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Mystique Soldier Ch.16
🕑 Added 2022-03-09 17:10:37 +0000 UTCDisclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 16- Family and Quidditch
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Harry Potter was feeling particularly unimpressed.
Their first dueling class had turned out to be more about learning how to position yourself in a fight, rather than any practical spellwork.
That part would come later, Remus promised.
The basic position, he told us, was to stand sideways with only one leg facing the enemy. It was to reduce yourself as a target, and make you capable of dodging spells by simply leaning forward or backwards.
Harry had already learned this with Snape and was beginning to doubt the usefulness of the class.
Remus then proceeded to personally approach each and every student and work out any errors in their stance. Harry got a 'Perfect form, Harry!' from the teacher, and he spent the rest of the class giving a thorough read to the 1st year Dueling book, gauging the usefulness of the class.
The chapter titles included 'A Good wand Grip Is Half The Game' to 'Advanced casting Techniques'. In the end he concluded it was better to attend the class, and should he face a useless class—simply complete the next reading assignment.
After the lessons ended, the first year Gryffindors received a piece of news that left everyone jittering from over excitement.
"As you all know, Hogwarts is famed for its biannual tournaments, something that I expect most of you to take part in." Remus announced, a knowing smile on his face. "The junior section of the tournament allows for the first to third year students to take part and compete, the reward for which—should you win—is fifty galleons."
The students all gasped. As they should, if Harry's calculations were correct.
As far as he knew 1 Knut was worth 5 American cents, while 1 Sickle came at $1.47. A whole Galleon however, was worth a total of $25 in today's market. Well...in Gringotts atleast.
Which meant the prize money of a simple school tournament—junior section even—was precisely $1250.
'Something is wrong.' Harry frowned. 'Either Hogwarts is a very rich school—unlikely, considering the tuition is free here—or the ministry has a particular agenda.
At normal times Harry wouldn't care enough to give it much thought, but his 'Sage' trait enabled him to understand concepts like this easily. Thus his mind wandered.
'So, an agenda. The ministry has made the rewards quite lucrative, so they must want more students to participate in dueling tournaments. Also increase the competitiveness.'
Why? Most likely to push them to become better duelers. Was the minister preparing soldiers for his army? Pushing children from a young age? Possible. Perhaps this war with Voldemort was as inevitable as Snape seemed to believe.
'They truly are desperate aren't they? Perhaps I can use this somehow.'
Still frowning, Harry focused on Remus' parting words.
"Anyone who wishes to participate must submit their names by next Saturday. I hope all of you atleast give the first one a try. Good day."
Remus nodded at him and Andrea with a smile as he left.
"Fifty galleons..." Ron muttered, daydreaming with unfocused wide eyes and a loopy grin. "And imagine if I win...wait, what does biannual mean?"
The question seemed to jar him out of his imagination.
"Twice a year." Hermione's swift answer came.
"I'm gonna train." Andrea announced suddenly. "I'll practice and become so strong that no one will stand in my way. Vengeance shall be mine! You'll see. You'll all see."
Harry sighed.
Hopefully the group won't try to disturb his schedule. Almighty knows he had too much on his plate already.
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Evening found Harry struggling to find the staff quarters.
The teachers of Hogwarts all had different living arrangements, depending entirely on their choice. Some liked to live in Hogsmeade and have their own houses. Though most considered Hogwarts to be their home, and preferred not to leave the castle. Which is why an entire section of tower was reserved for any teachers who wished to live there.
Lily was one of those who had a room in the tower, and Harry had to use his newly gained marauders map to reach her room without getting lost. He could see his sister's name already present with Lily, so this most likely wasn't Rose's first time.
Or, Lily personally went to get the girl from the Slytherin dorms, trusting him to find his way. She did give him the map afterall, so she'd know he didn't need her help.
The hallway was filled with numerous other doors, each housing one of the Hogwarts teachers. He could see Aurora Sinistra and Septima vector in the same area as Lily's room.
Finally reaching, he gave a quick rap of his knuckle on the door, prompting it to open up by itself.
"Harry!" His sister was there to greet him with a huge smile, jumping down from her place on a sofa to approach and drag him inside.
