Harry Potter and the Weaver's Wizardry
Chapter 4
"Prince Potter, at last we meet." Harry mentally groaned the moment he heard the word prince.
"Even you?" Harry lamented. "You've only seen me for 10 minutes."
The Hat chuckled at his whining. "I've heard the stories and whispers about you from the older students for at least 30. Now let me take a look inside your head so we can find out where you belong." With that Harry felt the Hat probe his head with magic.
"Well look at this. Most first years never have a mindscape this developed so soon. You've seen some terrible things haven't you. Buried alive, pirates, forest fires and plague. It's no surprise that you're able to act so much more mature than you look. These ladies who you have modeled yourself after would be quite proud to have raised you physically if they could."
"You have quite the passion for learning. Contemplating magical theory at your age. HA! Rowena would have gobbled you up in an instant but that's not where you need to go now is it."
"Lots of bravery and courage to stand up for those who cannot stand for themselves. Godric would be proud."
"Ability to know when to reveal yourself, your skills and your plans for the future would have Salazar salivating but that's neither here nor there."
"No, you belong with Helga's brood. Steadfast and unwavering, loyal and supportive. Yes, you'll fit right in there."
"One last word of advice your highness." Harry snorted at that last point. It seemed like he would never get rid of it now. "Beware of Dumbledore. While I doubt he would be able to influence you directly, he will not hesitate to use your friends and acquaintances to guide you into doing what he wants. Now go join your new housemates in…"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The black and yellow table exploded into applause and cheers. The upper years standing up and chanting in time with clapping.
"PRINCE POTTER! PRINCE POTTER! PRINCE POTTER!" Harry just shook his head in amusement before making his way down to sit next to Hannah and Susan as the sorting continued. He nodded to the upper years who waved at him and shook hands with those closest to him as they introduced themselves to him on a more personal level.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley"
"Wayne Hopkins"
"Megan Jones"
"Ernie Macmillan"
"A pleasure to meet you all." He said before turning to Susan and Hannah and asking for the name of 'idiot 2' since he wasn't paying attention to most of the sorting. Everyone sitting around them snorted at the description but replied nonetheless.
"Idiot 2 is Draco Malfoy. He's pretty much as you described. A spoiled brat who runs to his daddy when the going gets tough." Susan was the one who answered him as she knew the pure-blooded circles better than Hannah did.
Harry nodded in understanding before looking up at the quickly diminishing line of first years waiting to be sorted.
"Oh look. It's 'idiot 1'. I wonder where he's going to go."
The Hat was on the boy's head for only an instant before it declared its decision to the world.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The boy looked slightly disappointed as he looked over at Harry who merely raised an eyebrow before looking away, clearly disinterested.
The last of the first years was sorted in Slytherin before Headmaster Dumbledore stood to address the Hall.
"Now that the first years are all sorted let me say a few words before we dig in to the wonderful feast. Nitwick! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!" With that he sat down and the tables suddenly groaned under the spread of wonderfully cooked food.
Platters of meats of all kinds, vegetables and salads dispersed plentifully along the table, pitchers of juice standing as barriers between the meats and vegetables with tureens of gravy surrounding them. Stacks of bread and rolls were passed down the rows as the students helped themselves and the chatter increased as the children got more and more excited.
Harry helped himself to slices of beef, lamb and chicken, liberally pouring gravy on them before piling vegetables on one end of his plate and a dinner roll on the other to soak up the gravy before digging in with gusto as he listened to the others talk about their families.
Of all the new first years only Justin was a muggleborn while the rest were either purebloods or halfbloods. When it was his turn he merely smiled and told them that they already knew his ancestry but that he lived with his non-magical relatives. He refused to refer to them as muggles, as if they were different than they were. Other than that though he kept silent but listened with an attentive ear, soaking in the ambiance of comfortable noise.
He was feeling quite full and relaxed when he felt something tug at his web that he spiraled around himself. He frowned and pulsed his magic in the direction of the tug. While there was general hostility in one direction, by focusing more he found that one was entwined with hurt while the other was seeped in anger.
Turning to one of the closer upper years, a brown-haired third year by the name of Diggory, he asked who the man in the turban was.
