calming liquid." He boy explained patiently "And don''t worry Mr. Steve. I have no intentions of harming you."


    He gave the boy a sceptical look.


    Wasn''t this the kind of thing that Kidnappers said to their victim.


    Wait!? Was this a kidnapping?


    Oh what was he thinking.


    Of course it was.


    "Can I¡­ not drink this¡­ thing?" he asked but then the boy gave him an almost feral grin and he realized that he really did not have an option and drank the green liquid at once and retched at the taste immediately.


    It felt like he had drunk someone''s week old piss and he had a feeling that he would never get that taste out of his tastebuds.


    But then it suddenly happened.


    All of his thought processes became clear and all the fear and panic he was feeling went away immediately, only to be replaced be a deep sense of calm and peace.


    "It''s a calming draught." The boy¡­ err¡­ Harry said. "It''s worth two galleons in the apothecary. Can be really useful when you''re getting ready for a big presentation or a big fight."


    Now that he was finally able to listen to Harry with a calm mindset, he noticed that there were some words in those few sentences that he had never heard before in his life.


    Harry had said that the¡­ Calming Draught was worth two Galleons so he could ?ssume that Galleons must be the form of currency used by these¡­ wizards.


    Isn''t that how Harry had introduced himself.


    A wizard.


    What a foreign concept.


    But there was something that Harry had still not told him about.


    "Why am I here?" he asked "What do you want from me? If you''ve brought me here for your entertainment then I must tell you that I''m a very bad dancer and an even worse singer."


    The boy gave him an incredulous glance for a second before he started chuckling. The chuckles turned into full blown laughter and soon enough, the boy was rolling on the ground with his hands on his stomach, trying to contain his laughter all the while he gave the boy a weird stare.


    The boy seemed a little¡­ unhinged.


    And that worried Steve. He also had the distinct feeling that if he had not finished the Calming Draught then he would be truly panicking for his future right now.


    After a full minute of laughter, the boy finally calmed down and wiped the tears off the corner of his eyes.


    Then the boy started mumbling to himself and Steve could hear a few words like "The Great Steve Jobs" "The Greatest company" and what not.


    Then the boy noticed him at staring at himself and smiled before waving his hand and Voila, a table and two chair grew out of the dirt.


    Like literally, the dirt particles started climbing up upon themselves before settling up in place to give the structure the look of a table and two chairs.


    And then before his very eyes, the crude looking dirt furniture changed into wooden furniture of the highest class and Steve wondered how much a person would be able to earn if he was able to turn dirt into such fine craftsmanship.


    Well, he was really not in the mood or situation to calculate right now but he could guess that for such a person, sky would be the limit.


    "Let''s have a seat Mr Steve Jobs. We need to talk about what I want from you after all." The boy said confidently and Steve hoped that the boy was not talking about his kidney, or lungs, or heart. He very much liked them in his own body and would rather not give them away as charity.


    "And what is it that you want?" he asked cautiously.


    "Why, to be the chairman of the first Magical company in the whole world." The boy said grandiosely and Steven wondered if his hearing had failed him at last.


    "Pardon?" he asked and the boy smiled mysteriously.


    "Mr Steve, I''m going to make you an offer that you can''t refuse."


    And after a whole hour of explanation, Steve Jobs had decided to become the CEO of the company named Magical Goods.

 Chapter 105 - Unbreakable Vow

    A few days after he left Steve in Andromeda''s house so that he could learn more about the magical world, Harry was finally ready to have the talk with Remus that would give him access to the Werewolf community.


    But in this instance, instead of asking Dumbledore to act as a mediator for them, Harry sent Bitty to contact the man and bring the werewolf to one of his underground hidden basements where they could have a proper chat.


    "Harry, after last time, I thought that you would not want to see me." Remus said as Harry motioned him to sit on a chair on the other side of the table.


    "Well¡­" Remus'' voice hitched but he continued "I thought about what you said last time and came to the realization that if I had just went to meet Sirius even once, then your godfather probably would have told me the truth and then we could have found some way to free him."


    "So you think that I blame you for my godfather''s death?" Harry asked curiously and the werewolf sadly nodded at his words.


    "I don''t Remus." Harry said sympathetically "You didn''t went to meet Sirius because you were convinced by other people that he was the betrayer of my parents and the murderer of Peter along with those 12 muggles. I can understand why you would not want to meet him and relive in those bad memories once the war ended."


    Remus'' eyes moistened at that and Harry had the feeling that Remus had been crying a lot over the past few days.


    "Thank you Harry." He said with a smile "That means a lot to me."


    And now the werewolf was actually sobbing.


    "But that is not why I called you here Remus." Harry explained and Remus looked up at him curiously "But before we get to that topic, I want to ask you what you''re doing these days?"


    "Me?"


    "Yes. You must have some kind of job right? Considering how everyone told me that you were the smartest of the marauders."


    "You know about the marauders?" Remus asked.


    "Of course I do Moony." He said with a smile and took out the Marauders'' map. The werewolf''s eyes widened for a moment before he smiled back and looked at that piece of parchment with nostalgia.


    "We had lost that thing to Argus Flich some time before leaving Hogwarts" Remus said "I hadn''t thought that I would ever see it again. Where did you find it?"


    "Detention." Harry lied smoothly "I had a detention and the old squib made me clean the old trophies in his office. So I sneaked a few confiscated items from his office in retaliation."


    Remus laughed at his proclamation and said "That is something Sirius and James would have done." Then he stopped laughing and said in a serious manner "They would be proud of you Harry. I mean your mom and dad. They would be proud of the person you''ve become. And so would Sirius."


    No they really won''t.


    And they will like me even less when they realize that the original Harry has gone to take a hike and someone else had taken over his body in return.


    But Harry smiled in order to not look suspicious before he frowned and asked "I heard that the werewolves don''t get too many job opportunities in the Magical world and they''re not allowed to interact with the Muggles either. Tell me Remus, are you doing well for yourself."


    The werewolf looked a bit embarrassed at his question before he smile morosely and shrugged "As fine as any other werewolf, I guess."


    "That is not an answer." Harry pointed out while calling for tea for the two of them.


    "I know Harry. But what else can I say. The werewolves don''t really live very good lives in Magical Britain." He said with a shrug "There is a reason why so many of us join the dark side in the last war."


    "They probably knew that they would not get much better treatment under Voldemort''s shoes but when serving the dark lord, they at least had hope. Even though deep down they all knew that their situation would not change no matter what."


    "Two times Harry. Two times, the light side won the war." Remus said sadly "Both times the so called ''good'' wizards said that werewolves fought for the dark side. And after both wars, the situation of use werewolves only got worse and worse."


    "At this point, every werewolf elder and child know that no matter what happens in the ministry, their situation would remain unchanged. Because in every war, there would be someone like Fenerir Greyback would fight for the dark side and after every war, the good wizards would claim that the werewolves fight for the dark side and thus, our situation will only get worse and worse."


    Harry raptly listened to his words, understanding the situation of the werewolves a little better with each word.


    Even someone as heartless as him was beginning to feel sympathy for the people. But of course, his sympathy would not anyone. It never does until you act upon that emotion.


    And well, wasn''t that the very reason why he had called Remus here in the first place.


    After Remus finished his tirade, Harry gave him a sympathetic look before taking out a Magical Phone along with the manual and passed it on to Remus who looked curiously at it.


    "This is the reason why I called you here Remus." He explained as Remus picked up the manual and started reading "I want your honest opinion on the subject. I want to know what you think about this invention of mine."


    Remus took his time reading the manual instruction and took his time working on the Magical Phone before just like Daphne and Hermione, he smiled and gave a positive review about the new Magical Phone.


    "It is¡­ hard to believe that someone as young as you could create such a thing."


    "It was not that hard" Harry said, acting humbly for once "It was just taking the concept of the two-way mirror and the floo connection and then merging both of them into a single entity. Nothing more, nothing less."


    Remus smiled at his words and shook his head "No Harry. You really deserve your praise. Because if creating such a thing was that easy then someone would have already done it."


    "And to think that you created something like this at the mere age of 11. Your parents would be proud of you Harry." He said with a warm smile.


    "But that is not why you called me here. Right?"


    "Yes." Harry admitted "I called you here because by the end of this term, I would launch this device in the market."


    Remus''s eyebrow rose and he asked "Isn''t that a bit too soon?"


    "It probably is." Harry nodded "There are a lot of functions and other stuff that I want to add in it but when I do so, the price of the Phone would eventually go up and the poor people won''t be able to afford it anymore."


    "So I''ve decided to make two versions of the Magical Phone. A basic one and a more expensive one that will be sold to the people who have a lot of galleons in their pocket."


    "The expensive one will need a lot of work and it''s not ready for the market but this one is." He said and pointed at the basic Magical phone.


    "What are the other functions that you want to add to the more expensive Magical Phones?" Remus asked and Harry grinned turned feral.


    "Now if you were anyone else Remus or if you had not take the Unbreakable vow then I would not even told you that much. But now I know that I can trust you so there''s no point in keeping this a secret either."


    He of course didn''t told the werewolf everything. For example, he had still not told anyone how he was trying to make those memories transferable so that they could go from one Phone to another.


    Or that he was trying to create a magical tower that would hold a copy of those memories and duplicate them before sending them to other people.


    Well, he would shamelessly admit that he was trying to copy Youtube here but the whole site was just that awesome and he knew for a fact that if he was able to create the magical tower and make the memories transferable (which he was sure he would be able to do given enough time) then the whole Magical Phone concept would truly go viral.


    And then once he equips all the magical families in Britain with a Magical Phone, he would expand to other countries.


    He told that idea about expanding to Remus who seemed a little surprised at his vision but nodded nonetheless.


    "But I am a single person Remus." Harry added "And I cannot spend all of my time mass creating new Magical Phones for the people because that would frankly just be a waste of my time and talent. So I''ll have to hire other people who could do it for me."


    "Do you see where I''m going with this Remus?" Harry asked and Remus'' eyes widened.


    "You will hire Werewolves for your¡­ company?" he asked incredulously.


    "Yes." Harry replied "I sympathize with your people and I want someone to do my work for me. This way, I can hit two targets with one arrow. You get my meaning?"


    Then his face turned somber and he seriously asked "You''re not joking about this are you?"


    "No." Harry replied seriously "This is serious. I''ve already talked with a few people who left the magical world a long while ago and they''ve showed a lot of interest in this. But remember Remus, I would only hire people who meet the minimum requirement for the job."


    "That is understandable." Remus said quickly "I would talk with a few of the more educated Werewolves in the community. You should know that a lot of them will be home schooled because they didn''t get admission in Hogwarts. But I would implore you not to judge them on their humble beginnings."


    Harry gave a nod at that and Remus sighed in relief.


    The reason why Harry was not worried about this was because even werewolves who did not meet the minimum requirements for the job could get the job of a guard or a bodyguard in his new company.


    He was under no illusion that his new invention would make a lot of waves in the magical world and despite the usefulness of his inventions, he would make a lot of enemies. And those enemies might try to break into his new shop as retaliation so proper guards were a huge requirement for him and his new company.


    Not to mention that these guards would be his leading force in the war that''s about to come.


    After that both him and Remus talked about the details of the job and the minimum job requirement for a while before Remus took his leave and immediately went to his closest werewolf allies.


    And sitting in his hidden underground base, Harry let out a feral grin.

 Chapter 106 - Meeting Werewolves

    Harry was about to fail his final exams.


    Hermione knew that because he himself had told her about his plans.


    Well, it was not entirely unexpected news to her because she already knew of his disdain toward the school and the society as a whole.


    That was not what grated in her nerves but the fact that Daphne was following his lead and would fail the exams as well.


    The whole system of ''failing your exams'' in order to show your disdain was a bit foreign to her and she wasn''t really sure what she thought about it all.


    But what she did understood was that she felt a bit lonely.


    The thought was rather irrational as just because both of them were failing with each other didn''t meant that Harry would estrange her but the thought that she would get further away from him if she passed her exams with flying colors while he failed kept her awake at nights.


    Her relationship with Harry was already a bit strained and she didn''t want to be further away from him.


    But she was not sure that she would be able to fail her exams even if she decided to do it.


    After all, she had spent her whole life trying to become the best student and get the highest marks in her class. So trying to fail your exams was something that went against all her instincts.


    Still, she wanted to do something that would heal her relationship with Harry and she wanted to do it before he could get further away from her.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A week after the meeting with Remus, he was finally able to set up a meeting with the leaders in the werewolf community.


    Initially they wanted to select a neutral place to set up the meeting but Harry wanted to see their community with his own eyes so he insisted that he meet with them in their own homes.


    Such a thing might seem illogical to most people and some would even think that he was needlessly putting himself into danger in case some of those werewolves might turn out to be hostile. But in truth, Harry was not really all that afraid of the werewolves.


    That had mostly to do with the Robes that he recently upgraded to the next level.


    Working for the last two and a half months on the Magical Phone and it''s extra functions had given him numerous insights on the use of magic and runes and he had recently created a new Robe for himself that gave the wearer more defense against physical attacks.


    Of course, he was not foolish enough to fight all of them.


    When he said that he was ready for them he meant that he was ready to make a tactical retreat in case they attacked.


    The most important function of the robe was that it created a helmet for him as soon as he sensed any danger around himself.


    That way, this new robe also protected the most venerable part of his body. His head.


    And that was the robe he was wearing when he entered the slum.


    Because this place couldn''t really be called anything else but a slum.


    Well, it was not as bad as a slum but the whole place certainly gave the feel of a poor medieval village.


    Huts made with mud and roofs made with straw and hay.


    How a person capable of performing magic could live in such a place would forever remain a mystery to him.


    The choice of his attire and his face attracted attention to himself as soon as he removed the Shroud of Concealment and he was now wondering the wisdom of coming here in such a high profile way once again.


    Surely he could have used an aging potion and maintained his anonymity.


    Oh well, no point in crying over spilled milk.


    As he walked around in the slum/old dilapidated village, he could see some of the children playing among each other stop and stare at Selena.


    He knew that bringing Selena along with himself in the meeting might not earn him any brownie points among the Werewolves but being a Parselmouth have a person a high status (if dark) in the magical society.


    And along with his fame, he was sure that he would able to talk with the Werewolf leaders from a higher position.


    As he walked deeper in the village, more and more people stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him with hostility.


    But he could feel that their hostility was not directed toward him but was he represented.


    A person who lived in luxury.


    A person who was not treated like a third class citizen.


    He could hear them talking among themselves about him with his enhanced hearing.


    The children were curious and in awe of him.


    It seemed like the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived had been spread here as well.


    The ?du?ts were more wary toward him and were questioning his intentions.


    It surprising what you could hear when people think that you''re not listening to them.


    The glares irritated him a bit but he didn''t have to endure them for long as soon enough he had reached at the center of village which was occupied by a hut that was thrice the size of the other huts.


    The hut of the leader.


    Harry could tell that the other one was a werewolf as well because of his enhanced nose.


    Werewolves had this wild smell about them that normal people didn''t.


    Remus gave him a soft smile as he walked up to them and he gave a slight nod in return before he faced the other werewolf.


    "He has about 1.5 times more magic than an average wizard." Selena informed and he could see some of the werewolves nearby stiffen at hearing her hiss at him.


    Werewolves had enhanced hearing as well (though not as enhanced as him) so he was not surprised that they would hear her from such a distance.


    But the fear in their eyes did put a smile on his face before he quickly schooled himself.


    He was not here to scare these people.


    He was here to hire them.


    He reached the larger werewolf who looked him up and down for a moment, as if taking his measure and he felt the urge to scoff.


    "I''m Moro Blacktail. The leader of this pack." The werewolf said and brought his hand forward to him.


    "Harry Potter." He said and shook Moro''s hand, almost matching the strength of his grip with his own enhanced strength.


    Moro''s eyebrows raised in surprise before a look of respect crossed his expression and he gave nod which Harry returned before they entered the hut.


    Turned out the dilapidated hut was not so dilapidated one they went inside.


    In fact, he felt like he had entered some mansion. A very clever use of the extension charms along with a few elementary charms.


    Well, elementary according to him but not an average wizard.


    Which meant that this was done by someone experienced.


    And as he looked around at the mansion everything clicked to him.


    The werewolves were putting up a weak front in order to make the wizards think that they were merely stupid beasts living in slums.


    After all, what kind of Pureblood wizard would go inside a werewolf hut to check if their living conditions were really as bad inside as shown on the outside.


    He almost chuckled at thinking about how long the werewolves had fooled the ministry like this.


    Which also meant that taking him inside the hut and showing him their prosperity was a sign of trust from them.


    And now he knew to not underestimate these people like how the ministry had done.


    That was no doubt their intention as well.


    Smart.


    He gave a soft smile as they went to a room with large doors and entered into a conference room with a long rectangular table.


    On one side of the table were six seats. Five of them were filled by older werewolves who were wearing clothes that didn''t lose out to the wizarding robes.


    Hmm¡­ A simple transiguration job. Good enough, he supposed.


    Selena''s hold suddenly tightened over his shoulder in before she slapped his back one time with her tail, meaning that there was one more person hiding in the room beside these people.


    Not unexpected.


    The last chair was left empty for Moro and promptly sat there and gestured him to take a seat as well.


    On the side of the table were two chairs. Presumably for him and Remus.


    These chairs however, were kept in the lower ground and did not look as impressive as their chairs.


    A psychological trick to give them more power in the negotiations.


    Well, two could play this game.


    Before Remus could move toward those chairs, he waved his wand while maintaining a bored expression and the ground on his side raised to match their ground level and the wooden chairs transfigured into a luxurious sofa adorned with numerous gems and looking for all the world like it was made for a kind.


    The werewolves gaped at the wandless and wordless tranfiguration.


    In fact, he could have all that he did and more even without a wand but that would have been a bit to excessive for them and he would never show all his cards to them either.


    Still, this little bit of magic was more than enough to shock them.


    The werewolves were now looking at him with respect and bit of admiration and the youngest looking female, who was also the female werewolf in the room was looking at him with a sultry gaze.


    She must have been in her late teens but wasn''t that still a bit too old for him?


    He felt a chill went down his spine and promised himself to stay away from that girl.


    "And now that we''ve all established that I''m the genius that Remus that probably told you about. Let''s get started."

 Chapter 107 - Mia Blacktooth

    "And now that we''ve all established that I''m the genius that Remus probably told you about. Let''s get started." He proclaimed and sat down on the comfortable and luxurious sofa gazing intensely at the six people sitting opposite to him.


    "But before we do. I''ll make some things clear for you. I''m a simple man and I like to talk in simple words. If I wanted to play psychological warfare and go along with all this manipulation thing then I would have gone and talked with the old ?unts sitting in the Wizengamot."


    "So no mind games." He declared "Are we clear with each other?" he asked.


    The table remained serious for a while as werewolves looked at him in shock.


    Then the silence broke as the pedo-girl who had given him that sultry look suddenly burst into laughter.


    "Oi Moron. I told you that this would be interesting didn''t I. Didn''t I."


    The supposed leader of the group looked embarrassed for a moment before he turned to glare at the woman "Who''re you calling Moron you ugly bint."


    The girl''s face turned red at being called an ugly bint and she picked up a glass kept in front of her and hurled it at the leader who ducked down in time and the unfortunately the glass went and hit the elder werewolf behind him and the whole table went silent at once.


    Harry could see the other three werewolf looking embarrassed at their leader''s antics as they tried to hide their face with their hands, looking like they wanted to be anywhere but here.


    "Moro. Mera. You''re both dead." He said but before he could get up from his seat and throttle the two werewolves, a large stick flew in the air and hit him in the head before hitting both Moro and Mera in the head as well.


    The the stick went back to the dark corner of the room and an old looking woman with a wrinkled face and grey hair came out, giving a reproachful look to both Moro and Mera who both ducked in shame under that look.


    "Mera. What did I told you about acting respectfully in front of our guests?" the old woman asked with an irritated expression but Harry could see the mirth hidden behind her old eyes.


    "But moooom¡­"


    "What did I told you about excuses Mera?" the older woman sternly asked and Mera sighed before saying "We should not make them?"


    The older woman shook her head with a gentle smile "Go and wait outside Mera. I''ll deal with you after this meeting."


    "But moom¡­"


    "No excuses Mera. Go wait outside." The woman said with a bit more authority and Mera sulked a bit but did as she was ordered to do.


    Then the older woman turned to face him and gave an apologetic smile "Sorry about her. She was a late child so me and my husband pampered her a little too much and she had grown a bit willful ever since."


    "No apology needed." He said and gave her an amused glace "So¡­ I''m guessing that you''re the real leader of this pack."


    The woman looked a bit sad at that and said "No. That position was held by my husband but he was killed in the last war by Fenerir Greyback because he refused to side with the dark lord. After his demise, that role fell on me and I''ve been acting as as a substitute leader ever since."


    The other werewolves in the room looked sad at her revelation and Harry realized that the death of their leader must have been a source of great shame and sadness for them.


    "But those are things of the past. And now we must move on forward with our lives." The woman said and Harry gave her a nod as she sat on the sit directly facing opposite to him. "That is why we''re here."


    "Yup. That is why we''re here." He said "But before that, can I get your name. I''m afraid we''ve not been properly introduced."


    "Yes. And my apologies for that. I''ll admit that it was rude of me to stay hidden like that. But after the death of my husband, my pack had become a bit over protective of me and asks me to remain behind in important meetings like these so that the history won''t repeat itself."


    Then she gave a slight bow to him and said "My name is Mia Blacktooth. Leader of the pack known as Whitefangs."


    Hmm¡­ he didn''t knew that there were different packs of werewolves like these as there was no such thing shown in the movies but on hindsight, such a thing made sense to him.


    He would keep such a thing in mind the next time he went to meet any werewolf.


    "Nice to meet you Mia. Now before we start, I hope that Remus had made you aware of why I''m here and what I want from your pack. After all, it would terribly embarrassing for me if I went about giving my sales pitch and you didn''t understood a single thing about it."


    "Yes. That would be embarrassing." The woman said with a smile "Very well then. Let me tell you everything that Remus told us about."


    "Apparently you''re some sort of genius and have invented a device that is at the level of the Floo network or Wolfsbane potion. And now you want you want people to manufacture this invention of yours. And you''re willing to hire us Werewolves for the task. Is that true."


    "Yes. I guess that''s the gist of it." He said with a nod "In addition to that I would also hire the people from your pack who do not meet the minimum requirement to become my employees as guards for my company."


    "Guards?" she asked with a frown.


    "Yup. The shop I''m opening won''t be a normal shop." He said "It''ll a huge mall that will have all manner of clothings, potions and magical artifacts that had never been seen before in the wizarding world. And such a huge shop will eventually catch some negative attention. Your people will make sure to keep my shop safe from such negative attention."


    Mai remained quiet at his words so he continued "Aside from that, your people will also be selected as bodyguards for the CEO and some other selected individuals who are not very good at offensive magic and are thus incapable of protecting themselves."


    "CEO? Are you saying that you''re not the CEO of this company?" she asked curiously.


    "No. I might the president of the company but I''m more an inventor kind of guy and am not really good at bringing out the best from other people and making sure that the company goes in the right direction. So I''ll not be taking that position. That position will go to someone who is far more suitable for that kind of job than me."


    "I''m ?ssuming that you''ve already selected this CEO of yours?" she asked and he grinned.


    "Yep. And I am proud to say that I could not have found a better person for the job if I had a whole lifetime to search for it."


    "That good." She asked skeptically "Well, I''ll take your word for it I guess. And for your information, I don''t have any problem with you taking my pack members as guards as long as you don''t piss off someone big and influential."


    "Good." He said with a smile "With your fearsome reputation as savage werewolves, I doubt any kid would think about stealing something from my mall."


    Mia chuckled at that before shaking her head in mirth "Now with that out of the way, should we go into the details?"


    "Yes. Let''s." He said and they spent the next four hours talking about details and signing contracts.


    All in all, it was a rather productive day for him and the Whitefangs pack.

 Chapter 108 - More inventions

    When Harry had embarked on the journey of trying to minimize the Pensieve so that it would fit into the Magical Phone, he had not thought that he would gain success so soon. Or to such a great degree.


    Normally, when you put a memory inside a pensieve you''re not able to see the memory unless you put your head inside the liquid at which point the pensieve does it''s thing and allows you to see the memory like you were there when that scene played out.


    Like how the original Harry was sitting beside Albus Dumbledore when the trial of Igor Karkaroff occurred in the Ministry after the war.


    So when he was trying to minimize the whole pensieve thing, he was trying to create something like a normal 2d video similar to the one he saw in the past life.


    But as he start removing the charms from the Pensieves and started adding his own, he luckily got something that was even better than what he had expected.


    Luckily because a huge amount of luck was involved in the excellent result that he got out of his experiments.


    And the result that he was talking about was none other than a 3d video playing in the Magical Phone.


    Well, not really 3d when you have to see it in a 2d screen. But more like an omni-directional view in which you can scroll the video wherever you want and get to look at the memory from any direction.


    It took him some time to properly understand how such a thing even worked because he got that result because of a mistake in one of the charms that he performed a while ago and because of another rune that he forgot to erase.


    In fact, he was wondering if Bitty laced his drink with Felix Felicis potion in the morning.


    Whatever the reason, once he was able to find how such a thing happened, he reached cloud nine.


    Because now, with this latest discovery, or invention (does it count as invention?) he would be able to launch the expensive Mobile Phone along with the basic one.


    Hmm¡­ now he only needed to find a person who could advertise this whole thing for him.


    But before that, he needed to find Hermione and Penelope so that he could share this good news with them. Daphne would do as well.


    He knew that Daphne was with him only because of her own personal benefits. But at this moment, he would hug any one of the three girls.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Unfortunately, he was not able to find even one of them at that moment because all three of them were attending their respective classes.


    So he had to wait for a few hours before they joined him in the Study Room.


    And to say that all three of them were flabbergasted by his invention would be an understatement.


    "Oh Harry this is great." Hermione shouted and get at him with a hug that he''d been waiting for all day.


    The hug was sweet and warm, just like he remembered.


    Then he let Hermione go and turned to Penelope who engulfed him into a comfortable hug as well


    "I think I''m going to faint from all the runes I''ll now have to decipher." She said morosely and he held the urge to roll his eyes.


    So dramatic, when the use of the three time turners would solve most of her problems.


    He let her go and turned to Daphne who bit her lips nervously and he wondered if he should do something awkward like just patting her head but the he shook that thought out of his head and placed her in a hug as well.


    "Harry, you said that you''ll find some way to share memories across Mobile Phones. How are you going to do that?" Hermione asked and he turned to her and replied.


    "I¡­ haven''t found a way yet. But I''m sure that I''ll find some way."


    And he will. Because without a way to make memories transferable, his dream of creating Youtube with his own hands will remain just that. A dream.


    But it should not be that hard for him to do as he had already thought of many ways to accomplish such a thing.


    And so far, he could not find any problems with this method so he was thinking about going along with just this method instead of transferring the data through satellite and what not like how the muggles use to do.


    But if you have access to some kind of space time magic, then removing the satellite and the thousands of towers that the muggles raised all over the place seemed a bit redundant.


    Now he just have to find way to copy the memories.


    Creating a spell or some sort of runic array that would fire off permanent gemino spell should not be very hard for him.


    Especially when there were no emotions attached to the spell.


    Now spells that needed emotions to cast would be very hard if no impossible for him to recreate. Because they needed emotions and he had no idea how to put emotions on a runic array.


    So it was unlikely that he would be able to create some kind array that would shoot Cruciatus Curse (which takes a lot of hate and malice to perform) or the Patronus Charm (which takes a lot of good feelings to cast).


    Regardless, he knew if he tried, then he would sooner or later find a way to recreate those type spells as well.


    And if not, then he would just create a new spell of his own.


    Not very much.


    Regardless, the point was that now that the main problem of compressing a Pensieve into a Mobile Phone was solved, the rest should not be very hard to accomplish.


    Except for that part where the cost of the expensive mobile phone just kept rising and rising because of all the additional charms and runes he kept adding in it.


    He had a feeling that by the end of it''s creation, the phone would cost no less than 200 galleons, which was ten times more than the basic one.


    Oh well, he did not felt bad fleecing the lords and ladies of the most ancient houses off their money.


    If Sirius could scrounge up the money to buy a Firebolt (1000 galleons) for Harry, while he was in hiding, then the rest of those ?unts should not have much problem in bringing out 200 galleons.


    Especially ones this invention becomes a thing of status. Then they would have no choice but to fork out some money and buy those phones.


    Win win for him.


    Though the thought of the dark lord using him phone to communicate with his followers in the future did cracked him up a little.

 Chapter 109 - Parselmouth Magic

    Despite his recent successes, the Project of creating a new artificial kidney that would destroy all the poison in his body had not gone so well till now.


    Because fundamentally, there were many many problems with what he was doing.


    First of them being that he did not have access to a lot of poisons in the world so he couldn''t really check if the kidney he created worked properly or not.


    Second of them being that not all forms of poison are administered through ingesting. A few of them, no, a lot of them could just as easily be administered through skin contact.


    Then there were the types of poison/venom that stops the nervous system and he had no idea how that thing even worked so creating something to counter it was not really feasible.


    Third, there were a lot of poisons that acted so fast that they could kill or severely harm a person within mere seconds. So even if the kidney was capable of purging that poison out of the system, there won''t be any point in doing so because by the time the poison reached the kidney, the person would already be long dead.


    And these were just a few of the many problems he found in this kidney project.


    And seeing that he did not have the time to deal with each problem one by one, he had to sadly put an end to this project.


    What a pity. He was looking forward to being immune to all kinds of poison in the world as well.


    It was just second to his plan of making a Robe that would make him essentially immune to all kinds of spells.


    Well, it was not hard to stop that curse.


    He just had to create a few runic arrays that would sense the curse and conjure a small bird or something in it''s path.


    Problem solved.


    The Killing Curse was over rated anyway.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    To say that Harry was surprised when he learned that the myths about Parselmouths being great healers in the past were true would be an understatement.


    Well, they do say that all myths and legends have a kernel of truth in them but he had really not thought that this myth about Parselmouths being healers would be true.


    Because if the thought of Voldemort becoming a healer and working in St. Mungos in a nurse dress wasn''t the most funniest thing he''d thought up of then he didn''t knew what else was.


    Still, he had not believed in such legends because his perspective about Parselmouths had been changed by the Wizarding world who all thought that Parselmouths were all evil ?unts bent on destroying the world.


    He shook his head at that thought as there was really no point in thinking about such things.


    And he had better things to do anyway.


    And with that thought, he took out the only book on Parselmagic that he was able to find the Room of Requirement.


    And the book did contain a few chapters in the healing properties of the Parselmagic.


    The whole situation was once again a bit funny because the book was written by one of the descendants of Salazar Slytherin named Ariel Slytherin.


    Once again, thinking that all the children of an Evil person would be evil was just that stupid.


    Not that Ariel was a good person in any way or form considering that the rest of the chapters were filled with dark and evil ways in which you could use the Parselmagic.


    Still, he did not like how much his thoughts were being influenced by his surroundings.


    Perhaps he needed a vacation to the Himalaya mountains to clear his mind along with the other Buddhist people and what not.


    So he put the diadem on his head, opened the book and started reading about this rare gift that few people have had in the past.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The book was very informative and painted this branch of magic in a whole different light.


    Especially when the writer described her stay in India where the the Parselmouths were treated with utmost respect and reverence for their ability to heal even the most grievous of wounds and what not.


    And he remembered wondering why the fu?k could the Britain Magical community could not be like that as well.


    But then there were other books in that topic that talked about it''s application in the dark magic. Harry learned a lot from that section as well.


    Ariel had also found the phenomena about skills chanted in Parseltongue were more powerful and effective than spells chanted in other languages.


    And unlike him, who had not given much thought to it, she had created a few theories about why it was the way it was.


    Most of her theories were not very impressive and she herself admitted that even by the end of her life, she was not able to find the true reason why such a thing happened and only had to rely on theories and hypothesis to move ahead with her research.


    Because in her search for answers, Ariel had come across the legend of Merlin and found out that Merlin did not had the ability to talk with dragons as a child.


    But everyone knows that Merlin was able to talk with them at some later point in his life so Ariel''s findings should be false right?


    The answer was rather simple.


    Merlin was not born with the ability to talk with dragons.


    But as he grew up, the found some way to do so.


    Which meant that such a thing was doable.


    Which also meant that he himself must do it as well.


    Because how else could he call himself the greatest wizard in the history of the world if he was not even able to do such a simple thing.


    But the end of the book, his mid was already whirling with new ideas.


    Because he was a parselmouth, he knew that each hiss of the snakes hold some kind of meaning. A meaning that only a parselmouth could understand.


    And because of the movies, he also knew that the melodous voice of the mermen could turn into a horrible screech if taken out of the water.


    So in essence, the roars of the dragons must hold some kind of meaning as well.


    But how the hell was he supposed to understand them.


    Well, he would find some way.


    If Merlin could do it, then he could do it as well.


    But how the fu?k was he going to understand them when there were no dragons in Britain.


    And at that moment, he realized that he would have to do something stupid like Hagrid.


    He would have to get a fu?k?n? dragon egg for himself.

 Chapter 110 - Value of Advertisements

    Advertisements.


    One of the few game changing things that the Wizarding Britain have still not understood.


    Or used.


    There is a reason why every large company in the muggle world hire Superstars from all over the globe to act as their ambassador or at least make an appearance in their advertisements.


    There''s a reason why each multi billion dollar company put millions or even billions of dollars in advertisement.


    It''s to make their name known among the masses.


    To create a brand and let the people know that if the icons of their world are using their company''s product then it must be good and you should use it too.


    Of course, they never say such a thing directly.


    But could always open your television and see a famous actress drinking some company''s drink and acting like they''ve reached the highest state of bliss after drinking that 2$ drink.


    Harry, as a person didn''t really liked advertisements because they''re just a subtle way of manipulating people in believing in other companies'' products that they might never have used before.


    But he never liked manipulations either but despite that, he was perfectly content with manipulating other people.


    He was a hypocrite and he would admit that to anyone who asked.


    And that was why he was back into America and infiltrating the headquarters of the Multi-Million Advertisement Agency named Ameritech in order to kidnap one of their brightest mind in the building.


    Whose name was given to him by Steve Jobs.


    Of course, he had learned his lesson from last time and so this time, he had used an aging potion and was wearing what looked like one of the most expensive suits in existence. Just so the man would take him seriously when he showed him his proposal.


    If the man refused this once in a lifetime opportunity, then he''ll be obliviated and then go about living his life like always and then Harry would give the opportunity to the next bloke in the list.


    With such thoughts, he used the Shroud of Concealment in order to not deal with the guards and infiltrated the company.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    * Harry tasks another magical construction crew to create a mall for him in his island. He also applies a muggle repelling charm in the island.


    Harry''s end of the term exams would start within two weeks.


    Not that he cared since he never planned on sitting in those exams.


    Which was the exact time frame in which he wanted to launch his company to the magical world.


    The problem in this was that.


    1. The production of the Magical Phones had not even started yet.


    2. The production of the Magicl Towers was no where in sight either.


    3. He had no shop in Diagon Alley from where he could sell his products.


    4. The advertisement campaign has not started either.


    In essence, he had no product. And he had no Place to sell his non-existent products.


    So yes, that was a pretty big problem in his eyes if you asked him.


    But like all problems he had faced in his life, he found a solution for this problem as well.


    Delegate.


    Which means ?ssigning tasks that he had no time to do, to other people who had the time to complete those tasks.


    So far, he had not been able to delegate anything to other people because everything that he made was in it''s research stage.


    But now that he had finished the research and the product was finally ready to be launched, it was time to fu?k?n? DELEGATE.


    With that thought, he started calling Steve Jobs, Mia Blacktooth and Andromeda Tonks, all of whom had received a Magical Phone Lite which was now being called MP Lite.


    The Lite version was the cheap one that was far easier to make than the MP Pro, which was the expensive version with all the extra features.


    So he had made a few and gifted them to people who were involved in this project in advance.


    And he started with Steve.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Miss Greengrass." The silky smooth voice of her head of house reached her ears and Daphne straightened her back a little.


    "Professor Snape. How may I be of ?ssistance?" she asked. It was rare for Snape to ever call anyone to his office like this. Except for Draco who was supposed to extra lessons with his godfather every evening.


    She waited for him to answer, but instead of replying to her, he instead levelled a blank gaze at her. He must have had a lot of practice with that gaze because it unnerved her quite a bit.


    But just as she was starting to feel uncomfortable, he answered.


    "Your performance in my class and the other classes is starting to slip Miss Greengrass. Is there any particular reason for that?"


    Daphne froze.


    Of all the reasons why Snape could have called him here, to think that he would call her here for this.


    Well, she was fairly surprised that he noticed because she didn''t think that Snape really cared about his house students all that much.


    But perhaps there was a reason why he was the head of the house of Slytherin and perhaps there was a reason why Dumbledore trusted him so much.


    Still, she remembered her father''s lessons along with Harry''s warning and ramped up the occlumency shields in her mind and lowered her gaze just a little so that she won''t have to make eye contact with him.


    "There is no particular reason Professor." She lied.


    The truth about her vow to Harry would come out sooner or later once she fails all of her exams. But she would rather it came later than sooner.


    She was in no hurry to deal with the aftermath of failing all her exams in her first year.


    "Am I to really believe that you Miss Greengrass, perhaps that girl with the most talent in potions in your whole class, suddenly starts slipping up for no reason."


    Wait what! What did he meant by the girl with the most talent in potions in the whole class?


    She thought she had hidden her talent well.


    Apparently that was really not the case here.


    But then again, she did realize that fooling some as perceptive as Snape was far different than fooling her classmates.


    But she couldn''t give anything away to Snape. Not for now at least.


    He''ll just have to know the truth along with everyone else.


    "I''m not sure what you mean Professor." She lied rather unconvicingly and Snape rubbed his nose both in irritation and exhaustion.


    Then he gestured her to the chair and said "Have a seat Miss Greengrass."


    She did and then the room descended into silence once again as Snape stared into the distance, as if trying to recollect some memory before he said.


    "During the last war, there were a lot of students in Slytherin who were under a lot of pressure from their parents and other peers who wanted them to join the dark lord."


    "During that time, those students had no where else to go. No one to ask for support. And so with no other path to choose, they did what everyone else around them did." And with those words, Snape pulled the sleeve of his left hand and the faded dark mark became clearly visible to her and her breath hitched.


    "I was one of the few half bloods living in the Slytherin house at that time. I had no one who would support me. No one would care about me. No one who I could turn to. And I was under a lot of pressure by my peers who were all joining the dark lord after the graduation."


    "And I succumbed to the temptation." Snape went silent after that and Daphne felt a bit sad for this man who had suffered such horrible fate.


    "The reason I''m telling you this is that I want you to know that despite appearances, I do care about my students."


    "That if you are facing some kind of problem in your life then you should not hesitate to tell me about it and I''ll do my best to help no matter what." He said softly and for some reason, Daphne believed in his words.


    He just sounded¡­ so sincere. And the pain in his voice when he talked about his past could not have been faked.


    If it was, then he was perhaps the greatest actor she had ever seen.


    Still, she could either tell his a little bit of the truth and ?ssuage his worries or she could choose to remain silent and keep him worried for her.


    Which would only serve for him to interfere more in her life.


    So she took a deep breath and said "I''ll fail all the exams in my first year."


    Snape looked confused for a moment. She had a guess that whatever he had been thinking when she entered the room was not this.


    "May I know the reason behind¡­ such a decision?" he asked.


    "I''m sorry professor." She said biting her lower lip "But that is a secret that I''m not willing to share."


    "Still, if you must know, then know that the decision to fail is mine and mine alone. And I''ll gladly bear all the repercussions that my decision would bring."


    Snape remained silent for a long moment and gave her a blank stare, as if trying to read her mind before he sighed and looked away "I guess there no way you''ll persuaded to change this¡­ decision."


    She shook her head and he gave her a nod.


    "Then I hope that whatever or whoever you''re gambling this on won''t let you down." He said and she froze, wondering if he knew about her and Harry but then shook that thought out of her head.


    It didn''t matter if he knew or not as long as he didn''t interfere with her life.


    "If that is all professor." She asked and upon recieving his nod, she got up and went for the door.


    When she reached the door, she stopped and turned to look at him once again "You''ll keep my secret to yourself. Won''t you professor?"


    Snape didn''t said anything but just here the b?r?st of nods and she took it as an affirmative before leaving his office.


    The whole talk had been rather unnerving to her but she was glad that she had someone she could rely in the future if she wanted to.


    Or at least that what she hoped was the case.


    He could always be lying to her in order to gain more information from her.