The room wasn't a room at all, Harry realized as soon as he entered. It was a complete luxurious suite, much larger than he'd been led to believe from outside.
There was a fireplace in the first room, warming it against the evening's chill.
His sister led them deeper inside, to a large hallway where a dining table was arranged—clattered with the same golden plates and goblets that Hogwarts sported.
Lily soon arrived from the inside, dressed in casual clothes like him and Rose, and balancing three plates in the air that hovered around her head. They arranged themselves upon the dining table, a lone candle powerful enough to illuminate the entire hall sitting in the middle.
"Harry." Lily breathed out, stowing away her wand as she rounded the table. She leaned down some, still quite taller than him—but her arms stopped an inch away from hugging him, as if asking for permission.
"Mother." Harry nodded, and with a sigh of delight the beautiful redhead embraced him.
"I'm so glad you were able to come." Her smile more brighter than the candle, even as he disengaged a second later.
"I had time today." Harry replied.
No he didn't, but it would've been rude not to attend after accepting the map.
While he wasn't well versed in relationships, he was quickly coming to understand that ungratefulness was a quick way to ruin one. He doubted Lily would ever love him less—even had he reneged on his word for the second time—but it was in his best interest to maintain it all the same.
A good thing too, as by the end of their family session, her affection had grown by a point.
And all it took was spending the next hour or so with his family, eating delicious food, and regaling Lily with his experience in Hogwarts...and listening to Rose regal hers as well, though he found himself not minding it too much. On the other hand, Lily gave him plenty of information on various subjects, including politics—which families were considered 'Dark' and which were not.
In the back of his mind he knew he could've done a lot of things in this time. With the map in his possession, finding the dungeons should've become his first goal. Plus there was Snape's occlumency and dueling lessons that he'd rejected for the evening. And his own self studies into higher education that would surely come to use when he found a dungeon.
His life was packed right now, and he could think of over a dozen important things he should be doing right now. But even after considering all of this, Harry still didn't regret coming here today. He was beginning to understand that family was an important aspect of life, with its own secured place that couldn't be easily trumped.
Lily and James were brave and powerful people, willing to stand against the world for their children. Should he be pressed, he could always come to them for help. And that too, without any price.
Such loyalty cannot be bought, threatened, or cultivated easily. And he would be doing himself a great disservice if he gave it up due to simple impatience.
In the end, it turned out to be a relaxing yet informative evening, and Harry gladly agreed to make this into a weekly affair.
Sure, he may have dozen other things he could do...but a couple of hours was nothing in front of the growing love and affection in his mother and sister's eyes. Their loyalty was now unquestionable.
As the times ahead were sure to remind him.
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In the next few days, Harry's life quickly settled down in Hogwarts.
The school was proving to be exactly what he'd wanted: A safe and quiet place where he could explore his powers in full, growing stronger with each passing day. There were no hidden assassins to worry about, no hidden enemies to be spied by, and no hidden plots to be wary of.
The only challenge he had to deal with was the constant fawning and hero worshiping he was subjected to by the rest of the school. But even then, he was building himself a reputation of a calm genius who never rejected anyone's presence out of conceit or superiority. A reputation Harry planned to use for the years to come in this school.
Life was, perhaps for the first time, worth living without fear. Had he not been a gamer, he would've feared of losing his edge. Such was the safety provided to him.
And he made sure not to squander it in mediocrity.
By the time their first weekend was finished, Harry was already arranging for third year study material. While there was quite a bit still remaining of 2nd year—especially with his self-goal of leveling every spell to atleast Lvl 10—his speed remained constant enough that he predicted he'd be done with it by the month end. He wagered he may even touch upon O.W.L level of knowledge by the end of his first year.
As a result, his list of magical skills had went through quite a transformation in less than a month.
Magical Skills–
Occlumency (Lvl 13)
Mana Sensing (Lvl 17)
Mana Manipulation (Lvl 46)
Charms (15)
Transfiguration (2)
Potions (1)
Dark Arts (8)
Another decent ability of his system was arranging his spells in neat stacks, showing simply the number of spells in his repertoire instead of letting them bog down the entire status. If he wished to view his list of spells, he had to further choose the drop down option beside each subject.
