A/N: Ok, there is absolutely no excuse for the lack of update to this fic and I apologise. I know I said it was last on my priorities but I never expected it to get to this extent – 5 months! I can only beg for forgiveness and hope that this chapter is a good enough chapter to make up for it! Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee regular updates like my other fics, but I can promise that I will not be left another 5 months. Again, I am so sorry!
I want to make a shout to the author .Xanda, her fic, The Rise of a Dark Lord, (if you haven't read her works then go and check her out, she is one of my, if not my all time, favourite author and all of her fics are amazing) has inspired some things within this fic and I want to make that known now and to point out that it is with permission that I have taken ideas. I was supposed to put it at the beginning of the last chapter but I completely forgot so here it is now.
Enough of that, this chapter is more development of Harry's character and yes, Harry is not a nice person in general terms and yes he is powerful, but everything will be/has been explained.
Please enjoy…
Warning: Mentions of violence,
Disclaimer: I am not J.K
#Parsel#
Chapter 3:
When Harry awoke he was a little groggy which he didn't like, but had been expecting so it didn't startled him and he washed his face over in the bathroom before going over his usual martial arts moves. This morning though, he found he was even quicker than before and much sharper and precise, he could feel the moves flowing even smother and he assumed that it was how a snake was able to catch its pray. Smirking in victory, he headed for the shower and got dressed for the day, Harry made a mental list of things he wanted to get done that day and went to get Enayah.
#Enayah you can stay at your normal size as when I got to school you will have to stay small# Harry told her and she hissed happily growing to her massive length, with a smirk he headed down stairs with Enayah following. Call him horrible, but he took pleasure in scaring his relatives and he knew that Enayah would be the latest thing. When he entered the kitchen he saw only Petunia which he was thankful for; he could tolerate her the most. She served him as soon as he sat and when Enayah slithered in she screamed in fright much to his amusement – not that he let it show.
"Do not make such an awful noise around me. This is my snake and she will be around until I leave for school so you can tell Vernon and your son, leave her be or she'll eat you." Harry drawled and was pleased when she nodded and hurriedly left the room, ahh fear he thought, such a lovely emotion. When people were in fear they acted predictably, if they feared you then they would do exactly want you wanted so they could escape your wrath and it made for perfect subservience. The Dursleys were terrified of him and so they did exactly what he wanted something which Harry was extremely fond of.
Once he had finished his meal, Harry decided it would be prudent if he named his other animals before anything so he went to his room and flicked through a couple of books. Names were important and he wanted to have his animals named something important, he knew that his owl would be seen by many people so he chose Isis for her after the Egyptian Goddess of Motherhood and the patroness of nature and magic; he thought it prudent. For the knight raven he expanded his thought process before falling upon a name that was less well known, he decided on Moros, the Greek personification of impending doom, Harry smirked at that, especially when he read exactly what a Knight Raven was.
A Knight Raven, it turned out, was classified as a dark animal, they were extremely rare and would only choose someone who they deem worthy. No one had ever seen one hatched from a chick and it was said that they only appeared when they sensed their selected human was approaching, despite their 'dark' classification, it was not illegal to own one because they chose their own humans as their bonded. Harry shot the bird a raised eyebrow knowing that he was now bonded to said animal and Harry swore it looked rather smug with himself, he rolled his eyes and continued to read. They would never fail to deliver a letter and had their own magical properties such as poisonous talons and brilliant stealth abilities, plus they always came when they were called no matter where you were. It was a bonus for him, having such an animal could help him so much as long as it didn't get out to the wrong people that he was chosen by such a bird, he had realised that there was rather a lot of stigma attached to the 'dark' category within magic.
That was something he couldn't understand. Why would the ministry ban an entire section of magic? Wasn't magic all the same? He would have to find out because he hated having unanswered questions. Once he had settled on the names and both birds seemed happy, he moved to his other books and organised them in which order he wanted to read them. He started with potions because it was an off branch of magic that didn't take power but concentration, focus and attention to detail; something that Harry was quite capable of.