    You could never really tell with the Slytherins.

 Chapter 111 - Using Imperius Curse

    "Hello Prime Minister Marita Petersen" the 21 year old looking Harry said as he made his entrance after putting the two guards and the secretary under the imperius.


    The Prime Minister froze for a small moment before she regained her composure and gave him a blank stare.


    "Who are you? I don''t remember having an appointment with someone like you." she asked "My guards¡­ what did you do to them?"


    Hmm¡­ she was brave, he would give her that.


    She would have fit right into Gryffindor if she had joined Hogwarts.


    "My name¡­ is of no great importance. But you can just call me Mister Black if you want." He said with a bored expression even though he found the whole situation a bit thrilling.


    It was not everyday that you broke into the office of a prime minister.


    Even if she was just the prime minister of a small Self governing Archipelago like Faroe Islands.


    "Very well then Mr Black. Let''s cut right to the chase. What do you want?" she asked, giving him a harsh glare which only served to amuse him even more.


    He liked these kinds of situation where he had full control over everything. He found it empowering. Even though he knew it was a bit immoral to use his powers like that.


    But the muggles were just so¡­ helpless in front of him.


    He wondered if this is what people meant by the words ''Absolute power corrupts absolutely.''


    He smiled and said "If you''re being so direct then I don''t see why I should do any different. I want Litla Dimun. You know, the small island that no one ever¡­"


    "No." She said, interrupting his words "We don''t do charity. If you want a place to hide in, then go beg someone else for it. Now get the fu?k out of my office. You won''t get a cent from me."


    It took a moment for her words to sink in his mind at which point, he gave her an amused glance.


    "It''s funny how you think that you have any choice in this matter Prime Minister Marita Petersen. And that rather surprising because I don''t like a lot of people." He said with an easy smile "Which I why I would rather have your corporation then force you to do my bidding."


    "You won''t get anything from me." She said and before he could even blink, she had pulled out a revolver at him. "Now, listen very carefully boy." She said, ???king her revolver "This is your last chance. Get the fu?k out of my office before I blow your brains all over the carpet. I rather like them and wouldn''t want to see them getting stained with your blood."


    The whole turn of events was so abrupt that he could only stare wide eyed at her for a moment.


    And then he chuckled.


    A Gryffindor. Definitely a Gryffindor.


    Damn, this was one awesome woman.


    But the whole situation seemed so cliched to him that he couldn''t stop himself from chuckling.


    He felt like a typical villian trying to take something precious from an old woman.


    That thought only amused him even more as the chuckles soon turned into laughter and soon enough, he was standing the middle of the Prime Minister''s office and laughing hysterically.


    Thankfully he had put sound barrier around the room so the laugh couldn''t¡­


    She fired the gun.


    And the bullet came close to hitting him before it collided with a passive shield hovering around his body and went out of existence.


    It was a shield that he had created for stopping snipers from ?ssassinating him from a distance because he knew that he might make some muggle enemies in the future.


    And the passive invisible shield, which stayed activate all the time was capable of vanishing sniper bullets so doing the same with a revolver bullet was nothing to it.


    But regardless, to see the shield being used so early in his life was a bit of a surprise.


    A surprise that he didn''t like.


    He stopped laughing.


    It''s funny how quikly you can change your opinion of someone when that someone tries to kill you.


    The woman gaped at him in return, perhaps wondering what happened to the bullet that should have killed him.


    Then she pulled the trigger once again¡­ but, there was not trigger.


    She felt something slimy on her hand and looked down to see that the revolver that she had been holding up until now had turned into a snake that was flickering it''s tongue at her.


    She froze for a moment before she recoiled in fear and threw the snake away from her, falling down from her chair in the process.


    "You''re a brave person Marita. And I think I can appreciate your bravery." Harry said as he walked up to the woman who was now looking at him in pure terror. "But you have the same disease that most other Gryffindors suffer from."


    "You''re too reckless."


    Harry picked up the snake slithering on the ground that he''d transfigured from the revolver and ??r?ssed it''s head softly.


    "We could have talked about this like civilized people. You know¡­ diplomacy and all."


    "After all, it was not like I was asking for anything of great value either. Just a small uninhabited island that no one ever uses for anything."


    "But I''m afraid that option is not available to you anymore." Then he took out his wand and levelled it at the woman, who at least had enough sense to realize that something bad was about to happen to her.


    "Wai¡­"


    "Imperio"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Where were you?" Penelope asked as he sauntered in the Study room and he gave her a feral grin.


    "Oh you know. Threatening a Prime Minister. Stealing an Island. The usual."


    She gave a snort at his words before passing him a few large parchments and he looked at her with a questioning gaze.


    "The deciphered runes for the expensive Magical Phones. The one you''re now calling MP Pro."


    "I''ve checked the work a few times and every error or mistake had been removed."


    "So it''s ready for the production stage?" he asked and she gave him a nod.


    "Good." He said with a smile before giving her a hug, surprising her a little "And thank you for your help. I know that you have very little time to decipher my runes, what with the end of term exams being so close. I want you to know that I really, really appreciate your work and your help. I''ll never forget this."


    She gave him a soft smile and he continued.


    "So if you fail in your exams, come to my company. I''m sure I can set you up as a sweeper in my grand and awesome company." He said with a grin and she gave him a mock glare before punching him in the shoulder.


    "Stop being such a smartass and go do your job. You don''t the production to be delayed any longer, do you?"


    "Yes maam." He said with a smile and left the room before he turned and entered a hidden pathway, going in the route that would take him outside Hogwarts ground.

 Chapter 112 - Albus Dumbledore the model

    "Steve." Harry shouted and the man turned to glare at him.


    "Can you not disturb me for once. Can''t you see I''m working?"


    Harry gave him a shrug and passed the blue prints, rune prints, or whatever you would call them to Steve.


    The older man looked at Runes written on the parchments before he gazed back at Harry and asked "MP Pro?"


    Harry nodded "I want the production to start as soon as possible."


    Steve nodded "I understand. Any other request President Harry."


    The sarcasm in his voice couldn''t have been more clearer and Harry wondered if this is how he talked with everyone else in his company as well.


    No wonder he got kicked out of Apple.


    The new employees in his company had already started complaining about the harsh treatment they were receiving from Steve with how hard he pushed them.


    But regardless of all his apparent weaknesses, Harry would not remove the man even in his dreams.


    The Apple company made that mistake and they almost lost everything because of it until he came back and saved their ?sses.


    Plus, the man showed results.


    Great results.


    "I want each of the new products to be thoroughly tested before we launch them in the market. I don''t want any problem to occur because of the carelessness of our employees." Which was true.


    At his words, Steve gave him an unamused glance and said "Already took care of that. Do you really think that I would even sell 2nd class product to my clients?"


    Coming from any other man, those words might have sounded a bit arrogant. But coming from Steve Jobs, who was the CEO of Apple, which was a company known worldwide for it''s quality, those words held a lot of weight and Harry realized that he had been worried over nothing.


    He didn''t needed to worry about the MP Lite and MP Pro anymore.


    Steve would take care of them.


    Now he only needed to take care of the Magical towers that would boost the range of the Magical Phones and then create a central large tower that would act as a headquarter, data base, call center and what not.


    The runes and charms for the Magical towers had already been constructed and now he was waiting for Penelope to decipher his runes so that he could then pass it on to Steve who would then pass it on to the employees working under him.


    But the Central tower would take time. Lots and lots of time as he would have to create everything himself.


    And the runes he created in the central tower would never be deciphered as they needed to be kept secret from other people.


    Other rune masters might copy the runes in his Magical Phones and succeed in creating their own version of Phones in a few years but they would never succeed if they didn''t knew how to create the Central Tower.


    He knew that monopolies are not always a good thing because they generally hinder progress and innovation but he doubted that he would have to worry about such things with Steve Jobs at the helm of his company.


    Nope, he didn''t need to worry about that at all.


    The only thing he needed to worry about was that Steve wouldn''t overwork the people working under him and scare them away.


    And with that thought, he resumed working on the design of the Central Magical Tower which would be the key to everything.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Harry my boy, it''s so good to see you. May I know what brings you to my humble office?" Albus asked curiously as Harry entered his office and sat one the chair in front of him without even asking for permission.


    Such a rude gesture would have angered or at least irritated anyone else but his long life had taught him anything, then it was patience.


    Plus, by now he was used to such rude gestures from the young boy so he didn''t let it bother him too much.


    Though the fact that he had lost the boy''s trust did saddened him a little bit.


    "If you call this office humble Albus, then I think I should call myself the Queen of England."


    Albus smiled at the boy''s sarcastic answer.


    At least the boy was not being totally hostile this fine day.


    Then he remembered something and took the jar from underneath his desk and took out a round sweet from inside of it and offered it to young Harry "Lemon drops?"


    The boy gave him an unamused glance and Albus knew that the boy would not realize that wonders of Lemon Drops either.


    Just like every other wizard whom he offered the sweets.


    And wasn''t that a tragedy upon itself.


    That people get so entangled in his life that they stop enjoying the small sweet things in life.


    "You do realize that you look exactly like the kind of person that parents usually warn their kids about? You know¡­ what with the purple colored robes and that kind smile"


    The sarcasm couldn''t have been more evident in his voice but Albus just smiled.


    "Regardless. I''m not here to argue with you today Albus." Harry said and he raised his eyebrows in curiosity.


    So the boy wanted something from him.


    He wondered what it was.


    As long as it was not something very expensive or very time consuming, he would not mind giving it to the boy. Such a gesture might go a long way in rebuilding their broken relationship.


    Plus, the boy had suffered a lot in his life because of him so it was only proper that he gave something in return for it.


    "Then why are you here my boy?" he asked with a grandfatherly smile and Harry gave him an unamused glare.


    He knew that Harry didn''t liked to be called ''My boy'' by him and took some sort of perverse joy in doing that again and again.


    After all, you needed to enjoy the small sweet things in life otherwise it would get too serious and boring.


    "Okay Albus, I''ll cut to the chase. You know that you made a huge mistake when you sent me to live with the Dursleys. You also told me that you were sorry to do it. But you never did anything to earn my forgiveness."


    "Ohh¡­ And what must I do in order to earn your forgiveness my boy?" he asked curiously.


    "Simple. You are going to be a model in the new advertisement campaign for my company."


    "Model?" Albus asked, feeling a bit confused. He had no idea what the boy was talking about. And advertisement. Albus had seen a few advertisements in the muggle world but there were no such things in the magical world.


    Was the boy thinking of using him as a model in the advertisements like how the superstars from the muggle world appeared in those posters.


    He didn''t knew what point such a thing would serve but the whole process didn''t seemed to time consuming so there shouldn''t be any problem with accepting the proposition.


    Except, he couldn''t make it so easy for Harry or the boy might take his help form granted.


    "I am afraid afraid that as much as I want to help you my boy, my schedule just doesn''t have any free space in it where I could act as a model for your advertisement."


    "Oh don''t worry old man. It won''t take a lot of your time. And if your posts are taking so much of your time, then you could always drop one of them." Harry said with a scoff "It''s not like you''re doing a good job in any of your posts."


    Albus knew what the boy was talking about but chose to ignore the barb made at his expense.


    "I''m afraid that is not an option my boy. Abdicating my position until someone worthy comes along to replace me would just be irresponsible of me. So even if I wanted to, I couldn''t leave any of my posts."


    Harry''s left eye twitched and Albus inwardly smiled. He was getting under the boy''s skin and both of them knew it.


    So just like that, the both of them shared words for ten whole minutes until he was at last persuaded by Harry to act as a model for his new company.


    If nothing else, this new experience of being a model should at least provide some amusement to him.

 Chapter 113 - Small new inventions

    The end of the term exams had already started. But instead of attending the exams, Harry was instead negotiating with Coretin de Phillippe instead.


    Coretin was a middle aged French Wizard who owned a small shop in their magical community that specialized in the construction of magical homes.


    He worked there alongside a few other wizards and they took all kinds of commissions from small single person house to large mansions.


    Their work was fast, efficient and beautiful.


    Which was exactly what he wanted at this point in time.


    If he had more time in his hands, then he would have enlisted the help of a few house elves and a few wizards before creating the mall he''d designed on his own.


    But as it so happened, he was running out of time and Coretin''s group was his best bet at getting the building ready before the official launching date of his company.


    He was paying a lot for this creation of his mall. About 15,000 galleons in fact.


    And he would have to pay about 5,000 more galleons for the wards and the other safety and security measures after the construction of the mall was completed.


    And then he would have to create runes and charms for things like escalator in the mall that Coretin knew nothing about.


    In total, this would take a lot of his time but he knew that it would all be worth with.


    With that thought, he showed the blueprint of the mall that he drew from memory and then showed the location to Coretin who just gave him a somber nod before apparating back to his small shop, getting prepared for the large construction project up ahead.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "I''ve heard that you were very good at Ancient Runes and charms Sylvia?" Harry asked and the muggleborn wizard nodded his head.


    "Well, not as good as you but I can easily carve every single rune up to the NEWTs level easily and the same could be said for my charms talent."


    "I see. Have you ever worked with extension charms and expended spaces?" he asked and she nodded once again, this time with much more enthusiasm.


    "Yes I have. In fact, the project that completed for extra credits for my 7th year charms subject was creating Bottomless Bag. It was the reason why I got O*in that subject." She said cheerfully and he smiled.


    This was going to be easier than he had thought if the girl already knew all these things.


    Well, he was calling her a girl but she was in fact a 23 years old young woman, which made her a fair bit older than the age of his current body.


    "In that case. Take a look at this." He said, passing on the large bag to Sylvia who gazed at it curiously.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen a trunk like this in my life." She said as she studied the bag. "Can it even be called a trunk or should I call it a bag instead."


    "None of the above. This thing here, is called a trolley bag. It has already been invented and are being used by a minor few people in America. But those trolley bags are rather primitive and not very easy to carry."


    "This one, is an advanced version of those trolley bags. And the whole concept of a trolley bag is rather simple." He said and was about to start explaining when she interrupted him.


    "Wait wait¡­ Let me guess. There''s this handle thing at the top and there are wheels in the bottom. So that must mean that one must pull the trolley bag instead of carrying it, which would make it far easier for people. Right?" she asked enthusiastically and he nodded, getting a bit worried about her excessively cheerful personality and wondering if she would really be a good employee.


    "Yes. Unlike the medieval trunks that they sell in Diagon Alley, these Trolley bags are far easier to carry anywhere."


    "I see." She said as she opened the bag and looking inside at all the charms and runes placed in it.


    After inspecting everything, she put on serious expression and said "The runes and charms placed in this bag are not very hard for me to replicate. But there''s a problem with this whole thing."


    "Oh and what would that be?" he asked curiously.


    "I''m not sure the purebloods would like the new design very much." She said somberly "They''re not a fan of innovation and new things and most of them would rather die then change according to the times. Plus, if the news reached their ears that the trolley bags were first invented by the muggles, then they might even try to ban this would thing."


    "Are you sure you want to go to such a great length in order to earn some more galleons. From what I know about you, you seem like a pretty intelligent guy and are quite rich as well. So why would you do such a thing which would earn you the ire of the purebloods and make yourself their targets."


    Hmm¡­ so the girl was no a simple mindless bimbo then she likes everyone else to ?ssume because of her cheerful personality.


    Who knew that there would be such an interesting and intelligent person beneath all that cheeriness.


    Good thing.


    His company needed all the smart people it could afford.


    "You don''t need to worry about those purebloods." He ?ssured her "I''ll deal with them. You just need to focus on your work. Leave everything else to me."


    "Very well then. Is there anything else you want to about before starting your job?" he asked and she shook her head.


    "No. This much should be more than enough. Though I should warn you that it''s unlikely that many purebloods would come to buy such a bag from the shop."


    At her words, he smirked and said "You don''t need to worry about the Purebloods. In fact, the new shops that I''m creating are solely focused on muggleborns and halfbloods along with the few purebloods who don''t look down on the muggles. So having no Pureblood come to my shops would not hinder my plans in the least."


    Sylvia nodded at that and with her worries ?ssuaged, she quickly signed the contract with him and he at last got another shop for his mall.


    So far, he only had four shops in his mall.


    One for MP Lite.


    One for MP Pro.


    One for Potions that Daphne and Andromeda would sell.


    And the last one for the Trolley Bags.


    The clothing store will only sell muggle clothes. But those clothes will have numerous charms on them. Like featherlight charm, charm that would make the fabric even softer on the skin, dirt removing charm, etc, etc.


    That shop will also be focused on mainly the muggleborns, their muggle parents and the halfbloods.


    He had a feeling that this shop would also gain a lot of customers because there were no magically enhanced muggle clothes sold anywhere in Britain and he would be the first one doing so.


    As for the joke shop, he was planning on hiring the Wesley twins the next year. Sure they were not yet experienced enough to do the things that they did in the movie because they were still young but he knew that they had potential and the earlier they started in the business, the better.


    He also had the idea of creating a library in the mall for any wizard or witch would like to study magical books but didn''t have the money to buy them.


    There were no magical library in the Wizarding Britain so he was hoping that this business venture would bring him success as well.


    Then there was the fact that there were no beauty parlour in the wizarding Britain either.


    Such a thing was frankly very surprising to him as he knew that most of the muggle females are die hard users of some form of cosmetics.


    So sooner or later, he planned on doing something about that as well.


    The magical world after all, had remained stagnant for a long time.


    But he knew that there was only so much that he would be able to do at one time so he next went to the Andromeda whom he had already told to save a bunch of potions so that she would be able to sell them in her shop.

 Chapter 114 - Getting a shop in Diagon Alley

    Hermione gazed at the transfiguration exam paper and wondered what the hell she was doing here.


    At this point in time, she had learned a lot from Harry and was able to do most of the 3rd to 4th year transfigurations without any problem. But here she was, sitting alongside the rest of her peers, trying to give answer to 1st year questions.


    Answers, that she knew in her mind were not really all that useful for her anymore.


    The question she was currently working on asked what incantation you must use in order to change a wood into metal.


    The answer was that she didn''t even need to use any incantation to do such low level spells. She could simply use her will and intent to do these tasks.


    But because of these exams, she had to read all the 1st year books and memorize things that would never truly help her with how she was now learning magic.


    Maybe Harry''s decision to stay away from these exams was the correct one because she was feeling rather stupid right now.


    Harry, of course, had not attended the exams.


    His seat had remained empty and just like the every other day in the school, her classmates ignored his absence once again. As if he was not someone even worth their bother.


    Daphne, who was sitting a few seats ahead of her was not putting too much efforts into her exam paper either.


    Well, she knew that Daphne had taken the Unbreakable Vow to fail in her subjects so it was not like she really had any other choice anyway.


    Since the whole 1st year only had about 60 or so students, the whole class was giving their exams in one classroom which was being monitored by Professor Mcgonagall at the moment.


    Professor Mcgonagall had saved her from bullying a lot of times ever since Harry threatened to leave the school so she now had a better opinion of the Professor but after the troll incident, they were never able to come to speaking terms again.


    A pity. Because she could see that Professor Mcgonagall was just trying to do the best that she could from her position.


    Hermione shook the thoughts out of her mind and gazed down at the paper once again. Wondering for the eighteenth time within the past ten minutes if she should fail her exams like Harry and Daphne as well.


    But if she did so, then she would not know how to face her parents anymore so she gritted her teeth and started jotting down the answers that she''d memorize some time ago.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Getting the shop in Diagon Alley was far easier for him then it would have been for anyone else. And the reason was rather simple.


    He was rich and the ministry was corrupt to the core.


    Of course, since he was still an underage wizard, he couldn''t really buy a shop in the Alley and Andromeda was banned from opening as shop there as well so he had to rely on one of his muggleborn employee to do this for him.


    The shop that he bought once belonged to a young couple who sold day to day magical items in their shop. But they chose to oppose Voldemort in the last war and were killed by the death eaters as an example to other people.


    After their death one of their last living relative inherited the shop but he was and old man and did not held any interest in working at the shop as he auctioned it off back to the ministry who then auctioned off all the items remaining inside the shop before putting the building for sale.


    A sale that was now made by Harry''s muggleborn employee.


    Of course, a decade of neglect plus the damage that the building suffered during the war made sure that the old building will be of no use to him but he was not bothered by it in the least because he didn''t cared about the old building anyway.


    The reason behind that was simple as well.


    That way, the shop would have a welcoming feel to it because the whole front will be made up of transparent glass while it will also appear different and unique from the other shops in Diagon Alley.


    The construction of this shop was similarly given to Coretin de Phillippe who was sure that he would be able to finish it all within only a few days unlike the mall which would easily take more than a month.


    The main reason why the shop would take so little time to be constructed was because in essence, the whole shop will be empty.


    Yes. No products of his company will be sold in this shop.


    In truth, the shop had will only have a single job to do.


    To look good, attract customers and then send them to the mall in Lilta Dimun through the eight fireplaces constructed inside the shop. And then customers will buy the products of his company from there.


    The main reason why he didn''t simply enlarge the insides of the shop and create a mall in there was that some of the things he''ll do with his company or some of the products that he sell in there will cause a lot of pain to the purebloods.


    And sooner or later, they''ll send aurors and try to close his shop.


    At that moment, the law will not be in his side but not be against him either.


    Because Litla Dimun fell under the Independent Archipelago named Faroe Islands which did not fell under the control of the land of Wizarding Britain.


    So anything that he does in that island or anything that his company sell to people in there won''t be something that the ministry could control.


    It a surprising loophole that he found in the laws of the Wizarding Britain.


    Of course, there were a few law against international transport. But they only applied when you''re going from one magical country to another magical country.


    And Faroe Islands didn''t have a magical community so going there was not against the law either.


    So with the law in his side, the aurors could not shut his shop down for no reason.


    The problem was that once the Wizengamot learns of this loophole and he comes under their crosshair, they''ll no doubt try to pass a new law regarding his situation.


    But he already had a few contingency plans set up in place to deal with such situation as well.


    So for now, all he needed to do was watch over everything being set up by his minions/employees and then open the shop with a bang when the time comes.

 Chapter 115 - Opening different shops in the mall

    "Andromeda. Have you already prepared everything for the new shop?" Harry asked as she invited him into her home.


    He have already had a few meals her, her husband and their daughter Nymphadora in here so he was already rather familiar with her house.


    It was nothing spectacular. Just a simple 3 bedroom, two storey house along with a secure basement where Andromeda kept all of her more dangerous potions and ingredients.


    Regardless, the whole place gave him a homely feeling that he never felt back in 4 Privit Drive. Not that he really cared about that place.


    He was however, a little surprised to see Daphne sitting in the chair and drinking tea in a demure fashion. As if there was anything modest or shy in her actual personality.


    "Daphne. Don''t you have an exam today?" he asked because he remembered that she had said that she would attend all the exams and then fail them.


    "I have. It''s in about five minutes." She said with a smile that made him realize how much she was enjoying this situation.


    So she was the kind of girl that enjoys breaking the rules and getting things her way.


    Good to know.


    At least someone in his portly little group was enjoying the exams. Even if the only enjoyable part was arriving late.


    But he did not came here in order to talk with Daphne.


    He came here for two things.


    1. Make sure that Andromeda has all the potions and ingredients ready for when the construction of the mall was completed.


    2. To talk with the transfiguration bloke who was a close friend with Ted Tonks.


    It just so happened that the transfiguration bloke was already under his payroll, with Steve Jobs making sure that he could hire as many talented people that he possibly could.


    In fact, this person was the one who was permanently transfiguring the body of the MP Lite and MP Pro according to his specific orders.


    So this man had a lot of time in his hands and with the body of those Magical Phones being so small, he was able to complete all those Permanent transfigurations in 2 months.


    2 months that ended a few days ago.


    And now, Steve had tasked the man to create more and more bodies for when the company will need them in the future.


    But Harry needed the man for the new shop.


    The doorbell rang and after a few moments, Andromeda brought another middle aged man who looked him and froze before a smile broke out on his face.


    "Oh ho¡­ To think I would meet the Saviour of the Wizarding World, Vanquisher of the dark lord and the President of our new company in my friend''s home. I must say, it is an honor to meet you in person Mister Harry Potter." The mas said and gave a slight bow to him.


    But Harry just shook his head at those words. "There''s just empty titles Mr Berk. Nothing more. Nothing less."


    The man raised an eyebrow at that before chuckling "Modest, I see. But even those titles might mean nothing to you, they mean a lot to us people who lived in the shadow of the last war, afraid of being targeted by the dark lord any day. To us people, those titles means a lot. You mean a lot."


    Harry simply nodded at his words, not really wanting to continue with this conversation any longer.


    "Do you know why you''re here Mr Berk?" he asked.


    "Because Ted called me." He replied "But with you here, I''m guessing that you told Ted to call me here. Is that correct."


    "Yup." He nodded "I have heard that you worked from your home and only supplied the finished products once every two weeks. And my people didn''t have your home address either so I could only ask Ted or Steve to contact you."


    "And since I was coming here to have breakfast with Andromeda anyway, I thought that I might as well meet you here while I''m at it."


    The man nodded at his words.


    "Is there a reason why you''ve set up this meeting?" he asked and Harry nodded before pulling out a Trolley Bag from his Bottomless Purse.


    "I want you to Permanently transfigure 150 such bags by the end of this month." He said as he passed on the bag to the man "Will you be able to do it?"


    The man looked at the bag from all the sides before opening it up and checking the inside of the bag. The whole inspection took around 5 minutes during which Harry patiently watched the man.


    After the inspection was completed, the man gave him a nod and said "This is a brilliant design. I can see why you would want to sell it as a product of your company."


    Then he became somber and said "I will be able to complete 150 of these before the end of the man. But it''ll take all of my time and I won''t be able to work on the bodies of MP lite or MP Pro while I''m at it."


    Harry nodded at his words "That is completely understandable."


    After that formal talk, the man signed a few contracts regarding the completion of the 150 Trolley bags. There was no need to sign a non discloser agreement either because Steve already took care of it.


    So after the contract was signed, Harry went and checked on Andromeda''s preparations.


    And with all that out of the way, they finally had their meal in peace after which, he left for the company headquarter.


    Well, he did called it a headquarter but in fact, it was nothing but a larger Underground Basement where Steve and the other important figures of his company worked.


    Because he would now have to tell Steve about the Trolley bags as well.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The end of the term exams were halfway done and the time for the launch of the company was coming closer and closer.


    This excited Harry to no end.


    But with excitement came a bit of disappointment because until now, his company only has 4 shops.


    So the opening of 4 shops in a single year was a rather huge event that might even go down in the History of the magical Britain as a record.


    But he was not satisfied.


    Because he wanted more for his company.


    And he wanted more for the people who would become his client in the future.


    He wanted to provide them with more products.


    And when they left his mall, he wanted them to be content and happy.


    And so, he altered his plans a little and his new plans brought him back to the little old village which the home of the Whitefang Pack


    It was the second time Harry had walked into this place but the change was rather evident to him.


    Unlike the first time when he mostly got glares and feared glaces, this time, the atmosphere was completely different as people now looked at him happily though a little bit of wariness still remained within them.


    And unlike last time, when had seen the outer state of their homes and had felt pity for them, he felt happy for them this time as well.


    He had done something to give their people a better life.


    He won''t be going to heaven because of this anytime soon but he was sure that Hermione and Penelope would be proud of him and that meant something to him.


    As he walked to the center of the village, a young girl came out of the large hut and beamed at him.


    "Ohh Harry. You came to meet me so soon. Is there anything I could help you with." She said excitedly as she took his arm and started pulled him inside the hut/mansion with herself.


    He could hear the people outside giggling and laughing at his predicament and he just sighed, wondering if coming here to meet Mera had been such a good idea at all.


    "Mera. Calm down." He said in an authoritative voice, using his enhanced muscles to stop her advance and she stopped before giving him an embarrassed smile while rubbing the back of her head.


    "Oops. Sorry for pulling you like that. But I was just so excited about all this. After all, ever since I failed to meet the minimum requirement in the company, all I could do was sit inside the house and watch as my packmembers went to do their daily jobs, while I just sat here and did nothing. Mama won''t even allow me to become a guard. And I''m so bored. And¡­"


    Harry closed her mouth with with a thought and she continued to mumble for a little longer before realizing that he had sealed his mouth shut before she threw a glare at him which he easily ignored.


    "Hello Mia. I hope everything I going well in your pack."


    "Hello Harry. And yes. The pack is prospering like never before with your help. And because of that, we''ve been able to persuade one more pack to lend us their people as well."


    Harry nodded at her words.


    He knew that the war will start sooner or later and the earlier he started to recruit people to his company, the better.


    "I hope you''ve already been informed about the purpose of this visit." He said and she nodded.


    "I know the gist of it. These 6 young people and Mera are among the ones from my pack that b?r?ly failed to meet the minimum requirement needed in order to manufacture your new product." She said.


    "Yes. But they''re also young and naive so you didn''t want them to become guards either." He said and she nodded.


    "Good good. If you people b?r?ly failed in meeting those minimum requirements set by Steve then you must be quite talented as well. And letting such talented people just sit here and do nothing does not sit right with me." He said.


    "Before we start, can you tell me if these young people would do anything dangerous?" Mia asked, looking a bit worried and he shook his head before taking out a dress from his purse and passing it on to her.


    "This, is what they will be doing." He said and Mia''s eyes widened a little as she started studying the charmed cloth.


    After a while, she nodded her head as she understood what the young kids will be doing.


    "You want to open a new cloth shop. But this one will only sell enchanted muggle clothes instead of the robes and whatnot that the purebloods wear."


    "Yup. That''s exactly what I plan to do." He then turned to 7 late teenagers and passed a list to each of them.


    These are the types of charms that you''ll adding on each and every one of the cloth being sold in the shop. Have a look at it and tell if there''s something you can''t do.


    The list was one that he personally made while keeping their charms level in mind.


    The list was for every type of cloth. And each cloth will have a different kind of charm.


    Like an und?rw??r would have a special charm applied on it to make it extra soft.


    The winter clothes would be charmed to stay warm.


    The summer clothes would be charmed to stay cool.


    The socks would have extra charms place to negate the horrible smell of sweat.


    The boots will have the milder version of a the Unbreakable charm applied to their soles so that they won''t rub out too quickly.


    It had taken him a few days to make the whole list along and he was rather proud of his work.


    But he also knew that he was not perfect and that the list would need to change and evolve once the cloth industry in his company starts to take off.


    But he would leave them to the professions.


    And those professionals will be none other than these 7 people who at this moment, probably didn''t even knew about all the charms written in the list.


    And he was proven correct when they stopped reading the note and pointed out the few charms that they didn''t know.


    But thankfully, all the charms that he wrote on the lists about were rather easy to learn and it won''t take these talented youngsters even a week to learn.


    And after that, he could start producing his own Brand of Clothes.


    Author''s Note:- I know the story has slowed down a bit in the past few chapters but it''ll pick up speed once the holidays end and Harry goes back to Hogwarts.


    Plus, if you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at:- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 116 - Magical Towers

    When people hear the word Wardstone, they generally think of some kind of stone or even gem stone. And the would not be wrong because many of the wardstones used in the world are found in the form of some kind of stone.


    But that''s not all that a wardstone is.


    A wardstone is something that can collect the ambient magic surrounding our environment over a period of time and then turn the magic power stored inside it to provide power to the wards.


    Though that definition would not be perfect either because Harry could easily find many other ways to use the power of a Wardstone instead of charging and maintaining a ward.


    But the point was that a wardstone doesn''t necessarily needs to be a stone.


    It could be anything that stores magical power inside of it and whose magical power could be used for other purposes.


    In the short time that Harry had spent in the magical world, he had seen numerous kinds of wardstones.


    The horn on top of a unicorn head made for a very powerful wardstone.


    In fact, if he had gone along with the canon plot and killed Besalla, then he could have easily sold all of her bones at a very high price simply because they would have made excellent ward stones.


    Not that he would ever do such a thing to Besalla now as she had become rather loyal to him and he now felt a little attached to her as well.


    But the point remained that a wardstone could basically be anything.


    But despite that knowledge, he was rather shocked by the wardstones used to charge the 2nd magical tower.


    In fact, the whole thing looked like a big joke and he would not have believed that this was a magical tower that would amplify the signal of the Magical Phones if Selena had not confirmed it to him and if the coordinates had not matched.


    In front of him sat a large rock the size of a car which looked like it was being readied for a tribal ritual because of the thousands of large runes covering it''s surface.


    But that was not all of it. The rock was then tied to four large branches of some kind of magical tree.


    Harry knew that they only reason why he had named this construct a magical tower was because of the metallic metallic towers in his past life which amplified the connection of a mobile.


    And he also knew that the magical towers his people would create would not look like towers.


    He sighed in disappointment.


    Then he shook his head and started walking toward the Magical Tower.


    As long as it worked and did it''s job properly, that much should be enough.


    He was paying his employees to carve runes properly.


    He was not paying them to make it look pretty.


    Then he started checking all the runes and charms placed on it and after half an hour, he was finally sure that the everything was as it should be and that the Magical tower was working properly.


    Still.


    He grimaced at the thought of anyone finding this ugly thing and printing it at the daily prophet.


    So he added a few charms and runes around the Magical tower that would keep others from finding it as long as they didn''t have his permission.


    With that done, Bitty took him to the next Magical tower and he grimaced once again as it didn''t look any better than the first one.


    Apparently, he would have to hide all the fourteen towers that his employees had created and installed all over England after he checked their performance.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Can you hear me?" Harry asked as he stood on most northern part of Britain while looking at the Magical Phone from which Mia rolled her eyes and replied.


    "Yes Harry. I can both hear you and see you clearly. Does this mean that the Magical towers are working perfectly?" she asked.


    Harry grimaced at the reminder that those things were supposed to be towers. He wondered if it was too late to change their names at this point.


    Because calling those things ''Towers'' definitely felt like calling a Donkey a Unicorn.


    He shook his head and replied "Yes. Since you''re standing at the Southern most part of Britain, the distance between the two of us should be large enough that without the towers the Magical Phones would not have connected. So yes, the test is a success."


    "Is that so. That''s good news. What''s next?" she asked.


    "Next, you need to go the eastern most part of the Britain and I''ll go the Western most part and then we''ll call each other once again."


    "Okay." She said and then Phone went blank, replaced by the transparent screen from which he could see the liquid of the Pensieve flowing inside the Magical Phone.


    Then the put the phone back inside the purse being apparating to the western most city he''d ever visited before taking out his Nimbus 2000 and started travelling west.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After testing the distance, he and Mia went ahead and tested the under different conditions.


    Like calling each other while being under water.


    Calling each other while staying inside a heavily warded place.


    Calling each other from closed areas.


    And many other tests that their magical phones passed with ease.


    The problem was that the same could not be said for the videos.


    They were just not constructed with that in mind.


    Which was why he was now selecting a place in the middle of a Britain that would serve as the location for the Central tower.


    And yes, since he was the one personally creating this tower, he would make sure that it doesn''t look bu?? ugly and that it does actually resembles a tower.


    With that thought, he called in Bitty and then the both of them started creating the foundation.


    Author''s Note:- If you guys like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please support me at www.pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 117 - Dragon egg and the realization

    "Is this guy named Crow trustworthy?" Harry asked and Andromeda rolled her eyes.


    Despite being a genius, Harry could be surprisingly naive sometimes.


    "Harry. He is a thief, a smuggler, a crook and someone who works with the worst people in Knockturn Alley." She explained "Of course he''s not trustworthy."


    "But you''ve bought many ingredients potions from him. Correct?" he asked.


    "Yes. But also tried to fool me the first two times and it was only when I threatened to castrate him and feed him his own balls did he stopped trying to cheat me."


    Harry grimaced at her words and she laughed at how his and her reactions were so similar to that part of her story.


    Men were all alike when it came to the stuff under their pants.


    Threaten to cut it and they''ll all grimace.


    "I still don''t know what you want from him though." She said after a while "And considering how you''re about to tell him soon enough, why don''t you just tell me as well."


    Harry gave her a exasperated look and said "Plausible deniability. This way, if the aurors from ministry ever asks you if you saw me do something illegal, then you could easily say that no, you didn''t and your words will remain absolutely true."


    She nodded at that and didn''t asked any questions anymore and they waited in the dark muggle alley for a few more minutes before the sound of apparition entered their ears and a haggard looking man who was wearing a old and tattered robe and looked like a begger for all intents and purposes stumbled in front of them.


    But despite his looks, there was a sharp glint in his eyes as he gazed at Andromeda and asked "When I first tried to hoodwink you into selling you the rotten mermaid eggs, what did you tell me?"


    She shook her head and replied "You never sold me any rotten mermaid eggs. Instead, you tried to sell me water sand instead of Cornish Pixie dust and I threatened to castrate you and feed you your own balls."


    At Andromeda''s words, the man shuddered a bit before a smile formed in his face.


    "Sorry for that. You can never be too cautious in my profession." He said and the fierce glint returned in his eyes as he rubbed his hands greedily "Now¡­ what does my favourite client wants from me."


    "Not me. Him." She said and pointed at Harry who was looking at the whole scene with an amused expression.


    "Aahhh¡­ the great Harry Potter. Extraordinaire Genius in charms and runes. And the second dark lord slayer of the century. Tell me, how may I be of ?ssistance?" he asked and Harry said something but the words never reached her ears and she realized that he must have put a sound negating shield around himself.


    She felt a bit envious at his talent. How he was able to use such complex magic at such a young age and without a wand either.


    But he was her Nephew and so she didn''t let the envy ever affect her mind and decisions regarding him.


    He was family and that''s all that mattered to her.


    The two started talking amongst each forgetting her presence and she felt the urge to knock their heads together for ignoring a lady like that.


    But if that''s how they wanted it, then she should find some way to benefit from this situation.


    So from there on, she started focusing on their lip movements.


    Most of the words were too complex for her to understand but she could hear the easier ones.


    Expensive. Dangerous. Smuggle. Romania.


    What the hell were those two talking about?


    From Crow''s expression, she could clearly see that he was a bit hesitant about this whole business but the greed was there as well.


    So Harry must have wanted to buy something highly illegal and expensive from him.


    What could it be.


    She focused a bit more on their lip movement and finally, the words ''Dragon Egg'' passed through Harry''s lips and she frowned.


    Why the hell would Harry want a dragon egg.


    Did he want it as some kind of potion ingredient?


    Or did he wanted to gift it to someone?


    Or maybe he wanted to keep it for decoration. Dragon eggs did held some beauty, she would admit.


    But¡­ he couldn''t be thinking of hatching the dragon egg, could he?


    Where the hell would he even raise the dragon.


    And if he did, then what would he even do with it?


    He wasn''t planning on raising a dragon in his new Island and make it it''s guard. Was it?


    She knew that the Goblins did held a few dragons outside their deepest vaults but¡­ that was different than taming a dragon.


    You think you''ve tamed them, until one day they roast you and then eat you.


    As she was thinking such thoughts, the business of the two people was concluded and they shook their hands when Crow suddenly recoiled from the touch and then looked down to see a black circle now formed at the middle of his palm.


    He looked at his palm in anger before he said something to Harry who just looked bored.


    Then Harry passed a bag full of gold to Crow who looked a bit pacified because of the gold.


    Then the sound barrier was removed and she could hear them once again.


    "Good luck on your venture Mr Crow. And for the both of our sakes, don''t fail."


    Crow looked at Harry with a bit of anger but then he nodded his head and apparated away.


    "What was that dark circle?" she asked Harry soon as Crow left.


    "A tracking spell. Very dark and very ancient. I don''t think there''s anyone in the whole Britain who''s capable of removing it." Harry replied with a bored expression.


    "Like the dark mark." The question left her mouth before she could control it and she grimaced but he either didn''t notice or didn''t care as he gave her a nod "Yes. Like the dark mark."


    She gulped at his words and wondered if he truly didn''t understood the level of magic that he just performed.


    Then she shook her head.


    Of course he wouldn''t realize such a thing.


    If he did, then he wouldn''t be Harry but some impostor.


    "Our work here is done. Let''s leave." He said and gave her his elbow and she smiled helplessly at that.


    Usually it''s the elder one who apparates and the younger one who side apparates but apparently such was not the case with Harry.


    So she just took his arm and then the next moment, with a pop, they left the dark alley.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After four excruciatingly boring weeks in which Daphne had to regularly sit in her exams and write absolutely nothing, except a few paragraphs of incorrect answers, she was finally ready to go home.


    Oh, it was true that she was excited about meeting her younger sister Astoria but at the same time, she would also have to spend more time in the presence of that man whom she calls her father.


    She wished she could just not go home.


    But if she didn''t, then Astoria will miss her and she didn''t wanted to hurt her sister as Astoria was all the family she had after her mother died.


