I don't own HP

The first books Harry read were the ones required for the coming year, giving him a basic understanding of each subject. After he had devoured those, he turned to the books on spell theory, which explained in more detail than Mcgonagall had, the difference between wanded and wandless magic. Included in this was the reasoning behind the different wands movements and spell intonations, and why they became unimportant later on in his education.

Magical control while highly complex in detail, could be summarized rather simply. If one had 100 units of magic power, but only had 50% control, they could only cast spells totaling 50 units. By raising control, one was more efficient with their magic. The more magic one had, the harder it was to control, like trying to hold an ocean's worth of water compared to a puddle.

Magic control also affected how fast ones magic pool refilled. There was no set equation, nor any true pattern to follow, but it was general consensus that those with better control, no matter how much magic they had, would have their magic refilled faster than average wizards and witches. Dumbledore himself was a prime example of this, while he was estimated to have only an above average amount of magic at his disposal, his control was so great that casting spells outside of true battle spells like fiendfyre wouldn't even tire him, as his magic refilled faster than he cast. There was an element of chaos that applied though, a wizard with little control could find that their magic refilled faster than it should and those with greater control that refilled slower than average. One of the many mysteries of magic that existed and was noted as studied in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry

There were potions to refill ones magic and those to temporarily give better control, but they were very difficult to make and the ingredients cost a small fortune if not found in the wild. Acromantula venom and basilisk scale powder being the most expensive and dangerous ingredients on the list.

The last known aspect of a witch or wizard's magic was the potency. One could have the capacity to hold 100 units of magic, but the potency could make each unit worth double, giving the caster 200 units to work with. While there might only be 100 units, the caster would need to learn to control 200 units, and any growth would happen at double the rate of someone with a 1 to 1 potency. Conversely, there could be a witch and wizard who has a potency of .5, meaning they effectively had half the magic they should. In the case of squibs, more often than not it wasn't that they lacked magic, but rather it wasn't potent enough for them to cast any spells.

While never confirmed, Voldemort was suspected of having at least x4 potency of an average wizard. While amount of magic and the control of magic a witch and wizard had could be tied to both training and, according to some, bloodline, magic potency was completely random. A family with three children could see all the children with the same potency of magic, of different, and those could be the same as their parents, or again, different. The only confirmed method of increasing one's magical potency, was to spend their magical developmental years, ages 11-18, at a location that contained enormous amounts of magic, Hogwarts being one of the most potent sources in the world, which is why so many pure-blood lord were willing to pay to send their children to the school instead of tutoring them at home and customizing their education.

Control and potency also interacted uniquely and with an element of chaos. Sometimes the caster was attempting to control with their potency calculated in, but some casters only felt the amount before potency multipliers took effect. So a caster with a magic pool of 100, but doubled potency, could think they only have 100 units of magic, meaning they were prone of overpowering their spells because they were accidentally doubling the power necessary for each spell. Though most spells that required specific amounts of power were usually cast by wizards who were well aware of how much they put into their spells. Most spells simply bled off the extra magic, and worked stronger than expected, but not with a detrimental effect.

And finally came the book on illusions. Much to Harry's surprise, there was a small book slipped into the front cover he hadn't noticed when purchasing the tome. The Lokasenna was an old epic written in an ancient runic language that vaguely resembled english. From what Harry could decipher it was the story of Loki's dispute with the other gods. The other gods thought they were getting one up on the trickster by ganging up on him, but the trickster used it against them and won in the end. It was pure myth, but Harry enjoyed reading through it before delving into the book on illusions.

He was sorely disappointed however. It seemed that even a few hundred years ago illusions were a dying art, being phased out for more physical magics and a rebirth of complex mind magics. What he now possessed was the collected works of the last true 'illusionists'.

