Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor the Harry Potter franchise. 'Stargate' and 'Harry Potter' both belong to their respective creators. No infringement is intended and no profit is made. I own none of the characters associated with them as well. I simply write for my own personnel enjoyment.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. No excuses except I was busy. Anyway Enjoy!
It took over an hour to convince Aragog to overcome his instinctive fear and that he wasn't there to kill him but to make a deal that would benefit everyone. Now on his way back to his secret lab Harry thought about what he had achieved tonight.
The Centaurs foals he had sent away were given a metal sphere that he had hastily created using some parts of his mecha-basilisk. It contained within a holographic recorded message for all the centaurs there to hear. When activated a hologram of his dragon mask would appear and repeat the recorded words. He had kept the message deliberately simple:
"A ventus est no , ut est etiamnunc futurus restituo" ("A favour is made…that is yet to be repaid")
'Let the centaurs go round and round in circles trying to figure this out.' Snorted Harry as he mentally guided his serpentine ride towards the castle. 'Let them have a taste of their own medicine for a change' thought Harry hoping that they would try to decipher his message to the extreme and draw inaccurate conclusions and be frustrated by the whole situation.
'Either that or I'm too tired to think straight' yawned Harry, his eyes drooping slightly in exhaustion.
Still his brian wouldn't give in and continued to think about the current situation. With this act Harry hoped that the centaurs would be honor bound to do something he wanted them to do. Actually this gave him a pretty good idea how to convince other magical beings to help him out in his plans.
That wasn't all that had been achieved. The Arcomantulas were now his to command. Sure it required a bit of theatrics but they would do what he told them. Harry already had many plans brewing that required the use of the giant spiders one way or another. Harry chuckled silently imagining the reaction Ron would have to the idea that his best mate now controlled an army of giant spiders.
'I would have to remember to make a video when I tell them about all this' thought Harry
His musing were interrupted when the radar scanner alerted him of something following him. Something that looked suspiciously similar to the enchanted Ford Angela that he had set free after talking to Aragog. Harry did this basically to repay the enchanted car for rescuing him last year from nearly the same predicament. But why was it following him?
Too tired to think about thing anymore, Harry concentrated and saved a detailed scan of the vehicle for later studying. That done, he moved his ride with a burst of speed towards Hogwarts and the warm inviting bed with his name on it.
He'd think about the car later.
He'd regret ignoring his metallic pursuer later.
Said metallic pursuer stopped and observed as its savior disappeared underground. It was curious about the Serpent that was not. It knew of the Founder's heir within the serpent that was not. It was also very curious about the heir of two within the serpent that was not. It had not seen any heirs for hundreds of moons and it had definitely not seen an heir so pure at heart. It knew that the others that are must be told.
The Ford Angela started shaking much like a wet dog does to dry. The shakes got worse until they abruptly ceased and a glowing sphere emerged from the vehicle and sped off towards the castle towards a room none knew of and none among mortals but the true master of Hogwarts could enter. It had news to share with its brethren. The time was ripe for a summon.
The recently abandoned car stood still for a moment before it started falling apart, as if the years of living in a wet and muddy forest for over an year had finally caught upto it, leaving behind a pile of rusty junk.
DADA Office
It was past midnight and in the office of one Remus Lupin a typical scolding of a student was taking place. Said student had been out of bounds past curfew time. While normally this would be a moderately punishable act, under the current circumstances this was beyond acceptable due to the fact that the infamous dangerous criminal and dark wizard Sirius Black was on the loose. It was worse when the student caught traipsing around was Harry Potter, the one that Sirius Black sought most of all.
So it was without a doubt that one Harry Potter was getting the scolding of a lifetime from the current DADA professor. It should have been worse because unlike any other typical behavior adapted by scolding teachers Remus Lupin had opted for the 'I trusted you to be smarter and now I'm soooo disappointed' routine and was doing a fine job of it as well.
All in all the combination of all these factors should have left Harry drowning in his guilt.
