Harry Potter and the Hermetic Arts
Chapter 23: Yule Miss Me When I'm Gone
"Did something happen, 'Squeak? You look haunted."
It was not Jason's usual greeting when a customer came through the door, but then again, Harry wasn't exactly the usual customer.
"I burned a stone giant to death," the boy said with a shrug.
"You're shittin' me, right?" Jason asked.
"Do I look like I'm shittin' you?" Harry countered, looking the shopkeeper dead in the eyes.
"Well, shit, you alright 'Squeak? You want to talk about it?"
"Why is this the first I'm hearing about this?" Romy asked, concerned. "Do you need a hug?"
"I'm fine," Harry said, but the graduate student wrap him in a warm, reassuring embrace nonetheless.
"What happened?" Jason asked.
"We probably should talk about this in the back," said Harry, nodding towards the back room.
"All right, let's go," Jason said.
'Is it all right to leave the shop unattended?" Harry asked.
"It's Christmas Eve," said Jason, as he, Harry and Romy walked to the back of the shop. "Christmas Eve is almost always dead."
"Why do you stay open, then?" Harry asked, pushing to door open and nodding to Jack and Shaun, who were sitting around the table at the center of the room, drinks placed just within their reach as they played chess. From a quick glance, Harry thought Jack was ahead, which was no surprise, given Shaun mostly played chess as a distraction while the Scottish woman had once considered a career in the sport.
"Last minute gifts," the shopkeep said, smiling wryly. "So, what happened with the giant?"
"Well, Hermione called it a troll, but given it's traits, it seems more like a stone giant," Harry said. "That's why I used fire; Hermione identified it as a troll, and we all know only acid and fire will kill a troll, and it's not like I go around carrying vials of acid or material components."
"What's gonnae oan?" asked Jack, looking up from the chessboard.
"'Squeak burned a giant alive," Jason said flatly.
The response between the two at the table were markedly different.
"Whit?!" barked the strawberry blonde, coming out of her seat at once and rushing over to the boy, checking him over as she did so. "Ur ye hurt?"
"That's wicked, mate," Shaun said, taking a sip from the tumbler of amber liquid.
"I'm fine," said the boy, shrugging. "Am I telling this story, or are we going to keep interrupting?"
"Go on," said Shaun, sitting back in his chair nonchalantly.
"Some cunt insulted Hermione and she ran off to cry; we were in different classes at the time, so I didn't find out about it until later. When I found her, we had a little talk about self-worth, and then a giant came smashing through the wall. Hermione said it was a troll even though it looked more like a stone giant, so I killed it with fire.
"Turns out I didn't need to; Hermione told me afterwards their trolls apparently don't need fire or acid to kill."
Silence followed the short summary, and three of the four adults present shared looks of concern between themselves.
"Are you all right? Do you want to talk about it?" asked Romy.
"Not particularly," Harry said shortly, leaving Romy to wonder which question he was answering. "Though it'll probably be some time before I eat barbecue again."
"Wa ur we jist hearin' abit it noo?" Jack demanded, outraged. "Whaur waur th' skale staff?"
"What were you going to do, fly a helicopter out to the middle of nowhere Scotland and rescue me from a castle full of mages?" countered Harry. "It's not like the school is staffed by competents, either; most of them wouldn't be able to hold down a job in a state school, as low of a standard as that would be. I broke a leg, then healed myself, and the school nurse just let me walk out, even when I started faking a limp afterwards."
"You broke your leg?"
Romy sounded concerned. Her face matched her tone.
"First Flying lesson. Flew right into a wall. Bone was poking through skin, too. Instructor just stood there and watched like a beetle junkie with a simsense. Fuckin' incompetents; coulda broke my neck. I'm better now, though, so nothing to worry about. Healed my own damn leg when the school nurse's back was turned, because I sure as hell wasn't going to drink an unknown potion they just foisted on me."
"I thought they said Hogwarts was the best school in the world," Shaun said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, taking another sip of his drink.
"Makes you wonder how bad every other school is," Harry agreed.
"How are the staff even still employed?" asked Romy, incredulous. "If they were at university, they would be sacked already."
"I'm guessing it's because Dumbledore, the headmaster, has final say over staffing and nobody can make him do anything," speculated the boy. "Otherwise, it would mean all the professors in every institution of magical learning is even worse than what's at Hogwarts."
