fics I read

The Come and Go Room was more than Harry hoped was possible for training. If he wanted to practice swordsmanship, a training sword and magic training dummy would appear. If he wanted to run a lap at a specific multiple of gravity, the long room would set itself only to that gravity and a track and field lap matching what he wanted would appear.

Harry really wanted to see the limits of what this room could do, but all too quickly breakfast time approached and Harry made his way back to the dormitory. Harry really liked the slide shortcuts.

After giving the fat lady in the portrait the password she opened up and Harry returned to the common room to find Hermione and Neville along with the rest of his house.

Hermione spotted him first and said, "Harry! Where were you? Neville said he didn't see you when he got up and was worried."

Harry noticed a bit of worry in her own voice as well which made Harry feel warm. Having friends who cared for him was very different for him.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I left to explore the castle. Do they have maps or something because without one it's not going to be easy finding anything."

The twin redheads seemed to appear from the shadows and the first said, "You can ask the professor for a map," the second twin continued, "But the maps don't show any of the secret paths."

Harry remembered what his father said about making his own map but said most of the work was done by Remus Lupin so Harry doubted he could make another from scratch without putting more time than he wanted or seeing the original. Then again he only needed a map to cover for his own so he didn't want to dedicate that much time to it.

Hermione looked like she wanted to say something before looking at Harry and getting distracted by something. She asked with the barest hint of a blush, "Harry, those robes aren't Madam Malkin's are they?"

Harry did notice that his robes had a nicer sheen and cleaner edges along with a complete lack of fuzz on top of the cloth compared to everyone else's robes. Harry answered, "I don't know. I found them in a closet in my family's manor so I don't know who made them. They look nice though."

Another brown haired girl half a head taller than Hermione said, "They do look good on you. Maybe a bit tight but in a good way."

Harry noticed that she was looking at his butt and Harry immediately started to blush. A few of the girls who saw this unconsciously smiled.

Hermione, wanting to move to a safer topic, said "The Prefect said Professor McGonagall should be here soon with our schedules soon."

No sooner had Hermione spoken then the portrait door had opened revealing their head of house. She handed a stack of papers to three of the taller students who started calling out names before she went to Harry and said, "Mr. Potter, a word if you please," before motioning for Harry to follow her away from the crowd.

Harry followed but was a bit tense. He was only slightly relieved by the fact that his father really put him through the ringer when it came to training for lying on the spot so Harry would simply have to see if it was worth it.

Once out of earshot of the other students, the Professor said, "Here is your schedule, but I'd like a few answers from you. Where have you been for the last thirteen months?"

Harry nodded, expecting this of course. "For the last month I stayed in Potter Manor which the Goblins gave me a portkey to. The twelve months before that however I don't know. Five weeks ago I woke up in a park with two letters. One said it was from my father and gave some instructions. The other said I have been obliviated for the last 12 months for my own protection and the protection of others. The letters said to burn them which I didn't at first. Then I found out how famous I was and what people thought happened to me. If whoever wrote them was bad, I wouldn't be here, so I did burn them."

The Professor was following the story and watching her young ward very closely. Harry however mixed some truth into the lies which she would be able to confirm and the lies had no way to be found out. At least according to Harry's father who fabricated the story for him.

McGonagall thought the situation over for some time before saying, "Do you have all your school materials?"

Harry shrugged. "I think so. I found a trunk in Potter Manor that had what I think was my dad's school things and a wand which works fine for me. It had a lot of books, a cauldron, and a bunch of other things. I took that and some robes I found in a closet."

Harry pretended to only now notice the look of worry on his head of House's expression and quickly said, "I'll ask Hermione if there is anything I'm missing and get back to you later on that. Is that alright."

The Professor nodded and said, "Very well. May I ask what the instructions on those letters were for?"

"Just how to get to Gringotts, what to ask of the goblins to get Potter Manor's portkey, and how to get to Hogwarts." Harry spoke in a flat tone and purposefully fidgeted which was an easy cue for McGonagall to pick up on to 'guess' he was lying or leaving something out. One of his favorite shows to watch while dead was a crime drama that explained the science of lying and deception and he spent a long time deciphering and practicing the art with his father using that as a base.

Harry noticed a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth showing her amusement at seeing Harry lie so badly meaning she was less likely to question the validity of the rest of his story.

Without calling Harry out on his lie, McGonagall told him he could return to his friends and get some breakfast.

Harry knew she would investigate or ask others to investigate his tale. The best she could do was take Harry's picture and show it around every store in Diagon Alley. All that would accomplish however, if they recognized Harry with black hair, was learning what Harry bought and where he bought it. Even this would take time and wasn't guaranteed to work. The main thing however was that it would distract from the twelve months before that meaning the only facts that could get out was that he lied about where he got his supplies. This was on purpose as Harry already covered that by being caught lying about the letter's instructions, so he could easily amend his story and say the letters told him where to go and what to buy.

Harry found Hermione and Neville waiting for him before heading out to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione asked what the professor wanted and Harry repeated back McGonagall's questions. Hermione and Neville both caught on that Harry had likely lied to her but neither brought it up.

Breakfast was slightly interrupted when the redheaded first year who had yet to introduce himself saw Harry approach the table and started telling him which things were good and which were great like a professional food critic. Harry didn't let it bother him and responded when questioned which seemed to settle the redhead for now.

The schedule was broken into breakfast, early morning period, late morning period, lunch, afternoon period, and evening period. The only exception was wednesdays which included a midnight period specifically for astrology. Not all periods each day always had a class. Thursday early morning was blank so everyone could sleep in after the prior midnight class.

Today's schedule had Herbology, then Charms, followed by Transfiguration after lunch. Lily had told him that once third year started three electives were required meaning the first two years would have many empty time slots which would be filled later. Harry had very little intention of wasting that time.

Harry called over Hermione and Neville, "There's loads of free time so if we get through our homework quickly we can practice and study the good stuff."

Hermione looked like she wanted to complain about getting through the homework quickly but Harry had already told her that whether or not every homework assignment was graded Outstanding or Troll, none of it mattered except the finals of each year. Even if that wasn't a good enough reason to slack on the homework, the time saved being used to study higher level subject matter was too much of a temptation for the young bookworm.

Not too surprisingly, the first class of each subject was the introduction and safety practices that they all had to go over. The only class which had some flavor was Transfiguration. In the beginning of the class, Harry saw a grey tabby cat with a ridiculously high concentration of exotic energy for a cat. Once everyone had arrived to class, it jumped off and transformed into the teacher. McGonagall's introduction to Transfiguration included a warning that if anyone messed around in her class, they would not be coming back.

After the final class Hermione almost started walking in the direction of the Gryffindor common rooms but Harry told her there were plenty of empty classrooms to use to study. Hermione was almost tempted to argue until she recalled the redhead who kept inviting them to play chess against him over and over.

