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After receiving the pop up, Harry felt a connection to the new cat, or Flerken as she was apparently called. Harry was more than a little concerned since he had every textbook Hogwarts required on magic beasts and Flerken was not listed in any of them.

Through the connection he felt Goose's intention. Which of course translated to 'Carry me human.' Harry had to stifle a smile at that one. If given a human voice, Harry imaged it would be that of a upper society middle aged woman. He purchased a nice carrier for Goose who easily entered thinking, 'Acceptable, for now.'

With that Harry had finished his shopping for school supplies. Harry was tempted to get some Ice Cream at that place across from Gringotts but he didn't want to push his luck. Harry instead lifted Goose's carrier and returned to the Leaky Cauldron and headed for London.

Once back among the streets of the mundane, Harry realized he didn't really have much to do for the next five and a half weeks besides put the entire Potter Library into his inventory.

*Ping*

[New Quest: Jack of All Trades

-Acquire four different Paths

-Get each of the four Paths to Rank 5]

Harry raised an eyebrow before shrugging in acceptance. That worked. His Scholar and Warrior Paths were both pretty close to Rank 5 and he had confidence in getting them up soon. A fourth Path however would be tricky. He actually had no ideas what Paths were possible. Crafter was probably a Path but getting that to level 5 in a month wasn't likely. There was probably a Path for businessmen but he'd have to make a lot of money really fast to level that one up. Might be possible but he hoped for something better.

While Harry was standing there, someone bumped into him and said, "Watch it kid."

Harry looked up and was about to ask where the man's own eyes were but noticed him talking to himself. No, he was talking on a phone, one of those hand ones his uncle said he wanted. Harry wondered what would happen if he put something like that into his inventory.

Goose meowed with the intention, 'Feed me.'

Harry looked down and said, "What would you like?"

Goose meowed and thought back, 'Chicken.'

Harry thought the cat/flerken might be surprised that Harry was responding to it, but it seemed to this cat that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Kinda made Harry wonder what was out of the ordinary to her.

Harry opened his map and found a grocery store a few blocks down and headed that direction. Harry still had most of the 300 pounds minus the bus fare he started with so getting cat food wouldn't be an issue.

At this thought Harry realized something very odd. He wasn't hungry. His stomach felt empty which was why he thought of ice cream earlier sure, but the pain of hunger wasn't there. He figured he would address that after feeding his flerken.

The store did in fact sell cat food and Harry was happy he found the kind made with real chicken. After purchasing a bunch of it along with a month worth of other flavors Harry entered an alleyway free of witnesses and subtly conjured a plate. Conjuration was something he practiced more than any other discipline as he would often conjure weapons and shields while fighting monsters so conjuring a plate wasn't an issue. He opened the food and set it on the plate before letting Goose out and saying, "Here you go Goose."

Goose meowed as she approached the food and conveyed through the bond, 'Well done human,' before chowing down.

Harry looked through his map of London while Goose finished eating. Those electronics were interesting. From how his mother described them, they were like muggle magic only more easily explained. If non-magicals could learn it, Harry figured he could too. On the map he saw a larger store he hoped would sell a few pieces of electronics and decided to head there next.

Four hours, two outlet stores, a trip back to Gringotts, and two book stores later, Harry had what he needed and a headache.

The first store that he asked for electronics at he found that they had large things like TVs and small things like phones and lots of computers. Most of which was outside Harry's price range so he had to return to Gringotts and get some of his galleons exchanged into British Pounds.

Harry then returned but went to a different outlet store that he heard had a better variety. Harry purchased a simple calculator, an expensive calculator, and something called a Blackberry. After his purchase Harry placed them all into his inventory and found another problem. Harry could now tell exactly how each piece was put together and the number of screws within and could even tell what information was stored within. The problem was that he still didn't know how any of it worked! The programming language was not one he knew so he had to find a book store which then directed him to another book store to buy a dozen books on the subject.

What gave him a headache was that even after getting the books into his inventory, he still didn't know how the electronics worked. Sure, he could list off the contents of the books verbatim, but that didn't mean he understood it. It was like buying a book written in French then buying a book on French to English translation. Having both didn't immediately mean he could read the first book as there was no automated cross-referencing.

Harry sighed at how badly he underestimated the work needed to learn a new skill. He felt he could still do it but he would have to do it consciously and not assume it would happen automatically for him.

Once ready Harry said to Goose, "We're heading home but the ride won't be comfortable."

Goose, who had been pleased to be chauffeured around the city after being in a cage for some time for some reason, expressed a sense of disbelief at Harry's comment. Something on the line of, 'Oh really?'

Harry initiated the portkey that Rocksheer gave him which made him feel like he was being dragged by his belly button through a tornado at two hundred kilometers an hour.

When Harry saw the ground again he set a stance and landed alright. He figured if he hadn't trained in martial forms he'd have landed on his butt. James had told him it would be uncomfortable but Harry didn't feel too bad. He chalked it up to his Gamer's Body.

Harry looked at Goose and said "You alright?"

Goose appeared completely unshaken and quite clearly conveyed back, 'You've obviously never traveled by turning yourself inside out before.'

At that Harry had to question whether or not his interpretation of Goose's messages were accurate. What kind of travel requires turning yourself inside out?

Harry looked around the area that was his new home. It was a high rise cliff face overlooking the sea. There was actually a break in the cliff face behind him which prevented this section from being approached on foot without advanced means. Harry took the ward key from his inventory and activated it. A moment later the empty space revealed a two story Victorian style house.

Harry said, "This will be our new home for the next month, Goose."

Goose seemed noncommittal about it. Like she'd seen better but had seen worse as well.

The house itself had a welcoming room, a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, a kitchen, and the downstairs had a guest room. The upstairs had the master bedroom and three other bedrooms along with the library and several bathrooms of course. Harry went to the kitchen first and conjured a litter box and sand along with a plate and bowl. He used a weak water summoning charm to fill the bowl before letting Goose out and saying, "I'm going to look upstairs."

Goose started drinking and Harry headed up to check the library. He was not disappointed as it had seven bookshelves lining the walls with six rows of books each, all of which were full. One by one each was removed from the shelf and placed into his inventory.

Contained within were family spells, historical events, alliances, and of course a highly detailed genealogical record.

What surprised Harry and made him realize he would need to return to the bookstore later was the lack of an encyclopedia or dictionary.

Harry returned to the living room and used a small incendio charm to ignite the fireplace before he sat on the comfy chair nearby. Harry was looking into space as his mind was actively going over the tech books he bought. He was tempted to pause but he couldn't feel the warmth of the fireplace when time stopped and if he paused he might be tempted to stay paused until he mastered everything which was not a good idea. He needed to acclimate himself to a proper day and night cycles after all.