'Charms' He willed the status to reveal.
Charms (15)
Dancing-feet Charm- Tarantallegra (Lvl 2)
Ascending Charm- Alarte Ascendare (Lvl 3)
General-counter Spell- Finite (Lvl 6)
Shield Charm- Protego (Lvl 8)
Mending Charm- Reparo (Lvl 10)
Tickling Charm- Rictusempra (Lvl 10)
Locking Spell- Colloportus (Lvl 12)
Unlocking Spell- Alohomora (Lvl 12)
Disarming Charm- Expelliarmus (Lvl 12)
Softening Charm- Spongify (Lvl 13)
Severing Charm- Diffindo (Lvl 16)
Fire-making Spell- Incendio (Lvl 17)
Wand-Lighting Charm- Lumos (Lvl 18)
Stunning Charm (Lvl 37)
Levitation Charm (Lvl 41)
'Transfiguration'
Transfiguration (2)
Reverse Transfiguration- Reparifarge (Lvl 11)
General Transfiguration (Lvl 23)
'Potions'
Potions (1)
Boils Cure Potion
'Dark Arts'
Dark Arts (8)
Leg-locker Curse- Locomotor Mortis (Lvl 1)
Full Body-bind Curse- Petrificus Totalus (Lvl 2)
Jelly-legs Curse- Locomotor Wibbly (Lvl 2)
Reductor Curse- Reducto (Lvl 7)
Knockback Jinx- Flipendo (Lvl 16)
Imperius Curse- Imperio (Lvl 34)
Killing Curse- Avada Kedavra (Lvl 39)
Cruciatus Curse- Crucio (Lvl 41)
Just in his 2nd week of Hogwarts and he already knew more than 20 spells. And the list did not seem to be stopping anytime soon.
Of course, studying magic did not take his singular focus. He also took some time each day to explore his system and find the Hogwarts dungeons.
While the latter did not see any instant success, the former was making quite a headway. One of the system functions he soon discovered was its ability to assign mundane quests without taking any specific missions.
These quests ranged from the easier ones like being the first to learn a specific spell in the class, or the more tricky ones such as stopping Neville Longbottom from melting his cauldron.
While they may not give him the same XP as some of the missions in Shield, they were still numerous enough to surpass the Daily Quest rewards, enough for him to level up by one in the time their first flying lesson crept upon them.
Indeed, the day of their first flying lesson soon arrived, and Hermione took this chance to rattle everyone's ears off with flying tips. Neville was the only person who bothered to pay attention, the rest simply ignored her.
She looked highly strung—with shaky hands and full of anxiety—and always had two different books on Broom-flying in her hands, trying to memorize the entire process.
Unfortunately for her, flying wasn't something you can learn from books. Unless you had a system; though in this particular case, he was quite ready for anything the day might throw at him. With or without his system.
Her dependence on books aside, the entire first-year Gryffindors were looking forward to this. Harry must've heard over a dozen wild tales from the boys; about how they flew across the entire countryside on their brooms, sometimes encountering a muggle plane, sometimes crashing into hand gliders. Some of these stories had actually amused him, especially when two boys got into an argument on who had the better feats of flying, and Seamus ended up with a grand tale of how he managed to rescue a sad princess from the clutches of evil muggles.
The boy spent the rest of the day trying to back-track and make it at least a little believable.
Their lesson was supposed to be with Slytherins, held on grounds overlooking the forbidden forest. They were told to bring their brooms with them, those who actually brought one. So the entire Gryffindor first years—apart from Dean Thomas and a few girls—walked to the ground with wrapped up package in their hands, though a few—Including Ron—had handed-down old brooms.
By the time they arrived onto the ground, the other class was already on the lawn. They stood divided—in groups of two—one with Malfoy in the centre, and the other with Rose as the leader. He was surprised to note Zabini's presence in his sister's group. From what Lily had told him, the boy's mother was quite a cunning and opportunistic woman, ensnaring rich and influential men in her webs.
Then again, perhaps that was exactly the reason the boy was with his sister. The worth of The-Girl-Who-Lived might just be more than the Malfoys. Harry wouldn't know, politics was not his forte.
Though his Sage trait was making it easier to understand.
