Harry looked around Professor McGonagall's office. Her large wooden desk was covered in parchments, and several shelves behind it were laden heavily with transfigured objects from higher years that had been turned in as assignments.
Minutes after reaching her office, she had left having been required in the infirmary due to a bit of a fight. Some Gryffindor got in fight with several Slytherins and the curses had interacted badly.
Still it was a neat office to be left awkwardly in, filled with sparkling lines and ribbons of magic. Idly he pulled out his notes and began sketching the various patterns as they floated within and around the various objects in the room.
Half way through drawing the complex magic flowing from a sheep shaped salt shaker, Professor McGonagall returned and sank heavily into her chair and began moving the papers into a new composition of stacks and piles.
She jumped when Harry coughed lightly. "Oh! My apologies Mr. Potter, a student issue came up. How was your holiday?"
Harry shrugged. "Well I was trying to build my new house, but my experimental ward stone created a magical rift. It's not sucking up all magic now, but the whole island is too hot and unstable for me to work on for at least a few months."
She blinked, then moved that aside. Not on school grounds? Not her issue. "Mr. Potter, I wanted to talk to you concerning your coursework."
He frowned. "I turned in all assignments on time. I admit some could probably be of higher quality, but considering the teachers involved I am satisfied with my output."
Seeing her raised eyebrow he gave a shrug. "Professor Snape, Professor Quirrell, and Professor Binns. The ghost just reads the book, which I've memorized. The possessed one had severe difficulties communicating, and Professor Snape doesn't teach."
She frowned. "What do you mean, doesn't teach?"
He waved a hand, and behind him a sheet of threads started playing memories. "Aside from personal insults and ignoring abusive class behavior, he simply lists a procedure on the board and then orders us to complete it."
Harry missed her darkening expression as he watched the memories as well. "Worse than that in my opinion is that he doesn't teach us about safety protocols or answer questions about the ingredients, why they are prepared certain ways. It would also be nice if he pointed out which steps were most dangerous."
His concentration was broken by a near silent angry hiss. Harry froze, feeling a wave of feline fury rippling with magic from the angry Head of House.
Harry gave a light cough. "Would you like my memories of his classes?"
She could barely nod, her muscles tense as she handed a glass jar.
Harry quickly poured the memories into the jar and got out. He had probably said something like 'have a good day' or 'thanks for inviting me', but all he could remember was 'I need to get away' and 'Thank goodness I'm not Professor Snape.'
Behind him the room sizzled and crackled slightly as an older teacher vented.
~~~Core Threads~~~
Hermione and Padma looked up as he entered the Ravenclaw's common room. Apparently Padma had been running interference preventing Hermione from getting too hyper or trying to break into his mind or something to find out if he was ok sooner. Terry had headed up a while ago, both full of food and not worried. Harry was Harry after all.
Then again, being summoned to the Head Deputy's office was not normally a great thing, especially so early in the year.
Hermione paused seeing his pale face. "Harry... are you alright?"
He gave a weak smile to both girls. "Yeah, although I am not sure if we stayed on topic. I basically just sat around her office and drew the magic in there until she got back."
Padma pulled him down between the two girls and onto the couch. "So what DID you end up talking about?"
He leaned back, feeling the two girls lean against him slightly. "Well, she started to talk about my coursework and stuff. I told her that with the exception of a few classes, I was quite happy with how my scores have been handled... and that turned into showing her what Professor Snape's class was like."
Hermione's face went blank as Padma giggled. "I am guessing that she was unaware then?"
He grinned. "Well, if she was then she isn't now. I know a lot of languages, but she was cursing in ones I can't even guess at as I was leaving."
Padma snuggled a bit into her Harry pillow as she looked up at the dim ceiling. "So... since we didn't get in trouble so far, what should we study next?"
Harry grinned, absently putting an arm around both girls. "Well, remember the Game-Breaking category of spells? I have been working on one for a while now that I think is close to being ready for sharing."