    She of course never saw her father as a family member.


    She and Astoria were just tools for him to gain more power for the family.


    That power hungry sickfuck.


    But her hands were tied, so she went to her room and started packing her things while thinking about going home.


    And then all of a sudden, her ?h?st started hurting and she realized that it was the Unbreakable Vow she had given to Harry.


    The Vow according to which she would not reveal any of his secrets to anyone.


    Had she revealed his secret to anyone unknowingly?


    She clutched her ?h?st in pain and looked around the room, finding no one beside herself.


    But she was not ?ssured in the least so she took out her wand and performed a charm that her father had taught her once.


    "Homenum Revelio" she chanted while twirling her wand and nothing.


    She wondered if she had performed the charm incorrectly and performed it a few more times. But nothing.


    It seems like there was no one in the room beside her.


    Which meant that she had not revealed the secret to anyone.


    And suddenly, she realized that she was not feeling any pain in her ?h?st, which meant that she never relieved the secret to anyone.


    But she had definitely come close to doing that.


    But how?


    Wasn''t she just packing her trunk in order to go¡­


    The thought of going home once again brought pain to her ?h?st and she quickly thought about not going home a few times and the pain faded away.


    So the pain was a warning.


    A warning that she would be breaking her Vow if she went home.


    But how?


    And then the realization suddenly hit her.


    Her father.


    He read her mind the last time she went home. And he did it without her permission as well.


    And at some subconscious level, she knew that he would read her mind once again and had even been preparing for it.


    But her preparations were not completed.


    Her occlumency shields were not strong enough and she knew that if he read her mind once again, then all the secrets she knew regarding Harry would be known to her father as well.


    Which meant that she would have unwillingly revealed Harry''s secrets, which would break the vow and kill her.


    So her magic was warning her not to go home.


    Not to go to the person who could read her mind whenever he felt like doing so.


    And now that she knew that, she would not be able to go home even if she wanted to do that.


    She would not be able to meet her dear little sister.


    Tears unknowingly came in her eyes as she thought about staying away from her sister and she sat on her bed, looking distraught.


    Plus, there was also the problem of her accommodation. If she can''t go home then where will she go during the holidays.


    She had no idea what she should do now.


    Then she thought about her mentor.


    Yes, Andromeda would know what to do in her situation.


    Plus, the middle aged woman already had some practice in running away from her home, so she would understand her situation.


    With that thought, she called Bitty and asked her to take her to her mentor.


    Author''s Note:- Have you guys ever wanted a have a pet dragon of your own.


    I haven''t.


    Feeding a dragon seems like a rather strenuous task and I''m a rather lazy guy :)


    And if you guys like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please support me at pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 118 - Secret busted

    Hermione looked at Harry with a determined expression and he stared back at her with an amused but haggard expression.


    And they continued to stare at each other like that for a long moment before he finally sighed and asked "Weren''t your parents taking you to France, Italy or wherever it was? Why aren''t you with them?"


    "Because if I went along with them then who would take care of you?" she asked, still feeling a little worried about his health.


    He looked like he had neither eaten nor slept for a few days. His hair was messed up quite badly. His t-shirt was dirty, there were huge dark bags under his eyes and he smelled.


    Well, food, health and hygiene were never his top priorities in Hogwarts either but now a days he seemed to have completely forgotten what those words even meant.


    And she was not surprised by this. Not at all.


    In fact, she had expected such a thing to happen but to see her friend actually get so careless without her or Penelope''s constant supervision still irritated her to no end.


    The reason she had expected this was because Harry became like this whenever he was working on some big project of his.


    And his company, which he had simply named ''Magical Goods'' was perhaps his biggest and most time consuming project till date.


    Another reason was that whenever he delved too deeply in his projects, she and Penelope were always there to take him out and make sure that he was taking care of himself properly, but since the last month, both of them had been busy with their exams so he was left on his own devices which was never a very good thing in her opinion.


    The resulting argument had been the worst that she had ever had with her parents and had ended with them cancelling their ticket for the family vacation. And only she promised them that she would return home every evening before 6 pm was she even allowed to come and meet Harry.


    Another thing that made her worry so much was that despite all of his genius, Harry was still very young and had never done something like running a company.


    Which was why she was rather happy with his decision of making Steve the CEO and having Mia look over the other aspects of the company.


    She did not know much about them but she knew that they had a lot of experience with leadership and were perfectly capable of dealing with the stress of running company while Harry was clearly struggling with all this.


    Of course, she would never saw such thoughts out loud. Harry had a big ego and he would not take her saying such things to him very well. So it was better if she stayed quiet and supported him like she always did.


    "I can take care of myself." He said with slight annoyance but then she gave her the ''look'' for a long moment under he simply wilted and nodded his head.


    He was far too prideful for his own good but even he was smart enough to know when he had too much on his plate and needed help.


    She gave him a tentative smile before she pulled him out of the lab that he''d been cooped up in.


    The last time she had seen him working in a lab, he had been carving some runes inside a woman''s bra.


    That had been an embarrassing day for the both of them and from that day onward, she had decided that she would rather not see what''s he working on until he wants to show it to her himself.


    "What are you working on today?" she asked after she sat him down on a comfortable chair in the lounge outside his lab.


    That was something that he had done with all of his underground labs.


    There would always be a lounging area outside the lab.


    Till this date, she had no idea how many underground labs he had or how he built them.


    Whenever she asked him about this topic, he would simply give him a creepy smile. As if he was planning to conquer the whole world by building underground labs under people''s homes or something and after a while, she simply stopped asking.


    "Was working on the Central Magical Tower." He said while yawning, the exhaustion catching up with him now that he was not working on his projects.


    She noted down his answer with a quill on a parchment, trying to make a daily schedule for him which would help him deal with all his ongoing projects without killing himself.


    "And how far had you come along in your projects?" she asked and he started answering them.


    By the end of her interrogation, she already had a few schedules constructed for him in her mind. Now she only needed his input to select the schedule best suited for him but when she looked up at him, she realized that he had already fallen asleep.


    But just as she was about to do that, something fell from his head on top of the table. She curiously looked over at the tiara that had fallen off his head, which had clearly been invisible up until now and felt like she had seen it somewhere before.


    Why would Harry wear a woman''s tiara on his head. And why would he go to such lengths to hide it.


    And where had she seen it before?


    She whirled the thought around in her mind for a few moments as she looked at the jewelry from all angles before her eyes suddenly widened in recognition as she realized what she was holding in her hand.


    The Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.


    Author''s Note:- Sorry about the short chapter.


    But yeah. Hermione finally found out about the diadem.


    Any guesses about how she''ll respond to Harry hiding such a treasure from her ~author snickers~


    Anyway, if you guys like my work, want to support me and have some change to spare, then please support me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 119 - Side effects of the Diadem

    Harry woke up to someone''s groaning and the first he realized was that he was not in his usual sleeping place.


    Usually he would just transfigure the floor of his lab into a soft matress and plop down to it so that when he woke up, more inspired and energized, the tools will all be there so that he could get back to work immediately.


    But he was not in the floor. Instead, he was in the lounge outside of his lab.


    How had he come here¡­


    Oh¡­ Hermione. He remembered her coming to meet him the last night. Or was it the last evening. Or afternoon.


    You could never really tell in the underground lab. Which was something that he rather liked. Because that way, he wouldn''t have to worry about the passing of days and could just use his time as he wanted.


    As he was thinking about his situation, a groan once again reached his ears and he looked around and found Hermione slumped on a table. A table that was filled to the brim with books.


    Books that she couldn''t possibly have read without¡­


    He touched his head and it was gone.


    Shit!


    He walked around and the table and now could see the Diadem kept over on of her half read books.


    Because he knew that right now, she must be suffering through the worst headache of her life.


    The foolish girl.


    Not that he had much room to call her foolish because he had often been in the same position but still.


    He quickly took out two pepper up potions from his bottom purse and took a chair beside her and slowly ??r?ssed her cheeks.


    "Hermione." He softly whispered to her because you DO NOT talk loudly to a person having such a bad headache.


    She ?r??n?d and he mentally berated himself for his carelessness.


    She should have never seen the Diadem.


    Or if she did, then he should have informed her about it''s negative side effects.


    Poor girl.


    "Hermione." He whispered "You need to drink some pepper up potion. It''ll make everything alright." He whispered but she simply ?r??n?d and didn''t say anything anymore and he had never felt so sad before.


    To watch a friend feel so much pain because of your carelessness.


    "Hermione" he whispered but received only a groan in response once again and he realized that he must force feed the potion to the girl.


    He didn''t like that idea.


    He didn''t like that idea one bit.


    But he knew that it needed to be done.


    So he flexed his muscles and shook his shoulders before he used his magic to cover her whole body with cushion. He was especially careful with the head because moving the head during such a migraine brought the patient a lot of pain.


    He knew from his own experience.


    Then he moved Hermione''s body to the back and tilted her head upwards.


    She ?r??n?d in pain, opening her mouth in the process and he quickly opened both vials and poured their content down her throat.


    She grimaced slightly as the taste of the pepper up potion and ?r??n?d a bit but then relaxed as the potion started to soothe her headache.


    He knew that two pepper up potions wouldn''t be enough and that she would be having a headache for a whole week after she wake up but there was nothing he could do for her.


    Well, maybe he could take her to Andromeda and see if she could help.


    No, he might as well bring his aunt here.


    But then he realized that this was an underground base that he never told anyone about except for Bitty.


    Then he looked at Hermione once again and sighed.


    Oh bugger it. He could always build another base for himself.


    "Harry." Hermione''s weak voice echoed in his ears and his head snapped to her.


    She was looking weakly at him and mumbling something. He enhanced his ears and brought them closer to her mouth.


    "¡­get home." She murmurred softly "Need to get home. 6 pm."


    He looked at the magical watch in the wall and it said 10 pm.


    Wow¡­


    Fuck!


    Now he will also have to take Hermione to her parents who would most likely be worried about her by now. And then, he would explain to them why their daughter was in such a condition.


    This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn''t it.


    He just hoped that after this incident, her parents won''t ban her from coming to visit her.


    Well, regardless. He must first go to Andromeda and see if she can help.


    With that thought, he turned to Hermione and gently supported her head before levitating her to the sofa.


    "Hermione." He whispered. "I''m going to Andromeda''s house to see it she could do something to help you. Alright?" he said, ??r?ssing her cheeks gently.


    "Harry." She mumbled with a light frown and clutched onto his hand weakly "Don''t leave me. Please don''t leave me."


    Wow! Now he was in a fu?k?d up situation.


    If he stayed with her and tried to soothe her, then she might be happy that he remained but her head ache won''t get any better.


    But if he leaves in order to bring Andromeda, then she would feel betrayed and he never wanted her to feel that way.


    Damn¡­


    Then he remembered something and realized how foolish he was to think like this.


    "Bitty." He called out and the house elf appeared the next moment before enthusiastically greeting him.


    Or at least she tried to before he silenced her voice.


    He could still remember her enthusiasm to serve him during his headache.


    And did not wanted Hermione to be ?ssaulted by the same enthusiasm.


    He made a silencing gesture toward Betty before pointing to Hermione who was still clutching onto one of his hands like a baby. Bitty looked concerned for a moment before she nodded at him, looking for an order.


    "Bring Andromeda here." He said and before he could say anything else, the house elf popped away.


    And popped back a moment later with the d?s?r?d person.


    Except that the person was now wearing only bra and p?nt??s and¡­


    Their eyes met.


    He gulped and put a silencing charm in the whole room.


    Author''s Note:- I know that Diadem is a bit of OP item. So I guessed that if something like this existed in real life then it must have equally dangerous drawbacks.


    In this case, you get a splitting headache if you keep using the Diadem for a long amount of time because of how much pressure it puts on your brain.


    Do you guys have any suggestion about what the powers of Helga'' Cup and Slytherin''s Locket would be? If you do then please tell me about it in the comments section down below.


    And last but not the least, if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    And have a nice day :)

 Chapter 120 - Worried parents

    After a short argument, during which he transfigured a large cloth for her from the nearby stool so that she could hide her¡­


    ¡­assets ~cough cough~


    No. He should not think about that. She was his aunt.


    Not that their relationship made her any less beautiful.


    Damn those curves and¡­


    Shut up. Don''t think about it.


    God this is so messed up.


    He clamped down the occlumency on his mind and stopped his thoughts from going in that direction. Or any other direction for that matter.


    "I was with my husband." Andromeda said and he thanked the gods that Bitty had not brought her a moment later.


    Or those p?nt??s and bra might not be there either.


    Not that it was a problem. He wouldn''t mind¡­


    Oh Merlin, stop thinking already.


    "I''m sorry." He said sincerely "I did not meant to¡­ intrude upon your¡­ oh fu?k it. Look, my friend is having a severe headache. And I need your help."


    It was only then did Andromeda noticed Hermione in the room and her eyes softened at the sleeping girl''s form.


    Then the eyes were back on him, filled with suspicion and anger once again as she asked "What did you do?"


    And he sighed


    This was going to be a long explanation


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    It was a long explanation in which he made sure that the existence of the Diadem was not revealed to yet another person.


    Andromeda had, of course, suspected that he was hiding something from her but had respected his privacy and not asked any additional questions.


    Then he diagnosed Hermione and after a few basic medical spells, she went back and brought three other potions from her home.


    Regardless, he trusted her and she administered the potions to the girl who looked slightly better after drinking the potion and fell asleep instantly.


    He realize that Hermione must be tired from reading all those books. And the only thing keeping her awake was the severe headache she was suffering through.


    Maybe he should start keeping a Sleeping potion and a calming drought in his purse for emergencies like this as well.


    After making sure the girl was asleep, Andromeda told him to escort her back home before she left.


    To her husband.


    To¡­


    Don''t Fucking Think About It.


    Occlumency shield ACTIVATED.


    And now he had an unconscious little girl that he needed to escort home.


    "Selena. I do not survive this, then remember that I want my ashes to be deposited in the Nile river."


    "Why?" she asked.


    "Because I like it. It''s long." He paused "Shit, that came out wrong."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When he apparated outside the Granger''s house at 11 pm, the lights inside were still lit up which meant that Hermione''s parents were still awake.


    Not that he had expected any different but he had hoped that they would have gone to sleep and that he wouldn''t have to deal with an angry mother and father duo.


    Regardless, it was what it was.


    So he carried Hermione in his arms and walked forward, this enhanced muscles in his body carrying her weight with ease.


    He pressed the bell and could instantly hear hurried footsteps coming from the other side of the door before it opened and Dan and Emma appeared in front of him.


    "Hermione. Oh dear." She looked anxiously at him and asked "What happened to her?"


    Unlike Emma, Dan looked angry instead of worried "What did you do to her boy?" he thundered and Harry held the urge to groan at the drama.


    He then cast a silencing charm and both of them kept moving their mouths for a few more moments before they realized that no sound was coming out.


    That ought to teach them not to fu?k with him.


    No wait! They were Hermione''s parents so he should treat them with respect.


    "Don''t shout." He said slowly but in the silence of the house, his words were clearly heard by both the parents "She''s sleeping."


    Emma gave a nod but Dan still looked a bit worried before he moved forward and took Hermione from his arms.


    Except her arms were still wrapped around his neck and she was not letting go.


    And so came the hilarious situation in which the father was trying to take his daughter from the boy but the daughter didn''t want to let go and hung on to the boy even tightly.


    It was like a tug of war with only one willing player.


    Finally, he took Hermione''s legs from Dan to save both of them from this embarrassment and carried her in a princess carry before getting inside their home by pushing both of them aside.


    He could almost feel the annoyed look that Emma was giving Dan and the disgruntled look that Dan was giving him.


    He knew where Hermione''s room was so he carried her up the stairs and deposited the girl in her bed.


    Except that the girl was not letting go this time either.


    Sigh¡­


    It all seemed so inviting.


    He could just sleep with her and hug her all night long like a teddy bear. Her cheeks did have the softness required to be a teddy bear.


    Except that Dan was still glaring daggers at his back so all of this was nothing but a wishful thinking.


    Not to mention that Hermione would very embarrassed if he treated her like a teddy bear.


    Hermione''s grip was strong, but not strong enough in the face of his enhanced strength so he easily removed her arms from around his neck and put her to the bed before covering her with the blanket.


    He wondered about the wisdom of kissing her goodbye but with Dan standing a few feet behind him and glaring daggers at his back, that seemed like a rather foolish idea so he simply patted the blanket and he switched off the light before they went down the stairs.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "This¡­ is the culprit behind the reason why your daughter arrived 5 hours after her designated time." He said and pointed at the Diadem kept in front of Dan and Emma.


    "A tiara?" Emma asked and picked up the artifact before studying it a bit closely while Dan just kept glaring at him.


    Seriously, what the hell is it with Fathers, Daughters and Daughters'' boyfriend scenario.


    He was not even her official boyfriend yet and he was already getting this kind of treatment.


    Well, he did came to their home late at night with their daughter''s in his arms so he felt that the situation was not that unwarranted but still.


    He liked Hermione.


    So he would rather like her parents then not.


    But was Dan it rather hard to like him with all the glares that he sent his way.


    So he just starting ignoring the man.


    Two can play this stupid game.


    "Not any normal tiara. It is a very ancient artifact belonging to a witch named Rowena Ravenclaw. One of the founder of Hogwarts." He explained and Emma''s eyes widened.


    He read her mind and realized that she had studied Hogwarts: A history along with Hermione and knew that significance of the four founders.


    "Then¡­ is this the Diadem that was said to have been lost a long time ago?" she asked and he nodded.


    "Yes. I found this artifact some time after the start of this term. And I''ve been using it ever since."


    "Why didn''t you¡­" she hesitated in asking the question but Harry knew what she wanted to ask without even reading her mind.


    Why didn''t you give the Diadem back to the authorities.


    Like mother, like daughter.


    Now how the hell should he explain to them how corrupted their ministry truly is. And that if he gave it to the ministry officials, then it would probably slip out of their hands and into Lucius'' pockets within a single day.


    "It''s a lost and found property." He explained "If a descendant of Ravenclaw was still alive then this would have rightfully belonged to him or her. But since her line died out a long time ago, I could not easily claim this artifact as my own according to the laws."


    Emma nodded her head at this but from reading her mind, he knew that she was still a bit suspicious as she didn''t knew any of the wizarding laws.


    Which was a good thing because if she did, then she would have taken Hermione out of the school and out of the magical world a long time ago.


    After all, who would want to send their children to a society which punish the murder of a muggle with three months of time in prison.


    Still, Emma was suspicious of him so he had to make sure that she doesn''t do something foolish.


    Like her daughter.


    "Emma. I am putting a lot of trust in you by showing you this Diadem. The last person who owned an artifact belonging to one of the founders'' was murdered because of it. So can you not tell anyone else about this?" he asked sincerely and she paled at his words before nodding frantically at him.


    His words were not a lie either.


    Hepzibah Smith, the last owner of the Helga Hufflepuff''s Cup and Salazar Slytherin''s locket was killed by Tom Riddle who then stole those artifacts and foolishly turned them into a horcrux.


    As if splitting his soul was not foolish enough for him.


    "That still doesn''t explain was Hermione didn''t came home early or why she was in such a deep sleep." Dan interjected from the sides and Harry nodded his head, acknowledging his words.


    "The thing about this artifact is that it helps sharpens the mind of anyone who wears it" he explained "Not only that but it also gives the wearer Eidetic memory. You do know what and Eidetic memory is right?" he asked and Emma looked at him with a deadpanned expression and he chuckled.


    Then she looked back at the Diadem once again, just that this time, her eyes were full of reverence and longing.


    "Can I¡­ can I¡­" she hesitated and looked at him and he instantly understood her meaning.


    "Yes. You can use it for tonight. But I''m not sure if it''ll work on a non magical person as such artifacts usually take the magic from the wearer in order to work. But go ahead, give it a try. Who knows whether it''ll work or not."


    She eyes brightened at his works and she instantly wore the diadem and went to the nearest bookshelf (yes, there were a lot of bookshelves in Hermione''s home) and took out a thick medical book from it before she sat down on the chair and started reading it.


    But after some time, her expression started to dim and after about five minutes, she despondently shook her head before closing the book and the Diadem back into the table.


    "Looks like it really doesn''t work on a non magical." She said with a sigh though the longing look in her eyes didn''t go away.


    She looked so similar to Hermione with that expression that he sighed and said "How about you wear the diadem and I''ll keep channeling magic inside it and then we''ll see if it works or not."


    At his words, her eyes brightened once again and she excitedly put the diadem back on her head and pulled out the book, reading it once again and he went sat beside her and pointed a finger toward the diadem before willing a small part of this magic to start transferring to the artifact.


    Surprisingly, it worked.


    Unsurprisingly, after wearing the diadem, she finished the whole book within an hour and remembered everything from it.


    Also unsurprisingly, she got a mild headache for the diadem for a whole hour non stop.


    "That is the reason why your daughter came so late at home." He explained "She over used the Diadem without knowing it''s negative side effects and suffered a severe headache. When I woke up, she had already finished a whole bunch of books and was groaning from headache."


    "I took her to one of the healers I knew" he lied. Although Andormeda knew a few healing spells that didn''t make her a healer. But Emma didn''t needed to know that. "And that healer administered her a few headache potions before giving her a sleeping potion which was the reason why she was so out of it when I came here with her."


    After his explanation, Emma sobbed a bit at what daughter had to suffer before she crushed him in a hug "Thank you. Thank you for taking care of her. Thank you so much." She sobbed a bit and despite the awkwardness, he patted her back in order to soothe her.


    By this point, even Dan didn''t look as angry at him as he did before, realizing that the whole situation with Hermione was really his fault. Though he himself did thought that it was partially his fault.


    He left Hermione''s home at 1 am in the midnight, a bit exhausted because of all the emotions but still excited about working on the Central Magical Tower once again.


    Author''s Note:- Thanks for reading.


    And if you like my work then please support me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 121 - Buying Floo connections

    Ted couldn''t remember the last time he had entered the ministry.


    After he had married Andromeda, they had both went into hiding in order to escape form the retaliation from the Black family.


    Later at the end of the war when he heard the news that most of the members of the Black family were either dead or in Azkaban, he didn''t knew if felt sad for Andromeda for losing her whole family like that or happy because his own family would now remain safe.


    The only person from the black family now would be Narcissa Malfoy, Andromeda''s younger sister. But Andromeda had ?ssured him that Narcissa was not the kind of person who would ever hurt a family member so after the war ended, they came out of hiding with their little daughter Nymphedora who had been born two years after their marriage.


    He never even knew that Harry Potter was related to the Blacks through his grandmother, Dorea Black. But then again, most of the wizarding Pureblood families intermarry among each other in order to keep their blood ''pure'' so such a news was not completely surprising to him.


    He came out of the deathtrap that they call a lift and went to the office for registering the Floo Connections.


    A bald middle aged man with a long nose and a dirty robe was currently slumped in a chair and looking over a bunch of parchments lying over his desk. So much for their pureblood dignity.


    Ted knocked the door but the man either didn''t hear him or outright ignored him and kept looking over at the parchments.


    He knocked a few more times and on the sixth try, the man looked up at him with an annoyed glance and asked is a disrespecting manner "What do you want? Can''t you see I''m busy working here."


    "I want to register for Floo connection." Ted said without wasting his words.


    He knew that talking with this inbred idiot will only serve to irritate him so he made sure to keep the conversation short and precise.


    The man grimaced at his words, and for a moment, it looked like he would tell him to piss off but then the man controlled his expression and gestured him to come in.


    Then he took out a new parchment along with a quill and started writing a few things on it before he asked "Name?"


    "Ted Tonks"


    "Location of the floo?"


    "Diagon Alley. The new shop that''s being opened this year." Ted replied.


    The man nodded and noted it down on the parchment.


    "The name of the Floo?"


    "MG 1." Ted replied.


    "1?"


    "Yes. I need 7 more Floo connection. All numbered from 1-8."


    "8 Floo connection?" the man asked while giving him a flabbergasted look. "What do you need so many Floo connections for?"


    "Business reasons." Ted replied "It''s not illegal or anything so don''t worry about that." The irony of telling the man about his own job was not lost to him.


    "Y¡­ Yes.. Yeah. I know it''s not illegal or anything. Of course I do. Who do you think I am? But registering so many connections will take time."


    "How much time?" he asked.


    "About 2-3 months" the man said and Ted frowned. But he already knew that this would happen and had prepared a contingency plan for it.


    He took out a normal cloth bag filled with galleons and dangled it in front of the man. "And what if this bag filled with 200 galleons were to suddenly fall in your ??p. Would you be able to shorten the time to 2 weeks then?"


    The man gulped, as if the juggling of the galleons put him in some kind of trace as he nodded his head and a bit of droll dripped down to his chin before he realized what he was doing and slapped himself a few times before shaking his head.


    Then he looked at Ted seriously and asked "You do know that bribing a Ministry official is illegal right?"


    But while the man asked this question, his gaze kept going to the bag still dangling from Ted''s right hand.


    "Who said anything about bribery?" Ted asked cheerfully "This is just a small donation to upstanding people of our society like you who put so much effort and hard work to make sure that the ministry keeps running properly."


    "Oh¡­ In that case¡­" the man said cheerfully and went to the grab the bag filled with the golden coins when Ted pulled it bag and asked "The 8 Floo connections. They''ll be registered in 2 weeks right?"


    The man looked slightly confused for a moment before he smiled "Of course. Of course. For someone as considerate as you, I''ll work day and night and make sure that the Floo connection is registered by the end of the 2nd week." He went went for the bag of coin once again and this time Ted let the disgusting man take it.


    He cursed the whole system in his mind once again as before he apparated back to his home.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Mia looked at the Mall with an awed look.


    The construction crew had worked hard day and night for the extra gold and the whole building had been completed five days ahead of the schedule.


    And she had to admit that the real thing looked far better than the diagram that Harry had shown her and Steve.


    And now that the construction crew had left, it was up to her and the men working under her to give it the finishing touches.


    Like setting up the lightening system, the cooling charms, coloring the whole walls according to Harry''s wishes, setting up the glasses like how it was shown in the blue print and all such things.


    She was feeling a bit overwhelmed already but she also knew that she would get used to this pressure once the work started.


    A lot was riding in the success of Harry''s company and she wanted to help as much as she could.


    As a magical race, it was not hard for them to scrounge up some food, water and shelter in order to survive.


    What they lacked was self respect.


    As a community that was oppressed and discriminated against by other people, it was the one thing that her people sorely lacked and d?s?r?d.


    Self Respect.


    Equality.


    Isn''t that why so many of her people had fought alongside with that Dark Lord in the last war.


    For the slightest bit of hope that he would treat them better than they were treated by the ministry.


    With the hope that once they won the war, they would finally be treated as an equal by the other wizards and witches.


    He had given them jobs, allowing them to do something with their lives instead of sitting inside their homes and wasting away.


    He had treated them as an equal. Something that few wizards had ever done.


    And now he had given her a job to do. And she would not fail him.


    She of course, would never show much she truly respected him in case he gets a big head but now that he had given her a task, she would show her gratefulness with her actions.


    With that, she started giving directions to the employees working under her and the work in the mall started once again.


    Author''s Note:- A small glimpse of how the ministry was being run by people who were less deserving of those posts.


    Plus, the Werewolves'' view of Harry.


    That''s all for right now, and if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please support me at- pat.reon.com.ankit1

 Chapter 122 - The truth

    The splitting headache you feel after overusing the Diadem was something that Harry was intimately familiar with.


    That was why he had not expected Hermione to come to his lab the next day in order to help him.


    Which was why he was so surprised when she did came regardless of her haggard expression and red eyes.


    He could tell just from a look at her that she must be suffering a huge headache eve now. But Hermione was nothing if not determined and hard working.


    Many give people credit to Hermione''s great success in academics by calling her a genius, greatest witch of the generation or what not.


    As if she was born with that talent.


    As if she was better than everybody else and could simply read a book once and remember all of it''s contents.


    She was not a genius.


    She was just a very, very hardworking girl.


    She did not use a shortcut like the Diadem in order to gain first place in her class.


    She does that by studying deep at night and staying in the library all year long while her classmates did other unimportant things.


    Well, she probably did not study as much this year as she might have done in the canon storyline because of learning the new kind of magic but the fact that she was so good at that magic right now while Daphne and Penelope weren''t was a testament to her hard work and her determination.


    So he probably shouldn''t be surprised that she came to help him despite having all the excuse in the world not to.


    And that why when she looked at him with those pitiful eyes and asked why he had not told her about the Diadem ever before, he decided to tell a few of his deeper secrets in order to win her trust.


    "Sit down." He commanded, clearly seeing that the girl was shivering with discomfort and only standing with her will power.


    "No wait¡­ Don''t sit down. Instead, lay down on the sofa instead. You''re not looking very good right now and I don''t want to tell your parents why you lost consciousness once again."


    At the reminder of her parents, Hermione gave a weak nod and started moving toward the sofa before almost falling down to the floor.


    Thankfully, he caught her in the nick of time and then carried her to the sofa instead.


    The foolish girl.


    He gently laid her down on the sofa in the lounge outside his lab and covered her with a blanket. Then he took out a Pepper up potion and a calming draught and passed them to her.


    She looked at the two vials with disgust and he knew why that was.


    They didn''t look good.


    And they tasted even bad than they looked.


    Unfortunately, it was how it was and he was finally able to force the girl to drink the two potions and could instantly tell by loose posture that she must be feeling better now.


    "Now you want to know why I never showed you the Diadem. Is that right?" he asked.


    She nodded weakly and he was suddenly overcome by her adorableness.


    Jesus she was cute.


    But alas, you don''t pinch the cheeks of a patient. That was just basic common courtesy and he didn''t want her to feel uncomfortable. So he refrained from kneading those cute fluff bags.


    "The reason why I didn''t told you about the diadem has a huge story behind it. And¡­ well¡­ that story holds very dark secrets. Do you still want to know?"


    She nodded once again and he braced himself in order to tell her the story that he''d come up with last night.


    A story that held 90% truth and 10% lies.


    "Before we start. Let me ask you. Do you know what a Horcrux is?" he asked and of course, she shook her head.


    "A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark wizard or witch hides a portion of their soul in order to attain immortality."


    "The Horcrux is considered one of the most terrible dark magic out there." He explained "It was first created by Harpo the foul who used the dark ritual along with the murder of a person in order to create the Horcrux."


    "Murder of a person?" Hermione asked, looking horrified that there were rituals in the world that required murdering people.


    Of course there were.


    Humans were capable of doing great things with magic but they were also capable of doing terrible things with it.


    "Yes Hermione. Murdering someone in cold blood cause great harm to your soul. If the ritual is performed correctly then you could further harm your soul, effectively splitting it in two parts before sealing one of them in an object."


    "But what does that do?" she asked, looking confused "I mean if a person dies and his or her body is destroyed, then what the point of having a soul inside a horcrux. Won''t that just be something like eternal imprisonment." She shuddered at that thought and he shook his head.


    "No. If a dark wizard whose soul is anchored by a horcrux dies, then his spirit does not go to the¡­ next world. It remains here. In our world. And it can then possess other people or other animals to do their bidding."


    "Possession?" Hermione asked and he nodded his head.


    "Yes. And by using that possessed body, they could then make a body of their own using dark magical rituals."


    "You can do that?" she asked, looking both horrified and curious "I mean¡­ create yourself a new body with dark magical rituals. Would it work like the real body. With all the organs and what not."


    He shrugged his head "I don''t know. I''ve never dissected such a person. And to my knowledge, no one else in history has either. Though now that I think about it, the prospect does seem inviting. Who knows, maybe I''ll make a project out of this one as well." He said with a grin while Hermione simply rolled her eyes at him. Not believing his words at all.


    "So¡­ you''re saying that if someone killed Harpo the Foul and burned his body then he could still perform some dark ritual and return?"


    "Yes. That''s exactly what I''m saying."


    Hermione looked confused at his answer and then asked "But Harry. What does that have to do with the Diadem?"


    He gave her the ''look'' and said "Why don''t you take a guess?"


    Hermione concentrated on his words for a moment before her face turned green and she at him with a terrified gaze "Oh Harry. That¡­ that thing¡­ was it possessed. Does it have someone''s soul inside it. Am I¡­ am I possessed now as well?" she touched her face all over the place in order to check whether she was possessed or not, her panic getting out of hand of had with each passing second before he clamped down on her hands and held them in place.


    If she was a few years older, then this scene would have highly aroused him. But as it was, she was not even a teenager yet and neither was he.


    "Calm down Mione." He said in an authoritative voice which had the instant effect of breaking her out of her panic. "No. The diadem was not possessed."


    "But then¡­ you said that¡­"


    "I know what I said. And no. The diadem was not possessed when you wore it. But¡­ it was once possessed by a soul. I removed it from the diadem near the start of our term though, so you don''t need to worry about being possessed. Alright?"


    "Yes. But, Harry¡­ Do you know whose soul it was. You know. Inside that diadem." She asked, looking unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer or not.


    "Yes Mione. I know whose soul it was." He said and took a deep breath before continuing "That soul belonged to Lord Voldemort."


    Hermione''s eyes widened at his answer and she let out a silent gasp before she started to panic once again at wearing something that once housed the soul of one of the darkest wizard in the history of wizarding Britain.


    This time he did pull her cheeks.


    He could have said that he did that in order to calm her down but truthfully, he just wanted to do it for some time now and gave in to his d?s?r?s at last.


    "Ary.. sop it¡­" she mumbled and he chuckled at her wordings and giving her a soft kiss on the cheeks before letting her go.


    Her face turned crimson red at once and she looked at him with mock outrage while he tried to stop the smug expression that creped it''s way into his face.


    "Harry¡­"


    "Sorry." He said in a tone which showed have not-sorry he was "But you''re calm." He said with false cheeriness and she huffed while doing a bad job of looking annoyed.


    At last she asked "So tell me Harry is, Voldemort still alive?"


    A moment of silence entered between the two of them before he nodded his head.


    Author''s Note:- If you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please support me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 123 - The 7 horcruxes

    At last she asked "So tell me Harry is, Voldemort still alive?"


    A moment of silence entered between the two of them before he nodded his head.


    "But¡­ you removed the soul from the Diadem." She said with a puzzled look "Shouldn''t he be dead now. Like dead, dead and not half dead."


    He chuckled at her wordings and said "You''re right. If Voldemort had created only one horcrux, then he should have been dead by now. But as it so happens, he created more than one horcrux."


    "More than one. Is that even possible?" she asked.


    "Apparently it is. Though you start losing a bit of your humanity after every horcrux you make. That was why Voldemort was so unstable during the end of the war. Otherwise, why else would he go after a little child on the words of some crazy old bint."


    "Crazy old bint? You''re not making any sense Harry."


    "Oh I didn''t tell you." He said "Did you ever wondered why Voldemort specifically came after me?"


    "Isn''t that because your parents were his enemies?" she asked though she didn''t look so sure anymore.


    "Yes. My parents were his enemies. But so were half of the wizards and witches in Britain. No Hermione, he didn''t came after my parents because they were his enemy. He came after my parents because of a¡­ prophesy."


    "Prophesy?" Hermione asked while giving him a ridiculous look "Are those even real?"


    He shrugged "I don''t know. But what I do know is that during the end of the war, a Prophesy was made about a child who would be born at the end of the seventh month. It said that his parents would have defied Voldemort 3 times and that the child would grow up to be his equal. That he''ll have the power that the dark lord knows not and that neither can live while the other survives or some bullshit like that."


    Hermione gazed at him questioningly and he nodded.


    "My parents fought him in three separate occasions during the last war and escaped with their lives all three times."


    A light bulb went on in Hermione''s mind and she said "And you were born at the end of the 7th month. Oh Harry¡­ Is that why¡­"


    "Yes. My parents came to know that Voldemort was coming after them. And they hid under a Fidelius charm in order to escape from the dark lord. Though why they didn''t left the country altogether is something I''ll never understand."


    He continued "But then they were betrayed by Peter Pettegrew, whom they considered their closest friend and who was their secret keeper."


    "I¡­ see." Hermione said while looking sad as she gently touched his cheek for a second before pulling him into a hug.


    "I''m sorry Harry. This must all be very difficult for you." She said and he hesitated for a moment before hugging her back and they stayed like that in silence for a long moment before they separated.


    "But Harry¡­ How do you know all this?" she asked


    "Let me continue the story Hermione. There''s more to it." He said and upon her nod, he continued.


    "You see. After Voldemort killed my parents, he came toward me and fired a killing curse at me. The curse however, rebounded and killed him instead¡­"


    "Giving you that scar on your head?" she asked and he nodded.


    "Yes. He gave me that scar on my head. But that was not all that he gave me." He paused "After creating so many horcruxes, his soul was in a terrible state, so when the killing curse hit him, his soul broke into two pieces once again. And one of the piece lodged itself into the nearest living thing that it could find."


    At his words, Hermione froze for a moment before she gave him a horrified look "Harry¡­ are you saying that you''re¡­ possessed?"


    "No Hermione. I''m not possessed. But¡­ the scar in my head. It holds the broken soul of Voldemort." He explained "I''m a living Horcrux now Hermione. And as long as I live, Voldemort will never die."


    Hermione gave him a fearful look at that moment but then she calmed down and looked at his scar with worry "Neither can live while the other survives¡­"


    "Yes. Apparently so." He said.


    "You see Hermione. Before Voldemort came to our house, there were two contenders for the propeshy. Me and Neville Longbottem."


    "Neville? As in¡­ the Neville in our class?"


    "Yes. That Neville. He was also born toward the end of the war and his parents also fought against Voldemort in three separate occasions. That was also why Bellatrix Lestrange and the two Lestrange brothers targeted them after Voldemort went missing. That is also the reason why they''re currently at the Permanent ward of the St. Mungos hospital."


    Hermione looked sad at that bit of news and asked "Why''re they in St. Mungos hospital Harry?"


    And he told her about the effect of putting someone for a long time under the Cruciatus curse.


    By the end of the story, Hermione was openly crying and he had to console her a bit more before he could continue.


    "There was a wording in that blasted prophesy which stated that the chosen one will be marked by Voldemort as his equal."


    "And you got that scar from him¡­" she murmured.


    "Yes. Apparently that somehow marked me as his equal or something." He said and took a deep breath "Hermione. What I''m about to tell you next is something that must never¡­ never tell anyone else. Understand?"


    She looked at him with determination before nodding her head.


    "Dumbledore thinks that I''m the chosen one. And I''ll be the one to eventually kill Voldemort. He wholeheartedly believes in the Prophesy Hermione." He said and waited for her to connect the dots.


    She looked a bit puzzled at his words before a look of understanding dawned on her face. Then she frowned and asked "Is that why Dumbledore doesn''t allow you to leave the castle even though you never attend any class in there?"


    He smiled at her and she continued "He thinks that if Voldemort gets a new body and starts the war all over again, then you''ll fight and kill Voldemort because you''re the chosen one?"


    At her words, he shook her head and explained "Hermione¡­ he knows that I''m a Horcrux." She frowned and he continued "He knows that I must die in order to kill Voldemort Mione. Neither can live while the other survives, remember?"


    "He expects us to kill each other somehow. Or at least thinks that I''ll die by Voldemort''s hands in order to make him mortal once again."


    She looked horrified at his words "Harry. That''s¡­ that''s¡­"


    "For the greater good. Or at least that''s what he always tells everyone else whenever he does some morally wrong."


    "But don''t worry. I''m not one to follow prophesies. Even now I''m trying to find a way to get this soul out of the my head as well as remove his souls from the other horcruxes so that he''ll die for real this time."


    "But Harry. How are you going to do that? You know¡­ Remove the soul from your scar and remove the souls from the other horcruxes."


    "I''ll find a way to remove the soul Mione. And as for the Horcruxes, because of having a soul in my own head, I''m able to roughly guess their locations. That was how I was able to find this diadem."


    Hermione made an ''ohh'' sound then asked "Then Harry, shouldn''t we destroy the other horcruxes like this one?"


    He shook his head at her words, remembering the ring which was reason behind the whithering of Dumbledore''s left hand which ultimately led to his death "No Hermione. Just because I was able to get to this Horcrux doesn''t mean that we''ll be able to get to the other horcruxes. I''m sure that he must have put those other horcruxes behind multiple layers of protection."


    "Protection that we wouldn''t be able to cross." She finished and he nodded.


    "That is another reason why I spend all my time trying to become more powerful." He explained "So that I''ll be able to destroy the horcruxes. And in failing that, so that I would be able to the fight the resurrected dark lord."


    A look of understanding dawned in Hermione''s eyes and she nodded at him resolutely "If that''s the case. Then I''ll help you Harry. In every step of your journey."


