Harry quickly found out that whilst he could magic many things happening - paper falling, water splashing, curtains fluttering in the breeze, he vastly preferred not to because there were so many things he never paid proper attention to, such as exactly how a sheet of paper tossed and tumbled, turning itself over many times in a row to an imaginary breeze he couldn't actually see, or the exact way the lacy white curtains from the bathroom (much easier to move than a heavier cotton curtain) folded in on itself in the wind, that he felt quite ridiculous casting spells to mimic it. As if he knew how unrealistic it looked if someone was to truly see it. And that what he preferred to do, was simply things like magic the paper to roll of the table and let gravity do the rest, to magic water out of a cup and then let go and let gravity do the rest, to magic the window open and let the wind make the curtains flutter naturally for real.

He quickly figured that he preferred reality to do most of it, but used magic to make it as close to reality as possible.

When he wanted the curtains pulled shut, he didn't use magic to draw the fabric, but rather used magic to pull the rings of the curtains across the bar, and then the fabric flowed along naturally as if there was really a hand pulling the rings at the top. He didn't use magic to fry any eggs but rather used magic to turn the knob of the gas stove so that the natural fire could do so. It was the quicker way.

Many witches and wizards don't use magic to recreate reality because it's impossible to actually recreate reality. You could study the way water splashed or paper fell for decades and still be unable to imagine it in perfect depth. But many witches and wizards use magic to make reality easier, such as pulling the rings of a curtain or turning on a gas stove without physically moving there yourself, but they reserve magic for more interesting applications. A lot of household and common mundane things are ultimately non-magical in essence. The sorting hat said.

Harry could understand how it may appear to be more magical than it really was without thinking about it. A witch or wizard who had enchanted the curtains to draw themselves open and shut at their house through manipulating the rings at the top might mislead someone into thinking they were magically drawing the fabric shut. A witch or wizard who used magic to turn on the gas stove knob without being physically there could make someone think they magic'd the flames instead. A witch or wizard who wanted to wash dishes could simply magic streams of water to the top of a pile of dishes, then 'let go' and let real gravity do the rest. They weren't truly imagining the water tumbling nor splashing down and recreating that from their imagination of it. But merely bringing the water to the top, and then letting real gravity do the rest.

Things like that Harry could understand more easily now.

There was still so much more to discover.

How do I get rid of the emotional aspects of it. I can cast some spells now without it mirroring my emotions. But how do I remove it from the magic entirely? Harry asked. He had been able to move magic around the room at his will when he'd wanted to, and he willed the paper to stop moving when he didn't want the magic to continue anymore, so that it didn't attack him, or fly out the window and up towards the sky in happiness to mirror any emotions, but he hadn't liked the original aspect of it that matched his emotions and expressed them unpredictably.

Why should magic not mirror your emotions? Magic is something witches and wizards don't really understand, but they know they can manipulate things around them enough to achieve what they want consistently with it. A spell to move paper is just a bit of magic that witches and wizards can do consistently enough to move paper. So it becomes known as a paper moving spell. When they want to move paper, they think of this spell and use it. That's how it becomes known as a paper moving spell for instance. But it doesn't mean the spell inherently doesn't take into account emotions. There's no rule anywhere saying it doesn't. The hat said.

Alright. So the only thing that's changed is that I'm more aware of how to imagine the paper moving. Before I thought magic was reality, so I imagined the paper falling to the ground, believing it was real gravity I was casting by magic, but it was just my imagination of gravity. Now that I'm more aware I only imagine the paper falling to the edge of the table, then let go. Then I use magic again to make it float back up to me. I understand that magic corresponds to my imagination, expectation and reaction of it. I turn on my imagination and reaction to the magic I imagine at certain points in time. Then, the moment I finish my job, I turn of, my imagination and reaction to it. So I stop the magic. And the magic can't mirror my emotions, or it's less likely to, because I've stopped using it. Whereas before, I didn't turn of my magic after I moved the paper, and so the magic fed of my emotions of frustration or understanding that magic was unpredictable then. Harry thought.