"That's Professor Quirrell. He's teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Why are you asking about Quirrell? It's Professor Snape, the black haired one you should be worried about. He only favors his own house of Slytherin." Cedric asked in a curious tone and a smile on his face. Here was the Prince himself and he could liken him to a King gazing among his subjects.
"Hmmm. No reason comes to mind but I get a feeling of malice coming from Quirrell. I'd spread the word to be on your guard but not worry too much. Snape on the other hand is harmless. Well not harmless…" He trailed off at the gaping expressions of the older students around him. "He wouldn't actively harm any of the students. Deep down he has morals. Very, very deep… OOOH! Desert!"
Everyone just shook their heads at the transition between Prince and child, watching as he dived into his treacle tart with unhindered glee.
After an ear-shattering rendition of the school song, the students were dismissed and were soon making their way to their dormitories. The Hufflepuff contingent stopped outside a stack of barrels and were looking at the 5th year prefect as she cleared her throat.
"Pay attention to how you open entrance to our common room. You need to tap the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff on the second barrel only. The others have been trapped to ensure safety from pranksters. Now come inside." The first years scrambled in and gaped at the round room furnished with tasteful tapestries and comfy couches and armchairs arranged in circles around the room.
"Girls dormitories are on the left while boys are on the right. Due to the amount of space in the dungeons where we are everyone gets their own room so no complaining! Now get to bed little minions." With that dismissal the youngest students soon scampered off to find their rooms.
When Harry entered the room that had his name on a brass nameplate he noticed that his trunk was against the bed with his basket sitting on top. Deciding that providing additional privacy protections would be his first way of decorating he opened his basket and pulled out some yellow and black ribbons that he felt would achieve the results he wanted perfectly.
He soon pulled out his wand and directed them to the door, channeling his magical threads down the hilt that he had wrapped in tan linen, magically spelled for grip, and down the twin green silk threads, also spelled but for focus instead, that twined around the length of his wand until they met at the tip. He had discussed with Ollivander about additions to his wand and if they would disrupt the way the wand worked.
Ollivander had insisted on seeing how he used his magic and what would be added before allowing Harry to adorn his wand with extras. They had spent half an hour debating the theory that the linen and silk would allow his to cast his unique wandless magic while still looking like he was using wand based casting and insisted that he watch Harry as he prepared and attached the silk first before blending it into the linen.
Black and yellow ribbons streamed around him as they wrapped around each other while Harry focused on privacy and safety into the fabric before guiding them to wrap around the top of the door frame. He then looked around and noticed that he had a window that he determined would show the weather outside so that he could dress appropriately in the mornings. He charmed the thin curtains into thicker, black block out blinds that wouldn't blind him in the mornings.
Deciding that anything else he could do the next morning or when he had free time, he pulled out a pair of shorts and a loose T-shirt and a spare change of underwear before grabbing his towel and jumping to the shower, tossing the dirty clothing into the hamper located in the bathroom.
Harry awoke the next morning as the light charm he had set up turned from a dull glow into uncharmed wool, while the alarm charm that coincidentally looked like a clock pulsed that it was now 6AM. Performing his morning ablutions before getting changed into his uniform he took a last look at himself in the mirror. His tie was slightly askew, collar was ruffled and his jumper that wasn't sitting correctly all fixed themselves with a wave of his hand before putting on his robe.
Turning around he walked towards his door and sent a pulse of magic into the two ends of the ribbons allowing for the wards to fall before marching off to the common room. Exiting the Hufflepuff dorms he headed for the 2nd floor mindful of the warning about painful death the Headmaster had warned the students of before they were dismissed. Shaking his head at the folly of old men he entered the library and asked Madam Pince for books about magical theory and application.
Snorting at the audacity of overachieving first years she decided to humor him and pointed him to the correct shelves and a stern warning about damaging her books. Harry nodded in acceptance before rushing into the shelves with a glee unlike his dessert rush. Sending out a gentle pulse to ensure that the books weren't damaged he soon found what he was looking for in the book titled 'Elements and Applications of Raw Magic'.
Harry had immediately sat down for breakfast, plate full, goblet topped up and book propped against a pitcher of juice and he was in his own world. He made noises of acknowledgement to those who greeted him but didn't look up, enthralled in the subject that he was reading about. The author had hypothesized that it would be possible to change the basis of an article under the assumption that the reader could infuse their magic into the object without the need for spells.
