Overall, Harry enjoyed staying at Dumbledore's cottage. Fawkes had turned up after the second night with his school list, Harry and Dumbledore had decided that they would go to Diagon once the rush for supplies was over and less people would be present to notice Harry. Despite staying in his house, Harry rarely saw much of Dumbledore during the day, he often spent most of the day doing paperwork or talking ministry employees asking for his help or advice. Even Cornelius Fudge, the minister for magic had once asked him for help which Harry had found rather silly, the leader of the wizarding world should be able to think for himself, he thought.
When Dumbledore worked Harry often sat nearby and practiced his magic, Dumbledore sometimes provided Harry with subjects to look into and research. Often they were related to transfiguration but sometimes the subject would be more difficult, such as Alchemy or enchanting. Harry had been delighted to have a chance to further look into alchemy, the library at Hogwarts had only said that alchemy was a rare and difficult combination of Transfiguration and potions, it was possible that there were more in depth book about Alchemy but Harry had never bothered to find out.
The two had engaged in a lengthy discussion about Alchemy, that was until Dumbledore eventually realised he needed to get back to his work and promised Harry that he would find a tutor for Harry so that he could learn the basics of Alchemy over the next school year.
For his part Fawkes seemed to enjoy the extra company, he would regularly ride around the cottage perched on Harry's shoulder, despite the phoenix's large size he was as light as a feather. Harry had noticed that his wand seemed happier when Fawkes was present and Harry had to be extremely careful to control how much magic he put into his spells since his wand seemed to lose its own magical buffer. His wand seemed to be showing off for Fawkes, which as his wand's core was from Fawkes it made sense his wand reacted so strongly to the birds presence.
When away from Fawkes, Harry had begun to feel like his wand was somehow losing its power, ever since Halloween Harry had sensed the connection between him and his wand change subtly, at the time he had not noticed it. He knew his connection was still stronger than most of the students in his year, with his developing mage sight if he concentrated the connection between wand and user became visible, however despite this it saddened Harry to think he was slowly losing his wand's allegiance.
It did not help his mood that every time he saw the Elder Wand he felt a compulsion to strike Dumbledore down and take the Wand for his own, if he concentrated his mage sight on the Wand he could see the tendrils of the inverted magic that leaked from the Wand and stretched towards him. Harry did not know if they sought him because he was wearing the Cloak and sought the Stone or if the Wand sought every witch or wizard that saw it.
When Harry had asked Dumbledore about it, the professor admitted that he was not even aware that the Wand did that, it shocked Harry to be told that he saw more than Dumbledore, upon seeing his expression Dumbledore had told Harry "I learnt to see magic rather late in my life, Harry and out of all magic I have learnt, the ability to see magic was always one of my weaker skills. I have always had to work for my magical power, with a few exceptions such as transfiguration which I find instinctual. From what you have told me you find casting all magic instinctual and I suspect that extends to your Mithril and Mage sight as they are just natural extensions of your magic."
Harry did not just spent his time in Godric's Hollow researching magic, he had also spent some of his time searching for information about his parents and Ignotus Peverell, Dumbledore had offered to assist him but Harry had stubbornly wanted to find out the information for himself.
Having spent considerable time in Dumbledore's home, Harry had come to the conclusion that Dumbledore had many faces that he showed to the world. Harry called the most common face the 'senile old man', Dumbledore wore this face most of the time and when when it was present he was silly and seemed to go out of his way to make as little sense as possible. The second most common was an extension of the first face, the 'senile teacher', still silly but he now made some convoluted logic.
Dumbledore wore those faces around Hogwarts and Harry suspected they were the only faces that the average student would ever see. The third face a student might see was the 'grandfather', this was Dumbledore at his calmest, he was supportive and encouraging or disappointed but caring depending on the situation. Underneath was the knowledge that Dumbledore truly cared about that individual, Harry felt that despite hiding behind a mask Dumbledore still cared about his students and wasn't just pretending.
The final face Harry had seen was the 'realist', deadly serious and no-nonsense, sometimes still kind and compassionate but there was now steel behind his words, Harry had only seen this face twice, once when Hermione had died and then again at the end of the year when they had fought Voldemort.
Harry had come up with a few theories as to why Dumbledore spent most of his time wearing the 'senile' face, the first possibility was that Dumbledore was honestly senile and this was his only 'true' face, Harry thought this was extremely unlikely, the next theory was that Dumbledore enjoyed not having to be serious and took joy in confusing people, Harry thought this was quite likely.
Another possible theory was that Dumbledore wore that face because it was expected of him to be and act like that, which was unlikely since Dumbledore was not the type of person to change themselves to fit other people's ideas. Next was that people found the senile face the easiest to talk to and as such they were more relaxed around him, this would allow Dumbledore to learn more about the person without being invasive, it also helped him understand and help the person.
