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Chapter 21- Trolling and Seeking
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Harry's Halloween started with glowing words floating in front of his eyes.
Quest [Trolling the Troll] will be in Progress within 4:57 Minutes
Find and kill the Mountain Troll ( )
Kill the Troll without direct attacks ( )
Save ? ( )
Save ? ( )
Complete all objectives without losing Health ( )
Reward:
Special Event [Instant Dungeon]
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
'Well…now this is a pleasant surprise.'
The smile—that was just beginning to grow—however, stilled as his eyes fell upon the 3rd and 4th objectives, his face morphing into a frown.
The excitement at the introduction of an entirely novel system reward was still brewing within his heart, but he felt a strange tightening in his chest as he briefly floated the idea of those question marks being replaced by 'Lily' and 'Rose'.
His eyes flickered to the side, glancing at the over-enthusiastic Midget chattering away like a machine with infinite battery—the tears of that day long forgotten.
'I'll have to keep an eye on those two.'
Still, that did not take away from the fact that something new was about to happen today; quite welcome after the irritating last week in Hogwarts.
They were sitting at the Great Hall—now reverted back to its original form—waiting for the teachers to start the feast.
Looking at his twin and her friends sitting at the Gryffindor table, his mind briefly reviewed the past few days since his now-infamous duel with Cedric Diggory.
His Diffindo had sent the boy into a fatal state that day—completely natural, considering the spell landed on the back of his head—requiring almost a week of stay in St. Mungo's before they felt confident of the boy's survival.
Well…his survival without losing any memories or becoming a retard at least.
When Diggory finally joined Hogwarts again, the boy had made sure to take the seat furthest away from Harry—even sitting at different tables as they were—something that was not missed by others, lending further credit to the rumors against him.
Rumors of him being some upcoming Dark Lord first came into being when a journalist named Rita Skeeter wrote an article about him titled 'Saviour or Murderer? A sight into the life of The-Boy-Who-Lived'. The article never managed to gain any solid traction due to it being removed and discontinued merely a day later—he suspected his parents' involvement, though Lily refused to say anything except stealing sloppy kisses on his cheeks—but the few copies that made their way to Hogwarts certainly succeeded in fueling these rumors.
Skeeter even tried to illegally interview all the Quarter finalists that had been present in the tent that day—no one knew how she cornered them—but received nothing except mum lips and vague praises thrown at Harry.
'Rita Skeeter.' He mulled the name over, before finally securing it in a special corner of his mind alongside Mariette Edgecombe.
It wasn't that the rumors shredded his hard-woven reputation or anything—far from it in fact, as his popularity seemed to have skyrocketed through the roof—but the constant pointing, whispering, and begging for autographs made him remember exactly why he'd been so frustrated in the first few days of Hogwarts.
And this time, it was worse. Much, much worse. He even paid his seven victims a visit to personally make sure no one babbled anything. They hadn't.
Not everything was bad, of course. He did not mind one bit the gazes of admiration—and 'subtle' giggling winks, which weren't all that subtle—that he received from the female senior students.
….But yes, everything else was simply irritating.
Apart from the students, the teachers of Hogwarts had their own opinions on the matter. He received a cold shoulder from the Head of Hufflepuff for the entire week, with her refusing to even look at his practical work, simply scribbling down on her register when his turn came.
Thankfully she was the only one who did not take his brutal victory well. Flitwick had been bubbling with excitement throughout the entire class as he described to everyone how swift and accurate Harry's casting was. McGonagall gave him a rare smile of congratulations, along with a warning to not duel his peers, and if he did, to do so with less...intensity.
Snape appeared neutral over the matter, more curious of Harry's recounting of the insight he'd gained on Occlumency that day.
Both the Lupins urged him to not feel 'guilty' about Cedric, saying accidents like such were bound to happen, though Remus was visibly flustered when he admitted perhaps he should've accepted the surrender instead of pushing the fight on.
The one person who surpassed all of Harry's expectations was his mother, being visibly unstable as she flickered from absolute rage at Diggory to becoming a tender coo-ing mess.
Thankfully, Rose was there to bear the brunt of it, but Harry hadn't escaped the hugs of doom either.
Not that he truly minded, however. Yes, the hugging got a little too intense for his liking sometimes—though his mother always respected his space—but it was much better than being followed around the entire day.
A habit his twin seemed to have adopted, as he found out in the entire following week. He'd often compared the Midget to the pup he'd lost so long ago…but never had the similarities been so stark before.
After the events of that evening, Rose got it in her mind to follow him around whenever she had the chance. Somehow, she even convinced Lily— who convinced the Headmistress—to look the other way whenever she and her group jumped to Gryffindor table.
So now Harry could be found in the constant company of a waddling Midget who loved to chatter his ears off.
Then she had the brilliant idea to form a silly study group which everyone around him was strangely excited about—even Ron whose interest in study only extended to keeping up with them and not falling behind.
And thus it was that Harry found an hour of his evening every day being spent with seven kids, the tallest of whom barely reached his nose.
There were two reasons he did not simply walk out on it; one, the teary-eyed sniveling look the Midget shot at him. And two, it turned out to be quite useful for his magical enlightenment.
The kids who came from pureblood families were exposed to magic on a daily basis. There were things and subjects they knew that Harry was unaware about, and he made sure to squeeze them for every drop of info.
He'd been pleasantly surprised at the revelation of other streams of magic; Runes and Arithmancy prime amongst them. He did know about the Care of Magical Creatures, but Runes was on an entirely different spectrum.
He was even more surprised that his Midget twin was aware of Ritualistic magic that he hadn't been privy to till then…
Now he knew, and he wondered when he would get enough time to properly explore these magics.
His attention was brought down to the present as the Halloween feast soon started, the fidgeting midget beside him tugging at his shirt.
"Where are Hermione and Andrea?" She asked, distressed. "It's been over an hour now."
Harry frowned as something clicked in his mind suddenly.
Save ? ( )
Save ? ( )
He hadn't paid much attention to their absence, having focused more on Rose and Lily…but they were the only two currently missing.
His theory was proven true when the professor for the Care of Magical Creatures suddenly came running into the hall, the stomping of his feet silencing the merrily chattering crowd of students.
"Headmistress!" The purple-robed man bellowed, his short wavy hair bouncing with his steps. "Troll! Troll in the dungeon! I was bringing them to protect You-Know-What! But one of them escaped…I-I don't know how…"
Quest [Trolling the Troll] in Progress!
Find and kill the Mountain Troll ( )
Kill the Troll without directly hurting it ( )
Save Andrea Black ( )
Save Hermione Granger ( )
Complete all objectives without losing Health ( )
Reward:
Special Event [Instant Dungeon]
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
Event Time: 30 Minutes
Harry stood up, Marauder's Map materializing in his hand.
"W-where are you going?" Neville squeaked out as the teachers ran damage control over the panicking crowd.
Ignoring the boy, he turned to Rose, whispering close to her ears. "Midget, I want you to create some distraction."
Her eyes shone brightly, and a determined glint spread through her face. "On it."