He was utterly gleeful at he could already do that, bypassing the need to be able to cast both silently and wandlessly, and when he reached the point where it claimed that when this was possible the only limit was the readers imagination he began to cackle. Cackle long and hard which turned into hysterically evil laughter that creeped out a fair share of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors who looked alarmed that this was occurring so early in the year. The Slytherins simply looked interested in what he was reading to cause such a reaction.
It was only with the sound of lightning that brought Harry back to reality. Nodding at the 6th year who had his wand out and helpfully supplying the lightning and receiving a salute in return brought a smile to his face.
Coughing into his hand and schooling his expression he greeted those sitting near him noticing that it was the initial group who started the spread of 'Prince Potter'. He looked around and noticed that everyone from all houses were sitting around him and he decided to play up to his new nickname and banged his empty goblet onto the table after carefully stowing the borrowed book.
"I hereby declare the first meeting of the Potter's Guard to order." The smiles and laughter that answered him was more than enough for Harry and breakfast dissolved into barely contained chaos, laughter and jokes tossed around with pieces of food flying in between. It was when a piece of bacon flew onto the Head Table that the teachers decided to intervene and descended upon the Guard to hand out schedules and scolding's galore.
Noticing that his house had a majority of classes with Ravenclaw cause him to sigh with relief and flop onto Susan's shoulder causing the girl to blush as dark as her hair, much to the delight of everyone around, Guard or not.
"Rejoice my fair lady as we shan't suffer from the presence of idiots 1 and 2 except for the two classes that we have with Gryffindor and Slytherin. Rejoice I say." With that he pulled himself off and tossed two slices of toast, a few slices of bacon and an egg into the air and discreetly used his wand to tie it all together before it landed on his plate to the amazement of the students and Professor Flitwick.
"10 points to Hufflepuff for that exciting display Mr Potter. It looks like you've been studying ahead."
"Yes sir. The material and theory of magic is just amazing that I could spend a lifetime studying it and never reaching a finale." Harry answered. "Also that's Prince Potter Professor." He added with a humorous sneer that lost its effectiveness when everyone around him snorted, causing him to pout and cause even more laughter.
With that Harry's mornings became routine. With Susan and Hannah sitting by his sides with the Potter Guard surrounding him and a book propped up against a pitcher the days soon melded into weeks until it came to a point where the idiots had to resurface.
The book the day idiot 1 aka Ronald Weasley confronted Harry he had been reading up on elemental transfiguration. Being able to cast wandlessly assisted in his understanding of how magic worked and Harry had recently become capable of being able to manipulate magic with his bare hands, thus giving birth to sculptures made of magic and crystallized into a physical form which he made in his down time.
He had just turned the page when he noticed a shadow looming over him. He didn't bother looking up as he pulsed and got the impression of red from the robes in front of him, knowing then that it was idiot 1 that he was dealing with.
"Yes?" he drawled, seemingly unimpressed on the outside while he lamented at the lack of freedom from those of lesser intelligence on the inside. Most of the Potter Guard snorted as if they could sense his lament and a helpful Ravenclaw conjured an illusion of a shower over his head.
With a snap of his fingers, the Ravenclaw cancelled the illusion and snapped off a salute before turning back to his breakfast.
"What can I do for you….?" It didn't help Ron's temper when he struggled to place a name to the face that had been bugging him for the past month.
"Weasley!" snarled said red head, his face turning a rather vibrant shade of scarlet. Harry looked at Weasley's face rather interested not in his person but whether or not it could get darker.
"Is there something you need Weasley as I believe that you are skipping breakfast…"
"You think you're so great, strutting around and lording over everyone else during meals. Well I've had enough. I challenge you to a duel. Tonight at midnight in the Trophy Room. Be there or show everyone what a coward you are." Weasley declared smugly, thinking himself as having made a rather brilliant duel.
Harry was not impressed as judged by the rest of his guard based on the drop of sweat on his forehead and the strained eyebrow as it tried to climb into his hair. He merely tilted his head, made a grunting noise and waved him away.
"Are you actually going to go?" The concerned 7th year color changing Hufflepuff that liked to announce whenever he arrived asked.