"That makes sense," said Romy with a sigh, shaking her head sadly.
"So, where's Karen?" Harry asked, looking around. "Thought she'd be here like last year."
"Oh, right, you wouldn't know," Shaun said. "She's famous now."
"What?" asked the boy, dumbfounded.
"A week after you left, she was cast as the face of a national advert campaign for K.F.C.," Romy explained. "After the advert was on the telly last week, she's gotten a lot of interest from casting agents who want her for parts."
"To cut up and sell on the black market?"
"They're casting agents, not organleggers."
"What's the difference?"
"Fair point," capitulated the noirette, and the room was filled with chuckles for the moment.
"What're we talking about?"
The fivesome in the back turned towards the who had just spoken, and Harry almost failed to recognize the speaker. Gone from her cheeks was the baby fat, replaced by tapering lines, and her brown hair, once a solid shade and a brittle from repeated washings and blow-drying, had cocoa and sand-colored highlights and looked like spun silk dipped in lustrous dark chocolate. Even in her casual clothes, she radiated glamour and an easy charm, and Harry could see why she was such a great hit with the public.
"You look good, Karen," he said. "Did you lose some weight?"
"A little bit," said the woman, as she sauntered over to him, smiling the entire time as she enfolded him in a hug. "I missed you, 'Squeak."
"Me too, Karen," Harry said, returning the embrace as the actress kissed the top of his head. "Hear you're a star now."
"It's nothing," said the brunette lightly with a bright smile.
"So, what're you up to these days?" asked Harry.
"Well, I'm not supposed to say, but…" Karen started, then stopped herself, fidgeting.
"You're clearly dying to say it," Jason said, and the others in the room nodded.
"I've got cast for a small recurring part on Corrie!" the actress gushed.
"What?" asked Harry, as the others started to congratulate the brunette.
"Coronation Street," explained Jason, the only person to understand Harry's confusion. "It's a popular show in the telly."
"Oh," said Harry, before turning to Karen. "Congratulations. I'm glad you're finally getting closer to your dreams; it couldn't have happened to a nicer person."
"I'm right here, 'Squeak," the actress said, smiling at the awkwardness, before reaching into her handbag, digging around for a moment before pulling out a small, paper-wrapped rectangular package and placing it in the boy's hands. "Merry Christmas, Harry."
"Well, shit, I didn't get you anything," said the boy, clearly as uneasy as everybody else in the back of the store.
"But you already did," said Karen, touching the middle of her chest, and Harry understood immediately what she meant.
"Well, that wasn't a Christmas gift," Harry said, stowing the package in his haversack. "Will you all be here tonight?" he asked, and received nods all around. "I'm going to do some last minute Christmas shopping, but I'll be back for the Christmas movie marathon. Wouldn't want to miss that for the world."
"Ye don't hae tae gie us gifts," protested Jack. "Yoo're still a wee laddie."
"You've all done really nice things for me, so it'd only be right."
Before anybody else could lodge any more protests, Harry was gone, having dashed out the back of the store before any more concerns could be voiced.
~ooOoo~
Harry awoke to a crick in his neck and groaned, rolling out of the sofa and landing on the floor, a tangle of blankets and limbs, the thud of the impact dampened by the layer of bedding wrapped around him.
He did not remember falling asleep, but it must have been during the Christmas movie marathon. Slowly clambering to his feet, he gingerly rubbed the humping forming on his head and looked around.
Jack was sprawled backwards in a recliner, mouth opened and snores softly escaping her lips; nearby, Romy was slumped over at the table, her arms pillowing her head as a line of saliva trickled past her parted lips and onto the table, a blanket draped over her shoulders. As Harry completed his turn, he saw Karen still asleep on the sofa he had just rolled off of, huddling slightly to herself, obviously a little cold, and he freed himself from the blankets, carefully covering her in them before letting himself into the restroom.
As he entered the front of the store, Harry was greeted by the sight of Jason at the counter, a newspaper in hand while a mug with steam coming off it sat on a magazine just next to him.
"Mornin' 'Squeak," said the shopkeeper. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Harry said with a smile, reaching into his bag and pulling out a small, gift-wrapped box and sliding it across the counter to Jason, who stopped it with one hand.