He was a little surprised when she didn't ask a single question further, simply getting out of her seat and running to the middle of the hall as the Headmistress commanded the panicking students to return back to their dorms.
"But our dorms are in the dungeons!" The midget bellowed, one hand rising up. "You want the troll to kill all of us Slytherins! I knew you hated us from the start!"
The image of her tiny figure standing straight, legs planted wide, and an accusing finger lifted at Headmistress McGonagall as she glowered in rage, would never fail to evoke choked laughter out of him.
There was a moment of silence in the hall as the teachers gaped down at the girl, with the sole exception of Lily whose eyes instantly flickered at his original position.
But Harry had already slipped towards the Great Hall's door by then, and the incredible noise of protest that suddenly erupted from the Slytherin house helped complete his escape from her searching gaze.
Thus, with the Marauder's Map in one hand, and Holly wand in another, Harry started his quest of troll hunting.
.
The easiest part was finding the monster; the Marauder's Map led him straight to Torog the Troll.
What most definitely wasn't easy was keeping his heart calm when his eyes finally took in the twelve foot tall lump of a monster—with skin a sickly dull granite grey shade—its every step sending vibrations through the ground.
Its body was large and rotund, like a thick glob of water, with a small bald head perched above wide shoulders, like a pebble sitting above a boulder.
It was easy to guess how the fat lump could be heavy enough to shake the earth. Had it not been as grotesque and disgusting as Harry felt it was, he would've found it comical truly, the sight of a fat boulder waddling around, supported by two stubby little legs, thick as a concrete slab.
To add to its disgusting appearance, it was emanating the sharpest, most god awful stench; almost bringing tears to Harry's eyes as his above human sense of smell got a good and proper whiff. If all the human feces in the world was piled together, it may just come close to rivaling what Harry was smelling right now.
Yet, Harry couldn't find it in him to look down on the creature—figuratively, of course. For all his experience in killing, this was the first time he'd come face to face with a supernatural creature like this.
Feeling a little hesitation was natural.
But unwanted.
'Observe'
Torog the Troll
Age: 43
Level: 66
Reputation: Disliked
Affection: 35
Mana: 30/30
Health: 1580/1580
Stamina: 1200/1200
Stats
Strength: 170
Speed: 7
Dexterity: 5
Vitality: 158
Endurance: 120
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 2
'More than twice as strong as me...but ten times slower.'
It was quite surprising to realize that he was almost half as strong as this gigantic creature. Though it was just as unsurprising to know how ridiculously slow the creature was, compared to him.
The Troll bumbled towards the girl's bathroom, where Harry knew the subjects of his quest were hiding currently for whatever reason.
'Well…onto business then.'
[Gamer's Mind: Activated]
The intense sense of disgust and discomfort vanished away as the monster smashed the door apart with one mighty swing of its giant thorny club.
Stowing away the map, Harry advanced upon the troll from behind, his mind whirling through ideas.
'Indirect method to kill the Troll...'
His mind went through plans after plans, from levitating the monster's club and beating it with it to transfiguring the club into spikes and impaling it…but they were all dismissed as the most practical answer came to the fore of his mind, begging him to be used after such a long time of inactivity.
An absent part of his mind briefly wondered about the consequences of someone catching him using it, but according to the Marauder's Map no one except Snape was around to see him—and that man already knew more than enough to ruin Harry's future in Hogwarts.
Decision settled, his wand rose up to take aim in the same instance as two different screams erupted from the bathroom; one of sheer panic, and the other bellowing spells…also filled with sheer panic.
"Imperio." Harry intoned, barely needing to say the words before the spell snapped at his target, its thick magic resistant hide—that was eating Disarming charms from the other side like they were nothing—completely defenseless against an Unforgivable Curse targeting the mind, entering the head through its vulnerable eyes.
At once, the troll's body went taut, its lazy lumbering figure straightening up to attention as its simplistic mind lost its ownership.
'Get out of the room. Come to me...'
The troll moved instantly, doing a sharp U-turn and marching towards Harry with a straight spine, its incredible smell coming back in all its glory.
Once the troll was out of the bathroom—and out of the girls' sight—he shot a quick Alohomora to shut the door and issued his final command. 'Smash your head open with the club.'
It accepted without protests, not a moment of hesitation in its tiny brain. Harry was taught that a victim with stronger will than the caster could resist the spell—and having successfully done so himself, he knew it to be true—but the troll's will might as well be a drop of water fighting against the ocean for all the help it gave him.
And soon, a fierce match between Strength and Vitality ensued as the troll held up its club with both hands and brought it down on its own head. The single blow alone was enough to break its nose, its mind trying to slip out of his grasp and into the world of unconsciousness.
But Harry's hold upon him was supreme and he denied it the mercy of sleep. His command took priority before its state—physical or mental.
The pounding continued; again and again the club rose in the air and fell down upon its coconut shaped head with all its strength, soon changing its look from a spherical globe into a battered cardboard box.
The fifth hit managed to split open its brow and a stream of black ink trickled down his head. By the tenth, Harry could finally see some of the brownish brain matter through the fountain of black liquid cover.
The moment its health reached 0, Harry's hold upon the empty mind—now lacking any sort of will—slackened on its own, and the troll's dead body slumped down upon its back with a great rumbling thump.
Harry received no reprieve however, for its death seemed to be the trigger his system was waiting for. The entire world turned grey the next moment, freezing in time as twinkling words barred Harry's vision.
Quest [Trolling the Troll] completed!
Find and kill the Mountain Troll (X)
Kill the Troll without directly hurting it (X)
Save Andrea Black (X)
Save Hermione Granger (X)
Complete all objectives without losing Health (X)
Rewards:
Special Event [Instant Dungeon]
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
200 XP
Instant Dungeon [Troll Infestation]: Hogwarts has turned into a swamp filled with trolls. Clear the castle and protect its students!
Reward: Emerald Sigils, System Shop Trial
Time limit: 1 hour
Note: Canceling it now will end the Special Event.
His lips curled up as he realized this indeed was something new. The amount of promotion this Emerald Sigil was receiving from the system meant it was bound to be something great. This event will let him discern the exact importance of the sigils in his near future.
With a light breath, Harry clicked on the Instant Dungeon and hit 'Yes' upon the prompted message, closing his eyes as the world blurred into misty darkness.
.
The world recalibrated to his senses, and he could feel the air shifting with a subtle grace. It was a quiet change, most likely unnoticeable to most.
But to Harry, it breathed the air of familiarity. The slight heaviness, the sudden and utter silence, and the mild hostility…it was the clear characteristics of the Hufflepuff dungeon—only amped up to an even higher degree—than Harry had come to expect in recent days.
Opening his eyes, he quickly read the new text walls.
Special Event [Instant Dungeon] in Progress!
Clear the Instant Dungeon within half an hour ( )
Clear the Dungeon without directly damaging the enemies ( )
Save more than 85% of the listed students ( )
Save more than 95% of the listed students ( )
Don't lose any Health ( )
Note: All the occupants of Hogwarts are immobile and unconscious. All deaths will be reverted back on the clearance of the dungeon.