That's true. It looks like you've gotten better at thinking, imagining, and reacting to magic, which controls it better. And knowing how to turn of magic is important as well. You can't get rid of magic expressing your emotions unpredictably. Witches and wizards still don't know what magic really is and there's no rule anywhere saying that magic by nature doesn't respond to emotions. Rather you have more control over it with your imagination, reaction, thought, will. And sometimes they can override your emotions. You also have control over whether you want to begin or cease casting magic. And by consciously controlling them, you can stop magic, when your concentration to make it do something you want, is ebbing and your natural emotions begin to take over. So the magic expresses your emotions more than your thoughts. You can cease your casting of magic then. And that's how you use magic to do more things you want it to do, without expressing your emotions. But you can't get rid of it's link to your emotions or act like magic by nature is not linked to it. Because that's not true anywhere. The hat said.

I suppose if I wanted to do magic that expresses or reflects my emotions exactly, I could do it the opposite way around. Concentrate just on my emotions and not my thoughts, and cast magic so strongly then. Harry mused.

That's true. Magic isn't inherently linked to thoughts, emotions, or anything similar. It just can be controlled by those things. And also your casting or ceasing of casting magic when you are more in concentrated on your thoughts, or your emotions. So witches and wizards can strike a balance between all of those to get magic to do what they want the most. The hat said.

Soon Harry got a letter on his eleventh birthday to go to Hogwarts.

I want to go. Hogwarts will teach me more knowledge on how to defeat You-Know-Who eventually. He thought. He had settled for calling the dark wizard who tried to kill him 'You Know Who' because he didn't know the name of the wizard but knew who he was referring to when he thought of him.

But you cannot without risking the lives of others. You'll be famous throughout the wizarding no doubt for how you managed to survive You Know Who coming after you when you were just a baby. How your parents died but you, a child, was able to defeat him. You would've been talked about for many years now that you've been entirely absent from the world due to living with your aunt and uncle. You'll always be known as Harry Potter or remembered as such throughout all your Hogwarts lives. Inevitably, you'll find some students drawn to you during your time there. They may come along with you on your journeys to defeat him, and ultimately, put their own lives or the lives of their family members at risk for you. You cannot risk the lives of others. No one besides yourself should die in defeating You Know Who. The hat reminded him.

I don't want anyone to die for me. If there is a way to avoid it I would. I agree, it's much to dangerous to go to Hogwarts. People might get close to me. I don't want anyone to die or their parents to die for me. I knew what it was like to grow up as an orphan. Wouldn't wish it on anyone in the world. Harry said.

You can still go to Hogwarts and learn magic. You just don't have to get close to others. Said the hat.

Suppose I live on the grounds somewhere and study the books in my own time but take the same exams? I can still buy the textbooks even if I'm not attending Hogwarts right? He thought into the hat.

That sounds like it can actually happen. But it also sounds like a decision others may have difficulty agreeing with. You have to guard it carefully if you want to see it come true otherwise your plan may be jeopardy. The hat murmured.

Harry nodded.

Shortly after the letter though, there was a knock at the door.

The hat flew of Harry's head in a mix of accidental magic, as well as real fright and fear (he didn't want to be seen with it on and thought of as loony), the hat zoomed towards the small corridor that connected the kitchen to the bedroom and bathroom and zipped underneath the crack in the doorway of the bedroom. If anyone opened it they would see it immediately.

Hesitantly, Harry got up and opened the door. There was no peephole built in. But Harry just had the sense whoever had knocked was a sorcerer that came for him.

"Why aren't yer living with the Dursleys anymore?" A tall man with bushy hair and eyebrows and a friendly but kind face who gave Harry a strange sense of deja vu looked down at him.

"I got emancipated, come in," said Harry, who just had the sense he was a wizard from Hogwarts without even having to ask. Harry got to work on some tea out of habit before he realised the man was too large to offer him tea from the mug. Also the knowledge that he only had one (chipped) mug that came with the apartment to make tea with.

