The next day Harry woke up pretty late as the party had lasted till pretty late. After showering and getting dressed, he joined the Gryffindor table at the Great Hall for breakfast. Not many students were up but those who were congratulated him again with his excellent flying. Harry just smiled and thanked them but tried to avoid more hero worship from them. It baffled him at time just how popular Quidditch was at Hogwarts. He compared it with soccer in the Muggle world and found it somewhat amusing that while both worlds were so vastly different from each other, reacted in a similar way when it came to sports. He wondered if there were hooligans in the Wizarding World as well. What worried him a bit was how everyone saw him as a Quidditch hero because he hadn't lost a game yet but when he eventually would, he wasn't sure how they would react then. Would they treat him like the scum of the earth if he lost? Not that he was planning on losing anytime soon but he made himself no illusions; it was bound to happen eventually.
"Snape was hexing your broom." Hermione told him later that day as they joined up.
"Really? Are you sure?" Harry said surprised. "I mean, everyone knows that Snape doesn't like me but for him to actually hex my broom in the middle of a game? That seems a bit much, don't you think? Even if he did want me hurt or dead, I doubt Snape would be so arrogant and stupid to do it in front of the entire school. I'm sure he could come up with better ways."
"Maybe he only wanted to stop you from getting the Snitch? He was the only one that was fixated on you and he was muttering under his breath." Hermione explained what she did. "As soon as he broke eye-contact, your broom started working normally again."
"It's possible of course. I guess I'll have to be careful around him then." Harry admitted. "Let's not get too carried away. We have no other proof right now so we can't do anything about it now."
"I suppose." Hermione nodded dejected. "So what are you up to today?"
"I was thinking of visiting Hagrid today. Do you want to come?" Harry said inviting her. "We can ask Neville to come as well."
"I would love to but I promised Neville that we would work on his potion essay today. The poor boy still has trouble composing a good essay." Hermione sighed. "I don't know much about education before Hogwarts but I found that a lot of Purebloods don't have much academic experience like we do. I had lots of homework in my Muggle school so I at least know how to write a good essay. Do you think they have schools before Hogwarts? Or are they mostly home-schooled?"
"That's actually a good question. I have no idea to be honest. Maybe you should ask Neville or Ron?" Harry said curious.
"I'll ask Neville later." Hermione nodded. "Since we'll be busy for a few hours, I'm afraid we won't be able to join you to see Hagrid."
Oh well, next time then. Maybe I'll join you later on." Harry said. "Most of my homework is done but I would like to double check it again before I turn it in."
Later that afternoon, Harry went to visit Hagrid at his little cabin. He had been there before once when Hagrid had invited him and his friends for tea at the beginning of the school year. It had been nice despite the horrible cakes Hagrid had baked for them. Hagrid was a nice person, a bit simple but generally nice.
"Hi Hagrid, how are you?" Harry greeted as he stepped inside the hut.
"Afternoon, Harry." Hagrid boomed. "Not too bad. You?"
"I'm okay, bit tired after the party yesterday but that's nothing to worry about." Harry answered.
For the next hour Harry and Hagrid exchanged pleasantries. They talked about how Harry was adjusting to Hogwarts; about his schoolwork and Hagrid even told him some stories about his parents, which made Harry very happy.
"So what happened yesterday to your broom?" Hagrid asked suddenly. "Seemed like it was going haywire."
"I have no idea." Harry admitted. "But Hermione has this theory that Snape was hexing my broom for some reason."
"Snape? Nonsense, he's a teacher." Hagrid said shaking his head. "He wouldn't do something like that."
"Well, he doesn't seem to like me very much so maybe he wanted me to lose against Slytherin." Harry shrugged.
"No, Snape isn't the nicest fellow out there but he wouldn't endanger a student's life like that." Hagrid disagreed. "Besides, if Prof. Dumbledore trusts him enough to help hide the…" Suddenly Hagrid stopped talking.
"Hide the what?" Harry asked interested.
"Nothing. Forget I said that." Hagrid said quickly. "I shouldn't have said that."
"Does it have something to do with that three-headed dog on the Third Floor?" Harry pressed on.
"You saw Fluffy?" Hagrid exclaimed. "Of course you did. Just as much a troublemaker as your dad."
"Fluffy? Really; you called a beast like that 'Fluffy'?" Harry snorted. "He didn't seem very fluffy to me."
"Nah, he's a good boy." Hagrid smiled. "Fiercely loyal and brave. He'll protect the…"
"The what, Hagrid?" Harry asked again.
"Nothing. Forget I said that." Hagrid said quickly. "That's between Prof. Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel."
"Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Harry wanted to know.
"Nobody. Now, it's getting late so you should head back to the caste." Hagrid said ushering Harry out of the hut.
"Thank you for the tea." Harry said as he walked out of the door. 'And for all this information. So something is hidden in some secret place and it's protected by Fluffy. It must be something of great value; you don't get a Cerberus to protect something small and insignificant after all. And who is Nicolas Flamel?'
Optional Quest Alert
You just got some important information from Hagrid.
Objective:
Find out who Nicolas Flamel is.
Rewards: 3000 EXP
Accept (Y/N)
'And here's the quest I was expecting to come.' Harry snorted. 'Well at least it's not a dangerous one.' As he closed the screen however another one popped up making him groan loudly.
Life Quest Alert
Something important is hidden in Hogwarts.
Objective:
Find out and protect what is hidden in the Forbidden Corridor on the Third Floor.
Completion Reward: 10000 EXP
Caution, this Quest must be completed before the End of the School year.
Hidden Objectives:
?
?
?
?
?
Completion Reward: 2500 EXP per completed objective
Completion Failure: Serious Injury, possible death.
'I knew it.' Harry sighed. 'I jinxed it and here's my reward.'
Understandably both Neville and Hermione had been shocked when Harry told them what he had learned from Hagrid. Neither of them had any interest in seeing Fluffy but they were very much intrigued by the mystery of what could be hidden and who this Nicolas Flamel was. Hermione promised to look up the name in her books but she was pretty sure she hadn't encountered his name anywhere so far.
Over the next few weeks Harry devoted his time to practicing the spells that he had written down on his last trip to the library. He also kept up his exercising and studying making his Stats go up quite a bit. Harry hadn't received any more Quests over the past few weeks so he hadn't gained enough EXP to get another Level up but that was fine. For now he focused on his Stats and mastering the Skills and Spells he already had. While it would have been fun to learn some new stuff, he figured that it was more important to master the others first.