    He gazed at her resolute expression and nodded before he leaned forward and kissed her forehead lovingly "I know Mione. I know."


    Hermione didn''t protest against his loving gesture this time. Instead, she remained silent for a long moment before she asked "Harry, do you know how many horcruxes Voldemort has?"


    "Yes. Including me, he has 7 horcruxs in total."


    "7?" she asked with a frown and he nodded.


    "If we remove this diadem and my scar. Then we''ll have 5 of them left. Which is not a small number. But I''m confident in my ability to find and destroy them."


    "I''ll be with you when you destroy them." She said resolutely and he nodded.


    "I believe you Hermione." He said and patted her head "Now that you know why I hid the diadem from every one else, I think it''s time for you to get some sleep."


    Hermione looked reluctant at his words but nodded her head.


    "Okay Harry."


    He nodded and got up in order to leave before he felt a tug on his sleeves and turned to look at her.


    "Harry¡­ how do you know all this?"


    He smiled at her question and replied "That a secret that I want to forget about Mione. So I don''t think I''ll ever tell anyone about that."


    Author''s note:- Hope you liked the chapter :)


    And if you like my work and want to support me then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 124 - Central tower and Advertisements

    It had taken Harry, Bitty, Hermione, Andromeda and Mia a whole week to construct the tower that would serve as the Central Tower.


    It had taken so long because Harry was rather unsure about the design himself and had to make a few changes on the fly while constructing it.


    That happened because there was no such thing as a Central Magical Tower in his last life. So they had to do everything themselves and hope that things will work out.


    The Central Magical Tower was the only tower among the 15 towers constructed all over Britain that would house people inside of it.


    The people were required to monitor the whole situation and make sure that there was not a huge fu?k up and that all things will continue to work smoothly.


    There was also a room with people whose only job was to teach the users how to properly use all the functions in their Magical Phones.


    Then there would be the operators who would deal with the memories coming from all across the Britain to the database.


    The database was another large and magical construct that would hold the millions of memories that would come from all across Britain once the the MP Pros started to sell.


    Thankfully, a memory holds almost no mass at all so the large database had only taken a space equivalent to a football stadium. That area had to be magically expended to fit the tower as the tower itself was only 8 meters in diameter.


    The real problem came when he started carving the runes all over Magical tower. Runes that would make sure that the whole situation worked properly and that the system would not crumble upon itself once the first Magical Phones started working.


    But he knew that this was the only task in the whole process of creating a workable Magical Phone that he could not delegate to other people.


    Not unless he wanted others to steal that bit of information in the future.


    So yes, the last three weeks of his life had been an absolute nightmare where he used the time turners again and again again in order to make sure that he would meet the deadline.


    The only good thing about this whole experience was the fact that Hermione spent most of that time with him, encouraging him to do his best while setting up his schedule so that he would not die from exhaustion or dehydration somewhere along the project.


    He would also go so far as to say that it was only because of her that he was able to even finish this project and now that it was finished, he had no plans to ever construct another magical tower. Ever again.


    Penelope had already learned the basics of his Runes so by the time the creation of the next Central Magical Tower became necessary, he would send her to do the job. She might take more time than him but she should still finish the task in about two months.


    He on the other hand had received nothing except for those soft kisses from Hermione that she grudgingly gave him in order to motivate him.


    Yup, he might not her that way just yet but she was still cute as fu?k.


    And those kisses had been a real motivator.


    But now that the task was done, he just wanted to go home and sleep.


    Which was exactly what he did.


    Not that he had home of his own so he had to make do with his favourite underground lab.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Lucius looked at his beautiful wife with a smile and slapping but bu????ks playfully.


    She gave him a reproachful look at that. What with Draco being in the next room and all but the thrill of being caught by their son was what made it all the more exciting.


    "Not now Lucius." She whispered and he sighed. Yes, he knew that now was not that time. But still.


    "You look very beautiful in that dress." He said and rubbed his ???k at her soft backside while grabbing her waist.


    "Lucius." She begged and he gave one her one last kiss on the neck before stepping back.


    Despite their 14 years of marriage, he still loved her as much this day as he did when he married her, if not more.


    Their marriage was not a marriage born out of love. Mostly because she didn''t love him when she first became a Malfoy.


    But he did. He had loved her when he had seen her in Hogwarts and then later, he had managed to convince his father to talk with the Blacks and arrange a marriage with her.


    His father had no problems with this marriage. The Black were a prominent, powerful and rich family with a noble linage. So he had welcomed Narcissa openly in his home.


    The first few months of his life with Narcissa could only be described as tense.


    She knew that he had wanted her for some time and that this marriage was born out his machinations so she had not been very willing to do much of anything with him.


    They had been in love ever since.


    "Draco." His loving wife called out to their son and he dusted the crease on this robes.


    He always made sure that he looked nothing less than perfect to Draco. The perfect man who was the head of the noble house of Malfoy.


    Theirs wasn''t an ancient house as they had descended from the Malfoys in France but that didn''t make them any weaker than the other houses.


    At this point, House Malfoy was the one of the most richest and the most influential house in the whole magical Britain. And it was all because of the hard work of him and his predecessor.


    Other houses like House Black, Potter, Longbottom and Gaunts were ancient houses. That didn''t stop their downfall during the last war.


    Only his house stood through all the storms and prospered.


    Because of his cunning and cleverness.


    It was imperative that Draco walk in the same steps as him and become as capable as he was for the continuous prosperity of their house.


    At his mother''s call, Draco walked into the room with a smirk on his face.


    A smirked that seemed a bit too arrogant for someone who was just a student in Hogwarts. But he had the right to be arrogant as being a member of House Malfoy could be considered an achievement on it''s own.


    Narcissa went and combed Draco''s hair one last time while he gave his son a nod after making sure that his son looked perfect.


    Now they were ready to go to Diagon Alley.


    Draco was now in his second year and had shown the d?s?r? to own a broomstick of his own.


    Narcissa was a bit worried about it but she was a woman. They''re always worried about something or the other so her thoughts in this matter were inconsequential.


    Of course, he would never say that to her. That would be foolish and he would probably have to sleep in the couch for the rest of the week.


    Still, now that Draco wanted a broomstick for himself, he would have to make sure that his son gets the best one in the shop.


    Because a Malfoy deserved the best.


    Draco would either have the best broomstick. Or he won''t have anything.


    He took Narcissa in one hand and Draco in another and went to the Fireplace before he threw the floo powder in it and said "Diagon Alley".


    In a flash of fire, they came out of the pubic floo attached to the Diagon Alley and he came out with a dignified expression which froze as soon as he saw the scene in front of him.


    In front of him were countless flying banners showing the face of Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter?


    What was this?


    Why was he seeing the images of that old fool and that Half blood in this place.


    And¡­ what the hell was Dumbledore wearing.


    No¡­ It was not that Albus Dumbledore was wearing any outrageous clothes.


    In fact, he was wearing perfectly normal robes that any self respecting wizard would wear.


    But that''s what made this whole situation so creepy.


    Albus never wore normal clothes. That''s what made his so eccentric. And was exactly why everyone in the Inner circle called him an old fool.


    He did not looked like an old fool.


    In fact, he looked like the Dignified Wizard that he should have always been.


    And he was smiling.


    Well, that was nothing new.


    But he was not smiling at a person. But at the¡­ thing he was holding on his hand.


    What was that thing.


    Looking at the next flying poster made him realize that Harry Potter, Draco''s rival in school was also holding that same rectangular thin device.


    What were these two people up to?


    Why was he not informed about something like this?


    A look at another poster showed him a rectangular device that was rotating in the poster so that people would be able to see it from all angles.


    Was this the device that they were holding?


    Why were holding it?


    What did it do?


    A slight cough from nearby brought him out of his thoughts and he realized that his wife was giving him a look.


    And he realized that he had been gaping at the posters for the past few moments which was a huge mistake on his part.


    Malfoys didn''t gaped.


    It was beneath their dignity.


    He looked at his son and realized that Draco had been gaping at the posters as well and had not noticed his slip up.


    Good.


    He used his cane to close Draco''s open mouth and broke him out of his thoughts with the cold touch of the metallic part of the cane.


    "Malfoys don''t gape Draco." He said in a serious manner "It looked undignified."


    Draco controlled his expression and nodded at him "Yes father."


    "Good." He nodded and they moved forward.


    They started walking toward the Quality Quidditch Supplies and he kept throwing glances at the posters that were not only floating up in the air but were also stuck in front of some of the other shops.


    He could only guess that whoever made these posters must have paid those stingy shopkeepers a lot in order to let them put those posters in front of their shops like this.


    By the time they made their way to the shop, he already had a basic idea about what this really was.


    A ploy to sell the Device that both Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter were holding. And if the anticipating looks that people were giving that device were anything to go by, then he was sure that once those devices enter the market, they will sell like hotcakes.


    In fact. Any product that was endorsed by these two people would sell like hot cakes in Magical Britain. They were just that popular and influential. Not to mention that talking with any person anywhere was a very useful feature and even he was thinking of buying one of those devices now.


    He glanced at his son and could practically feel the envious gaze that he kept throwing at Harry Potter.


    He shouldn''t be.


    Malfoys were better than everyone else and he had no reason to be envious of the other boy simply because he got a few posters of himself in Diagon Alley.


    He looked at the nearest poster and realized that the shop selling the¡­ Magical Phones will not open until two days.


    He should probably send someone to buy one of those phones. Or maybe three of them. One each for both his wife and son. It was not like their family lacked money.


    Goyle and Crabbe would probably do. It was not like they anything better to do with their time anyway.


    Author''s Note- This chapter is a bit larger to compensate for the last two chapters which were a bit smaller.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please support me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 125 - Veela receptionists, Goblin Accountants

    Harry looked at the ten ?du?t Veela acting as receptionists in his shops inside the Mall with an amused glance.


    "Welcome Mr Potter. Please come with me. Mrs Mia and Mr Steve are waiting for you at their office." She with a nod and started leading him through the mall, her h?ps juggling from side to side and if he did not had so much control over his magic, her allure might have already put him in a trance.


    He had no idea that his company had Veela under their employment. Or if there were any Veela in Britain at all.


    The highly discriminating laws in Magical Britain which practically placed the Veelas somewhere along with the Werewolves made sure that none of those women ever entered Britain.


    But now they were here. In his mall. Working under his company.


    How had Steve achieved that.


    He had no doubt in his mind that the beautiful receptionists would take his business even further.


    But as he started checking the other shops, he was met with another surprise that he could not have expected.


    Because there was a young goblin working as an accountant in just about every shop.


    What? How was that even possible?


    He had never heard of the goblins working with other wizard and witches like this before.


    So how the hell did Steve managed to get them to work for his company.


    By this point, there were practically 5 different races working for his company.


    Wizards, werewolves, house elves, Veelas and Goblins.


    Now he was only missing Centaurs, Mermaids, Giants and a few others.


    Well¡­ maybe not the giants as destroying other things was their favourite past time. And they smelled.


    Still, even if the allure of the Veelas might attract the wizards, it would also make the witches jealous of them and thus look at his company in a less favorable light.


    It would not do to turn their male clients into drooling idiots.


    They were here for his products. Not the eye candy.


    Not to say that there was anything wrong with the eye candy. But if your eye candy is more popular then your products then you''re definitely doing something wrong.


    The jiggling h?ps stopped jiggling and the Veela gave him a professional smile before pointing at the door in front of them "We''re here Mr Potter."


    He gave her a nod and entered and found three people waiting for him in there.


    Mia Blacktooth. Steve Jobs. And a beautiful blond woman that he never met before.


    But by the way she was sitting so close to Steve, he could guess that the woman must be his wife.


    "Good morning everyone." He said by the way of greeting as he closed the door behind him and put on a few charms on it before he sent a pulse inside the room in order to search for any eavesdropping charms or the likes of it.


    He and everyone else in a leadership position in his company had made sure that there would be no spies in the company but being cautious never hurts anyone.


    "I don''t think we''ve met before." He inquired even though he was now mostly sure that she was Steve''s wife.


    She gave him a gentle smile and said "Oh, that''s because we''ve not." Then she stood up and raised her hand toward him "Hi. I''m Laurene Powell Jobs. Steve''s wife."


    He glanced at Steve before looking back at the woman and shaking her hand "Harry Potter."


    And then instead of letting go of his hand, she continued to hold it and stare at his face.


    "Forgive me if I botched up the introduction somehow." He said with an amused smile "I was never really taught the proper etiquette by anyone."


    At his words, she remembered that she was still holding onto his hand and let it go with an apologetic glace "Sorry. I was just overcome by how young you are."


    "I mean Steve did told me all about you. But hearing about you from him and meeting you in person are totally two different things."


    "I hope he only said good things about me." He said as he took a seat of the opposite side from the three of them and Laurene went back to sit in her own chair.


    "Yes. He had a lot of positive things to say about you. In fact, I think he''s a big fan of your latest invention that you call the Magical Phone." She replied and he gave the man an amused glance.


    "Is he." Then with a mischievous smile, he asked "Did you told you about our first meeting?"


    "Not in much detail I''m afraid."


    "Ohh¡­ It was quite a first meeting I ?ssure you. What with him thinking of me as a cheap street magician and then me kidnapping him and all that. You should ask him all about it sometime."


    At his words, she sent her husband a mock glare for not telling her the fun parts of their meeting and he simply raised his hands in defeat.


    "After this meeting." He said with a gentle smile that Harry had never seen him give anyone else.


    "Anyway Steve. I wanted to talk about the various Veelas and goblins working outside for our company. Do you want to explain about that?"


    "Explain which part exactly." Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "You know, the part where you hired them. How did you do it." He asked "I don''t think I''ve ever seen Veelas working with another wizards like this and goblins are usually said to have a lot of disdain toward our kind as well. So how did you manage it." He asked curiously.


    "It was hard at first." Steve admitted "Goblins and Veelas wanted nothing to do with our company simply because it was founded by a wizard. But when I showed their leaders that I''m a non-magical and that I''m the CEO, they started seeing you in a whole different light. Then I told them that my two bodyguards were werewolves and that company was run by mostly werewolves and the muggleborn rejects of our society and they realized that you were different from the other wizards."


    "After that, it was far easier to convince them to join our company." He finished with a smile.


    He nodded his head in acknowledgement. Even though Steve made it sound so easy, he knew that the older man must have faced countless difficulties when recruiting these people.


    He could understand why Steve would hire Veelas and goblins for the company.


    Goblins are probably the most experienced in administration work in the whole magical Britain because of Gringotts. Plus, they do not embezzle money or take part in any corruption.


    By adding those goblins to the company, Steve had made sure that the financial department would run without any problems.


    As for the Veela. There was really nothing much to say about them.


    They were the most beautiful species among the magical kind and having a beautiful receptionist and such who could help the clients was a common sense thing.


    If people like your company, then they''ll come back again and again and those Vella''s presence would make sure that the male wizarding population keeps coming back and back again.


    Though there was also the problem with women who feel jealous of the Veelas because of their own inferiority complex and what not. So he would probably have to tell the Veelas to dial down their Allure to an almost negligent level.


    He told the same to Steve who gave a nod in understanding. Steve was above all, a practical person and would only do things that were profitable for the company as long as they stayed within his moral compass.


    Aside from that, everything was as it should be and the whole company was now perfectly ready for launching.


    Only a few days and then they would be able to launch the company.


    As he was having these thoughts, the light near the four entrance Floo flared red and the guards instantly apprehended the man who had just entered their mall and Harry smiled.


    This would be the third spy they''ve caught ever since the Floo connections were registered and they started working.


    He was happy that all the galleons that he gave to the goblins to erect to wards in his mall were working perfectly.


    He started walking toward the man who had been apprehended and was a bit surprised when the guards let the man go but instead captured something from his hair in a jar.


    And as he saw what was caught inside the jar, he smiled widely.


    He knew that this was going to be an interesting day.


    Author''s Note:- I personally never understood why purebloods discriminate so much against other magical creatures when they could have achieved so much more by working together.


    But then again, that''s just how human work.


    I think that any ideal magical establishment would have a Veela as a receptionist, a goblin as the accountant and werewolves as the guards. So that''s how it''ll be in the Magical Mall :)


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 126 - Rita Skeeter

    Rita knew that she did not have a great reputation in the magical community.


    In fact, most of the people, even those who liked her work, called her a gossip queen at best and a slandering whore at worst.


    And it was all true.


    There was a time when she was younger when she spent all her time trying to get the best possible news to her readers in a true and honorable way.


    But such thoughts quickly went down the road when few people read her articles and even those who read them told her that her writing was immensely boring and lack the flare of other writers who wrote more gossip in their articles than the truth.


    She tried to fight against it. Kept trying to bring write better articles regarding the truth but people only liked the articles written by those gossip mongers.


    It wasn''t until the Daily Prophet almost stopped publishing all her articles and gave her the ultimatum that she either write a ''quality'' article or find herself some another job that she realized that truth of the situation.


    The public didn''t want to hear the truth from her.


    That was why her colleagues who wrote articles filled with gossip were so much more successful than her and she realized that if she didn''t change her ways then she would be left behind by everyone.


    That was the day that the ''Rita Skeeter'' that everyone now knew her as was born.


    After making the decision to defeat her colleagues in their own game, she started making full use of her animagus ability to find the most scandalous thing that she could and wrote it in an even worse light before giving it to her editor.


    It wasn''t until the Daily Prophet started selling like hot cakes and she started gaining compliments for her ''great literary work'' that she finally accepted the truth.


    And from that day onward, she started writing gossiping and slandering articles for a living.


    There was of course a little bit of truth in her articles but she always twisted it in the worst possible way so that it would become more entertaining for her readers.


    That was how she became the Journalist with the largest following in the Daily Prophet.


    Of course, it was not all sunshine and rainbows for her as the people she slandered and gossiped about usually tried to get her back in one way or another but she was a survivor and adapted according to the situation as required of her in order to keep moving forward.


    But Magical Britain was a small world with a population of less than 20,000 witches and wizards in total. And there was only so much dirt she could find before she started scraping from the bottom.


    And those advertisement posters showing Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived was exactly what she needed for a great article.


    From what she''d heard, Harry Potter, a boy said to be a once in a century genius in charms had created some kind of hand-held device that works like Floo and allows the user to contact anyone that he wanted.


    The moment she heard this tidbit of information, she knew that this was going to be big.


    And she would not be ''Rita Skeeter'' if she could not find some dirt under this whole situation and find some way to slander this new device or write some gossip about Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.


    And in order to find that dirt, she would first have to dig into this whole situation and familiarize herself with the ongoings of this new shop.


    That was why she turned into a beetle (her animagus form) and climbed at the back of head of a man who seemed to be an employee in the new Shop where those hand-held devices called Magical Phones would be sold.


    As the man was about to enter the shop, she saw a few guards placed near the entrance.


    And wasn''t that an interesting tidbit of information right there.


    This shop was probably the only one in the whole Diagon Alley which had guards near it''s entrance.


    Was there something dangerous inside the shop?


    Were the shop owners afraid of something?


    Was Harry Potter selling something illegal in there?


    Oh¡­ the article that she could write from just that little bit of information would be an instant sell out. And she hadn''t even entered the shop.


    She hoped that she had her Quick Quotes quill and her notepad with her so that she could make instant notes on the whole situation.


    But she couldn''t do so in her animagus form and the people would not allow her entrance to the shop willingly so she didn''t have a choice at the moment.


    She would just have to rely on her excellent memory and the pensieve back in her home this time.


    As she lamented over the lack of her quill and notepad, the man climbed the stairs (and why were there stairs in a shop in the first place) and entered the shop whose front was entirely made up of glass.


    As she was taking it in, the man entered the shop and she was floored when a very beautiful witch came in her sight.


    What was a Veela doing in Magical Britain?


    Not that Veelas were not allowed to come here but their treatment as third class citizens made sure that they stayed away from this wizarding community.


    Oh¡­ now she felt more alive than ever. Guards at the entrance. Front wall made up of nothing but glass. A Veela as a receptionist. And¡­


    8 Fireplaces???


    What?


    Rita looked around the shop in order to find the Magical Phones that all the advertisement posters indicated toward but found that the whole shop was empty except for those eight Fireplaces.


    The eight fireplaces were divided into two parts. One being the exit and another being the entry.


    She was so surprised by this whole turn of events that she didn''t even realize that she was sitting on top of had already gone inside one of the fireplace with a pinch of Floo Powder in his hands.


    Then she heard him say "Magical Mall" and then the green flames enveloped the both of them.


    She wanted to check that shop for a bit longer but this was just as well.


    The green flames receded and the man she was riding came out of the Floo and walked forward into a¡­


    She didn''t have the time to think anymore as she felt the sensation of crossing a ward line and red lights suddenly started flaring all over the place and she realized that they knew about her presence.


    Shit¡­


    She cursed her luck for being caught like this.


    But perhaps if she stayed hidden in his hair, then no one would notice her?


    That was as far as her thoughts went before a heavy pressure from the wards descended on her and she lost her consciousness.


    Author''s Note:- Thoughts from the point of one Rita Skeeter.


    Despite how Rita is shown as a gossip monger in the movie and is described as someone who would fall to any lengths to write delicious story for her reads, I believe that she must have once at least tried to write good and honest articles before being hit by the heavy hammer or reality which forced her to change and adapt in order to become the writer who had the biggest following at this point.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 127 - Ritas torture

    He threw a cup of water on Rita''s face and she woke up with a gasp.


    She looked frantically as soon as she woke up but the dark and damp atmosphere of the cell would hardly bring her any solace. He wondered if she had ever been in a prison cell before.


    He would not be surprised if she had infiltrated a prison cell on her own violation. She was a bad writer but he would admit that it took a lot of courage to become a small insect and infiltrate other people''s homes, hoping that they would not see you and crush you.


    Upon realizing where she was, she tried to move but the cold iron chair held her to the chair no matter what she did.


    Then she closed her eyes and tried to do something and he chuckled.


    "Don''t try Rita." He said while giving her an amused glance "You won''t be able to transform in this cell. It''s heavily warded against such things. In fact, I would go so far to say that I made this place specially for people like you who could turn into their small animagus form and escape."


    She stopped struggling and looked in his direction, squinting her eyes to get a better view of him and he came out from the dark corner of the room, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at her form.


    "Harry Potter. What is the meaning of this? To apprehend a person like this in a private prison cell. Do you know how much trouble you can get in by doing this? Release me at once." She ordered and he started chuckling once again.


    This woman had balls.


    "You think this is funny do you. You have no idea how much trouble you''re in. Release me at once or¡­" A wave of his hand and her lips were sealed together at once, stopping her from speaking any further regardless of how much she tried.


    "Now that''s better. Silent and willing to listen. Just the type of person I like." With a wave, a comfortable chair was transfigured from the ground in front of her and he sat cross legged on it.


    "Rita, Rita. I don''t think you understand the severity of this situation. Of your position. Now what am I to do with you." He said "Oh wait¡­ I know just the curse for you."


    "Crucio"


    A red light hit her square in the ?h?st and she recoiled in horror for a moment, closing her eyes for the immense pain that was supposed to hit her. A pain that never came.


    She opened her eyes and he sighed.


    "I could never really muster the anger and hate required to perform this curse. Too bothersome for me." He said with a smile.


    He had never really planned to cast that curse on anyone because of it''s negative side effects the caster''s mind. It was just something he did to scare her.


    In response to his words, Rita glared hatefully at him and he chuckled once again, having a bit too much fun with this situation.


    "Oh don''t be like that. There''s no need for you to stare at me so hatefully. After all, we would be spending so much time together from now on. It''s imperative that we have a good relationship as a test subject and a doctor you know. Because we won''t get the best results without your support."


    "But before that. We need to break you a little bit." He said before turning to Selena.


    "Selena. She was the one who called me a Dark Lord in training when my Parselmouth abilities came out. What do you think we should do with her."


    Rita''s face paled at the use of Parseltongue and he grinned. She seemed to have a great amount of fear for this ability of his. Good for him. The more his enemies fear his abilities, the better.


    Selena came out from under his sleeves and looked at the woman with scorn before she turned to him "Tickle her."


    "Tickle her?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Yep. The last time you did that with Hermione, she seemed to have felt some stomach ache from the intense laughing. So yes¡­ tickle her."


    He gave her a weird expression and said "You know. I''m glad that I''m not your enemy."


    Because regardless of her venomous tongue, she was a beautiful woman with a great figure.


    She looked horrified at the lack of her clothes and looked at him fearfully for the first time and he chuckled in his mind at that.


    "Don''t worry. I will not **** you, if that what you''re thinking." He said "You''re not the first woman to be my prisoner. Though I would admit that the first one was far less beautiful than you."


    "But that does not change the fact that you''ll still get punished for slandering me in the Daily Prophet, breaking into my mall and for threatening me a few minutes ago." With that, he waved his hands and conjured a few dozen feathers before charming them to tickle her.


    At first she laughed.


    Then she cried out in despair at the huge amount of discomfort coming from the overload of sensations.


    Then she screamed.


    After she looked like she was about to pass out, he removed the feathers and she took a deep breath and slumped down on her chair, sobbing softly to herself because of the torture and he frowned.


    Regardless of the amount of test subject he had experimented upon, this was the first person that he ever tortured. And he found no fun in doing so.


    It seemed like he would to have a hire a professional torturer the next time he captures an enemy.


    He wondered if Bellatrix would be willing to listen to his orders and then chuckled at that thought before shaking his head and focusing on the situation at hand.


    "Now I have a few questions for you Rita." He said and she looked at him with hateful eyes "It would be best if you answer them correctly. Because if you don''t then the feathers will return."


    The hate in her eyes changed to fear in an instant and she gave him a weak nod through all the sobs.


    "My first question. Why did you infiltrate the mall?" he asked the rather obvious question and the interrogation started.


    Author''s Note:- Any ideas what will happen next to Rita Skeeter???


    By now, you guys already know that our MC can show cruel tendencies when it is necessary so can you guess what he''ll do with Rita next.


    Will he kill her, will he let her go or will he subdue her and use her animagus talents for his own use? Please tell me in the comments section.


    And if you guys love my work and a have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

 Chapter 128 - Book for muggle parents

    Harry looked at the multiple runic circles and arrays he had drawn on the wall with a frown before he took out his wand and took a few steps away from it.


    Then he pointed his wand at the wall and said "Titillando" the incantation of the tickling hex and a small purple ball came out of his wand, struck the wall and got absorbed by the wall.


    He waited for the wall to release the spell back at him once again but when it didn''t work for half a minute, he let out a sigh and put his wand back in it''s holster before walking up to the runes once again.


    He was working on runes that would capture and release the spells thrown at them so that he could put them on his robes but so far, he had not met with any success.


    Well, he knew from the very start that this was going to be a hard project so he was not very disheartened. He also knew that he would not be able to reflect back all the spells but that was alright.


    He would eventually make his robes immune to all the spells one way or another. If he was able to reflect back some of the spells thrown at him, then that would just an additional benefit.


    He gave one last look at the wall before he sat down on the desk, taking out the quill and parchment and trying to create a new runic system from the scratch before Selena came out from under his sleeves and said "Someone is coming."


    He put the quill down and looked at her "Who?"


    The Horned Serpent waited for a few moments, probably sensing the magic that was coming in their direction before she turned to him and replied "It''s Hermione."


    He nodded at her and she went back under his sleeves.


    He remembered from the movies that Voldemort had put a ton of charms on his pet snake Nagini which had the effect of making her almost immune to spells. Perhaps he would be able to do something like that for Selena as well.


    As he thought about that, the door opened at an excited Hermione Granger entered the room with a huge smile and he instantly became wary of her.


    An excited Hermione Granger usually meant trouble for him and he could only hope that she had not she had not started some form of campaign for the welfare of the Cornish Pixies or something equally foolish like that.


    His wary expression only seemed to further excite her as her smile turned wider and she came up to his desk and dropped a whole bunch of paper in front of him.


    "Hello Hermione." He said, his eyes looking warily at the large bundle of papers, wondering if it was what he thought it was "Can you tell me what this is?"


    "Harry. This is the manuscript of the book that you told me to write." She said happily and he almost ?r??n?d. Almost.


    But he knew that showing such a negative reaction to her hard work would seriously put a dent on her growing confidence so he would never do such a thing.


    Instead, he smiled and patted her cheeks affectionately "Good job Hermione. I knew you would be able to do it within the time frame."


    Then he looked at the bundle of 1500 or so pages and inwardly frowned.


    It did not need to be very well written or very entertaining. It just needed to be written with the facts about the magical world that is generally not told to the muggle population by the Hogwarts teachers.


    It also needed to be filled with tips on what they could do to help their magical children and what not.


    In essence, it would be the first book in history written by a magical person that would help the muggle parents understand the magical world to a greater degree so that they would be able to provide their children with better support.


    When he had tasked Hermione to finished this job within the time limit, he had known that she would pull through for him even if she had to pull all nighters and had even allowed her to use the time turner with him.


    And she had pulled through for him.


    He could guess that writing these 1500 pages must have taken her a lot of hard work and time.


    But he could not really sell a 1500 pages long book to the muggle parents now could he?


    So with a heavy heart he told her "Hermione. Thank you for the hard work and effort you put behind writing this thing. But we cannot publish a book with so many pages."


    "Can you cut down the size of this book so that it could be about 300-500 pages long? That way even the poor muggle parents would easily be able to afford our book."


    He said ''our'' book because he was going to put his name as the co-author of this book even though it was Hermione who had actually written it all on her own.


    He had two very important reasons to do so.


    1. If the book was sold by Hermione''s name, then very few people would buy it. After all, she was just a 12 year old girl so what would she know about writing the book. He had a feeling that if the book was released with just her as the author, then she would get a lot of hate from the press and that would not be good for her fragile self confidence.


    2. The idea of the book was essentially his and he was also the one who had given her the topics to write and research. Plus once she cuts the book down to about 300-500 pages, he would be the one who would make the final changes along with the editing part so he was essentially the co-author of the book whether he wanted or not.


    Hermione looked a little crestfallen at his words and he grimaced at that. He had not wanted the girl to feel so down.


    Cutting the book to 1/3rd of it''s original size was like telling her that 2/3rd of the things that she wrote were not important. That 2/3rd of her hard work and time were not important. Such a thing would hurt any person.


    It was essentially his fault that such a mistake was made. When he had told her to write a book for him, he had not told her the exact amount of pages that she needed to write and had forgotten how over-the-top Hermione could be sometimes.


    He stood up in order to console her but before he could do that, her expression brightened up on her own and he gave him a firm nod.


    "I''ll do that Harry. I''m happy as long as we could sell the book to all the non magical parents and inform them about the magical world in more detail."


    And before he could even say anything else, she took the bundle of papers from his desk and left.


    And he had not even read the manuscript at all.


    Oh well, it looked he''ll just have to believe that she would do a good job in writing the book and not just fill it with boring facts.


    Hopefully her parents would be able to help her with that.


    And if the book turned out to be a disaster, then they could just write a better one during their second year and publish it next year.


    With that, he put such thoughts out of his mind and picked up the carving quill once again.


    It was time to get back to work.


    Author''s Note:- I always felt that the wizards should have wrote at least a few books about the magical world for the muggles so that muggle parents would be able to understand more about the world they were sending their child into. But such a book was never shown in the movie and it was clear that there was a huge divide between the people living the magical world and the people living in the muggle world.


    So if I was wizard, then I would definitely write a book for the muggle parents and I have no doubt that such a book would definitely be bought by almost every muggle parents who cared about their children.


    Just my two cents :)


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 129 - Company funds running low

    Harry looked at the ?ssembly line with a raised eyebrow.


    Well, it was not really an ?ssembly line but a few people working together and connecting the different parts of the Magical Phones in order to manufacture a new one.


    Steve had done an excellent job with the few amount of resources he had and at this point, his employees were able to produce 5-6 Mobile Phones per hour.


    That speed was incomparable to the billion dollar mobile companies from hie past life where the automatic machines manufactures thousands of mobiles each hour but his company was new.


    He would find a way to increase the speed of Mobile Production in his company in the future but for now they''ll just have to make do with what they had.


    A few young teenagers were sitting on the side and checking each and every Magical Phone that was produced by the older employees and making sure that they were working properly.


    By now his company had produced about 2000 MP Lite and about 600 MP Pro.


    And Each and every one of those Magical Phone went through the hands of these young people who made sure that there was no quality problem in those phones.


    Steve himself came and checked these products every now and then to make sure that the quality of the product had not decreased in his absence. And he was here for the exact purpose.


    He went to the 4 young people who were doing the check ups and they were shocked to see him as they greeted him with respect.


    "May I check one of those?" he asked and randomly pointed at one the Mobile Phones that had recently been manufactured and was kept in a rack for transport.


    You could literally create a new product down here and sell it to the customers above ground in the mall.


    The clothing line had a similar room beside this one where Mera and her colleges work on muggle clothes to make them magical so that they would be able to sell it in their respective shops.


    The only shop in his mall that did not have a manufacturing line underground would be the Potions Shop and the Trolley Bag Shop.


    Andromeda had been grown attached to the lab he had given her and had flat out refused to relocate while Sylvia was more comfortable working from her home.


    "Sure Sir." The eldest girl among them replied and took out the MP Pro and passed it on to him reverently.


    "Harry." He said with a chuckle "Just call me Harry."


    The girl nodded demurely and he decided to not give her any more attention as she was already feeling uncomfortable in his presence.


    Well, he was technically their boss and if he didn''t like their jobs then he did have the power to fire them so he could understand why they were so nervous.


    He looked at the MP Pro in his hand and smiled at the logo on top of the Phone.


    To see his work being shown like this filled his heart with pride and he clicked on the bu??on and started the interface.


    It took him around 20 minutes to check everything in the Phone in order to make sure that it was working properly.


    By this point, the youngsters working beside him had grown used to his presence and had continued their work.


    After he was done with the MP Pro he asked for a MP Lite and took 10 minutes to check every function in that mobile as well.


    After that, he spent some more time evaluating their work before he gave a satisfied nod and left the room which had been filled with some tension up until this point.


    Steve had done an excellent job in selecting these people.


    And now that he had checked on the final product and made sure that everything was working as it should, he could finally rest in peace.


    Well, not the eternal kind of Rest-in-peace but the temporary kind in which he could rest knowing that Steve would run the company wonderfully in his absence.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "We''re running low on funds." Scarclaw informed him and he frowned.


    Turned out that his peace could only last for so long as the very next day, the senior account manager of their company, Scarclaw contacted him and told him that the company was running out of funds.


    Well, that was understandable.


    Until now, the whole company had been running for two whole months.


    Two whole months in which he bought a shop in Diagon Alley, broke that shop down and constructed a new one in that land, constructed a mall in Lilta Dimun, paid the raw materials for the magical clothes and Magical Phones and paid a ton of galleons to his employees.


    And so far, the company had not earned a single penny or knut in this case.


    Well, that was understandable.


    The company had not gone public and had not sold anything at this point so of course it had not earned a single knut.


    In fact, until now the whole company was running on nothing but his personal funds. But now that was starting to run out as well.


    "How much funds do you need Scarclaw?" he asked the goblin.


    The fact that Steve had coerced some of the goblins to join his company had come as a surprise to him. But talking with a goblin over a Magical Phones was an experience on it''s own.


    "We need 700 galleons for the furnishings and the chandelier that you asked for." Scarclaw replied.


    He thought over that bit of information in this mind before he nodded and said "I''ll send you 2000 galleons. Those are the last bit of funds that I''ll be able to provide until the company is launched so be careful with them. Alright?"


    The goblin gave a grunt in affirmation and Harry gave a nod back in return before cutting he connection.


    "Call Griphook."


    After the check up last day, Steve had gifted him with 5 MP Lites that he could gift to his friends and acquaintances.


    Griphook being the manager of his personal accounts and the only goblin in Gringotts that he personally knew of course received one of them as well.


    To say Griphook had been surprised to receive a gift from a wizard would be an understatement but there were already rumors about him going on in the wizarding community. About how he doesn''t discriminate between different magical beings so after the initial surprise wore off, Girphook took everything in stride and thanked him for the gift.


    Harry was glad that he had given that MP Lite to Griphook because now it was going to be rather useful to him.


    "Griphook speaking." The voice came from the other side as the goblin''s face appeared in his Phone.


    "Hello Griphook. Can you send all the remaining funds from my personal account to Scarclaw?" He asked directly. When dealing with goblins, it was best to get straight to the point instead of mincing your words. That way, they are able to save their time and you get more respect from them.


    "You have 5395 galleons, 24 sickles and 581 knuts remaining in your vault Mr Potter. Are you sure you want all of it transferred to the Magical Goods account manager."


    "No. Just send 5000 to them. Don''t send the knuts and sickles either." He said and Griphook gave a nod before taking out a note from his pocket and looking at it with a magnifying glass.


    "Password?" Griphook asked.


    "8837283" he replied and Griphook gave one final nod before asking "Will that be all Mr Potter."


    "Yes. Griphook. Thanks for your service."


    "You''re welcome." The goblin replied and cut the connection.


    Yes, talking with goblins was definitely a surreal experience. And he doubted that such a thing would change anytime soon.


    Author''s Note- Long distance banking in the Magical world. Hell yeah :)


    Hope you like the chapter.


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 130 - Ginnys crush

    "How do you like it?" Harry asked and Mia gave a nod before closing the book in her hands.


    "It''s good. A bit on the boring side and a heavy on the facts but overall the book is rather good." Mia replied "This Hermione girl had really overdone herself with this book. And the whole idea of it is so simple that even now I''m cursing myself for not thinking about writing such a book."


    Harry gave the woman a smile but didn''t said anymore because her words were the truth.


    Just about every Billion dollar company in his past life originated from simple ideas.


    Amazon was born from the simple idea of delivering products to people''s homes.


    KFC, Starbucks, McDonadl''s, etc were born from the simple idea of providing food and beverages for people in a comfortable place.


    Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc were born from the simple idea of providing better sports gear for the masses.


    Facebook was born from the simple idea of connecting friends over the internet.


    So frankly, there was nothing spectacular about him opening a company on simple ideas.


    Or having Hermione write a book on a simple topic.


    But these simple things are what truly change the world if those ideas are executed properly.


    Even now his mind was constantly thinking about what else would he be able to provide people when he gains more employees in his company.


    Especially because the people who would be delivering the orders could simply apparate to the homes of the customers and deliver the order within a few minutes.


    Similarly, he could also open a restaurant that could deliver food like this.


    The ideas were all there. Now he just needed his company to launch so that they would be able to afford more employees and deliver on those ideas.


    And after the company becomes a success, he could always open branches of his company on other Magical communities like the ones in France and Italy.


    "Is everything ready?" he asked, trying to hide the excitement from showing on his face.


    A few parents had already started to come to Diagon Alley to buy the books and clothes for their magical children.


    And tomorrow, they would be launching the company and the shop to the world.


    He would be lying if he said that he was not feeling a little bit nervous as well but he knew that his company would succeed.


    The advertisement posters had done their job and everyone in the wizarding community now knew about his new company and the products.


    "Yes." She replied "And that was the third time you asked me that question. Don''t worry. We''ve handled everything and are ready for whatever the world will throw at use. Just sit on your chair and trust us to do our jobs properly, okay?"


    "Okay." He replied and took the book from her before keeping it on top of a pedestal near the entrance of the Mall.


    The book will be published tomorrow as well and he and Hermione were rather excited about that as well.


    As he left the mall and apparated back to Hogsmeade, he wondered if he''ll able to sleep at night with all the excitement that he was feeling.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Ginny entered Diagon Alley and felt her heart skip at the sight of Harry Potter''s moving image in a poster floating around in the air above Diagon Alley.


    Well, some of those posters also had Albus Dumbledore''s moving images but she was too enthralled looking at Harry''s face that she didn''t even bother with the Dumbledore posters.


    It was a surreal feeling for her to witness the image of her first crush being displayed around like this and for a moment she felt jealous because she was not the only girl who would be able to witness this sight.


    Oh well, you can''t have it all.


    "Ron. What are you doing?" she shouted, coming out of her trance from looking at the Boy-who-lived''s image.


    She distinctly realized that it was her own fault for not moving away from the Floo''s entrance but she would a fool to allow her elder brother to get one over her for that.


    "It''s not my mistake. You''re standing right in front of the entrance." He complained as he stood up and started cleaning himself before his gaze fell on the many posters floating above the street of Diagon Alley.


    "Blimy¡­ that''s Harry Potter." He said as if it was not the most obvious thing in the world.


    Those messy spiky hair. Those mesmerizing green eyes. That focused expression. That lightening scar on the forehead.


    Who else could this attractive boy be but the Harry Potter from her dreams. The boy whose story she has been listening to ever since she was a child.


