disclaimer: I own very little. Thus far, all named characters and places belong to JK Rowling. This is not written for any pecuniary ends.

Warnings and whatnot: This story will be M/M, so if at a later point you're surprised by that fact, you have only yourself to blame. I plan to post a more adult version of this on AO3, while attempting to follow this site's guidelines (no graphic descriptions of violence? really? grow up...)

This story is inspired by the works of Miranda Flairgold, whose unfinished stories haunt my every waking moment. There might be a few similarities to "the methods of rationality" insofar as Harry mixes science and magic (though there will be far more magic than science.)

Potential spoilers: Here's the game plan, for those of you that like spoilers. Harry goes through his third and fourth year at Hogwarts, growing steadily more annoyed with the wizarding world as time goes on. Once you-know-who makes a come back, he decides he's had enough, and escapes to a new school. There, he will struggle to catch up with all the other students/races. Sound like fun?

Also, I have no beta. If someone wants to volunteer, that would be fun. This is my first fanfic, so I have no idea how that works...

Harry potter was a very unusual boy, by muggle standards. Then again, most things were. Even some muggles, with an out-of-place haircut, or a rarely practiced hobby, were unusual by muggle standards.

Harry had tried to explain this to the Dursleys, once, when he was feeling particularly daring. Being a wizards wasn't that odd. Not really. If someone caught him reading about magic, they would probably think it was some occult teen-phase. I-like-feeling-unique-so-I'm-reading-about-the-Sal em-witch-trials, or something like that. In fact, it was borderline normal.

Unsurprisingly, they remained unconvinced. And so, despite his pleading, Harry had spent his summer completely isolated from the rest of the wizarding world. The only contact he'd had was in the form a of brief (very brief) conversation with Arthur Weasley.

He'd been cooking lunch for the Dursleys when the phone had rung. Thankfully, he was the only one in the kitchen at the time, so he'd managed to answer it.

"HELLO? HELLO? HARRY? I'M TRYING TO REACH HARRY POTTER"

Mr. Weasley was yelling so loud Harry had to cover the speaker from fear that it would alert one of the Dursleys.

"Hello. Yes. You don't have to yell, Mr. Weasley. Just speak as you normally would."

"Harry?"

"Yes."

"Remarkable! Amazing what muggles come up with… I'll pass you to Ron. I just wanted to try the phone. First time, you know! When you visit next time, I must get you to explain how they work."

By then, uncle Vernon had entered the kitchen.

"Who are you talking to, boy?" He demanded as he pried the phone from Harry's hand. It wasn't so much a question as it was a growl of disapproval. "Hello?"

Harry watched with growing dread as a Vernon's frown deepened.

"THERE'S NO HARRY POTTER HERE! NEVER CONTACT MY FAMILY AGAIN!"

Uncle Vernon had then retaliated by locking Harry's school things away and limiting him to one meal a day for the rest of the summer. Thankfully, the Dursleys had stopped asking him to do chores. One of the new neighbours had visited and complimented them on their cleanliness, saying that it seemed almost too clean. "I don't know how you do it, Petunia. It must be some sort of witchcraft!" They had all laughed, but Harry could see the Dursleys stiffen. Later that day, he was banned from doing anything at all within the house. Hurray for small miracles.

Since then, Harry had been spending all his time in the local library, which was where he was now. Aunt Marge, whom Harry hated with a passion, was visiting. The Dursleys, now lacking any reason to keep him around, had ordered him out of the house. So Harry browsed the shelves, trying to find a book to keep him occupied for the next few hours.

The Surrey library was smaller than the Hogwarts one, obviously, but there were more than enough books to keep him entertained. Harry had spent his first few days reading all the children's books Dudley had been given, which he himself had never read. They weren't particularly entertaining, but to Harry it was a kind of vengeance. He was catching up on the childhood he'd missed.

Shortly thereafter, he moved on to novels, only to abandon them a few days later. Unfortunately, none of the fantasy books lived up to his expectations (nothing could compare to real magic), and few of the non-magical stories managed to hold his attention. And so, Harry found himself wandering through the non-fiction sections. After several minutes of unsuccessful searching, he grudgingly decided to attempt to honour Mr. Weasley's request. He picked out a few books on basic science, electricity, and science history and sat down at one of the empty tables.

~§~

Science, Harry soon discovered, was taught very differently from magic. His courses at Hogwarts had mostly been a combination of memorization and practice. They would memorize incantations, potion recipes, and want movements, and then try them until they worked. Occasionally a professor would mention something about will, or focus, but there wasn't really any theory (at least not in the scientific sense of the word).