Harry finished his homework first only giving just slightly more than the minimum required length before he went to help Neville. After they both finished Harry checked on Hermione and had to spend five minutes explaining to her that regurgitating everything she could think of onto a paper and exceeding the length requirements three-fold was not helping her become smarter. Time spent showing off how much she knew was better spent learning something she didn't know. She eventually relented but Harry recognized that some habits die easier than others.

Harry already knew that studying with them wouldn't make him stronger but he intended to use the time to grind his Scholar Path which not only made it easier to teach, but easier to learn as well. The time he lost in tutoring would be gained back with faster learning later.

He started them on their next three weeks worth of lessons on the three classes they took, showing both of them the different ways to cast the same spell and letting them both try and feel the differences.

Once done, Harry said he intended to do some self study in another part of the castle and encouraged Hermione to figure out what she wanted to learn next without being told by a teacher or syllabus. This of course led her to scurrying off to the library. Neville went back to the Gryffindor common rooms to see what the other students were doing. Harry noticed Neville's confidence increased once Harry showed him how to use magic in spite of his wand rather than with it. Neville was using a badly fitted wand for him and Harry had already told him he should either get a new one or learn wandless magic. Considering how much his gran worried him, Neville seemed inclined towards the latter.

Harry didn't bother getting dinner as he already put a lot of food in his inventory which would help him speed his stamina recovery later. He returned to the room of requirements but instead of asking for a workout room, he asked for a room that would assist him in meditation.

The room obliged and Harry found a room that appeared to have ritual markings and candles around. Harry sat in the middle and started his battle meditation. He couldn't risk doing this somewhere he could be observed as absorbing energy had odd effects around him which he couldn't bet would go unnoticed.

[Dimensional Energy: Recommended level 50~200

Exotic Energy: Recommended level 10~30

Concentrated Exotic Energy: Recommended level 30~90

Time Energy: Recommended level 300~500]

The list of available energies he could absorb showed some changes but not many. The Concentrated Exotic Energy was a specific feature of the school. Centuries of housing hundreds of witches and wizards left the very foundation of the school saturated with exotic energy that let Harry know anything more complicated than a typewriter would fry the moment it entered this castle. And that was to say nothing of the three intersecting ley lines Hogwarts was built atop.

Harry selected Concentrated exotic energies and spent the next two hours slaying familiar looking magic creatures such as adult fire crabs and two headed snakes. The snakes themselves were odd as Harry could quite clearly understand both heads as they declared him dinner. It reminded him that he once spoke with a garden snake in his aunt's garden. Harry mentally browsed through his library and found the ability was called Parseltongue and someone who had that ability was called a Parselmouth, someone who could speak to snakes.

Some of the books referenced specific magics that needed to be cast in Parseltongue but none of them had any details on such magics as Parseltongue was a rare, rather frowned upon gift associated with the darker arts of which there were none in the Potter Library.

After getting to level 32, Harry finished his meditation and changed the room back to the gravity gym and did everything he could to tear his body down for the next ninety minutes. Once thoroughly exhausted, Harry got his dinner from his inventory and finished it to recover the stamina needed to return to the dormitory.

One interesting thing about Harry's physiology was that he did in fact sweat and it did have a smell, but after a short while both sweat and smell would vanish just like any blood taken from him. It was thanks to this that Harry didn't look completely soaked or smell like a gym bag by the time he returned to the dormitory.

Harry was once more accosted by the unnamed redhead and relented to playing a game of chess with him. Wizard's Chess anyways. The pieces apparently would try to tell him what they wanted him to do and argue with the moves he made instead. Harry had never actually played chess before but knew the rules. Most of them anyways. Harry got most of his pieces taken quickly but learned much by then and though he still lost he prolonged the inevitable for a while. The redhead asked if he wanted to play again but Harry said he'd be up for it tomorrow which the redhead seemed to accept.

Neville was playing another game with some of the other dorm-mates and the red headed twins were trying to get some first years to eat some candy. A second year kindly warned Harry that those two were Fred and George Weasley, sixth years and the opposite of their brother Percy who was a seventh year and Head Boy. While Percy was a stick in the mud and would deduct points to enforce his authority, the twins were troublemakers who enjoyed coming up with new pranks and testing them on 'unsuspectin firsties.'

Harry thanked the man who actually bothered to introduce himself as Cormac McLaggen and took the advice to heart. Outwardly anyways. Harry felt his father would be greatly disappointed in him if he didn't react accordingly when challenged at pranking.

A half hour before bed time Hermione returned and went straight for Harry with an assortment of questions. She actually had a list of topics she'd written down she wanted clarification on. Partially. Harry felt at least half the list was specifically to find a subject matter Harry did not know about. It did however remind Harry he needed to check out the school library. Then again, if he needed books, perhaps the Room of Requirements had something.

Although Hermione didn't come up with any subjects he wasn't familiar with, she did at least get a better grasp on many subjects and an outline of what she wanted to learn.

Harry eventually went to bed and saw Crookshanks chilling with Goose. "How's the castle Goose?"

'It has proved moderately amusing,' she conveyed back.

Seemed that the pets of the students were pretty much attended by the house elves for food and care. Also there were secret paths and walkways usable by cats that lead to the rooms with litter boxes, rooms with herbs cats could chew on which were healthy, and rooms magically lit and heated where cats could sunbathe even at midnight.

Harry shook his head that being spoiled rotten, for Goose anyways, simply amounted to moderately amusing.

Once all set in his bed, Harry paused again and went over the advances he made in runic theory and practice until his brain gave out and he had to unpause and go to sleep.

Four hours later Harry got up and went straight for the Room of Requirements and asked for a room of books.

The room that appeared certainly had a number of books but the books were mostly old textbooks and seemingly unreturned library books. Some of the books had writing that plainly asked, 'if lost, return to' ect. After some thinking Harry figured the only books the room could produce that Harry could put into his inventory were actual books that others had lost. Harry had long since confirmed he couldn't place conjured items in his inventory so even if this room conjured a copy of every book in the library, it wouldn't be useful for Harry.

Of course the number of books lost on Hogwarts ground since whenever the last time someone collected them was still far from a small number. There were at least twenty times as many books as Potter Manor's library and many of the textbooks had personal notes written on the pages which added to Harry's database. Harry finished collecting them all just before breakfast and headed back down to meet his dorm-mates before they went to the Great Hall.

Today's classes were Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Transfiguration again, and Charms again.

DADA was as boring as it was unnerving. Harry finally got an answer to who had been aiming the killing intent he usually only felt from monsters at him on the first day. Professor Quirrel spoke with a fake stutter and although seemed to ignore him, also seemed to hate his very existence. The turban which blocked Harry's energy sense seemed all the more suspicious as such a property should not be on something accidentally. The overwhelming smell of garlic in the room was thankfully not an issue as Harry could adjust his sense of smell in his Settings.

History of Magic was odd. The fact that the class may have in fact bored its own Professor to death didn't seem to phase many as the ghost seemed to have been teaching for several hundred years. Harry wondered how he graded papers. Moreover the Professor's short term memory seemed lacking as he didn't get a single name correct when calling people out.

