Author Note

In the next chapter, I'll be doing a bit of a time skip to the start of the MC's second year at Hogwarts.

Crossworlds 1 - Harry Potter

Part 17

The Chamber of Secrets. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"I've wondered if there's anything more down here" mentioned Cortana "It is after all called the Chamber of Secrets. That suggests that there's more than just one thing to discover".

I'd also pondered this, and I'd considered calling up the founder to ask, but there was no rush and I already had a lot going on.

"Once I've purified the locket I'll ask Salazar's portrait" I promised my AI.

Being a creature of information she liked to learn new things. Which was what made her a good companion for a Ravenclaw such as myself. She also knew to remain silent when I needed to start really focusing on something.

As I worked on my projects I avoided looking over at where I'd kept Lockhart chained up as a captive until very recently. While his body was intact, his mind was not and I'd been able to keep his physical form in a reasonable state with magic for a few days until I was done recording all the useful information he had. Once I'd wiped out most of his personality I'd dumped him as planned in the Muggle world so that he could live out his days under the care of professionals.

This was something I had mixed feeling about as unlike Umbridge, Lockhart wasn't going to try feeding people to dementors, and it wasn't his fault that the magical community was full of fools who never looked past the surface of anything. Lockhart had just been taking advantage of the situation. He'd not created the problem he'd simply learned to profit from it.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't at all feel bad about what I did as Lockhart had been guilty of theft, fraud, copyright infringement, and so many memory wipes that Lockhart himself hadn't been able to remember them all. He'd stolen so much from so many and fooled others to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if people got hurt or even killed due to his false information.

Plus everyone who was talking their OWLs and NEWTs during what would be my third year at Hogwarts now might actually get a decent teacher thanks to me, and if the curse on the DADA teacher job had been powered by the Diadem then we might even get to keep a DADA professor for more than a year. I wouldn't mind keeping Lupin here to teach the subject in the long term.

As for Lockhart, sure he deserved to be punished, but perhaps I had taken matters too far? Was I any better? At least Lockhart had never killed anyone. I'd killed Umbridge and those spiders hadn't exactly been mindless beasts.

Okay, so I was working to bring down a Dark Lord and to improve upon a corrupt society. Add to that Umbridge was as bad as many high ranking members of the Nazi party had been during and before WWII. As for the spiders, well each of them was quite willing to kill and eat a student of this school if given the chance. Including myself.

Yet that didn't give me the right to destroy people's lives. Then again someone had to take action because no one else was willing. Besides I still needed to appease Loki in order to keep myself say and by keeping myself safe I kept the world seed safe. Whole worlds depended upon me. I couldn't afford to be weak.

I pushed such thoughts out of my mind as best I could. I'd done more than enough to ensure that I was fulfilling my side of the bargain and right now I needed to prepare for my end of year exams. Once they were done I'd be free of this castle and could do what I pleased for weeks without having to worry about appearances and turning up in time for class.

By questioning older students and comparing their recollections of the first year exams to my memories from the books I knew that the exams hadn't changed much over the years. Tonks had been happy to share her experiences with me in great detail.

Flitwick would have us animate something that was inanimate, according to Tonks it wasn't always some fruit, but the objective would be the same. As such, I needed to master the animation charm before the exams started.

The spell didn't give life to an object only the semblance of it and with practice, you could use this magic to make a statue move around. Something I knew because I'd already done that before.

Piertotum Locomotor is the incantation of the charm used to bring life to those artefacts that had, previously, been inanimate and unmoving. The target's movements can be controlled by the caster of the charm.

I remembered exactly what the books had to say, which would be good for the theory part, and casting the spell was no trouble. I was able to wave my wand around and make the pieces of fruit dance across one of the tables that I'd been able to bring down here from the Room of Requirement.

Being able to teleport myself around the castle while in the form of House Elf made things much easier and the real elves never bothered me. That was the mark of a good House Elf to never be seen or to go about bothering people with concerns that were none of their business.

"Maybe I could add music" I considered.

I wouldn't even need my illusionary powers for that as there were wand spells to create music although that did require some instruments and taking them or a music player of any kind would alert Flitwick, letting him know that I'd known the details of the test well in advance.

"No showing off" reminded Cortana.

The Transfiguration exam consisted in transfiguring a being into an object. In the first year exams, the students had to turn a mouse into a snuff box. Extra points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, points were taken off if it still had whiskers. Tonks told me that her snuff-box had sneezed.

So as to practice this spell, and to get it just right enough that I would get a high grade without being labelled a genius, I had a number of mice in a box that I would take out one at a time so that I could transfigure them. So far I'd trained myself to create dull look snuff-boxes that should get me than a passing grade.