Harry read through the potions for beginners book and took notes of all important facts he would need to know before brewing his first potion, there were certain things that seemed to be crucial to know before he could proceed, like the fact that ingredients often acted differently if they were cut opposed to sliced or that adding a counter clockwise stir at the wrong time could curdle the potions. It was enticingly complicated and Harry could imagine the level of time and patience needed to gain qualifications in this, let alone a mastery which was the highest level you could gain according to the Wizarding book. Once he was sure he had enough notes on the first book, he tested out the feel of his equipment by mimicking the movements in the air. I
t would not do to make a mistake simply because he didn't know how to use a tool. He wanted to begin cross referencing the information in the beginners' book to those he had obtained from his vault, but he knew that if he got absorbed it would stop him from getting a firm grounding in all the core subjects Hogwarts had to offer. Harry decided that if, after he had gone through all his subjects, he had time left within the holidays, he would start his cross referencing. It was something he had always done with his work, he had found that, sometimes, when he read a book and then read a different book on the same thing, it gave him different results and answers and he ended up getting confused. One of his tutors, who had been hired when it became apparent that he was much more advanced than any other pupil his age, had informed him of cross referencing to gain a stable backing in all his knowledge. From them on, he had always cross referenced his work and read multiple books on the same subjects to make sure he had gotten all the best information. It came in handy for him, with his mind constantly searching for more ways to entertain itself, reading extra books allowed him to pick out the details that were often overlooked and analyse them.
The next book he pulled towards him was 'A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration' and read the introduction, it was interesting being able to switch something in to something else and Harry thought of many possibilities in which that particular art could be useful. The book went on to explain the basics that was needed to be able to accomplish a simple transfiguration spell and also things that were deemed impossible by the experts, Harry was in no position to contradict the experts, he had not been in the wizarding world nor had he studied the field in depth, but he couldn't help think that magic was magic and if it would have had rules then it wouldn't be magic. He didn't know, so for now he would take their word and when he was in a better position he would do his own research and see how impossible these feats truly were. Unlike the potions book, the transfiguration book had spells in it and Harry was eager to try some.
He flicked his wrist to summon his wand and it slipped from his grasp, he was able to snatch it out of the air before it hit the ground but it wasn't the desires result. Harry frowned and stood from his lounged position, he slipped his wand back in its holster and tried again only for him to miss it. He sighed, he didn't think he would need to practice something so simple but there seemed to be a knack to catching the wand as it emerged, he stood and practiced withdrawing his wand from its holster until he could catch it. It took a few attempts before he got it as he kept dropping it but eventually he could withdraw it pretty quickly, he knew he would have to practice daily so he would improve.
Once he had the wand thing down, Harry fished out a matchstick and placed it on his desk, looking at the incantation he pointed his wand at the match and spoke the spell softly; nothing happened. Harry frowned and tried again but he was still unsuccessful, after his fifth try he began to feel frustrated and thought about all the other much more complex magic he had been able to achieve. When he wanted to, he could practically do anything with his magic, yes he often got tired when he pushed himself but he hadn't had something he had been unable to do.
The worst was when he lost his temper with his relatives and had tortured them for the first time, he didn't show it to them but when he had gotten back in to the safety of his room he had been exhausted and practically collapsed. The second time had been easier, he was still tired but his vision wasn't in black spots and he didn't collapse and Harry had come to the conclusion that his power was like a muscle; the more it was used the more it could be used. It was why he used magic everyday, he figured that if his theory was correct then he wasn't harming himself in using it. Besides, he loved the feeling that he got when he used his magic, it filled him up with warmth and it listened to what he wanted.
He slapped himself. When he performed other magic he always pictured the outcome and willed it to happen, with that thought in mind he spoke the spell again but this time he thought of a sterling silver needle in the matchsticks place. He grinned when he saw it change to a silver needle effortlessly, he then practiced changing it back and forth to make sure it wasn't a one off and was pleased to get the same outcome every time. He tilted his head as he looked at the matchstick, he had pictured a silver needle and had gotten a silver needle, so what would happen if he pictured say a bronze needle? Harry tried imagining a bronze needed and said the spell, he blinked when he got a bronze need and then smirked at the possibilities that little bit of information has just unlocked for him. Harry tried picturing different types of needles in his mind and watched in a small amount of amazement when they changed to whatever he pictured them to be, however weird and wonderful he pictured them they kept changing and Harry believed that he would never get sick of watching the wonders of magic.
He did wonder though, was the incantation was necessary? He had never need words before to accomplish something and he wondered why it was different. He flicked through the book and found a paragraph on the incantations of transfiguration. According to the book, the spell and the wand movement were pivotal to the beginners learning of transfiguration because it allowed their untrained magic to focus the casters specific intent upon the item they wished to transfigure. It was because, at a young age, many were unable to truly focus on what they wished the outcome to be and therefore the spell and the wand movement helped them along. It was said that the further along in the field you went, the less wand movements there were, however the spells were there because transfiguration was a complex branch of magic and focus was required.