Science, on the other hand, had laws and rules and underlying principles. Scientists discovered these through experiment, and then they used them to predict outcomes, design machines, or speculate about things they couldn't otherwise observe. Harry had been genuinely surprised when he read the problems at the end of each textbook chapter. They were all different, yet all relied on the same ideas. Hogwarts questions were never like that!

Harry was reminded of the courses they had to choose last year. Ron had been a strong advocate of taking the easy route, so he and Harry had ignored Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Now, though, Harry wasn't so sure. Perhaps magic would be easier if he learned the theory behind it, rather than taking courses that relied entirely on memorization. Hermione had said that Runes and Arithmancy were theoretical subjects, right?

With a determined nod, Harry resolved to owl McGonagall about changing his schedule.

~§~

The rest of Harry's summer was spent reading about as much science and mathematics as he could. He'd finished doing his summer school work within the first few weeks (having no chores freed up a lot of his time), so he spent the rest of it learning as much as he could about muggle subjects. He wouldn't have the chance to do so at Hogwarts, after all. Three days before the holidays ended, he was picked up by the Weasleys.

When he finally got his new list of supplies, he was pleased to note that his courses had been changed, but quickly began to regret his decision when he realized he would have to tell Ron. Thankfully, he had the foresight to delay this until the last day, when they met up with Hermione in Diagon alley.

"Bloody hell! How are we supposed to read a book that tries to bite you?!"

They were in Flourish and Blotts, and Ron was evidently unimpressed by Hagrid's choice in literature. The shop assistant spotted the trio and gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Three copies, then?"

"Just two" Harry corrected.

Hermione and Ron gave him a curious look. The assistant, for her part, looked slightly relieved.

"I decided to take Arithmancy and Runes instead," he explained.

"That's brilliant, Harry!"

"Brilliant? How is that brilliant?" Ron demanded. Harry couldn't help but grimace. He knew Ron wasn't going to take it well.

"For one thing," Hermione began, "Now we'll all be sharing classes! You and I share Divination and Care of Magical creatures, and Harry and I share Runes and Arithmancy. I'm still alone in muggle studies, but I suppose it can't be helped…"

"Pigeon hole principle," Harry supplied. No one seemed to notice.

"Yeah, but Harry's my friend" Ron continued. It was Hermione's turn to frown. "And besides, those courses are hard. Why would you want to take them?"

"That's the point," countered Harry, "I want to learn about magic from a theoretical standpoint."

Ron spent the rest of the day sulking and complaining about Harry's class choices whenever the topic came up (which was a lot, considering that they were shopping for school supplies.) Finally, Harry decided he'd heard enough, and set off to buy some… unofficial school supplies.

"You guys go on ahead, ok? I have some stuff I want to get. We'll meet up at the leaky cauldron later, yeah?"

Before they could protest, Harry was lost in the crowd. He'd spent enough time over the summer reading about experiments, and now he was eager to conduct some. But, considering what he'd learned from the Weasley twins, he was going to need some safety equipment. His first stop was an eye gear shop, where he intended to buy some sort of safety goggles. But before he could so much as glance around the shop, someone had snatched his glasses from his face.

"Oooo… These aren't one of mine! Mind if I take a look?"

A (now blurry) figure was gesticulating wildly in front of him.

"Um… I suppose. As long as I get them back."

"Of course, boy. Of course. Now, then, what do they do?"

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"They correct my vision, sir?"

"Oh…" The man sighed, "I'm afraid you won't find anything here if you can't afford basic vision correction, my boy. Clear-sight potion is the cheapest thing we sell… Unless that's why you're here?"

"I… Sorry. I don't know what that does." Harry replied. He really wished the man would give him back his glasses.

"Ah! Muggle-born, then? It's a potion that corrects your vision. Fifty galleons, and you won't need muggle glasses ever again!"

Harry blinked. And then blinked again.

"I'll take it."

One potion later, and Harry was staring wide-eyed around the shop as the owner described his wares.

"We have your standard sports gear, including binoculars and glasses with slowing spells and magnification. Potion goggles, that block out fumes and let peer into even the most murky brews. Auror glasses, though I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're not licensed. We have library glasses, that can store thousands of identifying traits. They're great for herbologists, potion masters, and explorers, as they let you identify substances in the wild. We can also cast custom enchantments, all of which are detailed in our catalogue", he waved to a massive tome resting on a pedestal in the corner, "We also have a range of more… let's call them cosmetic glasses. They don't do anything particularly interesting; they're mostly for the purposes of fashion."