He had been making good progress with several of the spells he had learned so far which was very satisfying to see. Sure, in the grand scheme of things it wasn't all that impressive but Rome wasn't built in one day after all. As he looked over his Stats, Harry felt he had been doing pretty well.
He had learned other spells like [Full Body-Bind Curse], the [Disarming Charm] and the [Leg-Locker Curse] but while he had managed to learn them, he couldn't really gain any experience with them as he needed someone to practice on. Sadly this was the same for the [Healing Charm] as well. Still, he knew that he would figure out something about that soon enough. He was especially happy about having learned the [Cutting Charm] as it gave him some offensive power but he wanted to find some other spells as well. Seeing that the Christmas holidays were just a few days away, Harry promised himself to search the library from some more spells.
A few days later Prof. McGonagall started asking people about their Winter Holiday plans. She needed to know if you planned to go home or stay in the Castle. Harry didn't even think about it and just told her that he was planning to stay at Hogwarts as he had no desire to spend more time than necessary with the Dursleys. McGonagall looked a bit surprised at hearing Harry say that but she nodded nonetheless and put his name in the 'Staying' column. Hermione and Neville however were both going home for the holidays which meant that he would be alone for 2 weeks.
"So are you doing something special with your parents?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Not really. We usually just enjoy the Christmas markets and just relax at home." Hermione admitted. "We do some Christmas shopping as well but Dad doesn't really like the crowds so we do that a bit in advance. I think they will already have done that by the time I get there."
"What about you Neville?" Harry asked.
"N-No, just stay home with my Gran." Neville said sadly. "And visit some people."
Hermione seemed to want to ask him some more questions but Harry stopped her by shaking his head at her. It was clear to him that Neville didn't want to talk about it any further. Harry was curious as well but he would let his friend have his secrets. After all, he had many of those as well.
With Christmas break just a few days away Hogwarts was filled with Christmas spirit which was helped along when Hagrid placed the big Christmas tree in the Great Hall. A lot of students were adding their own decorations to the massive tree and even Prof. Flitwick seemed to have a jolly good time joining in. The teachers had given them some assignments to do over the holidays but thanks to Hermione's planning, the three of them had managed to most of them out of the way during the weekend. This seemed a big relief to Neville who was always a bit behind on his homework; it wasn't that he wasn't smart but rather that he worked at a slower pace compared to Hermione and Harry. Sometimes Harry wondered how good of a student he would be if he hadn't been able to increase his intelligence like he was now. He probably would be working at Neville's pace too.
On Monday morning Harry said goodbye to his friends as they left the castle to board the Hogwarts Express back to London and went back inside. Not many students remained during the Christmas holidays so the castle was very quiet compared to just a day before. Harry didn't really mind the peace and quiet as it gave him more time to reflect on what had been happening over the past six months. So much had changed for him that he still had trouble believing it sometimes.
"Alright, 2 weeks of free time." Harry cheered. "With almost no one in the castle, I will be able to get some serious training in. I've been working hard over the past few weeks but I feel like I'll need the strength in the coming months and years."
Seeing that he had a whole 2 weeks Harry figured that he would concentrate on one thing each day with taking the weekends off. Just because he didn't mind working hard, it didn't mean that he wasn't looking forward to some days off too. The body and mind needs time to recover after all.
Seeing as he still had time before lunch was served Harry decided to scout out the library for the rest of the morning hoping that he would be able to found some new spells he could learn or even better, a new Skill Book. He hadn't found one of those for quite a while. Greeting the librarian with a smile, though he didn't get one back, he entered the library and started his search. Even after all these months at Hogwarts, Harry was still amazed at the sheer volume of the library. The thousands of books gathered here made the Hogwarts library amongst the biggest Magical Libraries in the world and Harry intended to make full use of this resource during his time here at Hogwarts.
A few hours later Harry exited the library with several pieces of parchment that contained instructions to several new spells. Some were kind of silly like the [Jelly-Legs Jinx] and the [Trip Jinx] but Harry could see some use for these kinds of spells. Childish perhaps but they would surely confuse his opponent or distract them when fighting. He also found one [Stunning Spell] that he found very interesting but he feared that he wasn't advanced enough yet for that one. The book did say that it was a Third Year spell after all. Still, once he had read the description of the spell he absolutely wanted it. He had also found a counter spell called [Finite Incantatem] that when cast would end of effects of the spells you're under. This was something that Harry found very interesting as if he learned this spell; he could for example cast the [Jelly-Legs Jinx] on himself and then just lift the jinx. It would give him experience in both spells as well. Double Win.
He also hadn't forgotten about his ongoing quests. He still hadn't found anything about this Flamel person and it was starting to piss him off. Together with Hermione, he had been reading book after book filled with biographies of prominent Witches and Wizards that had been famous for something over the past 100 years. Hours and hours of reading and still they hadn't found anything about this Flamel guy. They had almost gone to one of their teachers to just ask who the hell this guy was but they figured that if Hagrid wasn't willing to tell them anything; then neither would the other professors. Plus then they would have to admit knowing something that they weren't supposed to know and whom they had learned it from and they didn't want Hagrid to get into trouble. So they had to continue looking on their own.
One day however, Hermione had an epiphany and wondered if maybe the Restricted Section would have more books that they could look into. Sadly, they had no way of getting into the Restricted Section as you needed special permission from the teachers. Without that permission it was simply impossible to get past Madam Pince. She guarded the entrance to that part of the library like a hawk.
Two days later Harry woke up as Ron, one of the few students that stayed at the castle over the break, loudly exclaimed that it was Christmas morning and that there were presents to be opened. Harry slowly got dressed and made his way down to the Common Room. He wasn't all that excited about Christmas to be honest; his relatives never gave him any presents before and he was pretty sure he wouldn't get any now. It was only when Ron pointed out that there were three presents for him as well that Harry completely waked up.
"Presents?" Harry asked surprised. "For me?"
"Well yeah, they do say 'Harry Potter' on the tag so they're yours." Ron said shrugging.