His cross-referencing was interrupted by a warm fuzzball jumping onto his lap. After laying down Harry heard Goose send the question, 'Do you not eat?'

Harry realized only then he had in fact forgotten to buy any food for himself during the whole day. That wasn't healthy was it?

*Ping*

[FAQ Updated

Food and Sleep

Your body can sustain itself on ambient energy and does not require sleep or nourishment. When injured or depleted of health, stamina, or magic reserves, eating and drinking can directly restore reserves or increase the rate of recovering. Sleeping can be initiated in a sleep environment and will automatically restore all depleted reserves after 4 hours if uninterrupted.]

After reading the conveniently timed pop up, Harry answered Goose back, "I can eat but I don't need to. I'm not a normal human."

Goose shifted to get more comfortable and conveyed through the link, 'If you're a normal human than I'm a normal house cat,' as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry started petting Goose as he went back to learning the mysteries of a calculator. The fact that a calculator calculates base ten math yet the programming seemed to be based off the number eight was harder to work through than he thought. He was glad that his three times higher than an average adult stats seemed to let his mind brute force his way through the required comprehensions.

It was about morning the next day he finally got what he was looking for.

*Ping*

[Tech Path has risen to Rank 1]

Harry gave a content sigh that he finally had something of a foundation in tech. At least he knew how the basic calculator worked now. The advanced one however was about fifty times more complex and could even have additional functions manually programmed into it. Harry felt he could program something simple into it but not much for the moment. However, he at least had some confidence he could do this. If nothing else, at least the lines of codes he knew were contained within the electronics were no longer complete gibberish.

The problem now was that he was bored. He was no longer capable of looking at another line of code or tech book. He needed something else to break himself in.

Harry opened up the Menu and looked through the settings. This was a new feature which was grayed out during the tutorial and couldn't be adjusted. The settings included sound, visual, format, and controls.

Sound Settings actually allowed him to change the relative volume he heard of specific sounds such as voices, music, and other things. This meant that Harry could have a music player play at low volume and use the settings to increase the volume of what he heard while setting all other sounds to zero. He could even set everything to zero and make himself deaf. He could already think of a few applications for deaf on demand.

Format and controls simply showed how everything displayed and how he interacted with it. The control allowed for Touch, Voice, and Mental controls but to be safe Harry changed it to Mental only so he didn't accidentally move or say something that could affect his pop ups.

Display however was far more than it initially looked. Pun intended.

Harry could give himself night time vision by adjusting the lighting though he'd have to manually change it back or he'd be blinded in the day. He could adjust specific colors or set it so that everything he saw was green. However the function on the display setting that Harry found the most amazing was the Energy Sense prompt. Harry turned it on and suddenly he had a new sense.

Harry himself was basically composed of energy imitating matter and since he absorbed energy to live and could dominate and absorb energy to level up, he wondered why he couldn't sense it before. Now he could.

In the space he felt more than a dozen distinct energy types and there were likely hundreds more hidden below the surface. In his living room he felt four types that were more prevalent than others. The most common seemed to be the ambient energy of empty space. He had no idea what it really was or what it did though. The second most common was the heat energy coming from the fireplace.

The third energy type actually originated from himself and seemed to be embedded in the house as well. This energy Harry did have a reference for from the Potter Library. One of his great great uncles in the early part of the twentieth century had studied physics and called this energy Exotic energy. He said it occurred naturally in very small quantities in nature, specifically around ley lines which he called intersections, though he did not reference what they were intersections of. Exotic energy changed the laws of physics slightly though the more around, the greater the change. It was considered uncontrollable and a nuisance, yet witches and wizards not only controlled it, they naturally produced it as well.

And of course the fourth energy in the living room came from Goose. This energy actually seemed similar to the ambient energy of empty space, it was just a different color. Harry looked at a few other items and concluded that other objects had very little energy within except for heat energy for temperature and exotic energy for some of the magical items.

Harry took the simple calculator out of his inventory and noticed he could also sense electrical energy. He didn't see it with his eyes either, it was more of an awareness he gained. Harry wondered if it was a good idea to keep this on as it could easily be a distraction, but decided it was too useful. He figured he always had this ability but it had been turned off until now. Harry wondered what type of energies filled the Tutorial area as if that was the land of the dead, there wouldn't be empty space or heat would there?

Harry figured the reason this setting was off during the tutorial was that the only energy in the tutorial was Death energy. Death energy was only good for the dead and it would be better not to get used to feeling it for someone who was to return to life.

At that realization Harry suddenly understood why his level went back to one after the Tutorial completed. Besides necromancers and those who intended to desecrate the death, Death energy wasn't compatible for living beings.

*Ding*

[INT +1]

[Intelligence has reached 40.

Battle Meditation Unlocked.]

Okay, that was new.

Harry opened up the new section of his menu and reviewed the details. It seemed Harry could enter a state where he could absorb ambient energy to level up, but doing so required dominating it so within his trance the energy he absorbed would take the form of a monster and he would have to battle and defeat it on a mental plane to absorb it. Luckily if he lost he wouldn't die but he would take damage so he shouldn't do it unless healthy.

Harry wondered who thought this system up and if they were a genius or insane.

Harry decided to try it out and hope he didn't die. He was given a selection of energies to choose from but it looked quite foreboding.

[Dimensional Energy: Recommended level 50~200

Heat Energy: Recommended level 1~10

Exotic Energy: Recommended level 10~30

Flerken Pocket Dimensional Energy: Recommended level 250~300

Time Energy: Recommended level 300~500]

Harry glanced back down at the sleeping cat that apparently had a pocket dimension and again wondered what exactly it was.

Harry selected Heat energy of course and felt his mind clear and go far from his body.

He found himself in a white, empty space that seemed quite hot. Harry noticed movement and saw a snake that appeared to be made of flames. According to one of the books Harry had in his internal library, it was a Ashwinder, though a small one. Harry used a weak, silent Aqua Eructo charm which summoned a stream of water from his hand and doused the flame snake. Although it was a fourth year spell, the spell could be used at various levels of power so Harry could use it at a low level for now.

The ashwinder was quick but the water spray was quite wide. It didn't douse right away but Harry kept up the spell and before the snake could get any closer to Harry it died and dispersed into particles of light which Harry absorbed.

Two more ashwinders approached and Harry had to move while casting. Harry tried Diffindo at one of them which, although a second year spell, in the fourth year they teach you how to make it stronger and Harry used the fourth year version. The spell struck one of the snakes while the other got out of the way but the snake it cut in half continued slithering towards Harry.

Harry decided to give up practicing his spells and just finish it for now. He used an Extinguishing charm which basically was a one hit kill for ashwinders and started to grind in earnest.