I didn't like messing with living creatures like this, only they didn't seem to mind, or even react when I transformed them back. Still, I'd give them lots of cheese before I set them loose back in the forest.

At least catching them had been easy as there was a spell to draw mice to you for some reason. It made me wonder if there was any truth to that Pied Piper of Hamelin story to be found in this world. I could well imagine being able to create a magical musical instrument that would cause rats to follow me. Not that I would want to.

As for History of Magic in the first Harry Potter book the test lasted for one hour and the students were required to answer questions about the invention of the Self-Stirring Cauldron by Gaspard Shingleton. I didn't know if the subject of the exam would change, but I'd memorised everything I'd been able to find on Gaspard Shingleton just in case. No one would care if I scored top marks in History of Magic.

Herbology should simply involve plotting some plant and watering it. I didn't care enough about that subject to do more than have Cortana memorise the assigned textbook and I cared less for astronomy despite the fact that it should require some effort. As I was only a first-year I doubted the exam would be taxing.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts exam did worry me because the elderly retired man who taught us mostly ranted about the days when he'd been tracking Jack the Ripper (and he was old enough for this to be true) and lately he'd started falling asleep during classes.

I suspected that the professor was just filling in until Quirinus Quirrell returned so the curse might not affect him, but my concern was more for the fact that the yearly change in DADA meant that the exam did keep changing so I would just have to do my best to be prepared.

As for Quirinus Quirrell maybe I should do something about him before he even arrives at Hogwarts? Something to ponder on later. I had all summer.

Snape, who I'd managed to convince to give me more time to master the mind arts, didn't always use the same potion it turned out for the end of year exams, and the one he used in the books was the Forgetfulness Potion. Given his lacklustre performance as a teacher, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave up and start doing the same exam year after year. Anyway, it seemed worth practising the potion and I quickly got started on that and Cortana fed me the instructions.

Add 2 drops of Lethe River Water to your cauldron

Gently heat for 20 seconds

Add 2 Valerian sprigs to your cauldron

Stir 3 times, clockwise

Wave your wand

Leave to brew and return in 45-60 minutes

Add 4 mistletoe berries to the mortar

Crush into a medium-fine powder using the pestle

Add 2 pinches of the crushed mixture to your cauldron

Stir 5 times, anti-clockwise

Wave your wand to complete the potion

Since the potion would need up to an hour to finish before I add the berries, I'd decided to go over the blackboards where I was recording ideas. I didn't really need to write things down I just found that it helped me to keep on track and reduce distractions somewhat.

Teleport Object

In the summer of 1996, Albus Dumbledore used this spell to transport Harry Potter's school supplies, clothes, and owl to the Burrow, so that they could first journey to Budleigh Babberton to try and recruit Horace Slughorn unhindered by luggage.

That was cool and all, but what I wanted was the ability to call an object to hand without using my wand. My bottomless bag could contain anything I owned, but it was a pain to go through the bag to find what I wanted.

If I could bring the desired item to my hand with magic, just like how MCU Loki could with certain objects, it would not only look cool it would save me time and even be useful in battles. I didn't care so much about putting stuff back since that could be done at my own pace, although that would be nice if I could cast a spell and have important items securely put away.

"I can see the Teleport Object spell working," said Cortana "That's just a variation of Apparition if you think about it. So maybe you just need to focus on moving the object rather than yourself. You'd better practice with something harmless in case of accidents before trying with a solid object".

Parchment and quills would be best to start with as they are both lightweight. Plus they were less likely to do any major damage if something went wrong. Add to that being able to summon them to hand could be useful in lessons.

"Not really" corrected my AI as I ran the idea past her "You can't apparate in Hogwarts and since this Teleport Object Spell is just a variation on Apparition you couldn't use it when you're inside the castle".

Well, it still made sense to start with objects that were lightweight and easy to replace if lost. No doubt it would take a lot of practice to perfect, yet it would be worth it.

"Perhaps it would be possible to create a new kind of magical teleportation" I mused.

While I didn't think that anything was impossible with magic that seemed too advanced for my skill level. Besides I had other matters to focus upon and I'd not forgotten my other projects, such as making wand versions of Final Fantasy Spells.

Hammerspace

Basically, this was an extradimensional, instantly accessible storage area that gets used a lot in fiction, and it is used to explain how animated, comic, and game characters can produce objects out of thin air. Typically, when multiple items are available, the desired item is available on the first try.

I'd like to be able to create my own Hammerspace because while I had a bottomless bag it could be lost or stolen, as could my pouches of holding. There were many things I simply couldn't afford to lose or allow to fall into other people's hands.

