Wednesday, December 18
Making my way towards the Great Hall all alone once again, my fingers twitching lightly as I drag my hands along the wall. A light glint trailing behind in between the stones.
"Aaand... now!" I tighten my fingers into a fist, each of the threads attached simultaneously being pulled with them.
Behind me I can hear the threads going taut, and as I turn around, I see the now corridor of threads formed. Threads covering from one end to the other in a criss-crossing manner to prevent anybody from being able to get through.
"Perfect~ if I can set these up all over the castle, I should be able to trap anything that comes for me." Saying to myself as I send out a Cutting Thread to undo them. These Skills are genuinely amazing with the Rank Ups they've gotten.
[Thread Creation: Rank Acceptable(A): Active Skill: Can create different variations of thread]
[Thread Types: Cloth, Stone, Web, Iron]
[Thread Control: Rank Acceptable(A): Active Skill: Can manipulate and control threads. Range and Skill increases by Dex*2]
And with the increased ability to manipulate the threads with Thread Control I should be able to prep the traps ahead of me in real time. So even in the situation of something attempting to corner me in the castle, I should be able to block it off from getting to me, at least for a bit.
With that, I continue my way towards the Great Hall for lunch, having spent all of last night and this morning on practicing my Thread skills.
Entering inside I can see what few students are here mingling around, either chatting amongst themselves or diligently eating all alone.
With that though, I take a seat at the Slytherin table and begin grabbing something to eat. Starting of course with a sandwich of ham, cheddar cheese and mayo.
As I'm enjoying my food I can feel somebody plop themselves down next to me. Turning slightly and seeing that its Harry again, who also turns and gives a small smile before saying anything.
"H-hi Rin. Was it o-ok for me to eat with you again?" He asks, nervously looking at me for a moment.
"Hmm? Sure. Why wouldn't you be?" I respond, taking another bite of my sandwich and a drink of my orange juice.
Harry smiles softly at my words, grabbing ahold of some of the food himself and asking me another question. "Rin, why are you so nice to me? Aren't Gryffindors and Slytherins supposed to not like each other?" He asks not meeting my eyes.
I simply look at him for a moment, contemplating how to say what I'm going to say.
"Potter, what our House is doesn't define who we are." I begin explaining. "Just because we are in different Houses doesn't mean we can't be friends, and even if it did, I'd like to see the Professors try to enforce that. Trust me Potter, you and me, we can be friends no matter what the others around here say." I finish saying to him, watching as his eyes widen and a broad smile shows on his face.
[5 Affection with Harry Potter]
Oh wow, thats certainly good to see.
"Th-thank you... Rin." He says turning back to his food with a smile on his face. The two of us now eating in silence for a bit.
As we're eating, I see the Headmaster arrive in the Great Hall and take a seat at the Head Table alongside the Professors. Snape and Sinistra on the right side of him, with McGonagall and Hagrid on his left, the other Professors nowhere to be found.
Its not looking good with Quirrell still being gone, though they don't seem to have found out anything otherwise I would've been taken in by the Headmaster already.
As if realizing I'm looking at him, Dumbledore makes eye contact with me. An odd sense of both calmness and foreboding wrapping around me.
Swallowing nervously, I merely force myself to nod, quickly going back to my food. As this happens I can feel the Headmaster watching me for a brief moment, my Mana Sensing picking up his magic weaving its way throughout the Great Hall, seemingly inspecting every person nearby.
"S-so Potter, how has Hogwarts been for you so far?" I ask, desperately trying to find an excuse to distract myself from Dumbledore.
Harry merely looks at me surprised for a moment, before smiling and responding. "Its been great! Magic is so amazing!" He excitedly starts talking about the different classes we've had this past half a year.
"Charms is a lot of fun! Professor Flitwick is really fun in class isn't he? Though some of the spells are kinda difficult, hehe." He continues, to which I merely nod in response.
"And Transfiguration! Professor McGonagall said I'm really good at it, just like my dad was apparently..." Harry trails off at that. I guess talking about his parents is probably a no go.
"You ok Potter? We don't have to talk about them if you don't want to." I tell him, putting a hand on his shoulder as a sign of reassurance.