Sadly that wasn't even close to the truth. For Harry Potter was pissed.
Working nonstop throughout the weekend to save a bunch of arrogant horses and not having a wink of sleep during that time had led to a tired, irritated and grumpy Harry who had in his haste to reach the comfort of his bed had forgotten to use his invisibility cloak, relying solely on his Marauders map and as a result was unfortunately caught by the universally disliked Severus Snape. Snape had somehow recognized the piece of parchment and had tried everything in his power to divest the parchment of its secrets. All he got in return were insults from the marauders. Foiled yet again in something so simple and being insulted by a piece of parchment to boot, the ever furious man had forcefully led Harry to Remus Lupin's office where Lupin was fortunately successful in outwitting Snape and makng said potion master leave.
Unfortunately that had started the scolding mentioned earlier. Like always Harry would have silently endured this as well were it not for the fact that he was beyond tired, had better self-esteem then ever before, and Remus Lupin was the one man who had no right what so ever at all to say anything beyond school obligations.
"... but I would have thought that what you have heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for traipsing around the castle at night when you know better" scolded Remus Lupin not realizing that he had gone a little too far as far the student in front of him was concerned and so he was thoroughly shocked by the response he recieved.
"My parents gave thier life so that I could live" replied Harry gritting his teeth " live and not merely survive as most people like you expect of me. And exactly what has the idea of keeping me safe resulted in. My life has been in constant state of danger ever since I've returned to the magical world and before that it was nothing but abuse from the most magic hating muggles in all of England!" Here Harry paused taking a deep breath to unsuccessfully calm himself down before continuing " If I had kept my head in the sand like everyone expects me to, I would have died a long time ago!" Said Harry his anger finally diminishing but still strong enough for him to say his parting words " And of people, you Remus Lupin, have no right to talk about repaying my parents who were supposedly your close friends, because you left me, their only orphaned child, the one they gave their lives to protect, at the mercy of the most anti-magic and bullying muggle family in that side of London." said Harry evenly as he left the office to return to his intended destination leaving behind a thoroughly shocked and remorseful werewolf reminiscing about his past and dipping himself back in to the sea of self-pity and hatred he had created for himself since his friends had died.
' I'm sorry James, Lily...'
In his office Remus Lupin, the most recent and competent Defense teacher in the last few years to grace Hogwarts was seated in his chair, wondering not for the first time exactly what he was doing here. It was true that the best time of his life that he'd ever had was within these old walls but such hadn't been true for a very long time especially now. The presence of people and places both old and new only brought out and magnified the loss he had suffered almost twelve years ago when all his close friends died …. or did something far worse than death.
One such ache had only just stormed out of his office leaving the battered miserable wolf once again thinking about the good times and contemplating why he had come back here again.
Back then it had been so sensible and easy to trust Dumbledore's words when he had said that Harry was safe and that the ministry would never allow a werewolf to adopt the famous boy-who-lived. Who else could he trust to ensure a child's well-being but the headmaster of a school of children? Beside how could he ensure the safety of Harry when he was completely out of control a few days every month. A few years later, he had tried to visit Harry but Dumbledore had stopped him saying that his aunt Petunia had strictly forbidden any wizard from coming to her home under any circumstances. So like a good dog that he was, he complied. Only now he could see what a huge mistake it had been to trust that manipulative old man to do something right when he had repeatedly failed to do anything right during Voldemort's reign of terror.
His eyes swept over the marauder's map and it brought back the happy memories of his past. How they had slaved over that particular piece of parchment and had eventually succeeded in making it the mighty artifact it was with the help of Lily in their last year. Of all the marauders only he remained. Black didn't count, not after what he had done.
Black! That was his other reason to come here. To not only protect Harry from him but also to make sure that Black either continued to suffer at the hands of dementors or died a very gruesome death at his hands!
He would see justice done and leave this place again only this time it would be forever. Harry hated him and the castle only reminded him of what was lost. Perhaps he could move to Russia or even Canada. He had heard that the climate and social conditions were quite favorable for Werewolves.