Mostly. The small Ashwinders barely gave any energy and it would likely take two hours for Harry to get to level two. But since every level beyond one would protect him from dying a pointless death, it was worth it no matter how mind numbingly boring.

Goose woke up during Harry's battle meditation and noticed the heat from the fireplace going into the human. It was getting a bit too warm for comfort so she jumped off Harry and went to another couch which was on the other side of the fireplace.

Suddenly a snake made of flames came out of the fireplace. The rug it slithered on was smoldering and Goose figured the human had no awareness of what he was doing.

The ashwinder's instincts were to find a dark place and lay eggs which would later erupt into flames. The fact that this may burn the house down wasn't something it care for. Goose jumped in front of it which caused the ashwinder to hiss a threat at the orange cat.

Goose's mouth opened and over a dozen purple tentacles launched out, their total volume several times greater than Goose's. The ashwinder recoiled back and tried to get away but a moment later the tentacles had the fire snake wrapped up without getting burned and retracted back into the orange tabby cat.

Goose burped with a small flame and thought it was spicy but not bad. For making her work, she wondered if she should scratch the human. However, she remembered the last human she scratched who still hadn't recovered and thought they were quite a fragile species. Then again this one wasn't a normal human. Goose decided she'd let it go this time but next time the human would get scratched.

Harry got up an hour later after gaining a level and putting the stats toward Wisdom. Wisdom lowered the difficulty of spells and Harry had trouble using spells above fourth year with less than 40 wisdom. Harry wondered how this translated to other people as he doubted that fifth year Hogwarts students all had wisdom enough to make the four times wiser than an average adult.

He then noticed the scorch marks on the rug and asked Goose who was on the couch, "What happened?"

Goose conveyed back, 'The fireplace worked overtime because of you. An ashwinder popped out. I dealt with it this time. Now feed me lunch.'

The fact that Harry was being scolded by his pet, and he was now seriously questioning which of them was the pet, was disconcerting. The fact that his cat seemed to understand exactly what an ashwinder was and how the fireplace could have produced one even moreso. Harry felt he would regret asking how Goose dealt with it so didn't ask. That wise decision was thanks to his increased wisdom.

Harry knew that ashwinders were born of magic fires but fireplaces had safeties that prevented them usually. However Harry absorbing its energy seemed to have had an effect.

Harry got up and said, "Thank you Goose. Now what would you like? Chicken, fish, or beef?"

Goose approached the kitchen and answered back through their connection, 'Beef.'

Harry opened two cans and set them on Goose's plate. Just like when Goose asked if Harry ate or this ashwinder thing, both let Harry know Goose did in fact give a damn about him, even if it was only because Goose considered Harry 'her human.'

Harry spent the remainder of the day going back and forth between learning tech and battle meditation. When he went outside he found several other types of energy to absorb including Sun energy, Electromagnetic energy, and Nature energy. Nature energy was for levels 5~40 and Harry found it a much better source than his fireplace as the nature energy monsters were normal animals similar to the monsters he faced in the tutorial and could be defeated with magic or conjured weapons.

The levels of the monsters seemed to scale up with him, so after a few days he reached level 10. In order to add more variety to his time and because he felt guilty for not doing so already, Harry added physical exercise back into his routine. The village trainer had him do it every day but Harry had been slacking and now he felt bad about not taking advantage of what he had. In the tutorial, stamina would recover at a slow pace but here Harry could eat or sleep to restore it meaning he could work out far more.

Harry started Pausing more and would use Paused time to comprehend how tech worked until he couldn't take it anymore then would go outside and use Nature energy battle meditation and once that was over he would exercise till he dropped and eat or sleep. Once he woke up he would pause and do it again.

One of the more advanced practices Harry's parents insisted he learn was apparition. When needed Harry would apprarate to London for groceries or another book or some tech gadget he wanted to figure out.

Harry left the door open for Goose to enter and leave as she wished which the Flerken did take advantage of.

Two weeks after Harry started, he faced a small problem. The advanced calculator died.

Harry had been spending time practicing his programming skills by trying to set up various things in the advanced calculator including trying to make a simple video game. When Harry placed it back into his inventory, he noticed that the base programming code seemed corrupted. Harry had to go back to London and buy another and compare the two to get an idea of what happened.

Unfortunately the answer was what he had been fearing. Magic fried it. Harry knew Exotic energies would change physics but he wasn't using magic around the calculators. They were always in his inventory which wasn't actually magic so they weren't affected. Harry had only taken the Blackberry out twice and it still worked so that pretty much concluded that the Inventory was not magic.

After thinking about it for a while Harry figured that the ambient exotic energy he was emitting was enough to fry it over time. This wasn't acceptable as it would prevent him from living properly in the non-magical world.

Harry shifted through the spells in the grimoires in his inventory and thanks to his INT getting to 75, Harry's speed of thought was faster than a computer's search engine. A 2004 computer anyways.

He found three different possibilities. The first was a practice which would hide his magic, making him seem like a non-magical though of course he couldn't cast magic in this state. He also found an experimental set of runes in one of his ancestor's grimoires that had an effect of expelling ambient exotic energy. If used on tech, it would prolong the shelf life as long as magic was not directly used on it. The last was a different set of runes that would freeze the state of something. If altered, it might prevent degradation due to exotic energy on tech.

Harry would try for the first two for now and the third later since the third required more experimentation. He had three more weeks until Hogwarts and didn't want to stop studying tech just because the castle would fry the ever loving daylights out of anything more complex than a toaster.

Harry also had the goal of getting to level 30 before Hogwarts since he wanted at least a hundred points in both Wisdom and Intelligence with the rest going to Agility. He wanted to have the spells for every year down as fast as he could which would allow him to make the most of his Hogwarts time.

Once Harry got into his groove he was able to level up once or twice a day. Thanks to continued exercise and martial practice against monsters, Harry's martial path finally ranked up to five and many hours of studying various high school and college books got Harry's Scholar path up to rank five as well. By the final week Harry had gotten Tech to rank 4 and since his 3rd blackberry had a successful rune pattern inscribed it could be used for practice without dying. Blackberries one and two were not so fortunate.

Harry spent pretty much the remainder of the last week entirely on tech. He regretted that his house had no phone line because even if he could use a portable generator to charge things, he couldn't get a computer and the internet. At least for now.

*Ping*

[Tech Path has risen to rank 5]

[Quest Complete: Jack of All Trades

Reward: Necklace of Chosen Path]

Harry collapsed in mental exhaustion and let out an exasperated, and slightly overly dramatic, sigh of relief. Today was August 30th so he finished with no time to spare.

Since it was in his inventory Harry knew what the Necklace was and what it did. When he equipped it he had to select a path and the rank of that path would increase by three. He could unequip it and re-equip to select the same or a different path. Very useful. The odd thing however was that he had no idea how it worked.