    Who boy whom she aspired to marry one day.


    Her gaze fell back on Ron who was by now looking at the floating posters with mixed expression of envy and d?s?r?.


    She knew that Ron was envious of Harry Potter because of his fame and fortune. Well¡­ Ron was usually envious of just about everyone who had something that he didn''t.


    Living in a house with 5 elder brothers who are all very accomplished in something was very hard for him and he had developed an inferiority complex because of it.


    Just how living in a house with 6 elder brothers had made her rather tomboyish and headstrong.


    But those thoughts were thrown into the back of her mind as she once again fell into a trance at the sight of her crush.


    A trance that she only came out of once her whole family arrived.


    She was lucky that the elder twins had come in last and had not seen her in that state otherwise they not stop teasing her about it for the rest of the day.


    She loved her brothers, she really did but they could get really annoying sometimes. And she would rather not destroy this beautiful moment that meant so much to her.


    "Come on now. Don''t wait around in front of the Floo. Let other people use it as well. Go on George, Fred. Keep moving." Her mother said as she and the rest of her brothers were herded away into Diagon Alley.


    It was not the first time she had visited the magical street as her parents often brought her with them when they went to buy the necessary school supplies for her elder brothers.


    But it was the first time when she would get to buy her own school supplies.


    And it was also the first year when Harry''s posters were seen floating around in Diagon Alley.


    It was as if the world was telling her that they were destined to be together.


    That this was his way of welcoming her to her first year in Hogwarts.


    She distinctly realized that such a thought was rather silly but ignored that thought.


    She knew a long time ago that she incapable of forming logical thoughts when it came to Harry Potter, the boy of her dreams. So she stopped trying to do so.


    It was such a pity that he was not in Gryffindor like the rest of her brothers.


    If he had been and had somehow formed a friendship with Ron then maybe he would have come to join them in the Burrow during the holidays.


    She wondered if she should go to Ravenclaw just so she would get more chances to talk with him.


    Her line of thoughts was broken as she and her brothers were told to wait outside Gringotts by her mother as her father went in to take out the necessary funds for their school supplies.


    She knew that her family was poor and that buying new clothes for her would be rather taxing for her parents. So she would most likely have to make do with second hand girl clothes that are kept in Madam Malkin''s shop.


    That''s how Bill and Charley got their first set of Hogwarts robes as well.


    Except that this time, her parents had set aside additional funds in order to buy a Magical Phone that was being sold in the new shop in Diagon Alley that Mrs Diggory was telling her mom about last evening.


    It was said to be a whole chain of shop which sold magical things that were never seen before in Diagon Alley.


    And the good thing was the all those shops were owned by Harry Potter.


    That shop was also the main reason why she and her family had come to Diagon Alley three days ahead of the schedule.


    Her mother had feared that the Magical Phones and other contents in that shop will be sold out because of the amount of people visiting that shop and have decided to come to Diagon Alley at an early date.


    She tried to look for the new shop from her place and saw the glimpse of a long line of children and ?du?ts waiting outside that new shop but the shop itself was hidden from her sight because of the other shops in front of it.


    After waiting for about half an hour, her father finally returned from inside the bank and they were finally able to start with their shopping.


    In an almost ritualistic manner, her family went from shop to shop just like every last year, buying second handed things for herself and her brothers.


    Books, Robes, Cauldrons, quill, etc.


    But when they were about to go to the next shop in order to buy a trunk for her, her mother stopped them.


    "We''ll be checking out the trunk store inside the new shop before we decide to buy anything from here." Her father explained to all of them "I''ve heard from some of my ministry colleagues that the trunks there are much easier to carry and have more space inside them while having the same price as the ones sold in this shop."


    That was all the incentive they needed to join the line that lead to the doors of the new Shop that was simply named ''Magical Goods''.


    Author''s Note- Sorry if I''m not able to properly demonstrate the story from Ginny''s POV. I''ve never written a POV of a teenage girl with a huge crush before.


    Aside from that little tidbit, I hope you liked the chapter.


    If you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 131 - All Sold

    To say that entering the shop had been a shock to her would be an understatement.


    The first shock came when they realized that the shop was in reality not a shop at all.


    It was just a gateway for the real shop which could only be reached through the 4 entrance Fireplaces in the shop.


    Still, the whole shop was the aesthetically beautiful shop in the whole Diagon alley.


    The entrance made of glass.


    The bright colored walls filled with interesting paintings.


    The walls filled with beautifully carved lights and the chandelier at the center of the shop.


    Then there were the black uniform wearing guards and the beautiful receptionists and anyone who entered this shop would instantly feel the difference between this shop and the rest of the shops in Diagon Alley.


    The person who ran this shop made the other shopkeepers in Diagon Alley look like amateurs who had no idea how to run a shop.


    But that was shock was nothing compared to when the finally went through the Floo and entered the Mall that everyone kept talking about.


    It was the first time she had entered a building that beautiful.


    Not only was the building quite beautiful but it was also very advanced and futuristic.


    She could see a lot of people walking around in the mall with their children.


    She could also see a large fountain in the middle of mall which reminded her of the fountain in the Ministry of magic but this one was far more beautiful and pleasing to the eyes than the one in the Ministry and the different ways in which the water flew in the air before dropping back in the fountain only made it even more interesting.


    In fact, she could a few parents with their children spanning photos with the fountain as a background.


    "Stop gawking around Ginny. Come." Ron called out to her and took her along with the rest of her family who were joining the line to buy the so called Magical Phones.


    "It''s alright. You kids don''t need to join the line with us. Just go and enjoy yourself." Her father said and she gave and excited smile before pulling the twins along with her.


    They walked around looking at the different shops in the mall.


    When they came across the clothes and shoes section, she very much wanted to buy some of those muggle clothes but knew that her family won''t be able to afford it so they had to leave.


    The potions shop was next and Fred George looked rather excited for some reason. The shop itself was quite neat and clean unlike the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary that smells like week old rotten eggs and looks like it hadn''t been cleaned for decades.


    The next shop was filled with the new trunks that her father had told her about.


    Except that those were not trunks but in fact trolley bags that could be taken around easily.


    They would have normally not bought a new bag for her but these trolley bags were very useful and even had a guarantee of one year. Especially because she asked for one as her birthday gift.


    The thing that surprised her the most was that despite their apparent poverty, her parents were still able to buy those two MP Lites which were surprisingly cheap when you think about all the hard work and resources that must have went in making that device.


    Oh well, the cheaper it was, the better it was for her family.


    After buying her Trolley bag, they went to the last shop in the mall, which was not really a shop but a library.


    The first public library in Magical Britain.


    That was¡­ surprising.


    How had no one ever thought about opening a library before this.


    She could already see a line of wizards and witches who wanted to register themselves for the library.


    After asking around for a bit, Fred and George told her that the library even held books that were in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library along with many books that were not even found in Hogwarts at all.


    Oh well, she was not a very studious girl. Nor did she had enough money to register for the monthly subscription so she could only drool from outside.


    After checking up the library, they finally went to the fountain in the middle of the Mall and snapped a few photos from her father old camera.


    After that was done, they finally left the shop with Olivander''s shop being the last stop before they went back home.


    As she went home she thought back on how exciting the whole day had been for her. And the experience was only enhanced even further because of the Shop opened by Harry Potter even though the long wait in the lines were a chore.


    Now she was even more certain of her decision to go to Ravenclaw and would ask the hat to send her there if possible though the chances of such a thing happening were rather low considering not general apathy toward books and education in general.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "We''re all sold." Steve declared as he sat down on the sofa in front of him and Harry wondered if he had heard it right.


    "All sold?" he asked and Steve nodded.


    "Yes. Till now we had produced about 3000 MP Lites and 1000 MP Pros. All of them had been sold. We''ve no more Magical Phones left for the masses and have already started to take orders from the witches and wizards." Steve said "Even the muggle parents of the muggleborns bought a fair share of your Phones which was a bit out of our expectations."


    "Anything else?" he asked and Steve nodded.


    "The Veela, Goblins and Werewolves that we hired in our company also bought a lot of our Magical Phones and have shared it with their communities so now we''re receiving even more orders from Clients that we didn''t even knew existed up until now." Steve explained.


    "The goblins themselves have ordered a large batch of 1800 MP Lite for their employees." Steve said "By now we''ve already received orders from about 6700 people whether it be a wizard, a muggle or some a person from some other magical race."


    Harry took a moment to process what Steve had told him and calculated the numbers in his head.


    "Doesn''t that mean that we''ll have enough orders to keep us working for the next 4 months?" he asked and Steve nodded once again.


    "And it''s not like those orders are stopping either." Steve explained "The wizards and witches themselves have a population of about 20,000 if we exclude other races like Vampires and Werewolves. And we don''t know much about the goblins but I''m willing to bet that there must be more than 10,000 goblins living underground in London."


    "So I believe that we''ll have enough orders to last a whole year by the end of this month." Steve said with a frown.


    "That is¡­ a good thing." He said hesitantly. Because even though selling so many products was really a good thing, the problem was that their employees were rather slow in manufacturing those Phones.


    "I need you to do something to increase the speed of production" Steve said and he gave a nod, already thinking about the various ways they could speed up the process of manufacturing each Magical Phone.


    But that was not really an answer as soon enough they''ll have to expand overseas and they couldn''t always increase more employees in order to increase production.


    Such a thing was just not feasible if they wanted to keep up the quality of their product.


    He also thought about creating a machine that could automatically carve small runes on a surface.


    If he succeeded in creating such an automatic machine then that would save a lot of time and man power for the company.


    "I''ll think up of something." He said "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"


    "Yes." Steve nodded "The money from selling all those MP Lites and MP Pros had already earned us about 300,000 galleons and more and more galleons are coming in the company account because of the video call rates of 2 sickle per minute."


    "I don''t I''ve ever seen Scarclaw look so happy as he did when he saw the bank statement of our company this morning." Steve said with a shiver and he wondered what a goblin looked like when it was happy.


    He could only imagine that the sight must be really disconcerting as he himself had never witnessed a ''happy'' goblin.


    "So how much galleons do we have in our company account right now?" he asked and Steve gave him a large grin before saying.


    "About 550,000 galleons. The rest of the money is from the Trolley Bags, library subscriptions and the clothing store that Mera and her friends are working on."


    "Even the book you and Hermione wrote sold more than 3000 copies in the first three days since it''s launch, earning you about 30,000 galleons after excluding the manufacturing price."


    He raised an eyebrow at that before he shook his head at the apparent success of his first book.


    "Send 15,000 galleons to Hermione. No wait. Send her 20,000 galleons. The idea may have been mine but she was one who executed it so she should receive more."


    Steve gave a nod at that, not really thinking about that kind of wealth too much.


    Now that their company had lunched with such great success, they would only get even more success in the future so giving away such small amount of wealth was nothing to him.


    "There''s also the article about your shop in the Daily Prophet" Steve said and they both started chuckling at the thought of the article written by some pureblood fool in the ministry.


    The article told the readers about how the things he sold were changing the tradition of the wizarding world and how that was a bad thing.


    The article was supposed to put a stop to the amount of people coming to his shop but the opposite effect of making people curious so the next day even more people came to his shop in order to check out what the Daily Prophet was talking about.


    There was also an article in the Quibbler about how the clothes that he sold in his Mall would soon come alive and how selling those to the masses was all the part of a conspiracy by him to take over the Magical Britain.


    That article was mildly amusing to him but it was not even compared to the article published by the Witch Weekly which was now claiming him to be the most sought after bachelor in the whole Magical Britain.


    And ever since that article in the Witch Weekly, he had been getting owls upon owls bearing gifts for him from the girls who were not even 10 years old to women who were more than 50 years his senior.


    In fact, it got to the point where he had to task two house elves to take any mail or gift coming for him and put it in a separate room.


    By this point the room was filled to the brim with gifts and he had to open another room which was also half filled with those letters and gifts.


    When this whole thing settles down, he would have hire a few people to sort through those gifts and see if he had received anything useful or not.


    And probably even send a few mails back to their respective owner.


    "But still. The fact that the Daily Prophet is writing such negative articles about us is not really a good thing." Steve said with a slight frown "Even though I''m a muggle, I''m starting to understand a little bit about how the magical government works and I don''t think the purebloods will remain silent for very long if things continue to go like this."


    He nodded at Steve''s words. Steve was right. Sooner or later the purebloods will find some way to attack him because of all the changes he was bringing to their world.


    But he was not worried because he had already created dozens of counter measures for every scenario that might pop up in the future.


    "Don''t worry about them." He ?ssured Steve "If they do something then I''ll deal with them. You just focus on the company and leave everything else to me."


    Steve nodded at his words and got up from his chair "If there''s nothing else?"


    He nodded and Steve left the room, going back to his office with the help of Andromeda''s house elf.


    Author''s Note- This was a rather large chapter and I hope you liked it.


    If you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 132 - Hedwig and Foolish Aurors

    "Hermione." He called and she turned to look at him with an angry expression.


    The fact that he had given her 20,000 galleons while he himself had only taken 10,000 galleons from the profit of the book did not sit well with her.


    She had wanted to give him back 5,000 galleons so that both of them would receive the same amount of profit but he had refused and she had been a bit angry with him ever since.


    The 20,000 galleons that she earned is now kept in the cold confines of a vault deep under the Gringotts Bank.


    20,000 galleons was not a very large amount of money when compared to the other rich purebloods in the society but Harry knew that being his closest subordinate and future girlfriend, she would become rich over time so he had opened a vault in one of the safest place in Gringotts.


    That action itself had cost him about 1,000 galleons and he had not told Hermione about that either in case she refused to put her money in that vault.


    He had thought that her anger over the issue of the money would subside over time but apparently that was not the case as she still remained angry with him over the past few days.


    Which was why he had bought an appropriate gift for her this time.


    A gift that no other girl would ever be able to refuse.


    "What is it Harry?" she asked curtly and he gave her a wide smirk before saying.


    "I brought a gift for you." He told her and she gave him a suspicious glance because of the wide smirk he was sporting.


    "Okay. If you want to bribe me so that I lose my anger over the¡­"


    She could only speak so far before he took the cage from behind his back and presented it to her and she froze.


    "Her name is Hedwig." He said with a grin, her frozen form bringing him more joy then he would have thought "I bought her for you because I knew that you didn''t have a pet."


    "Oh Harry¡­ she''s so beautiful." Hermione cooed as she gently opened the cage and took the small white owl in her arms. "You shouldn''t have." She said with a gentle expression, all her past anger over the money issue gone in the wind.


    "It''s alright. This girl is a bit special and I wanted to have her for myself." He admitted "But I already had Selena so I''m gifting her to you instead. I hope you like her."


    Hermione gently petted Hedwig a few times before tears started falling down her eyes and she quietly kept the little white bird aside before jumping at him with a hug.


    "Thank you Harry. Thank you so much." She said between sniffs "This means a lot to me."


    "It''s alright Hermione" he said and petted her back gently. He had no idea that she would have such an intense reaction to getting Hedwig but who was he to refuse a hug from such a cute girl.


    "It''s alri¡­"


    "Ahem!"


    A loud voice from outside the room interrupted his words and Hermione stepped back from the hug before glaring at her father who was peeping inside the room and glaring at him in return.


    "Dad!" Hermione shouted in protest.


    "No hugging Hermione." Her father replied in return. "And don''t close the door. I''ll be watching you." Dan said while giving him the ''look'' that every father gave their daughter''s boyfriend.


    "Sorry about him." Hermione said with an embarrassed expression at her dad''s antics and shook his head.


    "Nah¡­ Don''t think about it too much. And don''t hesitate to hug me if you ever feel the need to do so." He said with a grin but was surprised when she did indeed hug him once again.


    "Thank you for the gift Harry. You''re the only one who has ever given me any gifts." She said while hugging him and he lightly frowned at her words.


    Had Penelope and Daphne not given her anything?


    Oh well, he''ll talk with them at some later date.


    For now, he just needed to enjoy the comfort brought to him by his hug machine.


    Just as he thought that, his MP Pro started to vibrate in his pocket and he sighed at the timing before taking it out and accepting the call from Mia.


    "What is it Mia?" he asked, knowing fully well that she would not have called him without a proper reason.


    "Harry. Some aurors have come to the shop and are threatening us to close it down. They are also asking for you to present yourself to them. Ted Tonks along with Steve and the other guards are holding them off for now but those aurors seemed pretty determined to close the shop."


    "Is that so. Wait a few moments for me. I''m coming." He said and cut the connection before looking at Hermione who was looking back at him with concerned eyes.


    "Don''t worry. A few idiots won''t be able to close down my shop just like that." He said and kissed her on her forehead before standing up from the bed. Thankful that Dan was not peeping at them again from the outside.


    "I''ll see you later." He said and went out of the wards surrounding the house before apparating away.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    By the time he came to the front of the shop, the situation was already looking pretty bad.


    Five aurors stood on the opposite side with their wands pointed at his Steve, Ted and the other employees.


    The leading auror was someone whom he recognized as John Dawlish from the movies. He was currently in a fierce argument about with Ted Tonks about something while Steve looked on with worried expression.


    Poor guy.


    He would not have seen such intense confrontations back in the muggle world.


    Unfortunately, the magical world was just that corrupt and rotten.


    The auror kept moving his mouth for a little while longer before he realized what had happened and looked around frantically before the auror''s frantic eyes met his.


    He calmly walked in between the two groups and removed the silencing charm. But before the auror could get another word in, he turned to the guards surrounding Steve and Ted.


    "Lower your wands."


    The guards looked uncertainly at each other before they followed his command.


    "Now everyone go back to the shop. Ted, you wait here." He ordered and Steve along with the rest of them gave him a worried look but followed his command nonetheless.


    With that done, he turned to aurors who were now looking apprehensively and asked "Now gentlemen. Let''s talk."


    John Dawlish stared at him for a moment before he said "You will close your shop and then you''ll come with us to the ministry."


    "And why would I do that?" he asked nonchalantly.


    "Because I asked you to." The auror replied.


    "And why would you ask me to come to the ministry with you so spontaneously. I don''t remember breaking any law or performing some kind of injustice."


    "Don''t be a smart ?ss boy. Just come quietly or you''ll regret it." He threatened and Harry let out a yawn before turning to Ted Tonks who was standing on the side.


    "Tell me uncle Ted. If a auror come to me spontaneously and asks to come with him without giving any proper reason. Then would I be breaking some kind of law by not going with him."


    "No. If the auror wants to apprehend you for something then they must give the appropriate reasons and show some kind of evidence in order to apprehend you. And yes, you can refuse to go them to the ministry if they fail to give an appropriate reason for apprehending you."


    "Then I refuse." He said with a shrug while looking at John who was practically fuming at the disrespect he was being shown.


    "If you have nothing else then I must going." He said and turned to leave before John shouted once again.


    "The minister wants you in the ministry boy. Do you think you can just walk away if you want?"


    Harry turned around to face the auror once again and threw him a bored look and said "I was under the ?ssumption that the aurors are only supposed to follow the direct orders from the head of the DMLE or their own seniors during crisis time. I''ve never heard about the Minister having the power to command the aurors." He said and turned to Ted once again "Have the laws regarding such a thing changed recently Uncle Ted?"


    Ted shook his head at his question "Nope. The aurors ?ssigned to the Minister are only supposed to act as his bodyguard and nothing more. To see one of them acting like an errand boy is quite surprising actually."


    The auror bristled at being called an errand boy and pointed his wand at him and snarled "You think you''re pretty smart with your laws and bullshit. Let me tell you another law you brat. Come with me or I''ll blow your brains all over the street."


    Harry watched all of this with a bored expression before he yawned once again.


    "Do it."


    "What?" the auror looked at him shock and incomprehension and he repeated himself.


    "Do it. Blow my brains all over the street. Go on. I''m waiting right here. And I won''t even more." He said and his hands twitched in anticipation of the battle that might occur any moment now.


    "You think I''m joking with you boy." John growled but there was now a look of uncertainty in his gaze.


    By now the people in Diagon Alley had had already noticed the commotion and coming their way, trying to find out what was happening. The aurors of course could not murder the boy-who-lived in cold blood like this.


    "Of course not. Go ahead and show me the law of ''Do what I say or I''ll blow your brains.'' I''m rather curious about how it works."


    Despite the fact that he had not worked on his dueling skills for some time because of the large amount of work he had to do for the company, he was sure that if he used his cloaks and all the other weapons in his possession then he could easily go against Flitwick and come out on top.


    And compared to Flitwick, who had won the International Dueling Championship multiple times, John Dawlish was nothing but a low chump.


    It was not that he was underestimating the auror but he was just that confident in his skills.


    John raised his wand and pointed it at him, looking like he might actually be stupid enough to attack him in but the female auror behind John looked nervously at her leader and said "John. I think this is getting a bit out of hand. I don''t think the minister would¡­"


    "Shut your trap Meledy. If I needed your opinion then I would have asked for it." He shouted and the woman flinched before lowering her wand that had until now been pointed at Ted.


    "What do you think you''re doing Meledy?" John growled and the woman shook her head at his question.


    "You''re making a huge mistake here John. I did not join the auror forces so that we could threaten young boys like this. I''m out."


    "Like hell you are. Who do you think you are you mudblood bitch. Do you think that you can¡­"


    "WHAT''S GOING ON HERE?" a loud voice interrupted his charade as Amilia Bones pushed aside the people crowding around them and entered the scene along with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks.


    "I asked you a question Auror John Dawlish. What do you think you are doing pointing your wand at one of your own collegues?" she asked harshly and the auror flinched under her gaze before he took a deep breath and said "She was not following orders maam."


    "No that''s not¡­" the female auror''s protest was cut off by another harsh gaze by Amelia Bones.


    Damn, the woman must have been the queen of glares.


    "I''ll come back to you." Amelia told the female auror before she turned back to John Dawlish "And what orders did you gave them Auror John?"


    "I told them to apprehend the boy and she refused to give me her support."


    Amelia scrutinized the auror like he was some kind of fool before he asked "And you the help of five aurors to apprehend Mr Potter for whatever crimes he may have committed? Am I hearing that right Auror John?"


    The auror''s cheeks turned red in shame and embarrassment before he gathered his courage and spoke up once again "The target was resisting Madam Bones."


    Amelia turned to look at him this time and asked "Is that correct Mr Potter?"


    He just gave a nonchalant shrug in return to her inquiry "I can deny his claims but then it''ll just be his words against mine. So why don''t you take my memory of this incident instead and we then everything will be clear at once."


    At his words, all the color from John''s face drained instantly and said "There''s no need for that boy. Anyone with a bit of knowledge about memories could tell you that they can be altered so memories are thus not used as evidence in trails."


    Harry gave the man a bored look and said "You''re correct Auror John Dawlish. But anyone who knows anything about memories also know that it takes a lot of time and someone every experienced in the mind arts to change memories like that. None of us here, no matter how experienced in mind arts would have the time required to alter our memories. So there should not be any problem with using them as evidence. Isn''t that correct Madam Bones?"


    Amelia gave him a curt nod and said "You''re correct Mr Potter. However, after you all give me your memory of the incident here, I''ll still have to ask everyone of you to come with me to the DMLE office so that I can take your statements."


    Harry gave a short shrug before he took out the memory from his mind and gave it to Amelia, who surprised him by putting the memory in her MP Pro instead of a vial.


    Huh¡­ he had not known that she had bought a Magical Phone from his company. And to use it like this.


    She was not half bad.


    He gave her a smirk and she gave him a curt nod in reply before taking the memories from John, who was looking rather distressed at this point, Ted Tonks and the other aurors.


    Then they went to the public Floo in order to get to the Ministry.


    They had an auror to fu?k with after all.


    And while none of the people were paying attention to him, he sent another copy of his memory to his own MP Pro and sent it to Steve who would know what to do with the memory.


    He grinned at the thought of what was about to happen.


    Author''s Note- This chapter was twice the length of a normal chapter.


    And yes, Hedwig has joined the group as well.


    Unfortunately, Hedwig won''t be a major or even a minor character in this fanfic as she is not Harry''s familiar and won''t be used all that much because of the invention of Magical Phones.


    Plus, some fluff between Hermione and Harry.


    I know some people don''t like this pairing and I apologize for the people who didn''t like this story because of their pairing.


    I am actually not very good at writing romance and might have gone in the wrong path because of my inexperience.


    Still I hope you guys liked the chapter.


    And yes, if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 133 - Memory Broadcast

    Ginny let out a content sigh and rolled on her bed, playing with one of the MP Lite bought by her parents.


    She had just talked with her eldest brother Bill whom she also loved the most of all her brothers.


    The Magical Phone was truly a piece of art.


    Before this she would only be able to talk with her eldest brother once or twice in a month because he usually worked with the Goblins and those Goblins didn''t generally use Floo.


    It was not that the Goblins could not use Floo but more like they were banned from using it by the Ministry who wanted total control over them.


    But now she didn''t have to wait for the end of the month to talk with her brother.


    She picked up the MP Lite once again before opening the game with the snake and the apples in which the snake grew by eating the apples.


    She had no idea how Harry had created this game but she rather enjoyed playing with it when she was bored.


    She was on the third level of the game when a ''ping'' noise came out of the Phone and she almost dropped it in her surprise.


    Thankfully, she was laying on her bed so even if it fell down, it would not break.


    Plus the people selling these phones that told them that the Phones had been coated with Unbreakable charm so it not break unless someone is trying really really hard to do so.


    She looked at the yellow box that had appeared on to the of her Phone and clicked on it which instantly opened another page in front of her.


    On the top of the page were the words ''Daily Videos'' in bold letters.


    Below it, there was a box with the view of Diagon Alley and some aurors on the left side and a few words on the right side.


    The words read:- "New law by the aurors: Do as we say or we''ll blow your brains"


    Two seconds in the video and she instantly realized that she was seeing everything from Harry Potter''s perspective.


    The video was created in a way that she was able to see the back of his head as he moved forward while still not hindering the viewer''s view from the rest of the things happening in front of her.


    The thought that she was seeing the video from Harry Potter''s perspective alone made her swoon and she felt a bit closer to him because of the video.


    Then as the video progressed, she saw the guards and employees from the ''Magical Goods'' Shop confronting the Aurors about something.


    She frowned and wondered what this was all about as a sick feeling started forming in her stomach and she was reminded of the words of this video at once.


    New law by the aurors: Do as we say or we''ll blow your brains


    She bit her lip and watched in silence as Harry moved forward, took out his wand and waved his it negligently and¡­


    Silence.


    She gasped at the liberal use of the wordless silencing charm used by him.


    But not only did Harry knew how to perform this charm, he also knew how to do it wordlessly.


    Then she thought about it for a while and realized that of course he did.


    He was a genius who had invented the Magical Phone she was currently using so such simple charms should be really easy for him to perform.


    Then she watched with bated breath as Harry took control of the situation like the hero he was and confronted the big bad aurors with such ease that it seemed like he was the grown up in this event and everyone else was a child.


    She frowned when the Aurors told him to close him shop and come with him to the ministry. She frowned even harder when the Auror in the lead said "Let me tell you another law you brat. Come with me or I''ll blow your brains all over the street."


    She felt angry at the auror for treating her Harry like this.


    Who the hell does he think he is to threaten him like this.


    Does he thinks that just because he''s an auror, he could get away with doing anything he wanted?


    But with that anger was also a bit of fear that Harry wouldn''t be harmed in this confrontation.


    She knew that he was Harry Potter. Someone who had killed the Dark Wizard as a child so it was unlikely that he would be harmed but that didn''t changed the fear in her heart as he stood boldly in front of the obviously corrupt auror and told him to ''Do it.''


    To blow his head over the street if he dared.


    And she felt herself falling for him all over again.


    The courage and confidence he was showing was exactly what she had seen him in her dreams.


    Like a hero of the Wizarding world.


    Like it''s savior.


    The confrontation then moved onward among the auror forces as they started to fight amongst each other before Madam Amelia Bones came in and took control of the situation.


    At that point, she saw the corrupted auror lying to the Head of the DMLE through his teeth like an accomplished liar and how he tried his best to stop her Harry from providing the evidence to his threats to him.


    The memory ended when Harry started going toward the fireplace in order to Floo to the Ministry.


    But when she thought that the memory would stop, another scene started to play out in which Harry was sitting in a desk in his Hogwarts robes and looking directly at her.


    Her heart started beating faster and her cheeks flushed and she almost didn''t heard what he said at the start before she got control over her emotions, realizing that he was looking at someone else whose memory she was seeing right now and not her.


    She felt a bit dejected at that realization but still focused on his words.


    "Auror John Dawlish was suspended from the auror forces and demoted by one rank. A light tap on the wrist when you realize the gravity of his crimes."


    "So within a week''s worth of time, this Auror John Dawlish would come back and join the auror forces once again and get the free reign to do as he wished according to his new law of ''Do as I say or I''ll blow your brains.''"


    "Today, it has happened to me. Tomorrow, it could happen to you. Any of you."


    "He could simply come to your home and order you around while holding you at the wand point because he the power of the ministry behind him and he now knows that he could get away with doing whatever he wants with a simple one week of Suspension."


    "Or worse. He could do it with your children like how he did it with me. I was able to stand up against him but not every child is capable of standing against an ?du?t wizard who has a wand pointed at him or her."


    She felt a bit fearful as she realized that yes, if that auror had pointed the wand at her and threatened her like that then she really would not have been able to muster up enough courage to go against him.


    The fear took deep roots in her heart as she wondered if anyone in the auror forces could actually be trusted at all.


    Was she she even safe in her own home when Aurors like these were prowling outside.


    The thought made her fearful but Harry continued so she listened.


    "Citizens of Magical Britain. Tell me how you would have felt if your children were threatened like that. My mother and father died in the last war opposing Voldemort" she flinched at the name " but I know that if they were alive then they would have fought this auror just like they had fought the death eaters in order to protect me."


    She felt a bit sad at the realization that his parents had died in the last war and that he was technically an orphan which was probably also why he was forced to grow up so fast.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen. I ask you. Do you truly feel safe when Aurors like these who are supposed to protect us from threats, threatens us instead. Or do we now need someone else to protect us from these aurors instead."


    "Who keeps these aurors accountable? Who makes sure that they are doing their jobs properly and not threatening the magical population behind closed doors?"


    "Is this why we fought against the Dark Lord in the last war? So that we could put corrupt and malicious people like him in charge."


    "Is there any auror in the Ministry that''s even worthy of our trust."


    "As a citizen of the Magical Britain, it pains me to see that the ministry has fallen so low that they''re now hiring ruffians and thugs like these."


    "The last time I checked, I realized that the minister had cut most of the fundings going to DMLE in fear that they might usurp his position which is why Madam Amelia Bones is so desperate to even keep people like these under her service."


    "As a citizen of the Magical Britain, I ask you this¡­"


    "Are you truly happy with this situation at hand. Or do you want a change brought to this corrupt system?"


    And with those parting words, the memory ended and in the silence that followed, the question he had asked continued to resonate in her mind before she realized that she was too young to be thinking about such hard things.


    So she shouted.


    "MOM!"


    Author''s Note:- A bit dramatic, I know. But having a media in your hand has always been a great way to spread your propaganda. Especially when you have the moral high ground.


    And sorry for the delay in upload. My sister came up with a high fever today and I had to spent the whole day in the Hospital because of that.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pet.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 134 - Reactions

    Minerva closed the memory and reminisced about the last war that they had won by luck.


    When they won the last war, had they truly sought to strive for a peace like this.


    A peace in which the Aurors take the place of the death eaters and threaten 11 year old boys in the middle of the street instead.


    No. She had not fought for a peace like this.


    She was not happy with a situation like this.


    She wanted the corrupt system to change.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Flitwick kept the Phone down and rubbed his tired eyes.


    He had known that the Auror forces were corrupt but to threaten the Boy-who-lived in the middle of the Diagon Alley?


    He wondered when had their society had fallen this low.


    Even during the last war, the aurors were at least trying to Voldemort even thought they failed miserably at that task.


    But now. Now the aurors were the ones threatening the citizens instead.


    He had not fought in the last war so that they could be led by a corrupt government.


    He was not happy or even satisfied with a situation like this.


    Yes, he wanted some change being brought in the ministry.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When he was first introduced to the Magical Phone, the idea that it could be used as a form of mass means of communication had not even crossed his mind.


    But Harry shown his terrifying genius once again and done what he could not have even thought about.


    He had created a substitute of the Daily Prophet in the form of a memories.


    And after seeing the memory, he knew that this form of media would gain more viewers than the Daily Prophet. Especially among the younger generation who now only saw the newspaper as a rag.


    He also knew what Harry was doing by creating this kind of memory.


    He was trying to rouse the sleeping population of the Wizarding world that had so far been blinded by the lies of the Ministry.


    He was not sure if this would be a bad thing or a good thing for the Magical Britain as he knew that the revolution that Harry was trying to bring could ofter lead to blood baths.


    But he did agree that the corrupt ministry definitely needed a change.


    He rubbed his temple and Fawkes begin to sing a melodious song, uplifting his mood and spirits.


    A great change was coming. He could sense it.


    And just like he had done before, he would try to lead the masses to a path with the least blood, so that once the storm passes, there would actually be some people left to carry on.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Lucius closed the Phone and growled. His wife, who was sitting beside him and had watched the whole memory alongside him remained silent.


    He appreciated that.


    Narcissa was a smart woman and knew when he wanted to listen to her advice and when he wanted to think on his own. Something that he didn''t even knew himself.


    "That was a smart move on his part." He said after a long silence."


    "Indeed." She replied "Though I had not thought that the Auror would be so crass as to threaten Harry Potter in the middle of Diagon Alley."


    "Not crass my love." He replied " ''Crass'' is such a light word. The thing that the auror did was downright stupid. Even if this¡­ memory had not been sent to us, I would not have been surprised to see this incident being published on the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow morning."


    He had no doubt that they were not the only ones to receive this memory and that this memory must have been sent to everyone who now held a Magical Phone.


    He had not thought that the Magical Phones could be used like this and realized that Harry Potter was a true genius to think up of a way to mass communicate with other people like this.


    In fact, the boy had created a whole new media on his own by sending this memory to everyone.


    He wondered if this was why the boy had sold these Magical Phones so cheaply.


    Well, 250 galleons for a single MP Pro was not really cheap by any means but the Phone was such a sophisticated and amazing invention that they boy could have sold them for double or even triple the price and the masses would have still bought them.


    Had the boy known that he would be able to create a private news media for himself by this.


    If he had, then the boy was truly a terrifying existence.


    He needed to find a way to get close to the boy.


    The boy might be a filthy halfblood born from a muggleborn whore but he was definitely a genius born once in a century.


    And it was not like the boy would have rejected an offer from the Malfoy Family.


    He also wondered if he would be able to buy some shares of the Magical Goods company.


    From what he knew, so far, Harry Potter had 100% of the shares in the company.


    If he could get his hands on some of those then he would also be able to influence the company and get his hands on not only the wealth being generated by the company but also this new form of mass media.


    He hummed and gently rubbed his wife''s hand, wondering how he should go about acquiring those shares.


    Should he send Draco to befriend the boy-who-lived and proceed from there.


    Yes, that seemed like a good idea.


    Draco had told him that they had a bit of a rivalry going on in the school and he knew from experience that such rivals could easily be turned into friends.


    Yes, he would send Draco to befriend the boy-who-lived as soon as the new term starts.


    Author''s Note:- Yup. I don''t think that people would like it very much if the truth that an Auror threatened the Boy-Who-Lived got out.


    This chapter is a bit short (1100 words) but I hope you liked it.


    And if you love my work and want to support it, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 135 - Outrage

    Fred and George, along with the rest of their family crowded around their mom as she watched the memory of Harry Potter confronting the Auror named John Dawlish, going through different emotions as the memory continued


    When he had used the wordless silencing charm, they had gasped in shock.


    When he taken control of the situation and sent the guards and employees back to the shop, they had felt respect and admiration for the younger boy.


    When the Auror had so blatantly threatened to blow his brains right in the middle of Diagon Alley, they had felt appalled and disgusted, realizing that their father must have to deal with people like these in the ministry on a daily basis.


    When Madam Amelia Bones had arrived in the scene, they had felt relieved.


    When they later heard that the Auror was only suspended for a week on demoted one rank, they had felt angry.


    When Harry talked about his parents who had died fighting against You-Know-Who, they felt sad.


    When he talked about Aurors attacking children, they had both glanced at Ginny and felt worried.


    And finally, when Harry had asked them about change, they had both agreed that the whole wizarding society needed to change.


    The way the wizards treated other magical species was just not right.


    And soon as the memory ended, they looked at each other, wondering what they should do next.


    They knew that they were still only kids so it was unlikely that they would be able to do anything drastic when they suddenly realized why this memory was sent to them in the first place.


    Harry wanted people to know the truth behind his confrontation with the Corrupt auror and he clearly wanted to bring some kind of change in the ministry as well.


    And they knew that a few of their friends whose parents had still not bought the Magical Phones.


    Not to mention their friendly neighbor Xeno Lovegood who at this point might have even forgotten that he had bought a Magical Phone for himself.


    Yes, they needed to share this with as many people as possible.


    So they asked their mum for the phone by telling her of their intention and once she had agreed with them, they had taken the phone and went to the Fireplace, intending on going to each one of their friends'' house just in case.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Tom looked at the commotion going on in this bar and frowned.


    It was not the first time that drunken wizards had caused such in commotion in his bar but something was different this time.


    Because this time, instead of throwing punches and chair at each other or throwing curses and hexes at each other, they surrounding a single table in the middle of the bar and shouting loudly about something.


    He went to the customers who were all surrounding a old man who was holding onto a MP Lite that he had also bought for himself.


    He wondered what they had seen in the Phone that had caused such a commotion among his customers.


    He looked at old Martha who was sitting on the side and smoking pipe with no concern for the world around her and asked "Martha. What is this commotion about?"


    She gave him an unimpressed look, making him feel like a young boy asking a foolish question to his teacher and kept looking at him like that for a long moment before she replied "You have that¡­ thing, that Phone that everyone seems to be buying these day?"


    He gave a nod and she took out the pipe from her mouth and blew some smoke on his face "Then look at yourself you damn fool."


    Does she not know that you can only talk with a single person in the Phone at a time.


    Whoever his customers had been talking to would not be someone he be able to talk to so there was no point in checking his phone.


    But he decided to indulge the old woman who was probably one of the oldest customer in his bar and took out the MP Lite from behind his bar before unlocking it''s screen.


    He had not really expected to see something in the Phone which was why he was so surprised when he saw a yellow box appearing on the top of his Phone screen.


    He tapped on the box which took him to the memory which he guessed was the reason behind the commotion in the bar.


    He clicked on the memory and after watching it all in silence, he finally understood why the people in the bar were looking so enraged.


    Because these were same people who had suffered the most in the last war and were consecutively also the most grateful to Harry Potter for vanquishing You-know-who.


    To know that their savior was being treated like this in the middle of Diagon Alley by some two bit Auror must have enraged them to no end.


    As soon as he understood the reason behind the commotion, he also understood that in some way, this was worse than the normal commotions where various fights break out in his bar, resulting in his cutlery and furniture being broken en masse.


    A mob that would have all of it''s anger directed toward the ministry.


    And he could not see such a thing ending peacefully for anyone.


    So he quickly started thinking up of a way to take control over the situation at hand, not realizing that it was already too late for that.


    Author''s Note:- Sorry about the short chapter and the late upload. But here are the two chapters for the day :)


    Hope you like this chapter.


    And if you like my work and want to support me then please do so at- pat.reon.com/anki1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 136 - Youre Fired

    Amelia Bones looked at the memory for the 10th time and let out a tired sigh before a knock was suddenly heard on her door.


    "Come in." She said and the door opened to reveal four aurors. Rufus Scrimgeour, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymhpadora Tonks and last but not the least the reason behind his latest headache, John Dawlish himself.


    She restrained the urge to strangle the corrupt auror that was giving such a bad name to their whole office and gave a nod to Rufus who returned it with a curt nod of his own before entering the room with hasty steps.


    He sat on the seat across her while the other three aurors remained standing behind him. Though the fact that Kingsley and Tonks were standing a step behind John in order to always keep him in their sight was not missed by her.


    "Amelia. We need to deal with this situation as soon as possible." Rufus stated, not mincing his words in the least.


    "Deal with what situation exactly. The situation in which our reputation now lies in ruins. The situation in which one of our aurors follows the ministers orders like a loyal ??pdog. Or the situation in which there''s mob standing outside the ministry and demanding John Dawlish''s head."


    "Auror John Dawlish." He reminded her.


    "Not anymore." She replied and passed him the parchment which stated that John was now effectively being removed from the Auror department.