Quest [Saving Neville III] in progress!
- Save Neville's life ( )
- With Health above 90% ( )
- With Health 100% ( )
Reward:
- 100 Xp
- 100 Xp
- 100 Xp
With a raised brow, Harry glanced at Neville from the corner of his eye. it was the 3rd time that he's received a quest to save the boy. Was there perhaps some special side-quest regarding the boy? Or perhaps the system was warning him about Neville's eventual death?
Whatever the case, it was clear Neville wouldn't have been alive till now without Harry's quests.
...Or perhaps he was forced by the system in these dangerous situations in the first place. Well, as long as he kept bringing some good XP for Harry, he will continue to save him.
When they arrived, Malfoy was regaling his crowd of minions with his own glorious tales upon a broom. One of which included getting chased by a muggle helicopter and successfully escaping after a series of devastating tricks and turns that physically did not make sense.
Nor magically either, unless Malfoy was secretly an ancient archwizard whose powers worked in mysterious ways.
His sister noticed him soon and happily jumped over at him to drag him along. Harry let himself be led to her circle of friends, his own group trailing uncertainly.
"Harry!" Rose exclaimed. "This is gonna be so fun!"
"I'm sure it will." He nodded. "As long as you stay in one piece till the lesson starts."
She pouted at him cutely. "You're such a meanie."
Harry blinked at his surprising feeling. 'Cute? This hellion?'
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, soon arrived. With short grey hairs and eyes like molten gold, she looked like an exotic humanoid.
"What are you all waiting for!?" She barked. "Go on, place your brooms to your right. Those who do not have their own will take one of the school's from that box over there."
As they separated to assume their position in two straight lines, he could hear Malfoy bragging about his latest comet and couldn't help but snort as he unwrapped his own broom.
Gasps of exclamations spread through the lines, everyone's eyes on the glinting nimbuses that let off a strong smell of fresh polish and wood. He could see his sister getting swarmed by her friends too as the entire lawn was rapidly covered by excited whispers.
"Is that...!?"
"...Nimbus 2000!"
"The latest broom..."
"The fastest broom ever!"
For some reason, his eyes couldn't help but track Malfoy's reaction first. The boy's one-sided rivalry simply never failed to amuse him.
And indeed, Malfoy's face was worthy of an award. The shock behind his eyes soon turned to jealous anger and angst. He could hear him spewing bullshit to his friends with his nose up in the air. Something along the line of nimbus being overrated and his father arranging for the best brooms to be made from scratch.
Even Madam Hooch approached him, looking quite interested as her eyes went up and down his slick and shiny broom.
"Exquisite design." She commented. "I like the hooded look, you won't have to worry about sliding off of the end. The pointed brush tip is fine too, the bristles won't remove easily. Though the resting stands are unneeded, no one lands or mounts a broom that low."
She then moved on, walking to stand at the middle. "Now let's start. Place your right hand over your brooms and say 'Up!'."
"Up." Harry stated calmly against the loud bellows of his peers, and a small bit of magic travelled from his hand to the broom, forming a connection. The next instant his broom leapt into his hand, and his palm closed along it's glinting wood tightly.
Though he could see many students hadn't managed to do the same. Hermione's broom kept rolling over the ground, almost like a dying fish. And as she became more irritated by the second, the broom started jerking more wildly—left and right but never up. Neville's broom, on the other hand, didn't move at all.
And the poor boy glanced around nervously, stark despair in his eyes as he kept saying 'Up! Up!', his tone changing to desperate pleading.
Madam Hooch then taught them how to mount their brooms without sliding off of the end, and went from student to student either correcting their position or teaching them how to get the broom in their hands. Ron clutched his stomach in laughter beside him when she told Malfoy that he's been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard!" Madam Hooch instructed. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two—One!"
The whistle blew with a mean shrill and they all kicked off from the ground. The moment his feet were hanging in the air he found that familiar sense of freedom slam into him again. He may just be 6-7 feet in the air, but even that was better than being on ground.
Free, independent, ready to soar through the skies to achieve ultimate release...
"Ahhhh!" A terror filled scream came out from the side. His eyes snapped open—only then realizing they'd been closed—and he turned to look at a rapidly flying Neville rising to the sky like a cork shot up from a champagne bottle.
