Chapter 33
Harry Potter was feeling particularly unimpressed.
Their first dueling class had turned out to be more about learning how to position yourself in a fight, rather than any practical spellwork.
That part would come later, Remus promised.
The basic position, he told us, was to stand sideways with only one leg facing the enemy. It was to reduce yourself as a target, and make you capable of dodging spells by simply leaning forward or backwards.
Harry had already learned this with Snape and was beginning to doubt the usefulness of the class.
Remus then proceeded to personally approach each and every student and work out any errors in their stance. Harry got a 'Perfect form, Harry!' from the teacher, and he spent the rest of the class giving a thorough read to the 1st year Dueling book, gauging the usefulness of the class.
The chapter titles included 'A Good wand Grip Is Half The Game' to 'Advanced casting Techniques'. In the end he concluded it was better to attend the class, and should he face a useless class—simply complete the next reading assignment.
After the lessons ended, the first year Gryffindors received a piece of news that left everyone jittering from over excitement.
"As you all know, Hogwarts is famed for its biannual tournaments, something that I expect most of you to take part in." Remus announced, a knowing smile on his face. "The junior section of the tournament allows for the first to third year students to take part and compete, the reward for which—should you win—is fifty galleons."
The students all gasped. As they should, if Harry's calculations were correct.
As far as he knew 1 Knut was worth 5 American cents, while 1 Sickle came at $1.47. A whole Galleon however, was worth a total of $25 in today's market. Well...in Gringotts atleast.
Which meant the prize money of a simple school tournament—junior section even—was precisely $1250.
'Something is wrong.' Harry frowned. 'Either Hogwarts is a very rich school—unlikely, considering the tuition is free here—or the ministry has a particular agenda.
At normal times Harry wouldn't care enough to give it much thought, but his 'Sage' trait enabled him to understand concepts like this easily. Thus his mind wandered.
'So, an agenda. The ministry has made the rewards quite lucrative, so they must want more students to participate in dueling tournaments. Also increase the competitiveness.'
Why? Most likely to push them to become better duelers. Was the minister preparing soldiers for his army? Pushing children from a young age? Possible. Perhaps this war with Voldemort was as inevitable as Snape seemed to believe.
'They truly are desperate aren't they? Perhaps I can use this somehow.'
Still frowning, Harry focused on Remus' parting words.
"Anyone who wishes to participate must submit their names by next Saturday. I hope all of you atleast give the first one a try. Good day."
Remus nodded at him and Andrea with a smile as he left.
"Fifty galleons..." Ron muttered, daydreaming with unfocused wide eyes and a loopy grin. "And imagine if I win...wait, what does biannual mean?"
The question seemed to jar him out of his imagination.
"Twice a year." Hermione's swift answer came.
"I'm gonna train." Andrea announced suddenly. "I'll practice and become so strong that no one will stand in my way. Vengeance shall be mine! You'll see. You'll all see."
Harry sighed.
Hopefully the group won't try to disturb his schedule. Almighty knows he had too much on his plate already.
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Evening found Harry struggling to find the staff quarters.
The teachers of Hogwarts all had different living arrangements, depending entirely on their choice. Some liked to live in Hogsmeade and have their own houses. Though most considered Hogwarts to be their home, and preferred not to leave the castle. Which is why an entire section of tower was reserved for any teachers who wished to live there.
Lily was one of those who had a room in the tower, and Harry had to use his newly gained marauders map to reach her room without getting lost. He could see his sister's name already present with Lily, so this most likely wasn't Rose's first time.
Or, Lily personally went to get the girl from the Slytherin dorms, trusting him to find his way. She did give him the map afterall, so she'd know he didn't need her help.
The hallway was filled with numerous other doors, each housing one of the Hogwarts teachers. He could see Aurora Sinistra and Septima vector in the same area as Lily's room.
Finally reaching, he gave a quick rap of his knuckle on the door, prompting it to open up by itself.
"Harry!" His sister was there to greet him with a huge smile, jumping down from her place on a sofa to approach and drag him inside.
The room wasn't a room at all, Harry realized as soon as he entered. It was a complete luxurious suite, much larger than he'd been led to believe from outside.
There was a fireplace in the first room, warming it against the evening's chill.
His sister led them deeper inside, to a large hallway where a dining table was arranged—clattered with the same golden plates and goblets that Hogwarts sported.
Lily soon arrived from the inside, dressed in casual clothes like him and Rose, and balancing three plates in the air that hovered around her head. They arranged themselves upon the dining table, a lone candle powerful enough to illuminate the entire hall sitting in the middle.
"Harry." Lily breathed out, stowing away her wand as she rounded the table. She leaned down some, still quite taller than him—but her arms stopped an inch away from hugging him, as if asking for permission.
"Mother." Harry nodded, and with a sigh of delight the beautiful redhead embraced him.
"I'm so glad you were able to come." Her smile more brighter than the candle, even as he disengaged a second later.
"I had time today." Harry replied.
No he didn't, but it would've been rude not to attend after accepting the map.
