Beta: Audiodelus
Chapter 2. Preparations
Dudley Dursley, Privet Drive 4. August, 4.
Dudley Dursley was left alone with Harry and was going to use this opportunity to pay back the 'freak' for the pig's tail and the humiliation, to put him back at his place. At least, that was what Dudley told himself and what he wished to believe. The truth was much simpler - Dudley was becoming jealous.
Harry got himself personal IS, potential fame as the single male pilot, magical abilities and was becoming healthier with every day as if his fixed eyesight wasn't enough of a gift. Even more infuriating was the fact that Dudley's parents started ignoring the 'freak' and prevented Dudley from interacting with Harry either, as if he could do something to Dudley. So Dudley wanted to somehow show that he was more important, that he was better and finally remove that spark of independence and confidence from Harry's eyes which had appeared the day Harry first used IS to protect himself from the beating.
"Seriously, is he thinking that he can just deploy his IS and fly away from us any moment he wants? He owes our family a lot for all the things we have done for him, how dare he think he is no longer under our control? Freak should know his place!"
Dudley was not yet sure what he was going to do or what he could even do against an IS but was already on his way to the cupboard when it opened.
"Just in time." Dudley thought. "Heh. Wait, wasn't the door closed from outside?"
-"Wa...ugh" - said Dudley, his words stuck in his throat. What had appeared from cupboard was Harry, except he was totally concentrated on reading the book in his hand, so much so that he was completely unaware of Dudley's presence and moving straight past him towards fridge. That was unusual - Harry would never read a book outside of his cupboard and was prohibited from using fridge without supervision. But that wasn't the thing that caught Dudley's attention. No, even stranger still was the football sized fireball hovering over Harry's left palm.
Dudley paled as he watched the burning mass of fire flickering silently in the air next to him. Immediately he remembered all that times he had confronted Harry, the mocking, taunting and occasional beatings - all of them flash through his mind as his gaze fixed on the fierce red ball wrapped in bursts of flames.
As Harry walked past, he noticed that every step and movement was resulting in fireball's bouncing and deformations. It looked like it was going to blow up any moment given the slightest chance. Dudley was experienced with various magic based games and knew that fireballs are usually used as some kind of grenades. They blow up on impact and blast in small kitchen won't be a good thing for his health. Keeping an eye on the floating fireball, Dudley tried to back away only to find that something cold was holding him from moving.
Oblivious to Dudley's problems, Harry tucked his book under his left armpit and took few rissoles out of the fridge to his pockets - terrible rule violation, before proceeding with reading material in his hand. Dudley never noticed. His gaze still on fireball in Harry's left hand.
As Harry walked back to the cupboard still reading, he slightly stumbled due to fireball almost falling out of hand and temporarily struggled to keep both his balance and the fireball safe. Unable to move, Dudley chose the next safest course of action - to pass out.
Right after the thud of falling body hit the floor, Harry immediately regained his balance and 'caught' fireball in a swift motion, not sparing a single glance towards the fallen Dudley behind him as he disappeared once again into his cupboard.
Harry Potter, Privet Drive 4. August, 4.
Harry was watching a video recording of his first prank and had troubles containing his laughter. Dudley's expression was priceless and Harry had planned to make a framed picture of the completely white Dudley pressing himself into the wall. Of course the prank had went too far, since Harry never intended to scare Dudley that much, just enough to make him wary and get out of Harry's back along with the rest of his gang.
Still, Harry needed a few training dummies so he could practise a few spells and programs and at the moment, there were no other targets except Dudley. The pranks were just a pleasant side effect.
For example this time Harry tested the unlocking charm -Why this one had been in 'Golems, Is It Really That Simple?' was beyond him- and the detection charm; good thing he is technically not a student yet.
Despite this, Dudley gave the highest mark to the 'Fireball spell', which was an illusion made with 40% of Harry's programming and 60% from a sample found in 'ECG Programming: Base Level'. If only he could make the fireball illusion feel like real one.
"Two months ago I would have never done such thing as this prank, I wouldn't even consider sneaking food from fridge, IS or not. Now I'm seriously considering just flying away. Is this because of 'Absolute protection'? It's too easy to become overconfident. I should control myself."
Albus Dumbledore and Minevra McGonagall, Hogwarts. August, 5.
-"Albus, you can't leave Hogwarts now. We have a lot of work to do: food, potion, ingredient supplies, staff meetings, documents for the muggleborn students, programs for new year..."
-"Alas, I still need to go."
-"I understand the importance of this research, but what about the school?"
-"Don't worry, Minevra, I will be back in two weeks, and during the whole time I should be in owl range if you need to contact me. Farewell."
With these final words, Albus Dumbledore stepped into the fireplace as green flames engulfed him.
-"You leave me with loads of work once more, Albus..." - said Minevra with a exasperated sigh. - "Let's get to it then."
As Minevra was checking Albus's table, collecting mail and picking up contracts, an owl flew in holding the newest edition of Daily Prophet, registered for the Headmaster. At the top of the page was the main header, one so distracting that it easily caught her attention.
"Boy-Who-Lived demonstrated unknown protective magic in Leaky Cauldron".
Daily Prophet, August, 5 edition. "Boy-Who-Lived demonstrated unknown protective magic in Leaky Cauldron"
July 31, during a visit to Leaky Cauldron, Boy-Who-Lived casted unknown type of invisible shield and used it to push few wizards and witches away from him.
-"It was entirely our fault, we all wanted to say hello to him or shake his hand, but there were so many of us that boy got scared." stated Mandy Hatlings.
-"That shield of his is something unique. I was trying to shake his hand, but felt some kind of solid barrier. Even air couldn't pass it. All I know is that I was pushed by it." says Mark Yasterby.