A timer started ticking down on his periphery; starting from a full hour. Along with it were two more bars, showing:
Time remaining: 29 Minutes
Students remaining: 500/500
Trolls remaining: 24/25
[Gamer's Mind: Activated]
With a grunt, Harry took off for the bathroom, implications of the new info hitting his mind instantly.
His quest was to save as many students as possible, while clearing the dungeon within an hour. And unless he wanted to fail the second objective, he will need to do so without directly causing the dungeon dwellers any damage.
'Some more Imperios then.' Harry concluded neutrally, his wand blasting open the bathroom door.
Hermione and Andrea were crouching at the mouth of the door—their bodies frozen stiff in the position they were in before the event's start—the former's mouth was open in a silent scream while the latter's head extended out to peek through the gap in the door.
"Leviosa." A quick swish of his wand and the two bodies rose in the air.
His plan was to quickly return back to the Great Hall and secure all the students inside—treating the Hall like a safe house. Its sole entrance made it much easier for Harry to keep the students alive. Once they were safely locked away inside, he could turn his attention to clearing the dungeon.
As he got back out of the bathroom—with two bodies floating behind—he noted the disappearance of the Troll's dead body. Sitting in its place was a blue crystalline orb glowing with faint luminescence; a unique symbol marked on its face with dark violet ink, looking like an interlocked 'G' with an inverted 'C'.
[Auto Loot Collection: Activated]
The blue orb leaped at him all of a sudden, disappearing in motes of light and being absorbed by something within him.
With a shake of his head, Harry continued forward, taking the upper stairs that would lead him out of the basement Hufflepuff floor, straight to the corridor that headed to the Great Hall.
When glancing up the stairs, however, he noticed the top to be slightly...preoccupied.
Two mountain trolls stood guard above the stairs, their clubs resting on their shoulders as they grunted at each other.
Aware of the ticking clock, he did not pause to form any plan, his wand simply aiming up in mid-run and shooting a quick Imperio at one of the trolls; taking active control of its mind.
'Get behind subtly and attack.'
Perhaps their meaning of subtle was different, for the enthralled troll leaped at its admittedly unsuspecting partner, its' club racing through the air as it fell upon the coconut head.
A guttural roar of pain and rage leaped out of the startled troll, its hand clutching its bleeding scalp tenderly, while the other instinctively came to guard as the club once again made a comeback.
Harry slipped past the tussling trolls unnoticed, his two loads of luggage floating beside him—voicing no complaints.
His mastery over the Imperius curse wasn't enough to take active control of multiple minds at once. What he could do however, was to give basic orders to up to two minds without the spell coming undone.
It had only been when the Curse reached Lvl 40 that he became capable of choosing between constantly controlling a mind or simply giving individual orders and being done. Even more fun was the fact that he could now decide the timing of the Curse setting off, what its limits should be, and how much freedom he wished to let his targets have over themselves...
The Imperius Curse was truly becoming one of the most versatile assets in his pocket—or well, in his wand—and Harry intended to use it to its full potential today.
His plan solidifying, he quickly gave the enslaved Troll a simple command; to keep fighting other trolls, and let go of its mind.
Hopefully the creature's magic resistance wouldn't factor in here, and its dumb mind was weak enough to not resist the utter bliss it must be under right now.
His job done, Harry continued forward.
But when he finally reached the closed doors of the Great Hall—his cargo floating beside him—he found another pack of trolls, a trio this time, trying to break inside..
Yet still, without breaking his stride, he carefully traced his wand through the air and launched a Bombarda beside one of the trolls. The booming sound and erupting waves of flames managed to catch their attention, and the three turned around as one.
"Imperio." He whispered towards the one at the very back, imprinting in its mind the command to start attacking its companions.
The troll complied, roaring out a battle cry and charging forth, its club waving high in the air.
Uncaring of the ensuing brutality, Harry shot a quick Alohomora at the doors and slipped inside the Great Hall, where the rest of the students and teachers were standing still; frozen and immobile. The Slytherins were all standing up in protest he could see, angry faces shooting accusing glares at the Headmistress.
Leading them all was the frozen body of his tiny twin, a barely suppressed smirk still shining on her face and a finger still pointing at the teachers accusingly.
He quickly dumped the two bodies inside, taking stock of Lily's immobile body that was just a few feet away from the doors, a panicked urgency in her gaze.
He placed her body beside Rose as well—in case the door was blasted open—and ventured back out of the Great Hall, closing it shut with Colloportus.
Then, he started hunting.
His recently enslaved troll was down on the ground, being beaten black and blue by its two companions.
Harry quickly took active control of its simplistic mind, guiding it according to his will.
The enthralled troll stopped thrashing and—heeding his command instantly—rolled away from its assailants, avoiding the next series of clubbing that fell upon the marble floor—sending deep cracks upon the surface.
The enraged trolls gave chase after their former companion, roaring their throats out and brandishing their clubs.
A lightning-quick plan formed within his mind and Harry swished his wand, intoning: "Periculum!"
Red sparks shot out of his wand, hitting the two bumbling trolls on the nose—not causing any damage, but successfully gaining their attention.
Both gave a confused 'Huh?' before turning to him. "Huh."
Another series of sparks made them flinch back, shaking their heads in anger and bewilderment.
That gave enough time for his troll to push itself up its feet.
'Engage one of them.' Harry commanded, shooting another red flare of sparks underneath the right one's nose before taking off.
As predicted, both the trolls gave an enraged howl and started bumbling after him, every step shooting a loud echoing thump upon the ground. Before the second one could follow more than a few steps, however, it was tackled by his troll, successfully dividing the two.
Harry slowed himself to a comfortable saunter, letting the troll keep up as he made his way back to the underground Hufflepuff stairs, hoping his other Imperius'd troll had won its earlier fight.
Unfortunately, when they reached the place—the troll a couple of paces behind him—all he could find was his slave's downed body being clobbered to death.
How the hell did it go from splitting its enemy's head open to lying on the ground, dead, was anyone's guess.
But the sight before him was clear as the victorious troll stamped its stubby foot upon the dead troll's chest, giving a roar of victory.
Trolls remaining: 23/25
Then its lazy sunken eyes turned to them. "Huh?"
Some form of intelligence glinted in its coconut head and it gave another ear-splitting roar.
Harry didn't stop his momentum as it waved its club in the air, simply sauntering past it like it were an annoying insect and climbing down the stairs again.
His searching eyes fell upon the two glowing torches stuck on either side of the corridor. 'Perfect.'
A wave of his wand and the two torches dislodged themselves. Another wave of his wand and the live torches transfigured into rectangular bars, with razor-sharp spikes—three inches long and burning with fire—jutting out of them.
When both the trolls started waddling down the stairs after him, he cast a carefully pronounced Glisseo, turning the stairs into a smooth slide.
With two bewildered 'Huh?'s, both the trolls lost their balance and slid to the ground face first—their heads meeting the bars of fiery spikes that accurately positioned themselves.
