AN: Right, one big thing to start off with: Paxloria asked me how come Harry is developing more Aspects despite him having 'recombined' at the end of the Grail War. Well, to answer that, I'll tell you that when Harry put himself back together, he didn't do it perfectly. Imagine a plushy being ripped into pieces and someone stitches it all back together (Frankenstein style). That's what Harry's soul is like now. Harry is 'all' of the pieces, whereas Tyrant, Serial Phantasm, etctera, are singular pieces, yet still have the 'stuffing' inside the plushy, the 'power' behind them. What's happening when a 'new' aspect turns up is that we're seeing another fragment of the torn plushy 'waking up', becoming a little more independent than it was before. It's being accelerated by all the modifications and experiments Harry's doing on himself, though having more aspects actually strengthens Harry instead of weakening, as most would believe, and that's due to how there is now more 'thinking' parts of Harry, rather than parts that 'just exist', if that makes sense. I hope that makes sense...

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 09 - Lessons

Bright and early the next morning, if one was to look down by the lake, near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, then they would find the current location of Harry, his girls, and Sirius. For the most part, they were lounging around, enjoying the fresh air, regardless of the chilly morning breeze.

Sirius glanced over towards Harry, noting that he wasn't one of the relaxing ones, as he seemed to be debating something with Dream or Destruction. He then noticed something and frowned, deciding to comment on it, to see if he was missing something.

"Hey, Harry." He called, getting said boy's attention. "Your hair looks a little too faded for you to just have Tyrant and DoD out, who else is out and about, and where are they?"

"Serial Phantasm, and she's in another reality." Harry idly replied. "A 'pokémon' world to be more specific." He paused. "Did I forget to mention that I'd managed to merge 'poképower' to myself?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yes, you did." He replied.

Harry shrugged. "Well, I did. Seri is trading and selling some items I've made, mostly jewellery and the like, for the local currency there and Technical Machines, so I can rapidly learn techniques."

"Huh, I'm surprised you didn't send a clone to do it, Serial's not the most charismatic of... people, what with her being your apathy, you know?" Sirius mused.

Harry snorted. "Not possible." He replied. "While theoretically I can create an infinite number of clones in a single reality, using them across temporal and dimensional borders is currently a big no-no. I tried it once, and it nearly resulted in the closest thing I've ever experienced to a 'true' death."

"What?!" Sirius yelped. "Explain!"

"Sure." Harry agreed. "You see, as a human, I existed as a part of the world, a small cog in the works, no matter how important or otherwise I was. When I ascended to the level of a deity, I took a small step away from being so bound to space and time, and as my power approached the level of an Aristotle, I became further detached from such 'mundane' things. Now that I am the 'Keeper of the Vault of Souls', I am only tenuously attached to the standard flow of space and time, as my 'domain' is not limited to a single reality."

Harry sighed before continuing. "However, while my soul/essence has, for lack of a better term, 'evolved' to match that status, my mind hasn't adapted that quickly. Oh, yes, it's getting there, but such a thing is still a ways off for me. When I tried to spread my mind across separate dimensions, which aren't necessarily going at the same speed, my mind came dangerously close to being torn to shreds and scattered across the multi-verse."

Sirius winced. "That sounds... unpleasant."

Harry nodded. "Very much so. Of course, with my 'aspects' being rather independent, given enough time, they would be able to pull me back together, but such a task could take an eternity to complete. All the while, my mind would be broken, shattered, and scattered far and wide. If they did pull me together, my sanity would not necessarily still exist at that point."

"O-kay" Sirius nodded. "I think I understood that, so onto less depressing topics. So you're a 'pokémon' now, Harry? What type are you?"

"I'm a dual-type, one of which is 'Dark'." Harry replied. "Not that surprising, I know, but it does give me some nice perks. Dark's immunity to Psychic has made the Mind Arts completely ineffective when used against me now, and it's also made me immune to illusions too."

Sirius saw the twitch in Harry's expression and asked. "That's nice, but what's your other type? You did say you had two."

Harry twitched slightly and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Sirius grin grew, realising he might have some teasing material on Harry here.

Harry grumbled something unintelligible again, if a bit louder.

"I can't hear you." Sirius singsonged.

"Fine." Harry snapped. "I'm a gods damned Fairy! Happy now?" He griped. "Why Fairy though? I can understand Flying, Fighting, Poison, even Psychic or something, but Fairy?"

Sirius barked a laugh. "Fairy? You mean like a cute little Jigglypuff or Ralts?" He giggled.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Hey! Xerneas is a Fairy type, and he's a Legendary."

Sirius smirked back at Harry. "Doesn't stop you being like a little cute thing, your pout is adorable."

Harry wasn't pouting – though his girls did agree his pout was adorable when he did pout – he was snarling, his sharpened teeth on display, and the air around him becoming thick with malice.