Harry found the explanation fascinating even if he could pick out flaws within it and there were certain words that jumped out at him that he could understand but at the same time couldn't. The part about 'untrained magic' was the first, did that mean untrained in the field of transfiguration or those who hadn't used their magic very much, because if it was the later he wondered if he could be counted as not using it a lot. It was frustrating, not having little details that, he suspected, those who had grown up within the magical world would know. No matter, he wouldn't let it affect him because he would learn these details as soon as possible. Going on the theory that he didn't have 'untrained magic', another thing that jumped out at him was the part about being unable to focus. Did picturing the outcome and willing it to happen count for focus or not?
He didn't know. What he did know was he was able to try it without the incantation, he thought that if, as the book said, he wasn't yet trained enough to managed without the spell and wand movement, then it would not be a problem for him as he had managed to do the spell anyway and later on, when he continued to study, he would learn how to become trained enough to not need them. He pointed his wand at a new matchstick and focused, he had to concentrate on wanted the matchstick to change and what he wanted it to change in to. Harry felt his magic react but the needle wasn't as silver or pointy as it was before, he was thrilled that it was even possible to do and tried again, this time he made sure his concentration was on nothing other than the perfect silver needle and wanting that needle in front of him. Harry grinned, pleased when the matchstick changed in to a shining silver needle and felt a thrill shoot through him, it was the same thrill he got whenever he did something new with his power and relished in it.
He practiced the silent version and found that the more he called forward the image of the silver needle, the easier it was to concentrate on it and he didn't need to tune everything else out. It was a handy detail to know, and he began going over other variations of the needle. These were more difficult, trying to focus on certain details and then focusing his magic required a lot of concentration but he was used to willing things to happen for him so he felt that he had an advantage. Harry continued to read the book and again he took notes on things he thought he should remember, there was a list of spells that were covered within the book that he listed along with the wand movements for when he wanted to practice them.
Charms came next and Harry was surprised to find that charms formed the basis of nearly all spells, they were essential in any defensive spell and charms seemed to be in everything. Harry was interrupted by a knock at the door and he made it open without looking around from his book, Petunia stepped in cautiously looking around.
"Your lunch, sir." She said quietly,
"What is it?" Harry inquired.
"Jacket potato with chilli, cheese and chopped onion,"
"Very well, place it on the side." Harry ordered. She shuffled over and placed the food where he told her and hurriedly left the room, Harry found her behaviour endlessly amusing. He left his work and ate his lunch, it was quite nice but then again he had forced Petunia to take cooking classes after he had stopped being forced to cook for them. He took his plate and left it on the small table outside of his room so she didn't have to enter to collect it, he grabbed his customary glass of apple juice and took it to his desk to continue his work on charms.
Like transfiguration, the Charms book had spells in it and he came across the levitation spell. He wanted to see if there was any difference in the feeling between levitating it as it said in the book compared to how he levitated things, it was one of the things he had learned to do first. Back when he first discovered his power, he practiced it by levitating small objects and moved them around the room, now he could lift most things and there was only difficulty lifting things which were particularly heavy. He pulled out on of his quills, which reminded him to start practicing, and, remembering his thoughts during transfiguration, he concentrated on lifting a quill, with a swish and flick of his wand her chanted the Wingardium Leviosa. The quill shot up and Harry lost concentration so it dropped is as quickly as it rose, he blinked and tilted his head in confusion; maybe he was concentrating too hard.