Curious Harry grabbed the three packages and took them to his room. He was feeling quite emotional and he didn't want anyone to see how affected he was. The first present was a book on Magical Theory from Hermione which made him chuckle a bit. Of course Hermione would give him a book. He quickly browsed through it and had to admit that it seemed very interesting. The second present was from Neville and was a small potted plant. In his note Neville explained that the small plant was a magical plant that would give out a soothing scent at night and help him sleep without nightmares. Harry was very curious to learn how that worked but he trusted Neville and his knowledge in Herbology.
The last present was a mystery however. It had no name so he didn't know who had sent it to him which made him a bit wary. Using his wand to open the wrapping paper he carefully tore it away and looked inside. A small note could be seen laying on what seemed to be a piece of fabric. Harry wondered who would send him something like this but hoped that the note would explain. Unfolding the note, he read it.
Your father loaned me his cloak sometime before his death. It's time to return it to its rightful owner. Use it well.
'This was my dad's cloak?' Harry said surprised. Quickly grabbing it he stood up and unfolded it before him.
It had a weird texture that Harry just couldn't place. It felt weird but it wasn't the worst; it wasn't very thick though so Harry wondered if the cloak would keep him warm during the winter time. Shrugging he put it on his shoulders and turned to watch in the large mirror at the far end of the room. To his shock only his head was visible while all the rest seemed to have disappeared into thin air. He quickly removed the cloak and sighed in relief as the rest of his body reappeared.
'What the hell was that?' Harry said breathing deeply. 'As soon as I put on the cloak, my body became invisible. Let's see if I can use [Observe] on it and learn more about it.'
As soon as he used [Observe] on the cloak, a window appeared in front of him.
Potter Family Heirloom,
The 'Cloak of Invisibility' has been in the Potter family for centuries. Nobody knows exactly where it came from but it has been passed down from father to son for generations. Donning the cloak will turn you invisible for all eyes.
'Wow, that's incredible.' Harry exclaimed happily as he closed the window. 'This will make sneaking around a lot easier.'
Before he could make any other plans, a new window popped up.
Optional Life Quest Alert
There is something about the 'Cloak of Invisibility' that no Potter has ever been able to discover. For generations, Potters have searched the origins of the cloak but none have managed to discover anything.
Objective:
Find out the origin of the Cloak.
Completion Reward: 10 000 000 EXP
Accept (Y/N)
"HOLY SHIT!" Harry yelled out before slapping his hand in front of him mouth hoping that nobody had heard him. Luckily, the tower seemed to be empty except for him. '10 million EXP. That's crazy. How on earth am I going to find out about this? If generations of Potters before me haven't been able to find out, then how am I supposed to figure this out?'
Shaking his head at the window, Harry accepted the quest and then closed it and just sat down on his bed. After thinking about it for a bit, he figured that he shouldn't worry about it too much. There was nothing he could do about it for now and while getting such a massive amount of EXP was very tempting, he had other priorities now. The cloak and its mysteries would have to wait. Still, he wasn't about to forget about this anytime soon. Sighing, he gently grabbed the cloak and put it into his [Inventory] before going down for breakfast.
The Great Hall had been decorated by Hagrid a week or so ago and Harry had to admit that it did look pretty festive. The Christmas trees were decorated with lots of colors and tinsels were hanging from the ceiling. Only the fact that there were maybe a handful of students present seemed to diminish a bit of the atmosphere but that was to be expected. Harry watched as several professors were exchanging pleasantries to each other and seemed to be having a nice morning. Harry smiled at them and gave them a polite nod as to wish them a Happy Christmas. Dumbledore even raised his goblet to him.
After breakfast, Harry went through all of his exercises just like any other morning before he started on his Magical training. As he had promised himself, he would work extra hard during the break. He focused on the new spells he had gathered and managed to cast the [Jelly-Leg Jinx], the [Trip Jinx] and the [Finite Incantatem] correctly which meant that now he could work on raising their levels.
He was especially happy that he now had a way to undo any Magic casted on himself and that meant that he could now work on the [Leg Locker Curse] as well. By the time Harry stopped for lunch he had managed to level up the [Jelly-Leg Jinx], the [Trip Jinx], [Leg Locker Curse] and the [Finite Incantatem] twice. The [Stunning Spell] had not worked at all but at least he now knew the incantation and the wand movement so all that was left was to practice casting it.
After lunch, Harry devoted several hours on completing his assignments and reading the book Hermione had given him. It was really interesting and before he realized it, it was time for dinner. Out of Gryffindor only Ron, a sixth year student and Harry had remained in the castle. The other houses had only a few students as well so Harry thought it might be a good way to get to know some other people. Sadly, almost all the remaining students were way older than he was and he wasn't sure they would be willing to talk to him. It was then that he noticed a lone girl sitting at the Ravenclaw table.
The girl was of Asian descent and she was on the small side. Harry saw that her name was Su Li, from the name tag that was floating above her head. She was currently at Lvl 4 but so were most of the students of his year now. It seems that after several months of studying, all his classmates had gained one or two levels. Harry thought she looked kind of nice and he shrugged before grabbing his plate and walked over to her.
"Is this seat taken?" He asked her politely. As she looked up in shock and almost dropped her cutlery he quickly apologized for startling her.
"N-No, it's not." The girl said somewhat embarrassed by her reaction.
"Cool, I'm Harry." He introduced himself knowing full well that everyone in this castle knew who he was.
"Su. Su Li." Su answered quickly.
"Nice to meet you Su." Harry smiled. "Merry Christmas by the way. I'm hoping I'm not disturbing you but I figured that since we're pretty much the only ones here, we might as well get to know one another."
"Merry Christmas." Su replied. "I guess it's pretty stupid to sit separately when there are only a few of us."
"Exactly." Harry nodded. "Plus, I've wanted to make some new friends in other houses for a while now but it never seemed the right time. Everyone seems to stick to their own house all the time. It bothers me a bit to be honest."
"It does?" Su asked surprised. "Why?"
"Well, we're going to be here for seven year so why not make a lot of friends?" Harry shrugged. "Nowhere does it say that you can't have friends in other houses. I like meeting new people and having friends as I didn't have many where I grew up."
"Me neither." Su admitted. "I only have my younger sister and she's five and she can drive me crazy sometimes."
"Really? I would have loved having a sibling." Harry said sadly. "So how is Hogwarts treating you? Do you like the classes?"