All the illusions in the book had highly detailed descriptions listed, each painting a very specific picture. One made those under the illusion believe they were being eaten alive by a thestral herd, another buried alive in a cold iron coffin, a third had a very vivid description of hell for them to go through. All were needlessly overcomplicated and would take years to master even one. The control necessary to create these exact images while having the power necessary to project them through another person's magic was rare even then, and Harry estimated only Dumbledore and others on his level could cast the spells in the book. And even then, there were other spells that were more efficient magically and did a better job of incapacitating opponents than illusions, so why bother.

As Uncle Vernon dropped him off at the train station on his way to work with only a good riddance, Harry swore to himself he was going to reinvent the illusion art, restore it to what it should be. Not meaningless parlor tricks, not over complicated gruesome scenes. He was going to make illusions dangerous, and Harry knew right where to start, he had the tools, and as he pushed his trolley through the barrier like Mcgonagall had described to him, he knew the train was the perfect place to begin.

**break**

Having arrived almost an hour before the train was due to depart, Harry took the time to try his hand at spell casting, starting with his speciality. First thing he did was test his fire, and just like always, the blue-green glow surronded his hands. Harry gave a smirk as he looked at what he now knew was his magic, this was his greatest tool, and his mind was ready to apply it.

Letting the magic fade back into his body, Harry drew a small hand mirror from his worn jacket pocket and looked at his reflection, at the gruesome scar that carved over his face. He had been lucky that Mcgonagall had been too busy with his excited persona to notice that he was always smoothing his hair down to cover almost half of his face, and that streak wouldn't last an entire year.

Focusing on the same sensation as before, Harry willed his magic to cover his scar the same way it did his hands, and after a few moments, the green-blue flames came to life on his face. Focusing harder, Harry willed the flames to dim and change. He didn't want his magic to flair out, he wanted it to hide and deceive. Using the other side of his face as a base, Harry had his magic form a half mask to cover his scar and missing eye. And for the first time in years, two green eyes reflected back at Harry.

Running a hand carefully over his face, Harry could still feel the raised rope-like scar tissue that made up a portion of his face, and when he closed his real eye, he couldn't see. The illusion was simple, and taxing, but it would serve its purpose. Hiding his true face.

By the feel of it, the illusion wasn't taking anymore power other than the magic Harry had first made the mask of, but it did require him to focus on maintaining the mask. If Harry had to guess, it would be almost impossible for him to split his focus between maintaining the mask and casting spells with his wand, which meant he needed to practice before classes got into heavy spell casting if he wanted to keep his face hidden.

Letting his hair fall back down over his face and willing away the mask, Harry drew his wand and prepared himself to cast his first 'real' spell. One of the simplest spells according to one of his books, power gauge spell could be cast by anyone holding a wand. No 'magic' was actually cast except for the visualization of a person's magic container through colored rings floating around them. The number and color of rings would tell him roughly the size of his magic pool and the color how potent his magic was. A squib or even a muggle could cast the spell if they had a wand, the result would just show them as below the levels necessary to cast.

"Virtute Metimur." Harry spoke solidly and made a small circle motion with his wand. Three circles of green energy formed in front of Harry, who gave a sharp bark of excitement at casting his first successful spell.

The reason magical school started at age 11 is because that was when a young wizard would usually reach the one ring of power, and each following year would grant approximately one additional ring. Average students would graduate with seven rings and would develop around three more through their adult life. Having three rings like he did meant Harry had the power of a third year, not exceptional, but well ahead of the curve. Whether this increased size in magic was an x3 or a +2 in container size, only time would tell.

The color was another matter. The scale for potency went red-orange-yellow-green-blue-gold-diamond. Most wizards started with yellow, the average potency, and would develop to green throughout their seven years at Hogwarts, as it was a place heavily saturated in magic. Starting at green was a much greater accomplishment than having three rings, as the book referenced that orange to yellow was normal for young wizards and witches while green was considered the average adult level of potency, after going through Hogwarts. Rings could be multiple colors at once, half green and half yellow for instance, which was the only reason the 'diamond' shade was known to exist. Legend says that Merlin was the only wizard in history to have pure diamond for his magic.

