Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Headstart - Part 2 (Working Title)

Posted Date: December 26th 2019

Tags: Scientific and Mad Scientist type Harry, Ravenclaw House, Manipulative Dumbledore

The day Harry found out about the possible identity of his powers and the possibility of him being a prisoner was the day Harry decided he could not afford to waste more time learning about his abilities or be stuck at the Dursleys. The fact that there was someone out there willing to do whatever it takes to force him into the Dursley household told Harry that he was in grave danger from likely dire manipulations in the future, and if his fantasy books were of any indications, that would be the 'plot-point' of his life.

There was something about his powers being considered magic that got him thinking about the versatility and meaning. Perhaps it was the manner he started to learn his abilities, or how his powers seemed to differ greatly from the wand users, or perhaps the part where said wand users were trying to attack and imprison him, but Harry did not like the idea of labeling his powers as such. Perhaps he would call it magic for the time being but continue referring to it in his head as the 'Force' or whatever the equivalent was, since he was using both the Star Wars and a more scientific approach to using his abilities as opposed to the fantastical style of manipulating it.

It totally did not have to do with the childish fact that it sounded cooler in his mind than the word magic. Totally not the case, period.

Putting that thought away, he had to consider a lot of things at this point.

He had to watch his back and those who have been protecting him for the past couple of years.

He had to shore up the defenses for his hideaway to make sure it was not compromised.

He had to think of more ways to get away from the Dursleys.

He had to learn more of the people making him their prisoner.

He had to prepare himself for what's to come.

He would have to consider all of that when he was heading for his summer camp in less than a week.

~ooOOoo~

When Harry got to the camp, he did not realize just how much being at the great outdoors would do for his magic.

When Harry was anywhere the Dursley residence, his magic felt 'restrained' like it was bound with chains, while at his hideaway it felt a lot looser and happier of sorts. But here in the forest, it was practically jumping around inside him and Harry had the image of the puppy running in circles while chasing its tail in happiness. Harry had read about the Wicca worshiping Mother Nature and the Red Indians of America, and considering the times he had to tend to the Dursley's gardens or his own garden back at his hideaway, he could make a supposition that having a connection to nature helped his magic in more ways than one. He was thankful for his magic every day since he started to train with it, but standing in the forest, he decided to take a leaf from said Wicca and tried reaching out to the forest with his magic to let it out of sorts, and the effect was immediate as it seemed to rejoice at the freedom and at the natural energy around him, infusing him with more energy than he had ever felt and affecting the forest area with its presence.

Harry decided to keep mum about the sudden appearance of flowers flourishing at the camp site and the increased numbers of small animals visiting them.

Regardless of that little mishap, Harry could barely contain the exhilaration and sense of empowerment he got from letting his magic loose, and his Force-sensing was going into overdrive to the point he could even count the number of petals on a flower about a kilometre away from the entrance or to feel the water from a nearby stream. He could feel the plants working their functions as the sun hit them or even the animals' heartbeats as they went about their activities. It was all so exciting that he knew he was going to be needing another notebook for this observation alone.

But enough of that, time for some lessons, which for some odd reason, be it a coincidence, preordained, or even sheer dumb luck, that the courses offered at the summer camp would be the key to helping his problem and increasing his arsenal.

There were mandatory classes at the camp like the languages class, but majority of his classmates chose the more 'attractive' courses at the camp, meaning those that allowed them to be outside roughing about in the open field as opposed to being stuck indoors. Harry being one of the more studious chose the latter to learn more about the world outside of Britain and found himself immersed in the world of languages, music and crafting. The one that stood out for him was the symbology class that at the time showed simple pictograms, icons and symbols for them to try out and decipher. Most of the small class had stopped after the first lesson, with a couple more after the second, but Harry pushed on to learn about the language that could be used with images. But the bit that settled the matter for him was when he was drawing them out on the third night while considering his problem back in Surrey. He accidentally pushed some of the Force during his more erratic thinking through the pencil and the symbols lit up briefly with some type of effect being created before the paper burnt instantly, leaving behind ashes and a new found discovery for Harry to try.