June 11
The next morning brought about the usual activity in the castle. Everyone was up and moving at their own pace getting ready for classes or for their upcoming OWLs and NEWTs. The exception to the norm was a very tired and cranky Harry. Tired mainly because he hadn't slept well mostly because a part of him was feeling a little guilty for yelling at Professor Lupin. Cranky because going late to bed, he had forgotten to activate his alarm so had overslept and as a result hadn't been able to do his exercises and perform katas which left him feeling uncomfortable.
Silently eating breakfast beside Hermione who was eating as well as reading the daily prophet and across us sat Ron who was messily wolfing down breakfast, Harry thought his day couldn't possibly get worse when he heard a gasp from her female friend.
"Bhoat tis it ?" Ron said disgustingly with his mouth full, bits of projectile food bits being launched in our general direction and while Hermione's breakfast was saved by the self less sacrifice of her brave newspaper, his breakfast plate suffered the full brunt of his red-headed friend's nutritiously disgusting long range assault.
"Ron!" Yelled an equally disgusted Hermione as she magically vanished the bits from the newspaper while Harry simply pushed away his plate no longer hungry thanks his friend. After cleaning up her newspaper, she simply slided it for us all to see.
DRAGON KNIGHT ON THE PROWL:
Crazy masked Wizard OR concerned citizen taking up arms
'This day just keeps getting worse' moaned Harry cursing his saving people thing.
Apparently Hagrid was there when the centaur foals had returned to their elders. He had been trying to convince the centaurs to not attack the Dementors when the foals had returned and told what had transpired. Therefore he was also there to witness his holographic message being played by the metal sphere he had given to the foals. As normal for the gentle half-giant, after a harrowing ordeal he had went to the pub in Hogsmeade and got drunk which naturally resulted in him regaling all that had transpired in the Forbidden forest. Only in his drunken haze he had not been entirely truthful due to his love of all things dragon. And now instead of a very powerful masked wizard capable of animating massive amounts of metal to do his bidding helping out, he was an impossibly powerful giant of a warrior with fire coming out of his mouth with large bat-like wings on his back and a pair of horns on his head and very menacing eyes.
'Well at least he didn't say what really happened' thought Harry who didn't know whether to be mad at for telling everyone or for boasting in a drunken stupor and making sure not many would believe him.
'It's no wonder why everyone just doesn't just whip up a costume and start fighting injustice and rescuing innocent' thought Harry as he silently watched the varied reactions of all the students to this new factor being thrusted into their lives. Beside him Ron's attention had already returned to eating but not before he heard him mutter 'Weird'
'The jobs got some serious drawbacks. Could this day get any worse?' thought Harry
His silent question was answered when he heard the clearing of a throat and turned around to see the ever stern features of Professor McGonagall glaring at him
"Good evening Professor" said Harry disarmingly hoping for the best but knowing that was probably not the case.
"Mr. Potter" replied the deputy headmistress sternly, her lips pursed into the thinnest line possible. "You are to attend three days detention with Mr. Filch after your periods for staying out of bounds after curfew" she informed sternly, the tone of her voice making it absolutely clear she wouldn't a word against her decision.
"Yes Professor" answered Harry politely knowing it was futile to quarrel with her, especially when she was this furious.
As Harry watched her go while typically tuning out the scolding he was receiving from Hermione, only one thought was going through his mind
'There's no way I'm going to waste my time doing detentions' thought Harry with a sudden gleam in his eyes thinking exactly how he would fool Filch.
'Dad would be proud' snickered harry only to stop when his female friend glared at him for presumably laughing at something she had said.
From her table in the common room, Hermione Granger saw her best friend Harry Potter reading a book that she was sure wasn't part of the curriculum. Had it been a year ago, she would definitely have had a need to be concerned as Harry wasn't a particularly studious wizard and had a penchant to always get into trouble.
