Author's Note: This is an attempt at an OC SI story, one of several, and the only one that I have finished. I hope you all like the story, I haven't published in nearly a year due to Covid, personal loss and issues, and I've been plotting a lot of stories out so hopefully that'll turn into a worthwhile investment in my future as a writer. Anyway, this story features the stereotypical average Joe who finally gets his chance to be exceptional.

See my user page if you're interested in supporting my work and early access by one week.

Joe, our depressed main character had finally achieved his goal of dying... but only because human beings were all idiots. Yes, he was killed along with all of humanity in a stupid nuclear war. Most of humanity, each in their different countries, had all decided to vote for idiots; greedy idiots, warmongering idiots, idiots with moronic political and religious ideologies, and incompetent idiots. Any idiot could get elected if they said all the right things.

"Yes, you did have a pretty disappointing life," a mysterious voice spoke.

"It could have been worse," Joe, the main character returned.

"Yes... you mostly spent your life pursuing your dreams while working other unfulfilling jobs and helping out your family. We pity your sucky life and that's why you can have a second chance... with unique powers in another fictional universe."

"Unique powers? That's a very vague." Joe replied.

"It's that or purgatory though."

"So, what are these other universes available?" Joe asked, not liking his other option.

"Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokemon, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Dragon Ball, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and the MCU."

"Well. I wouldn't wanna live in Westeros or Essos, the gods in PJO can one-shot me, and as a human I'd still easily die in Dragon Ball or quickly become irrelevant, the MCU has too many huge threats, and that just leaves me ATLA, Pokemon, and Harry Potter... I think that I'll go with Harry Potter, even if I dislike J.K Rowling's choices and all the power of love crap. It was more like Dumbledore guiding a lack-wit hero to where he wanted him."

"Since Harry Potter annoys me you'll get to be him."

"Awesome," Joe replied, ready to use that fame to get laid. "Will there be nobility, awesome rituals, and emancipation?"

"Yes," the voice answered.

"Can I grow into an identical or larger penis size; girth and length?"

"Fine you vain and self-obsessed cretin. Now just choose your boons." Having said that, the being manifested a list of boons that Joe viewed.

Quite a few stuck out to Joe and he selected...

Magical Prodigy: You have far more magical potential than most and in fact have the potential to be one of the strongest of your time. You have an intuitive understanding of magic and you can easily grasp advanced concepts that would stump others and quickly master spells, potions, and rituals and alter preexisting spells on a whim.

Magical Potential (Legendary): Magic is but a muscle to be exercised and you have far greater base magical power than most. This boon allows you to reach the levels of Dumbledore, Voldemort, Grindelwald, or even Merlin and Morgana with training.

Ambidextrous: You can naturally and effortlessly use each hand with equal skill.

Eidetic Memory: Perfect recall.

Metamorphmagus: Can take virtually any form with practice.

Natural Legilimens:

Natural Occlumens:

Strangely some boons were already selected...

Magic Draining: Can drain magic from people with weaker magical power. Draining them completely leaves them a squib.

Life-force Draining: Can drain life-force from lifeforms with less magical power. Draining them completely kills them.

Magical Prodigy gave him the potential to be at Dumbledore, Voldemorts, and Grindelwald's levels and Joe didn't want to suffer or die due to their incompetence, insanity, or ambition. Ambidextrous ensured that he could switch hands in duels, Eidetic Memory meant that he could retain everything that he learned, being a Metamorph was good for hiding or correcting any physical flaws, and Natural Legilimency was incredibly valuable.

All of the boons reminded him of gaming perks.

"How the hell did I get the ability to drain magic and life-force?" Joe asked in shock.

"Because you technically figured out how to while writing fan fiction," the voice replied. "You can't absorb spells and such though. Congratulations, Joe. You are now done with your pre-birth choices."

"Thank you," Joe replied. "What now?"

"You will be spawned in control of Harry Potter; merging souls with him, but before you leave you need to know that you can crush Riddle's soul fragment within Harry/You with sheer force of will and an application of magic. Also, collect the Deathly Hallows for eternal youth and enhanced magical power, and feel free to destroy Riddle's horcruxes and end the war more quickly. Draining the magic within the soul fragments will remove the need for any Fiendfyre or basilisk venom by destabilizing it. Other than that please feel free to have sex with any girl that you want... you'll be that age again and 'reset' so to speak."

"Will do," Joe replied.

1982.

Being tiny again was a shock and Harry was clumsy while getting use to his new body. The first thing that Harry did was annihilate the horcrux within himself with sheer power, intent, and willpower... Once he had, he was shocked by all the benefits; Harry had all of Tom's knowledge, skill, experience, parseltongue, and even ritual benefits. Harry had essentially cannibalized the soul fragment for all of its value. It was the only real high point of 'Harry's' childhood.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley were animals... a whale and a giraffe to be specific. Harry was shocked that the canon Harry Potter wasn't just Voldemort's replacement after enduring the Dursley's. This Harry, a grown man, wasn't a victim though.

