You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Today Harry was on his way to the annual flea market just outside of Little Whinging. Last year he had gotten his weight set for a very good price at the very same place so he hoped that he could find some interesting stuff as well this year. It was pretty early in the morning but already the place was crowded. It seemed that everyone had the same idea and arrive early to get the good stuff before the masses arrived.
Already he had found some ankle and wrist weights that he could use and that alone made it worth the trip. They were a bit old but Harry knew that he could use the [Repairing Charm] to restore them to perfect condition. That would have to wait until he got to Hogwarts though.
The next thing he found was an old rusty sword that he recognized as a Japanese Katana. It looked pretty much useless but again the [Repairing Charm] would fix that no problem. So he went up to the seller and asked about it.
"Good day Sir, how much for that sword?" Harry asked him.
"200 pounds but I'm not sure I should be selling a weapon to a kid." The man replied hesitantly.
"Oh, it's not for me sir." Harry quickly fibbed. "It's for my dad. He's a collector, you see. Crazy about everything that's old and has a history."
"Well, you got a good eye." The seller smiled. "This blade is at least 300 years old; my great-grandfather was part of a mission to Japan in his younger days and he brought it back home. Even then it was already old."
"I'm sure my dad can find out more about it." Harry lied again. He didn't like doing so but figured it was all pretty innocent. "200 pounds is a bit much though. I can give you 100?"
"No way kid, that's too low." The man said shaking his head. "I can give it to you for 180."
"125." Harry countered offered.
"165." The man answered.
"140." Harry kept going.
"150 and that's my last offer. Take or leave it." The man shrugged.
"You got a deal." Harry said after pausing for a while. "150."
"Now, you be careful with that." The man warned him while wrapping the sword in a plastic cover. "I wouldn't want to hear you stabbed yourself in the foot later on."
Harry told him not to worry and thanked him again.
[Negotiation]'s level has risen by 1.
[Negotiation]'s level has risen by 1.
[Negotiation]'s level has risen by 1.
"Oh, that one hasn't leveled up in a while." Harry noticed. "I almost forgot I had this skill. I should be more attentive when it comes to these 'passive' skills. They might come in handy one day as well.'
Satisfied with his haul, he kept browsing the market but nothing else caught his eye so a few hours later, he made his way back to Privet Drive. On his way he passed what he knew to be Dudley's 'home turf' being the little park where his cousin and his friend spend most of their time. Dudley hadn't changed a lot except for the fact that he put on even more weight and was now heading towards 'whale' status. Harry wondered why his aunt allowed this to happen; surely it wasn't healthy to be so overweight.
Speaking of the devil, Dudley was sitting on the swing talking to his friends when Harry passed. Harry wondered if the swing was made of reinforced steel because with Dudley's weight it would have to be in order to support him. He silently cursed as he had hoped to avoid confrontation. Normally Dudley left him alone but when his friends were around, Dudley had to show he was the boss and thus he couldn't let Harry walk by and not do something. Sure enough, one of his cousin's friends noticed him and rallied the troops, so to speak.
"What are you doing here?" Pierce asked him.
"I'm just passing by." Harry said calmly. "How about we pretend I'm not here and we all go back to what we were doing before?"
"What's the matter?" Another of Dudley's friends taunted. "Scared?"
"Not really but I would rather avoid having to kick your ass today." Harry shrugged. "I'm not in the mood."
"Oh, that's a good one." Dennis laughed.
"Yeah, like you could take all five of us." Malcolm agreed.
"You seem to have forgotten how I wiped the floor with you all last year." Harry smirked. "I did it then and I can definitely do it now."
"You don't scare us, Potter." Dudley said finally getting involved. "We've been taking boxing lessons at Smeltings."
"Oh, I'm shivering in my boots." Harry said acting scared. "Well, if you want an asskicking so badly then who am I to refuse. Don't come crying afterwards."
Piers was the first one to make a move and Harry easily caught his wrist before using one of the basic throws in Aikido to toss him on his ass. Piers let out a cry of pain and surprise in being tossed head over teakettle. Harry dodged a punch from Dennis and used another Aikido move to grab him in an arm-lock before pushing him into Malcolm making both of them stumble. Dudley and Gordon looked at each other and weren't sure what to do before Gordon tried to tackle Harry to the floor. Unfortunately for Gordon he tripped over Dennis' feet and Harry used the momentum he had to throw him over his shoulder, making him land quite hard on the ground.
"What's wrong Dudley?" Harry said. "Not so brave anymore now are you? It's not fun when people fight back is it?"
Dudley just roared in anger and threw out some punches, all which Harry blocked or dodged. Harry had to admit that Dudley was quite strong and he had clearly been paying attention during the boxing lesson. On top of that, Dudley's build was also a big factor. He was the biggest of the gang and obviously the strongest one. Harry would have been impressed if not for the fact that bullying was the only thing Dudley was good at.
"Oh not bad, Dudders." Harry said using one of his aunt's pet-names for her son. "You almost got me there."
"Shut up, Potter." Dudley yelled. "And don't call me that."
Harry dodged another punch from Dudley while keeping an eye on the others. So far they didn't get further involved but that was because they were cheering on Dudley. He knew that if he wasn't careful he would regret it. Not wanting to deal any longer with Dudley, he switched stances and moved into one of the Tae Kwon Do forms. Blocking a punch, he aimed a low kick to Dudleys upper thigh which connected beautifully. Dudley's leg flared up in pain causing the boy to stumble and Harry took advantage to grab him in a headlock.
"Now, I don't believe in kicking a man when he's down so I'll just finish this here." Harry said menacingly. "I'm not going to tell you this again but leave me alone. I won't put up with your bullying anymore. I'm not the same Harry anymore so if you want to survive this summer without any major injuries, let me be."
He then pushed Dudley to the ground and walked off. The rest of the gang seemed stunned at what had happened and just let him walk away before helping Dudley stand up.
Harry in the meanwhile felt both bad and a bit satisfied. He didn't like hurting others and he had hoped to avoid fighting but they had attacked him first. He had sworn to himself to never be weak again and that meant standing up and defending himself when needed. Still, he wished he didn't have to.
[Aikido For Beginners]'s level has risen by 1.
[Aikido For Beginners]'s level has risen by 1.
[Aikido For Beginners]'s level has risen by 1.
[Tae Kwon Do For Beginners]'s level has risen by 1.
[Tae Kwon Do For Beginners]'s level has risen by 1.
'Well, at least I got something in return.' Harry figured.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Harry woke up with Shirohime gently pecking his hand. He quickly greeted his companion with a bit of petting and a treat before he noticed that her feathers seemed a bit ruffled. He wondered what had happened to her and when he asked if she was okay, she let out a cry and just rubbed her head in his hand. Harry took that as 'I'm fine; no need to worry' and untied the letters. The first one was from Neville.
Hey mate,
I'm glad to finally hear from you. I've sent a few letters to you already but you didn't reply so I was getting worried.
Summer has been pretty boring around here. I've finished most of my homework already (I guess Hermione's way of doing it immediately finally got to me) so that's good. I've been spending a lot of time with my Gran. She was somewhat impressed with my grades and she told me she's very proud of me. She never did that before so I was quite surprised.