Transfiguration included the first attempt at magic for many students save those who practiced on their own. Professor McGonagall gave a lecture on many of the principals behind transfiguration for the first part of the class and had everyone try to turn a matchstick into a needle for the second part of class.

Hermione and Neville got it on their first try but Harry only got his matchstick to become slightly silver which got a confused stare out of both Gryffindors. McGonagall awarded Hermione and Neville 10 house points and Harry 5 points. No one else in class got anything out of the needle.

Charms class included another lecture with a promise that magic would start for the next class.

Once the trio found themselves back in the empty class, the interrogation began.

Hermione accused, "Harry, why didn't you change the matchstick into a needle? You're the one who showed us yesterday!"

Harry shook his head and said, "Hermione, the quality of the class won't increase if I suddenly show I've mastered the content. I told you before, there is no accelerated program for those who finish early. House points look nice on paper but they have no real use."

Neville said, "That shows why you don't care, but not why you're holding back. You said showing you know the stuff won't make the class better, but that doesn't mean you have to pretend to do worse."

Harry answered back, "You're right Neville but you're overlooking something."

Hermione jumped to it and asked, "What's that?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm Harry Potter and people have wanted me dead before. Showing my skill could make things worse for me and if there is no incentive to show my skill, I'd rather others think me weak. We already have a teacher actively sabotaging us after all so-"

"What?!" Hermione nearly shrieked in outrage.

Harry continued, "A natural stutter only occurs at the beginning of a sentence. Quirrel stutters as much as he can, 100% fake. He doesn't want anyone in his class to progress which means anyone who wants to learn how to defend themselves against the dark arts will need to practice on their own."

Hermione looked horrified that a teacher would be willing to sabotage a student for any reason.

Neville said, "I think he's right Hermione. I used to have a stutter and have only gotten over it recently. But I would only stutter when I first tried to say something, not the whole time."

Luckily the first year content of DADA wouldn't be difficult to master quickly. It included a few weak curses such as the Boogie Curse which gave a bad case of the sniffles and some jinxes which pushed the target away or made it harder to move. The non spell content included information about some of the more common dangerous creatures and how to treat a werewolf bite or scratch along with some magical first aid.

Questions on why the teacher was sabotaging the classes were held back for now and they picked up where they left off on practicing magic and questions on magic theory after finishing their homework.

The next day was more of the same except they had their first potion class. Lily had told Harry that Professor Severus Snape had been a friend of her until he basically had to choose between her and the dark arts and he made his choice and even became a Death Eater. The man had looked like he'd seen a ghost when Harry showed up which raised some odd questions.

According to his father, the man had also been a known Legilimencer for Voldemort. James had Harry learn Occlumency of course but it seemed redundant. Some part of Harry's gamer power protected his mind from outside influence and even tended to squash strong negative emotions. If that power hadn't stifled his fear, he never would have faced a monster again after his first time dying in the tutorial due to fear of the pain he felt both from the death and the revival.

The crooked nose Professor entered the classroom with billowing robes and hair that had a sheen of grease. He looked over everyone and paused for a moment at Harry who hadn't bothered to meet the man's eyes, instead looking around the classroom.

After giving a short introduction to the subject he went for the roll call and stopped once he reached Harry. "Harry Potter, our newest celebrity, back from the dead."

Harry still didn't meet his eyes, simply looking next to him. Legilimency really did need you to meet someone directly in the eyes which seemed to irritate the Professor. He called out, "Look me in the eyes when I'm speaking to you Potter."

Harry let out a sigh at the man's lack of subtlety and reached into his robes to grab some eyeglasses. When he put them on everyone noticed they had been completely smashed with so many cracks they were impossible to see through. Harry faced in the Professor's direction with his eyes hidden behind the glasses and said, "Apologies Professor."

Snickering could be heard from the Gryffindor side of the room which irritated Snape further. He called out, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot up as she had read the full text book Magical Drafts and Potions and had it mostly memorized. Harry mutely looked at the Professor without answering as it was obvious the man didn't care if Harry answered or not.

The man's sneer deepened and continued, "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry was starting to get a little irritated. The man didn't seem to get a hint. Unless someone was either told to learn it before, the only way to already know the answer was to memorize the text 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi. Hermione did of course and Harry had six different versions in his inventory, but the fact was, the man was looking for a fight.

Harry decided not to play nice. "Did you need me to teach the class for you Professor? I don't mind of course if you have more important things to do than your job."

Five different students nearly snorted while three couldn't contain themselves and burst out into full blown laughter. Hermione was partly scandalized and partly holding back her own laughter. Neville had to cover his mouth while the still unnamed redhead who sat next to him was letting out peels of laughter. Harry figured he could learn the redhead's name if he paid attention to the role call but he wasn't nearly invested enough to do so.

"Your arrogance is worse than your father's," he sneered.

Harry quipped back, "Am I also headstrong like my mother? Guess you didn't know her very well. I've been told I have her eyes, what do you think?" Of course since the glasses were impossible to see through the Potions professor could not in fact give an opinion on them.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for talking back!" the man roared.

Harry shrugged, "If you prefer talking to yourself, I won't say another word to you in this classroom." He made a motion to zip his lips and looked completely unfazed at the point loss.

The professor regained control of his emotions and glared at Harry through his broken glasses which kinda defeated the purpose of glaring. After another moment he returned to roll call which Harry didn't pay attention to. What he did pay attention to was the timing of the man's emotions. Half of which seemed artificial. Although there was real anger at the mention of Lily, the rest of Snape's attitude was pretty much fake.

The Professor paired the students up and had everyone make a boil cure potion.

What he didn't do was allow them to work in silence. At least once a minute he would loudly call out someone for doing something he declared incorrect while sometimes he would praise a specific bleach blond student he called Malfoy on the Slytherin side of the class. Harry often felt the man's glare shift his way and Harry purposefully made a mistake every once in a while that would not lower the quality of his potion but would give the Professor something to loudly point out. Whether Harry gave a perfect potion or a half done one wouldn't affect Harry's future and although this man didn't have killing intent towards Harry, he wasn't someone Harry would allow to know his actual skill set for now.

After criticizing Harry for the unteenth time, the class finished and Harry put a sample of his and Neville's potion in a test tube. Harry then noticed Snape was going around vanishing the content of all the cauldrons and Harry quickly scooped another sample into a second test tube and hid it before Snape reached them and vanished their cauldron.

Harry whispered something to Neville and gave him the second test tube and lined up to submit his own. When Snape took Harry's, he 'accidentally' dropped it and claimed they would have to receive a zero for the day. Neville walked up to the professor and said, "That's ok Professor Snape. Harry said his mum told him how clumsy you were so we prepared a second sample for you."

Several others choked back a laugh and Snape gave another fake glare at Harry and took the second vial without dropping it this time.

After History of Magic, Herbology, DADA, and dinner, the group returned to the empty classroom they used for practice and Hermione started to vent. Now that she wasn't seeing teachers through rose colored glasses, she could recognize bad teaching for what it was.