Several of the books Harry bought had enchantments on them that prevented wear and tear and while in his inventory Harry understood these and could easily replicate them as long as he knew the steps used to make them. The same was true for the necklace he bought from the goblins that cast a glamor that changed his hair color. Harry could make his own now though it wouldn't be easy. At least he felt he could brute force the process if need be. The new necklace on the other hand didn't give him any info on how it worked and Harry couldn't think of any way to replicate the effect. Oh well.

The next day Harry got an empty trunk from a closet in the house and got Goose's carrier. He said to the Flerken, "Today we're heading to Hogwarts, a magical school."

Goose entered her carrier with a sassy meow that implied, 'Watch me care less. Just watch me.'

Harry shook his head and wondered what kind of thing would have to happen for his cat to get interested in something.

Harry set the ward key to hide the house again and apparated to King's Cross station. He was wearing the goblin necklace which for some reason he couldn't wear with the Necklace of Chosen Path. Harry figured it was a game thing, can't wear more than one necklace at the same time and all that.

Harry scouted the location earlier so he was able to apparate directly to the loading area which thankfully didn't have anyone looking to question how an eleven year old was apparating there to begin with.

Each magical walking around contained a source of exotic energy according to Harry's new energy sense. The old style train on the platform even had plenty of it infused into the frame itself. Deciding not to stall any longer, Harry took Goose and his empty trunk to the entrance of the train.

And was stopped by a pop up.

[Hogwarts Express Ticket required for Entry. Do you wish to use the ticket?

Yes | No]

Harry remembered the ticket he got with his letter but it was still in his inventory. Harry had set the prompts to only work through thought to avoid accidents and thought aloud 'Yes.' A moment later Harry felt he exotic energy trace on the ticket change. Before he could take another step forward, he was confronted by yet another pop up.

[Dungeon Generation active.

You are about to enter Hogwarts. Please Select Difficulty.

-Easy

-Normal

-Hard

-Hell

Rewards scale to match difficulty.]

Harry's only thought was, 'What the hell?!'

[Hell difficulty selected.]

'Noooo!' Harry had to prevent himself from crying out!

«

Harry left the train and station through the hidden gate and re-entered three times before giving up. The pop up didn't return meaning he either had to drop out or accept his doom. He was moderately leaning towards the former but he had no other plans and according to Wizarding Law, things would get very complicated for him if he didn't go to Hogwarts now that he was eleven.

Deciding to accept his fate, Harry picked up his empty trunk and Goose and boarded the train. He was an hour early which was the main reason no one noticed him apparating which was entirely the point of arriving early. Thanks to that he also found a number of empty compartments and picked one out before letting Goose out of her carrier. She jumped on the seat next to Harry who's life was slowly passing before his eyes and he approached his inevitable death.

About half an hour in, Harry heard a scratching sound at the door which Goose noticed as well and conveyed, 'Open the door.'

Harry got up to do so and a fluffy orange cat outside took a peek inside before spotting Goose and jumping on the seat next to her. A moment later a bushy haired girl came up the hallway dragging her trunk and said, "Crookshanks! You can't just run off like that!"

Through the bond Harry asked Goose if this was a friend and Goose conveyed back that Crookshanks was her old roommate from the store. Harry wondered if he was a Flerken for a moment before dismissing the idea. Harry's energy sense showed a trace amount of exotic energy in the cat meaning it was at least partially magical, but it had none of the pocket dimensional energy Goose had.

Harry looked back to the newcomer and said, "It seems our cats already know each other." Harry held out his hand and said, "I'm Harry."

The girl saw as well that her cat was sitting next to the smaller orange cat and let out a sigh of relief. She noticed Harry's hand and took it before shaking and said, "I'm Hermione."

Harry looked at Hermione's trunk and said, "Would you like to come in?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment but seeing her own cat sitting next to Harry's seemed as good a reason as any to accept. "Alright, just let me get my trunk."

Harry being the gentleman of course got up to lift her trunk onto the overhead rack. Although he was strong, he was still surprised at the weight of the luggage. Of course not as surprised as Hermione was seeing him lift a trunk with over a dozen books with a single arm like it was made of styrofoam.

For the first time Harry noticed that Hermione was in her robes. His father had told him that he needed to wear his robes when he entered the castle, but he also said the train ride was going to be nine hours long.

In order to break the ice, Harry said, "Can I ask why you're wearing your robes?"

Hermione took a breath and spoke with a matter-of-fact nuance, "Well we're supposed to be wearing our robes for the first day."

Harry smirked and said, "Which is nine hours from now. Will you sleep in your robes tonight if your first class is eight hours from bedtime?"

"Well no, of course not, you wouldn't sleep in your robes."

Harry inferred that she didn't get the point he was trying to make and that pushing it might have the opposite effect.

Hermione decided to make an attempt at conversation and asked, "Are you from a wizard family or muggleborn?"

Harry's clothing was plain and just a little old fashion so he could pass as either a pure blood in casual garb or a muggle born with fine taste. He answered plainly, "Neither. I am an anomaly, an aberration, a tear in reality and a magnet of impending doom. You have been warned."

After a moment of contemplation Hermione rebutted, "That's not a very good joke."

Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just preparing you for what is to come. I hope you're not a fan of rules and common sense, because neither are on speaking terms with me."

She looked partially offended and said, "What do you have against rules?"

Harry said, "Nothing, it's them that seem to have something against me. You know how things are supposed to work certain ways like they always have and always will? Those things take one look at me and tend to explode."

"That doesn't make any sense," she accused.

Harry smiled, "Nope. Thus is my life. Anyways, have you read any of the books yet?"

Deciding not to argue with the change of subject, she answered happily, "Of course. My birthday is in September so I got my letter eleven months ago and have spent that time reading as much as I can. It's all quite fascinating. Have you read the material?"

Harry wondered how she would feel if he told her he hadn't read any of the books but knew all their content by heart. Deciding to lie, Harry said, "Yes I've gone through them all. Far too structured for my taste though."

"What's wrong with structure?"

"In the mundane world, not much. But aren't we on a magical train about to head to a magic school in a magic castle to learn magic? Structure seems a bit out of place if you ask me."

The door opened and a shy looking young lad with brown hair and a bowl cut asked, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

Harry scooted over and said, "Not at all."

"Thanks," he answered back before dragging his case inside and setting it on the rack. He looked over at the two orange cats and said, "Are those your's?"

Harry was tempted to answer sarcastically but felt it might scare him away. Instead he answered, "Yup, mine's the orange one."

Hermione rolled her eyes but couldn't keep herself from smirking. She answered back while pointing at the larger fluffier one, "That's Crookshanks, he's half Kneazle."

Harry pointed at his and said, "That's Goose, she's a Flerken."