Gravity did the rest of the work and the spikes impaled their faces with a sickening sizzle, bringing upon them a quick but messy death.
Trolls remaining: 20/25
A second later, it updated again.
Trolls remaining: 19/25
'The other fighting couple died as well?' He quirked his eyebrows, realization dawning in his eyes.
Quickly removing the Marauder's Map, he confirmed his conclusion, noticing the names in front of the Great Hall having disappeared.
'Well, that's taken care of then.'
Giving a pleased hum, his eyes tracked the next target; Ogar the Troll.
.
The next twenty minutes passed in a blur of grinding for Harry. After killing his eighth troll with a rather clever—in his opinion—Obscuro charm; blocking his target's vision with a blindfold, who then proceeded to panic and fall down the gaping hole of the Great Staircase—straight from the seventh floor to the first—he realized he truly didn't face any threats from these trolls.
Even if he went ahead and tickled a troll's armpit—if he ever became numb to their awful smell—while standing still in front of its four other companions, he would still be fast enough to dance away in slow motion from the five clubs heading his way.
Their speed was simply too low for them to stand any chance against him. Halfway through his troll murder spree, he dropped his Gamer's Mind and simply enjoyed the killings.
With the company of his two oppressed bodyguards—Harry stayed far away to avoid the smell—no troll managed to put up any sort of challenge.
Floor by floor, Harry cleared them away, before finally just sitting back and enjoying the show as his two bodyguards—the last remaining ones—fought to death for the honor of being killed by him…indirectly, of course.
Morty the Troll soon managed to choke the life out of Ekon the Troll, before voluntarily laying its head down on the ground and waiting for the massive boulder—that he transfigured—to fall down on its face again and again until its death.
With a great popping stretch, Harry let his body relax, taking a seat at a nearby window sill to look through his totally hard-earned rewards.
Special Event [Instant Dungeon] Completed!
Clear the Instant Dungeon within half an hour (X)
Clear the Dungeon without directly damaging the enemies (X)
Save more than 85% of the listed students (X)
Save more than 95% of the listed students (X)
Don't lose any Health (X)
Reward:
50 Emerald Sigils
2 Levels
[Initiating System Shop…]
Harry perked up as a series of new messages popped up in front of him.
[Temporary access granted: System Shop]
Suddenly an entirely new window overtook his vision, obscuring the level up notifications behind it.
He tried to open up the notifications again but nothing happened. Even pressing the close button gave no response.
[Welcome to System Shop]
Frowning, Harry realized he was pretty much stuck here. And the only way forward was to go through whatever the system wished to show him.
'Well then...proceed.'
A new window with 6 tabs opened in front of him the next instance.
Equipment
Skills
Perks
Gambler's Luck
Information
World-Hopping
All the tabs except Gambler's Luck were greyed out to him.
'It's a trial version…of course.'
He simply memorized the other tabs, deciding to ponder upon them in further detail when he got the chance, before clicking on the only available option.
Five colorful banners erupted from all sides of him before coalescing together at the front to form yet another window of tabs, marked with alphabetical ranks: S, A, B, C, D
Once again, the only option available to him was 'S', with its price tag the exact amount that he'd just received as his reward: 50 Emerald Sigils.
He knew he had no choice but to choose it, yet his attention was taken by the small 'Details' button in the corner.
Clicking upon it revealed to him wonders that evaporated his growing discomfort away and made his heartbeat increase dramatically.
'Reality Manipulation', 'Staff of Merlin', 'Time Manipulation', 'Darkness Control', 'Telekinesis'…
The names of skills, abilities, items, and potions went on and on and on, all glowing with a golden glow associated with Rank-S. He didn't know what most of them were capable of doing, but he knew his lethality would increase dramatically if he received even a single top-tier ability.
Heart beating with a newfound excitement, Harry backed to the banner tab and quickly purchased the Rank-S banner for 50 Emerald Sigils.
Books, weapons, and potions swirled around him rapidly, like a tornado of treasures too valuable to touch. Finally, one book came flying out of the pile, quickly getting absorbed within him.
The next instance the world changed to normal—dumping him back in the dungeon—as he lost the privilege of the System shop.
He didn't care, his attention already on his status.
Harry Potter
Age: 11
Race: Wizard
Level: 59 (4620/4700)
Mana: 629/1210
Health: 760/760
Stamina: 560/710
Stats
Strength: 60 (15)
Speed: 62 (15)
Dexterity: 62 (15)
Vitality: 61 (15)
Endurance: 56 (15)
Intelligence: 106 (15)
Wisdom: 95 (15)
Points: 54
Harry ignored the level-ups, eyes searching for the new Skill, or Perk…before he found it. And his world slowly started dying.
Mutation: Pheromone Manipulation (Lvl 1)
And as he read through its description, looked through its potential—confirming his suspicion—he felt pieces of his soul breaking up and abandoning him.
"Why…" He whispered, closing his eyes. "Why…what did I ever do to you?"
All his hard work—shut up!—all his time and sweat—that he couldn't produce—every drop of his struggle…all for a skill that offered no help to his survival!?
Why!? Why couldn't he get one of those top-tier stuff!? Time manipulations, Reality Manipulation, Darkness Manipulation….
What the fuck was he supposed to do with Pheromone Manipulation!?
'Seduce girls and learn female anatomy…'
And what would that do for his survival!? Nothing!
Huffing, Harry reopened his tab, deciding to get some perks of his own choice, instead of relying on the stupid system.
He quickly put 5 points in Wisdom for an easy Perk gain, before scanning his stats to prioritize between Speed and Dexterity—arguably his two most important stats behind Int.
Finally, he chose the former and dumped 38 stats into it, hitting another century.
[Wisdom Threshold reached (100): Perk Unlocked]-
Choose one of the three options presented:
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Enables the user to come up with wiser plans in a short period of time.
:2 points to Intelligence per level
Magic Resistance I: User shall gain increased resistance against Magic.
:1 Lvl to Magical Resistance, 1 point to Int and Wis per level.
Magic Recovery: Allows User to recover 5 Mana per hour for every stat in Wisdom.
:1 point to Wis and Int per level.
Grinning slightly, Harry selected the last perk without hesitation. The first one was currently unneeded he felt—for he hadn't yet faced any situation which left him unable to quickly form a plan. The second one was still being experimented on, and he felt he was close to getting his third level in it.
The natural, and most rewarding choice, was Magic Recovery.
[Speed Threshold reached (100): Perk Unlocked]-
Choose one of the three options presented:
Body Flicker (Active): User can burst out in explosive speed to cover a short distance, leaving flickers of his images behind to confuse the opponents. Speed increased by 35% every flicker.
Skill duration: Instant
Skill cooldown: 4.5 seconds
Sprinter (1/10): When sprinting, User's movement speed increased by 25%.
Skill duration: 5 seconds
Skill cooldown: 1 minute
Explosive Dash (Active): User can burst out in explosive speed to cover a short distance. Speed increased by 50% every dash.
Skill duration: Instant
Skill cooldown: 5 seconds
Note: One Dash is equal to User's two strides.