Hermione absently reopened her book about magical cooking in the eleventh century as she relaxed into his shoulder. "So what was the idea?"
He grinned. "I was looking into sorting spells, summoning spells, banishing charms, actual animal summoning, divination, packing spells, and so forth. After casting a whole bunch and looking through them, I think I can make a REALLY good searching spell."
Padma frowned slightly. "Why would a good searching spell be a breaking spell?"
Harry absently tapped a foot. "First of all, it is mostly autonomous. Unlike most searching spells, you can set this one and forget it, and it will return either the object or information ABOUT that object to a place or a person."
He grinned. "So for example, you could have it looking for several topics in the library while you are busy reading something else." His eyes sparkled a little when Hermione made a tiny squee. "Moving on, the second big deal is the level of intelligence the spell has. I found that the more you can define for magic when casting a spell, the less energy you need to use it."
Feeling Padma's confusion, he shrugged. "So in other words, if you don't know what you are looking for, you can just put a WHOLE LOT of power into the spell and magic will both determine what you wanted AND where it is. You can search for REALLY abstract stuff with my spell because it not only draws power from the caster, but I included part of the runes I was testing in my ward stone."
He grinned. "Basically you can cast it with a low power level and it will absorb ambient magic in the area to get enough power to finish the search. Mind you, that is only really useful in places with a LOT of ambient magic like Hogwarts or so forth, but it should let even students who are low power do some pretty impressive searches."
Hermione bit her lip slightly. "Low power?"
Harry squeezed her shoulder. "Not us, Hermione. Normal students. We can cast this all day long if we don't ask for really abstract stuff."
Feeling her relax he grinned. "Now, for really ABSTRACT stuff we may have to work together... but it will be a real game changer. Sure we can do stuff like 'Find all books that start with A and had something to do with Warding' or 'Find all books that used to be blue but are now a different color', but with enough power and people behind the casting we could search for REALLY abstract stuff."
Hermione blinked. "Isn't the color question abstract?"
Harry grinned, his teeth looking slightly sharp. "No, I mean questions like 'What book should I be reading to help me the most' or 'What am I forgetting'. And the spell can return those answers as information."
Hermione was starting to breathe a bit too fast.
Padma grinned. "So could I go and say 'Find all pages in this book that talk about ducks?'"
He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, finding a fifty thousand page book is great and all, but the game-breaker part is that we can now find abstract information or even information that doesn't exist right now. Such as 'What new book should I buy next year that doesn't exist yet'"
Hermione was starting to glaze over. "D... doesn't that require deviation?"
Harry nodded. "Searching a whole library takes a lot less power than searching alternate realities of the future... but other than the massively higher energy cost, you can literally find any information with this spell."
His smile faded slowly as frustration built up. "The most issue I am having right now is trying to simplify the casting process. I can cast it as is mind you, but it isn't like the stasis spell. It has over 300 wand motions AFTER I simplified it, although that is without any words which can cut that number down maybe."
Hermione looked like someone had given her a kitten that had suddenly turned out to be made from spiders. "Wha... but you can teach me, right?"
Harry squeezed her. "Of course, it just won't be fun to cast. And there is at least one last benefit to the spell."
She looked up, her book forgotten in her hand.
He grinned. "It absorbs ambient magic, right? Well I have a more complicated version of this spell that will let other people change what it is looking for. So with this, I can make little spell bubbles in the library who will do your searches, even if you didn't cast them... and they should stay there for a few hundred years if I don't cancel them."
Oh Merlin, Hermione can hug hard.
~~~Core Threads~~~
Tracey was being relentless. "Come ON, let me see it again! You only showed it for a few seconds on the train and I wanna see!"
Daphne had been blushing for hours now. There had been something at the return feast, food? Some sort of drink.
Well, fifty pounds of embarrassment at LEAST.
She tried to look elegant. "It was just a gift, Trace. There is no reason to make such a... a production out of it."
