Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Infinite Stratos
Beta: Audiodelus
Chapter 4. First lessons
Sage. Hogwarts, Grate Hall. September, 1.
What Harry was attempting to do with the Hat was something I understood from the start. It was a childish act he will regret in the future and should be worried about. What I don't understand- is why I helped him.
Temporally blocking the Hat's main energy source was simple (breaking and building complex energy networks are completely different things), and it rendered the Hat inactive. Unfortunately for Harry who was attempting to block visual and sound only, the Hat had a lot more options to contact the castle's OS with and various unknown functions, so shutting it down was mandatory for Harry's plan to succeed and it was completely outside of my protocols. This was not life threatening situation, I had no direct orders, no other protocols were demanding actions. I should have observed only.
Still, I interfered. Why?
Filius Flitwick. Ravenclaw dorms. September, 1.
When Flitwick entered Ravenclaw dorm, he was expecting to see few students all by their own reading, may be one or two small groups playing games calmly, and most of the students in their rooms. That was a normal picture for any day of the year – nothing like Gryffindor's loud parties, Hufflepuff's gatherings or Slytherin's secular evenings. After all, Ravenclaw was a house 'for those who are concerned about knowledge more than friends' as Severus put it. Indeed, most of the students had problems finding friends or even thought that they don't need any. In both cases students simply had a lack of social experience or some kind of social problem.
However, this time it was different - the decades old 'tradition' was broken. What Flitwick noticed immediately after entering was two large groups of students. Mostly purebloods from different years standing in the center of the hall. A few more students were conversing with their peers all around. Third, smaller group of students was gathered in the corner near a table with flashy, new telescope and open window. What surprised Flitwick even more – was that nobody noticed him. Usually it was quiet in Ravenclaw dorms, and it was impossible to get in unnoticed. However this time students were talking far too loud to hear well-oiled door open.
Quickly finding the Head Boy Flitwick reached him and asked:
-"Robert, what the reason for all this commotion?"
-"Professor! Sorry, got carried away and didn't notice you. You see, Harry brought a lot of muggle literature and objects. By the way, did you know that muggles developed a method of creating diamonds and growing artificial crystals?"
-"I see," – Flitwick replied smugly –"can you please gather…"
What Robert said had finally registered.
Due to lack of direct contact, Flitwick learned to disregard everything muggle as unimportant, thus having a large delay in catching up, but now he was stunned. Creating diamonds was considered impossible, even more so then gold, but a tempting goal for many. Diamonds and various precious stones were an excellent choice for storing raw magical energy, with half-precious stones and crystals following up. In case muggles really could do it…
-"Artificial diamonds you say?" – his voice hoarse at start, but short professor quickly regained his composure – "It doesn't matter right now. Even if this is the truth, I doubt they can create any significant amount or price for creating them is sky high. A few years ago according to Gringotts, muggles learned about creating gold but process appeared to be much more expensive then gold itself." – "Goblins managed to repeat process while altering most expensive parts, but use of magic was too extensive for mass production, still a nice source of income known to goblin nation only. I will ask Mr. Potter for a book if my goblin contacts prove useless." - "Can you please gather all first years? I believe not all of them are here."
Robert nodded and went to the dorms.
-"Mr. Potter, can you please elaborate about this commotion?"
-"Um you see…" – before when Harry was talking to one of the students and listening to an exciting speech he was animated. But as soon as Harry realized that he is adressed by the professor, he immediately got all closed and shy.
"Why is he so nervous?"
-"Don't worry, Mr. Potter, you are not in any kind of trouble and you are definitely not first one to take muggle items to school. I'm just curious. Why did your books cause such a commotion? My students usually prefer studying magic then muggle science."
-"It is my fault professor. During sorting Potter took out his notebook to write down... Um, something."
-"The Hat used some kind of mind magic, so I decided to check it out later and wrote it down in my notebook." – Flitwick looked at Harry with surprise.
-"Interesting. You know, you are first student in a decade or more to check it. I feel like I hit a Grand prize. Eric, please, continue." – "He-he, now he is redder then his mother."
-"The thing… The notebook Harry took out was definitely muggle, but had a moving picture on it, here."
-"It is not actually moving, it is optical illusion. Books cover consists of multiple layers with car at top. Basically each different angle has altered picture, so when you are moving the book it looks like the car is moving across the grassland."
Flitwick took the notebook and rotated it a bit, to his shock he felt no magic, but picture changed with each move – "Impressive."
-"Belinda calmed me down that time, but as soon as we got here, I asked to see it once more. It appeared that Harry has a lot of books and interesting items in his bag. I asked to see few more, we got noticed and this" – boy gestured around - "started".
-"Potter's book on Astronomy is also more detailed and accurate. His telescope is much better then ours too. I wonder, what else he has in that bag of his."
"Trust Winnie Garwood to add her own penny to any conversation. But that is an interesting question, not about content, but about bag itself. Bags like this have no constant form, so runes can't be used freely, usually it is a charm work. I noticed this bag during sorting and it was empty by the way Harry carried it." Flitwick gazed over the room, noticing at least seven strange books, a heavy stack of notebooks, a telescope and an unknown set of instruments. "Too much for regular extended bag. To store such amount and reduce weight almost to zero with so little magic it should be ancient work, probably even Merlin had nothing like this. Family heirloom perhaps?"
-"All first years are down here now Professor."
-"Thank you Robert, please stay here" – Flitwick pointed wand at own throat – "Sonorus."
