AN: We're back to being unbeta'd for now. Should be beta'd here soon!

It had been a week since I'd unlocked everything. I'd not been able to function, until the end of day two, but then everything settled. It was on that day, day two, that I noticed something odd - my emotions were cleaner. I could feel properly, clearly, for the first time in this life. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my basic bodily functions were locked in the obliviation, even.

It had indirectly removed my ability to feel deeper emotions, or some of the more complex ones. I'd been living a very simple life. I thought it had been my age… But that wasn't all.

When I entered my mindscape to get the memories all sorted, and found myself in what looked like a warzone - I was familiar with it, of course, having helped Sarah a little with her own memories, but this… it was much worse than Sarah.

All of my memories were all over the place. All of them, from both lives. Further, when I'd checked where my barriers should be. My probe didn't bounce off like it should.

There were no barriers.

This was how I spent the rest of the week fixing that, sorting it all out and looking for the owner of my body. I never did find her, sadly. She might not be in here, anymore. I can't conclude anything else from what I've seen.

Thankfully, I was at least quite able to make the place look good for her. I managed to get the whole of my mind started in what must have been record time for that number of memories. I'd also taken time to just meditate. I was focused on regaining control of my magic, which had shifted massively by the time I finished sorting it all back into place. Such a shift may necessitate a different wand, even. I'd need to see about that this summer.

That took the rest of my time. Now I was checking my stats, after day 7 to see if I had suffered any Degradation. Laying in bed and doing nothing for a week couldn't have helped any. I suspect I degraded some. I'd not been of a mind to check what the numbers were afterwards, but I could at least get an after-action report…

Name - Aubrey Hawthorne
Titles - Reincarnate
The Princess Raven.
Prodigy
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Salazar's Favored.
Race - Human.

Level 21
HP - 10,564
MP - 13,458
STM - 8,815
Age - 12
51 Str
65 Agi
60 Dex
55 Con
58 Int
56 Wis
55 (80) Luk

Skill Points - 20
27 Points to spend.
Perk Points to Spend - 2

New Perks!
Increased Capacity
+100 MP / Level

The Well of Strength
+100 SP / Level.

Hidden Disadvantage - Locked Power! Removed!

That's not adding up? On average five points higher in every stat? 10 in Dex and Agi. What had happened..? Those perks kinda made sense, I guess, considering what I'd done, but...

I pulled up the quest log, maybe it had updated? This may have some kind of clue.

The Cores

Objective - find you Magical Cores and unlock their potential by bathing in them. (Y)
Set your Mind to Rights (Y)
Fix any remaining issues. (N)

Bonus Objectives -

Absorb the power of your cores, as opposed to Bathing in them. (Y)
Figure out about your Stamina Core, and Unlock it (Y)
Figure out about your Health Core (Y) and Unlock it (N)
Secret Objective -
Unlock your Memories. (Y)

Quest is Active.

Remaining issues? Was it talking about something else being wrong? These are just more questions. Not more answers.

I'll have to deal with more of this utter garbage? Wonderful! It's Tuesday - again - and I don't want to have this happen - again - before classes start. I'll at least try to take care of it after class.

Thankfully Today is Morning Classes, not evening classes.

"Ready to get back to class?" Sarah asks me, snapping me out of my reverie, and back to the present. She's just finished her shower, and is getting dressed.

"I guess." I mutter. "It's been odd this last week. At least I was allowed to stay here." I say, a bit more chipper.

Imagine a week in the Hospital wing! Eww.

"Yea! I don't know what I'd do without my pillow!" She says teasingly. I blow a raspberry at her.

"Alright, but just so you know, you're getting a bit heavy, I think it's your turn to be the pillow!" I tell her, jokingly. She grins toothily at me.

"You weigh a bit more than me, last I checked." She says, brandishing her wand. "Need me to check again?" She asks sweetly.

"All muscles, I tell you. All of it. You? Still a bit squishy." I mutter, and she giggles.