I've been working in one of our greenhouses which I enjoy a lot.
Do you have any plans for the last week of August? My Gran would like to invite you to stay with us before we head of to Hogwarts. I think that would be awesome and I invited Hermione as well. She said she would love to spend a week in a real Wizarding home so it would be awesome if you could come as well. Let me know.
Neville.
Harry frowned at the first two sentences of Neville's letters. Apparently Neville had sent letters before but he never got them. Grabbing the other letters of Hermione, Susan and Su Li, he was told the same thing. All of them had sent letters that he hadn't received. This was starting to get very suspicious to him and he wondered what was going on.
Life Quest Alert
Where's that Owl?
Objective:
Find out who or what has been intercepting your friend's letters.
Rewards: 3000 EXP
Hidden Objective:
?
Reward: ?
'Well, that explains it.' Harry thought. 'Something or someone is intercepting the letters that are sent to me. Well, nothing I can do about it for now. It seems that they tried to take the letters from Shirohime as well but didn't succeed.'
He turned towards his companion and thanked her for protecting the letters but also told her to be careful. He didn't want her to get hurt over some letters as she was indefinitely more important to him. Shirohime gently nipped his finger in affection showing that she felt the same.
Harry then quickly wrote letters back to all of his friends apologizing for not replying earlier and explaining that he hadn't received any of their previous letters. He answered their questions on how his summer was going and what he had been up to so far. To Neville he replied that he definitely wanted to stay with him for the last week of summer and get to know his Gran and family. He also added the gift he had gotten Neville for his upcoming birthday which was only one day before his.
That afternoon he was at the gym doing his exercises when Sarah came over to talk to him. Luckily, he was used to her by now and the stuttering had disappeared, something he was really happy about.
"So how is my favorite customer doing?" Sarah asked him smiling.
"I'm good." Harry said putting down the weights. "What about you?"
"Not too bad, thanks." Sarah said sitting down. "I've had this new client and he couldn't stop staring at my butt. Men are pigs."
"Sorry." Harry said not really knowing what to say.
"No need to apologize." Sarah laughed. "I'm used to it by now. Besides, it's only normal for men to stare at me. I am quite the specimen aren't I?"
"Meh, I don't see it." Harry said trying to rile her up. "I mean, you're not ugly but…"
"How dare you!" Sarah said grabbing him in a headlock and rubbing her knuckles on his skull. "Say it. Say' Sarah is the most beautiful woman in the world'! Say it."
"Alright, alright." Harry laughed loudly. "Sarah is the most beautiful woman in the world."
"Good boy." Sarah grinned before letting him go and patting him on the head.
"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore." Harry said slapping her hand away. "I'll have you know that I'm turning 12 next week."
"Seriously? Your birthday is next week?" Sarah asked him excited. "Well then we'll have to celebrate your 12th birthday."
"Oh, no need to do that." Harry quickly said embarrassed. He hadn't meant to tell her that. "It's nothing special."
"Nothing special?" Sarah said shocked. "Harry, you only turn 12 once. Of course it's special. Oh, I know. I'll bake a cake for you and we can eat it outside."
"Really? You'd do that for me?" Harry said surprised.
"Well yeah, we're friends aren't we?" Sarah said hugging him. "And friends celebrate each other's birthday."
"But I don't know yours." Harry said sadly.
"That's easily solved." Sarah smiled. "My birthday is on September 21st. But I'm not telling you how old I am. "
"Oh, that's too bad." Harry said dejected. "I'm going to a boarding school so I'll be away from end of August till end of June."
"Yikes, boarding schools still exists?" Sarah asked. "Well, that's fine. We can celebrate before you leave."
"Sounds good." Harry smiled happily.
"Wicked, now get back to work and I'll see you soon." Sarah said giving him another kiss on the cheek.
Harry nodded and watched her leave. He really did like Sarah; when she was around, it felt like what having an older sister must be like. He liked the feeling and the thought of that. Sure he had been intimidated by her beauty at first and maybe he had a little crush on her in the beginning but now he thought of her differently. Yep, the way she teased him, encouraged him and wanted to celebrate his birthday with him; it all felt like she was an older sister and he loved it.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Today was Harry's 12th birthday and he was actually looking to celebrate it for once. Of course his relatives didn't even make on mention of it but that wasn't something new. Harry couldn't even remember them wishing him a happy birthday. He was used to it by now anyway. Today he was going to take a day off of training and just relax. As he got out of bed, he was quite surprised when a screen popped up.
You have turned 12. You have now gained one extra level and 15 Status Points.
'Wow, that's new.' Harry thought. 'I didn't get that notice last year.'
Still as a birthday present that was as good as they came. A level-up and an extra 15 Status Points was nothing to sneeze at. Especially the 15 Status Points were a welcome addition in his eyes. Opening his Status Screen he grinned as he saw his new Stats.
Level: 11
HP: 1380
MP: 1301
STR: 18
VIT: 29
DEX: 17
INT: 20
WIS: 22
LUK: 6
Status Points: 40
'40 Status Points in total.' Harry noticed. 'That's quite a lot. I guess I can use a few of them. I'll distribute 10 of them; that means I still have 30 left which should be more than enough in case of an emergency.'
That being said he deposited 4 points into [LUK] making that a solid 10; 3 into [WIS] making it a 25, 2 in [STR] making it 20 and the remaining point into [VIT] rounding it up to 30.
LUK has reached Level 10. You now have a 2.5% increase of being successful in any endeavor you take.
INT has reached Level 20. Learning new spells will be 5% easier.
'Wicked.' Harry thought. 'Both LUK and INT came with an extra bonus buff.'
Satisfied with his new Stats, Harry made his way downstairs and got breakfast cooked. As expected none of the Dursleys made as much as a peep about it being his birthday. Vernon seemed to be extra agitated from some reason and Harry was glad that he had an entire day planned out with Sarah.
"Listen here boy." Vernon said sternly. "We're having some important guests over tonight so I want you out of the house till 10pm at the earliest. I will not have my chances to make a good impression on the Masons ruined by your freakiness. Do you understand?"
"Yes uncle Vernon." Harry nodded. "I'll be out of the house after breakfast and won't be back till later tonight. If I see that your guests are still here, I'll just wait outside until they have left."
"Make sure that you do." Vernon nodded satisfied. "The less I see of you, the better."
'Funny, I feel the exact same way.' Harry thought to himself.
Harry watched as Vernon then started instruction his aunt and Dudley on how to act when the Masons arrived. He had to hold in his laughter when he heard Dudley pretend that he was this polite, gentle young man. It totally didn't fit the obese bully.
After leaving Privet Drive, Harry wandered around Little Whinging just enjoying the good weather and the solitude. Normally he would be out doing quests or doing some form of training so he was also feeling a little restless. Still, he found that he had earned a day off so he was going to enjoy it.
At noon time however, Harry made his way over to the gym where he had agreed to meet with Sarah. As he arrived, he saw that she was already waiting for him. Waving at her, he noticed that she was wearing a sundress that really accentuated her body and Harry was forced to stop staring at her. No matter how he thought of her as an older sister, she was still one of the prettiest girls he had ever met.