He tried again with less force and willed the quill to rise slowly, it still seemed that he was putting to much in to it so he worked on putting the right amount of thought and magic in to it. He knew, from passed experience that he could pull back on his magic so he tried that and, after a few more flying quills, he got it under control. This time he knew the spell was unnecessary because he already knew how to levitate things but he tried it silently with his wand and it was easy. He did notice that charms… tasted, for lack of a better word, different to transfiguration. Where the latter was stiff and woody, Charms was sweet and bouncy, it was odd but Harry made not of it. There were quite a few more spells that he was able to look in to within the charms book, he found the torch charm Lumos which was easy but he had to be careful how much power he gave to the spell because he nearly blinded himself the first time he tried. T
he next charm he found a charm that told him the exact time which he made sure he knew because it would come in handy when he was working. Harry also learned the counter to the Lumos charm, Nox, and the cancellation spell which would work on most spells Finite Incantatum. The spell could be shortened to just Finite once you had a clear understanding of the spell and as there were no wand movements, Harry was unable to correctly practice that spell because he had yet to learn anything he could cancel. Like he did with Transfiguration, he made notes and listed the spells that he hadn't gone over and that he wanted to study before picking up The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection. It was an introduction to defence and it outlined the basic definition of what the dark arts were and why the protection was needed, Harry was wholly disappointed in what the book described to be the dark arts. T
here was no information about the actual dark arts whatsoever, only that they were 'dark' and 'evil' and that people needed protection from it. There was a definition per se, it just lacked anything informative, it seemed that it was there to induce fear in to young people, to have them feat the Dark Arts before they could find out any actual information. According to the book, the Dark Arts was an obscure branch of magic specifically designed to harm, it was used by those who were evil and had no regard for others, because of this the Dark Arts as a whole was banned by the ministry in 1945 after the attack from the Dark wizard Grindlewald. Harry snapped the book shut with a glare, there was absolutely now decent information in the book and he sat back with a sigh; he would have to search. Besides, if what he book said was true then he wanted to learn the Dark Arts, who wouldn't want an entire branch of magic just to hurt people! He picked up 'The Standard Book of Spells; Grade One' and read through it, it was filled with spells that he wanted to learn so he noted them down, some crossed over with his charms book, like the Lumos spell, and others were knew. O
ne Harry was particularly interested with was the severing charm, it was meant to sever materials and ropes but Harry could think of many other things that he could use it for. Out of the spells he picked out from the Grade one book, he taught himself the locking spell and repeated it until he could do it silently. He discovered that he felt slightly drained and he guessed that it was because he had used so much magic in a small amount of time, by the time he went to school he would be capable of much more he figured if his theory was right anyway. Casting the Tempus charm, and marvelling at the simplicity of it, he decided that he would sit down with his family books and so he picked up the Potter one and settled in his leather chair with Enayah draped over him reading over the Potter family again just so it was committed perfectly.
He went over monies, property, investments and trivial things and discovered that, not only was he incredibly rich, but he owns loads of things. Under the property section it informed him that he had two surviving house elves within the Potter family and it raised a few questions in his mind. He had read the magical race' book the previous days and it had explained the purpose of a house elf, they were simple creatures that were bound to serve wizarding families in their needs, they were there to cater to the wills of the wizards and loved to be useful. The book had stated that house elves relied on the ambient magic of the bond to their witch or wizard to survive and house elves without a magical bond or that had been left alone without magic for too long usually went insane or died. Because of that explanation he was rather surprised to find that the Potter family still had two bound and living, he didn't know what state they were in and had no idea how he was supposed to check. According to the book, house elves came when summoned by their masters, they could hear the call no matter the distance and they could travel through any wards to get to their master as their magic was different to that of a witch or wizard. Harry didn't know the name of the elves in his employment but he was now, by definition, their new master so they should come if he called them.
"Elves." He called and, despite the fact that he had called for them, he found himself surprised when surprise there were 2 sharp cracks and the weirdest looking creatures appeared, they had large bat-like ears, huge tennis ball eyes and a red sort of toga. Blinking rapidly and soothing the now agitated snake around his neck, Harry was momentary speechless and was even more alarmed when they started bowing and crying happily.
"Master Potter has finally called for his elves, we is so happy to be of service, Master Potter sir." One of them said to him in a squeaky voice, the other nodded vigorously and after a minute Harry regained composure.
"Right, didn't know that would work." Harry muttered.
"Oh yes, Master Potter sir, we is to come when ever you calls us."
"So what are you for?"
"We is to serve the house of Potter in every way until our dying days."
Harry's eyebrows rose
"Do you have specific jobs?" He asked then,
"No, sir, just anythings yous be telling us to dos." The one on the left told him, nodding her head and flapping her bat like ears.
"I is being cleaning around the manor, sir, and is doing the laundry and other things." The other informed him and Harry broke out in a smirk.
"Brilliant, well I need my clothes and robes cleaned but I don't want them ruined because they are expensive." Harry warned them, he didn't know how good these elves were, but if they were as good as the book said they were then he would save himself a lot of time and effort.
"Yes Master Potter sir." They went around and collected all his worn clothes and tidied the room as they went, they popped away leaving his room cleaner than he had ever seen it.