"You love the squish." She tells me, and she knows it.

"More like I want more squish. I wonder how much I'd need to eat.." I trail off, then shake my head. "Best not to think about it." I chuckle, she nods.

"Got your books though?" she asks. I nod.

"Yes mum"

"And your notepads?"

"Yes mum"

"And your extra quill and ink-pot."

"Ye-"

"If you call me your mum again, I'll make you regret it." She says, poking her wand in my direction.

"Sure." I say, smirking. "I can use my wand again, though, so don't make promises you can't keep!" And with that I skitter out the room, with her huffing, then following behind.

"Insufferable twat" I hear her mutter, so I turn and blow her a kiss, before waltzing down the stairs.

I have a class to get to, after all.

It's after class, I decided to do something I might come to regret.

"Madame Pomphrey." I call to the healer, standing in the doorway to her domain. She's sitting at a desk in the main-room, doing some paperwork.

"Yes, dear?" The matron called back, not looking up from her work. Clearly I'm not dying.

"I was going to meditate and check my magical wells in my mindscape, to check for any residual damage or issues, from the incident a week ago. I feel like something isn't right, internally, and want to deal with it. I would like you to watch me, and if needed, help." I said to her. It was true. I needed to check, and the only person even remotely trustworthy with my well being in such a state is the healer. She's certified, after all. And took an oath, which is magically binding, to make sure her charge (in this case every Hogwarts Student and Staff) get the best treatment possible with no bias.

It was an old requirement from when Hogwarts started up. So families knew they could trust their children to these other wizards and that even if there was a family they were feuding with who also attended, that there would be some level of protection for their family, and future.

"Well, hm. Let me take a look." She says, turning to me slowly and then casting a few spells. She isn't rushing the spells at all. She come out of the spell chain with a light smile.

"You're vastly healthier than you were when I last checked, but if it's an issue in your magical core… I don't know I'd rightly be able to see it. Very few people are well enough in touch with their magic to sense this kind of thing." She tells me, tilting her head. "This lack of people in touch enough, makes it very hard to cast the spells to check other peoples. We don't know what we're looking for, and so we can't help with it. The one weakness of healers, and one reason why direct attacks on magic is so utterly destructive. Almost no one could even see what is needed to try and help." She pauses, composing herself.

"So, I'm trying to say that if you feel something is wrong - I'll trust you. Take a seat in the bed, and I'll keep an eye on you." She says, gesturing to a bed, moving her chair, so she can do some paperwork while keeping an eye on the bed. Meanwhile I scoot into the bed and lie down, so I don't look too odd while rifling around my mind.

"How long do you think it'll take?" She asks.

"Last time it took me forty-five minutes to go through three of the four I know about." I tell her, she nods.

"I'll assume an hour and a half, to be safe, then." With that, she hunkers down into her paperwork, while waving her wand at me.

That spell is the vital-checker. I can identify that much. It'll tell her if my vitals change. That she can do paperwork and have that going…

How long has she been a healer?

I disregard the thought and dive into my mind. Time to fix whatever it is.

The first two pools were as I remember them. Slightly bigger than I remember, but the same. The third was larger, but felt the same, save it was a bit cleaner. Then I went hunting for the fourth. Stands to reason it would be out past the lake "south", since Myth Bazal was my mind, and Hogwarts was my heart…

Ah, this made sense.

Phlan was my stomach. The Lake of Phlan, a glistening pool, reflecting reddish from the nearby rocks. As before, I vanished my clothes, and jumped in.

I didn't find anything immediately wrong. I felt extremely healthy, like I could never get sick. Tough, I guess. I floated through the water, willing the feeling to join with me, cleanse me of ever feeling different - and I swam around the base of the lake. What I found was a bit surprising.

I found someone else, in that lake, sitting at a desk.

I get the strangest feeling from them.

I think they're me.