"Happy Birthday!" Sarah exclaimed before grabbing him in a hug and giving him three kisses. "Oh, they grow up so fast. I can still remember when we first met. You were such a cutie. Only 11 then and look at you now."
"Thank you." Harry said blushing. "And you're exaggerating. That was like a month ago; not years ago."
"Doesn't matter." Sarah said putting her arm around his shoulder and guiding him to one of the benches in the nearby park. "Here, this is for you."
Harry took the gift she handed him in surprise and with shaking hands he opened the wrapping paper like it was made out of some priceless material. Sarah laughed and told him that he could just tear it off but Harry refused to do so. As he gently put the paper aside, he looked at the contents. It was a small photo album filled with pictures of him and Sarah in the gym. Some had other people in the picture as well. A few were just of Sarah.
"Do you like it?" Sarah asked him. "I wanted…"
She couldn't finish her sentence as Harry just grabbed her in a hug and held her tightly. Sarah just held onto him as closely as she could and just rubbed his back as Harry's shoulders shook slightly. She didn't know what was going on but she wasn't about to let go of him.
"T-Thank you." Harry said wiping his eyes embarrassed after he let go of her. "That's the best present I've ever had."
"You're welcome." Sarah said gently. "I know it's not much but I thought it would be nice to have some pictures of us."
"No, it's wonderful." Harry said flipping through the pages filled with pictures. "I love it."
Sarah noticed the emotion in his voice and his eyes and just put an arm over his shoulders as they browsed through the pictures. After a good ten minutes, Harry seemed to have calmed down and the tension disappeared from his body. Sarah was glad that he felt better but wondered what made him react like this. To be honest, she still didn't know very much about her young friend. He hardly ever talked about his family and while she was curious, she knew better than to ask. All she could do for him was to be at his side and give him a good birthday.
"Alright, so how about we get some cake." Sarah said excited. "Now, I told you I would bake it but I fear I overestimated my cooking skills. Believe me; it turned out to be horrible. My parents have actually forbidden me from baking another cake ever again."
"Why? What happened?" Harry said laughing a bit.
"I don't know." Sarah sighed. "I did exactly what the cook book said but it came out all mushy and gross. My dad took a taste and he had a stomach ache for hours."
"Huh, you didn't bring me that one did you?" Harry said fearfully.
"No Mr. Smarty-pants." Sarah said pinching him in the sides. "I ordered one from the bakery."
She then opened up box that had a big cake with the writing 'Happy Birthday Harry!' on it inside. It looked absolutely delicious and way too big for both of them but Sarah didn't seem to care. Out of her backpack she took twelve candles and lit them up.
"Alright, blow the candles and make a wish." Sarah said excited.
Harry nodded and blew out the candles in one go while making his wish.
'I wish that all my friends and everyone I care for stay out of danger and be happy for as long as they live.' Harry wished.
"Well done." Sarah clapped and took out a knife and two paper plates and cut out two big pieces before handing one to Harry. "It's chocolate with strawberry filling,"
"It's delicious." Harry said between bites. "But are we going to finish this entire cake by ourselves?"
"Heavens no." Sarah said. "If I ate that much cake, I wouldn't be able to move for days. I figured you can take the rest home and have it later. But you better make sure to burn off those extra calories tomorrow."
"You got it." Harry grinned.
For the rest of the afternoon Harry and Sarah talked about anything and everything. Harry told her about his friends at school and all the mischief he got into. He omitted the magical parts in the story but it was still funny enough to make Sarah laugh. She told him about her family and her friends; about why she wanted to become a fitness instructor and physical therapist and how hard it was to get accepted for her skill instead of her looks.
There were even some others that Harry knew from the gym that came over and wished him a happy birthday. All in all he had a wonderful birthday and it was something that he would remember for years to come.
After they separated for the day, Harry wandered around till late that night as he knew that Vernon would have a tantrum if he got home while his guests were still there. Luckily, as he reached the house, he noticed that no car was stationed in front so he figured it would be safe to go inside.
"I'm back." Harry announced as he entered.
"At least you waited till the Masons left." Vernon said while drinking some scotch.
Harry just ignored him and went up to his room knowing that staying in the living room would only be asking for trouble. When he opened the door however, he heard noise inside and quickly flicked on the lights. To his surprise a small creature was jumping up and down on his bed. It was short, about half his size, wearing nothing but a filthy tea cozy and his hand with long fingers were wrapped in bandages. For a second the two of them stared at each other, none of them made a sound or moved.
"W-Who are you?" Harry managed to say softly.
"I is being Dobby, Harry Potter Sir. I is having message for the great Harry Potter Sir." Dobby squeaked in a high pitched voice.
"A message? Well, why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable." Harry said hoping that would relax this 'Dobby' creature. Unfortunately, Dobby stared at Harry for a second and then just started crying and wailing that no one had ever asked a house elf to sit down with wizards before.
"A house elf? No offence Dobby but I never heard of house elf's before, could you explain a little?" Harry asked gently not wanting to upset the poor guy even more.
Dobby calmed down enough and explained that a house elf worked for a family (mostly purebloods) where he took care of the daily tasks like preparing diner, cleaning and shopping. Harry had a feeling that Dobby didn't serve the nicest of people judging by his clothes and his appearance but refrained from commenting about it. While Dobby was explaining all this, Harry used [Observe] on him.
House Elf
A house-elf (sometimes also referred to as just elves) is a magical creature which is immensely devoted and loyal to the one designated as their master.
House-elves serve wizards andwitches and are usually found under the employment of old wizarding families taking residence in elaborate establishments, like mansions, and must do everything that their masters command unless they are freed. A house-elf can only be freed when their master presents them with clothes.
House-Elves also have their very own brand of Wandless House-elf magic that only they can use, much like many magical creatures. Despite being small in stature, a House Elves magic is not to be overlooked or underestimated.
Not surprisingly, he also got a new notification on his [Magical Creature] log.
You have discovered a Magical Creature, the [House Elf].
Magical Creatures are Creatures that can be discovered by exploring the world around you. Find all of them to gain new information, titles and bonus achievements that will help you in your adventures.
Creatures discovered [6/?]
You can review and study the creatures you discovered in details in your [Menu] under the tab [Logs], and then select the tab [Magical Creatures].
"Harry Potter Sir, Dobby is having terrible news. Harry Potter Sir must not go to Hogwarts, bad things will happen. Very bad." Dobby said making Harry frown.
"What do you mean Dobby, what kind of things?" Harry pressed.
"Dobby cannot say, cannot betray family but must not return to Hogwarts. Great evil this year." Dobby said bouncing around the room before Harry grabbed him and sat him down again.
"I'm sorry Dobby but I must return to Hogwarts, I need to get stronger and learn more magic so that I'm good enough to defeat Voldemort when he gets back." Harry said.
"You is speaking name of evil lord! You is not afraid?" Dobby said with big eyes looking at Harry.
"No Dobby, I'm not afraid to say his name. Can you tell me more about this danger?" He asked.