Harry took a moment to ponder what was meant by the diamond color. The only description in the book had labeled it as clear, but bearing every color. And while Harry could visualize a diamond reflecting every color of the rainbow, he had to wonder what it would actually look like when cast, and how much more potent magic truly was when at that level.

Next was testing his control. This was simpler and actually used one of the spells he would be learning later that year, Lumos the light spell.

"Lumos." Harry intoned and the tip of his wand lit up, glowing like a flashlight. Harry took a deep breath and focused on the light, willing it to dim. It took almost a minute but the spell dimmed to the brightness of a flickering candle. Then Harry went the other way, trying to make the spell shine as bright as he could.

Another minute of focusing on the spell brought it to max brightness then Harry stopped the spell. A minute to go full to dim then another to go back to full. Quickly referencing one of his spell theory books told Harry his control was well above average for his age, first years usually not being able to control their magic other than force it through their wand, part of the reason that the first year course had very few spells that had variance, instead spells with one set effect, no matter how much magic is poured into them were required to teach younger students how to draw upon their magic. It wasn't until third year that most developed the control necessary to change the effects of a spell by degrees like the brightness of the lumos spell, and adding patterns to transfiguration, and even changing the action of an object under the animation charm.

Harry sighed as he put the spell theory books away, rubbing his temples with a sighed. Instead of being fantastic at any one thing, he was above average, but balanced. That was both good and bad, it meant immediately he would be the best in his year, unless there was another gifted individual in his year, but it also meant improvement would require more work, as simply doing the first year workload would not strain him enough to allow his magic to grow like it would for the other first years.

Harry did wonder though why none of the dozen books on spell theory and control weren't on the required reading list, the amount of information within them had helped a great deal in understanding why the classes were laid out as they were, and why certain textbooks were required, but if he had to guess it was because the muggle borns who weren't as studious as him would still be adapting to the magical world. Future years would probably require at least one book on spell theory, his OWL year at the latest if he had to guess.

And so for the next hour until the train departed, Harry went through the spells mentioned in the first year books, finding he could cast them easily after one and two tries at most. Understanding how his magic was meant to interact within the chosen spells and how that applied to the outside world made the casting easy, like lifting light weights at the gym, with his spell theory books acting as the work out instructions.

By the time he had gone through them all, the train had started on it's journey across the country. By this time Harry had tucked away his wand and recreated his mask over his scar, he could train to maintain and spellcast at another time, for now he had to show those who would be looking for him exactly what they expected to see. And his expectations were quickly met only seconds after he had re-disguised himself.

"You mind, everywhere else is full." The door to the compartment rolled open as Harry swapped his Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 for the 2nd version, and a gangly young redhead stood in the door.

Harry just shrugged and cracked open his copy of Standard Book of Spells Grade 2, flicking his wand in his dominant hand as he read over each spell to get a feel for the movements as he read.

"So you're a second year, what house are you in? I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley." the redhead said, giving a weak gesture to Harry's book.

"I'm going to be a first year, I'm just reading ahead." Harry responded nonchalauntly, pretending to be absorbed in his book completely.

"What for, you won't need to know any of that stuff until next year, you could be relaxing!" Ron's declaration made Harry roll his eyes, he hoped the whole wizarding world didn't think like this fool. Like any problem would magically solve itself.

Now that Harry thought about it, that was a pattern. It would explain their worship of a toddler.

"But it's magic, who wouldn't want to learn more about magic?" Harry asked, playing up the image of an excited muggleborn. He could already tell that Ron had grown up in a magic household and that he would probably end up in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.

"You'll get used to it, do you know how to play Quidditch?" Ron asked, leaning forward slightly.

"I've read about it, but I don't know how to fly so I don't think I'd be very good."