    But because of the low number of aurors in her department and the fact that they had so little funding and couldn''t afford to lose any more manpower, she had made the critical mistake of giving him a rather light punishment.


    A decision which she was now regretting wholeheartedly.


    Rufus looked at the preachment and grimaced "If we remove an auror from our department on the words of a boy then we''ll look weak."


    "That boy¡­ is none other than Harry Potter. Who is at this point one of the richest self made teenager and the President of the largest company in Magical Britain. And John Dawlish went and threatened to blow his brains for no reason in the middle of the street. Then he had the gall to lie to my face when I asked him to report the situation." She snarled "I don''t care whether we look weak or not, I''ll not have an Auror like him in the auror department a moment longer. This decision is something I should have made the moment I saw Harry Potter''s memories. It was my decision to give him the light punishment and keep him in the auror force regardless of his misdeeds."


    "I''ll now correct that mistake while I''ll accept all the repercussions that come with it."


    "What are you talking about?" Rufus asked with a slight frown on his hard face.


    "I''ll be effectively be stepping down from my post as the Head of the DMLE." She said and Kingsley and Tonks instantly started protesting her decision.


    "I''ll not be swayed in this matter Kingsley, Tonks." She said as she looked at two of the best aurors in the department. "So please don''t try."


    "But maam. You cannot leave us like his." Tonks said with a pout and Amelia almost smiled at her childish behaviour. Almost.


    But she had to maintain her stern facade so she threw a blank stare at her until she started fidgeting before she said "No Tonks. I made a mistake and now I need to pay for it."


    "If I may Madam Bones?" Kingsley said after a short silence and she gave him a nod, already knowing that he would try to think of a logical way to make her stay regardless of her mistake.


    He had always been one of the most calm headed and logical auror which was why he was so valuable.


    "If you leave your post now then that would not help the situation. In fact, that would make the situation even worse." He said with a grim expression and she rose an eyebrow at his statement.


    "Continue." She said.


    "Harry Potter had already told the public that the Minister of Magic has already cut down the funding of the Auror department by a huge amount. And he has already claimed that you did what you did because you were desperate to hold onto the last few aurors serving the ministry which is true." He said "So if you leave your post at this crucial moment then the public most likely think that you''re being made a scapegoat by the Minister and are being forced to abdicate your position which would not go down well with them at all."


    "So I don''t think that leaving your post right now is a good decision at the moment." He concluded "And if you still think that you need to atone for your mistake then just keep doing your job as you''ve been doing for the past few years. That''s all we could ask of you."


    Amelia thought about his words for a long moment before realizing that his words indeed made sense.


    So she gave a nod and said "Very well then Kingsley. You''ve persuaded me to stay so I won''t be leaving my post. By John Dawlish still needs to go and I want the news to be published in the front page in tomorrow morning Daily Prophet Edition."


    "But madam Bo¡­" Dawlish started but she stopped him with a glare.


    "No more excuses from you Dawlish. I may have never found a concrete evidence but it was a open secret in the department that you were in the minister''s pocket ever since you were ?ssigned as his personal bodyguard. The made you bold and you made a lot of mistakes which I ignored. But now you''ve crossed the line and I cannot ignore this any longer."


    "You''re fired."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Cornelius fidgeted in his seat Dolores Umbridge brought any evidence that could even remotely connect him to the disgraced auror John Dawlish.


    He had always considered that man a fool which was why he had also been so easily roped in to become his grunt.


    But that foolishness along with the power that he got from having a minister on his back made the man even more reckless.


    That fool should have realized that even having a minister in your back doesn''t mean that you''ll be able to get away with doing anything.


    Being the minister himself, he knew that fact better than anyone else. Which was also why he usually kept his head low and only showed himself to the public when he needed to take credit or give rewards to other people.


    Such positive actions made sure that PR always remained on the positive side. Something that he always strived for,


    And because of that, he had decided to meet with Harry Potter to make his acquaintance once he realized how highly influential the boy was becoming.


    After all, the boy may have been a genius but he was not an omnipotent being.


    Which was why he had sent John Dawlish to invite the boy.


    But the foolish auror had somehow learned that the boy had werewolves working in his company and had taken his order the wrong way. Thinking that he needed to subjugate and bring the boy to the ministry cells no matter what.


    The sad thing was that even after that huge blunder John Dawlish had made in Diagon Alley, he would still have been able to hide this incident under the rug.


    Amelia knew that Dawlish worked under him and would not knowingly take action against the Auror in fear that he would lower the funds sent to sustain their auror force even more.


    As for the Daily Prophet, he had good relations with the editor in that newspaper an a few backroom deals would have made sure that the incident never made it to the public.


    But now, this happened.


    He had to admit that the boy was a true genius to be able to use the Magical Phones in such way.


    But because of the blunder made by the foolish auror, now it would be even harder for him to create friendly relations with the boy-who-lived.


    He was very good at such things.


    But first, he needed to find every evidence that connected him with the Auror and erase that evidence. Then he would have to go out in the public and discredit the fool to make sure that the public understood that he had no hands in this incident even though he was mentioned a few times in the memory sent to everyone.


    And if the boy refused to come to his side, then he would have to find some way to destroy his reputation.


    After all, with the invention of the Magical Phones and him having 100% shares in the Magical Goods company made sure that the boy would only become even more influential in the future.


    He the boy would either join him or he would be destroyed.


    There would be no middle ground.


    Author''s Note:- Once again Conelius burns some bridges in order to save his own hide while looked self-righteous while doing so.


    I don''t know much about politicians but I guess this is what happens in real life as well.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 137 - Evidence against corrupt officials

    Harry opened the various gates installed outside the prison before he opened the last iron gate filled with runic arrays and entered the cell.


    "Hello Rita." He said with a smile and the woman sleeping on the floor glared at him weakly. He could see that the lack of food, water and proper bed was showing his effects as the reporter was not cursing him with her surprisingly foul mouth.


    "What do you want?" she asked weakly and he smirked.


    "Information." He said maintaining the smirk and he could practically hear her grinding her teeth in frustration.


    "You won''t get anything from me."


    "Very well then." He said with a shrug "I''ll come back after a few days then we''ll see if you''re willing to give some information for better accommodations."


    He turned around and started walking away, waiting for her to call him back and just as he was about to cross the iron gates he heard her frustrated growl before she spoke.


    "Wait¡­ Please. Wait." She begged and he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.


    Unlike what his activities might suggest, he was not a fan of torturing people. Even while experimenting on them, he made sure to numb their senses so that they won''t feel much pain.


    So torturing Rita Skeeter by leaving her in a dark cell where she couldn''t even see her own hands and by not giving her enough food and water rubbed him the wrong way.


    But this woman had been particularly vicious and uncaring with her writing, not thinking about how much problems her articles could cause other people so he did not felt that guilty about doing this to her.


    Well, he had also told her that he would give her better accommodation and better food if she just


    gave him some information.


    Information like the location of all the death eater''s homes.


    Evidence of corruption from the top level leaders in the Ministry like Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, etc.


    And any other information that might be helpful to him in the future.


    If she had cooperated with him then she would have never suffered in the first place.


    "Are you ready to give me what I want?" he asked and she hesitantly nodded.


    He knew that he was essentially taking away her hard work but just as he had said previously, she was a vicious woman so he didn''t felt to guilty about taking advantage from her hard work.


    "Yes. I''ll give you what you want." She said as she stood up on shaky legs "But can I get some food and water first?" she begged.


    And after looking at the desperation on her face, almost gave in to her request.


    Almost


    "No." He said while shaking his head "Information first. Food later. And don''t try to lie to me, I''ll know." He said as a warning and she meekly nodded.


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


    "I want to know everything about Cornelius Fudge that you could tell me." He said "I know that he does not like you because of the article you wrote about him in Daily Prophet some years ago. But he has still not taken any action against you so that must mean that you have some secret that he doesn''t want to get out."


    "Plus, he''s a corrupt official so there''s no way that you could have missed the chance to dig up some dirt on him."


    "So I want to know everything that you know about him. If you can provide me with evidence of his crimes or corruption then that would be even better." He said "Do this and I''ll give you enough food and water to last you a week."


    "Only a week?" she shouted with energy that he didn''t she had.


    "Do you have any idea how hard I''ve worked to gather evidence on that scumbag so that he would not take any actions against me. Do you?" she said bitterly and he could almost hear the cracks in her voice.


    He hoped she won''t start crying all of a sudden.


    That would just make him pity her even more and make the whole experience rather unpleasant.


    "No. And I frankly don''t care. You can either take it or leave. It''s your decision." He said in a cold voice, hoping that she would not start crying.


    And thankfully, she didn''t.


    It didn''t take long after that for him to get a few memories of Cornelius being bribed by other people and making backroom deals with people that clearly showed him using his power as a minster for his own gains.


    After that was done, he carefully stored those memories in his MP Pro and left the cell before closing each and every door carefully and apparated away from the underground prison he had created especially for people with animagus abilities


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Why are you looking so happy Aunty?" Susan Bones asked as her aunt read the Daily Prophet with a smile on her face.


    Her aunt was usually a rather serious person so seeing her smile all of a sudden must mean that there must be some really good news in the newspaper.


    At her question, her aunt looked at her with a smile and passed the newspaper to her and as soon as she read the newspaper, she instantly understood everything.


    The article then told her about how John Dawlish was found to be knee deep in corrupting yesterday after they conducted a search on the man and how he was now being fired from his duty as an Auror.


    It also said a bit more crap about how Minister Fudge was very disheartened to see such a capable man fall to corruption.


    Even without reading it any further, she could tell that Cornelius Fudge had bribed the Daily Prophet to write this article so that he won''t be seen in bad light by the people.


    Her aunt had told her exactly what kind of person he was and being so corrupt himself, all of his statements sounded hypocritical.


    But that was not why her aunt was so happy.


    Indeed, in the lower half of the newspaper was another smaller heading with the words:- Minister Fudge increases the funding of the Auror office.


    Of course, with the public baying for blood, he had to be seen doing something and this time, it meant that he would have to give more funding to the aurors so that was not particularly surprising.


    Still, this was good news for her Aunt.


    Cornelius had always been afraid of the amount of support that her Aunt and Rufus Scrimgeour got in the Ministry.


    That was why he had decreased the funding of the auror office so that they won''t have enough men to plan a coup even though any sane man could tell you that neither Amelia Bones nor Rufus Scrimgeour would ever do such a thing.


    After reading the whole article, she gave the newspaper back to her aunt and went back to eating her breakfast.


    All the while thinking about her genius, elusive classmate who had started this whole event and whose involvement had gotten an Auror kicked out of the office and had gained her Aunt the funds that her office needed.


    Author''s Note:- Here we see some positive change in the wizarding world because of Harry''s indirect interference.


    All actions have consequences whether we see it with our own eyes or not. And despite the fact that Harry didn''t cared all that much about the pure blood society, his effects will also benefit the light side from time to time.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 138 - Taking over other shops in Diagon Alley

    Jin Karther was not having a good day.


    Hell, he was not having a good week.


    And this was the week in which most of his merchandise was sold, it was likely that he was not going to have a good year either.


    Jin was the owner of the shop that sold Magical Trunks in Diagon Alley.


    In fact, his was the only shop that sold trunks in all of Magical Britain just like how Olivander was the only one who sold Wands.


    The profession was in his blood and the trunks were something that his family had be selling for generations in this very shop.


    The very shop which was now filled with trunks which should have already been sold out by this time in any other year.


    But this year, that genius brat Harry Potter had opened a shop in Diagon Alley as well.


    A shop that also sold Magical Trunks that the other people seemed to like more than his. Well, the ones that they sold were not technically trunks but trolley bags instead.


    He had seen those bags. Hell, he had bought one of them himself and brought it home with him to check on it see how it worked.


    And the charms and runes put in that bag were highly sophisticated and for the lack of a better word¡­ new in his opinion.


    Not that it was a bad thing. In fact, once he had gotten over his bruised ego, he had quickly realized that the Trolley bags from the Magical Goods Shop were far better than the ones in his own shop.


    That thought irked him to no end and he quickly understood why the people bought his Trolley Bags instead of his trunks.


    Well, aside from the fact that the Trolley bags were also lighter, better looking and easier to travel around with then his trunks.


    The problem with this whole situation was that he had relied too much on the teaching of his father and grandfather and had not given much thought to progressing in his craft.


    If he had tried to make his trunks better when he was younger then maybe by now his own trunks would have been able to compete with the newer Trolley bags but now it was too late.


    Not to mention that before that shop opened, there was no other competition in the market and so he hadn''t even thought of trying to make better magical trunks.


    That kind of thinking had now come back to bite him in the ?ss and he didn''t liked the result of his previous inaction.


    If things continued to progress like this, then he would easily lose his shop within three years.


    Not to mention that he didn''t wanted to get on the bad side of Harry Potter whose simple words caused a whole mob to form outside the Ministry just two days ago.


    So with no solution in sight, he finally decided to go and visit the rival shop owner whose Trolley Bags had driven him to the corner.


    Maybe they would be able to come to some kind of mutual agreement that would not force him to go bankrupt.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When Jin went to the Magical Goods shop once again and asked to meet the inventor of the Trolley Bags to the receptionists, she pointed him to another room that he had not noticed before.


    He opened the door and saw that it was a receptionist room which was similar to the one outside the Minister''s office but better.


    He was rather surprised to see the owner of Florish & Botts as well as the owner of Slug & Jiggers Apothecary were waiting there as well.


    And he had a pretty good idea as to why they were here.


    The new library opened inside the Mall must have decreased the business of the Florish & Botts shop while the potions sold by Andromeda were far better than the potions sold in Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.


    There was also the fact that now that Harry Potter has started selling his own books in the mall and has opened up a library, how long will it take for him to open books shop.


    He was sure that if such a thing happened then the owner of Florish & Botts would be in a worse condition than him.


    He had a feeling that the only reason why Madam Malkin was not here as well was because the Clothing shops in the mall did not sold Hogwarts robes and only focused on muggle clothes instead.


    When he had first heard about the clothing shop, the idea of a wizarding shop selling muggle clothes had seemed preposterous to him.


    After all, why would any witch or wizard buy muggle clothes when they could buy more dignified Magical Robes instead.


    But the long line of customers that had stood outside that shop the last time he had visited the mall clearly indicated that the muggleborns and halfbloods didn''t think that way.


    That was also the day he realized that being a pureblood and living in a pureblood dominated society had made him blind to the likes and dislikes of the witches and wizards connected with the muggles.


    Perhaps that was also why a halfblood boy was able to invent the Trolley Bags while he kept crafting the old trunks.


    The three of them kept sitting in silence for a long while, neither of them willing to initiate the conversation when the door to the office finally opened.


    Jin could instantly tell that this man was someone important even though he had no idea who the man actually was.


    He straightened his back and looked directly in the man''s eyes who nodded in approval and told them to take a seat.


    "There''s no need for introduction." The man said as soon as they sat down. "I already know who all of you are. You''re the owner of the Bookstore, you''re the guy who sold potions and potion ingredients and you''re the one who makes those heavy trunks." The man said while pointing at them one by one.


    He felt a bit irritated at being called the ''One who makes those heavy trunks'' because he had never thought of his trunks a heavy.


    When he was young his father had told him that the heavier a trunk was, the sturdier it would be and the sturdier it would be, the more charms and runes you could apply on it and the longer it would last.


    But his father had also warned him to not make the trunks too heavy as that would make them a chore to carry around and he had always made sure to follow his father''s words to the letter and only made trunks which were not too light yet too heavy.


    Plus only a few people had ever complained about his trunks being heavy and all those people had been muggleborns so he had not put much thought behind their words.


    But after seeing the light Trolley Bag, he realized with some trepidation that his trunks were indeed far more heavy than their counterparts which was why he stayed silent and didn''t interrupt the man.


    There was also the fact that the man seemed like a no nonsense kind of guy and seemed to value his time a lot so interrupting him for something like that didn''t seemed like a good idea either.


    Since the three of the didn''t said anything, the man started speaking.


    And continued speaking for the next five minutes.


    The jist of his speech was pretty simple.


    The man knew that there shops were shops were in trouble. They knew that their shops were in trouble. And there was nothing that they would be able to do about it.


    They might have been in business for a long time but they would not be able to compete against their company.


    The man''s words rang true but the truth was a hard pill to swallow so before the black haired man could even complete his words, the owner of the Slug & Jiggers Apothecary stood up angrily and left the room, making sure to close the door rather forcefully before he left.


    Surprisingly, the black hair man only paused for a second because of the noise before he continued speaking like nothing had happened and Jin wondered if the man even valued their talents all that much.


    The man finally stopped his long speech by giving them the option of either working for their company and getting a good salary or clinging on to their dwindling business until the end and going bankrupt.


    Jin was very, very surprised when the Owner of Florish & Botts instantly jumped at the chance of closing his shop and working for the new book store being opened in the Mall.


    Turned out that the owner of the Florish & Botts had lost all his savings from the shop to other people due to his habit of excessive gambling and now he was already close to getting bankrupt.


    So instead of letting this opportunity slip by him, he had grabbed onto it firmly and didn''t seemed to want to let go of it anymore.


    The black haired man seemed pleased with this before he turned to face him.


    He rubbed his chin for a while, thinking about the proposition given to him.


    He knew that he would not be able to compete with the Trolley bags because of their highly evolved design but he didn''t want to let go of his shop either.


    "In need some time to think about this decision." He said somberly and the man gave a nod before ringing the bell kept at his desk.


    Soon enough a secretory opened the door and Steve Jobs gave him a nod and said "You have three days to think about the proposition Mr Jin. My secretory will escort you out."


    Jin looked at the beautiful woman who gave him a smile and motioned him to come with her.


    He gave the woman a tentative smile back before getting one last look of the room where the owner of Florish & Botts was now carefully reading a parchment.


    Then the door closed behind him and he quickly started thinking about one of the most important decisions of his life.


    Author''s Note:- Whenever something new is invented in our world, something old becomes obsolete.


    Just like how when electric bulb was invented and table lamps became old fashioned and vanished from our society with time, I believe the same thing will happen if someone introduces new inventions in the Magical World.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting met at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 139 - Dobby

    "Harry, you''re coming with me." Hermione shouted excitedly and he smiled before giving her a hug.


    "Yes Hermione. I''ll be coming with you to the station." He said with a sigh before turning to Dan and Emma "If you two don''t a problem with it."


    Dan looked like he was about to say something but Emma cut off her husband before pulling him into a gentle hug as well "Of course not. You''re always welcome in our home Harry."


    "But Harry. What about your company?" Hermione asked tentatively.


    "Steve told me that he has everything in hand and he told me not to worry about the company. Plus, I''m the face of the company now so I need to show my face to the public a few times every week." He said with a grimace and Hermione''s eyes widened.


    "Is that why you''re coming with us Harry?"


    "Yup." He gave her a tired smile "There are probably a few reporters already waiting for me in the train station. If I don''t get there in time then it might paint a bad image of me. And a bad image of me means a bad image for the company. So yeah. From now on, I need to take care of my public image and not punch Malfoy in the face when he tries something funny."


    "Harry." Hermione chastised him for that and Dan looked like he was holding in his words while Emma simply smirked at the two of them.


    "What? Don''t tell me you''ve never wanted to punch him." He said and Hermione blushed.


    "It''s¡­ it''s not the same thing."


    "To me it¡­"


    The sound of apparition alerted him of the intruder and he turned around to see a house elf whom he knew well enough from the movie standing in front of him.


    "Master Harry Potter must not¡­" that was as far as he went before the wards around the house f?r??b?? ejected the house elf out of the house.


    The house elf was thrown out of the wards and went tumbling down a few feet before it came to a stop.


    Ahh¡­ he had almost forgotten about Dobby and how he tried to stop the original Harry Potter from attending the school in the movie.


    "Harry, who was that?" Hermione asked while pointing a finger at the house elf who seemed to rather disoriented from being f?r??b?? ejected by the wards.


    "Just the friend of my house elf Hermione" he lied because he could see that the sudden emergence of the house elf had disturbed the girl. "There''s nothing to worry about. You know how those house elves are. Gentle creatures who won''t hurt a fly." He said with a smile while giving a gentle squeeze to her palm and she calmed down a little as a result.


    "But what did he want?" she asked and he gave a shrug.


    "I''ll go and ask him." He said and turned to Dan "If I''m late then you can leave for the station and I''ll catch up with you there."


    Before Dan could reply he turned and walked toward the house elf who was now rubbing a cut on his forehead.


    That is why you don''t try to f?r??b?? enter a place that is warded against apparition.


    "You''re Dobby. Lucius Malfoy''s house elf. Correct?" he asked as he kneeled in front of the house elf.


    He remembered how the house elf died while trying to help the original Harry Potter in the movies and had a good impression of him.


    And because of that, he would find some way to free Dobby from his master this time as well.


    House elves were loyal beings and he wanted as many loyal people around him as possible.


    "Great Master Harry Potter knows Dobby''s name." The house elf said as tears started forming in his eyes "Dobby is not worthy of such honor." That was as far as he went before he openly started to cry before wiping his nose from his own cloth.


    Harry grimaced. Only now did he remember that despite his loyalty, this particular house elf was rather eccentric.


    Not that the other house elves were much different as they too were prone to crying if you treated them with respect.


    He wondered if it would really be worth it to keep the house elf around him once he frees him from Lucius Malfoy.


    Oh well, he''ll cross the bridge at some later date.


    How the school would be dangerous for him and how he should not go to school this year.


    Harry tried to tell the house elf that he would be safe but Dobby didn''t listen to his words and left after realizing that the conversation was not going anywhere.


    Harry sighed as the house elf left and turned to find that Dan, Emma and Hermione were still waiting for him in their car.


    "Thanks for waiting for me." He said as he entered the car and sat with Hermione on the back seat.


    Dan adjusted center mirror so that he could keep an eye on both him and Hermione and gave a nod. No doubt keeping an eye on him so that he doesn''t try anything funny with his daughter.


    Harry found the situation rather hilarious because he and Hermione were still only 12 years old but didn''t comment about it.


    No need to antagonize his future father in law needlessly.


    Dan gave him one last look before starting the engine and they started their journey to the train station.


    Author''s Note:- It feels a bit weird to me when I see house elves being treated like dirt by the Purebloods in the movie considering how they are the most loyal beings on the planet and would do anything for their masters.


    But that''s just my two cents.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 140 - Elite of the Pureblood Society

    "There''s a weird magic around the pillar." Selena hissed in his ears and he frowned before realizing what she meant.


    "Wait!" he said and quickly stopped Hermione who was about to run toward through the pillar.


    "What?" she asked curiously as he let go of her hand and walked forward.


    "Selena says that someone has tempered with the entrance to Platform number 9 3/4." He said and pushed his trolley bag toward the Pillar where it encountered resistance and stopped moving forward instead of going through.


    "See." He said and Hedwig hooted from her cage as if agreeing with him and he smiled at the little


    snowy white owl.


    "But Harry. How''ll we go to Hogwarts if we can''t catch the train" she asked, panicking a little bit and he wondered if she had forgotten that he could simply apparate them their.


    Seriously. This girl needs to stop panicking so much when faced with unexpected situations.


    Or so he thought before he realized that he was judging the 12 year old Hermione based on the 17 year old one he had seen in the movie who had fought in a war against Voldemort.


    He gave her a calm smile and said "Don''t worry. It''s nothing that I can''t take care of."


    With that he moved his hand in front of the pillar, willing his magic to remove Dobby''s magic from the Platform Pillar and his magic followed his command.


    He gave her a small smile before pushing his trolley bag through the pillar in and out a few times.


    "See." He smiled "All done."


    Hermione cheered up and they both entered the platform.


    Only to meet with a group of reporters that fell on him like a pack of hyenas.


    He frowned inwardly because some of them were getting really close to him and he was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable but on the outside, he gave a smile to all the reporters.


    It won''t do to have a photo of him wearing a frown if any one of camera man following the reporters decided to sell the photos to the Daily Prophet.


    Still, he didn''t wanted Hermione to feel uncomfortable so he was about to cover both of them with the Shroud of Concealment when surprisingly, Dan moved forward to cover both him and Hermione.


    "The kids are already late for the train. So how about you do this at some later time." He said, occupying their attention while Emma pulled both him and Hermione to the side and helped them quickly climb onto the train.


    He mumbled a thanks to Emma who just shook her head in amusement and looked at Dan who had now become the center of attention of the reporters who were no doubt asking him about his relationship with the boy-who-lived and god knows what else.


    He hoped that such an exposure to the wizarding world won''t put them in any more danger and resolved to add a few more stronger wards around their house in the coming days.


    "Let''s go Mione." He said and started pulling her toward the back end of the train after she quickly hugged her mother only last time.


    "Yes." She said and started following him quietly.


    As they started going to the back of the train, intending to find an empty compartment they met various students on the way who instantly stopped doing what they were doing in order to stare at him like he was some kind of alien.


    Such stares were not anything new for him except now he was not only the boy-who-lived but also the genius who invented Magical Phones and held 100% shares of the Magical Goods company which has now become the richest company in Magical Britain so the stares were filled with even more awe and respect than usual.


    He could tell that Hermione was feeling uncomfortable under all the pressure but decided to not use the Shroud of Concealment.


    Everyone in the school already knew that she was one of his closest friend so she would face such attention sooner or later so she might as well get used to it while he was still there to support her.


    So he nodded at anyone who moved out of his way and continued pulling her as they tried to find an empty compartment.


    Unfortunately, not everyone moved out of his way and a short blond boy decided to come in front of him and stop his way.


    "Hello Harry Potter." Draco said as his two goons came and stood behind him and he almost sighed.


    What did this ponce wanted now?


    "You want something Draco?" he asked in a bored tone as Hermione came to a stop behind him and looked at the blond apprehensively.


    Draco looked like he had eaten something bad as his eyes went to Hermione before the ponce looked back at him once again "You can sit with me in our compartment Harry Potter. I know we did not get along well in our first year but that doesn''t mean that the elite of the society should not stick together. Right." With those words he stick his hand out for a handshake.


    Harry just looked disbelievingly at the ponce for a long moment as the students chattering behind him quieted down in order to listen to the two of them before he burst out in laughter.


    The fact that Draco thought himself the elite of the society was hilarious considering how he was nothing but a self entitled brat who takes out the ''Dad'' card whenever he faces a tough situation.


    But what was even more hilarious was that he could still remember Draco from the last movies. The Draco who had been f?r??b?? marked by Voldemort. The Draco who spent the last few movies doing nothing but crying.


    To think that such a person would call himself the elite of the society and consider himself his equal.


    That was truly laughable.


    What was even more laughable was the fact that Draco had said nothing but the truth as the Malfoys were truly the elite of this fu?k?d up Pureblood society.


    So he started laughing and continued to do so until Draco''s face turned red from either embarrassment or anger.


    "Harry." Hermione''s urgent whisper came from behind him and he remembered that everyone was watching so he cleared his throat and stopped laughing, though a bit of mirth still remained in his eyes.


    He squeezed her hand back as a thank you and then faced Draco once again who had by now lowered his hands.


    By now, the whole compartment had become silent as a grave as he went forward until he and Draco were only a few inches apart and he spoke "Your dad you up to this didn''t he."


    Draco''s eyes widened and Harry realized that indeed, befriending him had been Lucius'' idea after all.


    "Draco." He said and grabbed the boy''s cheeks "The day you step out of your father''s shadow and start making your own decisions is the day I''ll think of you as a decent human being and consider sitting with you. Until then, you can enjoy Crabbe and Goyle''s company."


    With that he moved Draco aside and pulled Hermione, continuing his search for an empty compartment.


    In the end, they were not able to find an empty compartment because all the compartments were occupied by someone.


    He was even asked by a few older girls to join their compartments but the looks in their eyes clearly told him that they were only there for his influence and wealth so he politely refused them before they at last entered a compartment in which a large man was sleeping.


    He instantly recognize the man as they had already met before.


    This man was Remus Lupin and judging by his luggage, he could already guess that Remus was going to Hogwarts as a teacher.


    No doubt Dumbledore had asked Remus to take the cursed position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor this year.


    He wondered what happened to Gildroy Lockhart and quickly realized that since Remus was already in contact with Dumbledore this year, the old man would have simply asked the werewolf to take the position instead of searching for another person who could take the position.


    Well, except for the Magical Phones that a lot the students were using.


    He and Hermione took their seat on the opposite side and started reading one of book from the library held inside their trolley bags. Alternatively using the Diadem every half an hour so that it would cause them headache.


    He had applied the Shroud of Concealment outside the compartment door so no one disturbed them during the whole seven hour journey and since there was no escapee this time, there were no dementors hovering outside either.


    So seven hours later, they finally reached the school without any disturbance or problems.


    Author''s Note:- I guess by now my disdain for the pureblood society is rather clear to everyone.


    I usually try to keep my own thoughts and beliefs from influencing the story too much if such a thing effects the story in a negative way. But the purebloods are so damn unlikable that I couldn''t stop myself from dissing them every now and then ~author rubs his head in an embarrassed manner~


    Regardless, I hope you liked the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 141 - Official Attorney of the Company

    Steve sighed once Jin Karther. Persuading the man to give up him shop and join theirs instead had been a tough battle but the man had finally decided to join them and had just signed a 5 year employment contract.


    Harry had placed a lot of trust in him by allowing him the freedom to run the company as his wished and he did not wanted to let him down.


    He still remembered the bitter feeling when those board decided to remove him as the CEO of apple and he did not wanted to feel like that ever again.


    He looked at the various papers kept on his desk and decided to finish them quickly so that he could start working on the other projects given to him by Harry when there was a knock on his door.


    "Come in." He said and his secretory opened and entered the room along with Ted Tonks, two of his body guards and two Aurors.


    He looked at the Aurors and sighed inwardly.


    Harry had told them that they would come back once again and the boy was right once again.


    Either the boy a genius in reading people or the ministry of Magical Britain was too predictable.


    He remembered the aurors as the men who were standing behind John Dawlish when that stupid man had threathened them in the middle of Diagon Alley.


    The fact that they had the gall come here once again after that debacle meant that they were either really stupid or they had found some incriminating evidence against their company.


    He had a very good idea what that evidence was because Harry had told him about it already.


    "What does our guests want this time?" he asked while looking at Ted Tonks.


    "We''re here to arrest you Mr Steve Jobs. Please don''t resist and come quietly with us to the ministry in order to answer for your crimes." One of the auror said and stepped forward but was blocked by one of the guards.


    "Move aside halfbreed." The auror snarled with hatred and disgust at the werewolves which made Steve frown.


    Harry had told him about how the purebloods discriminating against the other races but to hear that from someone and to see something like that happening right in front of his eyes were two very different thing.


    The guard however was not bothered by the treatment at all as he had always been treated like that by the wizards and had long since grown use to such treatment and continued blocking the auror''s path with his larger body.


    "Now look here you halfbreed. Move aside if you¡­"


    "May I ask why you want to arrest the CEO of our company?" Ted suddenly asked and the auror stopped trying to push his way through and turned to face Ted.


    "And who are you again?" the auror asked.


    "I''m Ted Tonks. The official attorney of this company." Ted replied "Now could you please explain why you want to arrest Mr Steve?"


    "None of your business Mud blood. Stay out of this unless you want to join him in Azkaban as well." The auror replied before turning to face him and he let out a tired sigh before asking.


    "So take it that you''re applying the law of the ''Do as I say or I''ll blow your brains'', I ?ssume." He said and took some perverse enjoyment from how quickly the color drained from the aurors face.


    No doubt he still must be remembering the scene of Auror John Dawlish being disgraced by the minister and losing his job in front of the whole country.


    The auror took a deep breath and said "Mr Steve, you''re under arrest for holding magical books in your Library that are deemed illegal by the Ministry of Magic. Now please surrender yourself peacefully or you''ll also suffer the charges of ''Resisting Arrest''." The man said somberly and he saw Ted smile from behind the auror.


    This was going just like Harry had predicted and now they just needed to go along with the plan.


    "And which Ministry of Magic would that be auror?" Ted asked mockingly and the auror rounded on him once again.


    Steve found it a bit funny how the auror had to turn around whenever he had to talk with them but didn''t let the amusement show on his face.


    "What kind of stupid question is that you mudblood. I am talking about the Ministry of Magic of course." The auror snarled "But then again. What else could anyone expect from low lives like you."


    Steve frowned at the insults but Ted maintained a nonchalant attitude throughout the cursing as if he had long since gotten used to such discrimination.


    That thought itself disturbed him more than anything as he wondered how fu?k?d up this magical society was.


    "If that''s the case then I must inform you that you''re working outside your jurisdiction Auror." And before the auror could reply, Ted took out a piece of paper from his pocket and shoved it at the auror''s face before passing another piece of paper to the second auror who was quietly observing the whole debacle with a shrewd expression.


    "As you can see, this Mall has been created in the island Lilta Dimun which is the private property of Mr Harry Potter. The island belong to the Self governing Archipelago named Faroe Islands which does not fall under British soil."


    "So as this whole area is outside Magical Britain, the laws of the Ministry does not apply here so as a result, we have not broken any law."


    "In fact, it is you two who are trespassing in foreign soil and it is within our right to capture the two of you and throw you in a dungeon."


    "But Mr Potter is a generous person and does not want any needless conflict so we''ll allow you two to walk away on your two legs this time. But be warned, we''ll not be so generous the next time." Ted said took the papers from the aurors'' hands who were still in a bit of daze from the lashing they had just received.


    Steve himself was a bit shocked as he had usually only known Ted as a gentle person and it was the first time he was seeing the Attorney side of the man.


    Then he looked back at the two auror who had so boisterous up until now and smiled at his gaping expression.


    Steve knew that the reason Harry had created the mall in this island and not in Britain was because of a loophole in the law.


    Generally when you want to Floo travel from one magical community to another, you would need the permission of the community in which you want to go in order to legally use the Floo.


    Just like how you would need the VISA of Japan if you want to go from America to that country,


    But Faroe Islands did not have a magical community so anyone could Floo travel from Britain to any of it''s island without needing anyone''s permission.


    So if he opened a Mall in one of these islands and sold his products from here then he could practically sell anything without breaking any of the British Laws since this land does not fall under the British government anyway.


    Except that the buyer would not be able to take those books back to Britain.


    He had to admit that this was a rather smart move on Harry part and something that they could use to their benefit.


    "That''s¡­ that''s bullshit." The auror finally managed to say after a long silence and he frowned. It seemed like the inbred moron was not able to take all of this information and his mind short circuited somehow.


    "You think you can just spout bullshit like that and evade justice." The auror said with a snarl before turning toward him "Are you coming with e or not?"


    And then the auror took a step toward him only to stop instantly as four wands were instantly pointed toward him.


    "You think you can attack an auror and get away with it?" the auror asked though Steve could easily hear the fear in his voice thought he was more stunned by the speed with which his secretory pulled out her wand and pointed it at the auror. He had no idea that she was so good at it.


    "Yes." Ted said and while pointing his wand at the auror "You are trespassing in private property and trying to arrest a man for a crime who now know that he didn''t commit. I think we can easily justify this case as self defense in the court."


    The auror was about to say something when his collegue, the auror who had stayed quiet until now suddenly spoke "Enough."


    "We''re leaving Albert." The man said and turned to leave.


    "But¡­" the auror whose name they now knew was Albert hesitated before his colleague turned around and glared at him with such fury that Albert almost pissed his pants.


    Steve let out a breath and slumped down on the chair as soon as the door closed behind them.


    "That was tense." He spoke to Ted who sat down on the chair opposite to him.


    "Yes. It was. But now we won''t face any problems for a while." Ted said with a nod before he started pointed the wand at his own head and started pulling out the memory of the recent event before putting it in his MP Pro.


    By now Steve had seen such a thing happen so many times that he was not even surprised by such a use of magic.


    "You''re sending it to Harry?" he asked and Ted gave him a small nod.


    "Harry and Madam Amelia Bones." Ted replied "It would not do if those aurors think that they can just waltz in this building, threaten us and then leave without facing any repercussions."


    "You think she''ll take action against that auror?" he asked and Ted nodded once again.


    "The auror department gained a bad reputation after the last debacle with that ex-auror Joh Dawlish. She knows that if this memory was sent to the people once again then the auror department would face even more problems so I''m sure that she will do something about this."


    "I see." Steve said and took out a bottle filled with lemonade from inside his table which had been kept under stasis till this point.


    "You want some?" he asked and Ted smiled and nodded back at him.


    Both of them did not drink any kind of alcohol so they would have to make do with some Lemonade for the time being.


    After all, it was a tiring day for him and he deserved some reward.


    Author''s Note:- Sorry for the late update. I''m suffering from Cold, Mild Fever and Headache these past three days and had to sleep through most of the day in a warm blanket in order to get better quickly.


    It seems like my sister''s cold and fever had transferred over to me which is not as bad as it sounds because she''s taking very good care of me. At least far better than how I took care of her when she was the one who was suffering.


    Hope I was not such a shitty useless brother as I am and had taken better care of her.


    Regardless, it''s rather unbecoming of me to tell these things to you. You know, being a semi- professional writer and all.


    Still, I hope you liked the chapter.


    And if you love my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 142 - Sorting and small changes

    They were staring at him again.


    He had planned to show his face in important occasions which was why he now sitting beside Penelope during the sorting but because of his presence, the students were paying less attention to the sorting and more attention to him.


    The girls were looking at him with d?s?r?. In fact, he could almost see the predatory gleam in the eyes of the older girls.


    The boys on the other hand were looking at him with envy and jealousy.


    They were of of course trying to hide such looks whenever he looked their way but they were doing a really piss poor job of it.


    He wondered if he''ll ever gain immunity to such looks.


    How the hell did the superstars in the non magical world dealt with so much attention.


    Come to think of it, Steve was a kind of celebrity in his company as well. Maybe he should ask the man for some advice the next time they talk.


    Penelope squeezed his hand to show her support and he sent a small nod toward her.


    "Ginerva Weasley." Minerva called out and a small red haired girl who had been constantly staring at him came out of her trance and walked toward the stool quickly in order to hide embarrassment.


    Ginny. The girl who married Harry Potter after they graduated from the school.


    He could never understand what the original Harry saw in her.


    Sure she was cute and all but the whole fu?k?n? school was filled wth cute girls.


    There were a lot of girls who were looked over in the movie who were as beautiful as the grown Hermione Granger in the movie.


    So why the hell did he fell in love with her.


    He turned to eyes and looked in the direction of the girl with the Chinese descent who was looking at him with googly eyes until she realized that she had been caught and blushed hard before averting her gaze.


    Well, that was fu?k?n? weird.


    And why the hell is the hat taking so much time with these kids. Couldn''t it do it''s job more quickly.


    In order to not catch someone else making googly eyes at him, he concentrated on the sorting hat instead.


    The sorting hat took a considerable long time talking with the red haired girl.


    He had of course not forgotten to find her at some later date to check if she still had the diary or not.


    He knew that his presence had changed a lot of things in this world so Lucius Malfoy might not have confronted Arthur Weasley in Florish & Botts which would mean that Lucius gave the diary to some other poor kid.


    If that is the case then he would have to rely on Selena to find the dark object or wait for the possessed student in the chamber of Secrets.


    He would probably have to set a trap if that was the case.


    As his eyes were focused on the hat the whole time, he saw the moment the hat finally opened it''s mouth and shouted


    "Ravenclaw."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Is something wrong?" Penelope asked softly from the side as she and the rest of the table clapped for the girl.


    He came out of his shock and shook his head before he started clapping for the girl as well who jumped in joy before she came and almost sat in the empty chair beside him when their eyes met and she froze in her place and her whole face turned red and she dropped the chair back on the ground and ran to their other side of the table and sat with some other 1st year Ravenclaw.


    He wondered if she was really this shy in the movies and remembered the scene when she and Harry met for the first time.


    Yup, she had bolted out of the kitchen that time as well.


    He turned to gaze at Penelope who was trying to hide her amusement at the situation.


    He gave her a mock glare and her amusement only increased even further until she had to put a hand on her face in order to stop herself from bursting out in laughter.


    He rolled his eyes and went back to focusing on the hat which sorted a few more 1st years until it came to another interesting character that he knew from the movies.


    "Luna Lovegood." Minerva called out and after sitting in silence for a few moments, the hat finally shouted "Ravenclaw" and the girl skipped up to the table.


    Yup, she did not walk. She skipped.


    Showing such eccentricity to the whole school must take a lot of courage.


    Or maybe she simply did not cared about what other students thought about her.


    She came to the table and sat in the empty chair beside him, giving a soft smile to everyone in the table.


    "Oh¡­ Hello Harry Potter." She said in a dreamy voice and he gave a nod.