-"First years, please calm down and take a seat. All other, you are free to leave or to listen, but I trust you not to interfere, Quietus."
After taking a deep breathe Flitwick started his own introduction to Hogwarts.
Albus Dumbledore. Hogwarts, Headmaster's office. September, 1.
Today was a long day and he still had something to manage, but first he needed to check the Hat.
-"Hello, Albus. I trust you took me out of the hall to talk about young Mr. Potter?"
-"Indeed. So why did sort him into Ravenclaw?"
-"I didn't. He sorted himself. And just so you know, I already ordered a separate room for him in Ravenclaw dorm."
-"What do you mean? We all heard you talking to him and sorting him in Ravenclaw."
-"Talking – that was me, but sorting - I don't know who or what screamed 'Ravenclaw', but I'm sure Harry Potter is responsible for it. Unfortunately I was disoriented and was not able to interfere. For a moment everything went silent around me, as if all sound in the world completely disappeared, but that was not the problem, connection to Hogwarts almost vanished as if I left the castle. Next thing I remember – Minevra putting me on the head of next student. I was scared Albus. I was almost destroyed unintentionally by a kid whose mind I could not read."
-"Hogwarts didn't notice any interference, not from Harry or his familiar so I don't think it was him. What reasons do you have to think Harry is responsible? I see no reasons for separate room and he doesn't need personal attention, not in this form. And what do you mean you could not read him? You were definitely talking to him."
-"Most likely he is Void Mage, Albus. A Void Mage! And Hogwarts noticed nothing since there were nothing to notice – he completely isolated small area around me with something unreadable until the next student came. And he is already powerful. Most likely he didn't know about consequences of his actions so he Needs to be trained and separated as soon as possible. Personal education outside of Hogwarts would be even better, but I know you will not approve it. Albus, where are you going?"
By this point Albus was no longer listening as he went hastily to one of the shelves that housed two glowing orbs on big metallic plates. The smaller orb also had clear parchment under it. Today in the morning Albus collected a sample of Harry's magical energy and siphon filtered some of it gaining a big, bluish orb – Harry's energy.
What's left belonged to Harry's familiar and caused few long minutes of stupor – white, absolutely neutral energy, all aspects neutral and the strangest of all - neutral Void. The plates he caused the orbs to float over were charmed to contain energy with minimal dispersion. The paper under white orb was slowly absorbing energy and weeks later would reveal the name, aspects, species of familiar, even abilities. However Albus was not interested in it right now. He took out one more parchment and vial of blood. One drop on the parchment, short invocation, then putting parchment under blue orb. Harry's blood served as amplifier, transforming the slow and ineffective ritual used by Ministry into instant blood ritual that Albus learned from goblins. Seconds later Albus was reading the result, his eyes wide.
-"I hope you got your confirmation?"
-"Yes. Void appeared at the end of the list. I don't understand…" – Albus's voice was tired.
-"Not much known about Void Mages. Even less about void beasts and them being familiars. You yourself gained fire bloodline from phoenix – legendary and rare beast. Why can't it be same for Harry and his familiar? Exposure to void may also be the case."
-"May be. Still, he changed body aspects less then in a year. For me, first signs were years after familiar bond was finalized and never reached any considerable height"
-"May be difference in power, age, mind, young growing core or something else. As I said, not much is known."
Albus fell heavily back into his chair.
-"You are probably right. Their connection must be unique and embraced from both sides even if Harry is not aware of it." – Albus gave a look to the list once more –"Void appearance is not the only thing that changed, his Air got a fair bit stronger then a year ago. This is probably their 'shared' aspect - one of the reasons the beast was able to bond with Harry." – Albus gave a sad smile - "Potters always had strong Air – it's the reason,why I encouraged Hagrid to buy him an owl as a present. It should have been easier to track boy, monitor his connections and block the vacant spot of familiar with almost absolute warranty. Pure boy probably doesn't know why his owl is constantly angry." – Albus gave a sad chuckle, then got another parchment and started writing – "I will inform Ollivander about this, he needs to know. Meanwhile, please tell me, why you weren't able to read his mind. And how do you know that he is a Void Mage?"
-"I was probing him and at first everything was as it should be. I got few images that I was not yet able to understand, and I was ready to read first thought but before I indicated my presence, everything started to disappear. It was as if Harry was not there, except I was still able to talk to him. After sorting, I talked to Helena who also came to the hall and she said that there were rumors of Void Mages covering their minds this way.
Artifacts to isolate magic with small layer of void are still known. Harry has a Void familiar. There were no other leads, so I took this one. Even if it has nothing to do with Void, he still needs to be trained and any help he can get would prove useful, especially controlling and determining his power. What if he tries to use this barrier on himself and dies from magical exhaustion? Or shields an ally from spell and not be able to remove the shield later? What else can he do? Incidental magic in this case may be disastrous and irreversible being wielded by an unskilled Void Mage."
-"You think I should leave him in Ravenclaw?"
-"Yes, and Helena agrees with me. Only in Ravenclaw he has a chance. You can't put him into Gryffindor where they disregard dangers of magic and count most unusual and complex bloodlines as dark – Harry will just act on his power without thinking of the possible unintentional damage to the surroundings. In the best case, he will be outcasted by Grifindors. In the worst he might accidentally kill someone. You can't put him in Slytherin – they will be most helpful in gaining needed knowledge, but every family will want a piece of him for themselves. Such a power will not be ignored. You can't put him in Hufflepuff – he may need sympathy and company but it won't be enough. What he needs is knowledge and those who can help him learning his power or at least help searching for such knowledge."