Of course, this display only served to enhance Harry's ethereal beauty even further than it already was – and Harry would easily beat out the most attractive of veela in a beauty contest without even trying – but it did get Sirius to sober up and stop laughing.

"Harry, can I just ask you something?" Sirius questioned, his tone serious. "Why are you so fixated on power? I mean, there's nothing wrong with ambition, but you're always striving for something new, something different. You have, possibly, the widest arsenal of abilities and skill in anyone ten times your age, yet you keep pushing yourself harder and harder."

Harry reined his power in immediately and stopped snarling. "That's... It's because..." He paused to gather his thoughts. "One of the first sets of skills I developed revolved around the mind. High speed calculations, splitting focus, and the obvious one, recall, were all parts of that. As you know, I have come far with the mind arts, and I can recall everything that's ever happened to me perfectly, even if I choose not to do so. I remember literally everything since approximately two months before I was born."

"You remember your time in the womb?" Illya asked with surprise.

Harry shrugged. "There wasn't much to experience. It was dark, warm, and wet. I could sense my mother moving, feel the rocking of her body as she walked and moved, but it's all very boring. No, what I do remember clearly is what happened that night, and especially what occurred afterwards. I remember how the Dursleys treated me, and just how much damage I received while in their 'care', from emotional abuse and conditioning, to mild and beyond physical harm, partial starvation, and so on."

Harry sighed and tugged at his sleeves. "Above all else, I remember how powerless I was, too weak to do anything, too useless to even have an option. That is a large part of why I love having so many different methods available to me. I mean, if a wizard slapped magic inhibitors on me, it would stop my core working properly, and might even mess with my circuits, but I'd still have my Divine Authority to fall back on, and my new 'poképower' too, and even my Deathly powers, my Contracts, and Sorcery too. I could use the 'Unicorn/Pegasus/Earth Pony magic that I'm replicating from Nim and Luna's world, or one of the other 'powers' that I've been looking into, like Aura, Chakra, and the 'Force'."

"So, you keep pushing yourself forward... so you'll never be helpless again?" Sirius asked quietly. "You're not acquiring power to achieve something, to reach a particular level, to beat a certain goal, but simply for the sake of power itself?"

"It sounds so ominous if you say it like that." Harry chuckled, though it sounded a little empty. "Yes, I am gaining power to see just how far I can push myself, to see just what limits I have, and to break those limits once I discover them. I have no 'nefarious' plans or anything, nor even benevolent ones, just ideas that I'm trying out, and theories that I'm testing."

"Yeah, I know that, Harry, I know you, at least a little." Sirius told him. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, I was jus- What are you looking at?" He noticed Harry was looking behind him, back towards the castle.

"Just Dumbledore." Harry replied. "At a guess, I'd say he's looking for me."

Illya and Tamamo went to shift into Astral form, but Harry held up a hand, stopping them. "No need for that, girls, he's already seen Jack, and a few of my secrets are out, there's no need for you two to hide yourselves away."

Sirius craned his neck around, but despite the fact he could see the castle doors, large as they were, Dumbledore himself was simply too far away for him to make out much more than his colourful robes and long beard. "What can you read from his soul and expression, Harry?" He asked.

"Apprehension mainly." Harry replied. "A grim determination is also there, and a tang of fear too. Whatever he wishes to discuss, it's serious, and it looks like he's going to actually treat me as a thinking being, rather than a little child that needs its every action dictated to it."

Seeing Dumbledore getting closer, Sirius spoke up before he came into hearing range. "Harry, do you think you could 'poképower' me up too?"

Harry looked mildly surprised for a moment, wondering why Sirius had asked him for that, as he'd never shown any interest in Harry's modifications before, and had been a little leery of them truth be told.

"Sure." Harry replied. "We can get around to that later, if you want, but be warned, it's gonna hurt like a bitch."

xxxxx

Harry watched carefully as Dumbledore approached. He observed him as his eyes swept over his companions, registering the wary spike in Dumbledore's soul as the man first laid eyes on Illya and Tamamo, and the tightly concealed spike of fear as his gaze fell on Jack.

"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore spoke clearly as he stood in front of Harry, and he had to be commended for his bravery. "I have come to you with a... request. I know your species has a requirement for blood, but I implore you not to feed on the staff or students at this school. I am sure that I will be able to organise something for you, I understand that the muggle world has ways of purchasing blood."

Harry was silent for a moment, letting Dumbledore feel the weight of his attention.

"That will not be necessary." Harry eventually replied. "While blood does make me stronger, and I do enjoy the taste, it is not a requirement for me to drink it. Also, through certain methods, Alt no longer requires as much blood as she once did for sustenance. A bottle a week is enough to sate her, and that's not difficult to acquire. As for the students..." He trailed off, hearing Dumbledore's heartbeat increase greatly, smelling the sweat that began to pour off him.