    "Hello Luna."


    "My dad says that you want to create a spy network with your Magical Phones so that you could take over the ministry in the future. Is that true?" she asked innocently and Penelope almost let out a chuckle before she put a hand over her mouth and controlled herself.


    He on the other hand simply smiled at the curious girl "Yes. How did your father know about my master plan?" he asked, trying to ignore the fact that he could easily use his magical mobiles to spy on anyone who had bought it from his company.


    "He didn''t told me." She replied dreamily "But if I have to guess then I would say that it was the Nargals who told him."


    He knew that despite her oddities, Luna was fiercely loyal to her friends and one of the few people who stood alongside the original Harry and continued to believe in him when no one did.


    He respected the girl for that so he made sure to never point out her eccentricities when he talks with her.


    "Is that so. And how did those nargals knew about my master plan?" he asked in conspiratorial manner and the girl giggled a bit before answering.


    "It''s simple silly. They can go inside your mind and steal your thoughts. They''re thieves like that."


    "How interesting. You wouldn''t know of a way to protect the mind against them would you?" he asked amusedly.


    "I do. It''s very simple in fact." She said dreamily "You just need to make a necklace out of Butterbeer caps and wear them around your neck."


    He paused for a moment and wondered if the girl really believed in all the things that she''s talking about.


    If she was a bit light on the upper department herself or if it was her crazy father''s influence.


    If it was her father''s influence then someone really needed to take the girl away from that man.


    Just because his wife is dead does not gives him the excuse to fill her daughter''s head with such fantasies.


    He may write anything that he wants in his newspaper but telling about the same imagined creatures to his daughter is just plain stupid.


    Does he not realize how his upbringing affected his daughter.


    "But where will I find so many Butterbeer caps?" he asked, indulging the girl''s fantasies.


    If he ever wanted to bring her out of her fantasies then he needed to make sure that she trusted him completely before that.


    Well, there was also the possibility that the Nargals, Snorckacks, Heleopaths and whatever else she and her father talks about are in fact real creatures and that you needed some kind of special sight to see them but even if there was such a possibility, it was quite low so for the moment, he would just believe that Luna was a bit of naive girl whose head was filled with imaginary creatures by her father.


    After the sorting ended, Dumbledore introduced Remus Lupin as the new DADA teacher to everyone after which the feast started.


    He spent the dinner indulging Luna with her imaginary creatures.


    At least he knew that Luna was not after either his fame or money. Which made her far more tolerable in his mind than the other girls in the school.


    She just wanted a friend and he didn''t mind filling that role for the time being.


    Author''s Note- ~Phew~ Done at last.


    Hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 143 - Annoyance and Disappointment

    When the feast after the sorting ended and Hermione went back to her room in the Gryffindor house, she had expected to be ignored by the rest of her house mates like how they had been ignoring her in the first year.


    Which was why she was so surprised when Lavender Brown came to her that night along with Parvati Patil and the rest of her room mates with an ashamed expression and asked her for her forgiveness.


    She had no idea if they actually felt ashamed for their actions in the first year or if they just wanted to get close to her in order to get close to Harry.


    If she was as naive as she was back in the first year, then she would have instantly forgiven them because her need for friends but spending so much time with Harry over the last few months had made her a bit cynical.


    And she was reminded of how much loneliness and bullying she had suffered at the hands of these girls.


    But regardless of their motivation and regardless of whether she wanted to forgive them or not, she would have to forgive them.


    Or at lest act like she had forgiven them.


    Staying with Harry with so long had taught her a bit of cunning and she knew that nothing good will come out of it if she just told them to sod off.


    So she forgave them.


    They looked instantly relieved as if they had crossed some kind of hurdle after which they started asking her to come some kind of game with them which she guessed was their way of pulling out information about Harry from her.


    So she gave the excuse of being tired and went to sleep.


    She had seen their true faces last year and she would not give them information about Harry just so they could spread it around in their social circle.


    She just hoped that the other Gryffindors won''t start begging for her forgiveness tomorrow morning.


    She might have acted like she had forgiven Lavender and Parvati but she was sure that she would lose her mind if Ron Weasley or any of his friends ever tried the same thing with her.


    With such thoughts, she pressed the pillow closer to her and drifted to sleep.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Draco scowled as the Prefect stopped all the Slytherins in the common room and started explaining the new students how their house worked.


    Draco however, was in no mood to listen to that speech.


    He had not paid attention to it last year and he was not going to pay any special attention to it this year either.


    His father was one of the most influential people in Magical Britain and everyone in Slytherin knew about it and made sure not to bother him.


    Plus Professor Severus Snape, the head of their house was his god father so that made him almost invincible in the whose house.


    So the speech was nothing but a minor nuisance for him.


    But that was not why he was scowling so hard right now.


    The reason behind that scowl were the words that Harry Potter had said to him in the Train.


    Step outside of your father''s shadow.


    Until then remain with Crabbe and Goyle.


    Those words had clawed at something deep inside him.


    As if with those few words, Harry Potter had summed up his entire existence while telling him how small and inconsequential he really was.


    Despite having Crabbe and Goyle as company and despite the fact that he spent most of his time talking about blood purity and what not, he had a good head on his shoulders and knew that he did indeed lived in his father''s shadows.


    That thought had not seemed like a big deal to him until now because he always considered his father a great man and never saw any problems with reminding everyone who his father was so that they will remain in line.


    But the way Harry Potter had said those words to him made him feel strangely ashamed for relying so much on his father.


    As if the over reliance on his father had made him weak. Made him less of a person.


    That such an action had brought him so low that he was not even good enough to sit with someone like Harry Potter who usually only spent his time around those mudbloods.


    If anyone else had said those words to him then he would have either outright ignored them or he would try to think of a way to punish them.


    But when Harry said those words, it had hit something deep within him.


    He wanted to get angry at Harry Potter. To jump and rage at the boy who had humiliated him in front of everyone in the train but he just couldn''t muster the energy to do it.


    He wondered if he should try to come out of his father''s shadow.


    But how the hell would he even do such a thing when his father cast such a large shadow.


    Was such a thing even possible.


    Would he ever become Harry Potter''s equal?


    He shook his head in an effort to wipe those thoughts off his mind.


    What was he even thinking comparing himself to Harry Potter.


    He was a Malfoy so he was of course high above any halfblood boy no matter how famous that boy might have become in recent times.


    Because Malfoys were better than anyone else.


    Frustrated with his own thoughts he slapped his face with both his hands in order to clear his mind and realized that the speech has ended and everyone was now leaving for their own rooms.


    Leaving him alone with Crabbe and Goyle.


    ''Yes, stay with those two blockheads because that''s exactly the type of company you deserve.'' The thought crept up on him and he shook his head and he started going to his room, followed by Crabbe and Goyle who had remained at him back for who knows how many years by now.


    ''That''s exactly the company you deserve.'' The thought entered his mind and he could almost that thought in Harry Potter''s voice.


    He wondered what Harry Potter would think if he ever came to know how a few simple words from him had rattled him so much.


    No, he couldn''t ever let anyone else know about this.


    Because he was a Malfoy and Malfoys were better than this.


    ''Is that why you always remain with Crabbe and Goyle. Because they''re so much better than everyone else.'' Harry Potter''s mocking laughter rang in his mind and he shook his head before turning around to face the two blockheads.


    "Stop following me." He said in a serious tone, or as serious as his 12 year old girly voice could manage.


    "Huh..." "Wha¡­" two unintelligible replies came back and he almost felt pity for the two of them.


    Despite being purebloods, these two were definitely not the sharpest knife in the kitchen and would be lost without his constant leadership.


    But he could not lead them right now.


    Not when his own mind was in such a mess.


    "Go back to your bed and go to sleep." He ordered.


    At least this way, they won''t have to think for themselves and could just do as he said.


    "But¡­" "Your father¡­"


    "Enough." He shouted before controlling himself.


    He knew that his father had told the two of them to always stay with him and watch his back and he had not thought of this as a privilege up until this day.


    But at this point, their continuous presence was just another reminder of how deep he was in his father''s shadows.


    And he didn''t want to hear any other traitorous thought enter his mind because of that.


    "Do as I say." He said seriously and the two boys looked at each other in confusion, as not understanding his words before they finally nodded and left for their dorm.


    As for him, he went back to the common room and sat down in the sofa closest to the fireplace.


    The common room was mostly empty at this time but the few Slytherins that remained behind were staring at him strangely.


    As if wondering where his two bodyguards went and he tried to ignore them so that those traitorous thoughts won''t surface once again and focused on the fire in front of himself instead.


    He continued to stare at the fire for a long time before he felt a vibration in his pocket.


    He took out the MP Pro that his father had bought him from the new shop opened by Harry Potter.


    A few days ago, that would have made him feel proud. Of how his father had bought him something that other people fathers would never be able to afford.


    But now, that thought just made him feel empty.


    He took out the Phone and saw his father''s image and name floating in the middle of the screen.


    He accepted the call and his father''s face came in front of him, looking as regal and dignified as he always did.


    "Draco" his father said in a monotone voice.


    "Father" he replied with a small nod.


    "How was the journey Draco?"


    "It was fine father."


    "And what about the task I gave you before you left for Hogwarts?" his father asked and he felt his cheeks grow hot with the shame at failing at the in such a spectacular manner.


    He looked around in order to make sure that no one was listening on their conversation before he cleared his throat and answered.


    "Harry Potter is not looking for an alliance right now father."


    His father''s expression did not changed at his words but he just shook his head in disappointment and somehow, that simple action hurt him far worse than any words could have.


    "You''ll try again." His father said after the short moment of silence "You''ll try different things and find a way to make an alliance with him somehow."


    "Yes father."


    "Good. Don''t disappoint me again Draco." He father said and cut the connection without saying any goodbyes.


    He let out a deep sigh and tried to think about a way in which he could help Harry Potter.


    A way in which he could form an alliance with the boy-who-lived.


    But then he realized that he was too tired at the moment to give much thought to this topic and decided to go to sleep for the time being.


    With those thoughts, he went back to his dorm where he could get some much needed sleep after a tiring day.

 Chapter 144 - Second large scale Memory Broadcast

    The next day.


    Dumbledore smiled as he saw the 1st years eating their breakfast from his chair in the middle of the table.


    It always warmed his heart to see new witches and wizards enter the magical world.


    Especially the muggleborns who are always so fascinated by all the magical things around them.


    "Albus. Did you had that talk with Mr Potter?" Minerva suddenly asked from his left and he was reminded of the plans he and the other staff members had created for young Harry.


    "No Mivera. I was planning and having a talk with him today." He replied with a genuine smile toward his friend.


    "Shouldn''t we have informed Mr Potter about his new living area yesterday?" she asked.


    "We should have but the boy seemed very tired from all the attention everyone was giving him so I decided to let him rest for the time being."


    "I see. I think it would have been prudent to inform him as soon as possible but if he did seemed tired at that time. Regardless Albus, you should tell him about it as soon as possible." She said and he gave her a nod, his hand reaching for the flagon filled with pumpkin juice kept outside his reach when he felt the Phone vibrate inside his pocket.


    He felt a foreboding in his heart as the students stopped eating and took out their Phones in order to watch the memory instead.


    The last time this happened, one of the Aurors was shown threatening Harry Potter in the middle of Diagon Alley.


    He didn''t want to think what this memory would be about but someone of his position could not remain ignorant of things going around in his school.


    So he took out the Phone from his pocket and played the memory that everyone else was watching.


    "Hello. This is a memory for parents who sent their children to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."


    "Hogwarts is a magical school and non magical people are generally not allowed to enter the school. So most non magical parents never learn anything about the school except from their own children when they come back home during winter or summer holidays."


    "It takes a huge amount of trust for any parent to send their child to the school without knowing anything about the school."


    "So this memory shows a small segment of their first day in Hogwarts."


    With that, the scene changed and this time, instead of Harry Potter''s face, they saw the inside of the Hogwarts express in which children were excitedly chatting with each other and a few were even performing some low level magical spells with their wands.


    "It takes 6-8 hours for the Hogwarts express to reach Hogwarts." Harry''s calm and gentle voice could be heard as the memory continued to play.


    Dumbledore wondered how Harry was able to create a memory like this.


    He had never studied the charms and runes used in a pensieve in a lot of detail even if he used that device a lot of times.


    But even he had no idea how Harry could simply merge the different memories like that. And to merge his voice in the background on top of that was just like icing in a cake.


    He had a feeling that if he tried to do something like this, then it would probably take him a few weeks or maybe a few months of time but he doubted that the boy had so much time on his hands because of the new company he just opened.


    The boy was truly a terrifying genius and he shuddered to think what would happen to the magical world if the boy ever went dark like Voldemort.


    The memory continued to play as the scene changed from Hogwarts Express to the four children boats where the kids saw Hogwarts'' grand illuminated form from the lake.


    It was a truly beautiful sight and to see it once again like this brought back memories from his own childhood.


    The memory then changed once again and this time, it was the memory of the sorting.


    In the memory, those long waits were not shown and it only showed the parts were hat the put on the child''s head after which the hat called out the name of the house and the child joyfully joined his house as the housemates clapped for the new addition to their house.


    The memory then moved on to show the feast and ended with all the students going with their respective house prefects.


    The memory ended once all the students left the great hall and he looked up to see that all the students were now looking in the direction of Ravenclaw table, trying to find the elusive Harry Potter who had created such a beautiful memory and shared it with their parents who would not worry about their children as much now that they knew more about Hogwarts.


    But unfortunately, Harry Potter was not present in the Ravenclaw table.


    He was not very surprised with this. Harry must have realized that once the memory ended, all the students would try to thank him so he must have skipped the breakfast altogether.


    Dumbledore looked at this own breakfast and sighed.


    The food had already gone cold but thankfully, he had already eaten his fill so he won''t go hungry through out the day.


    With that, he rose up from the table and sent the kids to their classrooms.


    He, on the other hand, went in search for young Harry.


    Even though this memory was very good, he didn''t want young Harry to show other parts of Hogwarts castle without his express permission.


    Plus, he had to tell the boy about his new lodgings so this would be like hitting two targets with a single arrow for him.

 Chapter 145 - New Room

    Harry knew that Dumbledore would try to find him as soon as he saw the memory.


    After all, despite his good nature, Dumbledore was a bit of a control freak and would probably want to hide all the dark secrets in Hogwarts from being revealed to other people.


    For example, if he uploaded one of the memories in which the purebloods are discriminating against muggleborns or if he uploaded a memory in which Snape is taking points from Gryffindor for the smallest of reason then that could paint a very bad picture of Hogwarts in the parents'' minds.


    So it was likely that the old man would want to have a talk with him which was why he had gone to his first History of Magic class where the old man would easily be able to find him.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "You''re giving me a new room?" he asked with some surprise once the old man came and took him out in order to talk with him.


    "Yes. You heard that right my boy. You''re being given your own separate room some distance away from the Ravenclaw house." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    "Why?" he asked. It was not like he needed a new room because he never really stayed in his old one.


    This seemed like a move that Dumbledore made in order to keep him contained in a single place so that he would be easier to find and easier to control.


    "There were often cases in the past where the heads of the ancient families died for one reason or another and their children had to take control of their family headship while studying in Hogwarts because of political reasons." Dumbledore explained.


    "As you already know, when a person takes the headship of their house, they also need to start taking care of all the ?ssets that belong to that house. And taking care of ?ssets usually meant dealing with lots and lots of paperwork."


    "But how do you deal with your school homework and all that paperwork while constantly being badgered by their roommates."


    "Keeping this in mind, the Hogwarts Headmasters of the past created a few single person rooms outside every house which could only be used by these young heads of houses." Dumbledore said.


    "But I''m not a head of house." He countered.


    "Perhaps not yet my boy. But you''re now the President of the largest company in Magical Britain and I''m sure that the amount of work you need to do in order in your position must not be any lower than the work done by a head of house." Dumbledore said "Keeping this in mind, me and my staff members decided to give you this special privilege in order to show you our support."


    Or so Dumbledore said but he could tell that this was just a ploy to control him.


    Otherwise just like the first year, he would just take over the abandoned rooms and start living in them instead.


    Plus, Dumbledore had given him this ''privilege'' in a way that he couldn''t even refuse.


    Not if he wanted to increase the friction between the them by a large amount.


    "I accept." He finally said and Dumbledore''s smile turned wider before he dropped the bomb on the old man.


    "And I would also like to ask your permission to send the memories of the classes taught in the school and send it to the no magical parents in order to alleviate their concerns about their children''s education."


    Dumbledore''s expression almost faltered at that and he could understand why the old man would hesitate in giving his permission.


    After all, teachers like Binns and Snape didn''t really make the best of impressions.


    Thankfully, there was no Quirrelmort this year so at least the 1st years won''t have to deal with a stuttering mess for a teacher.


    "Are you sure that''s a good idea my boy?" Dumbledore asked and he shook his head.


    "It has nothing to do with it being a good or a bad idea." He replied "Sooner or later, the students start sending the memory of their classes to their own parents."


    "This will happen whether we want it to happen or not." He said "So it''s better that we take the initiative and show more of Hogwarts to the non magical population. This will sate their curiosity and remove the worry clouding their hearts."


    After that, they argued back and forth for a while but there was no good reason for Dumbledore to refuse his request so by the end of their arguments, Dumbledore allowed him the rights to make memories of Hogwarts and share it as he liked.


    His mind was already filled with ideas about the kind of memories that he could create and send to the people.


    A slow motion view of the lake from high in the air seems like a very good memory that he could share with people.


    And then there were the unicorns, Hippogriffs and Thestrals in the Forbidden forest as well. The non magical people would definitely be interested in seeing magical creatures.


    And the good news was that he was making more money with each of these videos.


    Watching each video in the Magical Phones cost 2 sickles.


    When you think about it that way, you realize that it is not a lot of money as students by candies worth 2 sickles just about every day.


    But when thousands upon thousands of people see those memories, the sickles starts to add up.


    The memory of the Sorting last night alone earned him 928 galleons and 8 sickles. And that figure would only continue to grow as people watch that memory again and again.


    But the problem was that he could only make so many memories regarding Hogwarts each day.


    Perhaps he would hire a person to watch all the Quidditch matches and send him that memory after every match.


    Unlike a normal digital video in which longer videos are of bigger size and thus take longer to download, such is not the case with magical memories so you could send the memory of a whole Quidditch match to other people just as easily as the memories that are only a few seconds long.


    And considering how there were so many die-hard Quidditch fans in the magical world, he was sure that he would earn a lot of galleons by uploading those Quidditch matches.


    He smiled at that thought and left in order to check the new room that he''d been ?ssigned by the Hogwarts teaching staff.


    Author''s Note:- Sorry about not uploading a chapter yesterday. I came up with a high fever and couldn''t get out of the bed.


    I''m a little better now and hope I''ll become healthy again within a few days.


    Wish me luck.


    And I hope you guys like the chapters.


    And if you like work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 146 - Magical Horns

    Alecto m??n?d and woke up from her sleep as she felt the two horns protruding from her forehead brushed against the mattress.


    It has been two months since she got these horns thanks to the experiments done on her by that masked person and she had long since gotten used to having them as a part of her body.


    She was not a pretty girl so of thought of the horns diminishing her beauty never even occurred to her.


    Still, she couldn''t see the purpose behind them.


    The masked boy had continuously asked if she saw or sensed anything around her after creating those horns in her head and had been rather disappointed once she told him that she didn''t saw or felt any different.


    At least the boy didn''t torture her as long as she told him the truth.


    After initially putting those horns in her head, he had done countless changes in it but she still couldn''t see what he was trying to achieve from creating those horns.


    After continuous failures for a few weeks, the boy had finally ran out of ideas and had left the horn in her head as a last resort in order to see if there will be any changes if the horns stayed there for a longer period of time.


    That was two months ago and she had not seen him since then.


    After talking with the other death eaters living the cells beside her, she knew that they also had horns jutting out of their heads by now.


    Each and everyone of them had a different kind of horn in their heads.


    Her own twin brother had a single half foot long black horn jutting out from the middle of her forehead.


    Thankfully, the horn was not very heavy otherwise he would be having neck aches everyday.


    The masked boy had definitely not sought practicality when he created the horn on her brother''s head.


    She nuzzled in her bed in order to get more comfortable when she felt her horns scrape against the mattress once again and she froze as the realization dawned upon her that she was able to feel the horn in her head.


    She raised her hands and touched the horns in her head and was surprised when she found that her horns were rather s?ns?t?v? to the touch.


    She giggled at the ticklish feeling that she felt when touching her horns before she let out a sigh, realizing that she would not be getting any more sleep for the time being.


    She was a curious person and she would not be able to rest until she found out the reason behind the change in her horns.


    So she opened her eyes and got up from the bed and froze at what she saw.


    The dark and cold prison cell she''d been living in for the past few months had not changed at all.


    But now she could see faint shining particles in the air in the prison cell.


    As if there was mist in the room. Except that mist didn''t shine like how this did.


    She moved her hand around and the shining particles reacted to her touch by moving with a ripple like patter as is she had just dipped her hand in the water.


    Like how when you drop a stone in a muddy water and the ripple stop shortly after a few inches because of the density of the mud.


    She wondered what the light particles were and if this was what the masked boy had been after the whole time.


    She looked around in the prison and her eyes widened at what she saw.


    Everything in the prison shone with the light that she was saw floating in the air.


    The prison walls had the largest amount of light in them. The mattress held a little bit of the light in it as well. And so did her clothes.


    The loaf of bread and bottle of water she received yesterday contained negligible amount of the light particles.


    She could only guess that whatever that white light was, it seeped into the things kept around it over time.


    Maybe if she didn''t ate the loaf of bread and kept it like that in the corner, then more of the white light particles will seep into it?


    She also saw a lot of writings in the prison that she had never seen before with her eyes. But now the writings were illuminated brightly in front of her and she was clearly able to read everything in the walls despite the shiny background.


    It didn''t take her long to come to the conclusion that the writing was some kind of Runes.


    She had not studied Ancient Runes when she was a student here in Hogwarts but she knew that Runes were not supposed to be written in English.


    But these runes were written in English.


    Well, not totally English as there were many Runic characters in between those English words but that didn''t remove the strange feeling in her heart.


    She had no idea that Runes could be written like this and could only guess that these Runes were either written by a noob or an expert.


    And judging by the expert wandless control that the masked boy had, she would guess that it was the latter instead of the former.


    There were also strange magical circles in the walls that thrummed with power and gave off different magical signatures.


    If the writing on the wall was runes, then she guessed that these magical signatures must be the Charms placed in the walls.


    She then moved on to the bars on her cell and realized that every single bar had a few runes and charms placed on them.


    She didn''t knew that those runes or the charms did but she could guess that they must have been there to stop her from escaping.


    Whoever created these prison cells had put a surprisingly large amount of effort and time in it to make sure that she and the rest of her death eater companions don''t escape.


    Well, that was bad news for her because it meant that she had little chance of escaping the prison.


    Not that she had much hope of escaping to begin with.


    But none of these things surprised her as much as she when she looked at her b?r? hands and found them filled to the brim with the same white light that was everywhere around her.


    She was a smart person so she had already guessed that the white light particles must be magic particles.


    The question was, could she control them.


    She gazed at the white particles in front of her and willed them to move while transferring all the power she could in her hands.


    And they moved.


    Author''s Note:- Yup, Harry''s project to gain mage sight by replicating Selen''s horns and putting them on humans that he thought had failed had finally shown some results.


    Still, he doesn''t know about that just yet.


    And if Alecto is smart and uses this to her advantage, then she might be able to escape without Harry realizing that his experiment had succeeded.


    What do you guys think will happen? Will Alecto escape with her brother or will Harry find out?


    I hope you like the chapter.


    And if you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    And have a nice day :)

 Chapter 147 - Quidditch memory broadcasts

    Harry hissed the incantation in Parseltongue and pointed his wand at the rat who screeched in pain as a dark mark formed on it''s back.


    He was usually not much of a fan of incantations and wand waving but he lacked the necessary knowledge and information on the dark mark at the moment and wanted to have a feel on how it worked.


    If he could see magic like Selena then this would task would have been far easy for him.


    "What do you see Selena?" he asked the Horned Serpent who was currently wrapped around his shoulders and gazing intently at the rat with a focused gaze.


    "It''s dark." She hissed "The dark mark you put on it''s back is dark black in color. And now it''s seeping into the rest of it''s body. As if a parasite was slowly taking over it."


    "The red and brown color of the rat is being covered by the dark black color of the dark mark. As if the mark was corrupting it''s whole body." She explained "I don''t think it''ll survive the branding."


    "Why do you think that?" he asked, ignoring the rat that was practically screeching out it''s lungs at this point.


    Looking at it''s current condition, anyone would be able to tell that it would not survive the branding. But why was Selena so sure about it. What did she see with her mage sight.


    Once again he wished that he had succeeded in his project to copy Selena''s horns magical power into a human being.


    And despite his numerous failures in that project, he was sure that he would eventually succeed. But he just felt so impatient regarding all of this.


    He knew that gaining mage sight would be a critical point for him and that he would become even more powerful once he gained it. So being impatient was understandable.


    "I don''t know how to explain it to you. But it''s almost as if the magic you forced into it''s body was far too dense for it and it''s body is now rejecting the dark mark and failing spectacularly." She said.


    "That does explain the pain it''s feeling but it still doesn''t explain why it would die in the branding." He commented.


    "The problem is that the dark mark is too invasive and in order to counter it''s influence, it''s body is destroying itself." She said "I don''t know what exactly the red light is. It may be the magic inside it''s body or it may be it''s lifeforce. But whatever it is, it is being destroyed right now and I know what once the Black color of the dark mark takes over, it''ll die."


    "I see." He said even though he didn''t really understood what she was talking about.


    One of them would be that dark mark couldn''t be forced upon someone.


    If you do, then the magical power or the lifeforce held inside a person would fight against it.


    If the person who is branded is strong then his powers would easily crush the brand and the dark mark would be ineffective on him/her.


    But a rat is not powerful enough to fight against the dark mark so it would eventually lose it''s life in the process of branding.


    This also meant that in order for Voldemort to brand someone with his dark mark, the receiver must be willing to take it and serve the Dark Lord.


    And from what he''d guessed from the movies, this was probably the truth as well.


    Though there were instances where people who were captured by Voldemort were put under imperius and forced to accept the Dark Mark.


    This whole subject was a bit of a mystery to him but he was sure that he would be able to understand the dark mark with a week or two and easily change it to do his own bidding in little more time then that.


    As he was making these conclusions, the rat finally let out a shuddering breath before it went still.


    "Test Subject R-0918 died after about one minute of taking the Dark Mark" he said and the quill noted down the observation in the notepad.


    Then with a wave of his hand, the rat vanished from the table and another rat flew out of it''s cage and laid sprawled in front of him under paralysis effect.


    "Experimenting on Test Subject R-0919. Using one tenth of the power used in a dark mark to see it the Test Subject survives the process." He said and just as the quill finished writing, he pointed the wand at the rat and chanted the incantation, only putting one tenth of magic behind the spell this time.


    Any other person doing such a thing would fail.


    There were some spells that just didn''t work if you don''t put enough magic behind it.


    A Patronus being the prime example of such a spell. If you don''t put enough magic behind it then you won''t even get a mist let alone a corporeal patronus.


    But such a thing didn''t applied to him because of his impeccable control over magic that he gained because of the use of will and intent based magic.


    So with that, the experiments continued.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Hello Steve." He greeted that man through the phone as the call connected.


    "Hello Harry" Steve replied with a nod "Do you want something?"


    "I wanted to ask you about the condition of the company." He said.


    "The company is doing fine Harry." Steve replied "The amount of products we''ve sold this month has fallen in comparison to the amount of products that we sold in the first month but that was to be expected. Still, we''re still making money from the shops plus there''s the Magical Phone which brings more than a thousand galleons each day with the calls that people make and the memories they watch."


    "But that''s not really what you wanted to ask about. Right?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow "How about you just get down to the reason you called me."


    He smiled at the directness of the man "I was thinking about opening a sports section in our Magical Phones in which we would send memories of Quidditch matches to the people who are interested in watching the game."


    "And you''re sure that this''ll work?" Steve asked, showing a little bit of skepticism.


    "Yes. I''m sure that this''ll work." He replied "Quidditch is the only outdoor game in the magical work and as a result, it also has the most amounts of fans in the community. I''m sure that once we start posting memories of such games everyday, we''ll steadily gain a following in the Sports section which we can expand on at a later date."


    "I see. And how are we going to create this sports sections?" Steve asked.


    "It''s simple." He said "Find a wizard or witch who is a diehard fan of the game and pay him/her to go and watch all the Quidditch matches happening around in the world. Then tell her to return back home every night and share the memory with us. And then we can just upload that memory in the Magical Phones for people to watch."


    "It''s a rather simple idea." Steve pointed out.


    "Simple ideas work the best." He replied with a shrug because he knew this to be the truth.


    Most of the things he invented and sold in the Mall so far were based on simple ideas.


    "I''ll see what I can do about it." Steve said and noted his request down on a paper. "Is there anything else?"


    "Not really." He replied "That will be all for today. Thank you."


    "Sure." With that, Steve cut the connection and he raised an eyebrow at the man''s impatient nature before he put the phone back in his pocket before he looked at the new room that he was going to live in this time around.


    One thing that he could say about this room was that it was large.


    Like, three times larger than the last room he had in Ravenclaw.


    And his last room was a two-person room.


    It just goes to show how much the people in this world are willing to bend for the heads of ancient and noble houses.


    He shook his head and waved his hand around with the intention of removing the dust from the room and in the next instant, all the dust coating the floor and furnitures vanished as if it never existed.


    "That''s better." He commented and jumped on top of the large queen sized bed.


    He was never one who indulged in luxury but even he had to accept the fact that the bed was perhaps the softest and most comfortable bed he''d ever slept in.


    He closed his eyes and rest his head in the pillow, wondering what he was about to do with this room.


    Since he was going to spend his nights in this room, he might as well turn it into one of his labs.


    He could even turn it into a library as there were currently many books in his possession that he would like to read in his free time.


    Or he could turn it into a Runes lab where he could create and invent new products.


    He spent only a few hours of time everyday doing illegal human transfiguration work so he didn''t need to worry about that.


    He opened his eyes and jumped down from the bed, removing the curtains from the windows in the process and illuminating the room with sunlight.


    The room was not bad and despite the fact that it was entrusted on to him in order to keep him in check, he could easily turn it into one of his labs with no problem.


    So with a smile, he took out his wand and got to work.


    Author''s Note:- Because if you''re surrounded by fanatic Quidditch fans, then you definitely need to take advantage of that and sell some memories of some International Quidditch matches.


    It''s good business.


    Hope you liked the chapter.


    And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare, then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 148 - Gaunts Shack

    Daphne sat on the seat beside the 1st years and sighed.


    She knew that she would fail in her exams and that she would have to sit with the first years once again but knowing about something and then truly experiencing it are two whole different things.


    Her reputation had taken a sharp nose dive ever since she failed in her exams and people were now calling her scratterbrain, idiot, beauty with no brains and other such names behind her back.


    Thankfully, her friends Tracy and Blaise had her back all the time and the smarter ones in the Slytherin realized that there was no way she could have failed in all of her subjects so they didn''t comment on her failure for now.


    Plus, Professor Snape had been a huge help to her and had allowed her to stay with her friends who had not advanced to the 2nd year.


    It had come as a surprise to her that the man whom so many other students feared could be so caring in his own ways.


    After all of the students settled down in the class, it took only a short amount of time before Professor Snape strode into the class with his cape flowing behind him.


    He stood in front of the whole class and gave the students the same speech that he gave them the year before.


    The whole experience was a bit surreal to her and it didn''t take long before he started asking questions to the students in order to unnerve them.


    She would be lying if she said that he didn''t unnerve her even after she knew about his kind side but all such thoughts were pushed aside a he looked at her and said "And what are you doing Miss Greengrass?"


    Her breath hitched in her throat as she wondered if she had done anything wrong. But regardless of any mistakes she might have made, she gathered her courage and answered "I''m noting down the answers Professor."


    "And why would you do such a thing when you already know all the answers?" he asked and for once, she had no reply for him.


    After all, what would she say.


    Because that''s what everyone else is doing.


    That answer made her feel like a sheep who would just follow the crowd and do what everyone else did.


    But thankfully, she didn''t have to reply as he continued speaking after the short silence.


    She felt her eyes burn at the humiliation as the whole class started chuckling at her.


    Some of the girls were even looking at her sympathetically but that only made her feel even worse.


    Why did he have to bring up her failure in front of the whole class.


    "Go to the back of the class and started working on a Skele-Gro potion. We''ll see if you can pass my subject this year." He said and it took a moment for her to process the words in her mind before her eyes brightened at the implication and she cheered in her heart.


    A Skele-Gro potion was a 5th year potion.


    If he really wanted to punish or humiliate her then he would have given her a 1st year potion to make but he must have found out that she was very advanced in potions and did this to make sure that she be do something productive in his class instead of wasting her time.


    She bowed her head and thanked the professor in her heart before moving on to the cabinets where all the ingredients were kept.


    As she picked up the ingredients, she wondered what Harry was doing right now.


    None of the students in her class or any other class ever bothered him about it. Not that he would have cared about them but still.


    It made sense to her.


    Because despite failing in his first year, he was probably the richest student in Hogwarts right now not to mention the most famous and most influential as well.


    And if he kept doing what he had been doing up until this point, then his wealth, influence and fame will only continue to grow so getting on his bad side would be a horrible mistake.


    Plus, he was a certified genius.


    In fact, she had no doubt in her mind that he could practically waltz into the 7th year transfiguration, charms or DADA class and perform all the NEWTs level spells without any problem at all.


    So yes, failing 1st year had not affected him as much as it did her but that didn''t meant that she would let herself be crushed by the circumstances.


    No, she would not let herself feel downcast for her circumstances.


    Especially not when she had the support of people like Harry Potter, Andromeda Tonks and Severus Snape.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Harry. Are you sure this is safe?" Hermione asked, worry laced in her voice.


    "Yes." He replied with confidence. He might not have the largest amount of magical power inside him at this point but that doesn''t change the fact that he was probably the most perspective one.


    At this point, he could literally go in the Magical dungeon in Egypt and do a far better job of finding the treasures there than the Cursebreakers hired by the goblins.


    Especially if Selena helped him in the process.


    With that, he started walking toward the old, dilapidated shark in front of him. And instantly felt the magic around him change.


    As if they had entered some kind of ward, which they probably did.


    Then he felt the footsteps following him stop at once and turned around to find that Hermione had stopped walking behind him and was looking around with a lost expression.


    He had no doubt in his mind that if she was not wearing the ring that protected her from outside influences, then she would have turned around and walked away from this place.


    "Where is the wardstone Selena?" he asked the Horned Serpent who immediately started flickering her tongue in order to find the source that was powering the wards.


    It was not like he would not be able to find the wardstone on his own but it would take some time if he tried to do it on his own while Selena could just do so within mere moments.


    As if to prove his thoughts corrects, Selena looked at him and said "It''s the cross made from Ash wood beneath the far right tree."


    As soon as her voice reached his ears, he sent a magical pulse and disrupted the connection of the wardstone with the wards.


    Hermione''s eyes instantly regained their focus and he felt the magical influence around him disperse.


    Then he pointed his hands at the cross which flew toward him and entered his bottomless purse without stopping.


    There was no point in destroying such a powerful wardstone when he could rewire it at some later date and use it for his own benefits.


    "Harry?" Hermione asked as she caught up to him on the way to the shack.


    "There was a ward around the shack." He replied "A very strong repelling ward that cause other people to turn around and go back to their homes. The ring I gave you last Christmas was able to negate most of it''s effects but the wardstone was rather powerful and some of effects of the ward seeped through to your body which was why you became confused."


    Voldemort might be a lunatic but he was also a very powerful wizard and would not hesitate to give the best protections to his soul pieces.


    "I¡­ see." Hermione said with a downcast expression, no doubt thinking that she was a mere burden to him.


    Well, she was being a bit of a burden but that was to be expected as despite her prodigious talent, she was just a 12 year old girl at this point.


    But the reason why he had brought her here with him was to make sure that he didn''t made the same mistake as Dumbledore.


    The reason Dumbledore died in the movies was because he didn''t took the horcrux seriously enough and fell into the trap created by Voldemort.


    He would not make the same mistake as Dumbledore.


    With that thought, he shouldered on and entered the shack.


    Author''s Notes:- For those who thought I forgot about the Horcruxes.


    I hope you liked the chapter.


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 149 - The Dark Mark

    Half an hour later.


    Harry came outside the shack, a black colored ring floating behind him and Hermione following behind that from a safe distance.


    The rest of the traps hidden in the house were dangerous as well but were easily solved with Selena''s help.


    The most surprisingly part however was the fact that the ring was not attract even the tiniest bit of his or Hermione attention.


    In hindsight, such a thing was rather understandable.


    According to the legends, the ring had the power to resurrect dead people. But he had only been in this world for a few years and have never lost any loved ones and the same could be said for Hermione so the last trap created was Voldemort and the final defense he put on the ring was useless against them.


    He had no doubts in his mind that the original Harry Potter would have succumbed to the pull of the ring in the hopes of resurrecting his parents. Just like how Dumbledore had hoped to revive Ariana when he wore the ring.


    Ironic, how the most lethal trap for Dumbledore was the easiest trap for him. Or any other person who had never seen the death of a loved one before.


    He cleared an area outside the Shack and dropped the ring on the ground before he put his hand inside the bottomless purse and took out a vial filled with Basilisk venom.


    "You might want to stay at a distance." He told Hermione who was looking at the ring with worry "This won''t be pretty."


    At his words, the worry in her eyes was gone and a determined expression took it''s place.


    "No. I''ll stay with you." She said and held onto his hands while looking at the ring with a resolute gaze.


    He nodded at her, respecting her wishes and removed the cork from the vial before dropping the venom on top of the ring.


    And a terrifying shriek resounded in the Gaunt''s Shack as Voldemort lost yet another piece of his soul.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The fear in her heart shot through the sky when the masked boy started to play with the Dark Mark in her hand.


    It had been a decade since the Dark Lord died and the dark mark in her hand had still not vanished, giving her the idea that it would stay in her hand for her entire life.


    There were rumors in the death eater circles that the dark mark latched onto the soul of the person which was also why you couldn''t take it off.


    Even if you cut off your hand, the mark would just appear on another part of your body.


    She knew this because she had seen a death eater who lost his left arm in a fight against some aurors and remembered how the dark mark emerged out of his right hand a few days later.


    That particular event gave even more credence to the theory that dark marks are attached to someone''s soul.


    Which was the reason why she was so terrified when the masked boy started to tinker and make changes to the dark mark like it was nothing.


    In truth, the whatever the boy was doing didn''t change the appearance of the dark mark at all.


    But with the new sight she had gained, she was still able to see that he was changing something.


    She had no idea what that ''something'' was but the thought that was playing with something that was attached to her soul was frightening.


    Trying to defy him and obstruct his work would only serve to irritate him. That irritation would then force him to give her those shocks from the collar around her neck.


    And then he would go ahead and perform those experiments anyway.


    So the best she could do at this point was to act like a doll and hope that his administrations won''t leave her soulless.


    She didn''t want to die.


    Not when she was so close to success.


    Well, she was not ''that'' close to success as after two weeks of hard work she was only able to transfigure the food given to her by changing it''s shape.


    She was able to control the magic around her to that little extent but changing the shape of a loaf of bread and changing the shape of a magically reinforced iron bar are two very different things.


    Still, the fact remained that she now had hope.


    Hope that if she continued to use and hone her powers then she would be able to escape from the prison one day.


    "We''re done here." He said in his magically altered voice "Let''s take you back to your cell."


    Five minutes later, she was once again sitting on her mattress and trying to manipulate the light particles around her according to her wishes.


    She would escape this prison with her brother if that was the last thing she did.

 Chapter 150 - Desperate win against Flitwick

    Flitwick ducked under the barrage of spells that came his way before creating a shield in front of him in order to protect himself.


    As the soon as the shield came into existence, it was bombarded with dozens of spells which created numerous cracks on it, shocking him to no end.


    This was one of the most powerful shields he had in his arsenal and to think that it was broken by a 12 year old boy.


    He really should have taken this fight seriously.


    The shield stood for a few more moments before crumbling into non existence, but those few moments were all he needed to launch a counter attack.


    He was not a master at transfiguration, but that didn''t meant that he would use it when necessary.


    A large wall made of stone was suddenly transfigured in front of him from the stones on the floor. A wall which crumbled into dirt under the furious ?ssault of his student.