Apparently that was all the invite Ron needed, because his mouth took off at a mile a minute. Harry was quick to tune him out as he kept reading, actually interested in testing the spells, but settled for jotting a list of them down in a notebook with the wand movements and words. Much easier than having to dig through wordy textbooks to find the information he needed later.

Harry hoped he could master mental casting, casting with words but no wand movements, by the end of the year for at least the first year spells, second year too if he could manage it. It was also the step needed before wandless casting, which supposedly was the sign of only the most powerful wizards.

Harry had read silent casting was supposed to be covered in the sixth year, but it immediately jumped into the harder spells. By his figuring, it would be easier to learn simple spells silently and motionlessly first, rather than jump right to the hard ones. If he could handle motionlessly this year, next year he could work on silent casting, he would have had enough practice with his magic by then to be able to control it without the crutch that was movement and incantations. Of course, both of those things were required for greater spells, even for wizards like Dumbledore and Voldemort. Harry's end goal was to cast minor illusions wandlessly, major ones silently and motionlessly with his wand, and only need to vocalize his spells for truly great illusions, like those in the tome he found at the junk shop.

Of course, he would need to find more advanced books that covered the difference between projecting and centralizing magic like Mcgonagall had mentioned. The ones he had from Flourish and Blotts didn't cover that topic aside from an offhand mention that they were the two types of spells. From Harry's own understanding, more magic was projected. Every person had a magic 'bubble' that passively protected them from harmful magic. Wand magic was designed to pierce through this bubble and have spells affect the wielder while shield spells did the opposite, allowing for the caster to reinforce and move the location of their magic to defend.

Illusion magic fell out of popularity because of that bubble. Most spells, including illusions, had a visible component when cast, streaks of light flying from the wand to the target, and were all avoidable the same way. And it was much more efficient to knock out and kill your opponent with your single strike that gets through rather than make them see hallucinations that were obviously not real given their situation. To go from dueling to being eaten by zombies is a rather quick transition, and simply by realizing that the illusion exists, most competent spell casters could 'flex' their own magic bubble and end the effect of the illusion, and at most the illusion caster gained a few seconds advantage over their opponent.

What Harry was doing was different than illusions like that. He wasn't forcing an image through an opponent's 'bubble' but rather using his magic to change the appearance of his own. Doing this, other's 'bubbles' wouldn't realize that something has changed, as there was no magic pressure alerting the target's magic that magic was being used at all, just that it existed. Harry's illusions, for the moment at least, weren't projections, but centralization. He was altering his own appearance by changing the appearance of his magic 'bubble' to the outside, as the senses of a magic user were enhanced by their own magic, and would then only see what Harry wanted them to see.

The benefits were that by centralizing rather than projecting, everyone would see the image Harry created instead of just those he cast on. It also meant that maintaining the mask wouldn't take much power, just control and focus, which would improve his overall spell casting. The only downsides were that he currently only had the control to maintain the mask OR cast a spell with his wand, and that left him moments of vulnerability when his true face could be seen. It also meant that he could only make others see illusions based around himself, which was purely defensive in usage.

At least, that's what Harry theorized, he would have to check the Hogwarts library for books that could confirm and deny his theory.

All the while Ron Weasley babbled on and on, at this point Harry could tell it was both a passion and a plea for attention. If the number of redheads packed together at the station earlier was any indication, Ron probably felt forgotten and desired recognition. Ron should work on that.

Harry steadfastly ignored the redhead as he continued through his book, stopping only to 'excitedly' buy a few chocolate frogs from the sweets lady to keep his 'innocent muggleborn' image going for Ron, who complained about the sandwiches his mother had packed him. Keeping in image, Harry tossed him one of the sweets he purchased while diving back into his books, this time opening his copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi, which was required for both Potions and Herbology class.

"Thanks mate." Ron chirped, catching the frog easily and ripped it open with a gluttonous grin Harry might have found on Dudley. Hopefully the redhead stuffed his mouth long enough for Harry to get a moment of silence. Or perhaps choked and died, that would work too at this point.