'But now….. now everything's changed' sighed Hermione and not for the first time thought about the decisions that she'd made this year. Decisions that she had come to regret.
The first major decision that she'd come to regret was taking all the elective courses. The time turner provided her a great opportunity to take more classes but it came at too heavy a cost for having very little time left for socializing and doing independent research. Still she had vowed to herself that she would at least see the year through and then decide. But with researching for Buckbeak's trail, all of the homework assignments that she had to write perfectly and having very little sleep, she was coming very close to breaking her vow. At least she didn't have to waste time in Divination anymore.
The second and more important decision that she regretted was telling the teachers about the Firebolt Broom gift Harry had received. She didn't in any way regret ensuring her friend's safety but still longed for the closeness they shared. She knew that Harry had changed in a good way but she secretly feared that it was her absence as a friend that made him come out of his shell and become the studious and intelligent student he was now. That feeling obviously made her feel even guiltier and frankly a little jealous.
Still she had to know if there wasn't something wrong with him. She was cautious about not asking any personnel questions as their newly forged friendship was still a little shaky and the last thing she wanted was to loose that as well. But too much time had passed and her concern and curiosity for her best friend grew even more.
' You're a Gryffindor Granger, for Merlin's sake act like one!' a part of her said to herself knowing now that the best way to talk to her intelligent friend was to talk to him directly and hope that he'd tell her something and sort out all the hurdles in their close friendship.
Mind made up, Hermione approached Harry with the intent to talk frankly about mending their friendship. However all the thoughts simply vanished at the sight of the title of the book that he was reading. And replacing those thoughts was anger and fury at her friend
"Harry!" snapped Hermione as she got close to him.
"What?" replied a startled and irritated Harry looking up to her friend who had just disrupted his concentration.
"Why are you reading a book that I clearly remember seeing in the restricted section in the library?" whispered Hermione harshly. Just because she was angry at her friend, it didn't mean that she wanted the attention of all her house mates at them.
Harry looked from her to the book that had a title of 'The looping world of Magical Contracts' and back at her again. His expression shifted from irritated, to confused, to annoyance and finally settled on determination.
"I think it's time we had a very serious discussion" Said Harry as he got up from his sofa and indicated her to follow him as he left the common Room and entered an empty classroom close by and held the door for her bushy haired friend to get in.
Hermione reluctantly walked in the empty room and watched as Harry closed it, cast a locking and silencing spell on the door. He moved into the room and sat on a nearby chair and looked at her with those beautiful emerald eyes.
"I never realized it before now Hermoine. You're a Hypocrite" said Harry bluntly.
"Wh-whaa.." spluttered a shocked Hermione. Harry had never insulted her before!
"You object to me having a book the restricted section yet you yourself know about its whereabouts. Tell me Hermione, how is it that you know where I got this book form?" Asked Harry evenly
And with those words Hermione Granger was rendered speechless! All that she could think was he was right and that she had no right to question how he got a restricted book when she herself had been in there with permission. But she couldn't help it, she kept thinking of him as the old Harry that was her best friend.
"You don't hear me object to your extra-curricular reading." Argued Harry "and For your information I got this book checked out with the help of Professor McGonagall after I explained to her that I needed to study magical contracts to ensure that there weren't actively applied to me. She was especially helpful when I told her that there might be a chance that Black might have something like that to use against me since he was my Godfather and all" said Harry as he leaned back to gaze at the ceiling.
In front of him, Hermione hung her head in shame at accusing Harry and jumping to conclusions 'stupid, stupid Granger. Now look what you did' she thought to herself wondering how she had come to the wrong conclusion in the first place.
"Now that that is out of the way, why don't you ask me what's really on your mind?" asked Harry still gazing at the ceiling in a curious tone.
Well….um…I'm really worried about you!" Hermione blurted out in the end not knowing how to start this conversation.
"Why?" asked Harry already knowing the answer but wanting for Hermione to figure it out on her own. For someone so smart and observant, she could be blind as a naked mole rat to so many things that involved herself.