Hermione frowned at the unfamiliar term and asked, "What's a Flerken?"

Harry shrugged and said, "No idea, but this one looks exactly like a cat."

The new boy looked confused and Hermione said to him, "I'm not sure if he's joking." She straightened up and said, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Neville Longbottom."

Both turned to Harry and said, "I'm Harry."

Hermione noticed that he hadn't given his family name before when he introduced himself earlier and asked, "What's your full name?"

"Harry James something or other. Haven't used it before so no point in starting before we get to Hogwarts." Harry recognized Neville's name as his parents said they were friends of the Longbottoms and wondered what they were like.

Hermione wasn't pleased with the non answer but after several exchanges was already getting used to Harry.

Neville turned back to the cats and said, "I was going to bring a toad my gran bought for me but I couldn't find it this morning. My gran said she'd find it and mail it to me but I'm not sure if it isn't just better to leave him home."

Harry asked, "Do you plan on being an apothecary or potion master?"

Neville shook his head, "Merlin no, I like plants but I don't think I'd be good at anything like that."

"Then it would probably be better to leave the toad."

Hermione asked, "Why?"

Harry answered, "Toads have a hundred or so uses as potions ingredients and skilled potion masters raise their own on specific diets which changes the properties of these ingredients. In other words, a pet toad is practice for raising them for ingredients later."

Hermione gasped, "That's barbaric!"

Harry shrugged, "Not really. Some magical ingredients can't be used on their own as their properties are far too harsh. If fed in small quantities to the right kind of toad over a period of time, some of the toad's organs would gain these properties and are far more mild to use in a potion. Many lives have been saved through the sacrifice of a toad. What mundane scientists do to mice when studying drugs is much worse."

Neville was partly intrigued and partly disturbed while Hermione was mostly confused. She asked, "Where did you learn that?"

"Moste Potente Potions volume three. Only available through direct ordering."

"Can I borrow it?" She asked.

Harry answered, "Not until Christmas Break I'm afraid. The book has many things the school would not appreciate young children reading and if you were caught reading it by a teacher it would most certainly be confiscated."

Hermione's scandalized look almost made Harry burst into laughter but he successfully suppressed it while thinking of a plan. After realizing where the girl's priorities lie, Harry figured he could corrupt her to the dark path of rule breaking with the proper incentives.

Harry said, "Hermione, there is no skipping grades in magic school and there is no real benefit given to any student for reading ahead or doing better than others. Because of that, they won't allow you to learn beyond what they think you should. In other words, you're not going to be allowed to learn lots of things until they think the rest of your age group is ready, despite how far ahead of them you are."

Before Hermione could explode, Neville said, "Wait, my Gran said students who do well are rewarded."

Hermione latched on to that and said, "That's right. Hogwarts A History says each house has an hourglass filled with gemstones which fill out when points are given for achievements!"

Harry smiled and answered back, "Hermione, I've read Hogwarts: A History as well. First place at the end of the year gets the House Cup. Now tell me, according to Hogwarts: A History, what are the benefits of winning the House Cup? What advantage does that house gain over the second, third, and last place houses?"

Hermione frowned and seemed to be thinking furiously.

Harry gave it to the count of ten before continuing, "As I said, there is no 'Real' benefit to learning ahead. This means that the teachers not only won't help you, they will actively hinder you if you try to rush ahead of your year. There is only one way to learn at the pace you want."

It only took a moment of hesitation before Hermione took the bait and asked, "What way?"

Harry smiled innocently and said, "Ignore the teachers and teach yourself of course."

Neville asked, "Are you going to do that?"

Harry answered back, "I've acquired the text books for all seven years and I've read them all and practiced up to third year. I want to master fourth year content before November."

Hermione looked like she wanted to say something but the twisted logic Harry infected her with prevented her from coming up with a reason why that was not allowed.

Harry gave her an olive branch and said, "Hermione, if you have any questions about what you read or any request to learn things from other years, all you have to do is ask."

Hermione had little choice but to give into temptation and proceeded to ask question after question on many of the things she couldn't figure out and some of the things she wanted to learn that were not available until later years.

Neville was almost tempted to break out a parchment and quill just listening to the pair as Harry was a very good teacher.

Right before the train left, the door opened and a redhead peered in and saw three kids and two cats and closed the door.

Harry didn't let it bother him and continued walking Hermione through some of the theories and practices that he learned, discovered on his own, or found in some of the journals or Grimoires of his Library.

Hermione was in no way used to being the one asking questions and learning from someone of her own age group. She was always the useful one, the one others relied on and Harry seemed to take that away from her. That feeling however vanished quickly as she was learning with greater speed than hours of reading and re-reading had done for her before. So many things which had stumped her before now made perfect sense! After that she subconsciously stopped treating Harry like a peer and started thinking of him as a teacher. That way she was still the smartest of her peers.

The main reason Harry was capable of explaining something he never taught before was the autocorrection assist of his Scholar Path which subconsciously provided him with the appropriate means to teach the subject. The Scholar Path was the Path of both the Student and the Teacher and increased the rate he could absorb, understand, and accurately impart knowledge.

Some time after the train departed, Neville started asking questions once he knew Harry had lots of knowledge on Potions and Herbology. Although he was actually just referencing and cross referencing different books and theories, Harry still sounded professional in his answers and theories on how specific processes worked, though truth was that the last plant he touched was the weeds he had to pull out of Petunia's yard.

When Goose asked for food Harry took his trunk out and opened it facing him and with his hand hidden in it he pulled out some food for Goose and Crookshanks from his inventory. Harry didn't want to conjure plates in front of Neville and Hermione so he just opened the cans and set them in front of the cats. Hermione thanked Harry and continued leeching the secrets of the universe from his noggin.

At some point the train whistle could be heard which meant they would arrive in fifteen minutes.

Harry got his trunk once more and left the compartment for a moment before confirming the hall was empty and simply equipping his robes from the inventory.

When Harry entered he saw Neville was just placing his robes over his other clothes which Hermione seemed less inclined to care about even though it was an infraction of the rules. Harry was quite pleased he was able to seduce her to the dark side successfully. Now he must get her to play a prank on a teacher.

*Ping*

[New Quest: Heir of the Marauders.

Get Hermione Granger to play a prank on a teacher before the end of the school year.]

He was joking! Harry internally sighed that such a quest would pop up but the rewards for his quests in the mortal plane had been good so far and he kinda wanted to do it anyways so might as well.

Harry moved to lift Hermione's trunk off the rack but Neville said, "Leave it Harry, they'll move our stuff to our rooms later."

Harry wondered if whoever was going to move his things would question the weight, or lack thereof, but there was no point in considering it.

The sun had already dipped below the horizon and the stars shown around the smiling crescent moon which hung over the castle in the distance.

"Firs' years, firs' years over here."