If it took years to create one that was fine with me and I didn't think that anything was really impossible when you had magic. Sure it might not work if I moved to a different universe, yet it was still worth trying to make, and I could just pack up everything very carefully before I moved realities.

(Line Break)

Great Hall. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Between preparing for the end of year exams, training with Tonks, and my research projects, the weeks leading up to the end of the third school term of this year had passed by very quickly. I'd been so busy that I'd not even snuck out of a school much aside from when I needed to meet with Bagshot.

Somewhere along the way, I'd even started helping my dorm mates, Marcus and Eddie, with their revision and because of this, I'd become something of a third wheel to their normal two-seater friendship. Mostly they still just hung out with each other, but they'd invited me to play the odd game of chess and explosive snap when not studying.

I'd even joined the chess club if only to reduce the concerns that my head of Ravenclaw house had about John Hiddleston. Not that the games of chess ever lasted long even with me ignoring Cortana's suggestions when it came to moves as I was only playing against first and second-year students.

Now that the exams were over and everything involving them had gone smoothly, I was now free to plan to decide what I was going to do over the summer. I needed to take a break from my studies and I figured that it was soon time to head to Romania to get a look at some dragons.

However, I was going to have trouble travelling around Europe as while Tom Hiddleston could easily move about I would need to have John Hiddleston with me and that could cause problems as we'd need to be seen together. Illusions could only do much.

There was also the issue that the Lovegoods had invited both Tom and John to go on holiday with them to go look for some magical creature that most likely didn't exist. I could manage that perhaps by going to them as Tom and saying that I would be busy, but that they could take John.

It would be rather boring since I'd have to remain a child the entire time, but I was devoted to keeping Pandora Lovegood alive and getting to know Luna wouldn't be such a bad idea. Besides I could read during a camping trip and get the exercise that I'd been missing out on.

The trip wouldn't last the whole summer and then I could visit the dragons for a few days as Tom, and if anyone asked I'd just tell them that John was staying with friends over the summer. Which wouldn't be a lie as long as I didn't give dates.

An owl delivered the morning paper. I normally had any mail for Tom or John diverted to the house in Godric's Hollow, in case anyone sent something nasty or tried to track John Hiddleston via the post. But I'd gotten around that by having my subscription registered under a fake name.

The owls work by magic, they don't need an address, the spells cast upon them just let them find the person they are supposed to find, and the magic somehow prevents you from simply following the owl. If not for the fact that the spells have to be cast on a bird I'd use an owl form to find people, but the spells don't work on humans and I can't cast the spells on myself when in animal form.

Not that I needed to as Thestrals could find places easily enough and they had the added bonus of being invisible to many people and they were good for nighttime flying due to their dark coats making them hard to spot even by people capable of seeing them.

So far there had been no mention of the evil man-eating spiders in the forest. I'd been to see Hagrid a few times to acquire about magical creatures and he'd not mentioned anything about them, and I'd not brought up the subject since I wasn't supposed to know of the spiders.

I could only conclude that no one cared and that if Hagrid had buried his old pet then he'd done so without anyone noticing. That was rather typical of wizards and witches, they cared little for one other than themselves.

"Anything good in the papers?" asked Belbey.

I was the only first-year Ravenclaw to have the paper delivered.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is missing somewhere in Europe," I told Marcus "According to his assistant he normally sends messages to let her know he's okay while he's off looking for new material for his books. He hasn't been in contact for a few weeks".

I wonder how many people would end up thinking that he'd died fighting some dark magical creature. I was pleased to note that law enforcement was coordinating a search with Ministries oversees as that meant no one in this country would be looking for him. Not that they'd have been likely to stumble across Lockhart.

"Maybe he's just gotten distracted by something important" suggested Eddie "It can't be easy saving all those people".

I made a snorting noise and that got me some strange looks.

"Lockhart is a total fraud," I said "He claims to have cured a werewolf with the Homorphus Charm, but if there was a charm that could do that, how come there are still werewolves running around? Don't you think Flitwick couldn't do a charm like that? Or Dumbledore?".

The two boys exchanged looks that didn't leave me convinced that they believed me, but I was sure they'd at least talk about what I'd said later on.

"Just don't mention that to the girls they might lynch you" advised Marcus.

That would be wise.

"Did you hear about the Weasel twins?" asked Eddie.

The Weasly family wasn't well thought of in some circles.

"I try not to think about them," I said.

Percy Weasly was actually a polite young man who'd stop to give directions to first-years and he knew his way around the library better than I did. Something I knew because he guided me a few times when I'd visited the library at the start of my year. Charlie Weasley was okay, but he was disliked in Ravenclaw because he kept winning Quidditch matches for his house.