While he wasn't well versed in relationships, he was quickly coming to understand that ungratefulness was a quick way to ruin one. He doubted Lily would ever love him less—even had he reneged on his word for the second time—but it was in his best interest to maintain it all the same.
A good thing too, as by the end of their family session, her affection had grown by a point.
And all it took was spending the next hour or so with his family, eating delicious food, and regaling Lily with his experience in Hogwarts...and listening to Rose regal hers as well, though he found himself not minding it too much. On the other hand, Lily gave him plenty of information on various subjects, including politics—which families were considered 'Dark' and which were not.
In the back of his mind he knew he could've done a lot of things in this time. With the map in his possession, finding the dungeons should've become his first goal. Plus there was Snape's occlumency and dueling lessons that he'd rejected for the evening. And his own self studies into higher education that would surely come to use when he found a dungeon.
His life was packed right now, and he could think of over a dozen important things he should be doing right now. But even after considering all of this, Harry still didn't regret coming here today. He was beginning to understand that family was an important aspect of life, with its own secured place that couldn't be easily trumped.
Lily and James were brave and powerful people, willing to stand against the world for their children. Should he be pressed, he could always come to them for help. And that too, without any price.
Such loyalty cannot be bought, threatened, or cultivated easily. And he would be doing himself a great disservice if he gave it up due to simple impatience.
In the end, it turned out to be a relaxing yet informative evening, and Harry gladly agreed to make this into a weekly affair.
Sure, he may have dozen other things he could do...but a couple of hours was nothing in front of the growing love and affection in his mother and sister's eyes. Their loyalty was now unquestionable.
As the times ahead were sure to remind him.
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In the next few days, Harry's life quickly settled down in Hogwarts.
The school was proving to be exactly what he'd wanted: A safe and quiet place where he could explore his powers in full, growing stronger with each passing day. There were no hidden assassins to worry about, no hidden enemies to be spied by, and no hidden plots to be wary of.
The only challenge he had to deal with was the constant fawning and hero worshiping he was subjected to by the rest of the school. But even then, he was building himself a reputation of a calm genius who never rejected anyone's presence out of conceit or superiority. A reputation Harry planned to use for the years to come in this school.
Life was, perhaps for the first time, worth living without fear. Had he not been a gamer, he would've feared of losing his edge. Such was the safety provided to him.
And he made sure not to squander it in mediocrity.
By the time their first weekend was finished, Harry was already arranging for third year study material. While there was quite a bit still remaining of 2nd year—especially with his self-goal of leveling every spell to at least Lvl 10—his speed remained constant enough that he predicted he'd be done with it by the month end. He wagered he may even touch upon O.W.L level of knowledge by the end of his first year.
As a result, his list of magical skills had went through quite a transformation in less than a month.
Magical Skills–
Occlumency (Lvl 13)
Mana Sensing (Lvl 17)
Mana Manipulation (Lvl 46)
Charms (15)
Transfiguration (2)
Potions (1)
Dark Arts (8)
Another decent ability of his system was arranging his spells in neat stacks, showing simply the number of spells in his repertoire instead of letting them bog down the entire status. If he wished to view his list of spells, he had to further choose the drop down option beside each subject.
'Charms' He willed the status to reveal.
Charms (15)
Dancing-feet Charm- Tarantallegra (Lvl 2)
Ascending Charm- Alarte Ascendare (Lvl 3)
General-counter Spell- Finite (Lvl 6)
Shield Charm- Protego (Lvl 8)
Mending Charm- Reparo (Lvl 10)
Tickling Charm- Rictusempra (Lvl 10)
Locking Spell- Colloportus (Lvl 12)
Unlocking Spell- Alohomora (Lvl 12)
Disarming Charm- Expelliarmus (Lvl 12)
Softening Charm- Spongify (Lvl 13)
Severing Charm- Diffindo (Lvl 16)
Fire-making Spell- Incendio (Lvl 17)
Wand-Lighting Charm- Lumos (Lvl 18)
Stunning Charm (Lvl 37)
Levitation Charm (Lvl 41)
'Transfiguration'
Transfiguration (2)
Reverse Transfiguration- Reparifarge (Lvl 11)
General Transfiguration (Lvl 23)
'Potions'
Potions (1)
Boils Cure Potion
'Dark Arts'
Dark Arts (8)
Leg-locker Curse- Locomotor Mortis (Lvl 1)
Full Body-bind Curse- Petrificus Totalus (Lvl 2)
Jelly-legs Curse- Locomotor Wibbly (Lvl 2)
Reductor Curse- Reducto (Lvl 7)
Knockback Jinx- Flipendo (Lvl 16)
Imperius Curse- Imperio (Lvl 34)
Killing Curse- Avada Kedavra (Lvl 39)
Cruciatus Curse- Crucio (Lvl 41)
Just in his 2nd week of Hogwarts and he already knew more than 20 spells. And the list did not seem to be stopping anytime soon.
Of course, studying magic did not take his singular focus. He also took some time each day to explore his system and find the Hogwarts dungeons.
While the latter did not see any instant success, the former was making quite a headway. One of the system functions he soon discovered was its ability to assign mundane quests without taking any specific missions.