Harry recognized the man his mum described as Hagrid bellow out for them to gather around him. Once assembled he led them to the lake shore where there were ten boats, each glowing in Harry's senses with a concentration of exotic energy.

"Four to a boat, come on now."

Harry, Hermione, and Neville loaded themselves up but the boat didn't move. Eventually the red headed boy Harry noticed on the train earlier hopped in and the boat started moving. Harry's energy sense was working overtime as through the water, he felt the presence of an enormous mass and tentacles. A giant squid? The Potters certainly forgot to mention this. They passed under some low hanging branches which nearly got caught in Hermione's hair before the open sight of the lake came into view. It was a perfect picturesque setting of the castle on high, the moon behind it, and the reflection of both on the calm lake before them.

Harry's senses noticed it was something of a play. There was a spell on the water that seemed to calm it to let the reflection appear clean and the air seemed charged with a spell to break up the cloud cover. Although Harry knew how they pulled the look off, it was no less impressive.

The boats pulled up to a small dock where everyone was able to get off. Harry was impressed at the spell that prevented the boats from rocking when they got off as it was one that he didn't recognize.

They followed a short path which led to an enormous door and once they approached, it opened to reveal a sterned faced elderly woman.

Hagrid waved behind him and said, "The firs' years Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here."

The Professor led them up some marble stairs to another large door and welcomed them to Hogwarts. She gave a brief introduction of the point system which made Hermione frown at the confirmation of a lack of purpose behind the point system.

Harry heard the redhead who had been clinging to them since the boat say something about a troll and McGonagall moved to open the doors. Harry quickly took off his glamor necklace causing his hair to change from dirty blonde to black. Only Hermione and Neville noticed but before either could say anything the door was open and they were led into the Great Hall.

In addition to the hundreds of students sitting on four very large tables were a half dozen or so see-through grey spirits floating through the air above the tables. The Hogwarts Ghosts. They flew to the crowd of new students with their interests peaked and each conveyed their wish that the students would join their houses.

McGonagall arranged the students in a line before getting out a stool and a hat. Once the hat was placed on the stool it started to sing a song Harry doubted he would remember.

At the end there was applause and McGonagall called, "Abbot, Hannah."

The young girl in question walked up to the stool and sat down before the hat was placed on her head. A few moments of silence passed before the hat shouted "Hufflepuff!"

One by one each student was shorted. Neville and Hermione got sorted into Gryffindor and both were waiting to hear when Harry was going to be called.

After Sally-Anne Perks had been sorted, McGonagall froze. Silence echoed for a moment barely hidden by the emerging whispers of confusion.

From the tallest seat at the head table, the old man Harry figured was Dumbledore said, "Minerva?"

The professor unfroze from the shock of the name and after a cough called out, "Potter, Harry?"

Harry nonchalantly walked up to the stool as if he had not been publicly declared dead a year ago.

McGonagall robotically placed the hat on his head as she had no idea what else to do.

{Hmm, Interesting blocks you have here. Well nice of them to let me through. Ahh, been to the other side have you? That's a first.}

Harry thought, 'You're not going to tell anyone are you?'

{Certainly not, your secrets are yours and yours alone to tell. Though there is much about your power you do not understand yet but I can tell you are up to the challenge. Oh yes, I can tell you seek challenges like a bird seeks the sky. Certainly ambitious. However a Slytherin certainly wouldn't choose Hell mode. No, that's a Gryffindor if I've ever seen one.}

'Think I'm going to die?'

{Oh most certainly, there are at least four things in this castle looking to kill you at the moment and that number will likely double in two or three months. I'd level up if I were you and don't skimp on the exercise and practice.}

Harry felt like he wanted to cry as the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

The table of red and gold was the first to break the silence and shouted louder than any other time that night welcoming Harry to their house. Harry moved to sit with Hermione and Neville who were both giving an excellent impression of a fish at the reveal of his name. Like everyone else, Harry's robes changed from unaligned to his house colors once he sat down.

Harry felt someone giving him a death glare and looked over to the head table. Dumbledore and most of the other teachers were shocked. The one Harry recognized as his mother's old acquaintance Severus looked like he'd seen a ghost and the man in the turban which somehow blocked his energy sense seemed noncommittal about it though he was looking in Harry's direction.

McGonagall continued the shorting while several of his new house mates started bombarding him with questions, starting with Hermione of course.

"Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry honestly answered, "From the day I was born to the day I died."

That threw most of them off and Neville used the pause to ask, "I thought you had glasses and a scar."

Harry lifted his hair out of the way to reveal the faint image of his scar. Harry answered back, "I got my eyes fixed and my scar started healing a year ago."

A brown haired girl leaned over the table and argued, "Cursed scars don't fade, that's why they're called cursed scars."

Harry shrugged. He honestly had no idea why his scar didn't fade before and why it faded after he died.

Once the last student was sorted, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Let the feast, begin."

Harry noticed a build up of exotic energy over all the tables at the word feast and it flashed at the word begin. James had told him that Hogwarts was filled with house elves who did things like this. They were the ones who made food appear and vanish and cooked and cleaned.

Harry turned around and noticed several masses of exotic energy that hadn't been there before positioned along the walls. The masses were skinny and only a meter or so high. Invisible house elves perhaps?

Harry turned back to the food and started filling his plate with potatoes and meats. Though technically unnecessary, he would face awkward questions if he didn't eat and it was not as if the act of eating was unpleasant. 'Ohh, biscuits, I'll take three.'

Harry did his best to either avoid, be purposefully vague, or be misleading on many of the questions he was asked and the only time he told the truth was in a situation where he would absolutely not be believed.

"Why'd they say you blew up last year?" asked the redhead.

"Because if they said I detonated through magical implosion most people wouldn't understand."

At some point the invisible elves flashed their magic and the mostly empty dinner plates were replaced by plates containing desserts.

After a few more minutes and those too had been taken out.

Dumbledore stood up once more and announced, "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."

Dumbledore took a sip from his cup before he started listing off an assortment of objects which seemed to now be banned from the school.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. I must also tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry immediately declared to himself under no circumstances would he ever venture into that corridor. Since decomposing into energy and reconstituting himself from energy were both unimaginably painful, having a very painful death meant if he was killed there, he'd face three consecutive terrible pains instead of the usual two per death.

Dumbledore continued, "It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

A dozen or so shouts of complaint arose from each table, the loudest of which originated from a pair of identical redheads from his own table.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy, but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Harry paled as he remembered what Rocksheer had told him about expecting the unexpected. He hoped he was over thinking it but his doom announced itself in the next moment.

*Ping*

[New Quest: Survive Hogwarts

-Protect Philosopher's Stone

-Slay Basilisk

-Master Patronus Charm

-Pass the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament.