"Because….because you've changed Harry" answered Hermione, her voice regaining the determination she usually spoke with "You've changed so much It's like you're another person now"
"Am I getting better?" asked Harry.
"Yes" muttered Hermione.
"The why is that necessarily a bad thing?" Asked Harry guiding Hermione to the facts that she probably knew, but didn't want to accept
"Because….Because…I don't know what it is that has made you so much better. I don't know if it's…..safe" Said Hermione tentatively hoping that he'd understand her concern and that she hadn't ruined their friendship for good.
"Ah, now we come to the bottom of the problem" said harry relieved. It took long enough to point out that little bit of obvious to her. "You don't like it because you don't know about it"
Hermione hesitated but in the end nodded.
"So you wish to know?" Asked Harry and got a nod in response. Harry shifted his gaze to her and gave her such a piercing look that made her squirm in her place.
"Like I said earlier Hermione, You're a hypocrite" replied Harry evenly.
Hermione flushed in anger at the repeated insult and was about to open her mouth when he interrupted her.
"You expect me to share all of my secrets with you" Said Harry as he stood up to got right in front of her, his gaze just as piercing "and yet you yourself keep secrets from me"
"I do-don't keep secrets from my friends Harry" Hermione lied a little too quickly.
"Oh Reaaallly?" asked Harry, his tone letting her know that he'd caught on that 'little' omission.
"We-well… there not my secrets to share" said Hermione searching for a way out of this argument. Since when was this conversation suppose to be about her?
"Then perhaps my secrets are not entirely mine to share either." retorted Harry as he moved towards the door and unlocked it.
"I want you to remember something Hermione" Here Harry paused as if gathering the courage for what he needed to say. " You're my best friend ….and I love you like a sister" said Harry his voice heavy with emotions " and even though I would risk my life to save you….. I would never risk it by sharing my secrets with you" said Harry and with that he left the room leaving being a thoroughly shocked Hermione standing frozen due to the hail of emotionally confusing information with silent tears coming dong her cheeks.
It was no secret to the current and previous population of Hogwarts that Filch took great pleasure in watching children work off their detention doing difficult and often times disgusting tasks without the aid of magic. What was worse was that the caretaker knew of this fact and used this to intimidate the younger students and enjoyed his detention duties greatly. He was a firm believer that all magical children were too arrogant and spoiled for their own good as they used magic for performing every little task. While he would let everyone believe that he did this to help the children understand the value of their gifts, in reality he was just a petty mean squib with the ability to bully witches and wizards in training.
So it should be obvious that he would be very very pleased at this moment when he and Mrs Norris were supervising the mopping of the 6th floor corridors being performed by the famous Harry Potter who according to him and a certain greasy faculty member was the most arrogant of them all.
Surprisingly that wasn't the case as under the current circumstances he was anything but pleased. Filch was bewildered and feeling quite confused at the enigma that was before him.
Where normally a student under detention would work reluctantly and bail out as soon as their detention time was over leaving it to the ever sullen caretaker to complete the task or put away the supplies, the Potter brat had done the exact opposite and not only did he clean thoroughly but also cleaned the whole corridor. A task that took an hour more that his allotted detention time. What was even more confusing was that the little brat had done it with a delighted grin on his face as if he was enjoying the punishment.
Watching the boy leave with a spring in his step, Filch shook his head at the impossibility that was occurring. Deciding to go back to his office to have a shot of fire whiskey he had apprehended from a 7th year. His whole world had been given an odd and confusing jerk and some whiskey in his system would definitely go a long way in help setting everything right. His loyal watchcat dutifully following him.
In his haste for some liquor he never saw that the object of his frustrations do something considerd impossible within Hogwarts.
He never saw Harry Potter disappear with a sudden pop.
Deep in the bowels of the castle Harry Potter reappeared within the Secret lab with a pop. Sitting before him in his office going over some sort of plans was another Harry Potter.