"They will be safe, so long as they do nothing to piss me off. The same applies to the staff." Harry clearly heard the sigh of relief that Dumbledore tried to stifle. "However, if someone does manage to... irritate me badly enough, then there's no telling just how badly they'll end up."

"That is... honestly better than I was expecting." Dumbledore replied, taking his glasses off and wiping them with a cloth.

"I am not unreasonable, Headmaster." Harry told him. "Only those that earn my ire, for one reason or another, need worry about my wrath. I am no indiscriminate hero, Dumbledore, remember that." The distaste in Harry's tone at the word hero was clear for all to hear.

Dumbledore felt a spark of curiosity regarding Harry's aversion to 'heroes', but squashed it for now, not that Harry was unaware of that spark, not that he knew that. Instead, Dumbledore decided to directly address what he believed to be the greatest issue at hand.

"Mr. Potter, what will it take for you to kill Voldemort? What price is it you want?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry considered it for a moment. He could tell Dumbledore that he had already planned to kill Riddle, and was just messing with everyone at present. He could ask for books he didn't currently possess, as he had no need of monetary compensation.

"My 'price'." Harry murmured in thought. "How about this, your people actually get off your backsides and deal with the problem, the Death Eaters, the supporters, and so on, and I'll deal with Riddle himself. In fact, you don't have to deal with all of them, or even the majority, just show you're actually making an effort. Of course, allowing me to read books I haven't read before would be much appreciated."

"Books?" Dumbledore asked, an ever so slight tinge of amusement creeping into his voice. "Is that the curiosity of a Ravenclaw... or perhaps the ambition of a Slytherin speaking?"

"Why not both?" Harry sent a question right back at him. "My title of the 'Infinite Archive' wasn't earned without reason."

"I see..." Dumbledore hesitated for a split second. "I don't suppose you have a spell in your repertoire that would heal the damage done to Professor Snape by your... Servant, would you?"

Harry frowned slightly. "I am capable of healing such an injury, yes, though I'm in two minds about whether I should heal him or not, as I believe you are asking me."

"Yes, that is what I was going to ask for." Dumbledore admitted. "I can promise you that he won't lash out at you like that again. Honestly, I'm personally rather surprised at how aggressive he's being, more so than he was with... the native Harry."

Harry shrugged. "If he does attack me again, I'll make what happened to his arm look like a paper-cut in comparison." He sighed. "Oh, fine, I'll give him a chance, but only one. If he throws it away, he will be getting no sympathy from me."

A slight flare of prana from Harry a moment later, enacting Wishcraft, and Harry addressed Dumbledore again. "There, Snape's arm is fully healed, or at least matches the physical condition of his other arm." Harry paused as he saw Dumbledore's eyes turn back to Jack, and felt a burning curiosity in the man's soul. "What is it?"

Dumbledore didn't reply immediately, looking between Harry and his little assassin for a moment.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you did introduce the young lady there as a Servant, correct?" Harry raised an eyebrow, but nodded his head regardless. "Would she be the same sort of 'Servant' that's derived from Heroic Spirits?"

"I'm surprised." Harry admitted. "I thought you would have had some information regarding names of various important and/or dangerous individuals from the more Magi-oriented side of things, but I wasn't quite expecting you to know what a Servant was, that's not exactly a common topic."

"I may have looked through what few books I have on Magecraft." Dumbledore replied. "I only found a small reference to Servants and Heroic Spirits in one that spoke about familiars. Of course, the magic required to keep even the weakest of Servants around was astronomical, especially for a wizard. It would probably take two or three dozen times the amount I produce to match that."

"Yeah, magical exhaustion is not something that I really need to worry about, no matter how much of a drain is on my reserves." Harry paused for a moment, considering his next words. "I'm actually supporting six Servants at present, three of which are with me. You've already met my assassin, but Illya there is an Archer class Servant, and Tamamo is a Caster class."

"That..." Dumbledore stopped abruptly, actually contemplating just how dangerous that information was, especially when he believed that Harry was hiding far more than he was revealing. "That is a rather intimidating thought actually." He sighed.

Harry shrugged again. "As long as no one pisses me off, they've no reason to worry. I, admittedly, am somewhat of a sadist, and I know that my anger and aggression are often greater than they really should be when I retaliate against someone or something, but I'm not an unreasonable individual."

"I... see." Dumbledore replied. "Well, suffice to say, I will endeavour to try and make sure no student of mine suffers your wrath, though I will ask that you give them a chance, children will be children after all."

"Yes, children are children." Harry agreed. "However, young adults are young adults, and all choices have consequences, every decision a repercussion, and every action a reaction. I will try and keep my responses to the same level as what caused them, but greater aggravation will lead to harsher punishments."

"Noted." Dumbledore nodded his head.

"If that is all, I'll bid you good day, headmaster, lessons start in two hours and I have a few things I'd like to get done before then." Harry stood up and began walking towards the castle, his group of females, plus Sirius, following after him.