"They've been caught sneaking out of the school" mentioned Marcus "They found a hidden passage into Hogsmede and Flitch spotted them coming back in".

Since I possessed the map it made sense that they'd been caught. Most likely they'd made their own version of it by the time they handed it over to Harry Potter in his third year here at Hogwarts but hadn't managed the feat so early on in the canon timeline. I knew for a fact that the maps were not easy to make since I was making my own.

"Do you think they'll be expelled?" wondered Eddie.

Given that the Weasly family were devoted Dumbledore supporters I very much doubted it as long as they didn't murder someone. The twins had tormented people with pranks for years, and in the canon timeline, they'd even used other students as test subjects for their joke products.

"No, they won't be," I said "Dumbledore favours his little lions".

That was true as the students of that house got rewarded for doing things that would get students of other houses sent to weeks worth of detention. That wasn't just something that applied to Harry Potter. The Weasleys were favoured by the Headmaster. For example, Percy Weasley would be the head boy as William Weasley had been. Okay so Charlie hadn't been, but there was still ample evidence of favouritism such as Ron Weasly being named prefect when he was very unsuited for the job.

"We'd be expelled if he did half the things the twins get away with" agreed Marcus.

Either these two were maturing quicker than expected or I was getting more used to spending time as a child because it was becoming easier to talk to my dormmates. It was pleasant not to talk to someone who lived in my head or had been dead for years.

"Hey, John," said Eddie "Are you going to try to join the Quidditch team next year?".

The one exam I'd not prepared for at all outside of class was flying which was more important than the books and movies ever even suggested. Broom flying was a big part of British magical culture and while textbooks can't prepare you for it I'd done much better than expected. Having spent so much time as a flying creature no doubt helped.

While I was certainly no Harry Potter I might just be good enough to get on the team and I could do with a hobby, something outside of my studies. The chess club was rather dull and having an interest in the sport would help me to blend it.

"I'll go to tryouts," I said.

Thanks to my wealth I'd be able to get a good broom and perhaps I could even hire a good coach to help me prepare over the summer when I wasn't away.

"Come on we better get to class" stated Eddie.

It was the last day of lessons. By tonight we'd be enjoying the End of Year Feast so I made a mental note not to eat too much a lunchtime.

(Line Break)

The Rookery. Ottery St Catchpole.

"Ah welcome you must be John!" greeted Pandora Lovegood after I'd knocked on the door to his home "We've been looking forward to your visit".

After the End of Year feast at the school, in which Slytherin earned the house cup to the surprise of no one I'd boarded the train, spent one night in Godric's Hollow, and then come here as the Lovegood family would be leaving in the morning to find evidence of an undiscovered magical creature.

I suspected that we'd be seeking the Crumple-Horned Snorkack which according to the Quibbler is an elusive magical creature believed to live in Sweden. However, it has never been found, most likely because it doesn't exist.

"Hope I'm not too late," I said.

I should have been here hours ago, but I'd gotten caught up in finishing the map that would allow me to keep an eye on Godric's Hollow even while in another country. I'd no if anyone started poking around even if I couldn't do anything about it.

"Not to worry we aren't leaving until the morning," said Pandora Lovegood who looked me up and down "Where is your stuff?".

She was referring to my camping equipment.

"Right here," I told her as I took a mokeskin pouch out of my coat pocket "I packed everything I'll need".

I'd gone to Diagon Alley today to pick up some stuff. I'd be able to make a camp for a few squads of men if I so desired.

"Wish we'd thought of that" remarked Miss Lovegood.

That they hadn't didn't surprise me. Wizards and witches rarely think logically about things. The only reason I still had a school truck was to serve as a decoy. I'd filled it with boring stuff that should paint me as a dull student, should anyone ever bother to go through it.

"I have spares if anyone needs one" I mentioned "The Hiddleston family seems to collect them".

Pandora Lovegood assured that they would be fine since they'd already finished packing.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked.

I knew some of the details as Tom, but this whole trip seemed rushed so I didn't have all the details. If not for the fact that I knew the Lovegoods were kind people I'd be worried about letting a child go off with them even if I was that kid. However, I understood this family was both harmless and odd. Plus it made sense for them to want John and Luna to spend some time together.

So far I'd not agreed to the marriage union between Tom and Luna since there was no rush. I also wanted to spend some time with the Lovegoods so I could get a better sense of them. Mr Lovegood doesn't come off well in the books/movies, but we don't see much of him and he'd lost his wife before almost losing his daughter as such judging him on the canon didn't seem right.