However the theory that Harry thought was the most likely was that people, especially young people such as his students, enjoyed being around 'senile' Dumbledore which in turn made Dumbledore happy. Of course it could have been a mix of all of these theories or none of them, Harry did not know the man well enough to tell. Harry doubted that he would have even noticed the different faces the professor wore if not for the fact that he also showed different faces to different people.
His own face was most honest around people he trusts, which was currently just Dumbledore and Bathsheda. While in lessons he was close to his honest face, just more controlling over how much emotion was displayed, outside of lessons, when surrounded by the other students, Harry kept up a wall that he made sure no emotion got shown, even though he still felt them. When he had suffered under the Dursleys he had gone even further and suppressed his emotions so that he had no emotions to hide.
"I wonder, Harry, if you would mind accompanying me to visit an old friend. His daughter is due to start Hogwarts after the summer ends and from what I have heard she is… different. I feel it would help her to be able to see and talk to a student, someone that could answer her questions far more easily than myself, after all it is no secret that it has been many years since I was last a student myself."
"Sure, I guess I wouldn't mind."
"Excellent. Although I confess that there is also another reason I wanted you to join me. You see when I had to stop my own search for the Hallows and focus on teaching, my friend to the best of my knowledge never stopped searching, as such between the three of us I feel we have a very real possibility of being able to find the third and final Hallow. As each brother only ever held one Hallow I feel I am not mistaken in thinking that only one person may ever find one Hallow, as such if we are to collect the last Hallow we might need a third searcher. His wife died a few years back and as such I do not think it would take much convincing to get him to help us find the Resurrection Stone."
"And if we do find it?" Harry asked suspiciously, he trusted Dumbledore greatly, and if he was being honest cared for the man, but due to his upbringing Harry knew that people rarely did something if it did not benefit themselves, he also did not want to find out what Dumbledore would choose if forced to pick between Harry or the Resurrection Stone.
"Well, then we see if the stories are true and we each attempt to bring back those lost to us." Dumbledore said, surprised that Harry had even asked what they would do with the Stone.
"Yes, but who keeps the Stone once we use it?" Harry noted that over the course of the conversation Dumbledore had transitioned from the senile teacher, to the grandfather and then to the realist, as the faces changed the professor seemed to lose his energy and age before his eyes.
"I was thinking that my friend could look after it, but ultimately I wish for you to have both the Stone and the Wand. I am old, Harry and while I hope to live for many more years I have to be realistic and accept that I was not meant to master Death. You however have many, many years ahead of you, while my friend may not be as old as myself he has only his daughter to care for, I believe his wife was the only other person he cared for."
Harry was shocked, he had hoped to get to use and possibly keep the Stone but he had never desired the Wand, not unless you counted the artificial desire that the Wand placed into his mind, if Harry concentrated he could see the tendril of 'anti magic' that extended from the Wand.
Both Dumbledore and Harry now knew much more about the Elder Wand, Dumbledore had once cast a simple spell using the Elder Wand, all three wands that Dumbledore owned and finally wandlessly at Harry's request. Harry had been surprised at hearing that Dumbledore owned and used three different wands.
Dumbledore's first wand had been Ebony but had been snapped in his fifth year by accident. The Ebony wand had been followed by the Fir wand, which Dumbledore had used from fifth year until just after his apprenticeship under Flamel, he had then moved onto the Hornbeam wand until he had fought and beaten Grindelwald and gained the Elder Wand.
Upon getting the Elder wand Dumbledore had repaired his Ebony wand and had carried all four wands on him, each wand was useful for different situations with the Elder Wand being the most versatile. For example the Ebony wand was good for friendly combat and general transfiguration. During the war against Voldemort, Dumbledore had often used both the Ebony wand in one hand with the Elder Wand in the other.
Despite the Elder Wand being the most powerful Wand ever, Dumbledore had found that it struggled to case subtle magic and resisted casting any magic with the intent to protect, including protecting himself. But without the Elder Wand he would not have the power to withhold Voldemort, Dumbledore had thus been forced to use the Elder Wand to directly attack while using the Ebony wand protected and shielded.
The Fir wand was best suited for teaching and casting extremely difficult or complex transfiguration. While every wand was physically capable of casting complex transfigurations, the Fir wand required the least amount of power to achieve the best result, this allowed Dumbledore show students how transfiguration should be done without using a significant amount of his power to slow down the effect. This wand was rarely used for combat since Dumbledore would rarely have enough time to attempt the overly complex transfigurations that served the Fir wand best.