"Dumbledore again, already got six of him." Silence that was not to be, as Ron complained over a pentagon shaped card pulled from the packaging with his mouth still full of sweets in a frankly disgusting display.

Harry just rolled his eyes and continued reading, snacking on the chocolates, pretending he didn't notice Ron swipe a few more off his small pile to gorge himself on.

The status quo of the compartment was disturbed however when the door was casually pulled open and three boys stood in the doorway. The two on either side were Dudley sized, Harry observed, and looked even duller than his cousin. Their beady dark eyes didn't even bother to sweep the compartment Harry noticed, but rather alternated between looking straight ahead and flickering to the smaller boy in between them.

The third was thin, unlike his pudgy companions. His features were sharp, raised cheekbones and a pointed chin, and only hints of the usual baby fat seen on 11 year olds, a feature Harry also lacked. His hair was so blonde it was almost white and it was held back with a generous amount of product. His aristocratic appearance was completed by the attempt at a condescending sneer he wore.

"I've been looking for Harry Potter, have either of you two seen him?" The blonde almost spat out. Harry had been expecting at least one person to come looking for him, but this wasn't quite what he had been expecting, more along the lines of fanboys and the like. The intense reddening of Ron's face at the blonde's words was rather amusing.

"That's me." Harry confirmed, holding out his hand to shake and a 'nervous' smile displayed on his features.

"Draco Malfoy, these two are Crabbe and Goyle." Malfoy returned the handshake stiffly, his eyes roaming over Harry's baggy and worn clothing, resting on his hair covered forehead, clearly searching for the scar that Harry was 'famous' for.

"Scar faded a few years back, nothing there." Harry commented, shifting the hair away from his face and focusing as hard as he could on maintaining the illusion mask. This was the moment of truth on if it would hold up to casual scrutiny from classmates, and the momentary pause between Malfoy's confirming nod and when his full 'face' was shown.

Ron, who had been between what appeared to be anger at Malfoy and fawning over Harry finally decided to speak up. "Why didn't you tell me earlier mate." he seemed almost distressed that he had been sitting in the same compartment as Harry and hadn't even known it. Much more the fanboy Harry had expected based on the adults reactions to him back at the Leaky Cauldron.

"You never asked my name." Harry responded, tilting his head slightly and letting his hair fall back in front of his face, accentuating his 'confusion' at Ron's question.

"No point asking who you are, red hair, second hand robes, and the manners of a barbarian, you're obviously one of the Weasley rat pack." Malfoy spoke down to the seated Ron, whose face turned almost a Vernon shade of purple at the insult, but much to Harry's shock, he restrained himself from lashing out. Must be trying to play the victim for the 'Great Boy-Who-Lived'.

"You'll find Potter, that some wizarding families are better than others, I could help you with that." Malfoy said, offering his hand to Harry a second time, and Harry had to withhold a short bark of laughter, it was almost like Malfoy was trying to be a junior mafia.

"But, doesn't everyone have magic?" Harry asked, not taking the hand, not quite yet.

"Some people have better magic, it's a result of superior breeding." Malfoy said pompously, puffing himself up almost like a peacock.

"You mean like the dogs my aunt breeds?" Harry asked, mentally vomiting at calling Marge Dursley his aunt, but it was worth the reddening in frustration.

"No, that is not what I meant!" Malfoy protested, running a hand through his heavily gelled hair in frustration.

"So then, what did you mean, you know more spells? But isn't that why we're going to an awesome magic school? To learn spells and make friends with other magic people?" Harry continued his oblivious routine, taking note of the blank looks on both Crabbe and Goyle's faces, as well as the frustration on Malfoy's face and the fading anger on Ron's.

"Sure, magic people are better because they know more spells." Malfoy finally relented in his point and Harry gave a cheery grin on the outside and a twisted smirk behind his mask.