#What were those things?#
#House elves, they are servants for wizards.#
#Can I eat them?#
#No, I need to see how useful they are.#
She hissed unhappily but went back to snoozing around his neck, Harry ran his hand down the parts of her body that he could reach and smiled slightly as she hissed in contentment. Harry was pleased with his decision to buy Enayah, he did miss the company of the snakes and found that they had a very amusing outlook on like and the world. Plus he had gained something highly beneficial from her too, with the familiar bond, that was said to develop over time, he had guaranteed that Enayah wouldn't die until he did unless she was killed. If that were to happen then he pitied the one responsible because Harry wouldn't just put them in the ground, he would make them eternally sorry for harming what was his. That was something he really did not like.
Actually, he hated.
Harry hated it when other people took his things, and he had a strong disliking to when others touched his things. It always used to happen back when he was without power, Dudley always used to take whatever little things he had managed to collect and when he went to get it back he always got a punch for his efforts. It had spread to when he was in school too. Dudley and his sprouting gang would take his work, his pencils, even his lunch and no one would do a thing about it. Once he had gotten his power under control he had made it a mandatory rule that no one, not ever, touched his things without his permission. Dudley had taken his paints before, when Harry was working on an art project, and Harry had lost his temper, Dudley never made the same mistake again. What he deemed his was his and unless he gave permission he expected no one to touch it.
Shaking his head and removing the image of Dudley crying, he continued to read the Potter book moving on to some of the more recent laws the Potter house had voted for and against. It seemed that his family used to be neutral and it wasn't until his grandfather stepped up did they become solidly light. Harry scoffed at some of the rules that his family had voted for and some they had voted against, the one where they voted for the werewolf restrictions was surprising and unethical – and seeing as that was coming from him then it raised questions. But others he approved of, banning muggleborns from the wizarding world was just foolish and he was glad that it didn't pass.
Harry didn't know what angle he was going to playing in politics, is wasn't something he had been expecting when he stepping on to the wizarding world, however he didn't need to make a decision yet which gave him plenty of time to thoroughly look in to any issues he could see and answer any questions he needed answered. He knew that, eventually, he would have to read the entire book of the Potters but he had covered the latest 100 years and the family tree so he deemed it acceptable for now, he would read it every now and then until it was finished anyway but he had other families to look in to. Petunia came with his dinner and informed him that the other members of the Dursley family were aware of Enayah's presence, he was kind of hoping she would forget so he could laugh when Dudley wet himself but he supposed he had trained her too well; shame. He had just finished his food and placed the plate outside when one of his elves popped back in with perfectly clean and folded clothes and robes.
"I has yous clothes, Master Potter sir."
"Put them in the wardrobe space in my trunk, and my name is Harry." He told her,
"Yes Master Harry, I is Pip sir. If you be needing anything call for Pip and I will come."
"Good," Harry had a bit of a thought and decided to ask, "Do you know how to set up a potions work station?"
"Yes, Master Harry sir, mistress Dorea is teaching me and Squeak."
Harry presumed it was the other elf.
"Set one up for me here I need it done by morning." Harry ordered. "And I need a heated rock for Enayah with some rats for food."
"Yes Master," she bowed and popped away, Harry couldn't help but marvel the sound of master; he liked it. Now that he knew he was able to brew potions here within his room, Harry picked up his potions book to review as he would now be brewing tomorrow and he couldn't afford to blow anything up. He knew that there were many things that could go wrong with potions and it was a precise art, he really didn't want to see what happened if he happened to mess up. Of course, his mind had already committed the first potion, a boil cure, to memory and he knew the process backwards after going over it again; the joys of having an eidetic memory.
Harry was tired but slightly agitated so he pulled out his violin and began to play, it a beautiful and soft, yet if someone had a trained ear they'd be able to pick up on the sounds of cruelty and maliciousness. It was with him every time he played, it was like his own cruelty came out within the song for the world to hear and yet they never did. They were always to caught up in the façade, always to captured by his beauty and charm to hear what was right in front of them and anyone who did never mentioned it. Harry played until he was calm and set the instrument down carefully, he could get his new one now, but he would look in the magical world to see if they had any instruments. If not, he now had the money to get his own one specifically made. He rolled his neck and sighed, he needed to go to bed, he hissed for Enayah to go to her rock and she promptly ignored him in favour of curling up on him in his bed.