From there on out it seemed that the ice had been broken and the two of them spent the rest of dinner talking about their favorite classes and teachers. Unknown to them, Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore had been observing them and were very happy to see that the house barriers seemed to have come down, at least for a bit.
When Professor Flitwick passed them on his way out, he awarded both of them ten points before wishing them a good night.
Harry and Su Li promised to meet up for dinner again the next day as well before they retired for the evening.
As Harry made his way out of the Great Hall a window popped up in front of him.
Optional Quest Alert
It's high time to make some new friends.
Objective:
Have at least one friend in Hufflepuff
Have at least one friend in Ravenclaw
Have at least one friend in Slytherin
Reward: 1000 EXP per friend in different House.
Quest will end at the end of the school year.
Accept [Y/N]
'Hmm, that doesn't seem too bad.' Harry thought. 'Although, seeing as Slytherin students don't really like me very much that might be a bit harder.'
Optional Quest Alert
Hogwarts has been divided for too long. It's time to start working together for the good of the British Wizarding world.
Objective:
Find a way to unite Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin before you graduate.
Reward: 10 000 000 EXP
Accept [Y/N]
'Motherfucker, another one of those ridiculous Quests.' Harry cursed. 'How am I supposed to do that? This rivalry between the houses has existed for centuries and I'm the one that's supposed to fix this? At least I have 7 years to get that one done. Although I fear even that won't be enough.'
Later that night, Harry sneaked out of his dorm room and made his way to the Common Room. It was way past midnight so the entire castle was sleeping, or so Harry hoped. As he was laying bed, he had a brainfart and figured that he could use his new Invisibility Cloak to sneak into the Library and try to find something about this Flamel guy in the Restricted Section. It was going to be risky but he felt like he could manage to do it.
Wrapping the cloak around himself, therefore completely vanishing from sight, he opened the portrait and slowly but surely made his way to the library. He was in luck apparently as he didn't encounter anyone along the way. He half expected Madam Pince to be sleeping in the library, as many thought she did, but he found it completely empty. Still under the cloak, Harry quickly entered the Restricted Section and started looking for anything that might help him on finding out just who Nicolas Flamel was. He passed row after row with books that all seemed very interesting but he knew he didn't have the time to look.
One book seemed to attract his attention as it was called 'Famous Witches And Wizards Throughout The Ages'. Grinning he grabbed it from the shelf and opened it up. To his horror however, the book started shrieking loudly and wouldn't stop even when he closed it and put it back. He quickly wrapped his Cloak around him and quietly but quickly made his way out of the library in fear that someone might have heard the commotion. Just as he excited the Library he heard Filch heading his way and not wanting to be found out, Harry quickly ducked into one of the unused classrooms further down the hall.
'Shit, that was stupid.' Harry sighed berating himself. 'If Filch had seen me, I would have been in so much trouble.'
Luckily it seemed that the surly caretaker had no intention of searching the castle after he found nothing out of place in the library as Harry heard him mutter and complain about getting woken up for nothing. Harry let out a sigh of release at the retreating footsteps. Figuring that he should wait a bit just to be sure, he started to explore the classroom. It seemed fairly empty and just like the other classroom except with a thick layer of dust. There seemed to be only one item in the room and it was covered by a white sheet. Not being able to contain his curiosity, Harry pulled off the sheet and saw a large mirror standing there. It looked to be an ancient, ornate mirror. It has clawed feet and a gold frame inscribed with the phrase " Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."
Using [Observe], Harry read the information that was provided to him.
The Mirror of Erised is an ancient, ornate mirror. It has clawed feet and a gold frame inscribed with the phrase "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." The mirror shows the most desperate desire of a person's heart, a vision that has been known to drive men mad.
It made no sense to Harry but as he wanted to look at his reflection, he saw not just his own reflection but as if there was a ton of people standing behind him. Spinning around, he relaxed as there was no one there. Frowning he turned back to the mirror and sure enough, in the reflection of the mirror he was surrounded by people. Out of those people, two of them stood out and it seemed his heart was calling out to them. When he took a closer look, he realized who they were and his eyes started to fill up with tears.
"M-Mum? D-Dad?" Harry asked softly. "Is that really you?"
However no matter what he asked, he received no reply from the people in the mirror. The only thing they did was smile at him and put their hands on the shoulders of his reflection. He didn't know how long he stood there, transfixed on the image in the mirror but it must have been for hours because when he finally managed to gaze away from the mirror, he noticed that the sun was starting to rise. Knowing that everyone would start to wake up soon, he forced himself to step back from the mirror.
'I'll be back tonight.' Harry promised.
You have discovered a Magical Item, the [Mirror of Erised].
Magical Items are Items that can be discovered by exploring the world around you. Find all of them to gain new information, titles and bonus achievements that will help you in your adventures.
Items discovered [1/?]
You can review and study the creatures you discovered in details in your [Menu] under the tab [Logs], and then select the tab [Magical Item].
"This is getting out of hand.' Harry sighed. 'First Magical Potions, then Magical Creatures and now Items? It's like I'm the Indiana Jones of the Wizarding World all of a sudden. Well, at least I'll never get bored.'
For the next two days Harry got little or nothing done. All he could think about was the mirror and the reflections of his parents. He had returned the next night and just sat in front of the mirror for hours. He knew it wasn't healthy but he just couldn't tear himself away. Seeing his parents was something that he had dreamed about during all those years at his relatives and now that he had the chance, he couldn't stop himself. So here he was again staring at his parents and wondering what they would say and if they were proud of him. However no matter what he said or did, all the reflections did was smile at him and give him a small nod here and there.
Still, that was more than what he had before.
"So back again, Harry." A soft voice sounded from behind him.
Harry turned around in surprise at being caught and quickly got to his feet. When he looked up, he saw none other than the Headmaster standing there.
"Prof. Dumbledore, I'm sorry…" Harry stammered.
"I see that you have discovered the mirror of Erised like so many others before you." Dumbledore said waving away Harry's apology. "I trust by now you have figured out what it does?"
"I think so." Harry nodded.
"A truly happy person would look in the mirror and just see a reflection of himself as he is." Dumbledore explained. "Anyone else will see the one thing, their heart truly desires. Something they want more than anything in the world. Tell me Harry, what is it you see?"
