Chapter 31

AN: First, a massive thanks to my newest Elder God patrons: Sébastien Boussely, andne, Cody, Simon Lolk Behrens, Beastank, revan, Mill, Michael Bicak, helo, Yuv Gill. Ahmed Ayub, and Ouki's Lips.

Now proceed with the chapter!

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In magical combat, Mind arts had the potential to be one of the most practical abilities in any wizard's repertoire. Fearsome in its capabilities, and subtle in its applications.

Its style suited perfectly for one, Harry Potter.

The ability to win a battle before it could even begin, all with a simple flex of your mind... yes, this was exactly the type of things Harry had been looking forward to learn in this school.

A good thing he got his wish in the first week of his stay in Hogwarts.

He'd started upon his path with occlumency. On paper, it was an incredibly simple ability to learn. Wizards must simply know how to detach themselves from their emotions, and a magical shield will automatically materialize over their minds, protecting it from any outside interference.

But this was all in theory. In reality, it takes an average wizard over two to three years' worth of meditation and control exercises before they can consistently form a basic level shield upon their mind.

Harry was confident that even without his newly gained skill-consumption ability, he would've managed to learn it in a day or two. He'd been trained in that exact method of mind after all.

As it was, his ability enabled him to devour the mind castle book, producing the skill: Occlumency (Lvl 1)

Since then, occlumency has been rivaling his Broom-Riding and Transfigurations skills to fight for the position of the fastest grower.

And the perpetration for all this came from the most unlikeliest of beings. Someone who Harry had a low opinion of before coming to Hogwarts.

"Are you quite ready yet?" The above mentioned person asked, his wand held against Harry's forehead.

Harry closed his eyes, occluding away his feelings and letting the familiar shield snap in place.

Normally speaking, should someone ask him to let them enter his mind, his reaction would be much more brutal and non-complying.

The only reason he was letting Snape get away with it was due to trust. Not on the man of course, that notion was simply comical. But on his system.

Even if his occlumency shield was shattered apart, the Gamer's Mind will not let anyone enter inside, this Harry was completely sure of.

Thus with a deep breath he nodded at the man, not reacting at all as he intoned, "Legilimens!"

At least, physically. Mentally, he was fighting a war.

When actively practicing occlumency, Harry tended to enter what both Snape and him liked to call; The Mind World. In this world, Harry's perception changed completely, as the ceiling of his mind became his new sky.

The shield over his mind was quite similar to a Protego. Just, on a much more enormous scale as it formed a cover over his entire mind, thus covering the entire sky in a pale blue protective energy barrier.

When Snape started his attacks, it was in the form of a massive force bludgeoning against his shield, sending cracks into its once flawless blue surface. It was almost as if a superhuman entity had hit a slab of tempered glass with a spiked club.

Harry worked overtime in trying to stop the force from penetrating, focusing all his attention in fixing the newly formed cracks and keeping his shield alive.

He succeeded for a brief amount of time, holding strong against the tide, but then the attack changed. The bludgeoning force was now more concentrated, hitting a smaller area of the shield but with twice as much power.

The area it attacked cracked like laminated glass. Shattered, but holding together with sheer Will. Harry once again renewed his construction, willing the shield to repair back to pristine condition.

After a few repeated instances, the attack changed again, getting even more compressed and pointed.

A sword, big but sharp, similar to a Great sword, now tried piercing through his shield, stabbing straight in a single quick motion.

It succeeded in breaking inside on the first try, and stayed lodged inside his mind to create a direct link for a foreign consciousness to worm in.

[Gamer's Mind: Activated]

Harry couldn't see exactly what happened next, but he was suddenly back in the physical world, watching a scowling Snape rub his head irritably.

"It has been over three days since we started," The black robed man drolled out, standing up to approach his cupboard. "And I am yet to be accustomed to this most unpleasant feeling."

The Gamer's Mind turned off automatically, and he felt a flicker of amusement at the man's disheveled shape.

[Skill Leveled Up: Occlumency] Lvl 9

The glowing message brought a smile on Harry's face as he pushed himself to his feet.

"You have improved much in the past few days, Mr. Potter." Snape said, with his back still turned. "Keep doing whatever it is you are doing, and I doubt you will need my instructions. Atleast in this."