"Oh, so this is what it was like, huh? I remember this, when I was you. You've come to the correct conclusion, I am you, yes." She says, getting up from the desk. "Could you come down here, please?" She asks, beckoning me down. "You may be in a lake, in your mind, but I'm on the ground, in my office. I'd like to speak with you." She says. I nod and head down.

"Now, there are a number of things you need to know, first, I can't tell you anything of the future, obviously. Nor can I tell you anything about what happens, what I can tell you, is what happens when I leave. When I leave, you will need to make a choice, what you're fighting for."

"Definition, please." I ask, and she grins.

"Is it so you can learn more? So you can become more powerful? So you can become more? Or do you want to fight so your loved ones are safe? So everything comes out right? You've made the choice before - when you died. You fought for what was right. So Everyone was safe. You can keep on your path - or change it. That's what this is. Would you die again for the same things?" She asks. I snort in derision.

"I'll always fight for what's right. If you think I will pick glory, fame, knowledge or power over any of my friends, you aren't me, clearly. I seek power and skill as a means to protect those I care for. Not the other way around." I tell her.

She smiles a bit, and then looks over my shoulder, and shivers. "Well then. Guess you need to put your money where your mouth is. Good luck." She tells me, and her body, along with the desk, fade into nothing.

I am suddenly aware of a massive, very very cold thing behind me. I turn, and scream. I sound every bit the terrified 12 year old I presently am.

What in the name of Asmodeus is a Nightwalker doing in my head? I conjure a Pillar of Fire, which eats it alive, and it laughs. It's clearly unaffected.

For those who don't know, a Nightwalker is about 20 feet tall. It is made of the power which fuels death magic - called necrotic energy. It eats human souls, and is generally considered to be the strongest thing you can get with Necrotic energy. Pure evil.

Vastly stronger than I am, right now.

"Little Girl… You know better than this..." It bellows at me, stepping out of the flame. "The only way to be rid of me is a sacrifice! A soul for a soul!" The (I think it's a he) bellows down at me.

Yea, he's right. Nightwalkers need a trade - a soul to open the gate to their plane of existence. A powerful soul. There is only one soul in my body, I'm pretty sure.

Mine.

"How about you fuck off, Mr. Nightwalker?" I yell back, teleporting myself away - still within line of sight, so he doesn't go on a rampage and eat my memories (which would be horribad) but far enough away to think.

In theory there are two souls in this body, actually.

Mine and the girl's. Where is her soul, though?

Am I willing to sacrifice it to escape?

No.

I am not willing. If I couldn't find another way, I would entrust the soul with my emotions and knowledge and sacrifice myself. Hopefully the soul would make the right choices.

But there must be another way..? Hmm. I rapidly start going over possibilities. The Nightwalker is bemusedly lumbering towards me.

Well there might just be a way,

"Are you stuck on this plane?" I call over, and seeing him pause, I know the answer is yes. He pauses to think, probably try to leave, fails and then nods.

Powerful, impossible to kill, but very dumb.

"Well, you know, I could, in theory, lock you away in the heart of a Star." I tell him, not mentioning that it would absolutely be the end of my soul - not to mention the girls - if I did so. The power of a Star is uncontrollable. As I am, I would be vaporized. It doesn't matter, it's my mind. Gods, even have been killed by less. "After all, this is my mindscape. I am god, here." I tell him, and he seems to believe me, for a moment. Then he breaks into laughter.

"If you are some god." He bellows "Why do you not Banish me with some Divine Edict, or crush me with your great divine power? You are no God. You are a little girl!" He booms over to me, before starting to run at me again.

Wait.

Did he just tell me how to kill him? Divine power? Crushing? I'd seen the Hand of Io (The great god above all gods, in my last life.) grab Kiaransalee, the Goddess of Death, and chuck her into the Abyss, an endless demon-hell.

After he'd crushed and killed that avatar. Which was a god. If it can kill a god… and I can summon anything...

I focused on, and invoked that hand, in my mindscape, to break the Nightwalker to dust.