-"I don't think it is related to magic Mr. Potter had used to deflect killing curse ten years ago. Perhaps it is just a unique physical shield. Also a 'Push' phenomenon may be an independent accidental magical release since it forces objects away only in front of the boy, while shield was omnidirectional." commented Quirinus Quirrell, the new Hogwarts Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.
The main question is, just what was it? Was that wandless magic or wild magic? From one point of view it was too ordered and effective to be of wild nature. From other side, there were no incantation or visible concentration, quite the opposite infact and Mr. Potter's hands were busy. Could it be that it was some sort of artifact in work?
Expert opinion on magical shields. Page 5.
Expert opinion on accidental magic. Page 6.
History of Harry Potter. Page 12.
Article by Peter Nayade.
Harry Potter, Privet Drive 4. August, 6.
Harry Potter finished reading and put one more book away then sighed.
-"Looks like I will need to buy a lot more." he muttered under his breath.
The books on magic that he had bought were not as detailed as he would like them to be. The most useful book so far was on magical smelting and fixing items since there were almost thirty various charms.
For example; the book on enchanting contained around five hundred pages, but there were only a dozen pages that covered the simplest of runic enchants, a few on general possibilities and the remaining hundreds were about various methods of carving, painting, stitching and melding runes into material.
Why would he want to use any of those ancient methods was beyond him. Why couldn't wizards use chemistry to stamp or smelt runes into things? The enchants he found were not that useful either, ranging from permanent yet weak sticking enchants designed for hanging paintings, anti-leaking charms, self cleaning spells to basic sound proofing spells. It was basically information about scale, methods of use and general behavior. Nothing about how they worked or how to improve them.
Harry however, did find enough charm based enchantments to satisfy him, but charms ahd a lot of downsides. Their strength was directly related to the strength and experience of a caster. Most charms were far too complex for kid to perform or power. Charms hold limited power and can't be recharged, only renewed. There were few rare charms that would hold far more than a few years but they were considered complex even for adults. And most importantly any charm can be countered or canceled and no charm can survive heavy damage to a physical carrier. Runes on other hand could work for ages.
Harry recalled his first IS battle. It should have been a 'dead lock' with point blank range shooting, but his opponent's sword had clean sliced through his shield as if it was made of butter. Harry assumed that if he wanted to keep his IS, he may need to pass test again right before entering academy. He also anticipated that he will most likely have to face various opponents to show his skills and prove his own worth during his schooling career there. There will be too many battles where he couldn't afford to use butter-shields or other useless equipment, so magic would have to provide him with a solution. It isn't cheating to use part of your own abilities in combat, right?
The thought to check the specifications on Chifuyu's sword never once entered his head.
Minevra McGonagall, Hogwarts. August, 7.
Minevra McGonagall was reading a letter from her new student Harry Potter and frowning. From what she could understand, the boy had concerns about his magical education along with various questions that his guide had not been able to answer. Why had Hagrid been guiding him of all people?
And just what's his problem with brooms?
Then there were questions concerning the possibility of external education, personal education,alternative schools and something about a 'remote' education. The fact that the student had such a strong wish to be far from here and his low opinion of Hogwarts in general was distressing to Minervra. Lastly Mr. Potter wanted to continue his mundane studies for some reason, especially 'math', 'physics' and 'campu-something' related subjects.
More interestingly however, was that some of the boy's questions were related to muggle 'equipment' in Hogwarts. Apparently he wanted to bring some of his muggle belongings with him. On the pleasant side, Mr. Potter was highly interested in transfiguration, magic containing studies and the basis of magical theory; spell crafting. At least those were understandable and by far the most important in Minevra's opinion.
"Albus will need to see this letter when he is back from his research of 'void creatures'."
With this thought in her mind, Minevra started writing a reply.
"Dear, Mr. Potter
Unfortunately I will be busy for the rest of the summer and can't leave my duties, so you will have to ask some of your questions during the year or by owl mail.
I'm afraid I don't understand your concerns about our educational system, but I assure you, Hogwarts is best magical school in Europe. I will also inform you that there are no other English speaking schools that you can enroll so late except for some American counterparts. Magical education itself is a necessity, since untrained witches or wizards can do a lot of unintentional harm if left alone.
As for thef different types of education, only your head of house can assign or cancel your requested forms of education in Hogwards.
Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWL) exams can be taken at any time near the end of the year at a legitimate school or at the Ministry. OWLs are considered to be a sufficient level of education, but NEWT level is encouraged. Similar to OWLs, it may be requested through the ministry or taken near the end of the year at school.
Using brooms for flight is an ancient wizarding tradition and part of our sport 'Quidditch'. The Broom riding course is also a prescribed course. Even if you will be able to get some other magical flying device, I'm sure that they won't be allowed within the school territory and you may not leave school grounds without permission. The only time you can leave the school is during Christmas with authorization from your guardians or to Hogsmead after second year.
I'm not sure why would you want to continue your muggle subjects, but I can assure you, you will have sufficient knowledge of the muggle world from our 'Muggle Studies'. Any mathematical knowledge can be learnt from another course, 'Arithmancy'. Those two courses are additional third year courses.
You may take any muggle items you want with you as long as they are not restricted by school rules. But I'm warning you, that muggle electrical devices will not work in areas with high concentrations of magic. Hogwarts, Hogsmead and surrounding territories are examples of such areas.
Any more questions about our educational system will have to wait until start of the term.
As for your questions about 'permanent transfiguration' or 'transfiguration on activation'. There is such thing, but it is mostly in form of unique artifacts like 'Sorcerer's stone' or 'Hufflepuff's cup'.