Dumbledore remained in place for a few minutes longer, collecting his thoughts together. He then spoke aloud to no one, simply needing to hear his own mind.

"Lily seems willing to give him a chance, and I have always championed rehabilitation and second chances." He sighed. "I hope I'm not making a mistake with this."

xxxxx

Sirius followed Harry through a few passageways in Hogwarts, up and down a few flights of stairs that moved into place for him, no doubt courtesy of Holly who was actually the one in control of the castle, and wondered where they were heading.

He tried to keep track of the twisting and turning path they took, but quickly found himself lost, not recognising the section of the castle they were in, but noting that it was probably one of the unused sections, mostly because of the thick layer of dust everywhere.

SCHLURK!

Sirius flinched back as, between one moment and the next, Harry had gone from standing several metres in front of him, to being barely a foot away from him, one arm extended with his hand buried in the chest of some, strange thing that had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

Harry clenched his fist, simultaneously emitting a shockwave of force that made the creature literally explode away from his hand, scattering its flesh everywhere. He let his hand fall to his side as he frowned, growling slightly.

"Someone or something is testing me." He muttered, barely audible even to someone as close as Sirius was. "But who or what, and why?" He glared at the pieces of the creature everywhere as they began to slowly vanish, like it was evaporating now that it was dead.

The creature, from the short glimpse that Sirius had gotten of it, was roughly nine feet tall, stood on two reverse-jointed legs, had four arms, pitch black, lizard-like scales for skin, and yellow claws for hands. On its face, it had had a pair of mandibles like a spider, compound eyes, a slit for a nose, and no hair at all. Honestly, it looked like a bunch of different creature parts had been stuck together with the rough edges being smoothed over a bit.

"Wha-" Sirius fell back onto his backside. "What the heck?!"

Harry sighed. "I felt something stalking me. There was no soul, no prana, nothing like that, but it was still disturbing the air as it moved, and I felt like someone was watching me." He explained. "Once we were out of sight of everything, even the portraits and house elves around, it moved faster than before, raising its appendages as it did so, and extending its claws. If that doesn't count as aggressive action, I don't know what does."

"So you killed it?" Sirius blinked, taking note of the fact Harry's Servants seemed to have been caught just as off guard as he had been, visible in how Illya and Jack had both materialised their blades and had them at the ready, Tamamo had a throwing dagger with an attached explosive tag in her hand, ready to chuck it at something, and even Len and Nel were prepared, having transformed into their 'human' forms, spheres of ice magecraft in their hands. Holly's eyes were opened wide in surprise as well.

"Yeah, I did." Harry replied. "Still, something about that thing feels familiar, though I can't place it. It didn't have a soul, so I can't track it into any of the afterlifes, and analysing the remains isn't working. It's like this thing simply appeared from nowhere as it is, the genetic make-up of it doesn't even make sense, nor does it fit magically. This thing is an impossibility, it doesn't produce energy inside itself, and it's not converting it from an outside source, like food. If I hadn't killed this thing, it would have starved within a week or two by itself."

"So... what?" Sirius asked. "This thing was magically created out of nothing simply to attack us, that it?"

"As far as I can tell." Harry confirmed. "Its attention was on me, however, and like I said, I think someone is testing me, this creature is just one part of something bigger."

"Part of what?" Sirius just had to ask.

"I don't know." Harry replied. "And I don't like it."

The wall next to them slid open, revealing a secret passageway heading downwards.

xxxxx

When they descended the stairs hidden behind the wall, Sirius hadn't known what to expect. When he had been a student, he had thought he knew every secret that Hogwarts castle possessed, but there was no way he could compare to Holly who was almost literally 'hooked up' to the castle and its wards.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, which were rather long, Sirius thought that he recognised where they were, despite never having been there before. In fact, he was fairly sure that the place they were in was a place that he'd seen in Harry's memories when they'd shown him Harry's life before Sirius had entered the picture.

When they reached a door that Harry opened with Parseltongue, he was sure.

"The Chamber of Secrets?" He asked curiously.

Harry shrugged. "It's large enough for what I need, and it's a pretty nice place when fixed up."

Sirius followed the group into the chamber and stopped dead, seeing what was in there. The whole place had been fixed, cracks in the floor and walls being filled in, smoothed over, and reinforced. Aside from that, the snake statues had been transformed, now formed into the likeness of people Harry knew. There were statues of the Gorgon sisters, Tamamo-no-Mae, Illya, Jack the Ripper, and so on, even statues of Aoko, Arcueid, Sion, Satsuki, and the rest.

Of course, there were floating orbs scattered throughout the chamber that emitted enough light to see by, yet weren't harsh and glaring, but that wasn't what Sirius was focusing on.

In the large chamber, there were dozens of copies of Harry.