Short version? It worked.

The massive hand flew down from the sky, and crushed the Nightwalker into dust.

It didn't work how I wanted, clearly. After all, summoning the spell (the pillar of fire) didn't result in something speaking to me. This did. A Voice - sounding mildly annoyed - rumbled through my head.

"The Luminous One may protect you, but don't conjure me again, girl, or I will crush you as an elephant crushes an ant." The voice angrily rumbles and I wince.

Did I summon the Actual Io? Are you kidding me?

Emergency Alert!
You just conjured a creature of infinite dimensional width and power. As this is a creature similar to us, and he was rather displeased, please refrain from doing so again.

Remember, you're a god of your own mind, but every mindscape is a dimension. Most omnipotent and Omnipresent beings exist here, too. And they can kill you in the real world, since killing you here isn't possible.

You passed the trial, but not in the intended way (Self Sacrifice or Sacrifice of another.) so we are trying to determine the outcome, here.

In the meantime - please accept this +10 Con and +5 Strength, along with this perk!

Giant's Heart.
+100 HP / Level.

The Internal Balance.

You have Activated all three main locusts of power in your body, along with one side-locust. As a result, your powers are balanced. This doesn't grant you any extra powers, it does come with one benefit, and one net neutral.

+ Mage Sight (i)

+/- Other beings who have achieved this balance can detect you.

So I waited for my moderators to decide my reward / punishment for breaking the rules.

And waited.

You know what? If this is a functioning dimension, I'm going to populate it.

I don't know how long I spent, teleporting from place to place, adding animals, and people to the cities. It was an odd mix of Wizarding Britain and the various towns and cities I called home. I made sure they all got along, and then supplied them a low-powered, but present force to fight, which was a bunch of orcs, Kobolds and so forth. The side of 'civilization' was my good emotions, and the side of 'evil' is my negative emotions.

I can literally kill and bury my anger, now. That's a nifty feature. Doesn't stop me from feeling anger ever again, just helps me get over it, in the tiny instances of anger. I had a lot of negative and positive emotions, or rather, much stronger ones, so I let it go as it would.

If it got out of hand, I would just put it back to how it was.

It's been hours. Guess I'll just wake up?

Cannot leave mindscape!

Time is paused in the outside world while we figure this out.

Well damn. Guess I'll review all of this year's magic stuff, while I'm here.

I'd taken a break to scan my mind, and found there were other side-locusts of magic in my mind. I didn't mess with them, though. For one, they're really out of the way. For two, they're tiny. More of a bird-bath than a pool. If I mess with them, I might destroy them. I'll wait and see if they grow with time, to a size with which I can properly bathe. All that aside, I got the final edict 2 weeks (if the day/night cycle of my mind is to be trusted) later. Well into a revision of the fourth-year curriculum.

You Have received some perks!

On Your Feet!
Perhaps it's because your school is obnoxious to navigate and is filled with silly stuff but you have a distinct talent for thinking on your feet and thinking of (occasionally bizarre) solutions to problems that both work and leave any spectators dumbfounded. You will occasionally have very real and potentially game-changing breakthroughs and moments of inspiration that seem quite mad right up until they work.

+50 to Improvisation skill.

Paragon.
You don't accept loss to evil. You destroy evil, no matter the cost. Sacrifice comes only before the death of innocents. You are willing to do anything, even if it's suicidal, to win and save the most lives. You're also very good at executing plans made to save people.

+100 points to the "Light" side of magic. +15 to all skills when defending innocents.

Congratulations! Your Magical Alignment is now "Light!" All "Dark Arts" are 10% harder. "Grey Magic" is Neutral and "Light Magic" Is 10% easier.

Your current Magical affinities are as follows -
(157 Points Light, 154 Neutral, 55 Dark)

Huh? Wha? This was a buff! A big one? Was the other skill so great? What?

Your idea worked, and it worked well. We will design against such things in the future, however.