    Still, the wall gave him enough time to cast an overpowered conjuring spell and a few dozen small birds came in existence and chased after Harry.


    He had no idea that you could turn the Stunning spells into an wide area spell. But he would not expect anything less from his prodigious student either.


    Plus, the birds had been low powered distraction in the first place.


    He waved his wand while quickly chanting a spell under his breath and the pieces of dirt and stones on the floor rose up to form a giant 8 ft tall crude humanoid stone golem that looked like the creation of 4 year old child than someone like him but he had little time to make it and it would serve his purpose quite well.


    The stone golem took a shield on his hands and moved forward with grim determination while he started to chant an overpowered spell that would break through any shield that Harry could have created, giving him the chance to stun the boy before he could regain his bearings.


    He knew that the stone golem would provide him with enough time as it was one of few most powerful transfigurations spells under his belt.


    A spell that was taught to him by Albus Dumbledore himself when he was a young lad.


    A spell that he used to great effect to win his duels in his international arena.


    The golem was one of the aces in his belts that he only used against formidable opponents which was how he knew that Harry Potter had become very powerful over the past two months.


    But even after being so powerful, the boy would not find it easy to destroy the golem.


    He only had a moment to be shocked by the ingenious idea and the amount of power that must have been used to transfigure such a large area before the stunners started flying his way and he had to stop his chant and break his spell in order to roll away from the barrage of incoming spells.


    He could see that Harry was breathing heavily at this point because of overexerting himself in the last barrage of spell and used his chance to create a shield in front of himself once again.


    It filled him with shame that he had to hide behind his shield time and time again in front of a student but Harry had become very fast in the last two months and he was firing stunning spells like a machine gun.


    And any of those stunning spell was more than enough to put him out of commission so he had to be careful.


    Harry stopped his barrage of stunning spells in order to conjure a few snakes around him.


    Snakes that would have easily gotten to him because the shield he had created was only capable of protecting him from the front.


    He cursed his luck dodged out of the way in order to get away from the snakes who lunged after him with their maws wide open.


    Unfortunately, that action forced him to drop his shield and he had to face the barrage of stunners from Harry once again.


    The stunner missed his face by a few inches and he retaliated by firing a few curses of his own which were easily dodged by the boy in return.


    He still remembered the first day when Harry was not even able to dodge a single spell.


    To see the boy dodge his stunners with such ease clearly showed that he must have trained very hard over the past few months.


    He conjured a few dozen birds in front of him to form a distraction for the boy once again. A distraction that would give him the chance to earn his victory but his plan backfired when the boy used a wide area transfiguration to turn all the birds into snakes that came after him as soon as they touched the ground.


    Blasted Parselmouths.


    He cast a curse and a rain of needles skewered the snakes, destroying the magical constructs and readied himself for the barrage of spells that hit him a few seconds later.


    But this time, he could clearly see the difference in the spells.


    The spells were slower and weaker than before, giving him enough time to deal with them and launch a counter attack of his own.


    The boy was running out of magic and they both knew it.


    He held no illusions that the boy would go down easily without a fight so with one final thought, he started the chain of spells that he had created for a situation just like this.


    Jelly leg jinx followed by a Mild concussion hex followed by another Jelly leg jinx which was then followed by a stunner.


    The chain of spells was simple and any 3rd year student would easily be able to perform it and that is why it made the chain so useful at this point.


    It required very little magic and concentration to keep up this chain of spells which meant that he could simply keep performing it again and again without the need to stop.


    The boy dodged the first few spells but the exhaustion of the long battle was catching up to him which was rather clear by his loud breathing that be heard from across the room.


    Large sweatdrops fell on the ground as the boy dodged around the spells and threw back a few spells of his own in retaliation that he either dodged or simply swatted away.


    The boy was exhausted and the stunners he sent at this point simply lacked the speed and power required to make them dangerous and he doubted that the stunners would even knock him unconscious at this point.


    He kept up the chain of spells against the boy who tried to form a shield in desperation in order to catch his breath.


    A shield that was torn apart by his spells by a blasting hex before he continued the chain of spells once again, forcing the exhausted boy to go on the run once again.


    Flitwick took a deep breath as he finally won the fight against his 12 year old opponent and slumped in relief.


    It would have been terribly embarrassing if he lost against the boy so early in a duel.


    Provided that he had not used most of the dangerous and harmful spells that he would have in a real dueling match but he was sure that he would still be able to defeat any 7 year student in Hogwarts.


    But then again, he expected nothing less from the¡­


    His thoughts came to a halt as he saw a red stunner flying toward him through the wand of the fallen boy whom he had thought to be unconscious.


    He knew that the stunner to the ?h?st should have brought the boy down but somehow it failed to do so.


    It took all the reflexes he had to smack the red stunner and he almost sighed in relief at the close save when he saw a translucent spell following behind the red stunner.


    He had no time to think any further as the translucent spell hit him straight in the ?h?st and his body froze in an instant.


    The effect translucent spell was very similar to the Full body bind spell Petrificus Totalus except that this spell did not made him snap in attention.


    In the distance, he saw Harry getting up with a tired yet victorious grin before the boy pointed his wand at him and a red stunner flew in his direction.


    ''Damn!'' was his last thought before the spell struck him and lost his consciousness.


    Author''s Note:- My fight scenes do need a bit of work before they become more entertaining but I do hope you liked the chapter anyway.


    And if you like my work and would like to support me, then please do so at- pat.reom.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 151 - The twins

    It was the first duel he ever won against Professor Flitwick and he was rather excited because of that.


    Of course, he had won the duel mostly because of deception by creating an invisible shield in front of himself before the stunner struck him and feigning unconsciousness before performing a surprise attack by sending that translucent binding spell at Professor Flitwick.


    But a victory was still a victory so he was rather happy with the outcome.


    Even if such a surprise attack would most like not work on the Professor the next time.


    He was coming out of the shower in his new room when he saw his Magical Phone vibrating on the table.


    He went to the table to picked up the phone before accepting the call.


    "We''re in trouble Harry." Ted said as soon as the line was connected.


    He frowned at Ted''s words and his expression instantly became serious as he asked "Why is that?"


    "The purebloods are not very happy with the Magical Goods company." Ted replied "They know about the loophole you''re using to run your mall and are planning to close that loophole in the next Wizengamot meeting."


    His company went against everything that the purebloods stood for.


    His company brought progress to the magical world, something that the purebloods have actively been trying to halt for the past few centuries.


    His company hired people from other magical species or half breeds as the purebloods call them. Something that th purebloods must have hated because they''ve been trying to oppress those same half breeds for a long time.


    His Mall had the only shops where muggle products were being sold.


    So he knew from the start that the purebloods would hate his guts and try to harm him or his company in any way possible.


    So he already had contingency plans created for such a situation which would protect him and his company from them.


    "Don''t worry about it Ted." He said with a confident smile "I''ll take care of them. Just leave everything to me."


    Ted''s agitated expression calmed down a little at his words and he asked "You have a plan to deal with them?"


    "Yes I do. Can you tell me when the next Wizengamot meeting is?" he asked.


    He nodded at those words asked something that he was curious about "And how did you come to know about their plans?"


    Ted gave a shrug at his words "The plan to close the loophole you''ve been using to run your Mall is a rather open secret in the Traditionalists pureblood community. It was not that hard to bribe a few of those corrupt purebloods to gain this information."


    He nodded his head a that as what Ted told him made sense.


    There were a lot of purebloods in the wizarding community who were not rich and would easily sell out their colleagues for some wealth.


    "Good. In that case, keep an eye on them and inform me about any other plans they come up with. Oh¡­ and also give me the names of the Pureblood idiots who are the most vocal about closing my shop."


    "It''ll take some time to do that." Ted replied. "Not to mention even more bribes."


    "Don''t worry about it. Take your time and ask Steve for any more funds."


    "I''ll do that."


    "Very well then. I''ll talk with you later. Goodbye."


    "Goodbye."


    He cut connection and sat down on the chair, wondering about the best way to deal with those pureblood idiots.


    He already had a few plans ready in his mind but they would need a bit of preparation.


    Oh well, he had three months to prepare so it was not like he was running out of time or anything.


    With that, he took opened the book kept at the table and wore the Diadem before the started reading.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Where Wood?" Angelina asked as she dumped a few slices of bread on her plate.


    Oliver Wood, their Quidditch team caption was a punctual person so she couldn''t help but notice his absence from the table.


    "Yup." Fred replied without even looking up at Katie.


    "The last time we saw him." George said.


    "He was still in the bathroom." Fred said.


    "Watching the latest Quidditch match." George said.


    "Between Brazil and Africa." Fred said.


    "In his MP Lite." George said.


    Then the bread tower they were building toppled down, eliciting a few giggles from the twins before they slumped.


    "That match looked so interesting too." Fred continued.


    "We hope we had a Magical Phone as well." George said.


    "Now that I think about it, where''s your Magical Phone Katie?" George asked.


    "Yes. The match between the Brazil and Africa was awesome." Fred said.


    "Which makes me wonder why you''re not watching that match in your Phone since everyone else seems to be doing so."


    Katie slumped at their words and chewed the egg in her mouth before she let out a sigh "Professor Mcgonagall confiscated my Phone."


    "That''s rather unfortunate." Fred said, without looking the slightest bit sympathetic.


    "Yes. But why would Mcgonagall do such a thing?" George asked.


    "Unless you were using it in her class?" both of them asked in perfect synchronization and Katie ?r??n?d in annoyance.


    "Stop it George, Fred." Angelina said, hoping the twins would stop their shenanigans and drop the matter. "Stop bullying Katie."


    Asking them about something always held the danger of falling into one of their word games where they finished each other''s sentences and try to confuse their target.


    "Oh Angelina." Fred said with a dramatic expression.


    "You wound us with your words." George said while clutching his heart with a pained expression.


    "When have a ever bullied a fellow Gryffindor?" Fred asked and half the students in the table rolled their eyes.


    "Stop. Both of you. Just¡­" her breath hitched as ''he'' came and sat beside her.


    He, the richest boy in the whole Magical Britain.


    He, the mystery boy of Hogwarts.


    He, the one who defeated a troll last year and saved his friend.


    He, the genius of the century who invented the very Phones that they were using.


    He, the vanquisher of the dark lord.


    What was Harry Potter doing in the seat besides her?


    As the question rang in her ears, she realized that she had been staring at him for a long moment and her cheeks blushed at that thought.


    Yes, she would admit that he was currently the most desirable boy in the whole school. And despite her motto to marry for love and not for money, she would not deny him if he asked her to become his girlfriend.


    She tried to hide her blush and looked around in hopes that no one else had noticed her slip up when she realized that the rest of the table had gone utterly silent and were gaping at him as well.


    That was not surprising considering how it was so rare to see him ever sitting in his own House table that no one that could have ever thought that he would come and sit with them.


    The older boys in the table were openly gaping at him while the younger ones were looking at him with awe and worship.


    As for the girls. They were all blushing just like her and trying their very best to not stare at him in order to not appear so rude.


    "Hello everyone." He said with a calm voice and she swooned in her seat as his eyes met hers for a moment.


    "Hello." She said, or at least tried to say but the voice wouldn''t come out of her throat.


    She cleared her throat and tried to greet him once again before she realized that he was not looking at her anymore but at the twins instead.


    She felt a stab of jealousy rise in her heart at the missed opportunity of making a good impression on him and wondered what he wanted with the twins.


    "Hello Fred, George." He said and the twins spluttered in shock for a few moments before they regained their composure and gave a smile to the boy.


    "Hello Harry Potter."

 Chapter 152 - Memory Logs

    "Hello Harry Potter."


    "Genius of the Century."


    "Defeater of the Dark Lord."


    "Inventor of Magical Phones"


    "President of Magical Goods."


    "Richest students in Magical Britain."


    "The Parselmouth."


    "The boy-who-lived."


    "How may we help you?" Fred and George asked and she held the urge to groan at their word games while hoping that Harry won''t take offense at their stupidity.


    She took a peek at his face and realized that thankfully, he was not perturbed by their¡­ uniqueness but was looking at them with an amused expression instead.


    Fred and George looked as confused as she felt at his words and he seemed to have sensed their confusion so he continued.


    "I have come to learn that you like to make Prank items." He said "I would like to sponsor your work and offer you a shop in my mall so that you can open a joke shop and put your talent to good use if you''re interested."


    As soon as those words left his mouth, Fred and George froze in their seats and gaped at him like he was some kind of alien.


    Any other time she would have laughed at their expression but was also just as shocked as them so she was in no condition to laugh at anyone at the moment.


    It was an open secret with their small Quidditch team circle that the twins wanted to open a Joke shop in Diagon Alley once they graduate from Hogwarts and were looking for some way to earn enough galleons to fund their dream shop.


    But everyone knew that the Weasleys were a poor family so it was likely that the twins would not be able to raise the necessary funds without working hard for a few years first.


    And now Harry Potter just came and solved all of their problems with a single sentence.


    For the first time since he came and sat with them, she was starting to see the difference between him and the other students.


    She was finally starting to understand how wealthy and powerful he actually was.


    Heck, even the Witch Weekly called him the Number 1 Bachelor of Magical Britain.


    It took some time for the twins to regain their focus but just as they were about to say something, Harry held up his hands and stopped them from speaking.


    "I know that this is a big decision for you so you can take your time and think about it for some time. I''ll give you a week to decide before I come and take your answer." He said.


    And with those words, he stood up from the table and gave a short nod to everyone before turning to leave when he was stopped by a short 1st year who looked even more excited to be in Harry Potter''s presence than most other girls.


    "Harry¡­ Harry Potter. Oh my god." The 1st year student said with wide eyes while his hands itched toward the camera hung from his neck. "Can I take a picture of you?"


    She ?r??n?d and hid her face at the embarrassment the boy was bringing to their whole house.


    You don''t just go to a celebrity like that and ask them for a picture.


    That''s just¡­ rude.


    "You know my name?" the boy whose name she now knew was Colin asked as his eyebrows reached his hairline in surprise.


    "Yes. I was present in the Sorting and remember you from then." Harry said and stopped ruffling his hair before he asked "You want a picture of me?"


    "Yes." The boy nodded so fast that she almost feared that he would sprain his neck in the process.


    "Good. Come with me then." He said and started walking away and Colin Creevey took a few moments to process his words before he ran after the older boy in order to catch up with him.


    After the two of them left, Angelina put a hand on her ?h?st and realized that her heart was still beating fast.


    That was¡­ an experience.


    She never thought that she would meet Harry Potter in such a way.


    She turned her gaze and stared at the twins who were just given the proposition of their lives and found that they were looking at each other with a serious expression and whispering about something in low voice.


    She let of a sigh and hoped that she had been courageous enough to ask for a picture when Harry was sitting beside her.


    She shook her head and threw such thoughts out of her mind.


    No matter how she saw it, he was out of her league and it would be better if she doesn''t chase after such fantasies in her mind.


    She let out a sigh once again and focused on the piece of bread as the rest of the table started chatting about the boy who just gave the twins such an awesome proposition.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Do you know how to take out your memory?" he asked Colin as soon as they went out of the great hall.


    "No. But I can learn." Colin said with a lot of enthusiasm and hue chuckled at the young boy.


    "Yes. It''s not that hard to learn. At your age, you could learn how to do it if you practice continuously for about a week''s worth of time." He said nonchalantly as they walk in the long corridors and come outside of the Hogwarts main building.


    Then he turned to Colin and asked "Tell me Colin. When you look around, what do you see?"


    Colin hesitated at the answer as he looked around and said with an uncertain expression "Hogwarts?"


    "Umm¡­ Buildings. Grass. Trees. Scenery?" Colin guessed and Harry smiled while shaking his head.


    "Tell me Colin. Why were asking for my picture back in the great hall?" he asked and the boy stuttered for a while, trying to not look embarrassed.


    "I wanted to show my parents your picture. And my little brother." Colin said finally.


    "But you are not only capturing my image in your camera are you?" he said while pointing at the camera "You''re capturing as many images as you can so that you could later show it to your parents and your little brother."


    "Yes." Colin said, some of his excitement returning on his face.


    "Why?" he asked with a smile.


    "Because¡­ because they''re curious about the school and I want to share it with them."


    "Exactly." He said and the boy beamed at him "Now tell me, when you look around, what do you see."


    This time the took less time to answer the question "I see things that I could show my parents."


    The boy nodded his head and he continued.


    "Then do you remember the second memory I uploaded in the Magical Phone and shared with everyone?"


    "The second one?" the boy asked with some confusion.


    "Of course. The second one in which I showed the memory of the Train, the Lake, the Sorting and the Feast. Have you seen that memory?" he asked.


    "Yes." He replied while nodding his head frantically "One of the senior showed us the memory. It was great. How did you do it?"


    He chuckled at the boy''s enthusiasm "I did it by putting a few of the memories in the Magical Phone and merging them together."


    "Of course, you would not be able to merge them together at this point since you don''t even know how to take out a memory but all those things could be learned with time." He said "But do you know why I called you out here Colin?"


    He shook his head but the enthusiasm in his face was a clear indication that he was dying to know the answer.


    "Because there are many people like your parents out there who want to know more about Hogwarts." He said "So I want to create more memories like the 2nd one and share it with them. But I am too busy with my other projects and don''t have enough time to create such memories. So I need someone else to do it for me."


    "Someone was even more curious about the magical world than me. Someone who could create great memories of the school so that I would send them to the other curious parents who want to know more about the school that their parents are attending." He said and kept his hands on Colin''s shoulders.


    "Would you be that someone Colin?" he asked and at that point Colin was so excited that he couldn''t even form a proper sentence.


    "I''ll take that as a yes." He smiled and took out a brand new MP Pro and put it in Colin''s hands whose eyes widened at the sight.


    Because a MP Pro was worth 400 galleons and such a sum was quite large for a 11 year old child from a middle class family.


    But he had a lot of money in his hands and he knew that the more quality memories he and his company shared with the people, the more money they''ll earn and that in the long run 400 galleons would not be much.


    It was simple investment on his part on Colin Creevey who was someone with true passion for such things.


    After that, he spent the next hour teaching the boy how to take out a memory, put it in the Phone and edit it.


    Of course, the boy did not learn everything in a single hour but Colin still showed high aptitude for such things and in the end, the boy promised that he would not fail him before he left in order to create more exciting memories for the parents who would see those memories.


    Overall, he thought that if given some time, Colin would learn how to make truly beautiful memories like the professional videos that were created by video industries in his past life.


    When that happens, he would have a high level memory grapher in his service who would be fiercely loyal to him.


    Author''s Note:- Memory Logs= Mlogs


    Some people like Colin Creevey, some people find him to be too annoying.


    I think that he''s just a bit to passionate about his work and that if someone just points him to the right direction then he''ll do wonders.


    Hope you liked the chapter.


    And if you like my work and want to support me, then please do so at- pat.reon.com/ankit1


    Have a nice day :)

 Chapter 153 - Resurrection stone

    "Harry. You''ve been studying that black gemstone for the past few hours. Can you at least tell me what''s so special about it?" Hermione huffed while crossing her arms and he had to stop the urge to pull her cheeks once again because of how adorable she looked.


    He knew that she would eventually grow up to be a beautiful woman and then he would be able to advance their relationship but till then, he would just enjoy himself by teasing her.


    "If you want my attention so much then you could just say it you know." He said with a smirk that would definitely get a raise out of the girl.


    And just like he predicted, Hermione frowned at his words before groaning in annoyance at him.


    "Fine. If you don''t want to tell me, then keep it to yourself." She said with a huff and turned around to continue practicing the Will & Intent magic.


    He smiled at her angry expression and hugged her gently from behind. She didn''t protest because she was used to such surprise hugs from him and they stayed quietly like that for a few moments before he spoke without breaking the hug "What do you know the ''Deathly


    Hallows''?"


    "Deathly Hallows?" she asked with a confused expression and he realized that she probably didn''t knew anything about it which was understandable.


    The Original Harry and his friends didn''t knew about the Deathly Hallows until Xenophilius Lovegood told them about it.


    "Yes. Do you know about the tale of the Three Brothers?" he asked while burying his face in her bushy hair.


    "Harry." She said with exasperation at his antics but didn''t push him away "I think I''ve heard about that story. It''s about the three brothers who met death and then were rewarded by it."


    "Let me think.. Umm¡­ The first brother was given a wand¡­ The second brother was given a stone to bring back the spirits of the dead and the third one was given a invisibility clock from Death''s own cloak."


    "Good. Those were the gifts that were given by death to the three brothers and together they''re called the deathly hallows." He said and a quill and notepad flew in front of her and started drawing the sign of the Deathly Hallows.


    "But Harry, what does that has to do anything with that¡­ oh."


    "Yes." He nodded and showed the stone which held the same engravings in it and Hermione''s eyed widened in shock before she regained her bearings and scrutinized the stone closely.


    "Harry, you do know that just because someone carved a symbol on a black rock doesn''t actually mean that it''s a Deathly Hallow, right?" she asked while closely inspecting the stone.


    "Of course Hermione. I may act like a fool sometimes but that doesn''t mean I''m actually stupid." He drawled and she blushed at his words.


    "Yea. Sorry about that. But still. Why do you think that this is the real Deathly Hallow?"


    "Well¡­" How the hell would he explain that he saw the stone being used in a movie in which she was one of the character.


    The answer was clear.


    Not at this moment at least.


    "Well?" Hermione asked, getting impatient because of his hesitation and silence.


    So instead of answering her question, he put the stone in her palm and closed her fist before he whispered in her ears "Do you have any loved ones in your family that died. Someone that you want to meet?"


    Hermione froze for a moment and then said "I did had a grandmother who died in an accident when I was five years old. But I don''t remember¡­"


    That''s as far as she went before an old woman materialized in front of them.


    He felt Hermione''s breath hitch and he himself felt a shiver of fear go through his body.


    He had seen the stone being used in the movie before Harry went to Voldemort in order to die. But seeing it in a movie and experiencing it in real life are two very different things.


    The ring brought back the shades of the dead.


    Provided that it didn''t really Ressurect the people like how it''s name suggested but still.


    How the hell is that even possible.


    Despite being an exceptional wizard who played with the laws of the world on a regular basis, he found this experience to be rather disconcerting.


    "Granny." Hermione cried in his embrace and ran toward the ghostly figure in order to hug her loving Grandma who was giving her a gentle smile.


    But before Hermione could jump at the old woman in order to hug her, he ran behind her and caught her by her arms.


    "Harry." She cried out and gave him a pitiful expression "Please let me go. That''s my grandma." She sobbed a bit and he felt his heart wrench in pain at her sadness.


    Perhaps he should have used this stone himself before giving it to Hermione.


    But couldn''t do that because of the fear that the Shades of James and Lily Potter would recognize his true identity and blame him for taking their son''s body of something.


    If Hermione heard them say something like that, then it would a disaster as he was trying his best to hide his identity of a future transmigrator.


    "No Hermione. Remember the story of the second brother." He said while rubbing her back in a soothing gesture "Remember how he tried to bring back his lover and killed himself in the end because his lover couldn''t live with him. That¡­" he pointed at the old woman "Is not your real grandmother. She is just a shade of her. So you won''t be able to touch her or force her to live with you."


    He nodded back in return and allowed her to leave his embrace after which she went and started talking with her grandma who was still looking at the girl with an indulgent and loving expression.


    He wondered if he could use the stone.


    He did not have any loved ones that he could ressurect in this life and he couldn''t remember any person from his past life.


    In essence, this stone was rather useless to him.


    Still, he wondered if he would be able to bring back some of the greatest wizards in history.


    If he could, then would he be able to learn from them?


    Would they even care to teach him?


    He knew that he was a great wizard in his own rights but he was also sure that he would be able to learn a great deal of things from other older and experienced wizards.


    Especially if he could talk with someone like Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor and the Great Wizard Merlin himself.


    Plus, he was not sure if a shade of the dead people would even be inclined to help him.


    And if they did want to help him, then how long would they stay in the living world. And how many times would he be able to call upon them.


    He needed more time and an empty place to experiment with this stone.


    He wondered if he would be able to bring back the shade of the Original Harry Potter.


    That would be truly ironic, wouldn''t it.


    He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Hermione start to sob in front of her grandma once again.


    He put the thoughts of experimenting with the stone in the back of his mind and went to support Hermione.


    There were a lot of questions running in his mind about the Resurrection stone and the Deathly Hallows.


    If being the owner of those three artifacts would truly make him an immortal like the legends said or not.


    But for the moment, giving support to Hermione takes precedent.


    So he went behind him and hugged the sobbing girl once again who turned around and fell in his embrace while sobbing.


    It took a long while for her to calm down after which she talked with her granny once again.


    The talk was nothing really special but simply Hermione telling her Granny how much she missed her and her Granny telling her how she was so proud of her and how she would always love her.


    And after they said their goodbyes, the Granny finally turned and him and he felt the hair on his back stand at her gaze.


    This was a dead person staring at him.


    And he found the experience rather scary so he was not very keen on talking with her.


    Maybe he would postpone the experiments of ressurection stone.


    Yup, that seems like a fu?k?n? lovely idea.


    "You don''t need to fear me child." The old woman said with a smile and he tried to smile back for Hermione but it came out more as a grimace than anything else.


    "I can see that you are a very good friend of my granddaughter. She can be a handful sometimes. So please take care of her." She said and bowed to him sincerely.


    He bowed to her in return and when he looked up once again, she was gone.


    He turned to look at Hermione and found that she had genuine smile on her face with an expression that clearly said that she had finally accepted the death of her granny.


    Good for her.


    He hugged her from behind once again and she continued to gaze at the place where the shade of her granny vanished before she leaned in his hug and rested her head on his shoulder.

 Chapter 154 - Training the girls

    Despite his recent closeness with Hermione, he was still wary of showing the room of requirement to her and the other two girls.


    But now that they had m?tur?d a little bit, he wanted to teach them Dueling but had no place do so.


    Which was why he emptied one of the abandoned rooms and filled it with runes and charms that would help in a duel and make sure to protect the duelists from any heavy injuries.


    It took him two whole days to complete the room at which point he simply named it the Dueling Room.


    And then he sent a message to their Magical Phones to come to this room after the lunch and waited.


    Thankfully the three of them arrived together in time.


    Despite being his friends, they knew better than to make him wait when he was the one trying to help them.


    "Harry. Why did you call us?" Hermione asked curiously as she skipped into the room and gave him a hug.


    He could see Penelope and Daphne looking at each other with a smirk but decided to ignore them.


    "Because I''ve decided that it''s time you start learning how to fight." He said seriously and her eyes widened for a moment before she started to bite her lower lip with nervousness, looking quite adorable once again without even trying.


    "Are you sure Harry?" she asked and he gave a nod.


    Hermione nodded at that, still looking a bit unsure before Penelope patted her on her back "Come on Hermione. You''re a genius in your class so it shouldn''t be too hard for you."


    Daphne walked forward, maintaining her stoic expression and asked "So what will you teach us here?" she asked and he grinned at her before taking out the schedule he had prepared for them.


    You''ll learn one simple spell each day for the first two weeks and learn how to cast that spell while moving around. And then you''ll have dodging practice.


    "Dodging Practice?" Penelope asked with some trepidation and he grin turned even wider.


    "Yes. I''ve created 9 golems in such a manner that once they''re charged with enough magic, they would be able to fire weak stinging hexes at you." He explained.


    "Each of you will be surrounded by 3 golems for five minutes and will be continuously bombarded by those weak and slow stinging hexes."


    "The speed of the hexes will be very slow on the first day and will start to increase as the days pass by until they''re as fast as ordinary spells and curses cast by a regular auror." He said.


    "That still doesn''t explain why you''re teaching us to fight Harry." Hermione said "Are we in any kind of danger?" she asked with a worried gaze.


    "No Hermione. You''re not in any kind of danger. But as you know, my inventions will bring a lot of changes in the magical world." He said "And some people in the society might not like those changes."


    "So yes, you''re not in any immediate danger but you might be in danger in the future because of your friendship with me so I want you girls to learn how to fight in case any of you were ever attacked in the future."


    The girls gave a nod and told nodded back before telling them to form a line in front of three targets.


    Then he started teaching them the Stinging hex.


    Good news was that all three of the girls were able to perform the hex easily.


    Especially Hermione who was even able to perform the hex without her wand. Though the resulting spell was weak and slow, it was still impressive nonetheless.


    Bad news was that once he told them to move around and try to cast the spell at the same time, only Penelope was able to do it.


    It took some concentration to cast a spell and you can''t concentrate so much once you''re moving around.


    This was the reason why some of the aurors who got great marks in theory and practical exams die in their first fight because they are not able to concentrate enough to cast any spell.


    So in essence, using a spell on a stationary target and using a spell while you''re running for your life are two different things.


    So after a few hours of continuous practice, the three of them were finally able to cast a decent stinging hex while moving around.


    It was not much but he had not expected them to perform a miracle on their first day either. It was good progress and that''s the only thing he wanted for the time.


    After they got the hang of it, he took them in three separate circles.


    Each of the circle had a 3 meter of diameter and they were not allowed to leave the circle no matter what.


    After that, he position the 9 golems with 3 golems surrounding each of them and then the dodging exercise began.


    They did a poor job of dodging but once again he had not expected them to perform a miracle on the first day so he remained patient with them throughout the exercise until they ran out of stamina.


    "Good." He said after he disabled the golems.


    The three girls fell on the ground with exhaustion so he called Bitty and had her bring some water for all of them.


    "It was hard." Daphne complained while taking deep breaths and he smiled at the girl.


    "Dodging spells and casting spells while on the move are the basics of dueling." He explained "Without learning how to do them, you won''t last much longer in a fight."


    "Once you get good enough at these two things, we''ll start the real dueling lessons." He said and the three girls ?r??n?d.


    He smiled and then directed them to the nearby showers where they could clean themselves as they were dripping with sweat at the moment.


    As each of them went to the shower, he sat down on a chair and wondered if any of them will ever grow strong enough to fight alongside him in a real battle.


    He believed that he would become strong enough to challenge Voldemort in two or three years worth of time but he wouldn''t mind having someone as his equal who could stand beside him in a real battle.

 Chapter 155 - Luna Lovegood

    It was not very hard for him to create a golem and carve runes on it that would allow it to cast spells on it''s opponents.


    His Will & Intent Magic gave him greater freedom to do things with the Runes than the Ancient Runes would have ever allowed him.


    Still, that didn''t meant that his golems were capable to performing any great feats of magic because they weren''t.


    In fact, the only thing his golems were capable of was taking a aim at a target who was standing inside a circle and firing a simple hex or jinx at them time and time again.


    These kinds of golems were hard to make and were not good enough to use in a real battle. At least not at the moment.


    But that didn''t change the fact that they made for excellent training partners.


    Still, there was only so much that these golems were capable of and once he become even more powerful, they would not be able to pose any threat to him.


    Which was why he was currently making changes in a few of them so that they would be able to fire a few more curses at a faster rate.


    If the Runes worked as he intended them to work then he would have created better training partners for himself and the three girls.


    But you could never be sure if the Runes will work or not until you actually put them to test.


    So it was likely that would not succeed in the first try and would have to try a few more times in order to get the better Training partners.


    "You should take some rest." Selena said from where she was coiled around his shoulders "You''ve been doing this continuously for the past few hours. You''re too exhausted to even concentrate properly."


    He let out a sigh and put the carving quill down on the table before yawning.


    "Sure." She said with a movement that looked like a shrug.


    "Let''s go then." He said and after washing his face in the washroom, he opened the door and was about to step outside before he stopped and sighed.


    "They gave you gifts once again." Selena muttered as if he could not see the gift boxes on his own.


    Despite it being nighttime and despite the fact that the corridors were mostly dark and empty, he was clearly able to see everything clearly with his enhanced eyes.


    "Yes. I could at least appreciate their resolve and dedication if nothing else." He said and with a wave of his hand, the few gifts kept on the floor right outside his door flew in the air and were deposited in one corner of the room which was already filled with other such gifts.


    "Do you think anyone baked a cupcake for you this time as well?" Selena asked curiously, trying to hide the interest in her voice and he smirked at her.


    "I have no idea what kind of taste buds you snakes have or why you like those cupcakes so much but I''ll check once we return." He said and closed his door before he started strolling around the corridors.


    Strolling in the dark corridors in the cold night like these helped refresh his mind so he had made a habit of strolling around like this for the past few months.


    This habit became permanent when he returned the Hogwarts for the 2nd year and nowadays, he went out like this almost everyday.


    And that''s exactly what he was doing when he came across Luna Lovegood who was skipping around the corridors.


    The scene was so surreal that he had to wipe his eyes to make sure that he was not hallucinating.


    The whole situation became even strange when Luna stopped skipping and turned around to look at¡­ him.


    Now this would not have been strange if he was in the great hall or classroom because at those times, just about everyone stared at him.


    And that was because he had stopped using his Shroud of Concealment during those times.


    But he was using his Shroud right now.


    And she was still able to look at him which meant that she was somehow negate the effect of the shroud somehow.


    Interesting.


    And it seemed to have done it''s job because the smile in her face faded away and she turned to walk away.


    Or so she thought until she turned around to look at him once again.


    "You look very boring Harry Potter." She commented as if she was talking about some vegetable as she started walking toward him "But I know that you''re not a boring person."


    She walked up to him and by now, she was practically standing in front of him as she tilted her head curiously at him "How are you doing it?" she asked.


    It seemed like despite making himself utterly boring and despite using his powers to divert her attention, he still failed.


    After the surprise faded away, he let out a chuckle and removed the Shroud from around himself and watched with some fascination as her confused expression receded and she started smiling once again.


    "You know, you''re the first person who has ever managed to look past my Shroud." He said."


    "Really?" she asked with surprise "Do I get a gift for that?"


    He chuckled at her innocent question once again and started walking and gestured her to follow him.


    "I can''t tell you." She said with a smile and he raised an eyebrow at her words.


    "And why can''t you tell me?" he asked.


    "Because if I told you what I want then it the gift wouldn''t bring me any surprise. And a gift without any surprise is no fun."


    "True." He nodded "But what if I give you something that you don''t like."


    "Why wouldn''t I like something?" she asked innocently.


    "Because there are some things that you just don''t like" he replied with a frown.


    "Like what?" she asked curiously while skipping around like a little bunny.


    "Like Capsicum. How you you feel if someone gifted you Capsicums?" he asked.


    "I like Capsicum." She replied with a smile and he grimaced.


    "I see." She nodded in understanding. "But I don''t know what gift I should ask from you. And what if I ask for a gift that you can''t afford. Won''t that be embarrassing for you? Or if I ask for something that you couldn''t find. Like A Crumpled Horned Snorkacks."


    He shook his head at her words "You know what. I think you''re right. I''ll just give you a gift of my d?s?r?."


    "But before that, tell me. What are you doing outside your room so late at night?" he asked as he stopped at stared at the girl.


    But for some reason, she didn''t found him intimidating at all as she continued smiling at him.


    That thought made him a bit happy but it also served to irritate him because she was not taking him seriously.


    "I am taking a stroll." She said innocently and felt a tick mark appear on his forehead.


    "And why are you taking a stroll?" he asked.


    "Because I like it." She replied with a huge excited grin and he wondered if she was seriously this naive or if she was playing around with him.


    From his knowledge of the movie, he knew that she was most likely just a naive kind hearted girl but the deep rooted cynicism in his heart felt that she might be genius at acting and was just fu?k?n? around with him.

 Chapter 156 - Teaching Luna Lovegood

    "I mean, why are you not in your room right now Luna?" he asked kindly and the girl frowned a bit before looking up at him and replied "I lost my way to the Ravenclaw tower and I cannot find the entrance to the common room."


    He raised an eyebrow at her answer and asked "Why didn''t you ask any professor or any Prefect patrolling the hallways?"


    "I didn''t found any." She replied with an innocent expression and he nodded.


    Despite the few students attending the school, Hogwarts was a large place and it was totally possible for her to not meet any professors or Prefects if she continued to move around and was down on her luck.


    "I see. Do you want to go back to your room?" he asked and she shook her head almost immediately.


    "No. I want to talk with you some more. I like you." Then she paused for a moment and asked "You won''t mind, would you Harry Potter?"


    "Call me Harry." He said "And no. I won''t mind your company. Why would think that?"


    Luna''s face saddened for a moment before she shook off that expression and gave him a bright smile before replying "The other girls in the house don''t like me. But it''s alright. I don''t mind" she finished in a small whisper and he knew for sure that she did mind.


    Who would like to ignored or disliked by her own roommates. And from what he could recall from the movie, the other students called her Loony Lovegood as well.


    He wondered how someone who was so bullied by everyone around them still have such a kind and gentle heart.


    She was too good for the sheep of this school.


    He held her hand and when she looked up at him innocently he said "Come. I know what gift to give you."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    * He took Luna to his room and started teaching her Will & Intent Magic.


    "That I do." He replied before closing the door behind him.


    It felt a bit weird to bring a 11 year old girl in his private room but he knew that he had no wrong intentions toward her so he didn''t thought much about it.


    Though he would need to teach Luna about basic self preservation tactics so that some other bloke won''t take advantage of her innocence.


    "Do you want to open them?" he asked.


    To him, opening so many gifts might seem like a chore but a curious girl like her might find such a thing rather exciting.


    Plus, if she opened his gifts for him, then she would be solving a headache for him as he didn''t want to go through so many gifts himself.


    "You can also keep anything that you like." He said and Selena hissed at him from his shoulders.


    "Except for any cupcakes you might find." He added sheepishly "Selena likes eating cupcakes so leave them for her okay."


    Her innocence was rather refreshing to him and he spent the next few minutes watching her before he went back to working on the Training Golem.


    After about an hour or so, Luna finally came toward him with a large bunny doll in her hands and he grimaced at the sight of the gift.


    The bunny doll was the size of a human and he didn''t even want to think about who would gift him a bunny doll.


    Unlike him however, Luna seemed to have gotten very attached to the gift as she was clutching onto it rather tightly.


    "Can I keep this Harry?" she asked with a dreamy look "Can I? Please¡­"


    And how could he possibly say no to that sincere and innocent expression.


    "Of course." He said with a nod and the girl squeal in joy before hugging him all of a sudden and kissing him on the cheeks.


    "Thank you Harry. No one has given me such a nice gift ever since my mom died." The girl said without showing any outward sign of sadness before she let go of the hug.


    "Thank you." She smiled before she turned around and took something out from behind her "And here are some cupcakes for Selena." She said and opened a cupcake before passing it on the Selena who was looking at the treat with a hungry gaze.


    But then again, Luna was a girl filled with surprises so it was not that unexpected.


    "She is rather beautiful." She said and stroked Selena''s hand very gently. "Why would anyone be afraid of her?" she asked curiously and he almost blurted out the obvious ''because snakes are venomous'' or ''because snake have a bad reputation'' but he doubted that she would care about such frivolous things.


    "Because they''re dangerous." He said simply and cupped her cheeks just like he did with Hermione "Can you promise me something Luna?"


    "Promise?" she asked curiously.


    "Yes. The next time you meet a snake. Don''t pet them like you did with Selena. They might bite you." He told her and she ???ked her head to the side curiously.


    "But I pet the snakes in my garden all the time. They have never bitten me before." She said with a confused expression and he looked at her with a little surprise before he chalked it up as one of the weird things about Luna.


    She probably had an affinity with animals.


    Maybe they can sense how pure and innocent she was?


    He shook his head and decided to not talk anymore about this topic.


    Maybe he should take her to meet Basella. He could ask the 1000 year old girl if she saw something in Luna or not.


    Then he looked back at Luna who was already feeding a second cupcake to Selena.


    He sighed at the glutton but decided to let her eat her fill this time.


    "You can keep the Bunny doll Luna." He said and she gave him a beaming smile before he added "But that was not the gift I was talking about when I brought you here."


    "No?" she asked curiously.


    "No." He nodded "The gift I have in mind is something much more interesting and much more useful than a Bunny Doll."


    "What is it?" she asked dreamily and he smiled.


    "Will & Intent Magic."


    "Is it interesting?" she asked.


    "Then teach me." She replied with enthusiasm.

 Chapter 157 - Hiatus for a week

Sorry about the Hiatus but I''ve frankly burnt out because of writing constantly for so many days and want a bit of break. Thanks for understanding and have a nice day :)

 Chapter 158 - ANNOUNCMENT

    For my dear readers.


    I know that I''ve not uploaded any chapters in this novel for a long time now.


    But you need to know that I''ve not abandoned it. In fact, once I complete my latest novel -HP transmigrated into Domeric Bolton (GOT and HP crossover), I''ll come back and continue this where I left.


    I once again humbly apologize for making you wait for so long and leaving this novel like this.


    Thanks for your understanding.


    Have a nice day :)