"Get down now, boy!" Madam Hooch screamed but Neville looked to be in no control of his broom whatsoever.
At almost 25 feet in the air the boy's broom started jerking like a possessed horse, and it wasn't long before the boy started tipping off of his broom. Harry didn't waste anymore time and shot off after him, his heart soaring anew.
Fly in the air, and get paid in XP for it? Yep, he now knew what his dream job will look like.
Still closing the gap, the first thing Harry tried was grasping Neville with strings of his Wandless telekinesis to hold him onto the broom until his arrival. But the boy was too wild, and his broom too powerful to control, tearing off from his magic's grasp without too much trouble.
He willed, and his wand materialled in his palm.
First, he needed to calm the boy down. Easy.
"Stupefy." He whispered under his breath with a single slash. At level 37, the spell didn't need to be bellowed out loud. Neither did it need precise wand movements. Meaning he could cast the spell in but a second.
The spell took him in the chest and the boy stopped flailing, his body losing strength as if a puppet with its strings cut. As if in acknowledgement of its rider, the broom became lifeless as well, stilling completely. Then the gravity registered and the broom started falling to the ground rapidly.
Harry sped through the air like a rocket, adjusting his broom to catch Neville right off the air, along with his calmed broom. His enhanced strength enabling him to carry both the lumps safely to the ground without any trouble, laying the both down upon the ground.
Quest [Saving Neville III] completed!
- Save Neville's life (X)
- With Health above 90% (X)
- With Health 100% (X)
Reward:
- 100 Xp
- 100 Xp
- 100 Xp
"Reckless!" Madam Hooch yelled out, quickly running to the duo. "That was reckless Mr. Potter!"
She knelt down beside them, her short grey wand casting the reviving spell.
Harry searched for an excuse before simply giving a light shrug. "He's my friend."
The newly revived Neville, who was looking numbly ahead in shock, gave a jerk at his words and turned to him gratefully. But Harry quickly backed away when he saw the boy's face changing to nauseated. And a good thing too, cause the next moment Neville vomited all over the grass, turning the green ground to milky white and yellow.
"Just some nausea, dear." Madam Hooch said, walking over to hold Neville up. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."
She then turned to them. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. And Mr. Potter..."
She seemed to hesitate a quick second before a small smile cracked her stern visage "That was the best piece of flight I've seen in a long while. Take twenty points for Gryffindor."
The Gryffindor side cheered loudly, some coming to shake his hand or thump his back.
"Blimey mate!" Ron exclaimed. "Didn't know you were that good. There's no way you don't make the quidditch team this year."
"Brother!" His sister came jumping happily. "I knew you'd save him!"
"Did you see his face? The great lump." Malfoy loudly cut in with laughter. Then he scrunched up his face in a mimicry of Neville's terror. "Quick! Quick! Potter save me! My prince!"
The boy swooned mockingly, and his batch of children gave a reluctant chuckle.
Harry glanced at the boy irritably. Another thing he was coming to realise was that children can be needlessly petty when they feel they have something to prove. Especially, as it seemed, when they want to recover their broken reputation as the 'Big Bad Bully'.
Normally Harry found the best answer to them was ignorance. They wished for attention, reveled in it, and did the same thing again and again just for a flicker of it. Deny them that, and they will splutter away.
But today was different. Harry found himself wanting to experience the recent joy of flying again, that was so abruptly denied. The rush, the freedom, a constant feeling of power and control...
Thankfully, flying wasn't the only way to get it. It was simply the most efficient one.
"Today's been a great day." Harry musingly stated. "It may be even better with a bloodied ferret."
"Oh brother, just ignore him." His midget twin shook her head. "He just wants attention. That's all he cares about. Ignore him and he will see how stupid he is acting."
Harry turned to his sister, an eyebrow raised and a knowing smirk on his face. "And when did you get a degree in psychology?"
The girl blushed, bumping into him with a whine. "Shut up, you meanie."
"Look, what's this!" Malfoy suddenly yelled in excited contempt. "That stupid lump's remembering aid."