#I got a heated rock specifically for you to sleep on# Harry huffed settling down,
#And I have a heated human to sleep on# She returned, Harry rolled his eyes and went to sleep.
In the morning after his exercises and shower, he was happy to see a perfectly made up potions station in the corner of his room beside the large rock where Enayah was supposed to be. Harry dressed in simple trousers and a shirt and as it was Friday it was the day he cooked his own breakfast as his relatives went to Marge's in the early morning. He refused to allow the woman in to his house, she used to be a regular guest but Harry changed that as soon as she took control. He knew himself enough to know that she would never leave the house alive if she ever came back and he had said as much to Vernon along with a warning to never bring her back, they had decided to go to her every Friday to visit and help her with the disgusting breeding farm she had. He had stopped Vernon helping her out financially as he controlled everything that went on within the household and so she was falling behind, he was personally hoping that one of her precious dogs killed her. Harry shook his head, and decided it was time for food. Pip popped back in as he was leaving to get some food.
"Does Master Harry require breakfast?" She asked him and his brow rose; these things cooked.
"Yes, grilled bacon with a poached egg, two pancakes with syrup and some apple juice." He ordered, if the food wasn't to his liking then he would just go and cook it himself, but if it was then it was something he would take full advantage of. That way he could communicate with his servants as little as possible, and only go down when he was feeling particularly bored or vindictive. She popped away and was back in minutes with his order, it looked good and tentatively he tried the food, his eyes widened involuntarily in shock; this food was amazing. He looked up to find Pip stood waiting for instructions,
"That is all." He dismissed, she nodded happily and popped away. As soon as he had finished the food, the plates vanished and he blinked, that could be handy. Harry got up and went over to the new potions station, he examined it and noted how everything was laid out and what was placed where so he could set it up the same within school. He had to light a fire under the cauldron which he did with a match for the time being, he remembered reading a fire spell in 'The Standard Book of Spells' so he would teach himself that one next, he would have to be careful because he hadn't come across a water spell yet but he would look in to it, he would have thought it would have been next to the fire spell; apparently common sense wasn't necessary within the wizarding world.
Even though he had memorised the ingredients and the recipe, he opened the textbook and had it there as a guide as it was his first time. He carefully read each line twice before continuing the steps, he finally stepped back to allow it to cool and was impressed to see it was the perfect colour and consistency. Potions, he found, were oddly soothing, the meticulous instructions and the regular movements, along with the sounds of the simmering cauldron relaxed him and he could see himself enjoying making potions. He didn't find it as fulfilling as using his magic but he could see why people chose to pursue a career in the art, and he gave a mental applause to those who gained a mastery qualification in the subject. Harry shook his head, there was so many things that could be done with potions and, even if he didn't get the same thrill, he would love to see exactly could me done with a potion, to him magic was magic and potions was a branch of magic. He didn't know when he would need a boil cure but it might be fun it have a play with the components to see the break down in the structure, if it was in the first year book then he was right to presume it was a simple potion, so looking in to it shouldn't be too difficult.
Harry hadn't yet gone over his Herbology text, and he was planning to sit down with it later, but he assumed that it was closely related to potions as Herbology was plants and other such things and he would like to see the information about the ingredients he was working with, that way it would give him a deeper understanding of what they did and how they worked. When the potion was ready, he bottled it up and put it in his potions stores, it had a preservation charm built in which he found quite clever, Pip popped in to clean his cauldron and the other elf, Squeak, came to clean his room and the rest of the house.
Harry went over the spells he learned the previous day figuring it would stop him becoming tired if he kept it up, he also taught himself three new spells. The first one that he caught himself was the severing charm, it was, so far, the easiest spell he had learned. He had hung one of his older shirts up and directed the spell at it, it had cut clean in half with a flash of light, but the thing that Harry really found amazing was that he could control how bad the cut was by varying the amount of magic he fed in to the spell. His eyes were light up with fire as he pushed as much magic as he could in to the spell and it had carved deeply in to the solid wood door behind the shirt, his first thought was what if that had been directed at a person and then a feral smile crossed his features as he realised exactly what would happen if that spell was thrown at a person.
He practiced controlling the amount of magic he fed the spell to the point where the spell merely frayed the shirt to the opposite where it again carved in to the door. Because of his practice with the spell, he was forced to learn the repairing spell and fix everything, he could see how that spell would become extremely useful, although his notes that he made did tell him that there was only some many times he would be able to repair the same thing because it would wear and eventually be to fragile to use. That was important to remember because it would be extremely inconvenient if something spontaneously broke because it had been fixed too much. The final spell that he learned was the fire spell and he was right to proceed with cautious. Just like the severing charm, the fire spell could be fuelled with the amount of magic pushed in to it, however, unlike the severing charm, it was not easy to control.