At the popping sound, the seated Harry Potter got startled and looked up from his holo-screen to look at what was a dirty and disheveled version of himself standing before him with a stupid grin on his face.
"Oh' it's just you" said a relieved seated Harry." Well how did it go?" he asked a little excited at the odd little experiment/prank he's just conducted.
The standing Harry Potter's entire body shivered and melted away leaving a familiar very old elf with an oversized belt attached on his torso grinning toothily.
"It went very fines, young master" replied a happy Altu, the very old library elf of the Potters "the watery metal machine work very goods with Altu. Altu be wanting to go more on these detention works with yous machine master. Altu be enjoying doing hard work after a very loooong time" replied Altu in a slightly demanding tone.
"Sure" replied Harry secretly amused at the ancient elf's antics. It was always so refreshing to talk to Altu who occasionally came around to look at how things were going as he was so different from the other elves and gave the occasional kooky yet sound advice.
One of his advices was that he modify his own utility belt body suit so that an elf could wear it and perform mundane tasks around school. Tasks such as being spotted in the library or the halls to avert suspicion of his current whereabouts and also the unpleasant not to mention time consuming tasks such as detention.
"Master James and old Master Charlus would be very very prouds of young master for having detentions and trickings the professors and not doings it" chuckled Altu.
"We'll work something out" replied Harry thinking about having more elves in the body belts. They could not only cover for his absence but the belts also provided an excellent form of defense for his little friends in most normal and magical situations.
"Ask the mute twins to instruct the computer AI to scan and fabricate 30 more of these utility belts body suits for now" Harry told Altu. "I want you to start training the other house-elves in using this as well as talking like humans"
Altu's grin widened further. He always loved teaching unorthodox things to the young ones. With a hasty bow he popped away to tell Siley and Wiley to make the big metal brain make more body belts.
That done, harry returned to his holo-screen and the architectural designs displayed on it. The deal with Aragog required him to have a little more space for optimum results so instead of setting up whatever was needed to be done here, he'd planned to build a 2nd base of operations nearby that would not be related to his research here and was being specifically built to accommodate the deal with the Arcomantulas.
After applying a few final touches, Harry sat back and looked at the first phase of his latest project.
The construction would begin at the very end of his secret lab. From there a long tunnel would head towards the Hogsmeade village and passing underneath the ground, would end inside one of the bigger cliffs at the edge of Hogsmeade. From there the he construction would head upwards and basically the entire small mountain side would be hollowed on the inside and his new base would be built there. Another narrow tunnel would lead from within the forbidden forest to his newly built mountain lair.
Harry estimated that with the house-elves and nanties combined the work would be complete in three to four days.
Harry waved his hand sideways and the next file came up. It was the ward schematics he had cobbled together for this mountain lair. It was basic set of protective wards that most magical structures held like, anti-apparition, unplottable, strengthening, fire resistance, muggle repelling etc. To Harry however that wasn't enough. He knew form studying the wards in his secret lab that was the former chamber of secrets that more than these simple wards were needed to hide something from the likes of Dumbledore and while he was still studying the unique wards on his lab, he had found the perfect alternative for hiding his Mountain lair. The Fidelus Ward.
As the heir to Potter family lore and knowledge Harry had access to a very extensive library that contained a vast variety of wards of all kinds including the Fidelus. And while most would consider him a fool or highly ambitious to even consider a ward as complex as this at his age. Fortunately for Harry, he was not a normal wizard.
Armed with a genius level IQ, an almost perfect understanding of the runes required, Harry would have struggled and finally succeeded in casting the Fidelus Ward. However Harry also had access to knowledge and understanding no one else did. Knowledge that resulted in the creation of the spells, runes, wards and potions that the wizards used. So in a way Harry cheated.