They were at tables by one wall, working on some smaller scale projects that Harry had going – Sirius only really recognised a few of them, such as the one figuring out how to make various types of runic languages work together, from Elder Futhark, to Hieroglyphics, to Fae Runes – while others had various weapons in hand and were sparring at speeds several times greater than Sirius could track – only becoming visible as a slight blur when their weapons clashed – obviously becoming more familiar with the different styles required to use said weapons.

The sight that really grabbed Sirius' attention though was right in the middle of the chamber.

"Harry, we have only been here for a couple days, right? I'm not forgetting any of our time here, am I?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Harry confirmed.

"Then how in Merlin's name did you manage to build a giant robot in the Chamber of Secrets? I don't remember you starting this project before we left." Sirius asked, his eyes glued to the crouching form of a mecha that would be about fifteen metres tall if it stood up.

"I work quickly?" Harry half-asked with an amused expression. "If a handful of clones work on each limb and join it all together afterwards, things can be done a lot faster than you might expect. That particular project was broken down into six sections, one each per arm and leg, one for the head, and one for the torso. With ten clones assigned to each of those projects, it doesn't take very long, especially as I kept things simple."

Sirius turned jerkily towards Harry, his eyes twitching. "Simple?" He managed to choke out. "What part of that is simple?"

"The fact that in place of complex wiring, it uses Etherlite instead, giving it a rudimentary nervous system maybe, or perhaps how the body is an alloy composed primarily of mithril, a metal I have a lot of lying around as I use it so much?" Harry replied. "How about the fact that a lot of its 'technology' is actually various forms of magic, mostly runes, and you know just how accomplished I am with them?"

"I get it, I get it!" Sirius raised his hands in mock-defence. "Still, it's quite an accomplishment from an outside point... of... view..." He trailed off, his eyes finding a massive rack next to said mecha. "Harry, two questions. Firstly, is this mecha controlled by Prisma like your bike is? Secondly, are those the weapons you have created for this machine?"

Harry tilted his head to look at the weapons himself. "Well, there are pile bunkers built onto the forearms of the mecha, but yes, those are weapons designed for this particular creation of mine. Which one was it that got that reaction out of you?"

"The one that has a barrel I could comfortably crawl into." Sirius replied flatly.

"The cannon, eh? Hehehe, that is designed to fire HE rounds, that's 'high-explosive' if you were wondering, so I can see how that could be a little scary. Of course, there's also the sniper rifle to consider, and the gatling gun, the energy sword, and of course the laser rifle." Harry's eyes gleamed as he listed them off.

"Anyway!" Harry caught himself. "As usual, Prisma can control the mecha, but there's also a space inside for me to sit in it and pilot the thing. However, it was designed with myself in mind, so it's impossible for pretty much anyone else to use, and that's before we get into the various security measures that are in place."

Sirius sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Harry, do you even know the meaning of restraint?"

"Yes." Harry answered promptly. "I just prefer to ignore it for the most part. Hey, it's not like anyone was using this chamber, and I was bored enough last year, how much worse would I be if I didn't have any of my projects to distract myself with? Do you really want to inflict that on this world?"

Sirius grimaced. "No, I don't. I guess I'm simply shocked by how much you've gotten done in a handful of days. Hell, Harry, it hasn't even been a full seventy-two hours yet, you were only summoned on Friday evening and it's now Monday morning. Looking at this, if I didn't know better, I'd say your workshop had to have been here for months, if not years to get like this."

"I'm efficient?" Harry shrugged, not really caring. "I'll clean it all up when it's time to go, but for now, this is my place, my workshop."

"Haven't you got lessons to go to?" Sirius huffed.

Harry raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly, tilting his head towards the clones that were everywhere, earning himself a slight glare from Sirius.

"You're sending a clone to do it?" He asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sirius, it's not like the clones are automated – that's a little too risky for my tastes, at least without some safeguards in place – so I am in control of all of my clones simultaneously. Right now I'm looking at things from one hundred and ninety-eight points of view, hearing things from that many pairs of ears, working with the same number of pairs of hands, and my 'hair tentacles' – as Tamamo has taken to calling them – so it's not like I'm not in lesson, it's just that I'm only devoting a single set of thought processes to it."

"Hmm, does that mean you've got one of those clones in the Great Hall right now, for breakfast?" Sirius enquired.

"Yes, I do." Harry replied. "I'm analysing the students to see which are likely to try and make trouble for me, and which of them may try and gain a favour from me."

"Favours?" Sirius blinked. "Unlike back home, you aren't set to become Head of House Potter for a good long time. In fact, James' father, Charlus, still holds that position here, so even James himself is only an heir at present. Why would someone be looking to you for favours?"

Harry tinkered with something in his hands. "Daphne Greengrass' soul is radiating desperation at present. I... took a closer look, and found that her family is currently being threatened, and also rather vulnerable at present. The only thing keeping the Death Eaters away is a hastily drawn up marriage contract between her family and the Malfoys."

"I'm guessing that Daphne doesn't want to be Mrs Malfoy then?" Sirius asked.