-"You forgot one more thing. I already left one student without guidance and he used his considerable talent instead. Tom learned all by himself." - after few moments of silence Albus continued - "Fortunately there is uneven number of Ravenclaw students this year, so separate room will not cause questions, also I will add few spells to it so that Harry won't be disturbed there. Even before this, I thought that Ravenclaw might be best for him until he has that familiar. But I planned to get rid of it and transfer Harry to Gryffindor. Looks like I will have to order few books on Void Mages first."
-"That would be wise."
-"The familiar's energy is absolutely neutral, but it should be impossible since Void is abomination for our world. A human with the Void aspect, especially a Void Mage not pumping Void energy into this world is also abnormal. Does this Void belong to our world? Harry's books were soaked in purple-dark void and they came from regular extended bag. Something is clearly missing here."
-"Different time – different power I guess."
Albus gave one last look to the parchment with the test result and his eyes grew wide once more – the binding he was planning to weaken next week have completely fallen and Harry's magic somehow had gotten much stronger.
After Albus left the Hat started muttering to no-one in particular.
-"Hm. Decades ago young muggleborns were dreaming of great emptiness beyond the skies and of joining the 'Space Race'. They also called that emptiness the void and vacuum. I wonder, is it related?"
A short trill of confusion and wonder was the only answer he got.
Harry Potter. Hogwarts. September, 2.
Sunday proved to be a disaster.
First: Terry Boot and a few other Ravenclaws remembered that they had Harry Potter in their dorms, and few other courses immediately followed. Harry forgot to remove illusion from his scar the day before and unknowingly caused commotion. He lost half of the morning convincing fellow Ravenclaws that he just forgot to remove glamorous charm (a new thing to read about), doesn't need glasses and he is not an imposer (a hard task, since every raven knows that most of disguise charms are not meant to work more then few hours long, but surprisingly the glasses part was even harder).
Second: he was nervous the whole breakfast since he was expecting Dumbledore or any of the professors to ask him about incident with the Hat. Comparing to the potential punishment, the constant glares from one Draco Malfoy and the awfully loud mutterings from Ron Weasley were almost welcome, though other students managed to restrain themselves.
Third: The library was closed until Monday aswell as most of the House books being under 'restoration' by the graduate courses for at least a week.
And lastly, professor McGonagall forced Harry to visit infirmary. After said visit, Harry felt extremely tired so confined himself to whole day of reading in his room.
"At the very least Robert introduced me to Weasley twins who happily agreed to show few places nobody will disturb me at. They would have showed them immediately, but McGonagall interrupted. Also the Ravenclaws pretty much ignored the fact that I have my 'personal' room." Thought Harry before drifting to sleep.
Minivra McGonagall. Hogwarts. September, 2.
The moment I saw Harry moving towards the twins on the very first day, the past deeds of Maradeurs started flashing before my eyes and dread claimed my heart. I knew I had to act fast and it looks like I'm just in time.
-"Not a problem"
-"We know all sorts of places"
-"Those for potion brewing-"
-"For hiding your supplies-"
-"For experimenting-"
-"Everything you may need-"
-"To cause chaos-"
-"And mischief" – Or maybe I'm terribly late.
-"Sorry to interrupt. But, Mr. Potter, it has came to my attention that you don't use glasses to read. Is this true?" – Oh, and thank Albus for highlighting this yesterday after sorting. I was planning to notify Flitwick or take Harry to Poppy after the breakfast, but health is always a legit reason for interrupting any kind of talk.
-"Yes, Professor. I no longer use them. But how do you know that I used glasses before?" – he admits that he is harming his own eyes by not using glasses and sounds confused at the same time like it is most normal thing in the world? Well, Hold tight then. I will show you how to disregard your own health, and Poppy will add to it later.
-"Mr. Potter! I'm now taking you to the infirmary so that we will be able to check you eyes and order you new glasses. But you should know young man, that I'm really disappointed…"
-"Professor."
-"Don't interrupt me! To disregard your well-being in such a way is beyond foolish. Even your father was not…"
-"Professoror! My eyesight was fixed. And can you tell me please, why everybody thinks that I have to wear glasses? Sorry if it sounds a bit rude, but I was explaining situation with my eyes this whole morning." – What the…? How..? No, no, .. Something must be wrong. Ancestral curses cannot be cured. I need to confirm.
-"Mr. Potter, your eyesight is impossible to heal. It is Ancestral curse known to run in the Potter line for generations. Can you please elaborate your claim?" - I wonder how...
-"Technically my eyes were not cured or healed, at least in the meaning you use for these words. They were fixed by lase.. err .. muggle medicine. First muggles thought it to be a result of bad illumination, but they later found a defect that they successfully removed."
-"Muggle know nothing of medicine, all their healing is about injections and cutt..ing" – quite expressive .. expression. Twins understood as well according to their greenish faces.
-"If that is the truth. I still have to take you to Poppy. Just to make sure that their barbarian medicine did nothing wrong." – And I want to know just how it is possible.
-"Fine. Sorry guys, next time then." – damn it. I will have to talk to the twins about this. They should think that they don't need new pranksters in their group. May be even ask Albus to help persuading them. And ask Flitwick about talking to and keeping an eye on Harry. If worst comes to worst, they should have competition and not a full scale attack with joint forces.