He quickly drank from a small goblet, his shoulder relaxing, along with the creases on his forehead. "Much better. Do you wish to give it another go?"

"No." Harry replied, approaching the dueling ramp. "I was hoping to pick up where we left yesterday."

Snape gave a relieved nod. "My exact thought. While I may wish to...atone for my mistakes, having my consciousness crushed repeatedly by such foreign power is irritating."

He came to stand against Harry, taking position on the opposite end of the stage.

Harry let out a small sigh, beginning to bow.

"No need this time." Snape waved it off, his wand already pointing at Harry like a sword. "It is necessary to know the rules of professional Dueling, but Lord Voldemort will not adhere to such trivialities. Should you duel him, you will find him quite...lacking in honour."

"As he should be." Harry said, straightening up as his wand arose to match his opponent. "Begin?"

[Gamer's Mind: Activated]

"If you will." The wizard inclined his head, and without wasting any time Harry started their duel with a whispered stunner.

"Today's rules are such," Snape spoke as his wand slashed down, smacking the red stunner away to a side. "No shielding for me. No physical combat for you. And try limiting your dodging."

Harry stopped closing in upon the wizard with a tsk, leaping away to avoid a disarming charm. His own wand launched another stunner at the man's feet, aiming for his wide robes.

It was the only combat spell that he could use if he wished to be anywhere near his opponent's casting speed.

At Lvl 35, Harry could cast it with a simple whisper and a lone wand movement.

Even then he did not get a chance to attack his opponent again as the professor wasted no time in making him dance around the dueling stage, side-stepping Harry's spell quite easily for a man wearing feet length robes that touched the floor.

Harry had no more chance to observe his opponent as a multitude of spells tore through the air one by one, all hunting for him.

The spells were cast incredibly quickly, one or two each second, all spread out in the air to tie up his movements.

It was a little unexpected, considering normally Snape held back to let Harry practice against him.

Not this time, it seems.

Harry's mind whirled through a possible escape route, his wand swishing through the air as he utilized the only other spell, apart from the unforgivables, that he could cast without needing precise wand movements.

"Leviosa!" He hissed out with a stab towards the desks, and multiple furniture came flying in front of him.

He manipulated them accurately, letting them block the shower of spells, and easily dodging any that managed to slip through. What he didn't anticipate, but should have, was the effects the spells had on the wooden desks.

His defense turned into attacks against him all of a sudden, when one of the spells blasted a desk back towards Harry. He ducked under it, letting it sail overhead, but was quickly forced to form his own brand of shield when a desk shattered apart in the air, and it's splinters came flying towards him.

His wandless shield, when cast with his new wand, became his most powerful defense currently.

Thus he wasn't surprised when the splinters crashed against its surface, halting immediately and falling to ground. Even the steel rods could do nothing more than bounce off of it.

Harry rolled to a side quickly, anticipating further attacks from his opponent. He seemed to have guessed wrongly however, cause no attack landed on the place he just vacated.

He turned to the professor quizzically, only to find him standing stationary with his wand held down, staring at him with a frown.

"That shield," Snape started, a brow raising up. "Where did you learn it?"

Harry pushed himself back to his feet, dusting away his pants and letting Gamer's Mind die down. "It is of my own creation. Why?"

"Show me."

Harry received no chance to rebut the man as a red stunner came flying for him.

It was fast and unexpected, and Harry barely managed to jerk to a side, his wand coming out to point at Snape, who sighed irritably.

"Show me your shield, Potter. I may provide you valuable information."

Harry frowned. "You could've asked."

"I did."

"Then you should've waited for an answer."

"You were going to refuse, and my way was faster. A shame it failed."

"You're a dickhead."

"Excellent argument, Potter." Snape sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "The shield, if you will?"

With another suspicious look at the weird wizard, Harry twirled his Holly wand in place, producing the shield once more.

"Interesting." The dark-eyed man slowly sauntered towards him, his eyes glued to the shield. "Inefficient and weak, and unless I am wrong, quite useless in most duels….but interesting, nonetheless."

With a tsk, Harry let it dissipate. "Was that all?"

"No." The man whirled around, walking back where he came from. "I would like to test something. Don't dodge the spell this time."

"If you expect me to be your subject then you don't know me at all." Harry folded his hands with a snort.