The man seemed to have realised this all the same. "No worries Harry, most people don't have things suited for my size. That's hardly anything out of the norm. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, gameskeeper of Hogwarts. I'm to take you to Diagon Alley to get yer stuff because you're a muggle-born. I was emancipated too. My mother left and my father died. I had to fill out some paperwork so I could legally live on my own as a minor. Not surprised really, emancipation's better for some situations," said Hagrid.

"You knew the Dursleys?" asked Harry. Hagrid had bought them up without him mentioning them first.

"Bought yer to their doorstep when you were a baby. After...you know," Hagrid said.

"About that," said Harry, "I don't want to go to Hogwarts. Because I'm bound to make friends and some might want to fight for my side against You Know Who. I don't want people dying for me. I don't want to risk anyone's lives in this. Is there a way I can go to Hogwarts, still study and take exams, but not risk anyone getting close to me and them losing their lives?"

"Yes, Hogwarts ain't the only way to get an education you know. Witches and wizards are allowed to decline their invitation to Hogwarts if they can prove they're getting some form of magical education to the ministry. I could say I'm homeschooling yer yer know. Fill out the paperwork, get the approval. You can figure out how to fight You Know Who in your own time, without risking anyone's lives," said Hagrid.

"Yes please," said Harry.

Hagrid said he would help Harry with the paperwork when they went to Diagon Alley, by the time school started it would be approved and then Harry could be exempt from Hogwarts, but still learning in his own time.

He put the hat back on his head again after Hagrid left.

He said he bought me over but yet he didn't mention the hat. Aunt Petunia said I was wrapped in your when I was on the doorstep because it was a chilly night and whoever bought me there grabbed a hat to keep me warm. It seems a bit out of the ordinary to wrap a baby in a hat, or place the baby's blankets in the hat. I thought he would've mentioned it. Harry thought.

Aunt Petunia said when she opened the door you were in the hat and she theorised it was to keep you warm through the journey. There is no proof Hagrid traveled to the doorstep with you in the hat. For all you know a passerby could've thought it was a shame a baby was so cold on a doorstep and wrapped you in an old hat of theirs. It's likely that whoever gave you the hat was linked to the witches and wizards and knew you had arrived on the doorstep of your relatives otherwise they would've called child services for a baby left out on the steps, but it did not have to be immediately after the event. You don't know how much time had passed between them and Aunt Petunia opening the door to find you there.

The hat logically deduced to Harry.

Well she most likely found me there in the morning. My parents could've been killed at any time in the night. It's possible You Know Who chose a time he thought they would be off guard as he thought it was more likely, so it could've been any hour of the night. It's true that I don't know how much time had passed between when Hagrid bought me over to their doorstep, and when Aunt Petunia actually opened the door. Someone from their side could've put me in the hat. I think it's likely not Hagrid because he didn't mention it, and it was a bit unusual. Harry thought.

There's no proof that it wasn't Hagrid who connected you to me, nor is there proof it wasn't Hagrid. You just don't have enough proof to say it was Hagrid or came from Hagrid. The hat said.

Well you used to work for the school so it must've been another member of the staff most likely. Reasoned Harry.

The hat had said it used to work for the school but would not say what it did there. When Harry tried asking as he inevitably did (curious) in the past few weeks the hat merely said it was enchanted so that once it was outside of the wards of the school it could no longer recall it's job there. The hat, as it put it, was simply an old hat. But one who may sometimes give curious murmurs to a magical being if they put it on.

Hat, addressed Harry, what will I do with my wand? It says I'm to buy one but I already have one. Aunt Petunia said it was in you on the doorstep. Do you think the same person that put me in the hat also tucked the wand in there as well?

We don't know for sure. But there is no rule saying you can't have more than one wand. But most witches and wizards may prefer one. Buy another and enjoy the trip. The hat said.

Very well. Said Harry.


Author's Note: Thanks for the review on chapter 1. Even though some of the later chapters haven't been reviewed after I update, I appreciate any comments I get :)