Would you like to Merge the souls residing in your Mindscape?

Yes / No

"Is this an option?" I ask. "And what does the other soul want? I've been unable to find her, and I don't want to say yes, and just obliterate her."

Yep! The option is yours! And it's even preferred by the soul otherwise occupying the mindscape. She doesn't want to go back into the world which shunned her so. Instead, she wants to complete what was started when you took the body, and grant you full access to everything.

After reviewing your actions, she feels like you and her merging is the best possible outcome, because while her soul is much smaller than yours, she honestly doesn't want to be 'in control' - nor does she want anything to do with this life. But wasteful, she is not. So, to appease her, we came up with this option. If you don't want it, she has agreed to peaceably move on to the afterlife and settle for immediate reincarnation into another life.

Thanks for asking though! It's good to know you aren't just some thoughtless, heartless fiend, taking infinitely and without thought. You're actually a good person, and showing this in such a concrete way is not to be unrewarded.

+50 points to light affinity.

"Yea. I think that'd be best then. If she wants me to take over and complete a merge, then I'll allow it.." I mumble. I honestly feel a bit bad for her, but understand. Why would you want to live in a world like this one, if everything you knew was bad?

Well.. damn. Now I'm suddenly feeling much more… complete?

No. I think this is a feeling of belonging. I belong here. In this body. For the first time since I moved in. I actually belong.

With the belonging, comes a number of deeper feelings. Most of them are of great loneliness, sadness, frustration and anger. These emotions fill me, along with the completion.

The strongest emotion this soul knew? Hopelessness. Utter lack of any hope to be free - to make anyone happy or proud of her.

Dark, horrible emotions, really. As I absorbed it all, I gave the new bit of me a hug. I welcomed it in and made sure that this new aspect of me was well sorted and cared for. Just like the rest of me, I would make sure I took excellent care of the gifts I - the newest part - had given me - the older part.

Confusing soul-metaphysics.

The negative emotions are as much a part of me as the positive ones I'd been suffused with so far this life. I know they will get me nowhere, to just lash out and act up, like I'm wanting to. I should, instead, save them up and bide my time.

There is a time and place for such things. I will make sure to section out at least one day a month to just meditate and make sure everything is going well with the integration.

Merging souls? Unprecedented! My benefactor may be good, but making sure I'm all seamlessly working is only smart.

So, for now? I'll choose to grieve.

For my lack of faith and trust in my father. One whom I can surely never trust again. When I'm done with that funeral, I'll move on to the next.

I push myself to consciousness, and feel my new… senses, I guess register five persons in the castle who have reached "Harmony" like I had. One is surely Flitwick. I'm intimately aware of his magic. Another is off in the electives part of the castle - I'd not know who until next year unless I happened upon them in the Great Hall or a hallway.

Two were off in the direction of the headmasters office. One was in, what I know to be, Quirrell's office.

Oh! One of the presences just teleported… Where? Oh. There they are. Above my bed.

I look up and see It is a phoenix.

It looked at me, and chirped confusedly, then landed on my shoulder, and seemed aglow with.. Something?

It then let out a beautiful trill and disappeared in a puff of fire - back to the Headmasters office.

With the song what was still burning low - but fully alive embers of rage - finally did what I could not, myself do. It melted that rage. Fully melted it right into sorrow. I knew I couldn't break down right now. It would be unbecoming to do so. I have to stay strong. Breaking down here…

I refocused.

Madame Pomfrey looks aghast, worried and a bit in awe all at once. "I've never seen the Headmaster's Phoenix come uncalled before. Well, let me take your vitals! Nothing changed while you were out, except for an increase in heartbeat indicating some form of strenuous activity, or perhaps a fight? Best to double check though..." And she does so quickly, and then, as she finishes the last spell in her set - she blinks at me in confusion. Then re-casts. In the end she frowns at the information only she can see.