I was not able to fully understand your idea and why a simple 'reparo' was unacceptable in your case. Despite this, I understood your concept of triggered metal 'regeneration'. Temporary transfiguring part of metal into 'dense liquid', moving from 'reserve' to damaged zone, then back into metal should be possible, but you will have to research further into magical smithing and smelting along with some kind of controlling charm or rune; easily acquired from the Hogwarts library. I must say that self-repairing objects is an interesting concept. I will be happy to help you and you may be able to use it as your exam project for your OWLs later in your education.
I included list of books on transfiguration and charms you might find useful. Due to Ministry orders we do not teach rune-based enchantments, only runic languages and their translations. You will have to research that subject by yourself.
Best regards
Minevra McGonagal
P.S. Your father played in Griffindor Quidditch team and was best seeker in his generation."
Dudley Dursley, Privet Drive 4. August, 9.
The latest events had taught Dudley quite a few things:
1. He was afraid of magic because it was magic. He could not understand it, could do nothing to it and thus was terrified of it.
2. So far, any direct encounter with magic had ended poorly for him.
3. His parents were also afraid of magic or 'Magicals' and preferred to ignore their existence. Of course they claim that they don't want to destroy their perfectly normal household by forcing 'freak' to deploy his IS.
4. 'Magicals' are crazy. Only a crazy person would use owls for mail, ignore guns, keep mice in his closes or practice fireball casting inside a small wooden cupboard.
5. And most importantly, contrary to his parent's beliefs, Harry Potter can use magic and is actively learning it if the fireball and some fixed closes and items were any indication.
As a result, it became a habit for Dudley to avoid the cupboard under the stairs and to move cautiously when near it. Unfortunately, this time Dudley was not lucky.
As he came near the door, the cupboard slowly opened revealing Harry who was holding an opened book in both his hands. Dudley perked up: "Nothing unusual so far".
Harry, still reading, had started moving slowly towards kitchen. "Nothing wrong. No visible magic." As he realized that the immediate surroundings didn't threaten him, Dudley calmed down to the point where he noticed that some kind of flashy moving picture was in the book. "It can't be dangerous, could it?"
Curiosity took better of him and Dudley moved forward and tried to make a sneak look behind Harry's left shoulder. Peering over his back, he recognized someone moving but could not recognize gender or activity just yet.
Deciding that he had nothing to lose, Dudley moved even closer only to be bumped by something light in the right ear. Too absorbed in strange picture to care, he pushed the 'offending thing' out of reflex further away and froze. The feeling of something small, warm, slimy and pointy all at once pushed against him. Dudley froze and slowly turned his head to the right. There, just behind and slightly above Harry's right shoulder, were three flying grapefruit-sized sized eyes. Two of the eyes were following Harry, reading or observing Harry's book while the one he pushed was one meter away currently staring at Dudley, it's wide mouth half-open revealing hundreds small teeth for the world to see.
Dudley could only stare back in shock.
Few moments later Creature started slowly hovering towards Dudley, it's mouth forming a creepy toothy smile, much like the one that a predator would have when it had cornered it's prey. As it hovered closer and closer, Dudley stood motionless, just following creature with his eyes, still too stunned to react.
-Flip-
Still unaware of the proceeding's around him, Harry turned thick yellowish page and then reached before reaching for the fridge's door. As soon as he did, the floating Eye blinked and as if by magic, was once again near Harry's shoulder, looking at the book, transfixed just like the other two.
Dudley, having nothing more to do, fell unconscious as the floor came up to meet him.
Sage, Privet Drive 4. August, 9.
'Report for later' №319
Registered Harry's energy being siphoned into ECG. Similar to the record №307 (August, 4).
But this time, energy altered the construct and as a result it gained few unprogrammed functions:
1. Blinking (construct has no eyelid).
2. Changable expressions including shock, glee and a feral smile..
3. 'Skin' wave like motions (high possibility of hypnotizing effect).
4. Construct's pupil became more detailed and fluid (high possibility of hypnotizing effect).
5. Construct showed some independent movements which was expressed in the non-programmed approach to the 'target' instead of restoring position next to the 'checkpoint'.
Included construct's code and video feed from gauntlet's navigational camera.
-Report saved.-
Harry Potter, Privet Drive 4. August, 9.
Harry Potter was examining the image of the big animated floating eye infront of him. He was proud he could animate the 'eye' with his limited skill in such a short time, but it still wasn't scary and still far from perfect. He was trying to understand why Dudley fainted. Was is not so scary for Harry or was Dudley so weak?
He hoped that switching from a potentially dangerous object to small supposedly 'magical' creature would be enough to tone the effects down, but it seem to only make things worse if Dudley's refusal to move due to fear was any indication.
At least he got to practice some useful spells;
Compulsion - Previously casted on book to gain attention.
Concealment - On rolled up newspaper to hide it's existance.
Confundo - On Dudley, while opening the door to hide incantation. It defined touch's parameters.
All what was left, was to turn on ECG illusions at the correct moment and touch Dudley's ear by consealed newspaper. Everything went to the plan except that Dudley managed to push newspaper away before turning his head, slight delay of illusion before returning and Dudley's fainting.
Was something wrong with his spells?
Harry shrugged. It was not important now, at least not today.
What mattered was that he received a response from McGonagall, finish reading and scanning texts from his collection of books on magic.
The letter he got from McGonagall had revealed that Harry will need to buy a lot of books from normal world in order to keep up with normal studies and that was a problem. Harry had no normal money and had no source of income either. He would have to pay 'Gringotts' a visit. They should be able to convert few galleons into pounds.
The Magical books posed a whole different problem. Good books on enchanting seemed to be rare, books with useful enchantments even more so. It was frustrating at how inaccurate, carefree and under detailed books he bought were. It wasn't helping one bit that the unholy amount of math remarks they were using bordered on the line of jargon.