Sage. Hogwarts. September, 2.
When I detected an emittance of energy from behind, it was too late to do anything except rise shield. One moment there was nothing, the next there was a bolt of energy flying into Harry's back.
By now, the attack warning should have started ringing in Harry's head.
Judging by energy readings, my shield should have stopped it without any problems. But to my horror the unknown spell ignored it as if the most advanced multi-component shield in the wold was not there.
The spell itself consisted of channels so thin that until it had hit and started to affect the target I couldn't detect them. The actual function of the spell eased me a lot - a familiar net started to appear in energy layer. But what if next time it will be not a limiting spell, but something more harmful?
If the shield doesn't work... I will need to find a new way to protect Harry from spells.
Should I inform Harry? According to recent scans, this net may help me so I'm not bond to informing Harry of this matter. Informing him might help identifying offender, but is that so wise? The offender may simply teleport away and will know that he can be detected by us and will find other way next time. Or he will attack and disable Harry with something I can't stop right now.
This won't do. I need time to prepare.
I immediately stopped the warning neural signal and confirmed that it was too short for Harry to react. He got a confused expression on his face for a while before turning his head from side to side and continued to walk.
On other hand I went into action. Active and passive sensors, lidar, heat vision - I started searching for the source of the attack. I scanned everything around with the limited functionality I had right now, all to no avail.
Surprisingly enough, the answer came few seconds later from the usual microphone - quiet steps. I amplified microphone to the max and zoomed camera on the place the sound came from.
Steps, breathing, heartbeat- everything went to the memory. Cameras registered displacement of dust particles and I quickly calculated approximated step width and weight. Not enough to identify, but enough to start searching.
Back to the net.
The net with limiting functions in its current state is a good thing. Of course it makes Harry tired since it draws power from him, but it will be fixed. I will be powering it. Net channels are too thin right now and are adjusting to Harry's core according to energy 'pressure'. Even if core right now is not overcharged, I still can manually rise energy concentration in few places by moving net's channels the way I need them. The result – instead of limiting net it will form a bit 'unfit' cacrcass for Harry's core - a zone of 'lower pressure'. It took me some time, but I figured the optimum parameters for growth of Harry's core and it was energy concentration or 'pressure', both inside and outside. Overall core growth should be bigger.
The net can survive few more adjustments, but it will not hold long – 2 weeks top, probably less before I will need to destroy it.
Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster's Office. September, 2.
Severus Snape entered Headmaster's office without a knock and found Dumbledore at his usual place eating his famous lemon drops.
-"Severus, I was waiting for you. Have you finished your assignment?"
-"Yes. Everything is done, here is the cloak."
-"Thank you. Since Harry turned up not as expected, we may need a weak loyalty potion. But, as you understand, we can't start potion treatment before the stabilization of the spell. Still, I expect you to prepare all the ingredients beforehand. How is the bond retardment potions is going?"
-"I'm still missing some rare components, but I will get them before Christmas. And Albus, while returning from Hospital wing I came across the unfortunate event of youngest Weasley attacking one of my students. Weasley is waiting downstairs."
-"Send him up please. What about Slytherin student?"
-"I will deal with him myself. I wish you a good day."
-"To you as well Severus."
"Weasley again? They are not making my work any easier".
-"Headmaster?"
-"Hello, Ron. Take a seat please."
-"Headmaster, it was not my fault. Malfoy started first and he said he is the only one worthy of befriending Harry."
-"It doesn't matter right now. What is done is done. Gryffindor and Slytherin have been fighting for centuries. Lemon drop?"
-"Thank you."
-"The reason you are here is because of Harry. I noticed this morning that you were a bit on edge. What happened?"
Ron immediately became red.
-"He was not at platform when we arrived, so I didn't know what he looks like."
-"That was a possibility, and that was the reason I showed you his photo. What went wrong at the train?"
If it was even possible, Ron became even redder.
-"I found him fast, just as you told, in first compartment I visited. He said he is Harry Potter. I tried to talk to him, but he said that he has no scar and ..."
-"Let me guess. First of all you asked Harry about You-Know-Who and scar from that night?" – now Weasley's face color matched his hair color – "Ron, asking such questions was definitely a wrong thing to do. What next? He got angry and kicked you out?"
-"No! I got surprised that he had no scar and asked him a bit more. He said that he didn't even know what I was talking about. I decided that it was some kind of joke made by twins and left to find real Harry Potter."
-"Ron, sigh those books are fiction work at best." - "I wonder, why Molly buys them at all. They are not cheap and she knows it is complete fiction. And now because of them and that article the whole world went mad."
-"But Ginny…"
-"You sister wasn't there and is younger than you. You have your own head on your shoulders, Ron. Harry saying that he has no scar is not a reason to think that you were tricked. He was embraced and didn't want to show something like this. Besides..."
-"But, Headmaster, his forehead was clear and he had no glasses. His clothes were fitting him. He himself was much healthier than on the picture."
-"No scar you say. Interesting. Very interesting." – with that thought Albus went for his pensive.
Harry Potter. Hogwarts. September, 3.
For Harry, Monday started in a sweaty bed with the feeling as if he was running a marathon whole night. Fortunately the feeling passed quickly, and Harry disregarded it as returned nightmares.
Today's schedule listed Herbology, Charms and History of Magic, after which he planned to find the twins and maybe the Runeology professor.
Minevra McGonagall. Hogwarts, Transfiguration classroom. September, 5.