"No, no, no Dobby cannot say more, Dobby had to punish himself for coming here, can't say more." Dobby said looking around the room nervously.
"Okay Dobby, you don't have to say anything that you don't want to. But I'm sorry; I'll have to go to school. I have to get stronger and even if something dangerous is happening at Hogwarts, I want to be there so I can help protect people." Harry said hoping the elf would understand.
"Harry Potter Sir isn't being afraid? Could get hurt or die yet not afraid." Dobby stared at Harry.
"I'm a little afraid Dobby, but I want protect my friends and a lot of my friends go to Hogwarts. Don't worries Dobby I'll be careful and thanks to you, I know about the danger." Harry said laying his hand on Dobby's shoulder.
"Friends who don't send letters to Harry Potter?" Dobby said looking at Harry.
"How do you know that my friends haven't any letter?" Harry asked suspicious. "Hold on, did you take the letters my friends sent me? Did you try to take my letters from Shirohime? Answer me Dobby."
"Dobby is sorry." Dobby yelled. "Dobby thought that if Harry Potter didn't receive letters from his friends, he wouldn't want to go back to Hogwarts."
"Give me the letters, Dobby." Harry ordered and watched as Dobby took them out of his tea cozy and put them on the bed. "Thank you. Now, I understand that something will be happening this year and that it will be dangerous but I'm still going."
"Harry Potter Sir must not go to Hogwarts." Dobby said stubbornly.
"Look, you can't stop me." Harry said starting get annoyed.
"Dobby can." The elf disagreed.
"No, you can't." Harry sighed. "Unless you kill me right here and now, I will go to Hogwarts."
"Dobby cannot kill Harry Potter Sir." Dobby wailed. "Dobby wants to protect Harry Potter Sir."
"I know and I'm very grateful to you." Harry said. "But I have people and friends that will be at Hogwarts. They need someone to protect them as well."
"Dobby will stop Harry Potter Sir." And with that Dobby just disappeared. Harry just looked at the place where Dobby used to sit before slumping down on the ground.
"Well, that's just great news isn't it. Safest place in Britain my foot." Harry just deadpanned.
You have successfully completed the Life Quest
Where's that Owl?
Objective:
Completion Rewards: 3000 EXP
Hidden Objective:
Treat Dobby respectfully
Completion Reward: Dobby's protection
"Not sure I want that protection." Harry muttered before another message appeared.
Life Quest Alert
Something evil is afoot in Hogwarts (again).
Objective:
Find out what is going on at Hogwarts.
Completion Reward: 50 000 EXP
Bonus Objectives:
?
?
?
?
?
?
Completion Rewards: 10 000 EXP per completed objective; 2 Spell Books; 1 Skill
Completion Failure: Hogwarts gets closed, possible death
"Marvelous." Harry said with sarcasm. "This is one of those Quests that will get me involved into some life or death situation isn't it? What the hell could be so bad that Hogwarts could be closed down?"
Of course, no reply came and Harry sat down on his bed brooding for a bit. Deciding that he would think about all of this in the morning, Harry went to bed and tried to get some sleep. The Quest would still be there the next day so he wasn't going to lose any sleep over it now.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Over the next three weeks Harry had gone full training mode. After this warning from Dobby he wasn't about to take any chances so he had pushed himself to the very limits of his being. It had been a very productive three weeks judging by how his Stats had improved.
Level: 11
HP: 1380
MP: 1301
STR: 21
VIT: 30
DEX: 19
INT: 22
WIS: 25
LUK: 10
Status Points: 30
His [STR] had improved by a point; his [DEX] and [INT] by two as well. He cursed the fact that he couldn't practice any magic but figured that he would just have to work double so hard when he got to Hogwarts. But it wasn't only his Stats that had increased. Some of his skills had gotten a huge improvement.
[Aikido For Beginners (Active) Lv7 Exp: 11.43%]
[Tae Kwon Do For Beginners (Active) Lv11 Exp: 43.67%]
[Sword-Fighting For Beginners (Active) Lv3 Exp: 87.21%]
He had also received his letter with the booklist for this second year so he planned on getting all that today. He hadn't had the chance yet as he had been doing some extra Daily Quests where ever he could.
Taking the Knight Bus he arrived at Diagon Alley early in the morning and got started on his shopping. First up what getting all the potion ingredients he would need the coming year. He also bought some extra ingredients as he wanted to make some potions on his own for future use. That took him over an hour and then he went to Madame Malkins to get some new robes. He had definitely outgrown his robes of last year so a change was in order. That took a bit longer so by the time he left the shop it was already close to lunch time. Not wanting to go hungry, he just grabbed some sandwiches from his [Inventory] and sat down just outside of Gringotts.
After enjoying his meal he made his way over to Florish and Blotts to get his books. He wasn't looking forward to this because when he had looked at the booklist, he noticed that every single book on it was written by the same person. It was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry had a bad feeling about this guy.
As he entered the shop, he was stunned by the amount of people inside. It was always busy when students had to buy their new books but this was unheard of. There were so many people in the shop that you could literally walk on their heads. It was just ridiculous. Harry was glad he had his cap on and that so far nobody had recognized him. Pushing through the crowd, he quickly collected his books and tried to get to the register to pay and get the hell out of there.
Unfortunately that proved to be impossible when crowd got all excited and started cheering. The reason for that was that none other than Gilderoy Lockhart had arrived at the store and seemed to do some signing. Most of the women and girls swooned when he flashed them a smile. Harry rolled his eyes; he had seen enough celebrities in the Muggle world thanks to how his aunt always followed them in the gossips magazines and on the news. Everything about this guy screamed 'fake' to Harry.
"Ladies, please." Lockhart said smiling. "There's enough of me for everyone. So can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me?"
The crowd just exploded in cheers and catcalls.
"Excellent." Lockhart smiled and started signing the books of the women and girls waiting.
Harry just wanted to get out but there was no way he could get through to the exit. The masses blocked every path in and out of the store. He noticed some students from his year standing in line and groaned. He hoped that none of his friends were big Lockhart fans; he wouldn't be able to stand hearing them talk about this clown all the time. To his surprise he noticed Ron, Fred and George Weasley standing at the side of the store and since he would have to wait, he might as well do it with some company, so he went over to see them.
"Hey guys, stuck here as well?" Harry said hoping that they wouldn't blow his cover.
"Hey Harry, good to see you." Ron said loudly making Harry wince and had him looking around to see if anyone had heard. Luckily it seemed that everyone's focus was still on Lockhart.
"Shhhh, don't say my name." Harry told him.
"Huh, why not?" Ron asked confused.
"I don't want people to know I'm here." Harry explained quietly.
"Oh, sorry." Ron apologized. "Should have thought of that."
"No problem." Harry smiled. "So who are you guys waiting for?"
"Our mum and Ginny." Fred said sighing. "Mum is a big fan of that ponce over there. She thinks he's the best wizard since Albus Dumbledore."
"Yeah, she thinks the sun shines out of his ass." George added. "If you say anything bad about him, she gives you the stink-eye for days. Dad made that mistake once; he slept in his shed for a week."