Still, he managed to find few more useful things in the books for enchanting muggle items. Those were 'permanent sticking', 'mobilus' and 'reinforcement' from book called 'Enchanting muggle machines', a book that seemed to focus mostly on steam engines. 'Feather light', 'magic gathering' and 'anti-corrosion' from 'Various Way's of Flying'.
Other things like 'self-drying wood' or 'liquid filtering' were simply useless for Harry's purposes.
The few texts on 'Containing magic' were somewhat useful however. They gave methods on how to possibly store energy or disguise the tell-tale signatures of magically active objects. Also it gave few references on shielding something from active searches, different containing theories and explained passive and active enchantments from the point of energy consumption. However, there was still no luck with shielding objects from magic.
Maybe he could invert containing methods somehow? Rework anti-search shielding inward?
Harry's gaze drifted fromr the slowly growing to-buy list to the small rubber ball nearby that had been completely ignoring any gravitational effects for last two hours. He would also have to ask someone what he did wrong and why combination of 'reinforcing' and 'immobility' was that effective when he got the chance. Good thing he charged runes only partially and was not yet able to implement 'magic gathering', but he figured he would need to know it sooner or later along with runes for 'permanent sticking' and various deactivation conditions.
Albus Dumbldore. Somewhere in Europe. August, 10.
-"Albus! Old friend! Long time no see!"
-"Kirro, is that you?"
-"It's me, Albus, it's me. How are you? What brought you to this hole of a city?"
-"Time has not been kind to me Kirro, but I'm still alive and kicking and don't plan to go down for at least few more decades." - Albus said cheerfully. - "As for why I'm here, I'm seeking a local collector. He has few rare books and items of void nature. What about you?"
-"I'm just passing through. Planned to visit a magical preserve not far from here. So, what do you want from Sammy? May be I can help?"
-"Oh, so you know him! That will make things a little easier. And you may be just the right person to help me with my quest. You see, I seek knowledge on a certain familiar-beast, nor alive nor dead with the aspects of void, few commons and something... unknown."
-"An interesting combination, and it so happens that I may know of few. First of all, there are the various creatures born from pure void and ones from both magic and void. You can find plenty about them in the Alexandrian Library. Sammy's library has almost nothing on them, but he has few references on human created guardians that include the void aspect. Also, you may not be aware, but things that fall from the stars also tend to have an aspect of void. A bit different, but still void nevertheless, it consists of stuff like Void metal. And if you didn't know, that is exactly Sammy's current research project. Third place you might want to visit is under Moscow, there is laboratory researching void magic, Russia is off limits of course, but who said you can't write."
-"Thanks, Kirro. Your assistance is appreciated. Let me get you a drink and I will be back on my way."
-"You are very welcome. Oh, and one last note Albus, don't mix actual void and void magic. Those two are two totally different powers but are usually treated as one simply due to rarity. Tunguska showed that difference clearly. In case you are searching actual void and not just void magic, you will have to start somewhere else."
-"I was not aware of such a fact, thank you, and I believe I'm searching for powerful magical creature."
Tabane Shinonono and Chifuyu Orimura, workshop in Japan. August, 10.
-"Tabane?!" - called Chifuyu into huge Hangar - "TABANE!" - to which the only response she got was an echo.
Since there was no response, Chifuyu decided to use another approach. Sifting through the various items on the nearby tables, she selected one of the more complex and fragile objects and placed it on her palm that was raised above her head.
-"Ta-ba-ne, If you will not come out now, this device is going to suffer for your sins. I'm dropping it at three. O-one... Two-o... Three-e..."
On the count of three the unknown device slipped from Chifuyu's palm only to be caught by Tabane's hands, centimeters away from the floor.
-"It always works." - cheered Chifuyu.
-"Chi-chan, you are evil!" - whined Tabane and formed offended expression, but Chifuyu was not touched in slightest.
-"Sorry, but there are no other ways to catch your attention and I'm low on time. I just brought some documents you requested. By the way, why would you need documents and programs for military training? Especially on catching deserters and criminals?"
Tabane immediately reverted to her active and cheerful self.
-"You'll be surprised. It's our pilot friend from Great Britain."
-"How is Great Britain's military training program related to first male pilot though?"
-"They are not related, at least... not yet." - Tabane gave Chifuyu huge smile and snatched the mentioned documents - "You see, the plan with the social services gave some unexpected results." - Tabane paused for a second due to noise of the scanner.
-"The report I planted got marked as false as I expected, but it wasn't the thing that got intercepted. A social worker was sent to investigate but never reached the house, he returned to office and said that this was a bad joke." - Tabane had finished scanning and had started furiously typing - "I planted one more report, but this time used boy's photo with no address - just the general location and marked it as confirmed high priority. What I found- was this." - announced Tabane as she pointed to the video that had started playing of a social worker and policeman questioning people around Privet Drive.
On the video, both of the individuals were confronted by a strangely dressed person who then disappeared into thin air along with the investigators. The street was closed but nobody noticed a thing. A few moments later the two investigators reappeared alone and went back to the city like nothing had ever happened.
-"What was that?"
-"I don't know. But it looks like all the people somehow related to that document forgot about its existence, including the two you just saw." - Tabane finished typing ant turned to Chifuyu - "I have a suspicion that people questioned by social workers also lost their memories, but I haven't been able to check yet."
-"Curious. Got anything else? What about that strangely dressed person?"
-"Nothing. For all intents and purposes, he doesn't exist. Satellites spotted him as well as three more people who were watching over Privet Drive that day. Their general hiding skill is pitiful, but one moment they are there and the next, they are not.
-"Definitely some kind of organization with low moral constraints on human experimentation and high technology. But why those documents?"
-"That's simple~"- came Tabane's voice from under one of consoles. - "I just decided that one particular military base became a bit rusty and could use a fair amount of training by catching one of our nonexistent friends near Private drive, including a full region blockade and house inspections. Also I may use this as opportunity to download some reports I desperately needed from the IS."