"N-no, its ok. Its just, everyone keeps talking about how I defeated Voldemort, and I can't get anyone to tell me about my parents." His voice slightly cracking at this. "The only time people will is when I do something they were good at, and even then they won't tell me anything more about them!" He says more strongly.
Heh, I wonder if I can use my knowledge to assist him in learning about them. Won't be easy but couldn't hurt to try I guess.
"Well y'know Potter, I spend a lot of time in the Library. Maybe I could try and find something about them, and if not, then I'm sure Madam Pince could point us in the right direction." Giving him my support in learning more about his parents for him.
[10 Affection with Harry Potter]
[Perk gained for reaching 50 Affection with Harry Potter]
[Lucky Man]
[Doubles the Stat gain for the Luck Stat]
Well damn. That combined with Natural Growth means I'm getting 2 Luck every week instead now. That's 104 Luck every year, meaning I'm gonna be incredibly lucky from now on.
Also, thats an incredibly strong Perk to get just for 50 Affection. Must be because he's the main character or something.
"Th-thank you Rin! I'll... I'll help you as well if I can!" Harry excitedly says to me.
I just nod along and finish eating, washing it down with a glass of water. "Well Potter, how about we head on to the Library then? See what we can find as quickly as possible." I say as I stand from the table, Harry following suit alongside me.
Anything to get away from Dumbledore's magic occupying the area. Its so weird how nobody else seems to be able to sense it, or if they can they're just so used to it they don't care to do anything about it.
Me and Harry begin making our way towards the Library, passing by a couple of corridors along the way where I set up some Thread traps in the ceiling using Thread Control and some surprisingly subtle movements of my fingers. That or Harry is incredibly unobservant.
Can never be to careful with everything thats been happening lately. Even if nothing happens now, I can always recreate these later again.
Finally we arrive at the Library, seeing all of the books piled high up in the various bookshelves all around us.
"So Potter, go grab us a seat and I'll go ask Madam Pince where would be best to look up well known witches and wizards." I tell him as I already start walking off, a faint word of acknowledgment coming from him behind me.
I make my way off towards the front desk where Madam Pince is sat behind and ask. "Excuse me, Madam Pince? Could you tell me where I could find records of well known witches and wizards? I'm helping Potter look over them." I say to her, watching as she eyes me up and down for a moment.
"...right this way." She speaks afterwards with a small sigh, standing from her desk and leading me off towards a different section of the Library, one where theres many of what seem to be newspapers and photo albums alongside the usual books.
"These are the records of many famous and respected wizards and witches throughout history. Feel free to look over whichever you'd like, but you will put them back afterwards. I don't want to see you children leaving them out where they could get damaged." She says sternly towards me. Geez, I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to any books, no need to come at me about it.
Anyways, I nod at her words and begin looking at some of the titles of the various records nearby.
1887 England National Quidditch Team
The Founders of Hogwarts
Hogwarts Class of 1962
Hogwarts Class of 1971
The Dark Lords throughout History
The Sacred Twenty Eight
Hogwarts Class of 1978
Ahah~! Those two are ones that we'll need. They should at least give a good starting point for Harry to learn about his parents.
I go ahead and bring both the Sacred Twenty Eight and Hogwarts Class of 1978 books back towards the table that Harry has sat at, setting the books onto the table as I do so.
"Here ya go Potter, this is the record of the students that graduated the same year as your parents, I'd imagine they're included in that." I tell him, pushing the Class of 1978 book over to him. "And this one is about the Sacred Twenty Eight, which are the twenty-eight most respected and pure of blood magical families. Though I don't think thats really worth something, as most of them aren't known for accomplishing anything. Whereas a lot of muggleborn and half-blood witches and wizards have done quite a bit for the world." Opening the book as I say all of this, examining the listings of each family and what they are most known for throughout the ages.
"Well um, thank you Rin. It... means a lot, that you're helping me." Harry responds, opening up the yearbook I gave him. His eyes greedily scanning up and down through the list of names listed there.
Heh, while he does that I'll just see what I can learn from these families.
Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillan, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Prewett, Rosier, Rower, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Weasley, Yaxley.