"What's this?" asked the man, after he opened the package.
"You gave me a knife, I give you knife," Harry said, nodding towards the object laying inside the opened box.
"You got me a friction folder?" asked the man, as he flipped the knife open, the tang sliding to a rest inside the wooden handle.
"Something like that," Harry said, grinning widely. "It's not just any friction folder though. You got anything you don't mind getting cut? Preferably something big, heavy and really solid?"
Jason's brow furrowed for a moment, then he reached under the counter, coming back with a chipped brick.
"Got ahead, give it a cut," said Harry, and he watched as the man skeptically press the knife against the surface of the fire-hardened clay, only for his eyes widen as the metal sliced into it with the ease of a hot knife through butter.
"What is this?" asked Jason.
"Monoknife," Harry said, grinning. "I remembered reading about it in the Cyberpunk 2020 rulebook, figured one might be useful someday."
Jason held the knife edge-side up as he looked down the length of the blade, one eye closed. "Where did you get this?"
"I made it," Harry said, still smiling. "Remember, it'd be illegal to sell me one."
"You made a monoknife?" Jason reiterated, and the boy nodded. "With magic?" Harry nodded again. "Listen, you've just created a bleeding edge technology that can literally cut anything. Don't ever tell or show anybody else this, or they'll try to take advantage of you and it, and it won't end well. This is the kind of thing that can change the balance of power in the world."
"All right," said Harry. "I might make myself one later though; as you said, it'll cut through anything, and that'll be useful."
"And dangerous to use," warned Jason. "The edge cut brick without any effort."
"I know, that's why it's a friction folder," Harry said. "When the blade is sharp enough to cut between molecules, I couldn't make a scabbard it wouldn't cut through."
"Smart," Jason said. "Coffee?"
"No, thanks," said Harry, wrinkling his nose at the thought. "Too bitter. Plus, I don't use drugs."
"What'd you do with the marijuana I shipped you? I trust you didn't use it yourself."
"Lord no. Sold the buds for profit, and then struck an agreement for profit-sharing for the seeds; when Longbottom starts selling the product he's growing in his garden, I stand to make twenty percent of the profits. Also told him about edibles, which I could probably produce if asked, and that might increase how much I earn out of the arrangement.
"Basically, bought myself an ally, except he paid me in gold and thanked me for the opportunity to become a junkie."
The two turned as the door from the back opened and Jack wobbled forth, rubbing her eyes groggily as she swayed from side to side.
"Think fast," Harry called as he reached back into his haversack. Instinctively, the strawberry blonde's hands came upwards, ready to catch, and she was not wrong, as a lumpy package flew across the room, landing neatly in her grasp.
Lazily, she tugged at the packaging, filling the quiet, closed store with the sound of paper tearing a little bit at a time, until all she was left holding was a pillow.
"What's thes?" asked the programmer.
"It's for when you're sitting at your chair," the boy explained. "You're always saying how much your back hurts, so I thought I'd make you a cushion for your back that uses magic to slowly release heat to keep your muscles relaxed, and, if it gets very cold, you could put it in your bed to keep warm at night."
"Cheers, 'Squeak," said Jack with a yawn, before looking to Jason. "Gonnae gie-us some coffee, Jason?"
Without a word, the shopkeep poured a mug and slid it along the counter; as it came to the end, the Scotswoman caught the drink just before it fell, bringing it to her lips and blowing on it for a moment before taking a slow sip.
A comfortable silence hung in the room as Jack and Jason drank their coffee and Harry went around the store, gathering a pile of books before bringing them to the register. "Ring me up?"
"You already have some of these," Jason noted, as he started scanning the barcodes.
"Those are for Hermione," Harry told him. "She wants to try GMing, plus she's started learning the Hermetic method, so it'd be good for her to have her own set of books."
"You showed her? Can you trust her?" asked Jason, clearly concerned as he scanned the stickers on the stack of books.
"Didn't have much of a choice at the time," said the boy with a shrug. "It was magic, or be killed by a giant that she called a troll. After that, I made her swear she'd always keep all my secrets, which is actually vague enough to cover more than what it does now, then sealed the pact in blood, and blood is one of the most powerful reagents for binding contracts."