"My parents." Harry said blushing a bit. "I see them smiling at me, loving me and supporting me."
"Ah yes, for those of us that have lost those we love the most, the mirror grants us a way to reconnect with them." Dumbledore said wisely. "But remember Harry, it does not well to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Your parents wouldn't want you to waste away your life in front of a mirror like this."
"I know but it's so hard to look away." Harry admitted. "For the first time since I can remember, I see my mum and dad. I just wanted to spend some time with them."
"I understand Harry but for your own good, I will relocate the mirror in the morning and I must ask you not to look for it again." Dumbledore said placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.
Harry nodded sadly and let his Headmaster guide him to the hallways. As they walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry asked the man what he saw when he looked in the mirror. Dumbledore's reply surprised him but Harry figured it was just a way of distracting him. Why would a man like Dumbledore want an extra pair of socks any way?
For the next few days Harry worked harder than ever seeing he had lost almost two days. He had been very disappointed with himself in a way but figured that it was somewhat understandable. Still he didn't want to make any excuses; he had messed up and now he had to work hard to rectify his mistakes. So with a new purpose he spent his days doing exercises and studying his new spells.
He hadn't been able to level up but that was okay to him. He knew that Quests would come sooner or later so he wasn't too worried about that. He focused on raising his stats without using any Skill Points. He had decided that Status Points had to be saved up for a while so that in case of an emergency, he had some way to improve himself. So raising his stats took now priority as well as leveling up his Spells. And it was working pretty well. After almost two weeks of hard work, Harry's Stats had improved quite a bit.
Level: 6
HP: 660
MP: 504
STR: 16
VIT: 17
DEX: 15
INT: 15
WIS: 22
LUK: 6
Status Points: 5
He was pretty satisfied with what he had achieved so far. Yes, there was still a long road ahead but he was confident that by the time he went home for the summer holidays, he would improve even more. While his Stats were going up steadily, he was really happy with how his Magic was improving. After two weeks of casting his spells day after day, he was surprised at how much he had increased the levels of his spells. He had managed to come up with a good system to practice as many spells as possible. For example, he would cast the [Cutting Charm] at some old desk he had found in one of the abandoned classrooms until it was almost falling apart and then he would use the [Repairing Charm] to restore it. This had as a result that both spells got some good experience because the more he used the [Cutting Charm] the stronger it got, which then led to him getting more experience in using the [Repairing Charm].
The same principle was used for the [Leg-Locker Curse] and the [Jelly-Legs Jinx] in combination with the [Canceling Charm]. All three spells had improved greatly over the past two weeks.
Another exercise he did was using his ability [Focus] in combination with other spells. For example, when he used the [Cutting Charm] normally, it would make a decent gash in the desk but when used with [Focus] he could cut right through it. Of course, that required all of his MP at once but still, it was very impressive. Due to using so much MP all the time, his ability [Meditate] and [Focus] had leveled up several times as well; [Meditate] now allowed him to regain 17 MP/minute when active. Other abilities like [Observe] and [Ninja] had also leveled up greatly which was something he was proud of.
So all in all, it had been a very productive two weeks for the young Wizard. Unfortunately, it was now the day before the second term of the school year began and thus he was sitting in the Common Room, waiting for his fellow students to arrive. He had been informed by Prof. McGonagall that the Hogwarts Express would arrive in a few hours and that he was expected to come down to the Great Hall in time for dinner. To pass the time, Ron Weasley had challenged him to a few games of Wizard Chess which Harry gladly accepted. Ron wasn't really someone he spends a lot of time with but the boy wasn't all bad. He was very passionate about Quidditch and Chess but a bit lazy when it came to school work. It had been a rocky start though since Harry wasn't about to forget how Ron had insulted Hermione all those months ago but he was willing to put it aside.
Harry was very glad to be reunited with Hermione and Neville and thanked them profusely for their presents. He then listened to their stories of how they had passed the holidays and told them what he had done as well. Hermione seemed very proud of Harry for working so hard during the holidays while Neville just shook his head in amusement.
As the new term had started, Harry and his friends were quite excited to see what they would be learning next. While the first term still had a lot of theory, the second term would start focusing more on the practical side of Magic which was something all three of them were looking forward to. Prof. McGonagall was very strict in her lessons but Harry found himself really interested in Transfiguration; the possibilities were endless and he hoped that one day he would be as good as his professor. Charms class was a delight as always and it helped that Prof. Flitwick was one of his favorite teachers.
DADA was his favorite subject but sadly Prof. Quirrell was just incompetent when it came to teaching. Harry just couldn't help but be wary of the man; there was something about him that made him feel uncomfortable and he made sure not to draw attention to himself. Quirrell's lessons were pretty bad due to his constant stuttering and how the man seemed to be scared of everything and anything. If a student dropped something then Quirrell would dive behind his desk and stay there for several minutes, just hiding. Some students thought it was funny but Harry found it just annoying. DADA was a very important subject and he didn't want his education hampered by some teacher that was afraid of his own shadow. Luckily, there was the library where he could study the course on his own.
Over the next weeks Harry continued his hard work although it went much slower due to his school work and Quidditch training. He had also introduced Hermione and Neville to Su Li, who had become somewhat of a friend over the Christmas holidays. Su Li, once she opened up a bit, was a very nice person and had a wicked sense of humor once you got used to it. Neville was a bit intimidated by her at first but he soon opened up and now they regularly met up during the weekend. Su Li had even brought a friend once or twice which was nice as Harry wanted to meet as many new people as possible. Hermione and Neville were glad to get to meet some new people as well so it turned out great for all of them.
The Gryffindor's had some classes with the other Houses so it wasn't all that difficult to meet some people but it wasn't easy to really befriend them either. While Harry had gotten to know Su Li quite well over the holiday thanks to the fact that they could spend some one on one time together, it was a lot harder now. Still, Harry wasn't about to give up that easily. He had already spoken to several Hufflepuff students like Susan Bones and Hannah Abott. Both of them seemed very nice, though a bit shy and very impressed by Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. That was something that Harry wanted to put an end to very soon but he knew that that was easier said than done. Still, both girls had agreed to spend a few hours together in the weekend so Harry was pretty satisfied about that.