The boy held a small curvy ball with misty smoke inside. He remembered Neville showing it to them in break earlier today.
"Well, Sister," He turned to rose. "Surely a small lesson at humility is my right to deliver now."
Rose sighed sadly. "He just never learns."
His wand snapped at the boy, simply pointing straight without any elaborate wand movements. "Leviosa."
At lvl 41, the levitation charm was his highest leveled spell apart from the unforgivables. He didn't even need to say the complete incantation, just a quick Leviosa was enough for the job.
And the next moment, the ferret boy started levitating in the air with a panicked cry. "Wha–!? Put me down! Who...how dare you!"
For some reason the boy's eyes snapped to him first and his cries started anew. "Potter! Put me down now!"
Harry directed the spell to turn the boy's feet up, and in no time Draco Malfoy was dangling in the air upside-down.
"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" The boy bellowed as his pants started getting lose.
Harry subtlety directed his Wandless magic to the boy, keeping Malfoy afloat and freeing his wand to cast another spell.
He swished his Holly wand to perform accurate wand movements and stressed the word, "Diffindo!"
A small flash of light hit Malfoy's waist and his pants were torn open from his body. Harry directed his magic to only hold onto his pants and the boy hilariously flopped to the ground with nothing covering him past his waist.
Roaring laughter boomed throughout the grounds as Draco Malfoy's thin, shaking, pale legs came into full view of everyone present. The boy screamed, looking ready to cry . His screams were cut short when his pants dropped directly on his face. The boy stood up quickly, using his two stooges to hide behind, though not without flashing the crowd with his dark green undies.
"My father will have your hide for this!" The boy screamed as he scrambled his legs inside the pants. "All of you! You will pay for this!"
"Shut up, Malfoy. You're all piss and wind!" Andrea taunted the boy through her laughter.
"Malfoy got pantsed!" Someone yelled from the crowd, and a small silly chant arose with over a dozen kids repeating the words, 'Malfoy' and 'pantsed'.
Through this all, harry discretely dragged back Neville's Remembrall with his own brand of telekinesis. He knew there was some spell to summon an object to the user, but he hadn't learned it yet. It wasn't in the first or second year syllabus anyway.
In any case, he was more than satisfied with his performance. Though a large amount of credit undoubtedly went to his wand. Using magic had never been so easy before. The ease with which his magic flowed through the holly wand was simply incomparable to his first one. And the power...yeah, there's no way he could've done all this magic with the beech wand without getting exhausted. Neither would he have ever been able to fine tune a spell to turn someone upside-down.
All in all, he would count this as a successful experimentation.
Madam Hooch soon arrived after that, though Malfoy didn't complain to her. He just stared at his feet in shame, righteous rage brewing behind those eyes. Harry was sure the boy will try something stupid, and he couldn't help but look forward to it. He was slowly but surely coming to love embarrassing the boy. Especially when he was the one to start shit.
They were soon sent back to their rooms, though Hooch informed him that she will be submitting his name for the Gryffindor try-outs that will be taking place on Monday. With or without his permission.
The last lesson of that week ended with a nice stress relief, and Harry was fully looking forward to enjoying his second weekend in Hogwarts.
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Sunday found Harry relaxing in the Gryffindor's common room, playing chess with Ron. After another failed attempt to find one of the dungeons, Harry was now simply waiting for James to reply back. He had sent a letter on Friday night, asking for any clue about a room related to the founders. Unfortunately his father was quite busy with their renewed Auror training.
Andrea was gone looking for Dorea, while Hermione was giving extra lessons to Neville on transfigurations.
"Hi, Harry!" Parvati Patil waved at him as she and her friend, Lavender Brown, passed by him.
He gave them an absent wave, his eyes looking for a possible fork on rook and king with his knight. If only he could remove that bishop on D6 defending the C7 square...Oh.
"Bishop move to A3." He commanded, and his dark bishop—which was resting on B2—moved up to target Ron's dark bishop. The best part? It wasn't even a sacrifice because his queen was valiantly standing on D3, now giving direct protection to his bishop. If Ron makes the bishop exchange, he stops protecting the C7 square, letting Harry take his rook with a check
Ron squinted down at the board, blinking owlishly. "You're barking mad, mate! There's no way you saw that move so fast."