"Eh, maybe. Depends on if I can sleep or not. Why? Is there some important backlash if I don't show up?"
"I'm not sure. For one you're students and couldn't hurt a fly. Two, neither of you are of age and three I guess it would be better if you went just in case. Wouldn't want to lose our prince due to laziness now would we."
"Ok then." Harry agreed happily before turning back to his book, entirely unaffected by the possible loss of magic. He knew that he could get there and away without being detected, having tested his form of invisibility by sitting in on a staff meeting without anyone noticing. He had recently developed a new rune to cover his scent by combining runes for invisibility and scent which masked it similar to his heat haze.
The next few hours passed in a blissful state of monotony. Enter, take notes, cast spells, take more notes then leave. Harry reveled in it. It was unfortunate that the blandness of his day was ruined by idiot 2 aka Draco Malfoy.
"Potter. You. Me. Duel at Midnight in the Trophy Room unless you're scared." The message was accompanied by a horrible sneer that made him look like he was trying to get something from the back of his mouth.
Harry just slammed his head into the table. Over and over again. Hannah tried to stop him and ended up simply patting the back of his head while whispering soothing words into his ear whereas Susan rubbed his back. With his head on the table he took in a deep breath and gave a grunt which Malfoy took as an affirmative, leaving with another terrible sneer and a failed Snape twirl of his robes that made him look like he was doing a pirouette.
He stayed like that with his forehead resting on the table for a minute before taking a deep breath and slipping into his Prince Potter persona as he raised his head.
"Idiots. How have they survived until now I honestly have no clue! I'm done. I'll meet you girls at class, I need to be alone for a little bit." With that said he swept out of the Hall, back straight, book bag slung over his shoulder and robes billowing in a way that had Snape nodding in approval, much to the shock of the other Professors.
Harry spent the rest of the day in an indifferent mood, partly irritated at the loss of a choice to sleep and partly from not having a chance to finish his book and a small, very miniscule part indifferent to the fact that he had to attend 2 duels at the same time, in the same place. Honestly. They could at least choose different nights to have the duel. Unless they were collaborating. Harry shook his head at that thought, he honestly felt that they weren't intelligent enough to collaborate for something like that.
So it was with an air of defeat that Harry set off for the Trophy room at 11PM and curfew in full effect. The few members of the Guard staying up cheered as he left the portrait hole before making their way to bed, knowing that Harry would be fine.
Harry was just glad that he had brought his book and a miniaturized light charm that he could hang around his neck.
As he entered the Trophy room he looked around and chose to sit on the ground in front of the Quidditch Cup display, not knowing that just above him sat a cup that said 'James Potter – Most goals scored in a single season'. He leaned back against the case and set up a 1 meter radius around him that cut off everything radiating out with himself as a center point.
The metaphorical clock struck 12 and Harry put his book away into his expanded pocket with a sigh, preparing himself for whatever childish antic he would encounter tonight. Luckily for him, however, he didn't remove his ward as it was neither Weasley nor Malfoy but the care taker instead.
"Sniff around my dear. I received two tips that there would be someone here tonight." Harry's eyebrow rose once more and sighed at the wasted time he could have spent sleeping, or at the very least, somewhere comfortable. Like the common room perhaps.
The caretaker remained in the Trophy Room for another half hour and by default so was Harry as he hadn't figured out how to move the field so there he was, calmly sitting on the ground in his warm spelled cloak as he waited for his chance to retreat when there were noises coming from both ends of the Trophy Room hallway.
Surprise, surprise, in burst both Weasley and Malfoy wondering why they hadn't heard Harry shouting and complaining and generally acting like a child and with both Filch and Harry hidden from view, they both thought they were the only ones there so began snarling at each other and throwing minor jinxes and hexes and making an awfully loud racket that alerted the teachers and brought them running.
Harry felt a sigh rip though his body as he came to the realization that he would either get back to his dorm room very early or not at all. He decided that he would cut his losses, pulled up his hood, relaxed against the cabinet making himself very comfy and watching the idiots get into trouble. All in all Harry felt as if the night was worth it even though he would be incredibly skittish and snappy when he wakes up. He would definitely need to see if he could share memories.
'Maybe someone in the Guard would know' He mused as he entered a meditative trance as a way to pass the time.