-Defeat Voldemort

Listed items not completed before the Finals of the Triwizard Tournament will be faced simultaneously. Rewards will increase for every item completed before the end of the year. Long term penalties and restrictions will apply if full marks are not received in the final task.]

The announcement caused a moment of silence to wash over the Great Hall before one of the redheaded twins shouted, "You're Joking!" This successfully drew attention from the fact that Harry's complexion had shifted to a purer shade of white than the Hogwarts Ghosts and would have fainted from the blood leaving his head if he had a human body.

A number of children laughed and Dumbledore looked amused before he said, "I am not joking, though if you come find me later I can tell you an amusing one I heard about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

McGonagall coughed which Dumbledore took as his cue to continue.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

Hermione seemed to be the only one who grew pale along with the already liquid paper white Harry as the rest of the students seemed to get excited.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger."

Harry had no confidence in this man what-so-ever.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

Questions echoed back and forth with guesses of who was going to enter and how the judging worked. The identical redheads both looked confident and seemed sure they would enter.

That confidence turned into outrage on the next line.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put forward their names to compete in the tournament."

Several boos and cries of complaint at the perfectly reasonable limitation called back and forth across the table

"This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion."

Hermione finally noticed that Harry looked even paler than she was and got Neville's attention before she asked, "Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry gave a weak smirk to the pair and said, "Remember that earlier I told you that I didn't have a problem with rules and common sense, but they have a problem with me?"

Hermione said, "Yes, but I still don't know what you meant."

Neville however caught on and said, "You think you're going to be entered into the tournament?"

Once the words passed his lips an expression that was half disbelief, half horror formed.

Hermione was in full disbelief and said, "There is no way they would allow a first year to enter this tournament."

Harry said, "Wanna bet?"

Hermione hadn't expected that and was left without a response.

Harry said, "If I get entered into the tournament, you have to prank a teacher."

Neville said, "Do it Hermione, both of those are impossible right?"

Before she could answer, the group was told it was time to head to the common rooms.

The young redhead from before tried to approach him but was knocked aside by the two older identical redheads. One said, "What's this I hear about a bet?" The other said, "And what's this I hear about a prank?"

No one else was speaking as they were led to the common room so Harry answered back in a tone that everyone could hear, "I was telling Hermione that I am a danger magnet and she didn't believe me. I bet her that if I was entered against my will in this tournament, she would have to play a prank on a teacher."

The twins looked at each other and turned back to Hermione, "Well? Are you going to take the bet?"

Hermione's last shred of common sense and faith in the rules urged her to announce, "It's impossible for Harry to be entered as a first year so fine. I agree."

The other twin turned to look at Harry, "You really think you're going to be entered?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, so I need to start practicing how not to die a bloody violent death."

They reached a corridor in the hall next to a moving portrait of a heavy set woman in a pink dress that looked like it had been made sometime between the 16th and 17 century. The woman took a look at the before stating, "Password?"

One of the taller redheads, and Merlin were there a few of them, said, "Balderdash," and the portrait swung in revealing another hall. The redhead with the title 'Prefect' turned to the first year group and said, "This will be your dormitory for the next seven years. Don't forget the password or you'll have to wait for someone to come along who didn't."

Without waiting for a response he entered the portrait hole and the rest followed behind.

The common room had a very large fireplace and a half dozen chairs of various types and levels of cozy. Harry somehow felt through his connection to Goose that the Flerken was already here somewhere. The group spread out and a few turned to get Harry's attention but he had already gone up a spiral staircase and turned a corner to find a couple of four poster beds and Goose was chilling on one of them. Harry asked, "So what do you think?"

Goose didn't bother to respond. She wasn't asleep, she just didn't feel answering was worth the effort. A very Goose like response. The fact that there was a cat bed nearby which Goose obviously had no intention of using was also very like the Flerken.

Neville, the youngest redhead, and two others came into the room and started claiming beds. The redhead said, "How'd you know where the first year beds were? My brother wouldn't tell me."

Harry pointed at the orange cat who already claimed the bed next to the window and said, "I already have a familiar bond so I could sense where she was."

One of the other boys looked like he was about to say something but seemed to change his mind. Harry could practically hear the thought, 'Well, it's Harry Potter.'

Neville got his pajamas from his trunk and went to change along with the others leaving Harry conveniently by himself. He opened his menu and equipped his own pajamas before the others returned. Neville grabbed a chair and pulled up to Harry's bed and said, "Harry, where have you been for the last year? I heard you were in a muggle house that exploded."

The other boys were getting their things out of their trunks as well but were suddenly making an effort to do so quietly so they could hear Harry's answer.

Harry turned his head and said, "Not sure to be honest. I woke up in a park a few weeks ago knowing a lot more than I knew a year before that. But I don't have any memories of learning what I knew. I had a letter though that told me a bunch of things including that I agreed to have my memories, but not my knowledge of the last year removed for my own safety."

Harry waited for the others to digest this before continuing, "The letter said how to get to Diagon Alley and said to go to Gringotts and give some instructions to the Goblins. They were surprised I wasn't dead too so they did a blood test and said I was me. Which is good because if I wasn't me, I don't think they would have been very nice about it."

Neville visibly winced at that. Seemed the boy was familiar with goblins.

"I asked them a bunch of questions and they told me all they could. I didn't want to cause a ruckus so I didn't say anything until now."

The redhead spoke up, "I heard my mum say you were with muggles. Why were you there?"

Harry wondered if this one would ever introduce himself but for now he had to be polite. Harry said, "I didn't know where else I could be. Before going to Gringotts, I've never stepped foot in the magic world and I'd never heard the term Boy-Who-Lived. I really don't like that term though."

"Why not? It means you survived what no one else could, like a miracle."

Harry shook his head and said, "But my mom and dad didn't. So it sounds like people are calling me the 'Boy Who Lived When His Parents Were Murdered By A Psychopath.'"

The redhead had enough sense to look down in embarrassment, not that it was his fault.

A slight scurrying sound against metal could be heard in the pause and everyone but Harry turned to see a cage that sounded like it had something running around.

Goose's head got up and hissed slightly. 'Little pest.'

The redhead looked accusingly at the cat and said, "Keep her away from Scabbers."

Harry didn't bother to respond since he doubted the cat shaped Flerken would actually bother hunting a mouse or whatever that was.

The various conversations didn't extend long after that as the day was tiring for the others and the bed was warm. Harry felt traces of exotic energies which matched the house elves had been used to warm the beds which explained why Goose was already quite comfortable. Harry expertly got into bed without disturbing Goose and once comfortable he Paused the world.

In the frozen silence Harry got out of his bed and went to a nearby chair and focused on his stats.

