Chapter 8
Beta: Podge
– Albus Dumbledore –
Harry wasn't quite what he expected.
He came to this school in what was one of the worst conditions he ever saw on a child. Suspicions arose after his first few weeks, and after some inquiry, what he feared was confirmed. He was physically harmed, though from what he gathered it stopped a few months before he came here. Regardless, it still happened.
Protected by the magic of his mother, he had remained alive. But not without consequences.
From his place near the walls of the moonlit classroom, he studied Harry Potter carefully. He found it, that arched temptress, after he failed to explore the restricted section. He had to chuckle to himself, as he was not the first person to have ever thought of using the cloak for that reason.
The Mirror of Erised was a curious thing. So simple and yet terribly dangerous in its appeal.
Albus watched as Harry stared at it, the boy's eyes gaining a brief look of wonderment, before he touched the mirror, seeming to have been lost in what he saw.
He could not see the vision that held the boy so mesmerized but it was not hard to discern what it was.
Then he heard it.
"Mum?" He sounded so confused, so alone as he pushed his palm to the mirror as if he could grasp what he saw.
He felt relief, and a bit of sadness. Albus could certainly imagine the vision. Harry in the center, just behind him would be his parents, perhaps flanking the boy. His father, alive and well, his mother staring at him with pride as they would smile at him, gently resting their hands upon his shoulders.
Behind even them, perhaps, were others…
Albus shut his eyes briefly, as he felt a kindred connection to the boy. Oh, how he understood the way Harry held his head close to the glass, one hand resting against the glass.
He wished he could go back to those times, before everything else. Before wars, before broken families.
Albus took a breath to calm himself.
"Well hello Harry." He said, walking toward the mirror.
The boy all but jumped out of his skin, whirling around to face his headmaster.
"H-Hello sir," Harry said, putting a hand on his chest to calm himself. "You scared me a bit." he ended with a grin.
"Strange how being invisible can make you ignore things around you," Albus said with a soft smile. His eyes twinkled when he saw Harry turn away due to embarassment. "So, you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
He stopped beside Harry, as they spent a moment looking into the mirror, enjoying the silence. Before it was broken by a voice beside him.
"I didn't know it was called that. Erised." Harry said, softly. "Desire. I show not your face but your desire."
Harry glanced at him, his eyes taking on an intrigued look. And he was reminded of being a professor again, as his student looked at him with eagerness to prove he was right.
"Yes," Albus said, a small smile taking his face again. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts."
Harry smiled, a bit proud of himself as Albus watched him tear his eyes away and focus on the mirror again. Harry Potter was a bright and inquisitive child, the reports said, but it seemed that the boy was smarter than his peers. Then again, his peers were 11 year olds, and wouldn't make the best benchmarks to compare the boy to.
"However, this mirror can neither give knowledge nor truth," Albus said, his tone changing as he wanted to convey how dangerous it was. "Powerful wizards and witches have spent years wasting away in front of this mirror, neglecting to eat and take care of themselves. Where once great and powerful wizards stood, nothing but husks remain."
And that is why we must remember that dreams are just that. Dreams. Now reaching for those dreams, now that is something worth doing." He ended as Harry seemed to transfixed on him, instead of the mirror.
"If you don't mind me asking sir, what did you see?" Harry said, as he turned to look at Albus.
As soon as Harry asked, Albus was caught off guard. He felt his gaze move towards the mirror standing erect behind Harry. He could see it now, the vision that had so entranced Harry, for there they were. His mother, his father, his brother…his sister.
His family, whole, alive and well.
The same as you, dear boy. He wanted to say, but he couldn't.
He was but a boy.
"I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."
"Then I guess I better get you some on your birthday." Harry said, as a grin appeared. So much like James. "Or I'll have to find some candy that you seemed to be so interested in."
"And I would welcome it." He could feel his own lips twisting to a grin. "People insist on giving me books, it would be a nice change of pace."
Harry took the invisibility cloak, and wrapped it around himself, making his way to the door. Before he left, he stopped and turned around.
"Professor, I was wondering." Harry said, a bit nervously. "I was wondering if you could help my mum through her…"
He didn't finish but Albus knew what Harry meant.
"I cannot do anything Harry," Albus said, as a sigh escaped his lips. "I have tried, but I could not do anything for her condition."