"Yikes, that's pretty crazy." Harry snickered.
"Oh, here comes dad now." Ron said. "Hey dad, this is Harry Potter. Harry, this is my dad."
"Arthur Weasley, at your service." Arthur said politely.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Weasley." Harry returned the pleasantries.
For the next half hour the five of them stood at the side of the store as they waited to get out of the store. So far they hadn't really drawn any attention to themselves but that was about to change. Harry groaned as he saw Draco Malfoy and what appeared to be his parents heading his way.
"Well if it isn't Scarhead." Malfoy sneered. "And Weasleys number 1, 2 and 3."
"Draco, why don't you introduce us to your friends." The man behind Malfoy said.
"Of course father." Malfoy quickly nodded. "Those three are Ron, Fred and George Weasley."
"Ah yes, I should have known from the hair." Malfoy's dad said. "And there's Arthur. Good day, Arthur."
"Lucius." Arthur said coldly.
"And this is none other than Harry Potter." Malfoy said loudly making Harry groan. Coincidence had it that there was just a moment of silence in the shop and thus everyone had heard Malfoy introduce him to his father.
At once everyone started whispering and pointing at Harry trying to get a closer look.
"The famous Boy-Who-Lived, such an honor to meet you." Lucius said clearly not meaning it. "You should be more careful with whom you're seen in public. People might start talking if they see you with these lower level Wizards and their brood."
"We have a different kind of view on what passes for a low level Wizard." Arthur said coldly to the Malfoy patriarch.
For a second Harry thought that both Arthur and Lucius would start a fight but then another nuisance appeared and made things even worse.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems my guest of honor has arrived." Lockhart said grabbing Harry by the arm and dragging him up on the stage with him. Harry tried to get away but it proved to be useless as he was surrounded by Witches of all ages. "Harry and I are happy to announce that I will be teaching at Hogwarts this year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
People in the store clapped and cheered upon hearing this news although Harry and a few others were looking at Lockhart in shock and disbelief.
"Thank you." Lockhart smiled and continued his speech. "Now, Harry here will receive all his course books free of charge as I personally want to thank him of ridding us of You-Know-Who. Mind you, I would have done so if I wasn't busy in Egypt, battling a great sphinx in order to save a small village."
By now Harry was getting really annoyed at having Lockhart around him and when he saw that the Daily Prophet was preparing to take some pictures, Harry just about exploded. He didn't want to be singled out; receive free stuff and definitely didn't want to be reminded of the night he became an orphan. So, just as the photographer was about to take a picture, Harry slammed his foot into Lockhart's toes while trying to look innocently to the camera. Lockhart's face changed from pride and arrogance to one of extreme pain in a millisecond, just as the flash went off. Harry laughed inwardly and wondered how the picture would turn out. As the ponce was jumping up and down stage, Harry quickly got down and disappeared into the crowd.
"Bet you enjoyed that, didn't you Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "Can't stand not being in the spotlight, can you?"
"Actually, I would much rather prefer if people left me alone." Harry said staring Malfoy in the eye. "Then again, some people need to be reminded every once in a while. Like by having their nose broken and dangling a few inches in the air. Tell me Malfoy, did you tell your father about that?"
"Shut up, Potter." Malfoy yelled. "You'll get yours sooner or later."
"Bring it on." Harry shrugged. "I'm not scared of you or your daddy. Tell him that when you go crying to him next time."
He then pushed Draco out of the way and made his way over to where the Weasley's were standing. Not surprise Arthur and Lucius were still at each other's throats and were flinging insults left and right. A woman, who he assumed was Molly Weasley, was trying to restrain Arthur and to get him to calm down but it didn't seem to work. As he arrived, with a complete set of Lockhart's books in his arms, Harry handed them to Ron saying that he had already bought the books for this year so he could have this set.
"Well there you go Arthur." Lucius smirked. "Thanks to Potter here, you'll be able to buy your kids some extra second-hand clothes this year."
Arthur didn't even deem Lucius with a verbal response; he just punched him square in the nose, sending the blonde man stumbling backwards while gripping his nose. Pandemonium erupted in the store as everyone started shouting and encouraging the fight. Before anything worse than that could happen however, Hagrid appeared in the shop and grabbed both Arthur and Lucius by the neck and forced them apart. Lucius glared at both Hagrid and Arthur but ordered his wife and son to join him and get away from these uncivilized blood-traitors. He gave one last sneer to the Weasley family and then at Harry before muttering something that sounded like 'You'll get yours soon enough.'; but Harry wasn't entirely sure he heard right.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Weasley." Harry apologized. "I didn't mean to aggravate matters. I just wanted to get rid of the double set of books."
"Oh Mr. Potter, it's not your fault." Arthur said nursing his sore hand. "The Malfoy's and the Weasley's have been bitter enemies for years. It was bound to happen sooner or later so please don't trouble yourself over it."
As the commotion had passed, Lockhart had gotten out of his hiding place and was now once more addressing the crowd. Harry was eager to get away so he just said his goodbye's to the Weasley family and left. Figuring that leaving Diagon Alley was better, he quickly left through the Leaky Cauldron and disappeared into Muggle London.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Today Harry was heading towards Neville's place and he was looking forward to spending the last week of summer holidays with his friend. He had taken the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron where Neville and his Grandmother would be waiting. Hermione was joining them as well and as he entered the building, she spotted him first and quickly waved him over. As soon as he got into range, she grabbed him in a hug and started telling him all about her summer.
"Oh, easy there Hermione." Harry smiled. "You can tell me all about it later on. For now, let me say hello to Neville and Madame Longbottom."
Hermione blushed and quickly apologized to which both Neville and his Grandmother just smiled and told her not to worry.
"Madame Longbottom, thank you for your invitation." Harry greeted her. "I'm looking forward to seeing your home and spend some time with Neville."
"Think nothing of it Mr. Potter." The woman said. "I must admit that I'm very curious to get to know my Neville's friends. Both of you have been a very good influence on the boy. I hardly recognized him when he got home for the summer holidays."
"Neville is a great friend and Wizard." Harry said smiling to his friend. "I couldn't ask for better friends with him and Hermione at my side."
"Wonderful." The woman nodded. "Well, let's get going. We'll be taking the Floo to get to Longbottom Manor. Have you ever taken the Floo before?"
Both Harry and Hermione shook their heads and she quickly explained the process. She then had Neville demonstrate it before she instructed Hermione to follow him. The girl looked a bit uneasy but repeated the process and disappeared into the green flames. Then it was Harry's turn.
"Longbottom Manor." He said before he threw the Floo Powder into the flames.
Instantly he disappeared and was transported to the Manor. Unfortunately, as he reached his destination, he was flown out of the fireplace and crashed into the floor in an undignified heap. Both Neville and Hermione laughed loudly as they helped him up.
"That was fun." Harry said cleaning the soot of his clothes. "Not sure if I like this way of traveling to be honest."
"Well, maybe next time you'll be able to stay on your feet." Neville joked making Harry glare at him but Neville didn't seem bothered with it.