"I think I have quite a solid grasp on you, Mr. Potter. " Snape replied, his wand already extended. "Do this for me, and I will teach you Protego. Something you truly need before you end up getting too used to that shield."

Harry hesitated, a strangely illogical voice telling him to refuse the man solely on principle.

He shook his head, dismissing such thoughts. "Throw in the Reductor curse and you have a deal."

Snape's lips curled up slightly. "You do realise I'm doing this for your own advancement? Asking for rewards in a task that will benefit you is…incredibly like you, now that I think about it."

Harry snorted. "Your curiosity is the main reason for your experiment. My benefits are simply a side effect."

"…True enough." Snape inclined his head unabashedly. "Very well, I shall teach you the Reductor curse….do keep in mind that it's not advisable for you to use it on your little friends. And it is banned from most dueling tournaments as well."

That only made Harry want to learn it even more. "Let's get this over with."

"The shield if you will." Snape urged, and with a nod Harry once again produced the shield.

"Don't dodge." The elder wizard warned once more, before aiming right at his shield and casting aloud, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The spell was invisible like always, but Harry had expected his shield to block it nonetheless. What he did not expect was for his body to suddenly start levitating with only the slightest magical warning, his shield still as spotless as before.

Harry struggled to break free, letting his shield dissipate to focus on fighting against the magical bond.

"As I'd thought." Snape nodded calmly, slowly lowering his still flailing body down. "Would you mind standing still? I am already lowering yo- What?"

[Resistance Leveled Up: Magic] Lvl 3

…..He still couldn't move an inch but Harry was satisfied with his progress nonetheless.

"Potter, how did you do that?" Snape snapped off.

"Do what?" Harry, ever the virtuous angel, smiled up at the professor innocently.

"That, Potter." The elder wizard stressed. "How were you able to produce resistance against magic at a troll's level all of a sudden? Better yet, why do you have any resistance to magic in the first place?"

Harry gave him an unimpressed look, acting blatantly offended. "If this is some new roundabout way of insulting me Professor, then I just want to say fuck you."

Snape sighed, mumbling to himself. something about dealing with Potters.

He continued on a second later. "If you are still curious, the shield you currently use must've been created by your intentions and will. At the time you created it, your focus must've been on the more physical type of damage to defend yourself against. Thus, while still usable, your shield is woefully weak against the more subtle kind of magic. One of which is the levitation charm. I suggest you get started in correcting that mistake right away."

Harry took his words in silently, his mind reviewing his memories, wondering if he had truly done such a thing.

Quite possible but he couldn't rightly guess.

"Now before you start, I had something else to discuss with you." Snape said, moving to approach his desk. "Your mother has been creating problems for me. Most likely assuming that I'm 'unfairly' punishing her dear little child."

Harry nodded. "I will talk to her."

"No, I would rather like to keep it the way it is." He lifted a finger, stopping any queries. "Let's just say it lends more credence to our mutual hostilities."

Harry frowned. "Why exactly do we wish to maintain such an exaggerated mask?"

The man seemed to hesitate, silently glancing out of the window. "I cannot say yet. All I can say is to be wary of professor Quirrell."

"The 'Care of Magical Creatures' professor?"

"The very same."

"Fine. Now, the spells if you will?"

The long suffering sigh of the dark-eyed man was music to Harry's ears.

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When Friday arrived Harry led his little gang to the Great Hall for breakfast, without needing anyone's help along the way.

Once he realized that there was a fixed timetable to the randomness of the castle, his sense of direction had quickly adjusted to Hogwarts standards as he'd succeeded in memorizing the general routes and secrets. While he was still working on learning the exact time everything moved, it didn't hinder his ability to traverse through the castle too much.

He gave a glance around the Slytherin table, noticing the absence of his sister once again. The last few days hadn't been kind to them. The only time they were able to meet was in the morning for breakfast, or at night for dinner.

With all his new magical studies, his quest to find dungeons, Snape's occlumency and dueling classes shrouded as detentions, and his attempts to get used to all the new functions of his system, Harry constantly found himself in a time crunch. It was a good type of time crunch however, one where your busyness makes you feel giddy about your progress.

He hadn't been able to find a single dungeon yet, but this feeling of achievement kept him from growing impatient.