The only House where he encountered problems was Slytherin. No matter what he did or who he talked to, he always got the cold shoulder. He knew that Gryffindor and Slytherin were rival and neither seemed to like the other very much but he was baffled at the amount of dislike and even hatred he saw. He knew he wasn't innocent of that either as he couldn't help but dislike Malfoy and his friends but that was more because Malfoy reminded him of his cousin and not the fact that he was in Slytherin. It also didn't help that some Slytherin students seemed hell bent on making his life difficult after winning the Quidditch match. He sighed as he wondered what it was going to take to get some people in Slytherin to see that he didn't really have anything against Slytherin itself but more against some of the students.
'I guess I'll have to keep trying.' Harry thought sadly.
A few days later, Harry had his second Quidditch game of the year against Hufflepuff. Seeing that he had done really well in the first match, Oliver was pushing him hard on doing even better now. For weeks Olivier had run practice after practice in order to get their game to new levels. It had been very hard on the entire team and again they had to enlist the help of McGonagall to get Wood to back down a bit. They knew he wanted to win the Cup badly and so were they but when their school results and social life started suffering because it, that was where most of them drew the line.
"Alright people, today's match is against Hufflepuff." Oliver started. "This should be an easy match but let's not get overconfident. I want everyone at the top of their game. Chasers, put the heat on them and push forward at every go. Beaters, give the Hufflepuffs something to worry about and keep the Bludger away from our team. Seeker, get that Snitch."
The team was pretty pumped up after this and in good spirits they flew out onto the field. The Gryffindor stands exploded into applause and the team gave them an extra lap around the pitch just for kicks. Meanwhile the Hufflepuff team had arrived as well and both captains prepared themselves for the start of the match. As they flew down, they saw that instead of Madame Hooch, it was Snape that was standing there with the whistle.
'Snape? What is he doing here?' Harry wondered. He wasn't feeling all too confident about having Snape as referee. No doubt his dislike of Gryffindor and Harry in particular would be in their disadvantage here.
Optional Quest Alert
It's that time again. Quidditch time!
Objective:
Defeat Hufflepuff at Quidditch
Rewards: 3000 EXP
Hidden Objectives:
?
?
Reward: 500 EXP per completed objective
Accept [Y/N]
'And here is the Quest I was waiting for.' Harry mused. He had been sure that there would be a Quest for this so he had expected it.
As the game was sent underway Harry directed his broom upwards so he could overlook the game and keep an eye out for the Snitch. Oliver had told him to catch the Snitch as quickly as possible. Sadly, Harry wasn't sure that this would be possible as Cedric Diggory, the Seeker from Hufflepuff, was much better flyer than Higgs. Harry knew that Diggory would be more than a capable opponent to him when it came to catching the Snitch.
Harry made another turn as he looked for the Snitch and suddenly he noticed something shining just to his left. Not really believing he could be so lucky, he turned to look and was shocked as sure enough the Snitch was hovering just above one of the goal posts of Gryffindor. Like a rocket he shot forward and watched as the Snitch tried to get away but Harry wasn't about to let it get out of his sight. Flying between the goal posts he was vaguely aware that Diggory was flying towards him as well but he knew that it was too late. Just as the Snitch seemed to make a dive in order to get away, Harry pushed his broom to the max and swiped the Snitch out of the air.
"Potter catches the Snitch." Lee bellowed into the microphone. "Game over. Game over in what must be one of the fasted games ever at Hogwarts."
Harry was mobbed by his teammates as soon as he got of his broom and was carried to the locker room under loud applause of Gryffindor. He could hardly believe it had gone so easily but he was kind of glad it did. It was still pretty cold outside and he didn't fancy sitting on his broom for hours on end.
You have successfully completed the Optional Quest:
It's that time again. Quidditch time!
Objective:
Rewards: 3000 EXP
Hidden Objectives:
Catch the Snitch
Win the game within 30 minutes
Reward: 500 EXP per completed objective
Closing the window, Harry smiled as he had gained another 4000 EXP for completing the Quest. With that he was again closer to gaining another level and that was something to be happy about.
The party at Gryffindor Common Room lasted for several hours and Harry was once more the MVP of the match. Everyone was congratulating him on his amazing catch but Harry tried to stay humble saying that he was lucky to have seen the Snitch when he did. If he hadn't than he was pretty sure Diggory would have caught it. None of his fellow Gryffindors accepted that but Harry knew it to be true. This time luck had been on his side; that was all.
Halfway into March, Hermione started pressing Harry and Neville into starting to revise for the upcoming exams in June. Both boys thought that this was a bit extreme but accepted none the less. Neville mostly accepted because he was too scared to tell Hermione no and because he knew his ass was grass if he scored badly on his exams. His grandmother was expected good results so if he came home with less than stellar result, she would be very displeased. Harry on the other hand just agreed to keep the peace.
It was one night that Harry finally found out just who Nicolas Flamel was and it had been purely by accident too. After one of Hermione's late study sessions, Harry had sat down next to Ron to watch him play some Chess. By know everyone in Gryffindor knew that Ron was pretty good at the game and more than once someone had challenged him. Ron welcomed the challenge as he got some candy for every victory. So far he had lost only a few games against some higher years but that was nothing compared to the number of matches he had won.
Harry chuckled at seeing the dejected face of the fourth year student after Ron finished beating him. It had been a very one sided game as clearly Ron had capitalized on one of the mistakes made early in the game. Ron thanked the student for playing and for the 3 chocolate frogs. The redhead didn't waste any time and promptly popped one chocolate frog in his mouth while tearing up another one.
"Oh no, not another Dumbledore card." Ron complained. "I have like 10 of them already."
"Card?" Harry asked. "What kind of card is that?"
"Huh? Oh, they're cards with famous Witches and Wizards that you can collect." Ron explained. "I have a lot of them already but I'm missing some really famous ones too. Here, you can have this one." Ron smiled and gave Harry the Dumbledore card.
You have received a Chocolate Frog Card, [Albus Dumbledore].
Chocolate Frog Cards (also known as Famous Wizard / Witches Cards) are trading cards that contain the pictures and information on many different wizards and witches on them. The Cards are obtained by buying Chocolate Frogs. Each pack contains a random card inserted into the packet.
Collected Cards [1/?]
You can check the cards in your collection in details in your [Menu] under the tab [Logs], and then select the tab [Magic Cards].