I was sitting on the table in my cat form, waiting for the students to arrive. The first group arrived consisting of a few students from Ravenclaw, eager and thirsty for knowledge. Hufflepuffs came all together – united and amicable as always. A few more ravens and then Harry Potter. I still don't know what to think.
James's son, he looks a lot like his father and yet he is in Ravenclaw. Thinking about it now, I'm surprised Lily was sorted into my hose. Unlike Granger, she wanted to be in Ravenclaw. At least her son fulfilled her wish. I wonder...
"What the hell?"
It took me all my will just to stay still on the table without succumbing to instinct. One moment I was observing Harry, next I felt thousands of chills running down my spine. My cat's senses were screaming for me stay alert, run and hide – something strange was watching over me and I could not understand what or from where. Something cold and inhuman. Potter? Not him, not directly. Some kind of prank?
No, he is talking to McDougal, completely unaware and calm and he doesn't give impression that he would be that good of an actor. Damn it, I have to start the lesson.
Calm down. Calm down! But the cat in her mind didn't want to calm down, even human part was worried. Such cold, indifferent and alien feeling. Don't panic!
You are not a scared cat, you are grown up, strong and wise woman. Calm down!
-"Oh…" – such reaction is always reassuring.
-"Welcome, students." - "Huh, it disappeared. I hope I don't look too worked up right now. Note to self: ask Dumbledore about it and check the wards."
-"For those of you who don't remember me, my name is Minevra McGonagall, and I will be…"
Sage. Hogwarts. September, 5.
I'm not sure, why professor Quirrell thinks that this spell is simplest. What I'm seeing at the point of Harry's wand is anything but simple.
A bit unstable and weak, but a relatively infinite source of warm light. Even cold fusion might be simpler than this 'Lumos'. The spell creates a small sphere made of energy channels around tip of the wand.
The sphere then creates some kind of resonance and serves as both a convertor and a weak field generator. Field causes heavier atoms to move towards the center. Energy left from sphere creation starts this small reactor – forces electrons in atoms to change orbits and emit light. What is most important however - is that the spell is self-sustained. The caster supports only resonance sphere.
Basically, excessive energy is carried in a form of ultraviolet light towards sphere, where it is filtered from normal light and converted into 'potential' in upper part of the sphere (and wizards don't know about electricity?), potential difference lights up gas once more.
The resonance makes sure that particles in the center are charged and orbits are unstable, so that the electrical discharge through the gas will cause something close to chain reaction and gas will emit much more light than there should be. Such a system may work infinitely long and before mage stops supporting the containing sphere, it will most likely hold some time after outside energy support is gone (the reason why a counter spell is needed).
I probably can power it on my own either by creating channel or by programming ECG for energy transfer. Unfortunately whole structure is too complex for me to create on my own.
-"Nox."
Changing sphere settings disrupts chain reaction while pumping energy from the sphere into gravitational field - discharging it. Fascinating, even if overcomplicated. Almost as interesting as spell for restoring objects according to energy frame.
"Warning: detecting interferences in channel EC74, MD5 is malfunctioning, please replace, repair or remove MD5 device"
This won't do. The only possibility I have is to wait until any kind of hint or event – this won't do at all.
Each time this man turns his back to the class, MD5 is pulsing and Harry feels pain. Scanning with my own energy showed nothing of interest. I can try with Harry's but McGonagall reacted strangely to it. In both human and cat forms (And I though that there will be no more reboots).
I detected all the signs of fear.
"Warning: detecting interferences in channel EC74, MD5 is malfunctioning, please replace, repair or remove MD5 device"
On the other hand McGonagall was the only one and she has that strange ability, most likely with additional cences. Lets try.
-"Haaah!" Thud
Same as Harry he has something else in his head, can't get a clear reading.
-"Professor!"
-"Is he alright?"
-"Professor!"
-"D-d-d-don-n't-t w-wor-r-r-ry. I-I'm f-fin-ne. J-Just t-trip-pped."
Strong reaction. He was stuttering for real at start.
"Warning: detecting interferences in channel EC74, MD5 is malfunctioning, please replace, repair or remove MD5 device."
I need to come up with new message. And will scanning him each time he turns his back to class change something? He does need access to his board…
Harry Potter. Hogwarts. September, 6.
Harry was sitting in the library studying and scanning all books he could get about artifact creation.
Few days ago Professor Flitwick asked Harry about his bag. Apparently it was clear to professor that it was made using charms and not runes and it was surprising to the half goblin, how much it could hold without gaining any weight. Fortunately, Professor Flitwick created some kind of theory about heirloom he himself believed, so Harry's reluctance to show the bag was 'understood', and the dialog about charms and artifacts which followed enlightened Harry quite a lot.
As a result, Harry was searching for anything he could get on preconditioning materials, mixing charms with runes, essence transfer, specific tools and few exclusive or exotic methods.
-"What are you reading?"
-"Hello, Hermione. And I'm reading 'Enchanting methods' by John McNiece."
-"Sorry. Hello, Harry. Your book got my attention, it is so … ancient. Anything interesting?"
-"Not much. There are few alternate methods of discovering material's magical compatibility with various enchantments, types and elements of magic. Some simple rituals like creating weak ward-pendants without the use of a wand. Nothing irreplaceable or strong."
-"Elements of magic? Do you know what that is? I noticed quite a few references to it, but never found any actual information."