"We're going to Sweden" I was told, "We're on the hunt for Crumple Horned Snorkacks, But really it's an excuse to go camping with lots of other amateur Magizoologist".

Sort of like how people go camping in North America so as to search for Bigfoot, who is a member of an entire magical race in this world, As for the Magizoologists, it should be interesting to talk to them as I would like to learn more about magical creatures from around the world. If I did go travelling I would seek out as many as I could so that I could take their forms.

"There'll be other children with their families" I was informed "And the camping site is magical only so no need to worry about hiding from the muggles".

I could navigate the muggle world well enough even if I didn't speak Swedish since between my Babal Fish and Cortana I could act as I had a crude understanding of any human form of speech.

"You'll be bunking with Luna tonight," said the older of the two women in the building "I'll trust you'll behave".

For a moment I was rather shocked by this, then I recalled that I look like a little boy and that Luna was a little girl. Aside from that, the Lovegoods were rather odd anyway so I shouldn't be shocked that they'd find it acceptable.

I was taken up to Luna's room. Her part of the house was on the next floor above the living room; it had one window and a pale blue carpet, it reminded me of Ravenclaw tower only with far fewer books. What books there were here mostly focused on the subject of magical creatures.

Overall it was not that different from the room I kept for John Hiddleston at Godric's Hollow, if only for appearances, and I'd decorated that room with a lot of blues before filling it with the kind of books that a Ravenclaw student should have.

I wouldn't have to worry about sharing a tent as I'd brought one of those bigger on the inside tents. It has a small kitchen, a bathroom and several small bunks that would be comfortable for my child-sized body.

"Luna should be back from visiting her friend Ginny Weasly soon" mentioned Mrs Lovegood "Those two are inseparable".

I'd never gotten the impression that they were close other than geographically. If there were then it seemed odd that Luna never mentioned to anyone that Ginny was acting oddly during her first year. Perhaps the death of Luna's mother or Luna going to Ravenclaw had caused them to drift apart.

As for me, I wanted as little to do with that clan of redheads as possible. They were Dumbledore's minions and as someone used to his independence I'd find Molly Weasly's overbearing nature to be unbearable.

"We'll be having dinner when she gets back" I was informed.

Given what they served guests instead of tea I didn't really wish to find out what they ate at mealtimes. Cleverly I'd packed plenty of food and drink that was now stored in my bag or pockets, kept fresh under charms that would ensure I was well fed.

Lucky for me I could use illusion magic to trick my tastebuds. My illusions could fool all the senses if required so I should be able to get through dinner just fine.

I was now alone in the bedroom and while waiting I went over to a vase of flowers the contents of which were wilting. I took out a flower and then I pushed my magic into it with the intent of restoring the flower. It was as if the flower moved backwards in time and unwilted.

A witch or wizard can channel their magic through anything really it's just that wands being magical themselves make it so easy. Wandless magic takes much more effort and magical humans in this world can be very lazy.

"How did you do that?" asked a soft voice.

I'd wondered if the Lovegoods were like the Targaryens what with their hair and strange coloured eyes, granted they had no connection to dragons, but they did like magical creatures, but now I pondered the possibility of them also being part Hobbit as Luna had been so light on her feet that even Cortana hadn't noticed her entrance.

"Magic" I answered.

It seemed like a good idea to show Luna that I had something to offer her right from the start.

"Come here" I invited.

When she got closer I handed her a wilted flower.

"Wands are just ways of focusing your magic" I explained "They are meant to direct and control your power, they aren't the source of it".

I took another flower out of the vase and held on to it.

"You need to feel the magic inside you and let it flow through you" I instructed.

Why could I imagine Yoda saying this to a Jedi Padawan?

"How?" asked Luna.

It wasn't a simple thing to understand as not everything could be explained with only worlds. Words were somewhat important when using magic as words gave meaning to our thoughts and allowed us to express ourselves, and they had power even without magic, but this was more about feeling than thinking.

"You've done this when you've used accidental magic," I told the young witch "Try to remember how it felt. What you were feeling".

Students who were invited to Hogwarts had their names appear in a special book and that only happened when the book detected a child using accidental magic. Since Luna attended Hogwarts she must have done accidental magic at some point.

"Now let that power flow from you into the flower while picturing in your mind how it will bloom" I instructed.

It happened much slower for her than me, but she got there, and when she did Luna felt the need to go inform her parents. Since I figured that she'd want to show off I picked up the vase and followed her since she'd need more wilted flowers in order to impress her parents.

That she'd master this use of magic so quickly was impressive and somewhat expected since genius and madness are two sides of the same coin. The Lovegoods are certainly both mad and clever.