Hmm, while I do recognize a lot of these names none of them stick out as something worth looking into to help Harry. Although this could be useful in the future for looking into other families.
Reading through each of the families, only a couple seem to be known for any sort of noteworthy traits in their families.
The Black family being known for their exceptionally more powerful curses and Dark Arts, sometimes more so then the well known Dark Lords.
The Greengrass family, Daphne's family, is known for the blood curse affecting the women in their family. Most notably, the women that give birth having been known to die within five years of giving birth. I'll have to see if theres a way for me to help overcome that.
The Malfoy family, surprisingly being well respected for their abilities at Potions and Arithmancy, something that makes sense when you look at Draco's Potion ability being pretty good, and his fathers ability to handle money.
And finally, the Weasley family is known for the more esoteric magics, such as Curse-Breaking, Runes, and Divination. Not something I would've expected from the Weasley family.
"Hmm, any luck there Potter?" I ask him, giving an idle glance over to him, only to be surprised by seeing him enraptured.
"Potter? Er, Harry? You ok?" Asking him as I lean over a bit, taking a look at what has his attention.
Upon the page of the yearbook, sits a small moving photograph. On this photo is a boy and girl holding each other close. At the top of the page, above the photo is the title, Head Boy James Potter and Head Girl Lily Evans.
I see, he found the picture of them both and its probably the first time he's ever seen them. Especially since he hasn't seen them in the Mirror of Erised yet.
"You know Potter, I'm sure if you asked Madam Pince she'd be willing to make a copy of it for you. That way you can have a picture of them all the time." I reassure him, putting a hand on his shoulder to give him my support.
[5 Affection with Harry Potter]
[1 to Charisma]
Oh. I guess thats the Mental Conditioning Skill giving its support? Neat.
"Thanks Rin... I'll do that." He says looking at me as he stands from the table. "And I'm gonna start asking the Professors to tell me more about them! I'm tired of not knowing about my parents!" He says a bit loudly. Thats probably not gonna be helpful with Madam Pince but eh, I'm sure she's nice enough to look it over this one time.
As I'm thinking this Harry goes running off towards where Madam Pince's desk is, to which I can hear them talking for a moment.
And just as their voices fade off, another joins in behind me.
"That was nice of you Miss Fraener." The voice behind me says. A very familiar voice.
I turn around and am greeted by Quirrell, standing there against the bookshelf. His eyes looking at me piercingly before quirking an eyebrow.
"Hoh~? It seems your Occlumency has grown much stronger. I can just barely graze your thoughts now." He says, taking a couple of steps towards me. "But that isn't what I'm here for Miss Fraener. Come with me, we have much to discuss about what has been going on. And I assume you have much to tell me as well." A sly smile on his face as he beckons me to follow him.
Sorry Harry. You're gonna have to look into the rest of it on your own.
We make our way through the halls until we arrive back at Quirrell's office, the two of us entering inside.
"So, how have you been these last two days Rin? I can only imagine the questions brewing in your head at the moment with everything thats happened." He inquires to me, each of having taken a seat on either side of his desk.
I think on his words for a moment, deciding what parts I should tell him about. "Well sir, I uh, was interrogated by the Headmaster? And he kind of knows about my Game as well." I decide to say, keeping the information of Dumbledore having a System as well as the wand that Teddy made a secret.
Quirrell merely hums in thought for a moment as he watches me, to which I continue on. "A-and he said that I can't go down the path of the Dark Arts, otherwise he'd put me down..." I say, audibly gulping as I meet his eyes.
Quirrell squints his eyes towards me, his finger tapping against his desk as he thinks.
Eventually he speaks. "That is... unfortunate. I'll have to rethink a few things about how to teach you. But! There is still many things for us to work on in the meantime. Primarily, Dueling." He says with a light smirk on his face, before adjusting his turban.
Odd. Maybe Voldemort said something? Or it was about to fall? Just stay calm and collected Rin.
"Y-yeah? I mean, so we'll be practicing Dueling sir?" I ask, a bit of a confused look on my face. "I'd like to think I've done pretty good at holding my own sir." I try to reason with him, wanting as little to do with his teaching as possible.