After letting her finish, Harry said, "Although it looks like we'll have to teach ourselves Potions as well, don't take it out on Snape. The man was like Quirrel but instead of pretending to be incompetent, he was pretending to hate all the non slytherins and me especially."

Neville hesitantly asked, "Are you sure he was pretending?"

"Yes," Harry answered with certainty before elaborating, "Real anger builds up while fake anger starts at the max and cools down. He wanted to get a reaction out of me and he wanted everyone to see him acting like that towards me. That's why he deducted an unreasonable amount of points but didn't give me detention."

Hermione asked, "But why?"

Harry turned to her and said, "He probably has his reasons and if we tried, we might be able to guess them. But does it really matter?"

Hermione thought back to all the criticisms Snape made towards Harry and knew that all the mistakes Harry made to earn them were intentional. To Harry it didn't matter and what was ironic was that Harry's offer to teach the class was something he likely could have gone through with if Snape tried to 'call his bluff.'

Harry made a list of the potions they would be going over this year and since the Room of Requirements couldn't conjure ingredients to practice with, Harry would go over the theory and properties of each ingredient and explain why it worked the way it did with the pair. In this way they could at least mostly get why specific ingredients needed specific preparation for specific uses.

They separated afterwards and Harry returned once more to the Room of Requirements, something he decided to just call the RoR. After meditation and physical exhaustion, Harry headed for the common room and found the nameless redhead waiting for a chess match which Harry gave.

During the match, Fred and George showed up and asked if what their brother had told them about Snape's lesson was true.

"Did the little firstie really offer to teach his class?"

"Did you really ask him if he had something better to do than his job?"

Harry gave the details while moving some more pieces around and getting a hang on chess. If nothing else, the nameless redhead wasn't bad and Harry had no intention of beating him on purpose until he could steal a few strategies off him.

All the first years had Astrology at midnight in the Observatory so Harry had no excuse not to play three more rounds with the redhead before excusing himself.

Astronomy held nothing outside Harry's expectations and once the class was finished everyone returned to their dorms and went to bed. Although a little shaky, Harry had begun his routine for Hogwarts and could only hope he would survive what was to come.

«

The end of October had come and Harry had somewhat settled into his routine. He did his best not to stand out for more than just being Harry Potter and since his two acquaintances were both doing amazing, he was able to hide in their shadows and make it look like his own above average abilities were due to their association. Neither was happy with that but after Harry begged them on his knees not to let anyone know he was the smart one, they agreed not to tell others.

So far there had only been one incident which threw off Harry's image of a 'just above average student with help,' and that was their first Flying Class. Harry got the worse broom and once Harry mounted the thing, it shot up into the air and broke in half leaving Harry to fall thirty feet from the sky. This wasn't the problem, the problem was that Harry did a shoulder roll on landing and got up without a single visible or measurable injury. If it was another student it would be talked about for a week and forgotten, but as Harry Potter, it was something that simply added to his immortalized legend.

Today was the day that the student delegations of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would arrive at Hogwarts. It was a Saturday and although most would rather be playing indoors or in some cases, *cough* Hermione *cough*, doing their homework or studying, every student was made to stand out in the frigid cold and wait until the other schools showed up to show school wide unity.

"Weasley, straighten your hat, Ms. Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair," cried McGonagall as she went row by row to confirm the uniformity of the students.

Once ready, she said, "Follow me please, first years out in front," and lead everyone to the Black Lake.

After waiting for a while, Dumbledore said aloud that Beauxbatons had arrived and pointed up. Harry saw what appeared to be a dozen elephant sized winged horses pulling an enormous carriage.

A few of the students unconsciously backed up when the carriage descended for a landing and the whole group felt the impact of the hoofbeats of the creature's landing.

A moment after the carriage came to a halt, a young man came out and opened a set of golden stairs. Dumbledore approached and met the woman who came out and exchanged pleasantries. What surprised most was that she was even taller than Hagrid.

A series of young women in powder blue robes left the carriage with an attempted show of grace that was difficult to pull off successfully with each and every one of them shivering to the bone. Dumbledore had a teacher escort the lot into the castle before they all froze solid and everyone else continued to wait for Durmstrang to show up.

Not wanting to be shown up it seemed, the Durmstrang delegation showed up in a giant ship which ascended from beneath the surface of the Black Lake leaving everyone to wonder how it got there in the first place.

The students of Durmstrang and their headmaster who looked like a stereotypical evil warlock all wore furs and looked far less fragile than their Beauxbatons counterparts. Harry heard the redhead standing a few places down from him, "Hey, that's Krum!"

According to a magazine in Harry's inventory, Victor Krum was a student of Durmstrang yet a professional Quidditch player, one of the best in the world even. He would be in his seventh year and his skill was expected to lead his team to the world cup once he graduated. Shame his team had no one else to rely on.

With their arrival the whole group returned to the castle into the warmth of the great hall. The Durmstrang students chose to sit at the Slytherin table while the Beauxbatons chose to sit with the Ravenclaws.

The headmaster introduced his fellow headmasters and told everyone the choosing of the champions would begin after the feast.

The food that appeared had a larger variety than normal which some of the cookbooks in Harry's inventory named as french dishes. Harry himself was watching the new students and checking out their exotic energy. Although there was no level floating above each person's head, the size and brightness of the exotic energy mass within each gave Harry an idea for their Magic stats and Magic Path Rank.

From Beauxbatons, the strongest contender seemed to be a blond young woman whose magic seemed more a part of her than normal. This was something he usually only saw in magical creatures. The strongest from Durmstrang was unsurprisingly Victor Krum, and not by a small margin either. Though if that meant he was good or everyone else from his school was bad, Harry did not know. There were a few possible contenders for Hogwarts but the strongest sat at the Hufflepuff table. Harry would say he was level 50 with a Magic Path Rank of 9.

Harry's own stats after two months of school were as follows.

[Harry Potter

Level 77 Age 11

STR 68 AGI 112

INT 250 WIS 250

LUK 20

Warrior Path rank 8

Scholar Path rank 11

Magic Path rank 15

Tech Path 7]

Harry meditated daily to level up at least once a day and extra on weekends while practicing combat both magical and non-magical against the monsters he faced. Teaching Neville and Hermione while studying himself got his Scholar path up an impressive amount and last month Harry finally came up with a rune scheme that protected electronics from exotic energy. It basically used an ordered set of exotic energy and froze it in place around the electronics, forming something of a shield. The frozen shield wouldn't enter the fragile parts and would stop additional exotic energy up to a certain strength from entering. It wouldn't survive anything stronger than a weak spell but would at least not get fried just from ambient energy.

Once that was done, Harry added to his routine more time to study computers and electronics. At a few points Harry had to sneak out of Hogwarts to apparate to London and buy some more electronics but he hadn't been caught so far which was a win for him and let him advance his Tech path as well.

Harry waited until the feast was over to see how the tournament participants would be selected so he could ponder on how he would be entered.

Two men entered the Great Hall and Dumbledore said, "Let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They will be joining myself along with Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime as the judges for the tournament."