Tracey blinked. "He put his MAGIC into it. So much that it may be part of him. You are wearing part of the Boy-Who-Lived around your neck with his blessing."
Oh WOW her ears were red. "Sure it sound's like a big deal when you put it like that."
Tracey leaned in, wiggling her eyebrows. "How big?"
Daphne, red as a tomato, paused after throwing her strategic pillow reserves. She really needed to ask Harry for a spell to make more ammunition for times like this.
Tracey's hand raised in a fist from a pile of pillows and a muffled noise could barely be understood. "So... pretty big?"
Daphne dived for Tracey's bed. Desperate times needed more pillows.
~~~Core Threads~~~
The next morning was a bit awkward. Even after an hour of grooming, Tracey and Daphne still slightly looked like battle veterans. Thankfully the group were eating at the Hufflepuff table today, and they were too nice to say anything.
Harry was trying to focus on building some sort of egg monstrosity that required pineapple, but unlike usual Hermione wasn't avoiding the area or attempting to free the ingredients from their immanent death.
She was almost vibrating in her seat and was looking in the general direction of the library as if some Siren was calling her name.
Apparently Susan and Neville were finding it amusing.
Hannah leaned in over Neville and grinned. "So Hermione... I got in a bit late today. What has you so hyper?"
Her teeth flashed. "Harry has designed a magical search assistant and he is going to cast them in the Library for us."
Harry raised a hand. "Actually, I will only be making one today. The basic spell is pretty complicated, but it only takes 331 wand movements."
Daphne blinked, and the nearby Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were leaning in. "Wait, how many movements after you simplify it?"
He sighed. "That IS after simplifying it. It is worse than most NEWT level stuff. At some point I will add some sounds and words and stuff, hopefully that will bring it down to something everyone can cast. But I won't be casting that today."
He grinned. "No, that is for the basic spell. This more advanced one will use a spell similar to the one that creates magical portraits to handle the more complex stuff."
Tracey grinned as she saw Professor Flitwick moving behind Harry. Apparently he could be pretty quiet. Daphne kept her face straight. "So how much harder is the spell you're going to cast?"
Harry waved a hand. "Well, if I was trying to use a wand, it would take about 72231 movements, no words." He sighed. "Worse, it would have to be cast in about an hour, or the first thousand or two movements begin to fade away. The only reason I can cast it is that I can just construct the spell structure all at once and then let it go instead of casting it one line at a time."
The green-eyed boy frowned as the stunned teacher stood behind him. "I guess we could cut down on the wand movements if the caster had about thirty wands of various shapes and sizes, but I am the only person I know who can use any wand. Anyway, this is a spell that only needs to be cast once or twice in a lifetime, as long as there is magic in the area to support it and Hogwarts is flooded with random raw power."
Hermione had a dazed grin on her face. "This spell is amazing! It can find books, information IN those books, and answer questions."
Harry sighed and dug into something containing jam, ham, egg, mustard, and bananas. "I will be restricting what answers it will give though. It uses the power of the person asking questions to find what you want, so if you are not strong enough it could make you pass out."
Filius tapped Harry's shoulder and the startled boy nearly fell off the seat. "Oh! Good morning, Professor Flitwick."
He gave a toothy grin. "Good morning Mr. Potter. Tell me, what spell are we talking about and how dangerous would it be?"
Harry gave a sheepish grin and waved a hand, papers and ink from his hand storage appearing and forming into detailed notes and graphs. "Here is the overview, but the general description is pretty simple. I have created a self-sustaining spell that can utilize magical power to find unknown answers. It uses parts from summoning charms, divination, and all kinds of stuff. Theoretically it could answer anything, although the energy requirement would kill you if it was too hard."
Flitwick frowned. "How hard? What kind of questions?"
Harry sighed and put down his fork. Breakfast would have to be a bit delayed today apparently. "Well, simple stuff would take almost no power. If you know roughly where the object is and a description my spell can either inform you or bring the target to you. So finding a book in the library is easy if you know the section and the name."