After over five minutes of careful consideration, Harry dismissed the last two, though not without feeling a bout of sorrow. But the first option was simply too interesting not to choose. It could add a new, unique layer to his fast-paced style which might be exactly what he needed as of now.
Still, watching the other two disappear did not fail to twinge his heart a little.
But his gains were definitely more than the losses…except in that stupid Gambler's Luck—which he wasn't willing to think about yet.
To erase the twinge of hurt, he simply opened his system and took solace in his growing list of perks. In this one week alone, he'd managed to earn 4 perks in total; two here and now, and two on that very eventful dueling day.
Prodigy: User will have prodigious talent in any one skill set. (Will replace the Perk 'Savant')
:2x Experience gain to all the skills in a skillset of User's selection, 2 points to Int and Wis per level
And:
Stamina Freak: User's Stamina consumption shall be decreased by 50%
'Ahh…wonderful.'
His heart finally calm and satisfied, Harry exited the dungeon room happier than he'd entered.
When he came back to the real—unpaused—world, he found himself standing exactly where he'd last been, beside the dead Troll's leaking head. Just, there was no sign of the troll anywhere, and his former-luggage—now awakened—quickly scrambled out of the bathroom, looking this way and that.
"Where's the monster?" Andrea whispered, both the girls behaving all hush-hush, paranoid about a monster long gone to dust.
Harry laughed.
Over the next few days, both will keep needling him for the reason behind his laughter—apparently they'd never seen him laugh before—and the exact events of the day.
But never would they manage to get it out of his mouth—though both suspected he had something to do with the troll's disappearance—and thus, simply remained grateful for the mystery that was Halloween.
.
The days following his mutation's procurement vanished faster than greased lightning, and the little valuable free time that he still possessed soon disappeared under his twin's renewed demand for his regards—like a baby chick begging for attention—and the rapidly approaching Quidditch match.
Their study group was further enlarged with Hermione's addition, and each day his understanding of magic grew in leaps and bounds.
His companions buried their incredulity after watching him run through higher syllabus' a couple of times, simply taking it as something to be expected. While he wasn't friendly with them all, he felt fine studying in the library while sitting in their midst.
He was sure this might create some rumors when someone inevitably blabbers their mouth, but he wasn't concerned. Let the world think him the second coming of Merlin, he cared not.
It was untrue anyway. He was above Merlin.
Or well...he will be soon. With every passing day, his understanding grew and he came one step closer to that goal.
The theory that delved within each stream of magic soon began to correlate and make sense as a whole, though Transfiguration still became his most advanced subject, catching up to the Unforgivables' level. Within the time it took his first quidditch match to approach, Transfiguration was already sitting at Lvl 40.
When it finally touched the level, a most fascinating thing happened; an invisible button of understanding clicked in his brain and Harry found himself no longer needing a clear image in mind when transfiguring one form into another, his mind automatically calculating the finer points. With every passing day, he found himself pushing the boundaries of the main formula, needing fewer and fewer calculations for the simpler things.
It became almost instinctive really.
And thus it was—in the first week of November—that Harry finally managed to transfigure a brick into a fully functioning pistol, and pebbles into copper plated bullets encasing lead canisters and smokeless gunpowder.
Unfortunately, Harry wasn't yet skilled enough to perform permanent Transfiguration, and the gun didn't last for more than a couple of days before reverting back.
One of the things that Harry quickly understood was that every Transfiguration they were currently doing was on a very basic level...even he, having hit Lvl 40, hadn't quite managed to learn the true essence of Transfiguration that was meant to utterly change an object to its molecule level—making it permanent, unless a wizard purposely tempered or reverse transfigured it.
But he was still quite ahead of the rest—and by a large mile as well—having started on some of the OWL level exercises, which Lily had assured him was a very difficult feat for even fifth-year students.
Of course, while Transfiguration was ahead of the rest due to receiving a head start, the remaining subjects did not lull into stagnation. Ever since he gained the Prodigy perk, his already high talent received a major boost. Combined with his Lvl 49 Mana manipulation, he doubted there was ever a student who progressed on the path of magic faster than him...Yep, including Merlin.
By the time 19th of November hit—signifying the start of Quidditch season and their first match—Harry had managed to learn and level up most of the spells till fourth year.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing he'd been doing all this while.
The greatest thing about learning magic now—as compared to the month of September—was the ability to test his new skills to their full practical potential.
And while his day time may be packed, he found himself spending entire nights in the dungeon, recovering all his stamina with a gulp of a small bottle.
The month of November gave him enough time to do over a dozen rounds of dungeon busting, and Harry finally managed to completely clear not only the 2nd floor—with 5 accurate gunshots to the heads of the final Hufflepuff-controlled dungeon bosses—but also the third floor, where the opponents became dramatically more competent.
...And he had an intense suspicion that the fifth and seventh round would showcase this effect to an even greater level...
Yet, armed with a gun as he was, he found his lethality reaching an unparalleled level. Even when he was faced with two dozen competent wizards in the first round itself—all above level 25—he managed to make short work of them with two powerful weapons of destruction grasped in his hands.
The only real challenge came in the second round where—like each previous level—the room transformed into a jungle. This batch of opponents were smart. At least, smart enough to take cover behind vines and trees to safely take aim at him, and he was forced to rely on his Acrobatic moves more than he would've liked—experiencing a few very close calls.
Even though he knew it wouldn't be the end, at the time of the fight, the threat of death felt very much real to him.
This was where his new perk—Body Flicker—showed its true power.
Smart though they were, the young wizards had no answer to his flickering self that sped through the dungeon, the sudden banging shots being the only thing announcing their deaths as he traversed through the pseudo-forest like an actual wraith this time. A flickering spectre of death too swift and brutal to escape from.
Combined with his superhuman speed that now surpassed the 100 miles/hour threshold whilst mid-flicker, he was simply too much for a bunch of wizards-in-training. No matter how competent they may be.
It was here, in one of these dungeon runs—as he lay standing; marveling upon his might—that a sudden thought managed to intrude upon his giddiness.
While the thought brewed no small amount of discomfort in his heart, he realized that he could now easily kill his pre-Hogwarts self with little to no effort...
But the more discomforting thought was that his future self will most likely think the same of the present him six months later.
It evoked within him a very familiar dose of paranoia.
After all, even after a year or two, there would surely be opponents who could match the might of his future self...and what would Harry do if he met those opponents now?
It was a chilling thought that made him reconsider his previous stance on his mutation. Yes, manipulating the sexual desire might not work on every opponent on the field...but at least he may have a way to distract, or even bargain, with a female opponent if they turned out to be too powerful for him...
Moreover, its ultimate form at Lvl 100 was listed as Alpha level...sure, it may not be the highest level available in Gambler's Luck—and wasn't that a shame—but it was still bound to be plenty powerful...
And thus it was, the second week of November found Harry picking his target amongst his fellow Dueling team members—all of whom were female—to start leveling up his mutation.
If he understood his ability well—he believed he did—then it would be better to start with someone who already held some romantic feelings for him...
'Cho Chang.'