-"Somebody innocent may get hurt by those villains. If they are experimenting on children, they might as well start shooting. Did you take that into account?"
-"Of course" - came her voice along with a slight echo, as if she was somewhere high in the ceiling. - "Firstly, the photo's will be a bit different so the soldiers will be reluctant to use force. Our unknown organizations on other hand will suspect coincidence since it is actual training or will suspect rival organization and spies if they find the photo. By the way, the observer's scan on weapon is negative. He has almost no metal on him." - Tabane's voice moved once again - "Secondly, communicational equipment is not unusual for military – acquiring a connection to IS won't be a problem. Thirdly, both Privet Drive 4 or boy will not be targeted, just be part of the check. The only thing that people higher up on the command chain will know that this is just practice and that the target either doesn't exist or this is a professional with orders to hide and resist, nothing more. And lastly, I have faith in these unknowns from what I saw. I just hope they will give me some clues and maybe even evacuate the region and take the boy with them."
Tabane was once again near Chifuyu who had a thoughtful expression on her face, the former nearly finished whatever had her moving around up above.
-"Unfortunately I'm not sure if I can trace the IS quantum beacon to their shelter. Ten days ago navigational software went haywire somewhere around Charring Cross Road. I satellite-scanned the region and the targeted spot it disappeared from view few times, but nevertheless I could not find anything. A military scanner may be more useful and I'm sure I have one at least in one location. Also, this time I will know exactly where to look."
-"So in the end you just want to shake their hive a bit."
-"Correct~" - came a cheerful voice from the speaker nearby.
Harry Potter, London. August, 11.
The hard part of getting muggle money for a ride was solved - one simple 'Reparo' on one of Dudley's long forgotten and broken toys along with one trip to the park and Harry had enough money for the ride to Leaky Cauldron. From there, things only became a lot easier.
Having been able to get to where he needed to go, Harry went about exchanging some galleons for pounds while confirming that his vault will be refilled from linked main account. A few hundred galleons later and he had enough to buy almost all books he needed, plus extra books for his second to fifth Hogwarts years. The only unfulfilled magic-related task was to get someone check his enchanted rubber ball - the people in Diagonal alley were mostly sellers, not crafters and goblins requested large fee for any consultations.
Next on his list were mundane items and so Harry found himself in the trade center, a floor dedicated to school supplies.
-"Excuse me sir."
-"Yes, can I help you?"
-"Um, I'm going to learn in boarding school focused on engineering and I would like to buy enough supplies for a whole year. However, I'm not sure what I will need."
-"I see. We have wholesale stationery department on this floor, where you can buy pencils, pens and other simpler equipment. I will guide you there in a moment. As for engineering part, do you perhaps know what exactly you will work with?"
-"Um… Mostly programming, project drafting and working with metals. I will probably need a microscope, telescope, soldering-iron, camp-fridge, two thermoses, few dozen rubber balls for my project and various lenses for precise work. I guess let's start from this and any other things we can decide on the go.
-"Ok. You can find some instruments for metal work just two stories up from here. For drafting, this is just the place. I recommend taking this handbook on design patterns, mathematical tables and lots of other stuff. I don't believe it's required by schools, but it's damn handy even for professionals. Then there are various types of graph paper. I doubt you will need logographic paper this early, but other types might be useful. And finally we have big selection of various drawing equipment here..." announced the shop assistant who then proceeded describing various types and pieces of equipment Harry never heard or even seen before.
Dudley Dursley, Privet Drive 4. August, 13.
-"Good morning, Mum." - Yawned Dudley as he entered kitchen.
-"Good morning, Pumpkin. Breakfast will be ready soon" - Said Petunia clearly indicating at Harry who was near the stove - "But if you want, you can take something from the fridge."
-"Thanks, Mum" - replied Dudley as he opened the fridge's door and took a look inside.
…
-"You know, I will probably wait for a breakfast" - announced a pale Dudley as he carefully closed fridge's door.
Throughout the day as well as during breakfast, Dudley was uncharacteristically slow with food and was double checking every bit of it while Harry in his cupboard desperately trying not to laugh.
Albus Dumbledore, reading book on Void, Alexandria Library. August, 14.
The most dangerous Void creatures are those that were born from the void itself and hold Void as their primary aspect.
They can't live, they can't die.
They simply exist.
Immensely powerful, often aggressive with wide range of abilities, they can pose a threat to anyone simply because there are no wards that are known to be able to stop them. Given enough space they can vanish using some form of void magic from where then they travel and observe the 'outside world' before appearing once more in a place of their choosing.
"That's concerning. There's definitely enough space in Hogwarts."
Here are most dangerous of them:
Archalex - as from Archon(king) and Alexo(defender), summoned or created for sole purpose of protecting his Archon. Deadly if provoked and never leaves his master's side. Matter created by void.
Atronach - form of energy being of the void, aggressive but loyal if correctly created. More like a willpower forced on energy, was created by Void Mages of old using unknown means. Can have mix of aspects alongside Void, usually capable of magic or telekinesis, but weakest of all in term of physical protection. Dangerous in combat due to high intelligence, but were used as commanders for other creatures and scouts for their ability to sense magic and emotions.
Void Golem – any kind of autonomous magical construct tossed into a Void realm. It is there that the golem gets charged, gains sentience and new powers. Void Golem is considered as Void-born because the Will of the Void gave it life. It has weakest intellect, magical powers and abilities but is among strongest in term of physical power. For those to fight it, be aware, its body is nearly indestructible for physical means. The Void Golem is the only void creature incapable of flight and can't survive for long time outside of void realm – In time will revert back to an item and all magic will be lost.