He had set up safe guards and had to douse many things because the flames burned more than he was expecting, and it was only after he had burned dresser desk did he finally get it under control. It was lucky that he was able to douse the fire before the whole thing went up in flames because he didn't really have time to replace the clothes he had in there. Harry managed to light a fire for his cauldron without burning anything but he knew it would be something he would need to practice again and he knew he would master it eventually; he did like a challenge. Pip came in and asked him what he wanted for lunch and made a huge deal about his destroyed things, she immediately went about cleaning and fixing everything up for him, which he was thankful for, before popping away to get him lunch. After he had finished his lunch he picked up his Herbology book and settled down to read, there was many things within 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' and it was one of the biggest books he had bought so far.
Harry marked out where he was going to read up and pulled some paper towards him to make notes, he would transfer everything over to parchment when he was sure he could write properly. He found it fascinating that a Bezoar, a stone from the stomach of a goat, could save someone from most poisons and that Aconite, which he had heard in the muggle world, was also called Monkswood and Wolfsbane. There was also a side note stating that when mixed together, powered Asphodel and a Wormwood infusion made a sleeping draught so powerful that it was called the Draught of Living Dead. There was no other information about it, and Harry underlined the potion to remind him that it was something he needed to look in to and he had a feeling that it was not a first year potion by its name.
He heard the Dursleys return and he thought it was perfect opportunity to inform of them of the happy news, with the elves it seemed that he would not need to be around them and the quicker he told them the happier they all would be – although Harry suspected that they would be happier than he was. There was nothing to stop him having some fun with them however, hissed to Enayah and had her follow him out of the room. He ordered them in to the living room from the top of the stairs by making his voice echo around the house so they heard even though he barely raised his voice from a whisper, it was something that he had learned how to do by accident. Vernon had tried to hit him, forgetting his place, and Harry had been livid, he had ordered him to stop but instead of it just being hissed out as a furious command, it had bounced around the house and made the entire family scared out of their wits.
Harry stood watching them scamper in with a cool commanding mask over his face, none of his internal amusement showing and he regarded them with disinterest and a touch of disgust. He made his way down the stairs and entered the living room to see them stood in a line waiting for him, they each had their heads bowed and Harry mentally patted himself on the back for his training skills. He let them sweat for a bit, and allowed Enayah to slither around them, a nasty smirk flicked over his features when Dudley whimpered and went sheet white.
#He smells like fear, Master# She informed him, sounding rather gleeful.
#Yes, he had an unfortunate incident with a few snake friends in the past. He had a pathological fear of your kind now# He explained and she hissed a laugh.
#Silly human,# and because she was obviously and sadistic as him, she snapped playfully at his ankles, he couldn't stop the dark chuckle that left him when Dudley passed out cold.
#We will get on marvellously, my beauty# He stated and she hissed, pleased. Enayah slid over to him and curled around his feet, both Vernon and Petunia she shaking violently now but they didn't make a move to help Dudley; they knew better than that.
"I no longer require you to cook for me." He stated in an emotionless tone, decided that he had had enough fun playing with them. Petunia's head snapped up, her eyes full of shock and questions and he could see a trace of relief in the blue eyes too, he looked at her coldly and her head dropped back down.
"I will leave money on the counter every week for your shopping. I don't want to see or hear you unless I call you and I warn you again not to touch my snake." The warning was clear and they both nodded their heads hurriedly in understanding but that wasn't what he was after. "Is that clear?" his voice had dropped in temperature and he was pleased to see they lost more colour.
"Yes, sir," Vernon muttered,
"Yes, sir," Petunia echoed and Harry nodded.
"Good, I hope that the basic instructions do not slip your simple minds. I would hate to have to remind you what happens when you disobey me." He told them, and he was lying through his teeth, he would enjoy reminding them but it seemed his previous teachings were too thorough. Harry swept from the room leaving them to deal with their son, he wondered if he would ever get bored of Dudley passing out when confronted with a snake, he doubted it, that particular memory has a special place within in his mind. He allowed Enayah wander the house as she pleased, it seemed that she found Dudley passing out as amusing as he did and he wondered how many times the baby whale would pass out before he just stopped being around the house.