Harry just closed the message as he had no intention of collecting cards but he thanked Ron for his generosity and took a closer look at the card. In the picture at the front you could see Dumbledore standing there with a content smile on his face before he gave a little wave and walked out of the picture. Harry was pretty used to Wizarding portraits and pictures by now so he wasn't all that surprised about it. When he turned over the card, he saw that there was a little synopsis written on the back.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling.
As he read the small biography, Harry almost dropped the card as he read the name of the person he had been trying to find out about for so long. Quickly he grabbed Hermione and Neville and showed them the card. They too were shocked at seeing the name and were getting very excited.
"Finally we have a lead." Hermione said excited.
"What do you mean?" Neville wanted to know. "I mean, sure we know he worked with the Headmaster but that's all."
"No, read carefully." Harry agreed with Hermione. "It states Prof. Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel worked together on alchemy."
"Exactly." Hermione grinned. "And Alchemy is a pretty rare subject. Not many people bother with it these days as it's so difficult and esoteric. Wait here, I'll be right back."
Harry and Neville watched as their friend stormed up the stairs to her dorm room. Not even a few minutes later, Hermione came back down with a very large book that seemed to give her some trouble carrying it. As she put it down on the table, she explained that she had gotten the book for some light reading. That comment made the three of them laugh.
"It's a book that discussed the most famous people of the past few centuries." Hermione said. "I checked it out of the library as a last resort as it was the only book left. If he's not in here then I have no idea where to look."
As she opened the book, she quickly looked through the contents and almost let out a loud cheer as she finally found him.
"We found it." Hermione said excited.
The trio quickly gathered around the desk and started reading the passage on Nicolas Flamel.
The book described Nicolas Flamel in great detail but what was really standing out was that the Flamel's (as in both Nicolas and his wife) were over six-hundred years old. The trio was pretty shocked at reading that but it also explained why they didn't find any information in books that dealt with famous people of the last century. Nicolas was described as a genius Wizard that had a great impact on the field of Alchemy during his life. It was said that he was responsible for creating the Philosopher Stone which allowed him to make the Elixir of Life and to make gold out of metal.
"Wow, that's pretty neat." Neville said surprised.
"The Philosopher Stone? That thing is real?" Hermione asked perplexed.
"It must be otherwise he wouldn't be able to live that long." Harry mused. "I know that Witches and Wizards can live longer than non-magical people but no one gets to be over six-hundred years without some kind of help. I'm willing to bet that the Philosopher Stone is the thing is hidden on the third floor."
You have successfully completed the Life Quest
You just got some important information from Hagrid.
Objective:
Find out who Nicolas Flamel is.
Rewards: 3000 EXP
Harry quickly closed the window without trying to attract his friends' attentions. As soon as he closed this one however, another one popped up much to his dismay. Until he actually read the message.
Your level has increased by 1
Level: 7
HP: 770
MP: 629
STR: 16
VIT: 19
DEX: 15
INT: 16
WIS: 22
LUK: 6
Status Points: 10
Again, he quickly closed the screen and tried to pay attention to his friends. Hermione seemed to be very distracted by the fact that something like the Philosopher Stone was actually real and it took both Harry and Neville about an hour before she calmed down. Now that they had finally discovered what was hidden on the third floor, Harry wasn't sure how they should proceed. Deciding that there was nothing to do but wait, he told his friends the same.
Several weeks later Harry received another invitation of Hagrid to visit and get some tea. This time Hermione and Neville were joining him as well which made Harry kind of glad. He liked Hagrid but his cake was horrible. At least now he wouldn't be the only one that had to suffer. When they arrived at Hagrid's hut, they could tell he had the fire going which was pretty nice as it was still pretty cold outside. Hagrid invited them in and quickly closed the door.
"Wow, it's boiling hot in here." Neville said as he took off his cloak.
'Yeah, what's going on?" Harry asked the man. "It's way too hot in here."
"Sorry, I got a bit of a cold and need to keep warm." Hagrid said quickly.
Harry wasn't sure if that was really the case but he let it be for now as he didn't want to seem rude. He politely accepted the cup of tea and the biscuit and sat down. Hagrid was an excellent host and he was always eager to have company over. He asked them about their studies and how they like Hogwarts so far before he told some of his own stories. The trio was laughing pretty hard when Hagrid told them some stories about Harry's dad and his friends. Harry loved hearing the stories about his parent's time at Hogwarts as it was an excellent way to get to know them some better. As the hours went on, Hermione told them that it was almost time to go and thus they should get ready. As he put on his cloak, Harry noticed something in the fire. It seemed to be like a big egg and he was pretty sure it wasn't a chicken egg either.
"Hagrid, why is there an egg in the fire?" Harry asked him. This drew the attention of Neville and Hermione who quickly come to see the egg.
"Is that a Dragon egg?" Hermione shrieked.
"Euh, it might be." Hagrid tried to evade the question. "Then again; I might not be."
"That's definitely a Dragon egg." Neville nodded. "I've seen pictures of them before and this one looks just like one."
Seeing the gig was up, Hagrid quickly confessed to having won the egg in a card game a few days earlier and had been working on getting it hatched ever since. He also told them that he didn't know just what species it was but that he would find out later. When the trio asked him what he wanted to do with the dragon once it was hatched, he told them that he was going to raise it and keep it as a pet. Upon hearing that, Hermione went into lecture mode and tried to get Hagrid to understand that it was illegal to own a dragon and that he could go to prison for it and that having a pet dragon was just a very bad idea. Sadly, Hagrid refused to hear any of it and asked them to keep it a secret for now.
"I don't like this Hagrid but we'll keep it a secret for now." Harry said sighing. "But you have to promise to be really careful and if something happens, you need to tell Prof. Dumbledore about it. A dragon at a school is just not a good idea."
Hagrid was not to be persuaded however and he kept the trio informed about the egg over the next few weeks. The closer they got to the hatching of the egg, the more excited Hagrid became and in turn, how more worried Harry and his friend became. Hagrid refused to listen to reason and while they hated to betray their friends trust, the trio also realized that they were running out of options. If the Ministry found out about the dragon, then Hagrid would get into some serious trouble and they wanted to avoid that at all costs.