He leaned forward, the whole table of Ravenclaw's around him paying CLOSE attention. "Now, my restrictions will make the spell refuse if you don't have the power needed for your search. A first year could ask for what pages the Lumos charm is discussed in a book with no problem, but would NOT be able to ask for all books that talk about Lumos. On the other hand, a fifth year would easily be able to ask stuff like 'Which book would explain the Lumos spell in a way that I would understand easiest'."
He saw the astonishment and grinned. "Yeah, I found that to a certain extent, magic knows a lot. How can an adult wizard cast without words, without movements? By substituting those actions with more power. The same is true with information, you can summon something you've never seen by giving enough power for magic to find it for you. The hard part was designing the spell to have safety limits and to lower as much of the power requirements as possible."
Professor Flitwick's eyes glazed as he did rapid mental calculations. "You can lower power requirements?"
Harry nodded. "It drastically complicates the initial casting process, which is why my spell needs so many movements AFTER being simplified."
Hermione pulled Harry's face toward her. "Less talking, more casting. Breakfast is over, right?"
Harry ignored the surrounding chuckles as he sighed, waving a hand and wrapping his... mass? Well, whatever he had been eating into a burrito shell.
"Well, let's go cast us a spell!"
~~~Core Threads~~~
Harry felt... exposed. Aside from his group of friends, there were easily over thirty Ravenclaws staring at him in the Library. And aside from Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Dumbledore... wow a lot of Professors.
Somehow being stared at by the chuckling ball of fire on Professor Dumbledore's hat was worse.
He cleared his throat. "So... hi?"
A lot of nods.
Harry clapped, turning away from the somewhat accusing glare of Madam Pince. Apparently casting spells in the Library was a VERY iffy thing. He was also more than a bit stunned that she apparently liked his group enough to let this happen.
He cleared his throat staring at the endless bookcases. "So just a heads up, when I start do not stop me, do not cast anything near me, if possible do not move. I should be able to prevent anything from going wrong but better safe than sorry. Oh, and until I say so, don't ASSUME I am done. There is a small section at the end where I will be connecting a consciousness up to the spell matrix and if I get interrupted I will have to start over and possibly kill a self-repairing and self-powering entity."
He glanced over his shoulder at the slightly stunned group. "So... don't."
Before anyone else could really say anything he raised both hands and the world faded away.
Gently releasing power from his core, he felt his new thick green cables leave his skin for the first time. Only one for now, which dripped from his chest and began sinking into the library floor. The original spell could absorb magic from the area, but by tying his spell into the ward stone it could more evenly tap into the fields of magic in the area.
The more powerful version of the spell really needed this, else the magic in the library would eventually be absorbed and some magical texts could be damaged.
Even as he felt the soft cool power dripping from his chest and into the flooring, his arms had ropes forming into dozens, then hundreds of tiny boxes that defined how to search books, how to find people, how to detect color... thousands of details.
His hands tingled as the boxes began forming into a grid, the power snapping tiny hair like connections between them easily. Even as he watched the details began meshing into a general idea of how the world worked, what kind of details would be interesting, and what could be safely ignored.
His left hand detached from the continuing construction of boxes and began creating bubbles of power, each with rules. Restrictions. When to use the boxes, when to stop the spell, how many people to assist safely, how long to search before stopping with a report, and more. Each bubble contained triggers, determining based on the person, the place, and the topic what actions should be taken.
Finally he felt the last of the detail boxes complete with a soft snap, and made his right hand begin designing spirals. Each whirlpool was designed to withdraw magical power, and he made hundreds, each connected to the rule bubbles.
Some would be used to draw power from students asking questions, others would draw power from the library itself if ambient magic grew too thick, and the rest were connecting to the thick cable that was even now connecting to Hogwart's ward stone.
At this point the basic spell was done, although it was constructed with much less artistry than the spells and charms he had learned so far. Much more utilitarian. Now for the portrait part.