Mr. Filch, the strange nearly magicless man came in with a jewel encrusted chest and placed it before Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gave a few more foreboding warnings before tapping the chest three times and opened it to reveal a rather large silver cup. He explained that it was called the Goblet of Fire and would be the impartial judge. He would take it to the entrance hall and draw an age line around it that would prevent any under the age of seventeen from approaching it. Once there, he would light it and any who felt themselves up to the challenge would have to write their name on a piece of paper and place it in the goblet. The next day, the goblet would choose three names, one of each school to be contenders for the Triwizard Cup.

Once the feast was over, Harry, Hermione, Neville and the still as of yet to be named redhead went to the dorm. The redhead asked, "Harry, are you going to enter your name in it?"

Harry shrugged, "Nope, doubt it matters. The Goblet will likely spit out my name regardless."

Neville said, "Oh yeah, didn't you bet Hermione you'd be entered to compete against your will?"

Hermione said, "There is no way you're going to complete."

"What if Snape or some seventh year enters my name?"

Hermione said, "Even if they did, there is no way the goblet would choose a first year when seventh years.." Her complaint about Harry's lack of skill compared to a seventh year died down when she realized she had no actual idea where Harry's skill level was at. Anyone else and there was no second thought about it. Harry Potter on the other hand.

The redhead spoke up, "Do you guys hear that?"

Harry didn't hear anything so he paused and turned the background sound up on the menu. Once he unpaused, the sound of massive footsteps echoed from around the corner down the hall.

Everyone turned around to go back down the hallway but the stairs leading up to the hallway decided not to cooperate and twisted away leading no way to go but forward.

A large green monster with a stupid looking face and a massive wooden club turned the corner and locked eyes with the four students. Yup, it was a troll.

Harry hadn't fought a troll before but his racing heartbeat was quickly quelled by the passive mental ability of his Gamer power.

The others were not so lucky. The redhead started muttering in circles, Hermione was hyperventilating, and Neville was frozen solid.

Harry paused the world and walked over to the troll to examine him. The reach of his club would prevent anyone from running past him and Harry really didn't feel like dying today. Harry returned back to the end of the hall where the stairs had left him and came up with an idea. Harry confirmed the distance and measured it a few times before going over the plan a few more times to be sure. One he was ready, he unpaused and was returned back to his original position.

Harry grabbed Neville and the redhead by the robes and said, "Hermione, follow me now, no questions," and dragged them both back to where the stairs were. Hermione was the type to overthink rather than freeze so she easily adjusted and followed Harry back.

The hallway met the stairs at a balcony with a rail that extended further left and right than the hallway, out of sight of the troll. Harry shoved Neville and the redhead into one side and pointed to the other side and told Hermione, "Stay there, don't move, I have a plan, it will work, don't move."

Hermione tucked herself into the corner and Harry returned to the hallway where the long strides of the Troll had it almost to their position. Harry stood before the troll who swung its club and Harry paused again to go back and confirm that Hermione wasn't peaking.

Luckily she was still crouched down in the corner and Neville had passed out and the redhead seemed to have his eyes shut.

Harry unpaused and ducked under the swing before he slipped under the troll's legs. He then cast a Slippery Jinx on the troll's skin which caused the ungraceful monster's legs to slip out from its own weight. Lastly, Harry used an overpowered knockback jinx to send the troll down what might as well have been a frictionless hall due to the slippery jinx where the troll sailed off the stairless deck and down the tower four full flights before landing on the bottom.

Harry walked over to the edge and peered down at the fallen monster. The creature's exotic energy was circulating around its body meaning it wasn't dead, but likely wouldn't get up soon.

When Harry went back over to Hermione she reached out and hugged him.

The redhead seemed to have seen the troll fly off the balcony and said, "Blimey Harry, what did you do?"

Harry shrugged and said, "Slippery jinx and knockback jinx. Made the troll slip and knocked him back. Gravity took care of the rest."

Hermione said, "Harry, that was brilliant!"

He argued back, "Lucky is more like it. Had we been trapped on the first floor, that wouldn't have gone so well."

Neville got up and said, "What happened?"

Hermione looked hesitant to answer before the redhead said, "Harry defeated the troll!"

Neville's eyes shot up and he exclaimed, "What? That was real? Where is it?"

The redhead pointed down the tower where several students and a teacher had now approached the troll which still wasn't moving.

Hermione said, "We should get a teacher."

Harry sighed in defeat but didn't argue. Ten minutes later Harry had told everyone what had happened several times. The knockback jinx wouldn't be taught for a few more months but was still considered a first year spell while the slippery jinx wasn't taught at all but was around the level of a first year spell.

That being said, the slippery jinx was normally something that targeted the hand which caused the target's wand to slip from their grip. Casting in a way where the friction of the entire surface of a troll was removed was far beyond the norm. And the knockback jinx was little more than a very hard push and was less effective the heavier something was. The weight of a fully grown mountain troll should have barely budged with such a spell, frictionless surface or not.

Luckily for Harry, Snape was there and more than happy to downplay Harry's achievements as luck which Harry had no complaints about.

Still, before the next morning there was not a single person within the castle who did not know of Harry's single handed defeat of the troll.

Breakfast time included rumors being passed back and forth about who entered their names in the goblet and tales of Harry's Epic Battle with the troll where he punched it through a wall and sent it flying to the other side of the castle. Harry himself found each retelling more outlandish than the last. What was the point of using first year spells if people weren't going to bother recalling the details? Should he use fiendfyre next time?

Harry went around the Entrance Hall so he wouldn't be seen in the same room as the Goblet. Some part of him figured if he actually entered his name, the Goblet would probably select him as Hogwarts champion. But what if the quest was like a self fulfilling prophecy where if he didn't hear it, he wouldn't have entered himself thinking he was already destined for it and wouldn't have had to complete?!

Slightly crazy perhaps, but he still wanted to avoid purposefully entering himself so he could see how his name would come out anyways.

This year, Halloween was on a Sunday, and while some students had plans that revolved around sitting in front of a cup all day, Harry actually intended on being productive. Along with Hermione, Harry spent the next several hours in the library. He would look for an interesting book, place it in his inventory and pause, and take as long to go over it as he wanted. The fun part was that he could even look through the restricted section. Each of those books had a spell where should the book be opened by someone without a special permission slip, the book would literally start screaming. However since books needed to be moved every once in a while, simply taking them off the shelf didn't do anything as long as they were off the shelf too long.

This system certainly never took into account an ability to read a book without opening the cover in less than a second.

Harry couldn't go to the restricted section often or he'd get caught, but when no one was around he'd walk over to it, remove a book, place it in his inventory, pause, go over it completely, then unpause, remove it and set it back. With practice the book was only off the shelf for two seconds.

Thanks to his Scholar Path reaching rank 11, Harry could read and cross reference material far more thoroughly than he used to be able to. Harry figured he'd have all the unique and important books memorized by February.

Once the time for the Halloween feast got close, Harry and Hermione both returned to the Great Hall to watch the selection for the tournament.