"And finally," he said, as he pulled back a curtain covering on of the walls, "we have heirlooms and antiques. I wouldn't normally mention them, but…" He eyed Harry's hand, which still held his Gringotts card "I think you could probably afford them."

That had been a pain to get, Harry recalled. The goblins had required that he sign all the forms in blood (his own blood). On the plus side, he didn't have to carry money anymore.

"Do any of them do anything interesting?" asked Harry.

"Well, they're mostly of historical value. A few of them are from old families that died out. The man who sold me those tried to convince me they were Slytherin's, for example, but I haven't been able to verify that." He pointed to a set of glasses not entirely dissimilar to his old ones. They were also round, but the frames were made of delicately woven gold shaped into snakes and roses (an odd combination, Harry thought.)

"The most interesting thing they do is hiss at the person wearing them." He continued, "They've been dated back to the tenth century, though, so they're quite expensive."

"Can I try them on?" asked Harry. If his suspicions were correct, he might hear more than hissing…

"Certainly. But if you damage them, you'll have to pay full price. I hardly think you will, though. They're goblin forged."

The man handed him the frames, which were much heavier than he'd expected. Sure enough, as soon as the metal touched his ears, he heard soft voices whispering.

"Another pair of eyesss! Another who ssseeks to sssee what only we can show! But will he be able to asssk nicely?"

Harry desperately wanted to ask, but he didn't know how the shopkeeper would react to parseltongue. He was sure that by now the man must have recognized him, but he knew from experience that not everyone believe the Prophet's claims that he was a parselmouth, and he didn't want to risk it.

"How much are they?"

"Ten thousand galleons." the shopkeeper replied, raising an eyebrow as if daring him to buy them.

Shit. Harry thought. Way too much to risk buying without knowing what they did.

"Can I… um…-

"Ask them a few questions? I'd expect nothing less. In fact, I was rather hoping you would."

The man was grinning now, clearly amused at Harry's discomfort. The boy shot him an annoyed look at turned his attention back to the voices whispering in his ear.

"Sssso… what can you show me?" he muttered.

"A speaker! We can show you magikssss sspeaker. We can let you ssssee the structure of sssspells. Peer into the ssswirls of a wizardssss ssssoul. All you have to do isss asssssk."

"Could you show me? Please?"

Harry's vision suddenly swarmed with light. All around the shop, objects glowed various colours. And around each colour floated a set of runes (some of which Harry recognized from his new textbooks). More shocking than that was the shopkeeper. In his chest, Harry could see three hearts, each a different colour, pumping something though the man. Whatever it was, it shifted constantly, taking the shape of flowing water, lightning, drifting snow, settling dust… It swirled in a circle passing though each heart, taking occasional detours to explore a limb, or coil temporarily in the man's wand.

"Well, boy," asked the man, "What do you see?"

Harry wasn't sure if he should answer.

"Can you stop?" He asked. The world went dark again.

"I could see which objects contained magic." he finally replied. It wasn't a lie, technically. He didn't think he should mention that he could see the man's magic. It seemed somewhat intrusive to Harry; like seeing someone naked without their permission. Nevertheless, the man was still impressed.

"Really? Astounding! That would certainly save curse breakers a lot of time… not having to cast hundreds of detection charms would certainly speed things up. Will you be buying them?"

"I have a question, actually."

"Certainly, my boy."

"I'm starting Ancient Runes this term, and I was wondering if you had anything that would let me see the runes used on an enchanted object." As long as Harry was lying about the glasses, he might as well embrace his Slytherin side a bit...

The man looked bemused.

"Goodness, no, boy. If I could do that, well… that would probably give the founders a run for their money. Finding the runes for a spell takes years of research."

Harry gulped and nodded.

"Well," he said, "I think I'd like to buy these, in any case. They're quite nice. And a pair of potion goggles as well," he added, remembering his original reason for coming into the shop.

~§~

The rest of Harry's little expedition wasn't nearly as eventful. He got some triple layered dragon-hide gloves (guaranteed to protect from most punctures, spells, and potions), a book on basic defensive warding (which would, with any luck, let him contain his experiments), extra parchment and ink to record any findings, and wilderness survival kit (which contained such useful items as a collapsable potion lab, first aid kit, and a small magic tent). He tried to buy a book on spell creation but it turned out, much to harry's surprise and annoyance, that a ministry license was required. He stored all of this in a bottomless passenger bag, with the exception of his new glasses, which he decided to wear. Even though he now had perfect vision, he felt naked without them on.

Ron, of course, only worsened when he realized Harry's new glasses had snakes on them. Yet, in spite of his constant grumbling, Harry couldn't bring himself to care. This was going to be an interesting year.

Does it have potential? Review?