"Heh~! My dear Rin, you may have done well on your own, but theres plenty to improve upon. Besides, there may be the possibility you'll get a Skill for Dueling. Therefore, its in both of our interests for you to learn to Duel anyways, so I can see how your body reacts to learning them." He explains, pulling a book from a drawer in his desk. "Here. This is a book I personally wrote on Dueling. I want to see if you can learn a Dueling Skill from this similar to the one I saw you learn back in the Lost and Found Room." He says, handing the book across the desk to me.
Taking ahold of it, the familiar ding pops up.
[Skill Book: Dueling Mastery]
[Dueling Mastery: Rank Troll(T): Passive Skill: Grants a 20% boost to all Stats when in combat]
[Learn this Skill?]
[Yes/No]
Holy crap! That is an busted Skill. I can only imagine that once its maxed in rank that it'll give a 100% boost.
Looking at Quirrell for a moment, I click on the Yes icon. After doing so the book disappears, its information being absorbed into me, letting me now have that busted Skill.
"Ooo~ very fascinating dear Rin." Quirrell comments from in front of me, having pulled his wand from his robes without me noticing, and seemingly been using it to analyze how the book is absorbed by me.
He begins speaking without even acknowledging me looking at him. "It seems as though when you absorb the book, its contents morph into pure magic, before entering your body and acclimating in a way so as to allow you to understand its contents and how best to utilize it." He explains to himself.
"Umm, sure?" I offer, shrugging in response to his words, not sure what else to say.
[1 Affection with Professor Quirrell]
"Hmm? Oh, no worries Miss Fraener. I'm sure you don't really understand these things, you still have a long way to go before that happens." He says, before pointing his wand at me. "Now Miss Fraener~ let us practice you're ability! Stupefy!" He shouts, firing the spell at me quickly.
[Magic Contemplation Activated!]
[Player has learned the Stunning Spell Stupefy]
Without a moment to realize whats happening, the spell hits me, blowing me back and onto my back as I skid across the floor.
"Gah!" Rolling with the skid, and managing to just bring myself to my feet. I pull out my personal wand and retaliate. "Diffindo!" My cutting spell being fired back instead.
As this happens I mentally begin preparing other attacks.
Four Magic Arrows prepped with Alarm, set to fire off at intervals of three seconds.
While those are set, I begin using Thread Creation and Thread Control with my free hand. Shaping and maneuvering the threads around the room quickly. Simultaneously wielding my wand with my main hand to continuously use other spells, from my usual Diffindo, to also using Incendio and Petrificus Totalus, all in the hopes of one of them catching him.
Even as the threads spread out and the Magic Arrows begin to fire, Quirrell just continues making his own moves. His spells firing off with an almost bored expression on his face as he stops each of my attacks. The threads being cut before they have a chance to hold on to him, and the Magic Arrows and other spells being blocked or just outright destroyed immediately.
"Tch! Fine, lets try this." Holding my wand tightly in my hand, and silently casting my newly acquired spell. 'Stupefy!' The Stunning spell flying off towards him while at the same time tightening my fingers, pulling the threads tight around Quirrell's right foot and beginning to pull.
"Hoh~? Not bad." He says calmly, his wand snapping downwards and cutting off the threads just as they were about to trip him up, just as my Stupefy hits his chest.
Only to be bounced off by a near transparent barrier.
"What?" I gasp out, not understanding what just happened.
Only to then be surprised by another hit of one of his spells from below. The spell blasting me up off of my feet and backwards into the wall. A bundle of rope lashing out towards me and pinning me against the wall in defeat.
I lay there gasping for breath against the wall, and hear Quirrell come closer.
"Well dear Rin~ that was certainly a decent showing! If I had to give you a grade for such a performance then you'd be roughly an Acceptable, which is more then I can say for some third years to be honest." He says, standing before me after a moment of speaking. "There was a decent amount of variation and creativity in your spells used and planning, though with obvious room for improvement."
He snaps his wand down and severs the ropes holding me against the wall. "Thankfully we have the rest of the Holidays to rectify that, and make you a force to be reckoned with." He finishes saying as he hauls me up to my feet unceremoniously.