"Does she know she made one?" Jason asked, eyes narrowing at the mention of blood magic.
"No," Harry said, a faint smile on his lips. "I may have sworn I'd always tell her the truth, but only when she asks for it, and not always the whole truth."
Silence hung in the air as the implications sank in.
"You better not do anything immoral or unethical to her," Jason warned the boy in a low growl.
"I was taught better than that," Harry growled back. "She's one of us."
"One of us?" asked Jason.
"She knows about the Hermetic arts," Harry said. "That makes her one of us."
"That's arbitrary," said the shopkeep.
"Most delineations are," countered the boy, and Jason had no retort.
Another moment of silence hung in the air. Then, "Whit did ye gie Sean?"
"He likes Guinness and scotch, so I made him a crystal pint glass and a crystal tumbler enchanted to keep liquid in them chilled," Harry said. "They were pretty easy to make; just used the same runes as I did with my ice boxes but without making it a closed system so it wouldn't freeze over."
The sound of the door opening brought the three in the front room turning towards the back, and Romy wandered forth, yawning as she scratched her belly under her T-shirt. "Mornin'."
Morning greetings echoed around the room as Jason finished scanning the books Harry wanted to purchase while Romy got herself a cup of hot coffee, pouring in cream and spooning in sugar. "One hundred fifty-five pounds," said the shopkeep.
Harry frowned. "That's more than three hundred pounds worth of books there," he observed.
"Consider everything you're not giving Hermione as a gift as a Christmas present," Jason said.
"You're being far too generous," Harry argued.
"I've more than made up for it in commissions when you convert the gold to pounds," countered the shopkeep.
"Speaking of which, I need to sell another five hundred gold pieces," said the boy, the named amount of coins falling out of the pouch around his neck and into his palm as he spoke.
"Why do you need a hundred thousand pounds?" Jason asked.
"Aunt and uncle sold 4 Privet Drive and vanished into the aether," Harry said. "I need to buy my own place and get it done up to be a secure location."
"A newly built house goes for about sixty-four thousand when I looked last month," Jason said. "You could buy a modern but lived-in place for about fifty-five."
"I'll still need the rest to for upgrading security," Harry said. "I'm only going to be here for two weeks, so I'm thinking I'll buy the property before I head back to school, then hire Shaun and his boys for the remodel. State-of-the-art locks, bulletproof glass windows, replace any cheap doors with ones made of solid hardwood or maybe even industrial steel, things like that."
"Not a bad idea," Jason said. "You're going to need a place to live when you're not at school, and there's no reason not to purchase property and have your money work for you. Where are you staying for the two week you are back?"
"I'll check The Footman later to see if they have any rooms available," said the boy as he finally took the books from the counter and placed most of them into his haversack, then retrieved a roll of wrapping paper and a dispenser of clear tape, carefully wrapping the remaining books in a parcel and taping it together, scrawling something onto the package before sticking two fingers into his mouth and whistling.
After a moment, Luke flew into the store through a high window just large enough to allow the snowy owl entry and landed on a perch by the register, eyeing the boy as if to ask where he had been the past four months. Harry simply jerked a thumb towards the package, and the owl gave him a look before winging his way off the perch to the parcel, taking it in his talons before departing to make the delivery.
"So, what're your plans for today 'Squeak?" asked Romy, looking more lively now she had consumed a sufficient amount of hot caffeinated beverage fully awaken.
"Actually, I've an experiment I want to run with you," Harry said, as he pulled a large, round package from his haversack and rolled it towards the graduate student, who stopped it with her foot before it could collide with her.
"What's this?" asked the chemistry student.
"A complete collection of the equipment you'd need to brew potions and some ingredients," explained the boy. "I have a theory: anybody can make potions with the right tools, ingredients and instructions."
"And what makes you think that?"
"Well, I haven't been able to cast any of the magic they teach in school, but Potions is still my best subject, even though I'm not doing anything with it, magic-wise. That leads me to believe the source of the magic used to make potions is within the ingredients themselves and maybe even the process, but not the maker, since I've got a pretty good feel for the flow of Astral power when it leaves my body."
Romy pondered the suggestion for a moment, then shrugged. "Let's give it a go," she said. "I've few things I need to do today, but I've got the weekend off."
"I guess that works," said the boy, smiling.