The Fidelus Ward worked by phase shifting the desired space in a pocket dimension and enclosing the selected place very much like a string pouch and leaving only a pin point access available. The location of this access point was hidden in the secret keeper's memories, who in turn could tell the others and allow them to know about the access point and enter the hidden pocket dimension. The tricky part of the ward was to be able to hide all knowledge of that place from not only the minds of people and animals that already knew of the selected location but also physical records and documents all across the globe. It was this part that took a lot of power and concentration from the caster. Harry had cheated by simply creating a place that no one knew about apart from his house-elves and so theoretically it shouldn't be too taxing for him.
'It's a good idea to have a backup in place. Just because my lab is well hidden, it doesn't mean that its impenetrable' thought Harry
Satisfied with the design, he sent them to Siley and Wiley who in turn would forward it to Caput, his head-elf. They had orders to start construction as soon as possible.
June 12
The next evening while an undercover Altu was performing his detention happily, within his secret lab our hero was sitting in the middle of a ritual runic circle drawn from his own blood. It had taken him over two hours to painstakingly draw the specified and complex runic arrays for the ritual Harry was attempting to perform. While technically what Harry was doing was less a ritual and more a highly recommended pre-ritual diagnosis step that told everything there was to know about the object or person. And while Harry had no desire to perform any rituals in the upcoming future, he was performing the magical diagnosis none the less for one simple yet crucial reason.
He was trying to figure out what was wrong with his magic.
He had become deeply suspicious that his magic carried some sort of anomaly after his strong desire to have a dragon mask represent his vigilante work. There was too much going on within him that didn't make sense specially when it came to magic. So like a good Alteran student, Harry started his research with an in depth scan of the area of anomaly.
There were several ways to perform such a check-up. The method that Harry had chosen was one of least preferred due to the complexity of the results. Yet it was the best method available for Harry. Simply put it was the most in depth and detailed magical scan possible.
The idea was to meditate and let go of all emotions and thoughts so that his magic wasn't affected by it. After that he was to gather as much magic as possible within him and release it in the form of a shockwave that would be absorbed by the ritual circle and his blood within it. The runes would then change themselves accordingly to best describe his current magic condition, sort of like creating an imprint of his magical core. This had the unfortunate side-effect of providing far too much information in multiple runic dialects. A difficult result that could take weeks to decipher properly. Fortunately for Harry, he was a sort of a prodigy in the field of runes. It also helped that he probably owned the fastest computer with the smartest AI on the planet. Not to mention that the base language used by all his operating systems was in Alteran.
With a deep breath, Harry cleared his mind and started gathering his magic within himself. It was a difficult exercise because holding back magic like this was akin to holding back a jet of water. It was a little easier as he had to repeat a similar process during his martial arts meditation. Finally when he could hold it no more, he released a brilliant bright shockwave that left him feeling a little dizzy. Waiting for a few moments for the ground to stop moving, Harry stood up and took a digital reading of all the runes that he transferred to his super computer for analysis.
Just because he could read and analyze the runes, didn't mean he was going to waste time on it. Let his super computer do the analyzing. It will do it in a few minutes at most.
An hour later a thoroughly flabbergasted Harry sat rooted in his place, viewing his holo-screen with wide eyes at absolute impossibly that the resulted scans of the ritual were showing. He'd repeated the analysis several times only for the same bizarre result to come out. Thinking that the computer AI maybe making some sort of error, Harry had started the analysis by himself, a task that took almost an hour. Even them the results were the same. Impossible!
'It's almost like that word is attached to me somehow' chuckled Harry ruefully his shock finally wearing off 'Still that's big!'
And big it was indeed. The results showed the complex miasma of foreign and exotic magics that was within his magical core currently. Miraculously, all that was somehow teetering into an odd balance, a balance that was crucial for his very existence as an unbalanced magical core was like a walking and temperamental time bomb that could do anything at all.
Form a scientific point of view it was very intriguing to watch all that patched up foreign magic forming an odd synchronization that kept him stable. His magic core had two sets of exotic magical anomalies that balanced each other out and cancelled the misbalancing effect of the other.