Grunting at the action, I then quickly take a seat at the desk, wanting a chance to think things over and rest. "Thanks, I guess." Taking a deep breath to relax myself as I ask a question.
"Professor, why are you doing this? How does teaching me this stuff benefit you?" I ask him, thinking on why he could be doing any of this. "I don't think you'd do this just for me to perfect a specific spell or ritual for you. So whats the real reason?" I say resolutely, wanting an actual answer.
Quirrell merely looks at me for a moment, contemplating something in his head. That, or talking to Voldemort, which could be worse if he were to snap.
"Rin." He begins saying. "You are... slightly correct. While my main goal is to perfect the Horcrux ritual, I also know that by the time it is possible to do so, I may not be alive anyways." He lets out a heavy breath as he eyes me. "So, in the off chance I am dead, I want to leave somebody behind that can carry that goal instead. I am hoping, that you can someday be that person, Rin." He finishes saying.
[Quest Alert]
[Quest: Quirrell is worried that he may not be able to accomplish his dream before his death. He is hoping that you'll take over in the case of that happening. Will you?]
[Secret Objective: ?]
[Quest Reward: 100,000 EXP, 50 free Stat Points]
[Secret Reward: ?]
[Accept/Decline]
Thats... certainly not what I was expecting. I mean, I could kind of believe it but I don't know what to say.
"I... I'm sorry Professor. I shouldn't have, umm, pried into it?" Gulping down my spit as I contemplate whether to accept or decline the quest.
"You're fine Miss Fraener. I'd be more worried if you were just blindly following my words without questioning things. After all, questions are what allow us to learn and improve ourselves." He commends me, welcoming more of my thoughts and questions.
As I think on his words I decide to just wing it and accept the quest. No matter what, the 50 free Stat Points will at least make things worth it.
[Quest Accepted]
[10 Affection with Professor Quirrell]
[Professor Quirrell's Apprentice Title Updated]
[Quirrell's Apprentice: Player gains increased Affection with Trolls and a 5% increase in all Spell efficiency]
/
/
[Quirrell's Apprentice: Player gains increased Affection with Trolls and a 15% increase in all Spell efficiency and learning]
"Thank you Rin. And I'll be sure to give you the best training and preparation I can give you." A small smile appearing on Quirrell's face as he speaks.
"Now, its been a hectic day, you should probably head on back to your dorm and get some rest. We'll continue practicing your Dueling and other skills in here on the days we don't explore the Lost and Found Room." He says as he ushers me out of his office and into the hallway.
As I'm heading back towards my dorm, I think in what I've learned so far.
"Man, if I didn't already know better, I'd almost say Quirrell is actually a good person. With how he's been treating me around here." I say to myself as I enter the room, thinking and planning what my next steps will be.
"Time to bring out your best Rin!"
[Rin Fraener the Gamer]
[Title: Quirrell's Apprentice]
[Level: 155]
[Gender: Female]
[HP: 2964 Base: 2000]
[SP: 1920 Base: 1000]
[MP: 5444 Base: 4000]
[Str: 126(141)]
[End: 115(135)]
[Dex: 115(125)]
[Int: 361(381)]
[Wis: 400(425)]
[Luc: 38]
[Cha: 221]
[Cur: 5]
[Ski: 5]
[Cou: 5]
[Pol: 5]
[Wil: 5]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Level Points: 39]
[Perks: 35]
[Flaws: 3]
And thats another chapter people~!
Rin got a couple of useful abilities and set up more training for herself through the illustrious Professor Quirrell. I wonder how well thats gonna be going~
She also is fast making friends with Harry, which can only be a good thing to be honest. And I'm gonna let you guys know now, even though nothing noteworthy has happened, Harry has gotten stronger in between the time that Rin looked at his Stats. The idea being that Witches and Wizards grow stronger just by existing and learning as they age. It won't be by a lot since its only been a small amount of time, but as the years go by, the students will be growing from the slightest of things.
Now I also have a question for each of you: What's your favorite moment in Harry Potter? Whether its the books or movies is fine, just kinda wondering what each of you like the most.
Personally mines the movie version of Dumbledore doing the classic, "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" in a very much not calmly manner.
Blink, blank, and blonk. Caenis out~