Plus, there were also the new system updates that he enjoyed playing around with.

'Inventory'

Instantly a long rectangle with 10 separate boxes materialized at the top corner of his vision. One box was occupied by his wand, and just a single flex of his Will made it reappear directly in his palm, ready to serve.

The chances of him being caught without his wand were now nil. He'd been deciding what else to put in there but nothing came to mind. His occlumency book used to take a spot before it was consumed. The other books he cannot hide without arousing suspicions. So for now, they stayed empty and awaiting.

"What have we got today?" Andrea asked from the side as she poured sugar on her porridge.

"Double Potions with Slytherins." Ron answered with a groan. "Then charms, then double dueling with Hufflepuff."

"Don't be a wet blanket, you." Andrea elbowed the boy. "I'm sure Harry's looking forward to potions."

"Why?" The boy asked before his eyes took in the name of their potions teacher, 'Professor Potter'. "Oh Blimey mate, I completely bungled that up."

Harry gave an absent grunt, his attention on shoving food in his stomach and watching his stamina go up automatically.

"And Rose is in Slytherin too." Andrea cut in. "It's almost like a family reunion for you."

The mails arrived right at that moment; with hundreds of owls circling the great hall to pinpoint their owners, before diving down to deliver the respective letters or packages in their laps.

Hedwig was empty-clawed as she came to perch on his shoulder, nibbling his ears softly.

"Hello, Hedwig." He scratched her on the head.

"She's so pretty." Andrea cooed from the side, her own large black owl glaring balefully at her. Harry could've sworn he saw malice brewing in it's beady eyes.

He hummed lightly, breaking a piece of toast for his awesome owl. "She is indeed."

"Guys, look at this." Ron cleared his throat, holding a newspaper in his hands. "It says, 'Wizengamot calling for re-elections. Dumbledore's attempts to hunt for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named critically questioned'."

He closed the newspaper to stare at them. "The minister's gone barmy, you reckon? He's trying to find a dead man again. This is like the fifth time this year. It used to be once a year in the past."

"I'm sure he has his reasons." Harry answered. "Whatever it may be, they do not concern us."

He only knew the things his parents had told him about. Apparently Dumbledore took on the minister's position just after finding out that Harry has been kidnapped. Since then, he's been trying to increase magical Britain's security while actively searching for Voldemort.

Logical actions, as far as Harry was concerned. The reason for Potters hostility came not from the wizard's incompetency as a minister, but his incompetency with handling Harry's situation. Still, it did not matter to Harry. For him, Dumbledore was the same as Voldemort. A behemoth who, if proved to be some hidden evil, will simply be a bag of XP for Harry.

What he didn't get was the reason why so many believed Voldemort to be dead. Or why the Wizengamot and newspapers were indirectly protecting this dark lord.

"I kind of agree that the Minister's being paranoid." Andrea said. "I mean, you-know-who's been gone for over a decade now. Everyone said he was dead. And even if he was alive, wouldn't he be trying to take over the country?"

Harry frowned. "...And who makes up your 'Everyone' exactly?"

"You know," She waved her hands around. "The Daily Profit took interviews from all sorts of famous people. Everyone had only one thing to say about You-Know-Who; dead."

Harry let out a low snort, dismissing the subject.

This was the problem with the wizarding world. They seemed to believe anything this 'Daily Profit' wrote about. And without a rival, they could write anything they wished and no one would be able to call them out on it.

Harry was of a mind to start his own news company in this country. With his fame and money, the news industry was just a juicy slab of meat just waiting for him to capitalize upon.

Unfortunately, any such plans will only be possible once his schedule stopped being this hectic. Perhaps he could also recruit his parents in this. And Snape as well. A small cut of profits would be worth his support.

Though only a very small one.

"Then again," Andrea continued. "The minister's said to be the most powerful wizard in the world. Maybe we just don't understand his very complicated way of thinking."

After the breakfast was over, they went about their day as usual. His thoughts though, were soon taken over by anticipation.

He was looking forward to meet his mother and sister. Especially considering he had to reject her last offer of tea at the very last moment, no doubt disappointing the woman something fierce. Though a main part of his excitement came from the fact that potions was in a dungeon. Surely it must be the Slytherin Dungeon?

He could only hope...