"What did you do?" She asks, rather calmly - coolly. "Your magical power, health and even your musculature's ability to handle strain, seem to have swelled to a vastly above-healthy level., considering your entry and the level of health you demonstrated then. You feel more like Fillius than a second year." She asks me, becoming more serious by the second.

"I cleaned myself and my magic of a massive burden. It took care of the rest, ma'm." I tell her, simply, trying to hide my deep sorrow.

The truth, with no details.

"What Burden?" She asks.

"Some… demon? It was eating my magic. I imagine, when I banished it that the flood of magic just improved my body, to the state you're seeing now. I guess, what I did was kinda a sacrifice? I dunno. I only detected the demon recently, while meditating for the last week. I'd not noticed it at first, but it was deep in my magic, near the base of my core. It tried to trick me into making a sacrifice to get rid of it, but it seems my magic..." I trail off, gesturing to myself.

My emotions are steadily piling up as I talk. The merger is definitely working, but the pileup of all those years of imprisonment, with nothing but thoughts and illusions of what the younger me wished reality was like, they're piling up a lot faster.

I don't really want to be in this room right now. I've not felt so emotional in… a long time. In any order, I'm fit to break down soon. Hopefully she'll stop asking questions.

"Made you better than you were, yes. Some rituals require a sacrifice, for power. What you're describing? Hmm.." She thinks for a moment before shaking her head. "It worked out in the end. Just, please. Don't be so reckless next time?" I nod my acceptance of her demand. "Good. Now, go get some dinner. The only thing you aren't is full, and I can't remedy that as well as a meal in the great hall can." She tells me, I nod, but then cast a glance at her, and stop.

She looks so utterly concerned. Then she looks back to her paperwork, having been caught looking.

"Pomphrey?" I call. Maybe there is no better place...

She looks up, surprised. "The emotions.. Everything. I. I don't think I can handle other people right now. Could I..?" I point weakly to the bed, which I'd been occupying. I feel the tears begin to well into my eyes.

'Don't be afraid to ask for help!' Flitwick's ears ring in my ears. "And call Professor Flitwick, please." I choke out as she nods, and I dive into the bed, fully breaking into a sobbing mess.

I wouldn't stop crying for well over two hours, but when I did, I found comfort in talking it out (in vague terms, with no names or titles given) with Flitwick, while eating a very late supper. I can't really remember the details of that conversation. The food was all simple stuff. Bread, soup and a protein shake (which I had been served by Flitwick, who apparently had them made for himself, but thought I could use some extra protein to help with my recovery).

I do remember the end of the conversation, though.

"Ah, while you're undoubtedly lucky... " He squeaks at my tales end. "I couldn't be happier for it. Whomever sealed your memories, they committed a great crime, and I hate that you can't tell me who it was, that I might bring justice for you." He tells me. "I will, however, offer you this - take the rest of the week of classes off. I know, and you know, that you could probably sit your OWLs. A couple weeks of missed classes in this year is nothing." He tells me, patting my leg in a supportive manner.

"Make sure to spend time with your friends. Rebuild yourself, and come out of this stronger. The greatest fortresses…" He waves to the walls around us. "Are the ones which can take the greatest sieges and come out the other side stronger. The best will still be welcoming and loving to all who might come into them." With that, he pats my leg, then hops off his chair, casting a Tempus.

It's 11:30 PM.

"I best be off! I'll need to pass your regards to young Sarah, after all. She must be rather curious as to where you are!" He tells me, and I nod. She's probably worried sick.

"Thanks, professor." I mutter, looking down, I can feel him smiling at me, as I slump into bed.

I miss my pillow.

"Don't worry. Like I said, if you're willing to ask for help, you shall always get that help." He tells me. I smile slightly. "That's the way of Hogwarts, after all." He finishes.

"Good to have adults I can trust, for once." I mutter, turning over to sleep. He doesn't respond, but instead turns to leave. I fall asleep to the door of the infirmary office - and Madam Pomphrey's quarters - opening, as Flitwick goes to inform her he's leaving.