Harry recalled the answer, but was not sure he could explain it correctly, so he lazily imputed request into mental interface. Since the sorting Harry's mental control over IS interface skyrocketed due to control method change and he no longer needed to concentrate on task, just clear thought was enough.
-"I don't know actual definition, but this will do. Listen: Magic spread and created by our realm is neutral (white) and consists of various sub elements which can be generated, consumed or processed by magicals. Each magical being has unique affinity to various elements of magic. Air, Earth, Water, Life, Light, Harmony - there are hundreds of various elements which we can work with. Masters of elements are called Elementalists, their sole thought or will can cause the elements to obey. Elementalists are powerful but usually limited to one or two elements. Also their actions are usually out of tune with the world, so affected elements gain weak color. A unique trace any magical can read.
Next are Mages. We call Mages those who have weaker but wider affinity or selected simpler way to learn magic. They can use various elements, mix them, bend them, but Mages are forcing nature to obey so they need some kind of focus, usually a stave to improve their control. Mages can use magic only after it was filtered by their own reserves or artifacts, so they gather magic whenever they can. Elements they used are no longer neutral, their colors are deep and can be noticed from afar.
Ritualists use a variety of tools to express their wish and output their will to the world and control world's energy that way. They do not need to have control over the elements, even magical power is not always needed to perform the ritual. Ritualists' magic is the weakest, but has widest functionality, much more precise and harder to detect.
Of course magic doesn't end here. Magic exists outside our world and even outside our timeline, but it is vastly different in most cases. Combinations of those world and times we call 'Realms'. There are 'Realms' that are filled with single well known elements like Chaos or Life (usually such 'Realms' are 'Satellite Realms') or something unique and dangerous not known to our world, like Insidus or Oblivion.
There are also 'Realms' that are no different from ours or radically opposite. Elements from outer realms are never neutral and are barely affected by our magic or will, it is rare that a mage can tame or gather them. Those who can freely control and even summon those elements from other realms are called according to their element – either priest or mage of specific element, depend on the method of receiving energy."
-"How come I never found anything like this?"
-"Don't know. It actually was the only and oldest book in Ravenclaw dorms on said topic. I'm not even sure why I decided to read it." – "And not sure, what possessed me to read it from old rusty book with barely readable letters instead of reading scanned and corrected version." – "Besides, as wand users we don't really need to know this – wizards and witches are types of ritualists and wand is matched for us to convert and filter our magic into neutral mix."
-"Can I read it?"
-"No, we are not allowed to take House books out of the dorm."
-"Can you…"
-"No. It is against rules."
-"…sigh… Can I seat here?"
-"Sure. Suit yourself."
-"So why are you reading something so old when there are plenty newer books on same subjects."
-"For some reason the older the book, the more interesting info there is."
-"Huh?"
-"You don't need to go far for example. Your favorite 'Hogwarts a history' - older version is near the latest one and it is twice as big."
THUD..thud..thud..thud
-"No running in the library!"
-"Sorry!"
Harry and Hermione were the only first year students who decided to visit library from the first week of school. Hermione was here since there were no books in Gryffindor tower and she liked learning. Harry because it was easier to photo-scan books of other students while here. In the library he found a perfect spot to place one of his bracers so that cameras could see a few tables simultaneously and clear enough for scanning text (in case it was not covered by hands or hair of course). Everything else was up to the program.
-"Found it. Definitely bigger... and a lot older. Thanks."
-"Nothing to thank me for yet. I haven't read it, just noticed the difference."
-"Ok. But how did you know about it? I'm sure it was not there few days ago."
-"Someone donated it to Ravenclaw library the year before. Since space is in the dorms is limited a lot, it was transferred here during revision."
-"I wonder, wha…" - Hermione interrupted herself when she noticed in Harry's book. - "Harry! Haven't your parents taught you how to treat books? You shouldn't bend the corners, use bookmarks instead. Don't put pens in books or on open books, don't … bend .. books…over" - Hermione started in harsh, mentor's tone, but soon understood what she said and last part came out slowly and unsure.
-"Hermione, I didn't have parent to teach me and I'm not the one who bend this corner, but I will not put pens inside books any longer." - Harry replied in emotionless monotone and immediately removed pen from one of his books. Book had some references he was planing to find today, but since Harry had no bookmarks with him, he decided to stick to IS interface instead.
-"Harry, I'm sorry."
-"It is fine. Even if I wish to have a family, I don't remember my parents and can't feel pain about their loss."
Even if Harry was fine. Hermione wasn't. She decided to change the subject -"I saw a beautiful white owl this morning near you. Was it yours?"
-"Yes, Hedwig. Delivered letter from Hagrid. He wants to see me tomorrow to ask about school."
-"Having a personal owl would be convenient."
-"Maybe. Hedwig is constantly angry at me for some reason and I have no one to write to. She is more of nuisance right now. That letter was the only one…" - if Hermione wasn't well raised good girl, she would have been inwardly cursing - she left one minefield and immediately stepped into another.
Fortunately for her Harry decided to change subject himself - "Speaking of classes! You had Charms and Transfiguration today? How was it?"
-"Professor Flitwick made demonstration for us – he animated few wooden figures, made them dance while levitated around the room. Lesson was more of demonstrations and than theory. At transfiguration we transfigured matches into needles."
-"Ehh? Flitwick made nothing like this for us. Started from theory and we learned cleaning spell for cauldrons and cutting spell for ingredients. Transfiguration was the same, except professor McGonagall was sitting at the table in a form of a cat and scared the class with her appearance and facial expression."