"That makes sense, I can cast 5 spells, which means I'm five times better than those who can't." Harry said in a fake cheeriness, holding up his wand.

A light seemed to go off in Malfoy's head at this statement, probably the thought that yes, it was possible to convert him to the 'pure-blood' agenda. If he was already showing signs of believing wizards were superior to muggles, even if Harry had to say it in a way that made him seem innocent of prejudice.

Of course, Harry did believe, and rather strongly, that wizards were superior individually to non-magic users. Key word being individually. Non-magic users greatly outnumbered witches and wizards, and they also had missiles. A magic user's greatest advantage, according to Harry at least, was always staying far enough ahead of the non-magicals through deception that neither manpower nor weaponry was ever turned on them, because if they were, then the battle was all but lost.

If wizards were to start rioting and spellcasting in the middle of London, they'd be shot down, dissected, and their society torn apart. But if a single wizard were to turn themselves invisible and start assassinating important figures, or replacing them with polyjuice potion, they could defang the non-magical forces with no loss.

"Yes, that's exactly right Harry, the more spells a wizard knows the better they are. And muggles who can't cast spells are below us." Malfoy agreed, a victorious smirk on his face.

"So how many spells do you know?" Harry asked, still not shaking the boy's outstretched hand.

"My father's only taught me three spells, but I'm sure I'll learn more quickly once we get to Hogwarts." Malfoy's face reddened as he realized that, by the logic he had just parroted back from Harry, Harry was superior to him. Harry was roaring with internal laughter as the spoiled prince realized his own blunder.

"How about you Ron?" Harry asked, turning to the flustered redhead, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I've never done a spell before, but there is one my brother's taught me. Supposed to turn my rat yellow." He said after a short pause, drawing both a frayed wand and a graying rat from his pocket. Why anyone would ever want a pet rat Harry would never understand, but he supposed that what he'd seen of the wizarding world so far that insanity like having a plague bearing creature for a pet was normal.

"E-excuse me, have a-any of you seen a toad?" a shy voice from the corridor behind Malfoy's gorillas asked, and they parted to let a chubby boy with overly large front teeth into view, clearly shaking in his robes just being near them.

"Nope, have you asked one of the older years if they could help, I read ahead that there is a spell that can summon missing objects, maybe it could also find your toad." Harry offered, disliking the interruption to the show he was putting together.

"That a-a good idea, thanks. I'll go tell Hermione, she's in the next compartment helping me look." And with that, he was gone, not even giving his name. Harry could only roll his eyes internally. A shut-in and what was clearly a busybody who had attached herself to him, he'd have to make note of them during the sorting so he remembered to avoid them. Magical born and otherwise, a busy body like this Hermione sounded to be would probably be all over him as the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Ok then, let's see what you got Ron." Harry quickly refocused the attention of the other four onto the red-head, who gulped and raised his wand over his pet.

"Ok then, here we go. Sunshine Daiseis Buttermellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow." Ron said, jabbing his want at the rat, who gave a shriek of discomfort as a small visible bolt of Ron's magic hit it, although the rat clearly was still a graying brown.

"Huh, guess you just need to practice the spell a bit more. Don't feel bad, it took me almost an hour to get my first spell right, watch." Now it was time for Harry to prove himself, standing and turning so the right half of his face was facing the window of the compartment, so when his illusion mask gave out his scar would still be hidden.

"Lumos." Harry said, watching as the tip of his wand light up as brightly as he could get it to go, momentarily blinding everyone in the compartment, making sure they couldn't see as he felt his illusion falter and fade, the magic redirected down into his wand. It also made those like Malfoy, who knew the basics, think he had either an absurd amount of magic, or incredibly potent magic.

"Nox." Harry said shortly after, when he was sure the others were good and blinded, he certainly was, and put his wand away, quickly using his magic to recreate his mask. "Sorry it was so bright, I've only managed to tone it down a little." Harry said with fake sheepishness, again leading Malfoy to the conclusion that his magic container was huge, as fitting with his title.