Harry didn't want to keep his door open but he didn't want to lock Enayah out so he figured that he would need to put a small hole or something in the door, however it wasn't a top priority and so he turned his attentions to his books. The astronomy book was interesting but it didn't really cover anything that he didn't know, he had endlessly researched the different constellations and stars in his spare time between subjects. It was good to review everything though and he knew he would not struggle during the class within the basics at least. He ordered dinner with the elf and sat down to read beginning on the Black family as it was his second inheritance, Harry discovered he inherited the title from his godfather Sirius Black who was currently incarcerated which Harry would be looking in to. He wanted to know why the person who he was supposed to be raised by was currently in prison and forcing him to be here, although he knew that was not technically true.
If he was supposed to go to his godfather and the godfather was unavailable then he would go to the nearest available family to the man which meant that he should have go to Arcturus Black, the previous head of the house Black, who only died 6 years ago. That was an entire 3 years in which he was supposed to be in the care of a Black but, for some reason, Dumbledore saw fit to interfere with that and Harry had every intention of finding out exactly the headmaster was thinking. It was his fault he suffered… Harry cut the thoughts of before he could get angry. Anyway, he wanted to know everything about Sirius Black's incarceration, he would have to wait unfortunately, and see how the magical world dealt with law. Court records were usually public record unless they involved underage people, so he would have to find out if the ministry operated in the same way, and if they did then he would then have to work out exactly how he was going to get said records.
Of course, he did have the bonus of being related to the offender so that should work in his favour. Harry soon found out there was a lot more in the Black family than the Potters and judging by the number of alive members he would need to thoroughly go through the family tree unlike the Potter one where he was the sole remaining member alive. The Black family was almost the opposite to the Potters being one of the darkest families alive so he didn't have a clue how his godfather and grandmother were Blacks, and it had a lot of his members in the wizarding prison Azkaban. It didn't stop them being the 2nd most influential family in the wizarding world and their wealth made Harry's head spin slightly, he had thought the Potter family were rich, money talks he had learned and with these resources he would have no trouble. Of course, there were ways in which money needed to be presented because if you were too obvious it would backfire on you, but that was for later times. He noted that one Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black, was also incarcerated in Azkaban too and he would also look in to that to find out why, it wasn't as high on his priority list as his godfather but this was information that he needed to know.
He cast a tempus and sighed, he would continue reading in to the Blacks tomorrow after his spell practice and study time, but right now he had some things he had to do before he settled. Harry pulled out a quill, some ink and a sheet of parchment and laid them out on the desk. He adjusted to the feeling on the quill in his hand and held it like he would a fountain pen before dipping in the ink and beginning to write. It could have been worse. It wasn't up to his standard, not by a long shot, but it was neat and perfectly legible. He wrote out the alphabet in both capital and lower case multiple times so he could become used to how it felt to write with a quill. It was an odd feeling but he felt he could get used to it, he also practiced signing his name which, for some reason, he found much easier. It would take the rest of the summer, no doubt, for him to be able to write in a fashion in which he would be willing to let others.
Luckily, he had the time to practice and decided that he would commit the same time every night to writing. Before he went to bed that night her practiced his posture, he straightened out his back and pulled back his shoulders, he made sure not to tilt his chin so much to appear arrogant but kept it up as not to come across as submissive. He also practiced the 'relaxed' stance that sensei had drilled in to him, it appeared as if he was completely comfortable within his surroundings, but at the same time he was angled perfectly to lash out to defend himself. Sensei had told him that it was of the upmost importance that he learned to adapt to his surroundings instantly, there were certain stances that were perfect for certain places and he had been worked to the bone to make sure he knew them.
Harry didn't complain though, that was just one of the many things that Sensei had taught him, they had go through the art of meditation and how to collect and order your thoughts to keep your mind clear and sharp. With his photographic memory, it was something that Harry had often needed to do and Sensei had taken his through the steps until he could do it alone. He changed in to his sleepwear and dropped on to his bed going through the steps to put himself in a trance and cleared his mind, he didn't want to become lazy just because he was no longer strictly under Sensei's tutelage. He did have an appointment with the man on the following Tuesday which he was looking forward to, once he was sure everything was where it was supposed to be he led down and went to sleep.
There we go, chapter three is FINALLY up and I really hope that it was worth the wait. I would be EXTREMELY happy and thankful if you could leave a review and let me know what you think!
Jess*