"No, she doesn't." Harry told him. "However, the contract was drawn up quickly, and with a lot of pressure from the Malfoys themselves. The way it is written does not specify the number of spouses on either side of the arrangement, so Draco could end up with both Daphne and her younger sister, Astoria, under his thumb. Daphne, personally, wants to get Astoria away from all that, while her parents mostly want at least one of their children free of the contract so the Malfoy family doesn't get their hands on the entire Greengrass fortune and business ventures."

"Ah, I see." Sirius nodded. "That's pretty normal for pureblood families, marrying one child into wealth while the other continues their own family's businesses and inherits the lot. Of course, a lot of pureblood families only have a single child, preferably male, and have that child inherit everything." Sirius frowned a little, before mumbling to himself. "Now that I think about it, didn't Narcissa gossip about issues Lady Greengrass was having?"

"I know, Sirius, I do have all of the law books in my library, along with tomes on etiquette and genealogy, so I know how this works. Also, I don't really pay attention to gossip unless there's something I want to know." Harry replied.

"Hey, books aren't everything." Sirius admonished Harry. "A lot of pureblood stuff is passed down verbally from parent to child, and so isn't written down. The 'unwritten rules' make up a sizeable portion of a kid's learning when they're little. I should know, I went through it myself."

"I know, Sirius, you forget that I'm trawling through the minds and souls of hundreds as we speak, absorbing anything they know that I don't, which isn't a lot to tell the truth. Not to brag or anything, but I do know a lot of things, especially since Zelretch decided defeating Voldemort deserved a reward, and proceeded to loot a number of libraries in other worlds moments before they were to be destroyed." Harry chuckled.

"He did?" Sirius asked in surprise. "Huh, I remember him mumbling something about rewarding you for that, but I didn't think he'd actually done it yet."

"Well, he did." Harry told him. "I'm actually rather interested in a few scrolls from the Library of Alexandria of an alternate of a 'Hogwarts' world, there's some pretty neat spells in there. Then there's various Egyptian scrolls and the like that I've yet to read through, some Aztec stuff as well, not to mention various European libraries, and ones which haven't or might not even be built in this world. You would not believe how much I had to stretch the space expansion charms on the library, that place is now almost big enough to qualify as a continent."

"Well, it doesn't surprise me that all that would make a countr- wait, you said 'continent', not 'country', didn't you?" Sirius felt a headache grow as Harry replied with a nod. "That... that's a little bit more than I was expecting. I believe that you now have the largest private collection of books in I don't know how many worlds."

Harry laughed in reply, before stopping with a grimace. "Damn, that's not gonna be fun."

Sirius, lost, asked him what he was talking about.

"The clone in the Great Hall just got my schedule, and suffice to say, my day is going to suck. I have both Double Potions with Snape and Double Defence with Umbridge. The former is, even now, contemplating ways to 'get back at me' for what Jack did to his arm, while the latter seems intent on somehow 'interrogating' me, to find out things she can use for her own gain." Harry explained.

"Wait, you can get in Snape's mind without him even noticing?" Sirius asked, well aware that Severus Snape was a master Occlumens, regardless of how much they hated each other and he would never willing say that aloud.

"Well, Len and Nel can, but... you know, Succubi." Harry shrugged. "I, however, go through the soul, and as Occlumency is a purely mental art, there's not a lot it can do on the spiritual front, leaving me a 'back door' as it were."

"Invasion of privacy much?" Sirius commented.

"Personally, I view it as an invasion of privacy if, and only if, I spread it around to everyone." Harry defended himself. "While, yes, there are things people would rather others not know, my Soul Sight is kind of automatic, so I can't really prevent it happening, and there's also the fact I'd rather 'invade' their privacy than have one of their schemes inconvenience me."

"Only you, Harry." Sirius laughed. "Only you would say something like that."

"I seriously doubt that." Harry retorted. "I can think of several people who would agree with me, if only they could get away with half the stuff I can."

"Yeah, I guess." Sirius agreed. "Goodness knows, Mad-eye would love to be able to do a fraction of the things you could."

"Constant vigilance!" Harry barked, getting Sirius to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. Now, why don't you show me a few of the projects you have on the go." Sirius chuckled, smiling at a smirking Harry.

xxxxx

The copy of Harry that was sat in the Great Hall, 'enjoying' breakfast, had to resist rolling its eyes...

Okay, probably not the best word choice there. All of the copies of Harry were being controlled simultaneously by one mind, with none of them being autonomous, but the small fraction of 'Harry's' mind dedicated to this particular body wanted to roll its eyes.

For one, the lust emanating from everyone else in the hall was kinda irritating, especially as he'd toned down and minimised his supernatural attractiveness as much as was possible. Of course, the aura of 'pissed off teen girl' mixed in with the lust did make him smirk in amusement, internally at least.