[Harry Potter

Level 32 Age 11

STR 42 AGI 75

INT 100 WIS 100

LUK 10

Warrior Path rank 5

Scholar Path rank 5

Magic Path rank 13

Tech Path rank 5]

If Harry was going to get through this year with as few deaths as possible he needed more than just power, he needed an ace in the hole. One of those Goals for the quest was to fight Voldemort. Harry couldn't see other people's levels, but thanks to his energy sense he could get an approximate level. Dumbledore would be level 150 with a Magic Path rank of 24 or so. That made him about sixty times stronger than Harry was since every tenth rank was ten times stronger than the first.

If Harry got hold of the entire Hogwarts library and spent every waking moment practicing it, Harry figured it would still take several years just to match him. Harry doubted Voldemort was much weaker given his reputation. It wasn't the stats that were the problem. Even if Harry got to level 300, Dumbledore could still crush him thanks to superior magic usage.

So learning magic was required but using it alone to survive wouldn't work. He could build an army by teaching others using his Scholar Path bonus, but most of them would likely get killed which he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for.

The only way to beat something stronger with any guarantee was to use its weakness against it. Witches and Wizards use magic, so their weakness would be something that doesn't use magic. Harry would have to bring his tech path up along with his magic path and use them in a way that a wizard couldn't fight against. Even the strongest flame dies if it has nothing to burn. Everything has a weakness.

In paused time Harry couldn't use a paper or take notes of anything so when he processed and theorized he had to do it all mentally. This was easy for some things but harder for others. Things like runes for example were easier to visualize when you could see them and write them down. Harry had to brute force his understandings so he could comprehend and test various rune arrangements without actually drawing them out. He wanted to figure out a Exotic Energy Stasis rune cluster before October which would give him time to buy and test various electronics to work in combination with magic for unexpected effects.

Of course theoretical practice could only go so far before tests must be done. Harry intended to spend each night working up to the limits of theoretical practice and would physically practice afterwards.

Harry spent what could have been hours or weeks doing the mental calculations before deciding he had reached the limit and unpaused, finding himself back in bed. Since it was a sleep environment, Harry was able to fall asleep the moment his eyes closed after hitting the pillow.

*Ping*

[You have fully recovered after a night's rest.]

Four hours later and Harry woke up to the silence of the dorms. Well, almost silence. The redhead snored.

He could have hit the pillow again for another four hours but that would have been a waste as it wasn't needed. Instead, he got up and equipped his robes and headed down into the common room. The fireplace was out but a few of the candles lit themselves when Harry entered and he found a nice table to work with.

Harry turned the fireplace back on and took out a lot of parchment and quills and one by one wrote down his rune cluster tests. He could have done it with a pen or pencil and pulp paper, but the quills used actually transferred intent better according to his energy sense which explained why they were still used. The parchment also prevented exotic energy from dissipating so it retained it better than paper did. Thanks to these properties Harry was able to grant the proper magic effect to runes he wrote down though it was quite weak. Still, thanks to his energy senses he could properly tell which rune clusters worked together, which would fizzle out, and which were catastrophes waiting to happen.

Some arrangements however needed time to see if their effect would work or not so many of the parchments Harry used were set aside to be checked out later.

After several hours of practice which only caused five explosions, a new personal best, Harry heard someone coming down the stairs and gathered up all of his parchments into his arms. Before the new arrival was half way down, Harry had thrown them all into the fireplace and left for the dormitory exit.

Harry had no intention of leaving evidence of his plans for an ace in the hole. Those don't work unless no one knows about them.

The portrait didn't ask for a password for Harry to leave and he opened his map to find an exit to the castle. He remembered Neville telling him the schedules would be handed out before breakfast but that was still an hour out so he had time to get a morning workout done.

The map of the castle was a bit odd as certain parts seemed to shift sometimes. Harry had to change directions twice after some of the paths the map showed vanished and reappeared elsewhere. The castle itself was possibly more bizarre than his parents described. According to his energy senses, there were doors that were for decoration, walls that were illusions, and places that looked like the entrance to Diagon Alley in that they seemed to require specific operations to open.

Even something as ordinary as the stairs from one level to the next were far from simple as a number of them were illusionary and stepping on what you thought was a step would have your foot fall through and trip you up something fierce. The fact that the staircases themselves changed as they pleased would be a hassle unless he could learn to fly.

Luckily there seemed to be a number of shortcuts, several of which were slides hidden behind tapestries, so his journey to the first floor was both quick and fun.

Once he reached the door, a concentration of exotic energy appeared before him, though still without visible form. Harry said, "Can you move out of the way, I wish to go outside."

The invisible house elf shimmered into view and said, "Students shouldn't be out before the sun rises. It bees against the rules."

Harry frowned. It was about 6am but he didn't take into account the sun. Harry asked the little elf, "I wish to stretch and exercise, is there any place for me to exercise in the castle?"

Most colleges, universities, and boarding schools he'd researched had such things. It stood to reason Hogwarts would as well.

The elf answered back, "There be no place like that sir. Wizards be not good at ex'cising."

Or not, Harry thought.

The elf continued, "But I knows a place where yous can do it sirs. I can take you there."

That didn't make sense. There wasn't a place where he could exercise but there was. Harry said, "Thank you, please do."

The elf walked over to Harry and took a handful of Harry's robe and apparated them to another part of the castle. Harry was surprised that House Elves could not only apparate within Hogwarts, but side along apparate. Something to look into later. Their new location was a dead end hall with a large moving tapestry of a large fellow attempting to teach a group of trolls how to dance. However that was not what drew Harry's attention. The wall opposite it may have been unadorned, but to his energy sense it was practically a glowing sun.

The elf motioned to the wall and said, "We's be in the seventh floor sir. This is the Come and Go Room, also called the Room of Requirement. Walk before it three times thinking of what you want sir and a door to it will appear."

Harry immediately Paused just so the hurricane of implications that just presented itself could be properly gone over. This certainly would let him move a number of plans forward. He was even tempted to figure out elf apparition so he could pop around the castle and come here whenever he wanted. Unfortunately it would be too easy to get caught doing that since the elves might see him and rat him out. His best defense against those who wanted him dead was a lack of information. Hell, they only figured out a few hours ago he wasn't dead which certainly gave him a leg up.

After a few more intense cycles of what if possibilities, Harry unpaused and said to the elf, "Thank you very much for your help."

The elf nodded and shimmered away. It was still there for a moment though before the concentration of exotic energy popped away.

Harry walked back and forth before the wall three times thinking of something very specific. It was in a cartoon his mother said she used to watch when she was a kid.

The energy of the wall changed and settled into a door which Harry opened quickly to find a long room with a set of weights close to the door. Harry ignored the weights and walked further into the long room and smiled as he felt the effect he requested. The further into the room he ventured, the greater the gravity. Oh yes, this would work very well.