It did not take long for Harry to get results from his experiments and a new desire to incorporate this into his array of talents. The teachers had spoken of pictures and symbols used in the past to speak a language, but in his experiments, Harry found that he could do a lot more than just 'speak the language'; he could apply it in ways that he could reserve his powers while the symbols do the work for him. He could combine different pictures and symbols to create different effects that were previously unreachable to him with his magic. He needed to read up on it more if he wanted to use it more proficiently, not to mention a proper medium to write said language without it burning up.

That was when his crafting lessons came in.

Harry had played around with the small pieces of metal that was on the floor when the blacksmith was removing them from the small art piece he was demonstrating to the crowd. He had tried painting the symbols on wood at first and then rocks which got a better result depending on the type of rock, and he figured that metal being a stronger medium ought to be a better alternative to rock and definitely superior to paper. He decided to go back to the basics and used the symbols for light to create a light source similar to his Force Ball.

Good thing he went back to the basics while in the forest behind the cabin he was sharing with, because his first attempt got him re-enacting the same accident but with a few bushes of thorns near the campsite.

Not a pleasant feeling removing the thorns from his legs, but at least he was luckier than Dudley who got them introduced intimately between the legs when he was not wearing pants. Even Harry had to offer a moment of sympathy at that.

Once he got the basics of making light and fireballs with his symbology, Harry started researching other known cultures for more symbols and icons to consider combining to create the different ideas he got inspiration from the fantasy books and comics. The teacher at the camp was quite amused when Harry asked for any books he could read from and decided to loan him two books alongside a list to search from. Harry consumed the two books in record time and started to play around with his etching tools. Harry noted that whatever he had planned depended greatly on the type of symbols drawn along with the medium being used to hold them. For one, he should not use symbols representing fire or ash on flammable items, or use those representing power on wood as those would break or burn instantly with explosive results. He also needed to be very careful with the wording of his symbols since what passed as a word in one culture could be seen as another word or even a phrase in another. One of the first trials combining symbols from different cultures had him scrambling for cover as, for the lack of a better description, space seemed to collapse upon itself around the pebble he tried out and imploded with explosive results. Harry was lucky that when it did, the ground beneath it crumbled and dropped his failure into the stream, reducing the effects and the sounds.

He did however create some samples using the stronger pebbles and the few pieces of metal small enough to keep inside his bag with enough surface for him to etch the symbols on. It was certainly quite interesting to see how he could create chains of light to restrict an object, a 'growth accelerator' that could stimulate the growth of a plant safely, or even an amulet that helps to regulate heat around a certain area, the latter being very helpful on the cold nights at the camp. Harry had to work hard in suppressing a grin at people wondering why him and his bunk-mates had such a warm and soothing cabin as opposed to their chilling cabins.

Before long, it was the end of the summer camp and Harry would return to Privet Drive with two new notebooks filled with ideas of pictorial languages, several books and tools loaned by the camp instructors wanting him to practice, and a few prototypes to try out. One of which would prove crucial and most useful when he returned to find the cracked dome of sickly colours back in place, looking a lot bigger and feeling a lot more disgusting to him. One of the stones he had experimented on had the symbols for 'protection', 'barrier', 'power', 'detection', and most importantly to him, 'rejection against ill intent'. He wanted to test the idea of creating a protective field of sorts so that he won't be attacked at a certain area.

It was by sheer coincidence that when he was experimenting with it, he accidentally cut his finger and dripped a few droplets of blood on it, with the stone seemingly absorbing the blood into itself and the symbols glowing briefly. When he approached the barrier, the stone had activated inside his bag and destroyed the dome with a loud crash that sent every car alarm blaring. Then to his eyes, Harry saw four bolts of light shooting out of his bag and towards different directions, then a new dome of pure light and pulsing with new energy sprung up with a force that sent shivers down Harry's spine but was more welcoming to him and seemingly driving away the dregs of the old field away for good. Feeling encouraged, Harry walked through the barrier and had to restrain himself from shaking at the warm and comforting wave that wrapped around him protectively, with the added feeling of chains being removed from his body and making him feel a lot more energetic, certainly a big improvement from the other dome set up by his supposed jailers. If he had to guess, this was his own magic creating the dome, his own 'Force Field' if he dared to say so.