"Just don't do it again." Malfoy grumbled, rubbing his eyes to get the spots out of his vision, the other three boys quickly doing the same.

A quick glance out the window told Harry all he needed to know as the dark skies shone through the glass.

"I think we're almost there, and me and Ron both need to get our robes on, I'll see you in class?" Harry asked Malfoy, who could finally see properly again.

"Of course Potter, and I'll have learned more spells by then, just watch." And with that Malfoy was gone, Crabbe and Goyle following blindly behind him, still blinking rapidly.

Quickly getting changed, Harry followed Ron off the train and out onto the crowded platform filled with other figures crowding around. Most people were heading towards a series of carriages that seemingly moved by themselves, but Harry already knew his destination was different.

"Firs years, this way!" A deep voice was calling out from the other edge of the platform, a large lantern illuminating a seven foot figure in a large brown trench coat. The giant's beard was black and bushy, only the first tinges of grey beginning to appear near the roots. His eyes were small, but even far away, Harry could see a real passion in them, a spark of life that was missing from the eyes of those at Privet Drive.

"No more than four to a boat." The giant had led them away from the platform and down a short set of stairs to a boat house, where a series of small rowboats, each fitted with its own lantern, awaited them.

Harry quickly used this chance to slip away from Ron, who had become disgruntled ever since the spell casting incident. Harry could hear him running through the words of the obviously fake spell under his breath. If Harry had to guess, the boy would put aside any and all class work in his attempt to cast that spell, until someone pointed out to him it wasn't a real spell that is. If he actually managed the spell before then, it would be because his willpower forced his magic to do the work without any proper words and wand movement. Effectively silent and motionless casting. Getting a first successful spell like that so young would set Ron's magic on track to forever cast spells easier from then on. Or he would fail, his laziness wouldn't allow for him to catch back up in his class work, and he'd never make anything of himself.

'Sink or swim. A perfect test for the lazy fanboy.' Harry thought to himself, boarding a boat with a pair of red-headed girls and a tall black boy whose face was almost hawk like in features.

"Al'right then, forward." The giant called, tapping his own boat with a ...pink umbrella...and the boat started forward across the glassy black water of the lake.

"Everyone duck!" the giant called as the boats passed under a bridge covered in hanging ivy that swayed in the with. Of course, on the giant himself actually had to duck, seeing as he was the only one tall enough to be hit by the ivy.

As they turned the corner after the bridge though, even Harry gasped at the magnificent sight that was Hogwarts castle, illuminated against the night sky. The school was every bit the magic castle Harry expected when he had first read about the school in detail in his copy of Hogwarts a History.

This was the sight Harry had been waiting to see since he had first properly learned of magic from Mcgonagall, something that genuinely amazed him, a place that emanated magic from it's very core.

For someone like him, someone whose only happiness in life came from using and learning about their special talent,

This was home.

Wow, that was long. I meant to post this last night, but I couldn't find the right way to end the chapter and then I found up falling asleep at my desk. But here it is, 6000 glorious words that hopefully paint a better picture about how magic works and how Harry as a person works.

I negated the Hermione train meeting because I want Harry to be able to hide his reaction to her, and he isn't skilled enough yet to mask the rage he'll feel when he sees her if everyone is focused on him in a compartment.

I've already been getting comments about the pairing with Fluer and what house to put Harry in. I've got plans for both. The Fluer pairing won't happen until the fourth year, and it will be different than what most people might think it will be. I wasn honestly hesitant to say what the pairing was in the description, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put it in. Just know it won't start until fourth year and even then will build slowly.

Hope this chapter finds you all well, and that my description of magic made sense to everyone, and if not, feel free to ask in reviews, I'll try to answer any uncertainties in the future.

Happy Reading -Centurion Africanus