Over the last few weeks—with the Sage increasing his understanding—Harry had come to the conclusion that the reason for Cho's constant blushing and stuttering around him was neither due to any allergy—as he'd first believed—nor due to any fear...
It was because she wished to mate with him.
Well…maybe not that extreme yet, but her intentions regarding him were surely sexual in nature.
Something Harry was looking forward to exploring, even without his Pheromones manipulation. He would've already made progress towards it had his life not be so utterly jammed ever since he came into Hogwarts.
Still, he could most definitely make some time for the sole purpose of leveling up his mutation.
He wasn't truly attracted to the girl, he felt. Yes, she was pretty, definitely prettier than all of his classmates...except perhaps Daphne, Andrea, Susan, and Rose...
And she was certainly more developed than them physically…
The reason for his disinterest was not due to any fault of her—unless the females had some mysterious ability to control their physical growth—but simply because she couldn't hold a candle in front of Kara...or Melinda, or Agent Hill...and most certainly not in front of Natasha or Lily.
It truly was a shame that his interest could only be aroused by women much older than him, and he realized that could pose a frustrating problem soon...but not something he was willing to think about yet.
Cho would do well for now, until he grew up enough to attract older women...
Or until his Pheromones ability grew enough that he could seduce them, despite his age hampering him. And Cho could lend her help to prepare for that eventuality…
Thus it was, after a particularly tiring session of strategic dueling, Harry prepared to state his intention to Cho—having asked her to remain behind.
She accepted his request with a startled squeak and a deep red blush that extended down her neck...
Something that actually did manage to tweak Harry's interest slightly as he found his eyes traveling down her slender neck, observing the slight but noticeable bump on her chest, indicating her budding breasts...
"H-Harry?" Cho fidgeted under his stare, growing visibly distressed. "You wanted to...?"
"Kiss you, yes." Harry finished her sentence with a nod. "Are you ready?"
For a moment she just stared at him, uncomprehending.
Then her eyes slowly widened and she squeaked out a loud, "What!? I-I mean...Oh!"
She snapped her head down at her feet, visibly flustered and panicking, her restless hands not doing what to do.
He activated his mutation.
[Pheromone Manipulation] Lvl 1
He instinctively got a feel from her, and he realized he'd horribly misjudged the ability. It wasn't simply a passive hormones-enhancer as he'd first believed.
No, it was something entirely different.
Different than anything he'd ever felt before in fact, almost like he'd grown a new sensory organ out of nowhere; a combination of smell, touch, and taste all at once...
And all currently directed on Cho's body. There were multiple signals he could read from her, and his mutation quickly sorted it out, recalibrating it to the language he understood.
All the pheromones her body was currently producing were stark naked to his senses.
Her arousal…so clear to him, but completely unfamiliar to her.
This was actually the first time she'd engaged in anything sexual in nature—Harry soon concluded—smelling her nervousness at experiencing something so novel, something she'd always dreamed about in her mind, and it just happened to be her crush—the exact person she'd always dreamed about—that made her experience it...
But encasing all of this within itself was panic. Panic at experiencing something so wild that she'd only ever dared dream about it. Her dirty little secret—buried deep within the private corner of her mind—the memories of her lying in bed with her door shut, a finger pleasuring herself, pretending it was something different….
It was all supposed to be a dream.
Cho was panicking now.
And panic was something much more familiar to her…managing to fight the arousal to a standstill...
That is, until it gained reinforcement.
At Level 1, Harry found that all his mutation could do as of now was to send a weak wave of sex pheromones, increasing the arousal level of a target by a little.
But that little push was enough for Cho to take a deep breath and stop thinking of making a break for it. She wanted to do this. She needed to do this…or she'd never forgive herself.
But…
"B-but you aren't my..." She mumbled, growing inaudible with every word.
"Hmm?" Harry asked, taking a step closer.
"W-will you be my boyfriend then?" She mumbled again.
"Boy-friend?" Harry cocked his head, puzzled. "Am I not already?"
While he wouldn't consider her a friend at the level of Andrea, she was still a companion that he spent time with on a regular basis.
"Y-you you are!?" Cho exclaimed, her narrow monolid eyes widening. "I-I mean…of course!"
"Well then…let us start."
Ignoring her startled yelp, he took a hold of her chin with one hand, lowering himself by quite a bit to finally reach her lips.
She simply stood on the spot, frozen, as his lips finally met hers, his senses picking up a major spike in arousal as he began kissing her.
Her lips were soft, tender, warm and quite unresponsive.
Instead of enjoying his first kiss, Harry was getting irritated…especially when their noses collided in the midst.
[Skill Created: Kissing] Lvl 1
[Skill Leveled Up: Pheromone Manipulation] Lvl 2
Newborn instincts kicked in and he automatically adjusted his stance, tilting his head slightly to make more contact with her lips.
In his self-given quest of educating himself on sexual intercourse through the internet, he'd found that a kiss was supposed to mark a special relationship between male and female, brewing thoughts of affection and attachment.
Either he'd done something horribly wrong or Harry simply wasn't capable of feeling affection and attachment for a being whose loyalty wasn't unquestionable yet. For the only thing he felt for Cho was a slowly growing lust, and his wandering hands were the proof of it.
The girl once again stiffened in his arms as his hands cupped her palm-sized breasts through her Hogwarts uniform, pressing and getting a good, nice feel.
Her stiffening worsened as his movements grew more rapid and forceful, his mouth leaving hers to trial downwards; biting and sucking on her neck, fingers trying to unbutton her uniform.
"…I-I don't…think…" She broke away suddenly, eyes wide and body shaking.
Then she whirled around and took off, the sound of her feet slapping upon the ground, slowly fading away as she disappeared out of the room.
Harry blinked, confused. Her panic had quickly overwhelmed her arousal all of a sudden, too fast for him to do anything.
Yet, he didn't quite know why…at least, until Sage decided to offer its enlightenment and he felt his understanding grow.
'I went too fast.' Harry nodded slowly.
His goal had only been to kiss and manipulate her arousal…but her body had felt so soft and inviting within his arms that he'd let himself get a little handsy.
'Hmm…well, a good experiment nonetheless.'
Plus, he finally knew how to kiss! It was only a matter of time before he learned more.
Harry was happy to know he hadn't messed things up with Cho, as the next day she came to him herself—still blushing up a storm—asking if he needed her to stay behind.
And thus started his journey on leveling up his mutation and kissing skill.
While all of these events highlighted his life for the month of November, the biggest of them all was still the upcoming quidditch match. As they entered the third week of November, their practice sessions became drastically more tiring.
Quidditch was not a very physical game, so most of the time Harry's stamina barely dipped down below the 97% mark. In the last week however, Wood pushed them to their absolute limit, and even a game that was played entirely whilst sitting took a 5% chunk out of his total stamina.
Which may not seem much, but adding in his Endurance Perk, 5% of his stamina equated to the entirety of what his peers had.
The only reprieve they received was a day before the match, where Wood let them have as much rest as they wanted.
And then the opportune day was upon them.
.