Although an oddity did happen when this was going on. His signature scar started hurting badly and oozed out black blood without warning. He was lucky that he was at an empty street when the scar seemed to split wide open and a horrifying scream of pain rang out, chilling him to the bones from both the sound and from the black cloud that came out of the scar. It could have been from the disorientation but Harry would swear that there was an actual face in the cloud as it twisted in a sickly manner. After a few painful seconds, the cloud dispersed, taking with it the awful looking face and leaving Harry a touch paranoid. It was only the next day did Harry realize that the scar had disappeared almost completely and he was experiencing an upsurge of his magic, as though there had been some limiter on his body that was now removed and he was gaining full access of his abilities. Even his eyesight seemed to have gotten better within the week to the point that he did not require glasses for the majority of the time.

It would seem that making that barrier prototype was the greatest idea he had to that point in time.

He would later get a further demonstration of the barrier when he was visiting one of his teachers for the day. He was just about to reach the door when a sensation of danger blared in his mind while the barrier glowed brightly, before he heard pained yelps and crashing. Harry turned to find two individuals dressed in those weird robes with their hands broken along with those wood type wands, and a third on the ground unconscious. After a quick look-around and feeling with his senses, Harry aimed and focused hard at the two invaders, before firing off a beam of light that struck them both to render them like their third companion. With that taken care, Harry raced for his teacher's house to get to safety, but not before summoning whatever they had on them that could help him identify who they were. The teacher called the police who Harry handed most of the items he got off the oddly-dressed people. The last he heard of them, the police arrested them for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest.

When he went to check the items he held back at his hideaway, Harry was somewhat confused at the odds-and-bits. There was no proper identification aside for some identity card that was at least thirty years old (a fact that confused the police when they went to apprehend them), one bag of odd coins of gold, silver and bronze (wasn't he surprised when he reached into the bags only to have his entire arm disappear to the shoulder), a very bulky key made of gold, three wands of different design and make that gave off an odd feeling (two gave off sparks when he waved them and a third almost blew up in his face), a cloth that gave off a feeling that he did not like (Harry used his magic to move it out of the hideaway and onto a pebble, watching it vanish with a pop), and finally a piece of parchment that had oddly cursive writing and with a coat of arms at the top, and the words 'Gringotts Wizarding Bank' and 'Hogwarts' on it.

Guess he had a new place to look up, and perhaps a place to return the key if it was what he believed it to be. He did not want to be labeled a thief after all.

~ooOOoo~

Time went on with Harry experimenting even further. One of the first experiments he did was to etch the same protection symbols on the walls of his hideaway with the addition of placing pebbles with the symbols of 'protection', 'power' and 'root' at various points of the area. The locations were a mix of a good hiding spot and an instinctive feeling that they would draw natural energy from the surroundings like the river nearby. There was a sense of pride going through Harry as he activated the symbols and watched a smaller dome appeared over his hideaway with the anchor pebbles well within it, now noticing the hexagonal patterns on it that reminded him of a bee's nest from one of his textbook. It was definitely working a lot better than he anticipated since the pebbles made sure that they would be protected inside of the dome, which made sense as he recalled stories of people subverting barriers by digging them out as they were at the edge or outside of the barrier. With this, the weaknesses should be reduced a fair bit.

Harry's senses had expanded during the camp so he could now tell if someone was coming at him or an attack was imminent from a distance (most useful when Dudley tried to come at him from behind), but evidently with the new barrier installed, Harry could sense everyone and everything in it, not to mention a few intrusions and repelling that spoke of people trying to force their way through. After Harry felt the presence of the magic users trying to get near Privet Drive for about a week, Harry had about enough and thought furiously of ejecting them out from the start. What he did not anticipate was for his magic to interact with the barrier and enact his thoughts immediately, allowing him to see with his mind's eye at least five wand users with their odd robes thrown out of the barrier and one Arabella Figg ejected of her premises in the evening with evidence of tax-evasions and other crimes which saw her arrested. After that Harry started to relax since he could no longer feel anyone with magic that wanted to do him harm.