Void Elemental - Pure intent and will formed from energy, the 'Will of Magic' or more often known as the 'Rage of Magic'. Intelligent, strong and usually only possessing one main aspect and no secondary, but various exceptions are known. Can be considered very dangerous, since they have no damageable physical representation but can influence physical world.
Void Dragon - A mighty beast. Void Dragon's have a resemblance to the fire-breathing dragon only in appearance and abilities, but on completely different power level. They are energy that has gained sentience and it's own will. They are born where powerful magical sources and the void clash.. Overprotective of their territory and possessions. Void Dragon's possess almost complete magical resistance and can mark and transport items of its liking with Void. This beast is also known for traveling between void and matter realms, but rarely visits our own for extended periods of time. There are no records of slain Void Dragons in history, so there may be a lot of unknowns. Warning: Never touch an item marked by Void Dragon if you want to live!
Void Spirit – Yet another creature born in void, but this time of knowledge and information. A mere shadow of whatever living creature or being it once was. Usually calm yet intimidating, intelligent yet insane - no will of it's own, no target, no emotions. One spirit can contain memories of thousands living beings, their wisdom may as well be infinite, but never trust their judgment completely. Once fully formed in our world, they will start vanishing back to Void.
"Oh, I hope Harry's familiar is not in this list, but some of them fit description nicely."
Magic capable of hurting Void-born creatures is rare, limited to mostly that of transfiguration and fire nature magic. It is simpler to temporally strip creature of its power - the Void - and then kill it. Most Void-born creatures become gradually weaker when in environment with low amount of empty space or high energy concentration, such as under water, small closed spaces or piled rooms. Detecting them is difficult - their presence can be concealed by various space expanding artifacts and is almost nonexistent, but they always leave a lot of clearly readable Void traces around places they visit.
"It seems I will need to update wards back in Hogwarts."
Harry Potter. Privet drive 4. August, 15.
Buying all that graph paper and equipment proved to be brilliant idea. Holographic picture over paper, two hours of invested time and Harry had the perfect blueprint for original IS titanium shield with a carbon based passive cooling system. One more hour later and the shield got symmetric slots for various crystals and stones on both sides, concentric rounds for runes and place for potential 'control panel' on the inner side.
There were only two problems left: one caused by the recent discovery of white ashes instead of first rubber ball and the second: somebody will need to make this shield.
The first can be answered by new reading material and then easily fixed by doing some testing on junk metals. The second is up to goblins only. Creating shield at 'mundane' side will be too expensive and will raise questions, of that Harry had no doubt. But do goblins know what titanium or carbon is?
In the meantime, Harry decided that he probably should create some more mage-like illusions.
Perhaps even create something to cover IS parts in an emergency...
Dudley Dursley, Privet Drive 4. August, 16.
-"Pumpkin, please bring me the furniture spray." - came a voice from the second floor.
Dudley was currently in the living room playing when Petunia's request hit the home. Instinctively he turned his head towards 'freak', intending to re-address the task.
-"Har.." - started Dudley as a shiver ran down his spine - "-ry, ... d-do you know whe-re the f-furniture sp-pray is?" - Apparently looking into the two dark-green iridescent projectors instead of eyes unnerved him too much to talk straightly to their owner and even more unnerving to order him around.
-"Try locker in the bathroom."- said Harry returning to his cleaning duties.
-"T-tha-anks." - "Were those blue sparks on tips of Harry's fingers?"
Sage, Privet Drive 4. August, 16.
Just one more prank. I don't like the fact that Harry is tormenting his cousin but it's not Harry's fault that the textbook insisted on showing illusions to friends for some insight, right? And as far as I can see, it's not his fault that he doesn't have friends either. Who would want to become enemies with the local gang of 'good' boys? Dudley is only possible contact nearby afterall.
Back to the event processing: there was no more energy leaking into ECG, this time it was leaking directly into the eyes and as a result, I managed to register channels responsible for energy flow.
I immediately scanned them and all the energy layers around. The result was one more surprise for me and more reports to Tabane - 11 channels to each eye (My protocols will probably force me to test these channels later). I already counted 174 channels and it's only increasing. And that's just the outer layer only! What will I find when I get to middle layers of core's supporting environment? And what will be near core itself?
Albus Dumbldore and Minevra McGonagall, Hogwarts, Headmasters Office. August, 17.
-"At least you came earlier then you promised, Albus" - said a tired Minevra with bags under her eyes -
"And no, I will not allow you to go anywhere even for an hour. First you have to check and submit the new curriculum and then there are few house elves that need to be tied to Hogwarts wards. Afterwards will be the books and materials sent by Board of Governors, they sent few letters for you, just over here..."
-"Minevra, in two days I have an Wizengamot meeting, I need to be ready for it."
-"Then you will have to finish your share of work fast." - snapped Minevra in annoyance - "By the way, you missed this Daily prophet edition and I believe you would like to read it. This letter is from Harry Potter and we will have to talk about it later. You have 15 minutes before I'll be back with the curriculum." - with these final words lingering in the air, she left the office.
Albus gave a glance towards the newspaper and his eyes went wide. He saw article "Boy-Who-Lived demonstrated unknown protective magic in Leaky Cauldron" for the first time.
Five minutes later Albus was changing his robes hastily and thinking:
"Will need to ask Hagrid and Professor Quirrell for a full memory of the scene, Perhaps ask Tom in Leaky Cauldron for ward record books - unfortunately it's too late to check the magical traces. Finally,- check Flitwick as a mean to save some time, he probably turned the whole library upside-down and found something similar."
-"Albus, are you ready?"
Sigh. "But all of this will have to wait at least one more week". Unfortunately he had totally forgot about the letter.
Harry Potter, Gringotts. August, 20.