The Hornbeam wand had served him throughout the war with Grindelwald, according to Dumbledore Hornbeam wands best served people with an obsession, during the war against Grindelwald Dumbledore's obsession had first been obtaining the Hallows and then stopping Grindelwald. After obtaining the Elder Wand his obsession had been considered fulfilled and the Hornbeam wand had lost its power, while it was still a perfectly functional wand it did not enhance or aid Dumbledore's power like the other wands still did.
The only reason Dumbledore kept the wand on him was because it refused to work for anyone other than Dumbledore he had decided to keep hold of the wand as a reminder of the darker times and also as a backup wand just in case he somehow lost the other three. The Elder Wand would leave Dumbledore the moment he was beaten even if he was still capable of fighting although until that happened it would only ever work at full capacity for Dumbledore. The Ebony wand had no sense of loyalty towards Dumbledore and would work for anyone that had a strong belief even if that person had never beaten Dumbledore in a duel.
The Fir wand still served Dumbledore faithfully but would still change its allegiance if Dumbledore ever got defeated in a fair duel. However the Hornbeam would only ever work for Dumbledore and would never stop working for Dumbledore, no matter how many times he got beaten in a duel, even a master wand maker sure as Ollivander would not be able to get the Hornbeam wand to properly work for them. Dumbledore also suspected that if he ever got an obsession to achieve something the Hornbeam wand would 'reawaken' and regain its power.
Harry got the pleasure of watching each wand as it channeled Dumbledore's magic using his mage sight, he decided that the Hornbeam wand was acting like an unbonded wand, it still worked for Dumbledore because he was powerful enough that he could force his magic to work without weakening the spell, but as a result spells cast with the Hornbeam wand required much more power, intent and will than the other wands.
In contrast both the Fir and Ebony wands seemed eager to help and assist Dumbledore in shaping his magic to his intent, this meant that Dumbledore did not have to focus so much on his intent in order to get his spells to be powerful. He could either keep his normal level of intent resulting in a spell much harder to break or concentrate more on his power or will, he could also use less of his power in his spells meaning he could cast very powerful spells in quick succession.
The final wand was of course the Elder Wand, if the Fir or Ebony wands helped Dumbledore guide the magic then the Elder Wand guided his magic all by itself, it seemed desperate to cast magic, especially destructive magic.
Dumbledore explained to Harry that he had to be careful when shaping his intent when using the Elder Wand otherwise even a basic stunner could become lethal. Therefore Dumbledore was unable to operate at his full power even though the Wand belonging to him, it was only when Dumbledore didn't fight the Wand and let it kill could he truly let loose and release his full power in battle.
According to Dumbledore he had only ever done that twice, once was right after Grindelwald was defeated and Dumbledore had to fight the dark Lord's remaining followers, then in the war against Voldemort in 1980, when the numbers of the dead came very close to the number of witches and wizards left fighting Voldemort, Dumbledore had said he had waded through the battlefield, the Elder Wand in one hand and the Ebony wand in the other, the death toll from that battle was the highest of the entire war.
The regular Death Eaters had preferred remaining in one spot during battles and normally depended on the strength of numbers over strategy, during 'the great battle of 1980' Dumbledore had just walked towards the Death Eaters, their spells had just bounced off his shield while the Elder Wand transfigured everything in sight, by the time the Death Eaters realised Dumbledore was no longer holding back it was too late for them and many died from the transfigurations long before Dumbledore's spells ever got close to them. It was only Voldemort's intervention that allowed the Death Eaters to escape, even then Voldemort had needed to focus all his energy on defending himself, the battle had ended when Voldemort had let loose with FiendFyre and used the distraction to escape.
When Harry watched Dumbledore cast wandless magic he had come to the conclusion that the Elder Wand functioned like wandless magic, except it was done with a wand. Harry explained to Dumbledore that when a witch or wizard used wandless magic there was no barrier or resistance, there was only the wizard's magic and the world around them. The world does not like being changed so fights the wizard's magic, which is why magic requires power to function in the first place.
Wands have their own power which is why their cores have to come from magical creatures, the wand uses their own power to fight the magical resistance, allowing the caster to can use more of their own power in their spells, however the wand's magic can bleed into the spells that pass through them, which meant that once the magic left the wand a witch or wizard lost control over their spell. Take for example a simple fireball spell, if Harry cast the with his wand the fireball would fly in a straight line until it either ran out of power or hit something, but if he cast it wandlessly he could guide where the fireball went and even change its intent mid flight, assuming he had the power and endurance to do so.
Since the Elder Wand's magic was in essence the exact opposite of magic, 'anti magic' as Harry thought of it now, it did not change the magical signature of the spell, as such Dumbledore could cast a fireball spell with the Elder Wand and control it as if it were cast wandlessly. But since the power of the Wand was still 'magic' the Wand was able to fight the magical resistance, meaning that the user did not need to spend their own magical supply to fight the resistance themselves.