Hermione saw that Harry was eating with the zen like acceptance of a death row convict having his last meal and said, "Harry, you are not going to be chosen alright?"

Harry spoke up, "Oh ye of little faith. I thought after yesterday you would stop doubting my talent as a trouble magnet. Just because I'm a first year and I didn't go anywhere near the goblet doesn't mean my name won't come out."

Neither Harry or Hermione were whispering and Harry heard a few Gryffindors seem to whisper back to back and what seemed to be bets being made.

The redhead said, "My brothers tried getting past the age line with an aging potion but it shot them back and they both grew a beard."

Harry said, "One of them should keep it so we can tell them apart."

The redhead responded, "Naw, even if they did, they'd probably figure out how to switch the beard just to make everyone mistake one for the other."

Harry could see the twins doing that.

The Goblet had been moved to a stand in front of the headmaster's table and the students of both visiting schools entered the hall and waited to the side.

Once the feast ended, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them to please come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."

The headmaster waved his wand around which lowered the brightness of the candles. The Goblet of Fire was the brightest flame in the hall.

After a moment, the flame spit out a paper which Dumbledore caught and named the Durmstrang champion as Victor Krum, to no one's surprise. The next paper that shot out named the Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour, the young blond Harry noticed earlier.

When the last paper shot out, a collective breath was held by the entire hall.

"The Hogwarts champion, is Cedric Diggory!"

While the entire hall turned to uproar, Hermione turned to Harry and gave a silent, knowing, and slightly smug smile. Harry noticed several of the Gryffindors glance at Harry with a bit of an edge. There had in fact been bets placed on him.

Harry however noticed the fire hadn't gone out yet. He turned to face Hermione and waggled a finger back and forth signifying, 'not yet.'

Dumbledore had already started his speech about giving the three champions support and his honest hopes for the tournament. He never got to finish his speech as the Goblet of Fire roared to life once more and spat out a fourth slip of paper before finally going out.. Hermione immediately turned to face Harry who gave her an 'I told you so' smile.

Harry himself felt the exotic energy of the cup attach itself to him in the same moment.

*Ping*

[Goblet of Fire Contract Perk Acquired

-Conditions, must compete in the three tasks of the tournament

-Failure to complete conditions will change Goblet of Fire Contract Perk into Broken Contract Perk.

-Goblet of Fire Contract Perk grants legal adulthood.]

Harry was surprised that the contract actually connected to him and was more surprised that he was now considered a legal adult. That was something he could use.

After a long pause of looking at the singed parchment, Dumbledore called out, "Harry Potter."

Harry innocently asked aloud, "Yes Headmaster?"

Dumbledore took a moment to collect himself before adding, "Harry Potter, come up here if you please."

Harry stood up and said, "Um sir, if this is your idea of a joke, I think I would prefer the one about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

A few nervous chuckles broke the silence.

The headmaster gave a weak smile before continuing, "I'm afraid this is not a joke Mr. Potter, your name has come out of the Goblet of Fire. Please head to the room with your fellow Champions."

Harry let his head down in defeat and made his way up the hall. He announced aloud, "For my next funeral, I like white lilies," before joining his fellow champions in the other room.

When Harry stepped through the door, all three champions looked at the tiny first year. Fleur Delacour said, "What is it? Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

Harry shook his head and said back, "No, you're fine Ms. Delacour. I've been chosen as a sacrificial offering to the gods so I'll be contributing my death for the entertainment of the masses as the fourth champion."

Victor Krum paused a moment before he threw his head back and started laughing hysterically. As a sports star of Europe, he could certainly appreciate a gladiator joke and coming from such a small student made it all the more absurd.

Cedric Diggory did not laugh as he was aware of the rumors of Harry beating a troll the prior night and was surprised at the lack of denial from any of the sources. Harry himself was fit for a first year and could easily pass for a second or third year student, but Harry had clearly not even begun puberty yet so he was still quite small to the three seventh year students. Cedric even heard a rumor that Harry had once declared that he would likely be forced to compete. Until now he had of course ignored that one.

Victor's laughter died when Ludo Bagman entered and stated how miraculous Harry's entry as the fourth champion was.

The three other champions looked back at Harry who once again had his 'resigned to execution' face.

Not a moment later Dumbledore and the other headmasters followed by the Hogwarts staff entered the room.

Everyone proceeded to argue back and forth about how unfair it was that Hogwarts had two contestants, completely ignoring Harry's highly likely impending death.

Snape added his two cents of course, "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here."

Harry calmly stated back, "Your confidence in my abilities is overwhelming professor. Remember, white lilies."

That shut the man up who was in fact finding it a bit difficult to honestly accuse a mediocre first year of cheating on such a scale.

Dumbledore used the lull in the conversation to calmly ask, "Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

Harry shrugged, "If I wanted to commit suicide Headmaster, I would have just asked Professor Snape. He'd probably make it painless. So no, I did not put my name in the Goblet of Fire and I was nowhere near it today or last night."

Even Snape nearly turned green a bit at the blatant accusation that he would be so willing to kill Harry. He couldn't show it however and remained stern faced to the other teachers. None of the teachers could deny Harry had an alibi for the prior night and this morning had many students keep watch on the goblet and none saw Harry approach it. There was simply no gap he could have used to slip his name into the goblet without witnesses.

Harry himself however wondered if his name going in the Goblet and the Troll getting in were coincidences. Maybe one was a distraction for the other? In which case, the likely culprit would be Quirrel. Quite thorough too, Harry had to admit. Place a troll where Harry was likely to encounter it, perhaps spell the stairs to prevent escape, and use the distraction to enter Harry's name in the goblet. Harry was kinda impressed a man with such poor acting talents could plot his murder so thoroughly.

Harry was tempted to ask if he could examine the Goblet so he could place it in his inventory but Harry's energy sight along with his new insights into magic pretty much told him how the goblet worked and even what happened to it. The Goblet of Fire's creation predated the Olympics and the Torch of the Olympics was actually an imitation of the Goblet. Few knew how it actually worked but Harry could tell the Goblet couldn't connect to someone who didn't have the will to compete. If Harry had never considered or at least slightly desired to be chosen, the last paper would have burned to scrap. As for how it came out? Harry figured Quirrel used the Confundus Charm to make the Goblet forget there were only three schools. Quirrel could have taken Harry's name off a piece of homework and entered it as the only name of a fourth school. Not that it mattered how it was done.

As they continued to argue, Fleur Delacour asked Harry, "What are ze white lilies for?"

Harry shrugged and said, "My funeral, obviously."

The french champion blanched at that and remained silent while watching the adults and her own headmistress accuse Harry of cheating.

Crouch told everyone that a name that comes out of the Goblet, regardless of age, would be bound in a magic contract to compete. Breaking that contract would risk Harry's magic.

Once they reached the point where they realized further arguing was meaningless, they got back to explaining the first task.