There was however one issue with the barrier; Harry was not used to feeling so many people at once, making him experience a sensory overload to his mind that forced him to stop every so often to regain himself. He ended up having to read up on books for meditation and mental exercises in order to organize his thoughts better, but the real kicker was a seemingly unimportant journal stuck between thicker books in the library. Harry would have thought it to be a misplaced item if not for the odd feeling that came off it and the few keywords that popped out in the pages when he flipped through.

Magic, wand users, Hogwarts, Gringotts, his name and finally, one Lily Potter nee Evans.

Harry managed to get it back to his hideaway and read the journal that was evidently left behind by someone with similar backgrounds to Harry, being raised on the outside or as stated 'muggle-raised'. Said author who had apparently kept his name as a secret put together the journal with instructions to find his stache of books on mind-arts and old magical text, before leaving it in the library in hopes that anyone with magic in the area could pick it up and learn from it. Harry loved puzzles, so it did not take long for him to decipher the instructions and followed them to the stache that was hidden very cleverly behind an old painting at the old town hall down the street.

It was certainly interesting to read from a third person's perspective on entering 'Magical Britain'; how the world seemed to be set in the Victorian Period using old candles and lamps for lighting, how as an innocent child he entered the world through a bar called the Leaky Cauldron, went to a place called Hogwarts to learn magic, suffered the blood prejudice and the war that went on, and finally left the world as a slightly jaded man. He described the four houses represented by animals and what they stood for, the four founders who created Hogwarts, the type of lessons done by the professors, the type of environment for said lessons, the mystery and the darkness of magic. He spoke of mystical creatures that Harry had only read and dreamed of from fantasy books like elves, goblins, centaurs and unicorns, and then he talked about the prejudice and social structure that existed there. He lamented about the education that average at best and downright horrible at worst, the missed opportunities to continue his regular education, and how after checking with other countries shown that Hogwarts was lagging behind in the education front.

And then there was the description regarding his mother.

It was a touch hopeful to think that the woman could be related to him, but what the man wrote certainly gave credence to the evidence at hand. It helped that his description of her matched the woman of his dreams, and now he almost have a mental image of a red-haired beauty who was gentle but firm in her belief that one's actions should be held accountable if done in error. She was someone brilliant in charms and potions to the point of having two professors fight over her for a chance of offering apprenticeships, and evidently someone who was praised as one of the brightest witches to rank one of the highest at Hogwarts and the Ministry, and a quick hand in dueling. She was also a person who by all accounts should not be with James Potter, his apparent birth father who had a reputation of being a prankster that went too far with the pranks set on people in different houses and seemingly prejudiced against anyone considered 'Dark'. Harry was not too sure of how he felt on that, to him James Potter sounded a lot like a thinner, more popular Dudley who would not be punished for his 'mischievous games'.

Especially by a man who was described by the author as 'a two-faced lying bastard pretending to be your grandfather while actually being your worst obstacle for true justice', along with a photo of said person. The sight of the old man who had tried to attack him made Harry on edge, who now had a name to go with the face.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Previous Transfiguration Professor and current Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Vanquisher of Gellert Grindelwald, the Dark Lord that had spread terror in the European countries and parts of the USA.

Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, a high court of law.

Supreme Mugwump for the International Confederation of Wizards.

The Proclaimed Leader of Light.

And as of this moment, someone who had an interest in Harry.

Now Harry would need to consider his plan of attack.

~ooOOoo~

Harry started with the books on mind-arts, with the feeling that he would need lots of protection if he had to go against people who have the ability to read minds. The author had provided a few texts of the subject of Occulmency, the name given to the protection of the mind, highlighting portions on the books with sticky notes for him to understand, which method to study first, and demonstrating the pros-ad-cons of the methods in question. It certainly helped since the books were advanced and messy, and Harry was hesitant to go too far with it in case he did something wrong.