-"Mr. Potter, it is highly unusual to receive such a detailed blueprint on muggle paper and a request for a muggle materials from a hereditary wizard, especially so young one."
-"I understand you, Mr. Jawshredder, but I was raised by non-magical guardians and muggle things are commonplace for me."
-"That explains it then. But, why would you need such a huge shield?"
-"I'm making a golem. It will be able to wield it with ease."
-"If you want to hide information Mr. Potter, just don't say anything, but don't lie. It will be considered as offensive by Goblins." – Jawshredder glared at Harry – "So, you already have someone or something able to use it. That is fine with me. I was just curious. As for price, it will cost you an estimate of 20 galleons for first and one or two more per each copy since we will be duplicating it with spells."
-"Thanks for warning. I will order three shields then."
-"You obviously plan to enchant it and the additional shields are for testing the enchants, am I correct?"
-"Yes you are."
-"Very well, you see I'm familiar with carbon based materials – we keep track of muggle metallurgy. This particular alloy will support the structure quite well, but has lower magical volume and will draw magic to itself destabilizing whole system."
-"You mean that shield will either overload or I will need to use fewer enchantments? It can't be removed. It is part of cooling system."
-"Cooling? Not sure why a shield may need cooling, but it does look like this one can handle any usual fire for quite some time. Countering fiendfire with additional enchantments perhaps? Hm, doesn't matter. There are few fitting non-muggle magically passive metals I can offer. They are heavier, but cooling and structure support will be a lot more effective. I will just make the tubes a bit thinner, perhaps use one metal for tubes other for these plates. Will that be okay with you?"
-"Yes, it should be fine in such case, thanks. But why are you helping me to such an extent? Erm… What's your profit?"
-"Simple, I lose nothing. But you will need less time to enchant this, find flaws and then come back for the new, perfected shield. And you will come not once, but multiple times. I'm confident a better result will raise your enthusiasm, that I can clearly see. So by saving you some time, I will receive galleons more often."
-"Oh, I see. how efficient. So what of the final price?"
-"Due to the rare materials required, we will have to wait for my assistant to update our price list. Unfortunately that will take just a bit longer. Anything else?"
-"Um… I have one more blueprint for you. Here."
-"Interesting. Four hollow spheres with unusual mountings, each fit into other like a nested doll…"
Harry Potter, Privet Drive 4. August, 22.
Harry closed yet another book with a sigh. "I need to find some kind of page-flipping spell or device. Scanned text is convenient, but flipping pages manually is too slow and boring." Harry looked at his extended trunk and the few dozens books inside. "At least I don't need to read all of them myself, just selected parts and then collaborate them."
At the start of August after reading two books fully by himself and skimming through a third, Harry realized that books about magic lacked in nearly every respect: content, readability and more often than not, sense.
What can you say if some books had no list of content, alphabetical index or anything else to simplify search? Even references to other books were just stating names and authors, no page or chapter information given. Having already being used to highly organized textbooks provided by the IS, Harry scanned one book in hope to get at least a text search function working. What he found in 'scanned' directory surprised and pleased him quite alot.
The IS not only converted scanned images to text, but also organized it using some kind of pattern search. As a result, Harry got database-like section for books, authors and definitions. In the case that the IS missed something from definition section, Harry just needed to mark the word and it would automatically be forming new article with general info and references to all books or section with the word. Adding spells, runes, and enchantment sections was not hard either. Harry created few more patterns to add to the 'wand-movement' related text to spells, unrecognized symbols to runes, and finally; arrays of unrecognized symbols to rune based enchantments.
Having such database simplified his research on spells and enchantments tenfold.
"It's better to start on books for magical school now, may be even perform an energy-scan on some of them, so that I can use quantum storage"
Tabane Shinonono and Chifuyu Orimura, workshop in Europe. August, 27.
-"Well that was anticlimactic."
-"Understatement of a century" –Tabane replied dryly.
-"The Military went around the house as if it was a vacant spot. What the hell went wrong?"
-"I don't know. The connection with IS was also blocked. Damn house damps all radio signals and boy never left it today."
-"What do you plan to do?"
-"Try a direct approach probably. Boy left house multiple times, even disappeared, but time frame was too short to secure him and there were these invisible observers. I need more time."
-"You know it doesn't take that long to just grab someone and go."
-"It seems you are the one forgetting about the supposed self destruction this time."
-"Oh right… The first of September is soon, where he will be learning?"
Tabane checked her computer – "His relatives tried to enroll him into St. Brutus but documents mysteriously disappeared. Now he is registered for some private, nameless boarding school. I was not able to get location on that either."
-"Means some secret facility and we are pressed for time."
-"Yes. I can't allow that since I'm not able to trace them. We will have to take him now. Can you do it?"
-"I suppose."
-"I recently finished one shielded deep-sleep capsule, it should be able to prevent self destruction. Take it. Your invisibility function is already unlocked, but we will have to discuss other details on the move."
-"When do you plan to do it?"
-"Just after he leaves Little Winning, since it might have additional tracking systems and is probably known to the observers. Best scenario is to act when he is boarding some kind of transport, but it may be not possible until first of September."
Harry Potter, Little Winning. August, 29.
Harry Potter was currently running from the local gang. He knew of course, that they could do nothing to him, but he wanted to test just how his new rubber rune-balls would work in a 'Live environment'. Getting ready to act, he turned into deadlock and prepared few balls for throwing. As soon as he did, Dudley's friends appeared from behind a corner.
-"What the matter, buddy? We just want to give you a parting gift as a memory of our friendship before you leave to you school, aren't we guys?" – stated Malcom in a mocking tone, his words approved by gang's laughter.
Harry ignored them as he slowly backed into a deadlock. The gang following Harry while slowly surrounding him.
-"Or is the weak little Harry afraid of big, bad, scary us?"