"Neville, why don't you give your friends a tour?" Augusta Longbottom said. "I'll have some refreshments brought up to you later."
"Yes Gran; that sounds lovely." Neville nodded. "Come on, I'll show you my room."
The next week went by in a flash as the trio spent hours exploring the Longbottom Grounds and just having a good time. Harry and Hermione were fascinated by their friend's home and the way Wizards and Witches lived. It took them a bit to get used to it but they managed to adapt pretty quickly. Madame Longbottom was a very strict woman and Harry could definitely see how Neville turned out the way he was because of it. She truly was a force of nature and he wasn't surprised that Neville was intimidated by her.
Augusta had this tendency to compare Neville to his father and Harry could see that it was a huge weight on his friend's shoulder to constantly be compared to the man. Whenever his Grandma mentioned his parents, Neville almost folded into himself and became very sad and quiet. Harry didn't like it but he thought it would be bad manners to open his mouth and disagree with the woman in her own house. He vowed to make sure to tell Neville not to listen to his Grandmother and be his own person once they were at Hogwarts.
Leaving for King's Cross station was very anti-climactic as they only had to take the Floo to the station and then get on the train. Not exactly what he had expected but he didn't mind. At least they didn't have to waste hours, waiting for the train to leave. They arrived a good half hour before the Hogwarts Express was set to leave and after saying goodbye to Neville's grandmother, the three of them got a compartment and settled in for the long ride. Hermione took out one of Lockhart's books while Neville and Harry played some 'Explosive Snaps'.
The ride to Hogwarts was uneventful and at a point, all three of them fell asleep during the ride.
When they arrived at Hogsmeade Station they learned that unlike last year, where they had to travel to the castle by boat, they now had to ride a carriage that seemed to be pulled by magic. Harry liked the boats better; as with the carriages you didn't get that awesome view of Hogwarts appearing from behind the corner. But the carriage wasn't all bad; it was a lot faster and dry.
The Opening Feast was lot like last year, except that now they got to watch the new students getting sorted into their house. Harry still didn't really like the idea of the separate Houses but found himself cheering along the rest of Gryffindor whenever they got a new student. Once all the new students were sorted, Dumbledore stood up and gave his annual speech. Again the Forbidden Forest was forbidden; Filch had a few hundred new items on his banned item list and so on. When he got to introducing the new DADA teacher however, things turned a more interesting.
"As some of you have seen, we have a new DADA teacher this year." Dumbledore said. "I'm sure you'll have recognized him by now. For those of you who haven't, I present to you our new DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart."
The man in question stood up immediately and walked over to where Dumbledore was standing. Already flashing his signature smile to the students, people started swooning and applauding. Especially the girls went crazy and Harry was surprised Hermione was one of them. She gave him a small 'what?' face before she returned to staring at the man on the stage.
"Hello everyone, I cannot express how excited I am to be here." Lockhart started. "I'm sure many of you will want to have some book or posters signed but please wait until tomorrow. My office will be open for everyone at 9 am. I'm looking forward to teaching some of my personal spells and magic; the very same magic that has defeated ogres; vampires; werewolves and hags to name a few. You can read all my exploits in the books that we'll use in the coming year. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me."
Wondering about Lockhart, Harry used [Observe] to find out more about this man.
Name: Gilderoy Lockhart
Status: Halfblood Wizard
Occupation: Author, Recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class; Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League; and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award.
Characteristics: Vain, narcissistic and self-obsessed, fraud
Level: ?
HP: ?
MP: ?
Harry really wasn't surprised reading the things that were mentioned about the pompous man. He was interested in the 'Fraud' thing though.
Lockhart then went to sit down and Dumbledore finished up his speech as well. As soon as he finished the feast could truly begin. Delicious food appeared on the tables and everyone was enjoying seeing their friends and classmates again after the summer holidays. Stories were told; jokes were made; memories exchanged; it was all very enjoyable.
"Snape doesn't seem very impressed with Lockhart." Harry mentioned to Neville. Sure enough, Lockhart was trying to engage into a conversation with the potion master but it seemed that Snape was completely ignoring the man all together. "I fear our DADA course will even worse than last year. At least Quirrell was a certified teacher."
"Yeah, I'm not sure which one of the two is worse." Neville joked. "Quirrell or Lockhart?"
"How can you say that?" Hermione said scandalized. "Professor Lockhart is ten times the man Prof. Quirrell was. Haven't you read his books? Some of the things he accomplished are amazing."
"It pained me greatly but yes, I did read the books. However, after twenty pages I was ready to chunk the book into the trash." Harry said honestly. "Twenty pages in and all I had learned was how he likes his tea in the morning or what his wish for the future is. Not one spell was mentioned nor did he talk about anything but himself. Besides, have you ever checked any of these so called spells, he uses? I couldn't find any of the spells he used in any other book. On top of that, in one book he states that he was in Romania in June, fighting off an attack by werewolves."
"So?" Hermione glared at him.
"Unless he knows how to be at two places at once, that's impossible as according a later chapter in the book, he now says that he spend the entire month June, freeing some village in the east from a Nundu. Sounds a bit fishy, doesn't it?"
"I could be a simple oversight." Hermione argued.
"Maybe but I quit reading after that." Harry shrugged.
"Well, you need to read the entire book before you can understand." Hermione huffed. "Then you'll see just how great he is."
"I doubt it." Harry snorted. "The man is a born salesman, I'll give you that. He knows how to sell his image to a crowd and to his readers but other than that? I mean, fighting off a Nundu on his own? Highly unlikely."
Harry was going to continue but he saw that Hermione was getting angry so he simply stopped and changed the subject. It was no use to try and change her mind about Lockhart; as long as she didn't want to see the truth, he wasn't going to waste energy on trying to convince her. Besides, he had a good feeling that Lockhart would prove himself to be a fraud soon enough.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Harry woke up pretty early the next morning and made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He really wanted to get started on some of his little side projects but he knew it would have to wait until the weekend. Seeing that was only two days away, he figured he could wait a bit. He was looking forward to using Magic again after those long months of being stuck in the Muggle world. He had missed the feeling of holding his wand and casting spells.
As he sat down, Prof. McGonagall stopped by to hand him his schedule for the year. He groaned loudly when he noticed that he had DADA that very day. Harry really didn't like how his favorite subject always got less than stellar teachers. When would they have a real teacher for this course, he wondered? The rest of his schedule wasn't all bad; it did look he had some free periods here and there which was good as he could use those to get started on his homework.
The rest of the day wasn't all that bad. First they had double class of Herbology where they mainly worked with Mandrakes. Those were dangerous plants which could kill a grown man with the sound of their wails. Luckily they were only working with baby Mandrakes and thus their cries weren't lethal yet. Still they required earmuffs to protect themselves. Neville absolutely loved the class while Harry wasn't all that interested.
After Herbology they had a double class of Transfiguration where McGonagall mostly repeated what they had done last year and what they would be working on in the coming months. Harry was a bit conflicted on this class. He liked the art of Transfiguration and all but he found it hard to imagine when he would turn rabbits into slippers later on in real life. He hoped that they would move on to some more interesting stuff later on.