On top of this, Hermione was slowly but surely running Harry and Neville mental with her excessive studying. It was about the only thing she talked about and it was getting on Harry's nerves. They still had several weeks before the start of the exams and already Hermione was in panic mode. Already she had snapped at Neville because he didn't complete his potion essay fast enough to her liking. As Neville apologized, Harry grabbed Hermione by the arm and dragged her out to the hallway.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione said angry. "That hurt."
"Hermione, you're going too far." Harry said ignoring her complaints. "I get that you want to be prepared for the exams but lighten up a bit. You've scared poor Neville enough already with your crazy behavior. There's no need to get all gung ho on studying like this. You're making yourself sick; don't think I haven't noticed you skipping lunch several times already. This isn't healthy and you know better than this."
"B-But I'm…." Hermione said shocked.
"No buts." Harry snapped. "You go in there and apologize to Neville right now. And then you'll go take a nap so that you're not so irritable. Do that and I'll promise that I'll help you study for the exams but in a healthy way."
"I-I guess I have been a bit overzealous." Hermione admitted. "It's just that I really want to do well on my exams."
"I know and I respect your dedication." Harry smiled. "But not if it makes you sick and causes you to yell at your friends. Trust me when I say that we'll be more than ready for the exams."
"Thank you Harry, you're a good friend." Hermione said hugging him. "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier and I'll apologize to Neville as well."
With that the crisis seemed to be diverted and things went back to normal. Neville accepted Hermione's apology with good grace and told her not to worry about it. She also made them promise that if she did anything like this again, then they were to tell her straight away. Both boys promised to do so.
It was two weeks later that trouble started again. Malfoy had been a pain in the ass for several days now as he kept on taunting Harry into doing something wrong. Luckily Harry was smart enough not to get too involved but it was getting to him quickly. Malfoy insistently kept insulting his friends and that was something he couldn't just allow. Hermione and Neville had made him promise to keep calm and ignore the blonde ponce but it was getting harder by the day.
"What's up Scarhead?" Malfoy asked Harry during dinner one night.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry sighed. "You're starting to get on my nerves with your drivel all the time."
"Heard you were spending a lot of time studying in the library with the Mudblood and the Squib." Malfoy said causing many people to gasp at his language. "Not that it will matter much in the end. Only those that come from the right families will ever amount to anything in the real world. It's a shame, really. The Potter name used to be somewhat respected but once your idiot of a father decided to sully his noble bloodline with that Mudblood you call a mother, he pretty much doomed the Potter name."
Harry's blood just boiled over and before he knew it, he had jumped over the table and socked Malfoy on the nose. The blonde Slytherin yelled out in pain and grabbed his nose trying to stop the bleeding. However before he could say something Harry grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up in the air.
"Now you listen to me, Malfoy." Harry roared. "I told you before that I don't care what you say about me but I warned you not to insult my friends. If I ever hear you use those disgusting words again, I will do more than just break your nose. But if you ever insult my parents again, I will end you. I will re-arrange your face so badly not even Magic will be able to fix it. Do not test me on this. Do you understand me?"
"H-How dare you?" Malfoy stammered. "When my father hears about this, he'll…"
"I said do you understand me?" Harry snapped at him. "I will not ask again."
While this was happening, Snape and McGonagall were rushing over and tried to take control over the situation.
"Potter, unhand Mr. Malfoy at once." Snape yelled. "That will be two weeks of detention and 100 points from Gryffindor."
Harry just continued to glare at Malfoy before he let him go. Malfoy, still in pain, just dropped to his butt and then quickly got away from Harry.
"Mr. Potter, what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall said sternly.
Harry quickly explained how Malfoy had been taunting him for days and what he had called Hermione and Neville a few moments before and then insulted his parents. While Snape tried to pin all the blame on Harry, McGonagall wasn't having any of it. She quickly assigned Malfoy with two weeks of detention plus took 100 points from Slytherin as well for using those foul names. With the matter somewhat settled she ordered everyone to return to their dinner and impressed that any use of violence and the use of those horrible words would be punished severely.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked quietly.
"I'm fine Hermione, don't worry about me." Harry smiled brightly.
"How dare he say those things about your mum and dad?" She said somewhat angry. "That was totally out of line. I understand why you were so angry but you shouldn't have hit him. Now you lost 100 points and got 2 weeks of detention."
"Pfff, I don't care about either of those." Harry shrugged not worried. "You two are my friends and I won't let anyone, let alone Malfoy, insult you guys. If he had stopped there I might have just tried to scare him but nobody insults my parents and gets away with it. He was lucky we were in the Great Hall; if we had been somewhere else I would probably have kicked his ass quite a bit harder."
"Violence is never the answer, Harry." Hermione said carefully.
"I'm not sure about that." Harry shrugged. "I agree that violence should never be the first reaction, though. One should always try to resolve problems in other ways first, that's true. But sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Some people need to get smacked around the head a few times before they understand that what they're doing is wrong."
"Still, please don't fight anymore." Hermione pleaded. "I don't like it and you cost us so many points."
"I can't promise I won't fight anymore but I do promise that I won't fight unless it's for a good reason." Harry said to his friend. "And who cares about those stupid house points anyway?"
"Everyone." Hermione said surprised. "Don't you want to win the House Cup?"
"Not really. I mean, it's nice and all but I think the House Point system is stupid so I'm not all that interested." Harry said explaining his views on the system.
"What? Why?" Neville asked surprised.
"It creates an unnecessary rift between the houses and students." Harry shrugged. "I just don't see any benefit of having the school divided by something as stupid as House Points. There are much better ways to promote good behavior in students. There's no need to punish an entire House for something one student has done. It just creates friction and dissatisfaction amongst the students."
"But it's tradition." Hermione replied.
"Just because it is tradition doesn't make it right, Hermione." Harry argued. "Perhaps it was needed when Hogwarts started but times change. People change. Traditions are important, I don't deny that but they shouldn't be too rigid. Sometimes change is necessary."
"The Wizarding World isn't very good with change." Neville said.
Harry shrugged and changed the subject, not wanting to create a big discussion about something he felt was wrong. As Neville said, the Wizarding World was very bad when it came to change and it was clear to him that he would only make himself even more unpopular if he kept criticizing their traditions. That he wasn't popular at the moment became very clear as he was shunned by several students that blamed him for losing so many points. Harry just ignored them and went on with his own business as usual.