The oldest set of anomalies was over 11 years old. They were the residue left behind from Voldemort's killing curse. On one side was the foul intended magic that came from his curse scar, destructive and vengeful in nature it would destroy or corrupt him if it got loose. Keeping it in check was the sweet warm protection magic that his mother had cast on him. It ensured that the vile piece of magic didn't spread and proved to be an excellent weapon against the possessed Prof. Quirrel in his first year.
Harry frowned as he looked at the readings. While once dominant, his mother's magic had slowly started losing its concentration by mid 2nd year. It seemed as if something, an outside source was draining the good magic out of him. The draining process was very high during the summer months for some reason. In fact the drain had become so much that the foul magic had grown and had almost dissipated his mother's magic if a timely intervention hadn't taken place.
The intervention of being bitten by a huge Basilisk and then treated by the healing tears of Fawkes. Harry shuddered in memory of that event. He had no idea that he had been saved twice that day. He would definitely have to get something nice for that bird!
These two highly magical liquids were the second set of patchwork done within his core. While the magical properties of Basilisk's venom had strengthened the foul magics, they were no match for the pure power that came from the tears of a being as pure as phoenixes. Fawkes tears not only cleansed his body of Basilisk's venom but also reinforced his mother's magic significantly. Balance had once again been achieved, no matter how highly unconventional and downright insane the process had been.
A very good thing had come out of it. All of that foreign magic invading his system and him being a growing wizard with an expanding magical core, had resulting in his core's growth being quadrupled. Even at present, his core was bigger than the size of the core of an average wizard. And it was still growing!
'At least I wouldn't have to worry about not having enough power to fight the likes of Voldemort and his lackeys' though a relieved Harry.
However this process had not been without its side-effects. As the battlefield was his magic core, the one place where all things magic with regards to him was linked to, a battle in which the very magics within were trying to change him for either good or evil…. Well, suffice to say collateral damage occurred.
A relatively minor side effect had been the activation of latent magical abilities within him. The good residue had activated his latent skill of a metamorphmagus in other words shape-shifter. Not to be outdone, the evil residue had matched the good sides deed by activating his latent skill of a parseltongue or serepent speaker. However they were only minor alteration
It seems the new borders of this good/evil clash were directly on top of the spot within his core that dealt with his spirit form or in other words, his Animagus transformation.
Like politicians squabbling for their ideals, the good and evil had tried to reinforce their ideals in his animagus form as well. And since they both had access to his Animagus form, both sides pushed for their chosen animal. The Bad side had tried to change his Animagus form to that of a Basilisk while the good side had pushed for his form to be changed into that of a phoenix.
And like a glass in which two different drinks are poured into as once, the results were far too different from the originals.
The results had taken a bit of both. The serpentine side of the basilisk, mixed with the fire affinity from the phoenix, the monstrous size of the basilisk added with the ability if flight from the fire bird. All that mixed together, magic had chosen the one form that both side could come to accept.
The form was that of a Dragon.
'Nice' was Harry's only thought.
He was about to get up when something on the evil side of the runes caught his interest. It was something that was very elusive and difficult to see through all the intricate details around it and he doubted that without the computer AI assisting him not even he could have spotted it. Summoning his pocket archive book form its resting place nearby, Harry searched for the elusive set of runes that he was having difficulty translating. Harry knew that he had seen it somewhere.
Flipping through the small book, Harry finally found what he was looking for. His relief at finding it turn to dread and then to downright horror at what he was reading.
For Harry Potter had gained yet another proof that he was Fate's personnel bit*h.
Because contained within his curse scar was a fragment of Voldemort's soul. The only thing that Harry now felt was revulsion.
'Well…..at least I get an amazing Animagus form put of this ordeal' a disgusted Harry said to himself trying to look at the bright side and failing miserably.
A/N For those who like Remus don't worry, He's not going anywhere. Same for Hermione. On another note as far as I can tell, third year will be finish in another 3 chapters. Oh and don't forget to review.