The afternoon however had been a disaster so far. They had just finished a double class Potions and as usual Snape had been on his case from the beginning. Harry really wanted to kick the surly man in the shins but thought better of it. Doing so would only get him in trouble and Harry didn't want to get detention on the first day of classes. Still, the man irritated Harry immensely. Every time it was the same; Snape insulting him or calling him out for pop quizzes that no one but Hermione loved. While other students got called upon as well; the more advanced questions were always for him.
The biggest disappointment however was DADA. Not unexpected Lockhart's lessons were a disaster. For the first period all they had to do was listen to the man ramble on about his so-called adventures and achievements in such detail that now everyone knew what hair products he uses on daily basis. On top of that they had to fill in a test to show their knowledge about him. Harry was getting really frustrated with the man and just all the questions blank. He had no intention in wasting his time with this clown.
The worst however was in their second period where Lockhart had unleashed a dozen Cornish Pixies in the classroom. His intention was to show off his spells but that backfired when one of the Pixies grabbed his wand and threw it out the window. Lockhart shrieked loudly as the Pixies headed his way before fleeing the classroom and closing the door behind him. In the end, it had been Harry, Hermione and a few others that had managed to capture the little Pixies and put them back in their cage.
"See what I meant by Lockhart being a good Salesman?" Harry asked Hermione. "He's an idiot that has managed to portray himself as a world-renowned Wizard and author but in the end he's nothing but a fraud."
"I'm sure Prof. Lockhart had a good reason for leaving the classroom." Hermione defended the man. "Maybe he wanted us to get a hands-on experience?"
Harry just sighed and let it go. There was apparently no talking to Hermione about the man and he didn't want to get into an argument with her.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
Finally Saturday morning had arrived. The rest of the week had been very eventful, especially Friday when Harry had gotten detention for getting into a fight with Malfoy. The blonde Slytherin had been insulting Hermione and had called her a Mudblood again. Harry had seen red when he noticed how much Hermione seemed to be affected by that slur and had grabbed Malfoy by the scruff of his neck and pushed him down into a puddle of mud. Malfoy had ended up being covered in mud from head to toe and when he had tried to attack Harry, he was pushed face first into the mud and kept there for several seconds before Prof. McGonagall had ordered him to let the Slytherin go. Both boys had lost 20 points and gotten detention.
Unfortunately for Harry, Lockhart had taken it upon himself to mentor Harry and had proposed that he would take care of the detentions. McGonagall had accepted it a little too quickly for Harry's taste and he thought he had seen a small smirk on the woman's face. In the end, Harry had been forced to help Lockhart answer the letters sent by his fans. It was a tedious chore and he was very glad when the detention was finally over.
On his way back to the Common Room however, Harry had heard a weird sound coming from the walls. He didn't really hear what was being said as before he could concentrate on it, the sounds had vanished. Still, it had freaked him out and he hoped that he had imagined it.
This morning however he was in a very good mood. Finally he was back at Hogwarts and he could use Magic again. After a whole summer holiday of not using Magic, Harry was very eager to start practicing again. Arriving in his trusted hideout, he immediately got to work. Doing his normal routine, something that he was very used to by now, was a way for him to relax and to start planning for the coming week.
Two hours later, he finished his workout and sat down to recover a bit. Opening his [Inventory], he took out the old rusted Katana he had bought in London and placed it in front of him. Raising his wand he used the [Mending Charm] on the sword and grinned as when the spell ended the sword now looked as new. No longer rusted and old, the blade now looked to be brand new and in perfect condition. Which was proven as Harry cut his finger as he ran it alongside the edge of the blade.
"Okay, that's sharp." Harry commented. Placing it back into the sheath, Harry took out one of the books he had bought earlier in Diagon Alley. The book had a large selection of basic household spells that might come in handy. He had browsed through it several times during the summer so he knew what spells he wanted to learn first. He had two spells in mind; the [The Everlasting Sharpness Charm] and the [Unbreakable Charm]; which he planned to apply to his sword.
It took him another hour to learn both Charms and put them on the sword but it left him with a happy grin on his face. Both spells would have to be reapplied every now and then but that was no big problem. He also used the [Mending Charm] on the wrist and ankle weights; restoring them to perfect condition before putting them on. Thankfully they were hidden from sight by the wide robes he wore.
Next thing he did was use [Observe] on the necklace and ring he had bought.
[Bronze Necklace]
When equipped, the Bronze Necklace will reduce Spell Damage by 2.5%.
[Bronze Ring]
When equipped, the Bronze Necklace will reduce Spell Damage by 2.5%.
"That's not too bad." Harry mused while quickly equipping both items. "5% can make a big difference after all."
The rest of the day was spent practicing the spells he already knew and trying to get them to a higher level. Harry was pretty satisfied with the way things were going but he was eager to get them to a high enough level so that he could move on to learning new spells. He wanted to have the most useful spells to have a minimum level of 10 before moving on. While level 10 wasn't all that impressive perhaps, it would be a good foundation to build upon and improve along the way.
Some spells like the [Shield Charm] and the [Severing Charm] had already gone beyond that level while some others like the [Repelling Charm] and the [Mending Charm] were only one or two levels away from that. Harry was pretty sure that he would be able to level those up by end of the month.
Others like the [Trip Jinx], [Stunning Charm] and the [Disarming Charm] were still pretty low in level and thus he would need to do something about that soon. Problem was that he needed someone to help him with those. He couldn't really practice these on his own.
'I should get Neville to join me.' Harry thought. 'It wouldn't hurt him either. He needs to get some exercise and some practice in.'
Vowing to get his friend to join him, he focused on what he could do for the rest of the day. Seeing that it was close to dinner time, Harry cleaned up his mess and went to the Great Hall. He was feeling famished and a good meal would replenish his energy.
You have slept in your bed. HP & MP are fully restored.
The next few weeks went by pretty fast. Between celebrating Hermione's birthday, Quidditch practice, homework and his own training, Harry had hardly noticed how September turned into October and now it was already Halloween. His training had been going very good and he had managed to get all the spells he wanted to level 10 or higher over the past weeks. His own Stats had increase with one or two levels as well.
Level: 11
HP: 1380
MP: 1301
STR: 23
VIT: 30
DEX: 21
INT: 25
WIS: 25
LUK: 10
Status Points: 30
He hadn't leveled up so far but that wasn't all that bad. What had changed however was his Status. It now read the following.
Status: Boy-Who-Lived (+25% Experience), Second Year Student (additional +3 VIT, +2 INT per Level)
Instead of [First Year Student] it now read [Second Year Student] and the additional points he would get with each level up had increased by 1. That had made him quite happy as that meant that he could use 2 Status Points for other Stats. Plus he still had 30 SP in reserve, which reassured him that in case of an emergency, he wasn't out of options. He still hoped that he didn't get caught in any dangerous situation for a while though.
Not only had his Stats gone up but also some of his other abilities. [Focus] had reached Level 10; [Meditate] had gone up to Level 13 and would now restore 20MP/Min. [Observe] had already been high but was now at Level 16. Unfortunately, no extra information was available when he used it nor could he read any of the teacher's Stats. It didn't really bother him all that much.