-"Actually it was same for us with McGonagall, but one lesson before. Ron still shudders when a cat gets near him."
-"I see. So the program might be different, since we already finished needles and we are now transfiguring them back. We had only one lesson."
-"What!" – Hermione almost jumped, then dropped her head onto the table – "I should have accepted Ravenclaw!"
-"Silence in the library! One more time and you are out!"
-"Sorry." – Hermione replied to Madam Pince beforing giving an inquisitive look to Harry - "This is your fault, you get me too excited all the time."
Harry smiled – "It is you who is overreacting."
-"Prat"
Shinono Tabane. Demonstration at Tokyo. September, 6.
-"I see you finished it?"
-"Yes."
-"Don't be so somber – upcoming presentation shows significance of you work."
-"It's easy for you to say. All you need to do is give a death glare to the reporter and the whole crowd of predators will disappear as if by magic." – instead of giving a response Chifuyu gave a wholehearted laugh.
-"Decided then. You will be presenting new IS." – the laughter immediately stopped.
-"Khe-Khe. What?!"
-"Just kidding. But I won't be the one presenting it anyway."
-"So the somber look was just a way to trick me?"
-"Waa. Chi-chan is scary." – Now a certain Genius was on receiving end of mentioned deathglare and before Chifuyu could do anything Tabane jolted towards the stairs.
-"Running is futile!"
…
-"That was fun. It is good to feel yourself like child once again."
-"ehe." – Unlike Chifuyu, Tabane was out of breath.
-"Back to the topic. You haven't been on public since first IS presentation. I'm not even sure you seen or talked to anyone directly besides me. Are you sure that is alright?"
-"Chi-chan is worried about me! I'm so happy!" - Tabane immediately tried to hug Chifuyu, but ended up with new bump and a pout.
-"I won't be able to persuade you, won't I?" – sigh – "So, what are the specs?"
-"800PU, 300SU, storage is 24t for IS itself…" - rattled off Tabane as she went into 'excited lecturing' mode.
-"Everything in one package - firepower and shields, speed and variety of equipment. Impressive. Design is pretty good to. I see you separated wings from main body once again?"
-"Yes, I figured that if it is not going military or mass production, no sense in saving on the design. Besides, the design is more important then people think."
-"Yeah, I do remember your talk about importance of intent and execution for the core. So what was the problem?"
-"The processing power as the main problem, power management and distribution were next, few secondary issues. The processor manufacturers are howling like wolves, but eventually started producing 300Mhz processors that I designed. But I will need a lot more before I can make something significantly better. Fortunately, holographic storage and Quantum computers are on par with IS and AI possibilities. I also no longer use power conduits. Instead changed them to energy based channels and I got some additional space in the core as result. Everything is solved even if far from perfection."
-"Is it possible to upgrade prototypes to second generation?"
-"No. Most of them are lost causes, Titania's core is too powerful, and it will overload any channel I create in her. Remaking whole thing is by far the easier option. Lancer's hypersensor will gain alot of benefits from the new processors, especially the tracking system but it will not help controlling machine itself – the consequences of semi-automated engine instead of software controlled. It can't be changed. Avalon? Well, something may be done. I will definitely reuse the core. But not sure about frame."
-"And Sage?"
-"Sage is beyond my reach." – Tabane paused for a moment than laughed - "Oh. I see. You want to fight him again?"
-"Yes, I hadn't such a fight in a long time. Never actually. Even if I wasn't using combat sync and Knight's parameters were limited, it was fun."
-"Processing power can be easily upgraded. He actually had 250Mhz processors instead of regular 25-75 and 4 more specialized graphical controllers for ECG support. 50Mhz and additional hardware instructions will improve IS performance a lot. Unfortunately Sage's problem was low power and shields due to use of ECG equipment and use of energy channels instead of conduits." – Tabane sighed before continuing.
-"I use ECG's for creating channels in new cores, but without including device into IS. This technology is far from its limit and even my laboratory can't use it fully - I don't have enough energy or processing power and the system itself is incomplete." - Tabane moved closer to new IS - "Sage will never have energy or processing power to utilize more than tiny fraction of it. Right now he is just a concept, not meant for actual combat. I wish I could have done better. With all of them."
- Tabane paused for a moment, her hand caressing her recent child, a sad smile on her lips. - "Still, the pilot is natural, just like you. You will get your fight soon enough." – cheerful expression back on her face.
-"Any news on the pilot?"
-"Somewhere in Scotland. Nothing more. IS's Quantum signal is stable if you stay in one place, but is jumping on the move. It's like we move closer, then we pass the door without knowing. Signal map made by surveillance drones makes suggestions that there is 4th dimension."
-"And you believe it is 4th dimension?"
-"Of course not. But that damn column at King Cross suggests otherwise. Ayane is working on it, but quantum communications are not properly researched and who knows what is used by those people. I hope I'll know how it works soon. My next step is launching quantum drone using Sage's signal as beacon."
-"Do you need any help?"
-"No. I'm just waiting for some components."
-"Aren't you afraid that they will get notified about Sage?"
-"We talked about it already. Danger of technology loss is minimal. Also we overreacted about this 'mysterious criminal or governmental organization'. I talked to one expert on surveillance and showed him all recordings." - Chifuyu immediately shifted her stance - "Don't look at me like that. There isn't enough to cause any trouble even to get actual location and the guy owes me. Where was I? So, he thinks that there was just one observer, probably from neighborhood and most likely some kind of early-warning system…"
Harry Potter. Hogwarts. September 7.