"Sae, what're yer plans fur th'day?" asked Jack, taking another sip of coffee.
Harry shrugged. "What do normal people do on Christmas day?" he asked. "This is the first Christmas I've had away from my aunt and uncle, and that family's never been that normal."
"There's ice skating, baking cookies, making snow angels and snowmen, go to church, build gingerbread houses, go caroling, play board games, watch movies...," said Karen, ticking them off on her fingers as she entered from the back, looking nothing like she had just been through wardrobe and makeup and nothing like having just crawled out of bed.
As the "Good morning"s and "Merry Christmas"es went around the room, Harry retrieved a small black box from his haversack and, when he had the actress's attention, tossed it to her. Catching it, she opened it and nearly stopped as her mouth opened in surprise.
"They're beautiful!" said Karen in delight before she turned the case around to expose the pair of matching stud-style earrings; the base of each was a silvery metal, formed in the shape of ᚢ, uruz, the old Norse rune for physical health, freedom, courage and independence, while labradorescent stones were seated snugly in the castings.
"They must have cost you a lot of money," said Karen as she removed her earrings and replaced them with the gifts.
"Didn't cost me much, actually; aside from the studs, I already had all the materials on hand," Harry said. "Thought they'd go with the necklace."
"They're lovely," the actress said, giving Harry a hug.
"So, who's up for breakfast?" Harry asked, as he pulled a portable stove, a cast iron skillet, cooking utensils and a bag of groceries from his haversack, grinning widely. "Come on, it's only Christmas once a year."
~ooOoo~
It was Christmas night, and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was worried.
House elves had delivered James' invisibility cloak to young Harry's room the previous night as he had instructed, so Dumbledore secreted himself in the room where the Mirror of Erised had been installed; for any other student, he could easily locate them through the system of wards encompassing Hogwarts Castle, but with young Harry Potter, it was as though he simply was nowhere on the grounds, so it necessary for Dumbledore to be present to ensure young Harry found the Mirror and saw what he desired most of all.
Except there had been no sign of young Harry even after midnight had passed; knowing Harry, he must have used the invisibility cloak to gain access to the library's restricted section, but many of the restricted books were carefully warded with alarms, so surely he would trip one and be forced to flee to where he had instructed Argus to patrol that evening, and thus be funneled to the Mirror of Erised.
The package containing his father's invisibility cloak was meant to provoke a longing for family in young Harry, and finding the Mirror of Erised would show him visions of what the cloak would make him long for, which move him along the path nicely. Yet, when the Headmaster of Hogwarts went to the library, Dumbledore found it wholly undisturbed, not even the restricted collection, where young Harry would certainly look for books on learning to use magic, given he would have already exhausted the rest of the collection's volumes on the subject; the boy had not went exploring the one remaining place in the library he had yet to search for books on how to use magic, and it puzzled Dumbledore.
After all, with his history, learning magic must be the most important thing in young Harry's life.
Maybe he was more Gryffindor than Dumbledore had given him credit for, and was instead taking the opportunity to explore the rest of the castle in the cover of darkness.
And so, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore returned to room with the Mirror, to lay in wait for the appearance of Harry Potter.
Author's Notes: Everybody's life getting better because of Harry's exposure to the the Magical World is something I plan on as a theme for this story. Harry might be a dick, but overall, he makes life better for the people around him.
With his truncated childhood, receiving gifts isn't as important for this version Harry as giving them. Functional, thoughtful gifts too.
Yes, Harry's familiar with Cyberpunk 2020, which was originally published August 1990. In fact, he's pretty familiar with most tabletop RPGs published during his time.
As a sufferer of chronic lower back pain, I'd kill to have a pillow like the one Harry gave Jack.
And the prize of the first of Harry's friends to receive magical mental protection goes to... Karen North. Seemed like a good idea to give her something that matched the necklace.
It seems like a logical idea for Harry to buy property; more on the details of that to come, including legal ramifications.
More expectation versus reality with Dumbledore. He really should have gotten to know his "pawn" better.
Review, PM, etc. Like a card mechanic, you all know the deal by now.
Credit to Shinshikaizer for the original story pitch and goalie12345 for copy-editing. Furthermore, my thanks to Romantically Distant for additional editing and proofing.