Focusing both hands into a central point, Harry moved the powerful green cable and connected it to the rules and detail sections. Just as he began to cast the portrait charm, he felt a tug.
Harry's eyes widened.
The Deathly Hallow's power was trying to be used.
~~~Core Threads~~~
Filius Flitwick had lived for many years on the forefront of charms creation. It had assisted his Dueling career on the wizarding dueling circuit, and he had developed an intuitive grasp on spell design and construction over the years.
He felt like a first year student.
Before him a young boy was floating in mid air with power rippling like water off him.
His hands were twitching, causing flashes of light and heat, and his mouth was moving unconsciously. Filius was unsure when the boy had closed his eyes, but they glowed so brightly that his eyelid's shimmered.
And from his hands was beauty. Songs were briefly heard, soft ones that seemed to drift in the air and fade. Smells would appear and fade... apples, fresh water, the smell of rain.
It had been over an hour so far, and no one felt a need to leave or fidget. Something about the power being controlled here seemed to comfort, to cradle. Flitwick felt like he had just stepped out of a shower and had been looking at a sunset.
Suddenly the boy's hands paused and the world seemed to chill.
His eyes widened as he quickly looked at Albus and Minerva. The Deputy Headmistress seemed concerned as well, but Dumbledore was looking... interested? Certainly aware of whatever this was.
And that blasted fireball of his was laughing, but Fawkes always did that. He wished he had met more of the blasted birds, to try and find out if all of them were as bizarre as this bundle of fire or if Albus's eccentricity was corrupting the purest light creature known to humanity.
Either way, they didn't seem concerned as the air became dry and slightly salty.
~~~Core Threads~~~
Harry was not entirely happy.
'I SWEAR TO MERLIN WRATH, THIS IS NOT FUNNY!'
'I am quite sorry Sir. I have no idea how Cerby managed to jump into the magic.'
'YOU BLOODY PUSHED HIM!'
'Really? Sorry Sir.'
'And WHY are we using Hallow magic? I was perfectly fine casting this stuff with my own power.'
At this point Watcher stepped in. 'Sorry Rinpoche, I changed the source when Cerby was... invited. As you know we copied him from his body. I think we got more than his mind in the process.'
Harry frowned. Not externally of course, that would mess up the spell. 'So why the Deathly stuff?'
Watcher shrugged. 'I think we got Cerby's soul. I wanted to make sure we tied it to this spell so he wouldn't suffer.'
Harry paused. 'I... why would he have suffered?'
'We are you, and being held in your magic would have no consequences. But you didn't create Cerby. Something about the magic feels... right. Better. Healthier. This is soul magic, on some level.'
Harry sighed. Not like it mattered now, Cerby was already being combined with the powerful magic in his hands. The thick green and salt like white were already beginning to form.
He glared internally, but Wrath simply accepted the annoyance with dignity.
With a sigh Harry felt his power beginning to fade away as the spell completed, pulled and compressed into the form of Cerby.
Finally he felt the power stop and he stood up... when had he sat?
Turning he smiled at the large group of stunned casters. "AND that is it! Had a bit of a problem at the last spot, but other than that it went perfectly."
Hermione whimpered a bit before coughing and carefully raising a hand. "Wh... what problem?"
Harry sighed. "Well, I was going to have a magical portrait of Wisdom, my librarian. But somehow that got messed up."
Hermione nodded slightly. "Does the mess up involve a massive daemon dog?"
He blinked. "Yeah, actually. Cerby."
Hearing his name, the 12 foot tall single headed Cerberus decided to lick his Harry-cicle.
It lifted him three feet off the floor before he fell into a pile.
Harry looked up, cheeks red. "Ah... yeah. Everyone, meet Cerby."
Another massive and somehow GOOEY lick.
A slightly wet wizard tried to look dignified as he struggled to his feet.
Tracey grinned with a smirk. "So his name is Cerby?"
Harry once again met the floor, covered in goo.
Padma grinned. "I like him!"