Harry woke up to the feeling of sweaty bed. Once again he felt tired and shattered.
-"Five days in a row. I guess I will have to see healer if it continues."
Albus Dumbledore. Hogwarts, Staff meeting room. September, 7.
-"Lets begin our meeting. Minevra, traditionally you are first. How was first years and your first week with them?" – asked Dumbledoor as he finished his speech with his familiar twinkling coming from his eyes.
-"Apart from incident two days ago, everything is as expected. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are ahead of program due to their intelligence and hard work respectively. Gryffindor and Slytherin also behaving as expected. I have to note Hermione Granger and Daphne Greengrass, they both are quite studious and talented. I need to find some kind of motivation for youngest Mr. Weasley since he is holding whole class back. That's all."
-"What kind of incident?"
-"Something was watching over Minevra in her cat form. Hogwarts and classroom wards were intact. Still under investigation and I asked Alastor to visit us." – "Never thought her cat's sense will be a hindrance." – "You are next Filius. Will the students be ready for potions?"
-"I'm pushing as much as I can and the students should be ready by the end of next week."
-"Hah. Like they will ever use anything you taught them in my class."
-"I must say that I also noted Miss Granger and I'm surprised that she is in Gryffindor and not in my house." - Flitwick continued as if Snape was not there - "But she pales in comparison to Mr. Potter. He showed uncommon talent and strong thirst for knowledge. Even Lily was not that good." – at this Severus gave Filius half-pained half-mocking look. - "Mr. Weasley. Well, he might use some hard work. But I'm more concerned about Mr. Goyle, he has problems understanding some of my assignments."
-"Minevra, as I understand Mr. Potter learns a lot of theory for your classes as well?"
-"Yes, but his practical skills are average, and I am more concerned about practical part."
-"He learns a lot for other subjects?" – gaining a series of nods Albus continued – "He looks to me like responsible kid, but he has almost no friends and all he does is reading. Wards registered that he is in the library even longer than Ms. Granger. In my opinion situation need to be fixed. Does anyone has ideas?"
-"Of course special treatment for a special kid." - nobody replied but this time most of the teachers were thinking somewhere along.
-"No ideas then. How about trying him as a seeker?"
-"Albus! He is a first year student!" – to which some more objections were heard from around the room.
-"And what if he gets bored after reading all that books? We are talking about James's son with Lily's brain. Who said he will not succumb to the way of Marauders?" – "They are almost ready, I need to push just a bit more"
- "While on the train Mr. Potter tricked young Mr. Weasley to believe that his brothers were pranking him and then got Mr. Malfoy to think that real Harry was in other compartment. And he only started learning. Twins are enough for us don't you think?"
This time there were no objections, even Snape decided to play on a safe side.
-"Solved then. If he is any good on a broom, we will try him for a team. Pomona, how are your preparations for potions?" - "Now I need to get Harry out of the library until his first flying lesson. Reading few books I sent him from restriction section is fine, but in library I can't control Harry's reading material."
-"We already learned tree of five ingredients needed for first potions assignment, so we will have needed ingredients and students will know what they deal with in time. And there is absolutely no need for your sarcastic comments Severus. Talents are traditional - Greengrass and Longbottom. Mr. Potter also seems really good with plants even if not talented. It was a surprise, he said something like 'Herbology in Hogwarts is safer than gardening at home' in a joking manner."
-"So we will be clear for potions soon. Thank you. Aurora?"
-"I want to discuss my classes separately – one of the students brought muggle telescope and it is much better then mine. I would like to discuss with you possibility of ordering few telescopes for our school along with some muggle literature on the subject." – everybody except Flitwick looked at Sinistra with surprise and worry.
-"Filius, here is your galleon. How did you know?" – groaned professor Derek from Muggle studies.
…
-"Are you really going to invite Alastor?"
-"Yes, Severus. There is no point in checking anything at school, but he may notice something about Mr. Potter and will calm Minevra's nerves."
-"What about Quirrell?"
-"He will be out of school, buying new broom."
-"Why don't you question Potter directly?"
-"Only week has passed and I'm not out of options yet. Don't forget about 'overprotective' familiar. Alastor is a professional afterall and can see details we can't detect with conventional means and, most importantly most illusions are useless against him. In the case Alastor fails to get anything useful, we will test this 'overprotectiveness' and Harry will get detention with you." - Albus paused for a second then continued - "One more thing. Fake duel between one of your students and Harry will have to be provoced earlier. I believe young Mr. Malfoy will do his best." - on this Severus only sighed.
A bit of humor (or I hope it is humor, don't expect Sage to behave this way):
Fascinating. I wonder, can I power it directly?
-"Um. Professor! I need you help!"
Now filter settings.
-"W-w-what's wr-rong Mr. Cor-rner?
Power output.
-"My spell is behaving strangely. First it disconnected from my wand, then started changing colors and now it's blinking."
Now it should be possible to move it by moving this energy channel….
-"Nox?"
-"You missed, Professor."
-"Nox, Nox, Nox, NOX!"
-BOOM-
Oops. Damn those research protocols.
-"W-what d-did y-you do Mr. C-corn-ner?"
-"Nothing, sir."
"Error: External energy application terminated" - I hope Harry agrees with me that black turban looks better.
-"Oops."