At the same time though, the man had helpfully compiled a small book of his own writings and views on the subject. He believed that while Occulmency was good in organizing one's thoughts, securing them safely and able to handle intrusions, it was not the sure win method of securing the mind. In effect, keeping it too organized actually made it easier for experts mastering the art of mind-reading to attack the weak spots and read all of the secured information at once. What he had envisioned and tested on his side was to combine several studies and create a mindscape that would hide the secrets in the most subtle manner like a photograph with one small detail that was wrong and known only to the user. It should also be a mindscape that had good defenses that only the user would know how to deactivate or bypass in the event that one was forced to bring the intruder into the mind. The author in question sounded a touched too happy and unhinged when describing the type of defenses he had created for his mind, using a mixture of modern pop culture and magic to do so. Harry decided to follow his advice and looked up movie titles and books to get some inspiration.

In hindsight, he should not have looked them up in the middle of the night, but he would maintain that they would make great guardians for his mind. It was coincidence that he would have a small light in his cupboard or the hideaway to sleep with, really that was it.

On the plus side, thanks to the text and books, Harry got a few more ideas to protect his mind, such as a reflection rune on his new pair of glasses that should prevent people from using sight based abilities on him, and a small part of him was actually hoping for someone stupid enough to attempt reading his mind to see how they love his surprise guardians.

On other matters, his studies in his regular school were going great. He was maintaining his position around the top ten, just one rank away from top five, and was actually a little ahead of the rest in completing his primary education. So much so that he was allowed within reason to try out higher grade education so as to grant him a head start in getting to a decent middle school. His teachers were certainly happy that he was able to apply himself well, and were proud of the fact they were able to grant him a chance to represent their school at the education contest held in London for primary schools. Harry had a lot of fun at that contest, although he did overhear a few of the others complaining about a girl being a know-it-all driving them crazy and making them hide in their accommodations. He had yet to meet her but got the odd feeling he would do so in the future, the image of the puppy in his head giving an odd shrug to indicate its agreement.

Dudley on the other hand had made his mark at the bottom of the totem pole with his lack of manners, bad behaviour, almost failing his tests and bullying others with his gang. The teachers had already sent him and the group into more detentions than any others in the entire cohort for a single year, and had already tried to get his parents to discipline him further. Vernon and Petunia refused to believe them about the behaviour but were forced to take him to task on his studies, and due to the field Harry had placed before hand, made it looked like they ignored him completely and giving more reason for the staff to gather evidence against them.

He should not be happy about such a bad thing, but Harry managed to contain his smile at the sight of them getting into trouble.

~ooOOoo~

The next couple of years passed with Harry finishing his primary education early and halfway through his middle school education at a rate that was remarked by the teachers as extraordinary. In fact Harry was given the accelerated programme to keep him occupied with education and having a fair number of middle schools requesting for his attendance when he was ready to enter middle school, a couple of whom were top-ranking schools willing to offer scholarships for him. Harry was honestly surprised as he was too focused on his studies to realize that he was making a name for himself, but he took it in stride and considered them as part of his ongoing plan to get away from the Dursleys and protect himself in society.

Harry also made progress on his magical research and created a fair number of spells and artifacts that could be used in various manners. One of the first ideas he had was to create a lighting system for his hideaway using the symbols and runes he had learned over the years. The author of the journal had lamented how Hogwarts was missing out on electricity due to some notion that it could not work in areas high magical densities, and Harry was determined to overcome that issue after reading on the problem. He had the thought that it was either due to the earlier tests with electricity that made it unstable, or it could be have been done intentionally such that those entering the magical world would be forced to leave it behind without any form of communication with their relations, the latter making more sense considering the locations based on the author's descriptions. It took a fair bit of trial and error, not to mention several explosions, but Harry was able to create something that first allowed him to generate enough electricity to power a light bulb safely, then a room, and finally the entire compound. It was a good moment for him when he flipped a switch to activate his runes and symbols, and watch the compound light up brightly in the dark for the first time in years after the power was removed from it. Combined with several artifacts to generate clean water and cool air, not to mention a small greenhouse for him to grow his garden of fruits and vegetables, he was almost living in the compound all on his own.

He also started getting letters and packages from unknown senders using owls of all things, one of which was apparently the wizarding bank that he had meant to go to return the stolen key. Harry on a whim checked online and found an actual chat forum with people who had entered Magical Britain. From them he got the location and went there in disguise to check the place, from which he would find out on matters that would concern him gravely and new information that helped him repurpose some of his plans.

And so, about a month before his eleventh birthday, Harry received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.