Which was pretty much nothing. They referenced it would be based on daring and when they entered they could only bring their wand. Harry wondered if he could transfigure a sack of goodies into a wand and bring that. They also mentioned that Harry wouldn't have to take the end of the year exams which made his grades this year completely pointless.

Harry left the room alongside Cedric Diggory who asked, "You really think you're going to die?"

Harry answered back, "Most likely, but then again, it won't be the first time. We'll see what happens. Good luck."

Harry split off and returned up the stairs. Paintings were gossiping with each other and a few called out to Harry which he ignored. When he returned to the dorm he was asked if he was really going to compete and Harry affirmed he would. Harry then walked over to Hermione and asked, "Do you know which teacher you're going to prank yet?"

She yelled, "How can you treat this as a joke?!"

Harry smiled back, "Don't worry too much, the only time I joked was about the white lilies. Worst case scenario I stop holding back and win the bloody tournament."

Hermione looked like she was about to argue but she held it back for now. She was however determined to learn exactly how strong Harry was, if only for her own peace of mind.

A few of the Gryffindors tried to congratulate Harry which Harry responded to by thanking them and asking them what they would be wearing to his funeral. Harry wanted to make it clear that a first year didn't belong in the Triwizard competition.

The next morning, Filch's pet cat Norris was found petrified in front of a girl's bathroom. On the wall next to the petrified cat was the message "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware," written in chicken blood.

Harry's face turned pale as he remembered one of the requirements of his quest. He first thought the Basilisk would be a part of the tournament. But now it seemed a creature that could kill with a look was wandering around without notice.

He wasn't worried about himself. A level lost could be regained, though indescribably painful. But no one else would come back if they looked a basilisk in the eye.

Harry covertly left school the following Sunday to buy several portable stereo speakers and after some unusual arrangements he got a recording of the crowing of roosters. He didn't bother putting them in his inventory after he finished inscribing them to be mostly magic proof since if he encountered a Basilisk he might not have time to pull them out so he shrunk them and placed them in his pockets. Harry didn't know if the recording would actually kill a basilisk but if nothing else it would at least drive it away right?

Two weeks passed by without another basilisk encounter. Harry was in Potions class where Snape said, "Today we will be working on antidotes. At the end of class I will poison one of you and we shall test if the antidote works properly or not. Potter! If you have anything against being poisoned, speak up now."

The fact that Harry refused to speak a word in his class was at first frustrating for Snape who would constantly try to provoke a response out of him. Now however he had changed his methods and was quite pleased with the results.

Unfortunately for the poison happy professor, the door opened at that moment and a student Harry didn't recognize said, "Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter upstairs."

Snape didn't give the student a glance and coolly said, "Potter has another hour of Potions to complete, he will come upstairs when this class is finished."

The student replied, "Sir, Mr. Bagman wants him, all the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs."

"Very well, very well, Potter, leave your things here, I want you back down here later to test your antidote."

The student interrupted, "Please, sir. He's got to take his things with him, all the champions-"

"Very well! Potter, take your bag and get out of my sight!"

Harry wordlessly got up and childishly waved goodbye to Snape who pretended, at least Harry thought he pretended, to grind his teeth in frustration.

Harry was escorted to a room where he was informed that his wand was going to be weighed and checked that it was fully functional. Harry felt this was going to become very awkward very quickly.

Next a woman wearing bright clothes and too much makeup asked for an interview and didn't give Harry time to decline. It was however amusing when she tried to drag Harry into a broom closet and Harry didn't move though he was less than half her size. Stats were funny like that. Once the woman got it through her head Harry for some reason couldn't be dragged, she decided to just interview him there.

"So why did you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

Harry realized instantly the type of interview this was going to be. Unfortunately for the reporter she was facing the son of James Potter who had been raised on decades, if not longer, of cable television and video games. He answered, "I lost a bet with my Godfather and I am a man of my word, I don't welch on my bets."

"How do you feel about the tournament?"

"Terrified, I can only hope that most of my limbs remain attached and I am still alive at the end of the tournament."

"Where have you been for the last year?"

"My Godfather Sirius Black secretly escaped prison and rescued me from my abusive relatives."

"Notorious mass murderer Sirius Black?"

"That's the one, not sure if you'll be allowed to print that though since his escape has been really hush hush. It's thanks to him I'm not dead though. Still irresponsible of him though to make me enter my name if I lost that bet. Guess he didn't think I'd actually get chosen."

Dumbledore showed up a moment later but didn't hear what they had spoken about. Seeing his approach let the reporter know the interview was over so she promptly thanked Harry and left.

Dumbledore asked, "I hope you were careful Mr. Potter. Ms. Skeeter-"

Harry interrupted, "Is the type who wouldn't give the truth unless it's the juiciest piece of gossip around. I do hope she forgives my use of imagination and doesn't trust the words of an eleven year old orphan."

Dumbledore became quite confused at this but got the feeling Ms. Skeeter's story would not go the way she wanted.

The Headmaster escorted Harry to where the other champions were sitting and over to an old, crazy looking man. Dumbledore introduced the man as Mr. Ollivander and said, "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

The strange man could tell the exact details of a wand and seemed alarmingly obsessed with them. He checked over Fleur's, then Cedric's, then Krum's, giving each a wave and casting a spell.

"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand. "Which leaves. . . Mr. Potter." Harry got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander and handed over his wand.

The strange man immediately frowned upon touching the wand and said, "Mr. Potter, this isn't the time for jokes, where is your wand?"

Harry feigned confusion and said, "Mr. Ollivander, I found that in a trunk in my father's old house and have been waving it since then." Harry took the wand and made a swish and flick motion before casting the levitation charm and causing a stool to float.

Dumbledore noticed this and asked, "What could be the problem Mr. Ollivander?"

The odd man took back Harry's wand and said, "Mr. Dumbledore, this is a stick," before handing it to the Headmaster. He then said, "I only recently heard about Mr. Potter's return and have been waiting for him for some time but he has yet to come in for a wand."

A number of stares were exchanged and conversations exchanged below hearing level. At least Harry knew that he couldn't transfigure a sack of goodies into a wand and take it into the tasks. Obviously someone had attempted such a thing before which was why there was a Wand Weighing prior to the tasks to begin with.

Bagman stated that after the wand weighing, a wand could not be changed which meant if Harry didn't have a wand now, it was against the rules for him to use one during the tasks.

Dumbledore immediately offered to give Harry his own wand, but Bagman said that each champion's school could not aid them and Dumbledore giving Harry his wand would certainly be considered aiding meaning it was not allowed.

When the other competitors heard this, each was trying to figure out where they could buy white lilies and what they would wear to the funeral.

Things got a little hectic the next week when a muggleborn student was found petrified next to an equally petrified ghost.

Harry knew that had the ghost not been there, the muggleborn student would have died.

Harry couldn't gamble on other students getting lucky on their own encounter so it was time to slay a basilisk. Some of the more ancient books he found did include the legends of the Chamber of Secrets which seemed to be built under the Black Lake. The Basilisk could likely come and go through the pipes but Harry had no way to access them and the entrance remained mostly hidden. Ok, Harry had already seen the concentration of exotic energy coming from the sink in the bathroom next to where they found Filch's cat. He was mostly stalling since he didn't want to die of something stupid.