Harry substituted every lost meal with some of Vernon and Petunia's life-force and small amounts of magic from their souls, however little they had. Every act of bullying was punished and Harry was focused on advancing his magical ability by leaps and bounds... tripping Dudley and his friends and forcing their parents to punish them was a major win for Harry. The Dursley's were soon seen as the villains.

Harry developed his Wandless Magic, Occlumency, Legilimency, Blood Magic, Elemental Magic; fire, air, earth, lightning, and water as much as possible. Harry's greatest accomplishment may have been using the Doubling Charm on British currency, the Anti-intruder jinx, and the Undetectable Extension Charm; all cast wandlessly. Harry periodically exchanged the smaller notes for bigger ones and the bigger notes for smaller notes... Harry Obliviated any muggles and he only used stores with no security cameras. Harry would be doing this for years; even during summer from Hogwarts. Harry was already amassing thousands of pounds and hiding it.

Harry was soon experimenting with blood magic, apparition, telekinesis, and some greyer rituals.

Harry meeting Dedalus Diggle would prove useful; Dedalus wasn't an Occlumens and Harry helped himself to his magical knowledge. Harry would finally managed a wandless and corporeal Patronus by age ten.

Harry's last year before Hogwarts would be spent on becoming an Animagus... Harry would be shockingly successful.

During Harry's self-studying to become an Animagus, he unlocked another two boons; the Multi-Form Animagus and Magical Animagus boons. Harry's forms were mostly predatory, they were: the Antipodean Opaleye, a basilisk, a Horned Serpent, an owl, and somehow even a phoenix... naturally Harry was incredibly pleased with himself and his good fortune in such forms. Harry was slowly working on mastering each of his new forms.

Harry would soon master his phoenix and basilisk form, mainly because he fixated on the two because of them being opposites and paragons of Light and Dark Creatures.

Harry was incredibly pleased with himself. He had pioneered a way to become an Animagus without a hard to brew potion.

Soon Dudley's eleventh came and Harry set the boa constrictor free, denying all knowledge afterward but still being banished to his cupboard. Harry didn't care. That was more time to train his magic, but Harry would be putting them in their place soon enough. This Harry wouldn't suffer abuse from vermin any longer and he didn't let slights go unpunished. He would be away from Privet Drive enough that they could ignore him for a few months.

And if not? Then the Dursley's were hardly innocent and Harry was already collecting evidence of crimes and several neighbors would testify against them too.

It was undeniably harsh, but Harry had no mercy for the abusers of the innocent.

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July 24th, 1991.

Harry was just forced to go get the post and Harry didn't complain, knowing what would be with it. Harry plucked the Hogwarts acceptance letter from the stack and handed the Dursley's mail to them and then waited for one of them to try taking it...

Vernon didn't disappoint and Harry stopped him with a thought.

"I'll be attending this school to fully develop my magic. You will not oppose this or you'll be arrested for child abuse, fraud, and numerous other charges that will see you put away for decades... and as unhealthy as you are that'll be a death sentence. Your lives will be ruined and you'll have nothing, which is exactly what such revolting beasts as yourselves deserve. If I return during the summer holiday you will give me Dudley's second room, already cleaned, and will pretend that I don't exist." Harry paused as the Dursley's glared at him hatefully. "Resist me and no one will ever find your bodies and it will be Dudley that suffers the most for your crimes against me; real or imagined. After all, I was abused because Petunia hated my mother for having magic and you're both simple bigots."

"You may speak, monkey," Harry said with a cruel smirk.

"I'll beat the freakishness out of you!" Vernon bellowed, almost directly into Harry's ear.

"Oh? My magic versus your massive weight, slow speed, and petty anger born out of impotence. That hardly seems fair... for you."

Harry and Vernon fought; magic vs lack of muscle... Vernon ended up bleeding lightly onto the floor. Harry healed him and then cleaned up the blood.

"For the record, all I ever wanted was to be ignored and not be abused. I won't tolerate any more attacks on me, by anyone." Harry cast a spell to prevent them from blabbing and occluded the memory from view by anyone but himself.

Harry apparated away, without so much as a pop.

One hour later...

It had taken a while to get here silently apparating while invisible, but Harry had arrived. Getting Tom to open the entrance to Diagon Alley was a simple matter and Harry was soon entering Gringotts.

Harry found an available teller and got business.

"Excuse me. I need to access my vault but I don't have the key to it... its been with another since I was placed with my aunt and uncle." Harry said nervously.

"Name?"

"Hadrian James Potter," Harry replied, causing the goblins eyes to widen.

"One moment," the goblin said, placing a closed sign and exiting the booth. "Follow me."

The goblin, Riptooth, led Harry back into the bank and to a door that said "Inheritance Department."

"Enter and explain. Ironclaw will allow you to undergo an inheritance test." Riptooth said.

"Thank you," Harry replied.

Harry entered the office and repeated what he said to Riptooth. "He said that I should undergo an inheritance test."