Another thing making him want to roll his eyes was the rumours racing around the school already. As quiet as the students, and even the staff, thought they were being, Harry was capable of, quite literally, hearing a pin drop from several miles away, though he'd only ever once amplified his ears that much, mostly due to the pain even mild noises gave him if they were within range of his senses.

That meant he could hear every conversation going on in the Great Hall – ones further away too – and the rather wild guesses regarding several things about him were absolutely hilarious. His eyes were the topic of many discussions, both their unusual colour and shape. It wasn't just the wine red irises that people were murmuring about, but the lavender sclera, silver pupil too, and of course the fact his irises were hexagonal in shape.

Some people had actually guessed correctly, that his eyes had magical effects and that was why he had worn the blindfold, but no one had managed to suss out just what his eyes did – though the laser beams idea one student had suggested was amusing, and a possible project idea – and why he was no longer wearing said blindfold, his own 'Breaker Gorgon'.

Snape, radiating an immense amount of anger, rage, and a fair amount of fear, stalked down the Slytherin table, handing out schedules. When he got to Harry, the Keeper of Souls could literally feel as the man contained himself, only a minute shaking of his hand as he held out Harry's timetable giving any indication of his emotional turmoil.

Observing him as he walked away, Harry mentally went through what he knew of this world's Severus Snape and how he differed from the one he knew. For starters, the one in his birth world had been deeply affected by Lily Potter nee Evans death, causing the man to withdraw even further into himself, turning his outward persona rather icy and condescending.

This one, instead, had been filled with hot anger and rage. His emotions, not having been cooled off by loss, built up over time, pushed higher by every little mention of Lily Potter and her family, and given just how often the 'Boy-Who-Lived' made the papers, and for the smallest of things, that was quite a lot.

As a result, when he'd seen Harry Potter at the Sorting Ceremony, and especially given his resemblance to James Potter, he'd absolutely hated and loathed the boy on sight. His disturbed state of mind, fixated as it had once been – and still was – on Lily Potter, could barely stand to see her child look so much like his childhood tormentor.

It was both interesting and disconcerting – to a regular person at least – just how easily one person could be twisted by negative emotions, especially when they had a chance to fester, growing like mould, digger deeper into one's heart and soul. Harry was no psychiatrist, but even he had to wonder who had a more unhealthy mindset, Snape with his fixation, anger, and loathing, or himself with his fractured and morally lacking psyche.

Chuckling lightly to himself, earning a few more looks than he was already being given, Harry looked down at the schedule in his hand and had to hold back a grimace. Just lovely, his Mondays were the worst he'd ever had. Double Potions on the morning, a free period followed by a single of Divination after break, and Double Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon following lunch.

Oh well, best get to it then.

xxxxx

Hermione Granger was a nervous wreck at present. She had uncovered just what the new arrivals in their world were, but... she had been told to keep silent on the matter while the adults took care of things. While she had the utmost faith that they would make sure nothing bad happened, the Headmaster was the Albus Dumbledore after all, that didn't stop the fear she felt at knowing one of her classmates could easily tear her limb from limb and there was essentially nothing anyone could do about it.

A part of her still felt like this was some sort of surreal nightmare. After all, Harry was fifteen, how does someone that age become one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors? Still, with Altrouge Brunestud at his side, it was hard to argue with that. She doubted one such as her would stand for a false claimant.

Her eyes drifted to the blonde girl with angel wings, someone who really scared her, despite how innocent and blunt she seemed to be. Hermione had not known what a 'TYPE' was, and she'd had to ask Madam Pince for a book that could tell her what one was.

TYPEs, Ultimate Ones, beings of such power that they represent entire planets, being the strongest beings on those planets, essentially the planets themselves. Each one of them holds enough power to erase all life on Earth, while being alien beings with an alien common sense, meaning they don't even necessarily die when they are killed.

The only two Ultimate Ones that are really known to the world at large are TYPE Moon and TYPE Mercury, neither of which were really understood. In actual fact, all anyone could really say about them was that they exist, and that they were powerful. There didn't even seem to be anything that connected the TYPEs together, just that they were 'aliens'.

She watched as the three of them, Harry, Altrouge, and V/V, worked on their potion together. As there was an odd number of students, and they normally worked in pairs for potions, they were allowed to work together, though even Hermione could see the mixed fear and rage in Snape's eyes and actions.

She did take note that, for some reason, both Harry and Altrouge kept V/V away from all of the plant-based ingredients...

xxxxx

Hermione wasn't the only one focusing on Harry. Others in the class, for various reasons, found their attention being drawn towards him and away from the potions. This might have led to several accidents if Harry himself wasn't focusing on keeping any from happening.

A slight breeze here, blowing just a little bit of an ingredient away from the cauldron, a small bit of fire manipulation to keep things at the right temperature, a 'minor' space distortion technique to swap which ingredient was being added to the potion. All things that prevented anything bad happening to the potions, and no one even noticed Harry was doing it.