They were gathered in the locker room, all dressed up and ready. Harry's Nimbus shined in his grasp, its polished wood giving off an alluring scent.
They could hear the crowd outside, the incredible electrifying feel of a very special day. The excitement palpitating the air was unlike any, surpassing the Junior Dueling matches by a large mile.
After a few seconds of silence in the room, Wood cleared his throat. "Alright, boys. Lis—"
"And girls." Angelina Johnson cut in, standing just behind Harry's right ear, her warm breath tickling his neck.
Frowning, he shuffled to the side.
A few seconds later, she followed.
"And girls." Wood acquiesced, taking a deep breath. "This is it."
"The big one," Fred cut in, smirking.
"The one we've all been waiting for," His twin cawed.
"We know Oliver's speech by heart." Fred whispered to Harry, "It was the same last year, every time."
"Shut up, you two." Wood snapped, eyes glaring with a zealous intensity. "This is the best team we've had since ever! There's no chance of us losing. None."
He took another deep breath, clacking the wooden front of his broom to the floor like a salute. "Alright, let's do this. Everyone remember the plan? Yes? Good. And Harry, are you sur—"
"I am indeed." Harry gave him a half-lidded stare. "I don't need Fred and George to guard me like a puppy."
The twins and Andrea snickered beside him as Wood held up his hand in surrender. "Alright, alright. You've convinced me in the last practice session, I have no complaints now. But if you're feeling…nervous, or not up to par, there's no shame in calling for the Weasle—"
"I feel perfectly fine, Wood." Harry cut him off again. "I doubt this game will last more than twenty minutes."
Wood chuckled. "Confident, good. I like it."
"Well then…let's go."
Standing in the reserves, Andrea joined them in their march out of the locker room and onto the field.
A loud wave of cheer from the roaring crowd drowned their world, and Harry could see Gryffindor banners being raised high in the air. The stadium was massive, easily as big as any he'd seen in America, divided into four sections according to the houses.
Harry's eyes took in a different banner in the midst of Gryffindor; colored according to their house shades, Harry's name was twinkling brightly upon the banner. It wasn't the only one either; he could see a 'Harry is our king' banner, a 'Harry Potter for president' banner, and a 'The-Lion-Who-Flies' banner that had his portrait stuck above it.
"That is…cute." Harry smiled slightly, noticing his group of friends and twin beneath one of the banners.
"Good luck, Ree-Ree." Andrea patted his shoulder from the side.
Frowning, he glanced back at her. "That one may be the weirdest yet."
"I'm glad you liked it!" She waved at him once more, before separating away from the group at the edge of the field, taking shelter beneath one of the technical areas—ready to fly in as a substitute.
"Everyone line up!" Madam Hooch—their referee for the game—gave a shrill whistle. "I want a nice clean game from you all. I've been given permission to ban a player if I felt the need, so be on your best today."
Quest [A Terror in the Skies II] in Progress!
Win the Quidditch match ( )
Win with a goal difference of 100 or more ( )
Win with a goal difference of 200 or more ( )
Win without causing any fouls ( )
"Now, mount your brooms! And take your positions in the sky!"
They followed the instruction, and like a single unit, 15 brooms rose up to the skies, quickly spreading out in the air. And like always, a euphoric sense of freedom bubbled within his chest.
"Lead Chasers, come to the middle for Quaffle toss!"
Angelina Johnson went ahead, facing off against Adrian Pucey.
The boy gave a nod to Angelina, eyes flickering at Harry for a second in discomfort.
Madam Hooch soon gave another shrill whistle, tossing the Quaffle high in the air and signaling the start of the match.
Both the Chasers went after the Quaffle at once, and he could hear Jordan's running commentary in the background.
"And the Quaffle is won immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor—what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too—"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry, Professor."
Harry cut them off, along with the roaring crowd, shifting his focus entirely upon the game.
His job was quite unusual for a Seeker, but they'd planned this ahead in advance. After realizing that Harry was excellent in all the positions, Katie Bell had proposed the idea of him helping out in the game until he catches sight of the Snitch.
The idea was quickly shot down by Wood, but Harry had become too enamored with it by then. Especially considering the Snitch sometimes liked to be needlessly petty and hide in someone's pocket for the first hour or two of the game.
In most of the matches, rarely would the Snitch show itself until the game had progressed past half-an-hour at least.
Thus the idea had been birthed; help increase their score tally for the first twenty minutes before going Snitch-chasing. It truly was a shame that a Seeker cannot handle the Quaffle directly, or Harry would've acted as a temporary fourth Chaser to really push their team forward.
Nonetheless, he leaped at his job with enthusiasm, his broom blasting towards his opponents.
How could someone help their team score without being allowed to touch the Quaffle? By being a nuisance.
The enemy beaters targeted him at once, completely ignoring the chasers. And with Fred and George ordered to stay away, Harry had full reign over his situation…
He tore through the air as the opposing beaters readied themselves to start sending balls of doom at him.
When the first Bludger came booming towards him, he had managed to maneuver his position with precision, walling up directly in front of the enemy Seeker. He didn't know the boy whose vision he blocked, but the boy would surely remember him as Harry suddenly moved out of the incoming Bludger's path.
The Seeker gave a loud squawk, his searching eyes shifting from the horizon and turning panicked as they landed upon the Bludger. But there was no way to avoid the impact, even with his slightly impressive reaction speed as he tried to dodge.
The Bludger took him on the shoulder, almost unseating him completely, while Harry flew off into the horizon.
"And would you look at that!? This is why they left him undefended! What a brilliant move from the Gryffindor Seeker! The Slytherin Beater is left scratching his head as their Seeker now barely hangs onto the broom with his nails…"
Harry moved on, the loud cheers of the crowd falling on deaf ears.
For the next dozen minutes or so, he continued onto his plans; harassing the enemy Chasers by blocking their vision, directing the Bludger at everyone, and even saving a goal by placing himself in the middle of Flint's shot.
The Slytherins cried foul but Hooch let him have it. After all, he wasn't actually handling the Quaffle, simply placing himself in its path.
That was no foul, as far as their referee was concerned. And that was all that truly mattered here.
With him playing a vital assisting role, the Gryffindor Chasers soon wrecked all three hoops of Slytherin with goals after goals. Their Chasers were often too busy avoiding him to properly put up a solid defense.
It wasn't only his flying skill that was causing so much problem for the Slytherins. It was also his broom, that was quite honestly, a very unfair advantage.
But then again, Quidditch—he'd realised soon enough—was a very unfair game. Especially school level Quidditch, where money made a real difference between each player. You could only hope to keep up if you either have plenty of skill…or plenty of money.
Unfortunately for the Slytherins, he had both.
And thus he continued his unusual form of harassment with a very high success rate.
Of course, there were rules that he had to consider when turning physical. While being an eye-sore was fine, he could not purposely collide with the enemy player. While mirroring a rider to give them a surprise bludger was fine, he could not physically stop them from dodging or moving in any way. And while stopping or redirecting a Quaffle was fine, he could not intentionally touch it or grab it in any way. Not even catch it upon the crook of his elbow.