These quests ranged from the easier ones like being the first to learn a specific spell in the class, or the more tricky ones such as stopping Neville Longbottom from melting his cauldron.
While they may not give him the same XP as some of the missions in Shield, they were still numerous enough to surpass the Daily Quest rewards, enough for him to level up by one in the time their first flying lesson crept upon them.
Indeed, the day of their first flying lesson soon arrived, and Hermione took this chance to rattle everyone's ears off with flying tips. Neville was the only person who bothered to pay attention, the rest simply ignored her.
She looked highly strung—with shaky hands and full of anxiety—and always had two different books on Broom-flying in her hands, trying to memorize the entire process.
Unfortunately for her, flying wasn't something you can learn from books. Unless you had a system; though in this particular case, he was quite ready for anything the day might throw at him. With or without his system.
Her dependence on books aside, the entire first-year Gryffindors were looking forward to this. Harry must've heard over a dozen wild tales from the boys; about how they flew across the entire countryside on their brooms, sometimes encountering a muggle plane, sometimes crashing into hand gliders. Some of these stories had actually amused him, especially when two boys got into an argument on who had the better feats of flying, and Seamus ended up with a grand tale of how he managed to rescue a sad princess from the clutches of evil muggles.
The boy spent the rest of the day trying to back-track and make it at least a little believable.
Their lesson was supposed to be with Slytherins, held on grounds overlooking the forbidden forest. They were told to bring their brooms with them, those who actually brought one. So the entire Gryffindor first years—apart from Dean Thomas and a few girls—walked to the ground with wrapped up package in their hands, though a few—Including Ron—had handed-down old brooms.
By the time they arrived onto the ground, the other class was already on the lawn. They stood divided—in groups of two—one with Malfoy in the centre, and the other with Rose as the leader. He was surprised to note Zabini's presence in his sister's group. From what Lily had told him, the boy's mother was quite a cunning and opportunistic woman, ensnaring rich and influential men in her webs.
Then again, perhaps that was exactly the reason the boy was with his sister. The worth of The-Girl-Who-Lived might just be more than the Malfoys. Harry wouldn't know, politics was not his forte.
Though his Sage trait was making it easier to understand.
Quest [Saving Neville III] in progress!
Save Neville's life ( )
With Health above 90% ( )
With Health 100% ( )
Reward: 300 XP
With a raised brow, Harry glanced at Neville from the corner of his eye. it was the 3rd time that he's received a quest to save the boy. Was there perhaps some special side-quest regarding the boy? Or perhaps the system was warning him about Neville's eventual death?
Whatever the case, it was clear Neville wouldn't have been alive till now without Harry's quests.
...Or perhaps he was forced by the system in these dangerous situations in the first place. Well, as long as he kept bringing some good XP for Harry, he will continue to save him.
When they arrived, Malfoy was regaling his crowd of minions with his own glorious tales upon a broom. One of which included getting chased by a muggle helicopter and successfully escaping after a series of devastating tricks and turns that physically did not make sense.
Nor magically either, unless Malfoy was secretly an ancient archwizard whose powers worked in mysterious ways.
His sister noticed him soon and happily jumped over at him to drag him along. Harry let himself be led to her circle of friends, his own group trailing uncertainly.
"Harry!" Rose exclaimed. "This is gonna be so fun!"
"I'm sure it will." He nodded. "As long as you stay in one piece till the lesson starts."
She pouted at him cutely. "You're such a meanie."
Harry blinked at his surprising feeling. 'Cute? This hellion?'
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, soon arrived. With short grey hairs and eyes like molten gold, she looked like an exotic humanoid.
"What are you all waiting for!?" She barked. "Go on, place your brooms to your right. Those who do not have their own will take one of the school's from that box over there."
As they separated to assume their position in two straight lines, he could hear Malfoy bragging about his latest comet and couldn't help but snort as he unwrapped his own broom.
Gasps of exclamations spread through the lines, everyone's eyes on the glinting nimbuses that let off a strong smell of fresh polish and wood. He could see his sister getting swarmed by her friends too as the entire lawn was rapidly covered by excited whispers.
"Is that...!?"
"...Nimbus 2000!"
"The latest broom..."
"The fastest broom ever!"
For some reason, his eyes couldn't help but track Malfoy's reaction first. The boy's one-sided rivalry simply never failed to amuse him.
And indeed, Malfoy's face was worthy of an award. The shock behind his eyes soon turned to jealous anger and angst. He could hear him spewing bullshit to his friends with his nose up in the air. Something along the line of nimbus being overrated and his father arranging for the best brooms to be made from scratch.
Even Madam Hooch approached him, looking quite interested as her eyes went up and down his slick and shiny broom.
"Exquisite design." She commented. "I like the hooded look, you won't have to worry about sliding off of the end. The pointed brush tip is fine too, the bristles won't remove easily. Though the resting stands are unneeded, no one lands or mounts a broom that low."
She then moved on, walking to stand at the middle. "Now let's start. Place your right hand over your brooms and say 'Up!'."