However, rather than change the spell's signature the Elder Wand seemed to affect the spell's intent instead, much like an evil genie in the fantasy books Harry had read, Dumbledore had to specify exactly what he wanted the spell to do. If he gave the Wand any leeway with his instructions the spell's intent would change. It took a great strength of will to use the Elder Wand without succumbing to its nature, Harry could not think of anyone else he trusted to wield and use the Elder Wand without endangering others other than Dumbledore.
Any spells cast with the Elder Wand was much harder to break compared to when using other wands or wandlessly, it seemed the anti magic of the Elder Wand made breaking the spell much harder, of course when the spell was not cast by the Elder Wand Harry was nowhere near strong enough to break a spell cast by Albus Dumbledore, luckily Harry he had his mithril and gauntlet to draw magic from.
Dumbledore had cast three levitation charms on three rocks of equal weight, each charm cast with either the Elder Wand, the Ebony wand or wandlessly. Harry was able to pull apart the wandless spell relatively quickly and it took him about ten more minutes to break the Ebony wand's spell, however it took him almost an hour and several bars of mithril before he finally broke the Elder Wand's spell.
If it weren't for his mage sight and general magical awareness Harry would never have been able to even break the wandless spell. By learning to use his normal level of mage sight inside such a magically rich environment like Hogwarts, his mage sight had become even more powerful when outside of Hogwarts. Harry could now see past the colours of the magic's signature and he could now see the abstract lines and shapes that made up the spell when he concentrated for long enough. Once he could see the shapes Harry could manipulate his magic to delicately remove or change the shapes, once enough shapes were gone the spell would collapse and break apart like a game of jenga.
When Harry looked inside the charm cast by the Elder Wand he saw the normal shape of a levitation charm and lines of anti magic which held the shapes in place, this was what let the caster keep control over their magic since the magic could bend or adjust the spell without letting it collapse. It also had the effect of making the spell much harder to change if you weren't the caster, Harry had to first break all of the lines of anti magic and then once all the lines where gone he could start manipulating the shapes, but as he worked the line of anti magic started to reform meaning he had to pause his work and break the lines again. This effectively doubled how much magic and time was required to break the spell and Harry knew that if he hadn't been able to see the lines of anti magic it would have been impossible for him to have broken the spell at all.
With his new found enhanced mage sight Harry had tried to look into his cloak but had still not been able to see any further inside, however he did find an interesting fact about his Cloak. A little known fact about magic revealing spells was that they only reveal magic that the spell 'touches' when it does its scan, most of the time that worked perfectly fine since depending on the caster revealing spells revealed almost everything nearby, however if someone was under a large ward, such as those around Hogwarts, then that ward would not be detected by the revealing spell unless the spell hits the edge of the ward.
Harry had come to realise that the reason it looked like the pattern of the Cloak's magical signature was stationary and not attached to the Cloak was because it actually was unattached, somehow the Cloak's magic exceeded the physical presence of the Cloak itself, whenever the Cloak activated it drew upon its magic to perfectly hide anything inside by spreading its magic larger than any revealing spell could detect, possibly even covering the entire planet, it seemed that much like the Wand, the Cloak performed almost impossible feats of magic by abusing most of the laws of magic.
It also explained why the Cloak was impervious to damage, a ward protected an area by spreading the energy of an attack over a large area, the larger the area the more damage could be absorbed at once, by feeding power into a ward it could repair itself. This implied that either the Cloak was self powering, making it impossible for any spell incapable of destroying the world to damage it, or the magic within the Cloak was finite and after absorbing too much magic the Cloak would eventually be destroyed.
A lot of talking, a lot of 'the science of magic'
In case people are confused over how Harry can know break apart spells for him it is not that different to dismantling his mithril, without his mithril giving him energy he wouldn't be able to do it, if Dumbledore had masked his signature like normal then Harry would currently be unable to see 'inside' the spell and thus unable to break them, if the spell was given more power then Harry would have burnt up before he could have broken it.
I am imagining Harry's mage sight as the equivalent of a science student being able to see particles and atoms, that student would sail through most of the basic science lessons since they can physically see why stuff is working, but, for example, being able to see atoms wouldn't help too much when trying to understand something like nuclear fission or rocket science.
In terms of Dumbledore's and Voldemort's power levels I consider Voldemort to have way more raw power than Dumbledore, the only reason Dumbledore can fight Voldemort as an equal is because Dumbledore knows more magic and is more conservative with that magic, Voldemort just throws his magic around or uses the strongest spells available while Dumbledore uses the most efficient spell to do one specific thing, as such when he 'let's loose' and uses the Elder Wands true power without holding back he can match Voldemort 1:1, if Voldemort was as efficient with his own spells he would easily beat Dumbledore since he is strong naturally and most likely used rituals to increase his magic beyond what is normal.