Harry smiled. That's the advantage of being a gamer. His skills Leveled up at an inhumane pace. He was already level 24 in chess.
"Anyway, tomorrow's quidditch and dueling tryouts. You're going in right? Everyone was talking about you using the stunning spell. They say it's a very hard charm to master, and it's only taught in third years. You must be really powerful already to learn that, Mate."
"Power has little to do with learning." Harry dismissed. "Control is what matters. As for the tournament...Indeed, I will. I doubt anyone will miss this chance."
"Well...Granger's been going on about the dangers of fighting third years. So we can count her out, I guess. Good riddance really, I wouldn't want to hear tips from a book on how to fight."
Harry hummed absently, his eyes fixed upon the board.
A loud thump sounded from the opposite corner of the room, and they turned to see Hermione picking up her fallen books and coldly walk past Ron. Suddenly she came to a stop and whirled around with fury in her eyes.
"Instead of playing, I suggest you do your homework. Or don't, and keep losing us house points like you always do."
Then she stormed off to the girl's dormitory.
Ron turned back to him, bewildered and offended. "What's she talking about? You earn the most points for our house by far!"
Harry snorted. "I think she meant you, Ron. Only you."
The boy huffed and focused down on the game.
Harry snorted again. Ron can be so so stupid sometimes. He wasn't a slow-minded boy per se, but he did have a habit of running his mouth without looking around. And it usually came back to bite him.
Still, Harry had to admit, he was anticipant for tomorrow's coming tryouts.
He may know how to fight hand to hand, but everything he knew about wand fighting—before coming to Hogwarts—was things he made up by himself.
This tournament should give him the chance to gauge his magical skills, letting him know where he stood. He wasn't looking to win the tournament, 50 galleons just held no attraction for him. No, he simply wanted practice. Practice and experience with his magic. Which meant he will keep his physical advantage to a minimum while relying almost fully on his magic.
Of course, that didn't mean Harry would be happy with a loss. He was simply not accustomed to it. With Hydra, losing meant death most of the times, forcing him to always succeed. Now that he had the luxury of losing without any true consequences, he found himself disliking the idea of it either way.
Harry Potter had a habit of winning, and he was quite looking forward to maintaining it for a long long time to come.
Though only time will truly tell where he actually stood.
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AN: And that's done! How was the chapter? Enjoyed it? No?
I've been having this feeling lately that maybe choosing the 'slow and detailed' pace was a mistake. Cause then we have calm and relatively eventless chapters like this one. The past 3-4 chapters have only managed to cover a couple of weeks and I don't know if you lot are enjoying this style. If you are, I will definitely keep writing like this.
But if you aren't, then let me know. I will speed things up a little. Though as a point, we're soon going to get Dueling tournaments, Quidditch cup, and Dungeon hunting. So action should be aplenty even with our current pace.
Also, let me know how you feel about his progression and learning aspect. I didn't dive deep into magic lore and explanation yet cause Harry's just learning simple spells for now, but as he continues to leave canon-level of knowledge behind, I'll be introducing some new and detailed magic.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the chap. I'll see you all in tomorrow's post.
Stay safe and peaceful!
Comments
Robs511
The slow pace was selected by a poll here on patreon quite a while back. People wanted a detailed Hogwarts experience, and I think the pace is alright for now. After the first couple of months things will naturally speed up without me having to change anything too much. And no, Dungeon won't be a grindfest. Though I might take some time properly introducing it cause I think I have a relatively interesting idea. (As far as Dungeons go lol)
Ouki's Lips
Yeah personally I'm not enjoying the slow pace as much. Imo it should be like 1 webnovel chapter (0.5 patreon chapter) per month of Hogwarts max, not including things like the dueling tournament or resolving the Quirell situation. Moreover when he finally finds the dungeon I hope the story doesn't turn into a grindfest. I personally like how you're narrating the story now, where the gamer system is just a plot device as opposed to being the center focus of the story
Ilay Hyams
The problem with the slow pace is that his growth is not slow so he ends up being way ahead of where the original Harry was in his time. I feel like the bullying of Malfoy is edging towards pure malicousness, he is still a kid at this stage