Years of trying and professionals coming in, couldn't have helped Lily's situation.
"I see," Harry said, sounding a bit tired. "Thank you for the time, headmaster."
"Oh and Harry? Try not to go through the restricted section again, Madam Pince will not be happy."
Harry turned, wrapping the cloak around his shoulders, and disappeared.
Albus had to hold in his laughter at Harry's sudden disappearance due to embarassment.
– Harry –
Ignoring the embarrassing last moment with Dumbledore, I think it went quite well. I think, but I couldn't be sure.
Either way, I was messing around with telekinesis for a few months now, messing with it when I had time.
And I found some limits that I had.
Firstly, I could lift roughly 2 tons and then I pass out after it.
Secondly, the speed I could move items at is dependent on the weight. Moving something big is more taxing than moving something small, of course.
Thirdly, it uses MP per second.
And finally, it seemed that I could somewhat levitate myself.
So here I was standing in the center of the RoR, as I slowly levitated in the air, before quickly falling down. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I felt tired. Really tired. Like my entire body was lead, and it was dragging me down. I collapsed but thankfully the room created a mattress so I didn't fall face first into the hard stone floor.
MP – 24/810 [180 per minute]
That low? That fast?
[Telekinetic Flight]
The user can use telekinesis to fly, glide and/or levitate.
Powerful, despite the cost of it.
And other than that everything else was going fine, the start of second term started and aside from the added training sessions for quidditch, everything was more or less the same.
I studied well above my year, practiced my spellwork, tried to level up my telekinesis, and made sure that I was always the first in class. Hermione after the troll incident started to follow me around and after a while started joining me on reading ahead, I've made sure to not have her learn about everything else though.
Then the Slytherin vs Hufflepuff quidditch match came along, the short version was that Slytherin won due to their superior chaser team, and while Hufflepuff had a chance with their Seeker, Cedric Diggory, he was constantly being pelted by the Slytherin Beaters.
"So do we have a plan?" I asked the team.
"Yeah, double down." Jaime said, as we started to exit the podium. "We already made the plans to counter Slytherin, now we just need to make sure we have that plan."
"We'll start training more now," Anna said, as she wrapped her arms around me.
"All three of us." Olivia said, as she hugged me from the other side.
"Right…" I had to say.
And that's what we did, and honestly.
[Riders Aptitude] (Master)
The user possesses great knowledge and skill in the art of riding, riding anything with natural ease.
The fact that I got the highest proficiency for it spoke a lot.
Probably due to the new perk because 'You advance faster in any skill relating to magic.' is pretty open ended.
– Peter Pettigrew –
Sometimes, Peter wondered just what he'd been thinking, camping at Hogwarts even after Harry Potter had arrived.
The son of the two people who he'd sold to the Dark Lord, and the godson of the man who'd been sent to Azkaban in his stead was attending the school and the most powerful man in the world was its headmaster. And like an idiot Peter had stayed there, right underneath their nose, when the smart thing would have been to simply run away.
But no...he just had to stay didn't he?
Years of laziness had dulled his instincts, lulling him into a false sense of security. He'd gotten so used to sleeping in soft mattresses and eating heavy meals at the Burrow and Hogwarts, that he'd taken a risk and stayed in hogwarts.
Also, if Peter had to be honest with himself, he was also curious. He wanted to see what kind of boy Harry Potter really was. If the dark lord rose again, he could perhaps use the information.
But that plan was stopped by the youngest boy of the family he'd been freeloading for all these years.
He didn't know how the boy knew he'd been hiding. But he stuffed him into a cage and started muttering about the "Wizengamot".
Naturally, he'd escaped. He couldn't just have left easily, so he had to wait and bide his time for the opportune moment.
Thankfully it came, as soon as the boy slept he opened the, thankfully, non enchanted cage and started running through the halls of Hogwarts trying to get to the nearest secret tunnel he could remember.
And as he passed the DADA classroom, he never saw the red light that struck his rat form in the back.
AN: He reached the Master Riders Aptitude because of the perk [A Sorcerer's Ambition] and he also had it at Expert so he was just one level below it.
Gonna do a time skip to the month of the exams since it's been really moving at snail's pace and it's 1st year so not a lot going on other than getting op which could be done in said time skip.
Also really sorry that I haven't posted anything, and this one is really short, I've just been really busy with school.
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