So Harry had to stay careful at all times when performing these maneuvers. And he did so, without any problem.
Wandless magic was quite an asset, wasn't it?
Out of them all, he targeted the Seeker the most. He wanted to say he was doing so as a preemptive move to take out the opposition but that simply wouldn't be the truth.
The boy had usurped the Midgets position as Slytherin Seeker. The morose girl had tried to seem happy at avoiding Harry, but he knew she was sad to not play alongside him—even if they were in opposite teams.
And so, Harry did his very best to show how incompetent their current Seeker truly was.
He made fake dives for the Snitch, leading the Seeker upon a destructive path of collision with his own teammates. He made him a constant target of his Bludger redirections…most of the time having to plot with Fred and George; blocking the Seeker's vision and holding him in place with wandless magic right when one of them won a shot at the Bludger.
The boy did complain to Hooch about someone using magic on him from the audience, but apart from teachers she did not believe anyone capable of targeting a flying opponent.
The end of the match came quite anticlimactically. Their score tally was 90-20 when Harry finally spotted a golden flicker at ground level.
There was no way for his opponent to catch up, having placed himself too far away to remain out of Harry's range, and his dive remained mostly undisturbed until Flint decided getting a foul was better than losing the match, and physically rammed himself at Harry's side.
Harry's path did not change, and a subtle elbow to the stomach blasted the larger boy away.
With wind whipping past his ears like a roaring jaguar, Harry's Nimbus dived straight down at the golden flicker before it could slip away. Barely a couple of meters above the ground his fingers closed in upon the tiny ball of gold and he pulled away, bringing a quick end to the game and evoking an ear-split roar of cheer from the Gryffindors.
Quest [A Terror in the Skies II] Completed!
Win the Quidditch match (X)
Win with a goal difference of 100 or more (X)
Win with a goal difference of 200 or more (X)
Win without causing any fouls (X)
Rewards:
4000 XP
His teammates quickly surrounded him, utter joy and exhilaration upon their faces as they landed on the ground, all coming over to pat his back…though Angelina's hand lingered for a second too long, making him wonder if it was anything related to that day.
Still, the celebratory mood quickly eclipsed everything else and they soon retired back to the locker room to properly enjoy the fine day.
At the end of the day, when all began dragging their exhausted bodies back to their dorms, Harry cornered Katie, delivering the same offer as Cho.
"But...aren't you with Cho?" She whispered, her widened-eyed narrowing down in suspicion.
Harry blinked, utterly bewildered. "No? I am with you."
He glanced back just to confirm. Nope, they were alone.
"Oh...it's just that she was going around bragging in the class about kissing you..." Katie shrugged, a hesitant smile curving up on her face as her cheeks went a familiar shade of red. "Well, it's none of my business."
She giggled, letting herself be taken in his arms.
They spent the next two hours snogging in the corridors, and Harry managed to progress as far as getting her to remove her shirt. Unfortunately, she was wearing a white camisole underneath and it was too late to explore further.
Fortunately, the little peek that he got let him know that she was definitely more developed than Cho. Her breasts filled up his hands comfortably, and his fingers dug into the bouncy flesh of her butt when he gave it a good squeeze, unlike Cho's where he genuinely felt like he'd touched her hip bone through her butt.
She was definitely less hesitant about what she wanted as well, and Harry found himself enjoying his session with Katie much more than Cho.
That didn't mean he let go of the latter of course.
Over the next couple of weeks, he thoroughly experimented with his mutation. The rapidly growing Kissing skill was just a side effect, nothing more.
And between regularly snogging two girls—though Katie wanted to keep it a secret, which was weird—progressing further in magic, busting some more dungeons, November passed for him as quickly as it had come.
.
The month of December brought Harry an unexpected visitor. He'd been in the middle of the Defense class when the summons came, a 3rd year student acting as his messenger.
"Sir, the Headmistress is asking for Harry Potter. She said it is very urgent."
Snape's eyes flickered once, before he gave a curt nod and waved him off. "Potter, out."
Harry quickly packed his things, ignoring the curious questions from his companions, before taking off with the boy in a quick march.
"Any reason?" Harry asked the boy absently, wondering about any rule breaking he'd done recently.
Well...there were too many to count, but the ones others knew about were low. As low as none, in fact.
"What? Oh! N-no sir...I mean...ahh...Potter." The boy babbled, struggling to keep up.
Two years older he may be, but Harry was still taller.
The boy left him upon reaching the Gargoyle corridor...giving him the password 'Sherbet Lemon'.
A little unusual, considering the headmistress' personality, but It was his first time here so he reserved his judgment. For all he knew it could be permanent, passed down since the age of the founders.
'Did they even have anything resembling Sherbet Lemon then?'
All such thoughts deserted him soon, as he went up through the moving staircase, traversing through the Gargoyle corridor to come face to face with the statue of Griffin.
"Sherbet Lemon." Harry announced, and the statue moved aside.
The moment he stepped inside, a shower of shocks wrecked his mind; some welcome and some very unwelcome.
[Dungeon Discovered: Gryffindor Dungeon]
He didn't have the proper time to react as his eyes fell upon the one sitting behind what he assumed to be the Headmistress' chair.
"Ah, Mr. Potter." Minister Dumbledore's unwelcome face smiled, eyes twinkling from behind a pair of half-moon spectacles. "We were waiting for you."
"Harry." Lily whispered, quickly approaching him in visible distress. James was present as well, standing just behind her, giving the Minister a death stare.
"That will be all, Minerva. Though if I may trouble you a little, an Apple pie for our American friend here would be quite appreciated, I'm sure."
He didn't even notice the headmistress walking out of her own office like a dismissed student as his eyes finally fell upon the last member of the assembled group.
"Hello, Harry." Ares smiled. "Or would you prefer Mr. Potter?"
AN: Done! Did you enjoy it? Yeah? Well let me know in the reviews!
Yeah, ik. Took a real long time to get this out. Was dealing with some irl stuff so wasn't able to give much attention to writing.
Now some thoughts on this chapter: The Halloween is over, Harry's got a new power, and he's already started playing the game. Hope no one's annoyed by him doubt-timing Cho and Katie. He genuinely doesn't understand why he should owe Cho any sort of loyalty. Does this make him clueless? Sure. That's just his character though, and it'll take some time to grow. You'll actually get a minor 'loyalty' arc hidden between plot soon.
Also, I really glossed over the quidditch match but doing anything more would've taken a lot of time and words. I'll write a genuinely complete match—with Jordan's unique charm of commentary and all—for his final match of the year.
Finally, Ares is here and there's some talking incoming. Comment down your thoughts and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
Till then, take care and peace!
My discord: discord .gg/9wpfysDGsz to discuss fics, chill, and see character images.
My Pat reon: www. Pat reon com/ Robs511 (No spaces and a dot before com) for anyone who wants to read upto the next three chaps of all my fics.
P.S: When's the next chap? I honestly don't know. Not even a rough estimate. 12 days is ideal, but it's been a real long time since I stuck to that lol. I can only promise that there'll be another update for MS in this month.
