62: Harry Potter and the Study of High-Energy Physics
Fanfic
A tiny little spell, that was all it took.
You see, the day Harry Potter was brough to Gringotts, the goblin who dealt with him was in a shockingly congenial mood. So much so, in fact, that said goblin decided to take a page out of the humans' playbook and try to awe the young celebrity. This involved a cart-ride past the dragons, many interesting (and generally secret, though not that important) tidbits about goblin culture and economics (that made Harry far better skilled at diplomacy to that race than any 'trained diplomat') and, of course, an inheritance test, a rarely used (and rather expensive, though Harry got it for free) service Gringotts offers to help clear up wizarding estates and lines of succession.
Oh, don't worry. The goblin was severely reprimanded (thirty lashes) for the slip in discretion. It would have been worse, but it turned out to be mostly not his fault. He had had a small drink with lunch (not uncommon, though frowned upon for the floor goblins due to the fact that they are the first line of security for the bank) due to hearing that his son had found a mate in a more influential clan (perfectly understandable cause for celebration). It wouldn't, on its own, be enough to cause that much of a change, or even that type! The goblin race, after all, produces only surly, violent drunks, a perfectly acceptable disposition for a floor clerk to have. Sadly, a low level (so low he didn't even get named in the books, and wasn't worth pursuing by the DMLE after the first war) 'former' Death Eater, decided to cast a compulsion on the goblin. Now, goblins as a whole are immune to 95% of mind magics (due to the fact that most of them are DESIGNED for human minds, not any other race's), and can generally detect and fight off the remaining 5% (except for rare or very powerful cases), howsoever, the Death Eater got the spell wrong, the goblin was tipsy, and Puck was in the neighborhood screwing around a bit (and also drunk, but he's Puck). As such, genial goblin. Oh, and the Death Eater's account was stripped, and the goblin nation invited him or his line to visit Gringotts again whenever they wanted to be a part of a feast.
Still, the Inheritance test was the important part. This was because it revealed three things. First, it proved to Harry that he had LOTS of living, albeit distant, relatives. To the poor, emotionally stunted boy, finding out that the Dursleys weren't his only family was like mana from heaven! It also revealed to him that he came from a long and illustrious, though not very rich (that last two wars and last five Heads of House were disastrous to the house's property and wealth), family, thus prompting him to purchase several books on wizarding customs and manners, making his introduction to the magical world far smoother and less offensive to… well, most wizards and witches, actually. ESPECIALLY when he wrote a letter to the Prophet (best-selling issue in years!) greeting them, telling them that he was happy to be back, and introducing himself (it was good form to introduce yourself to other members of your class when first entering their area, after all; and, thanks to his bloodline and upbringing, that was all the wizards). The only other thing of note was that he had an inheritance… on his mother's side.
No, not Slytherin, or any other of the Hogwarts Four. Not even Merlin or Le Fay. No, his great-great-great-grandfather's name was Nikola Tesla, and he was the first Wizarding descendant of the Tesla Family (only Nikola, he was a muggleborn and he had no magical children). As such, the inheritance, which had hitherto been held in probate, was given to him. It mounted to three dozen abandoned labs, a bunch of dated science equipment, and his private journals, which detailed his scientific study of magic, and his magical advancements of science.
Harry understood them.
Oh, the books were full of ramblings, references to things Harry had never heard of, and random rantings (mostly against Edison, of course.), as well as notations of how he destroyed his labs to prove a device worked and so on, but the science and magical science bits? Harry could sus out what they meant, and it was FASCINATING.
True, he wasn't much of a school person, but being slightly dyslexic, easily bored, and mildly autistic (barely on the spectrum, but enough to cause some severe issues with people) was the cause of that. No, in reality, he was a gifted mind… but only in high-energy physics. Later on in life, he would distinguish himself in the fields of potions (to Snape's dismay), arithmancy, quidditch, and DADA, but that was just because they were science-related and in need of updated methodologies, for the first two, and exciting for the second pair. BUT, in the area of High-Energy, Quantum, or Fundamental Force Physics? He was PHENOMENAL!
During his first ride to Hogwarts, not only did he learn two years worth of college material on those subjects, but he struck up a solid friendship with SWOT Hermione Granger and budding arithmancer Daphne Greengrass. The next year, Luna Lovegood (magi-zoologist and reporter) and Colin Creevey (photographer, chronicler, and stenographer/scrawl-translator) would join, and the year after they would draw the attention of the Weasley Twins (experimenters, innovators, and most importantly, businessmen), and together (and with the help of the notes of Nicolas and Perennial Flamel, who would join in pen correspondence mere months after Harry made it to Hogwarts. Upon reading about them in a book on revered magical researchers, he would write them right away with questions on magical study of transmutation and the science of the same.) they would form the Consortium of Magical Innovators, create the study of magitech, and boost the wizarding world to the future!