All in all, he was content with his progress and he was feeling positive for the rest of the year.
Until today that was. Frankly, he hated Halloween and everything that came with it. To him, it was a harsh reminder that both his parents were no longer with him and that he was alone in the world. Sure he had friends that he really cared for but it wasn't the same. Normally, he didn't really focus on his loss that much but on holidays it was especially hard on him. So unlike the year before, where he had simply attended the feast, he had wondered off on his own. He didn't feel like celebrating and when he had explained the situation to McGonagall she had graciously excused him from the feast and offered him her condolences and her apologies for not taking in account his feelings.
Neville and Hermione offered to join him but he told them that he would rather be alone. Neither of them hadn't pushed the issue and told him that they would see him after the feast.
Several hours later, Harry returned to the Common Room. When he entered the room however he was surprised to find it full of activity and loud chatter. Wondering what was going on, he approached his friends and asked them.
"Mrs. Norris was found petrified in one of the hallways." Hermione explained.
"Filch went completely crazy when he saw what happened." Neville added. "He was accusing every student at the scene for killing her."
"Wait, you just said she was petrified." Harry said surprised.
"Filch thought she was dead at first but then Prof. Dumbledore explained to him that she was only petrified." Hermione interjected quickly. "She's alive but no one knows if they will be able to cure her. It's pretty sad."
"Sad? That monster of a cat got what it deserves." Ron exclaimed loudly as he heard Hermione's last words. "I for one am glad to be rid of that menace."
"That's a horrible thing to say, Ronald." Hermione said disappointed. "Imagine if it had happened to Scabbers. Wouldn't you feel angry and sad that your pet got hurt?"
Ron just shrugged of the comment and went back to talk to Seamus and some other guys. Hermione just sighed at the redhead's reaction and turned back to Harry and Neville.
"Okay so Mrs. Norris is petrified. Terrible thing to happen but is that such a big deal that everyone is up in arms about it?" Harry said not seeing what the big deal was.
"Well, that's not the only thing that happened." Hermione said fearfully. "There was a message written on the wall in blood."
"In blood?" Harry said shocked. "That's disgusting. Whose blood? Mrs. Norris' blood?"
"Don't think it was the cat's blood. She looked unharmed. Well, besides being petrified." Hermione said. "But it was still very creepy."
"Yeah, not to mention the message." Neville said shivering.
"What did it say?" Harry cuirous.
"It said 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'" Hermione whispered.
"Chamber of Secrets? What is that?" Harry wanted to know.
"No one knows but Prof. Dumbledore and the other teachers seemed very agitated about it." Hermione admitted. "Whatever it is, it's nothing good."
'Oh no, I can already see where this is headed.' Harry thought to himself. 'I'm going to get a quest about this Chamber of Secret business.'
Life Quest Alert
The plot thickens and weird stuff is about to happen again. What is this Chamber of Secrets?
Objective:
Find out the history of the Chamber of Secrets
Completion Reward: 5000 EXP
'Yep, there it is.' Harry sighed. 'Wonderful.'
"Also, there's something else." Neville whispered fearfully to Harry. "Since no one saw you at the feast, rumors have already started that you were the one to petrify Mrs. Norris."
"Are you kidding me?" Harry exclaimed perplexed. "Why would people think that? I had nothing to do with this."
"We know, Harry." Hermione said trying to calm him down. "But you were the only one absent from the feast and some people noticed that and started throwing your name around."
"And of course everyone is jumping on the same bandwagon." Harry snorted. "Typical."
"We're sorry." Neville said to his friend. "We're on your side."
"Thanks Neville." Harry smiled weakly. "I'm going to bed. I don't need this on top of everything else today. Just when you think the day can't get any worse, this happens."
Hermione and Neville watched as Harry walked up the stairs dejected and full of sorrow. They really felt for their friend as he didn't deserve to be accused of something he didn't do. They both knew how heavy Halloween weighted on his shoulders and how difficult it was for Harry to make it through the day.
"I hope this blows over quickly." Neville sighed. "Harry will not take it well if everyone keeps accusing him."
"We'll have to make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid." Hermione agreed.
The next morning Harry awoke earlier than usual. He quickly got out of bed and showered before moving on to the Great Hall. Since it was a Sunday, he was pretty much the only one that was awake but he didn't really care. If people were accusing him of petrifying Filch's cat then he preferred to be left alone anyway.
Eating his breakfast in peace, he almost didn't notice it when other students, mostly older years, entered the Great Hall but suddenly he became aware of it when he felt their gaze on him. Looking up, he stared right back and sighed when they avoided looking at him. Then the whispering started and Harry just left the Great Hall frustrated. Knowing that this was going to happen all day long, he decided to make himself scarce for the rest of the day.
He quietly made his way to the unused classroom where he practiced his spells and kept himself occupied by reading and working out. It wasn't until his stomach was growling in hunger that he left. Sure he could have stayed and eaten what he had stored away in his [Inventory] but he told himself that he shouldn't have to hide as he hadn't done anything wrong. Hiding would only make the rumors stick and thus he preferred the face trouble straight on.
As he entered the Great Hall again, the entire student body seemed to quiet down as one but Harry paid it no mind. Walking up to the Gryffindor table with his head held high, he took a seat next to Neville and Hermione whom he greeted with a smile.
Before he could put any food on his plate however, he was grabbed by his robes and dragged away from the table by an angry Filch. Harry flinched at the smell of the man's breath and oral hygiene.
"What did you do to my cat?" Filch roared angrily. "You'll pay for hurting her."
Harry wasn't about to let this excuse of a man grab onto him like that and grabbed the man's wrist before using one of the [Aikido] moves to twist and turn the wrist and forcing the man to let go in pain. Filch sank to his knees while screaming out in pain. Harry pushed the man away from him and glared at the caretaker.
"Don't touch me." Harry said furiously. "I didn't do anything to Mrs. Norris. I wasn't anywhere near her nor would I ever hurt her like that."
"You lie." Filch said getting up before he tried to grab Harry again.
Harry just let the man approach him before he grabbed Filch's arm and then used a shoulder throw to send the man flying. It was then that other teachers finally managed to intervene.
"Enough." Prof. Dumbledore said enraged. "Argus, you will cease to attack Mr. Potter this instant. I understand that you are devastated by what happened but it does not give you the right to physically harm a student."
"But he hurt Mrs. Norris." Filch spit angrily. "He should be punished."
"Argus, I already told you that no student could possibly have done this." Dumbledore sighed. "This is beyond the capabilities of any student; let alone a second year student. Now, I will not hear anymore accusations towards Mr. Potter, am I clear?"
"Yes sir." Filch said subdued before leaving the Great Hall.
"Now, Mr. Potter while I understand that you felt the need to defend yourself, I do not condone violence in my school." Dumbledore turned to Harry. "That will be 50 points from Gryffindor."
Harry just nodded and didn't say a thing. He didn't really agree with the Headmaster but knew better than to argue about it. It wasn't like he cared about the points anyway.
"Good, now I would suggest we all get back to our dinner." Dumbledore said jovially.