"Yes, that should simplify matters," Ironclaw agreed, giving Harry a ritual knife and enchanted parchment and a brief explanation about what to do.

Harry accepted the offered ritual knife and pricked his finger, letting seven drops of blood fall onto the parchment.

The lineage test was a real shocker. Harry knew that he was descended from the Peverell's and Potter's, but being descended from Godric Gryffindor was a huge surprise for him. "My mother is descended from Godric Gryffindor?"

"It appears so. You're also one win away from being able to seize Houses Slytherin and Gaunt, you have two victories; one inherited from your mother and another of your own. You're related to the Bones' and the McKinnon's and Hufflepuff's, but not able to claim the first due to the existing line and distant relation and the latter two due to insufficient claim. You could find another relative and marry them to combine your claims, however."

"Damn," Harry replied in shock, filing that info away for later. "Can I claim the available Lordships or do I have to wait until I'm older?"

"You can claim the Gryffindor Lordship which has different rules and would emancipate you and allow you to then claim Houses Potter and Peverell. This will also remove the Trace from you."

Harry was handed a box with the Lordship rings for Houses Potter, Peverell, and Gryffindor within it. Harry began putting them on his ring finger, first the Gryffindor ring, and then the others with each briefly glowing and re-sizing as they linked to Harry's magic and became bound to him until his death.

"I will provide you with a list of your assets; magical and mundane." Ironclaw handed Harry a lengthy list of assets. "Do you have any other things you would like to discuss?"

"Yes, regarding one Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort," Ironclaw looked unsurprised about that reveal and he gestured for Harry to go on. "He created multiple horcruxes until his soul was so unstable that it latched on myself when he was defeated. That soul fragment was removed and I have gained Tom's abilities and knowledge, but one of those horcruxes was placed in the Lestrange Vault by Bellatrix Lestrange on his orders. I would like you to search the vault and if that information is proven to still be relevant, then award me per Gringotts policy... I would like it to be transfered into the Gryffindor Vault, it only has ten million Galleons and nearly six million Sickles. The Malfoy Vault might contain one, but I'm uncertain and it might be in Malfoy Manor."

Why Tom wanted his horcrux within Gringotts while knowing its policies was a mystery.

"I will inform King Ragnuk and begin the search. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Lord Potter." The Goblins were disgusted by horcruxes and artifacts that compromised their security or endangered their employees were grounds to have a vaults contents seized. Horcruxes were deemed a vile and cowardly way to achieve immortality by Goblins, a proud warrior race, and they still tolerated there existence... unless they violated the sanctity of their bank with such objects. Goblins really didn't care unless humans pissed them off by putting those objects in their bank and endangered them.

"I'm all too happy too and will be striving to destroy several more of them myself." With no further business there, Harry retrieved his new key, some gold from his vault, and departed Gringotts to buy his new school supplies.

Harry purchased his trunk first. It came with a wardrobe, small library; capable of holding 10,000 books, private potions and ingredients storage, and three other compartments.

Harry purchased his school robes and a small wardrobe, Harry would buy a larger one once he finished growing.

The school books, reference books, and other helpful books were purchased.

Cauldrons, scales, a telescope, vials, and finally the wand were purchased with Harry avoiding any drama.

Harry began the process of reading the books that had been updated since Tom's time at Hogwarts and searching his libraries for information about the Fidelius Charm. It was in the Gryffindor library and Harry quickly cast the Fidelius Charm on one of the compartments in his trunk. With an eidetic memory and there being fewer new or updated books, Harry was soon able to study his immense libraries of magic with an emphasis on Potions, the Dark Arts, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. This Harry wouldn't pointlessly suffer under the weight of incompetence and there was a lot of incompetence at Hogwarts; Dumbledore, Snape, Binns, and the curse on the DADA position caused weak instruction.

Harry eventually decided to retrieve the horcrux within the Gaunt hovel.

It was a surprisingly easy endeavor with Tom's knowledge.

Harry peeled away the rotting floorboards, extracted the golden box, and then the ring... Harry absorbed the magic within the soul fragment and then left, leaving behind a fake ring with the same curses on it, placing the same wards, and the same defenses for the Gaunt hovel.

Harry had his victories to seize Houses Slytherin and Gaunt, but opted to wait until Tom was disembodied again. Harry didn't want Tom to realize that his horcruxes were under attack and speed up any of his plans to return. An ignorant Tom was the best kind of Tom.

Harry was contemplating summoning the shades of Lily and James Potter to talk with them and get to know his parents in this life, but he was technically a grown man in spirit. He had a good mother in his past life, but his father was a drunk who mixed booze and pills and was a Grade B scumbag. Harry was clinging to the possibility of having a father while being 45 years old in spirit. It was pathetic and Harry soon placed the Resurrection Stone into a vault. Harry returned to his studies with a sigh, having procrastinated more than enough.

The remainder of Harry's summer would be spent studying and training.

Hufflepuffs Cup would be placed into the Hufflepuff Vault after being cleansed by the goblins and Harry would gain an influx of wealth to the Gryffindor Vault.