Deciding it was time, Harry threw rubber balls at his 'pursuers', one at each of them.
-"Four." - said Harry.
-"What? Potter, do you even know what I'll do to you for this?" - started Dennis angrily and tried to reach the ball.
.
-"Three."
-"Especially... if... this thing... doesn't.. release... my... t-shirt!" - exclaimed Dennis, his rage turning to a panic as he found that now not only the ball was glued to his t-short, but it also was glued to his left palm.
-"Two." - continued Harry.
Dennis raised his free hand, collecting it in a fist as he moved towards Harry.
-"One."
Gordon, who had both his hands free moved to assist his companion despite having a ball glued to the lower part of his leg. Around him, the other members of the gang were busy trying to free their clothes and hands.
-"Zero."
Dennis's glued right shoulder started moving slower as he started slowly falling forward, left shoulder first. As he did, Gordon's right leg tripped and he fell forward onto the ground.
Everyone went silent.
-"Hm, surprisingly, that may even fit for combat." - noted Harry as he watched Dennis's lying torso and Gordon's still airborne leg. Turning around while muttering, he moved towards the entrance seemingly satisfied with the results. - "Good thing I made the immobility delayed as well as slow activating or they would have crippled themselves" - as he left he spoke slightly louder so the those behind him could hear. - "It will come off in few minutes as soon as the battery dies down."
At this point the boys seemed to regain their voices and started screaming something at Harry, but he simply went away.
Four minutes later the strange rubber balls unglued themselves and warmed to point where boys were forced to throw away or release the dangerous things. Pierce, being the more practical one, tried to search for them later, but found nothing. Only Hurry knew that balls turned into ash due to overuse of magic on the weak material.
Sage. Little Winning. August, 29.
Maybe even fit for combat? Does he understand what he created? I need to fix his logic and fast.
It won't be only fit for combat, it would be perfect for combat.
Cheap, undetectable by radar material, can be ordered anywhere, has an almost indefinite storage time and can be charged long before battle. It's too weak to completely stop an IS, but even in it's current form it can immensely help - just one small ball in hand, wing or leg means 140KJ more physical power to move it. Opponent's IS will have to re-balance power levels, even slow down a bit. The four minute time limit is easily acceptable for now.
And what if this ball was constantly turning it's "immobility" effect on and off randomly all the time? It would probably last longer and the IS will be forced to act like it's in a high turbulence zone, decreasing both speed and maneuverability to ensure stability. Add few more randomly working balls and your opponent will be as slow as turtle.
Worst case is that the opponent will be able to use some kind of energetic weapon to destroy balls without harming itself or use brute force to gather all of them and destroy them by pressure. Still, it won't be easy to reach them, and in some cases - impossible or atleast require time.
-"Notification: New weapon record added into Suppression section;"
That should do it.
Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flammel, Location unknown. August, 31.
-"Albus, you insolent child! What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you receive my stone?"
-"Sorry Nicolas, but I'm in dire need of some critical information" - retaliated Albus, who then resumed his musings. - "Like you will ever give me real stone. What I have is probably unfinished, failed or cursed example. May be even excellent fake."
-"Then ask your questions fast and leave my home."
-"A creature with multiple primary aspects, one of them Void, one or more unknown. No life or death aspect."
-"Huh? So you were also at the I.S. Introduction event two months ago? I didn't see you there." - replied a clearly surprised Flammel. "I thought you wizards despite everything mundane." -"Impressive girls, aren't they?"
-"What are you talking about?" - Not understanding what Flammel was going on about, it was Dumbledore's turn to be surprised. - "I need to identify one particular man's familiar. He is at fourth month of bonding and needs help."
-"Pity. There goes my hope that some wizards are at least aware of outer world."
-"What girls? Did muggles managed to capture someone or something magical?" - Dumbledore said warily.
-"Nothing like this and it is already dealt with." - said Flammel with mysterious smile "I will leave it as surprise for you, just half a century more and it will be a painful kick towards reality for wizarding world." - "Back to your question. I assume you already found some common info, so I will start with rarest creatures" - Flammel paused for a second, collecting his thoughts. - "What do you know about Ginnies?"
Dumbledore sighed, he hated these games. Well, at least if he was on the receiving side. He both preferred and was used to getting all available information when he asked in order to form a complete picture in his mind, not to play games of guesses and omissions. Of course, he himself was always trying to give as little information as possible at the same time.
-"Do you want to say, that they are of void and not of life or death?" - To his probe, Flammel gave a happy nod, as he liked doing this to Dumbledore - "Curious, but I doubt it's what I need."
-"You said you could not identify it, so I gave you the one with best ability to mask itself" - again in happy voice "And one not seen for last 6 thousand years".
-"We can't identify it, since we can't find it or its magical center."
-"Naxivetei may be? Sentient Void fog. It is a bit too huge to be seen" - Now Flammel was starting to become curious. With a willing or young master, the familiar channel should be easily seen. Finding familiars location shouldn't be an issue.
-"Maybe. Can it cause familiars channel to be directed inward in case it is in same place as its master?"
-"You could have said that part about inward channel earlier. No, you wouldn't miss a second core then. Come to think about it, you wouldn't miss any parasite's core either. There are few symbiotic creatures which can blend with masters body, and create an effect of inward channel, but they are living specimens. Hm-m." - Flammel was pacing through the room - "Anything else you can tell?"
-"Just that it may be more powerful then Flawkes, intelligent and overprotective. It also might be able to use magic."
-"More powerful than a phoenix?" - Nicolas's eyes clouded for a moment - "Unfortunately Void-borns are your best bet then. Nobody had a Void-born familiar before, far too powerful and alien. Servants - yes, familiars - no. There is just something completely different about them and all of them can be unseen if they wish to be."