A rare few pairs of eyes were actually looking at Harry's deft movements as he made the potion, gently yet efficiently guiding his two partners in their tasks as he oversaw it all. No one could miss how the smell, colour, and consistency of Harry's potion was absolutely perfect, and completely of a professional quality.

A few more individuals were looking more at Harry's body, not quite believing that he was actually a male. Harry was thankful that he didn't have any 'curves' at all, as that would make his gender even harder to ascertain, though his current 'androgynous but leaning slightly female' form wasn't much better.

One pair of eyes that Harry wasn't aware of was observing him from a great distance. To these 'eyes', it did not matter what obstructed their view, or how great a distance separated them, they saw everything. A few thoughts flickered through the beings mind, contemplating how to test Harry next.

xxxxx

"There's Potions over and done with, joy." The original Harry muttered to himself in the Chamber of Secrets. "At least Alt and V/V seem to be enjoying learning new things." He commented, stroking the cat-formed Len next to him, earning him a purr from said succubus.

"Snape being a bastard?" Sirius asked, looking over Harry's shoulder at the design he was working on.

"Not really, I didn't give him anything to really latch onto, so he kind of seethed silently." Harry replied absently, before addressing Dream or Destruction, who was sat beside Harry and also pouring over the same design he was.

"Aerodynamically, I think it would be better to go for a more 'traditional' shape, not a flying saucer, obviously, but something along the lines of a 'rocket'. It would make things simpler, if nothing else." He commented.

DoD shook her head. "That's true, but aerodynamics don't really apply in a vacuum, though inertia and several other forces do matter. It gives us room to play with several variables, allowing for several designs to be considered instead of having to obey basic physical laws."

"Very true, I guess, and a rocket really is a rather boring shape." Harry agreed. "We want both form and function here, so we have to balance what works with what looks good. Speed is not much of an issue with the , as you have called it, 'TransDrive', or TD for short."

"It's self-explanatory, and what sort of spaceship would it be if it couldn't teleport around the universe?" DoD asked.

"I still can't believe you're designing and building this thing." Sirius voiced, though it came out a little muffled due to the fact he was palming his face in exasperation. "Please don't tell me this 'spaceship' is going to be completed within a day."

"Don't be a silly billy." DoD answered, earning a sigh of relief from Sirius. "We need to choose the right design first, though if we had the materials and Origin devoted all of his clones to the task, a space-worthy craft could be constructed within seven hours."

Harry eyed Sirius as he collapsed to the floor, and decided to give the man a bit of a reprieve. "When Dream said it would be a 'space-worthy' vessel, she meant that it would be able to fit a single individual, and wouldn't have all of the fancy extras like a 'TransDrive', or armament, or anything like that. The ship we're currently designing is meant for up to a thousand human sized individuals and would be as long as a Quidditch pitch."

Sirius frowned. "A thousand people living in something that size? Wouldn't that be rather cramped, especially with things like thrusters and stuff taking up room?"

"Space expansion charms, Sirius, they'd fit rather comfortably, and there's still room for all the recreational rooms I'm going to put in there." Harry replied blandly, as if it should have been obvious, and considering how badly Harry abused that spell as well, it really should have been.

Sirius sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Rec rooms, right, every spaceship has one of those." He muttered to himself, though still audible to those with ridiculously heightened senses, before speaking louder once more. "Just so long as you remember basic things like life support, food, medical, and so on, okay?"

Sirius was almost conked on the head by a scroll that Dream or Destruction had tossed his way. He unrolled it to find a check list of what a ship 'needs' to have, what one 'should' have, and what they would 'like' it to have.

Sirius found his eye twitching rather badly as he came across sub-sections with various methods to handle each of the raised points, and the pros and cons of each of them.

"I don't know why I bother." He grumbled.

"Because you're trying to involve yourself in Origin's life, perhaps?" A neutral voice questioned from directly behind Sirius, making him nearly jump out of his skin.

"Merlin's Beard!" He span around. "Oh, it's you, Seri, don't scare me like that." He clutched at his heart melodramatically while Harry's manifested apathy raised a solitary eyebrow, a somewhat bored expression adorning her face.

"I'll consider it." She replied, before glancing over towards Harry, whose hair was now very noticeably paler with three of his Aspects out and about.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow himself as he saw how close Serial Phantasm got to Harry, and weird little thoughts began to circulate through his mind. However, he tried not to give them too much attention, lest he end up lost in a see of 'what if' and 'eww!' oriented ideas.

He saw the original Harry chuckle and decided to ask him what was up.

"Oh, nothing much." Harry replied lightly. "I just found out who'll be sharing my defence class later on, and I'm looking forward to how Amaterasu reacts to Umbridge. Should make for an entertaining lesson, ne?"

Sirius couldn't help it, he joined in with Harry's and Dream's laughter, while Serial Phantasm watched on with a slight smile on her face.