The next Saturday Harry told Hermione and Neville he would be doing personal study for the rest of the day and headed off to the bathroom.

The moderately perverted nature of the ghost who resided there did not help the atmosphere.

Harry said, "Open," in parseltongue which caused the sink to shift and open. Harry jumped down which led to another slide that took him below the Black Lake.

Harry had the background noise meter of his settings hiked up to ten and slowly made his way through the dust and bones.

When Harry found a cast off skin, he was more than a little surprised he could shove the whole thing into his inventory. Harry wondered how that worked. The skin and what little Harry knew of Basilisks told Harry this one was likely over a thousand years old, perhaps bred by Salazar Slytherin himself.

Harry found another door that he opened with Parseltongue and entered the chamber beyond.

The chamber was thankfully empty though the magic on the giant face at the end of the room told Harry it likely opened up when addressed. In that case, Harry had time.

Harry removed the half dozen stereo speakers from his inventory and spread them around. Once finished, Harry analyzed the structure of the exotic energy and found what was basically the password.

Harry shouted, "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts four," in parseltongue which engaged the face to open.

Harry closed his eyes and used only his energy sense. The giant snake that came out was at least sixty feet long.

Harry pressed the play button on the remote in his pocket and every speaker loudly called out the sound of crowing roosters.

The snake hissed in pain but recognized Harry was the source. It smashed its head at Harry who jumped out of the way. The basilisk opened its mouth and struck out but missed only due to disorientation.

Harry recognized from the beast's energy that the sound was definitely harming it but not enough to kill it on it's own. It was a thousand years old after all.

Harry conjured a spear and slashed the beast. Although Basilisk hide was highly resistant to magic, it was only mostly resistant to weapon damage and Harry's sharp spear and fast swing was enough to break the serpent's skin causing it to cry out in pain and anger.

It backed up and swung its tail at Harry who used the spear to vault above the swung which smashed violently into the wall.

Harry conjured another spear and taunted the beast by getting closer. The basilisk was not considered the king of serpents without reason and Harry's taunt caused the great beast to strike Harry with its fangs.

Harry positioned himself and stabbed his spear through the snake's mouth. However before it could penetrate far enough the shaft of the spear broke and the rest of the conjured spear faded.

The basilisk reared back and flailed about faster than Harry had time to dodge sending him flying across the floor. A fourth of Harry's Health vanished which made Harry instantly regret not putting more points in STR since that increased his physical defense.

Harry ducked another tail swipe looking to tear his head off his shoulders and conjured another spear. The massive snake faced Harry once more and gave a repeat performance of trying to bite him but getting stabbed in the mouth. The spear snapped again but Harry knew it was coming this time and was able to dodge the follow up attack.

At this rate Harry would need five or six more stabs or one lucky shot, but the Basilisk only needed a single lucky shot. The continued blaring of crowing roosters caused the ancient creature enormous pain which was the only reason it lacked its usual patience that made it so deadly. The longer the fight went, the more it would get used to the pain, however.

But the basilisk wasn't the only one learning. Harry had never gone an entire fight relying only on his energy sense and now he was kicking himself for it. Harry was beginning to notice that before the giant magical beast moved, the flow of exotic energy would shift around. Harry was starting to figure out how to predict the snake's movements from this alone. Mostly. He wasn't an expert in snake biology after all.

Harry's next conjured spear wasn't a light one as the prior spears had been, this one was solid metal with a spear head that was thicker than normal. It was in fact too thick to pierce deeply into flesh, unless it pierced a location there was already a hole.

Harry concentrated with all he could and stood before the snake. Harry bent his knee and dropped the tip of the spear, feigning weakness and injury. Though struck twice before, the basilisk's instincts couldn't stop it from striking at that moment. Harry felt the energy in the creature's muscles burst out and in that moment Harry launched himself forward and drove the spear up. He didn't piece the exact spot of his prior two shots but the roof of the beast' mouth had already been compromised and thanks to the strength of the strike the spear successfully shattered the roof of the snake's mouth and pierced into the brain, silencing the millennial old serpent for good.

Unfortunately for Harry, his plan had a minor setback.

[You have been Poisoned with Basilisk Venom.]

The spear went further into the skull than Harry anticipated nearly piercing through the other side of the head. Those fangs Harry had been so careful to stay away from using the length of his spear shaft had pierced his arm.

Harry felt the poison reduce his health without signs of stopping. Soon his body's integrity would be compromised and he would dissolve into particles of magic and lose a level. It was certainly going to hurt.

Suddenly a mass of exotic energy and another form of energy Harry didn't recognize flashed into existence next to him. It took the form of a thin orange and red turkey shaped bird. A phoenix?

The phoenix walked over to Harry and tilted its head over the wound and produced three teardrops which fell into the wound which had yet to close.

[Basilisk Venom Neutralized.

You have gained the Perk Poison Immunity from having a neutralized form of the strongest poison running through your veins.]

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned to the Phoenix and said, "Um, thank you?"

The phoenix nodded and trotted away before bursting once more into flames and leaving him alone.

Once Harry was no longer dying, something rather odd happened. Harry felt the mass of dispersing exotic energy that filled the Basilisk suddenly converge on him.

[You have leveled up.

You have gained the Perk Instant Death Immunity from absorbing the essence of a Basilisk's eyes.]

Harry looked over the details of his new perk and wondered if this meant he could shrug off the killing curse. He could still be crushed by a boulder, but any effect that simply caused instant death wouldn't work on him anymore. That was useful.

Harry thought it was quite the windfall, but he did remember that Hell mode did come with fabulous prizes.

After recovering his strength, Harry got up and touched the Basilisk on instinct. The entire beast was somehow dragged into his inventory but not as a giant snake carcass. Instead of a single inventory slot showing dead basilisk, there were inventory slots filled with basilisk skin, slots filled with basilisk venom and basilisk blood somehow already in vials, and slots with basilisk meat, basilisk bones, and basilisk fangs.

Harry didn't find any Basilisk eyes in his inventory but that didn't surprise him. His combat strategy revolved around leaving the eyes undamaged so he could use them later, but their essence which contained their value seemed to have been absorbed by Harry. Considering how useful that perk would be, he wasn't going to complain.

Though the eyes were useless, the skin still had properties to resist exotic energy. Harry was tempted to take it somewhere to make armor, but decided against it for now. It would be better if he started on a Crafter Path and once it was strong enough Harry could make something himself without wasting it.

At this point Harry likely would have left if the basilisk hadn't smashed a wall revealing a secret corridor. Yup, going down there.

Harry hadn't noticed the wall with energy sense meaning the path was likely hidden through a mechanism rather than magic.

Harry lit the torches in the room which seemed to be a private study. Harry almost gleefully proceeded to rob, no, loot the library into his inventory. Yup, it was Salazar's.

Harry silently thanked the dead man before leaving.