Chapter 10
A day after his fight with the mountain troll, Harry revised what he could've done better. He thought his usage of his magic was not bad. He couldn't do much against the magically resistant hide of the troll, but he found a way around it and transfigured its club into a spear. His usage of his telekinesis was okay. The troll easily weighed over a ton and was incredibly strong. He couldn't hold it in place, but he had combined his magic with his telekinesis. That was something that he would work on in the future.
However, he hadn't used all of his capabilities. Harry was a telepath and a strong one at that. He wasn't completely sure, but he didn't think the troll had a mental shield. Harry had never used his telepathy to attack someone else since he had never needed to, but that had to change. If he was skilled enough with it, he could've ended the troll in a second. He wasn't sure if Xavier would be willing to help with that, and Jean was even less skilled than him, but those two weren't the only telepaths he knew off. That's why he was currently standing in front of Rowena's portrait.
"You know I won't help you if you are having trouble preparing for the test. I already told you that," said Rowena.
"I know. That's not why I'm here. Yesterday I fought a mountain troll," said Harry and paused to collect his thoughts.
"And you couldn't kill it, so now you are here for advice," Rowena concluded before he could continue.
"No, I actually did kill it. I transfigured its club into a spear and used my telekinesis to pierce the trolls head with it," Harry said with a bit of annoyance that Rowena thought so little of him. "I'm here because I thought I could've done better if I had used my telepathy. My problem is that I have little experience with it. I've only used it to listen to other people's thoughts or look through their memories. I don't think the troll had a mental shield, and I believe I should've been able to deal with it in an instant. I'm here to ask you for advice on telepathy and how you used yours."
"Hmm. I certainly wouldn't have killed the troll," said Rowena as she cupped her chin.
"What do you mean? What would you have done then?"
"Killing it would've been a waste, and I never liked wasting resources whatever they may be." Rowena's voice oozed with pride. "I was good at attacking the mind, but I was even better at subjugating it. I would've simply enforced my will on the troll and became its master. Then I would've used it as a guard or for my experiments."
"Can you teach me?" Harry asked her in excitement. He hadn't considered subjugating the mind of another. The Imperius Curse could do that, but the spell could be broken. Rowena's way wasn't a spell. It was through her telepathy.
"I can give you advice, but not teach you from here. You would need live experiments to work with." Harry frowned at that. Experimenting on humans didn't sound good to him. Seeing his expression, Rowena continued. "I started off with insects and moved on to small animals..."
The two continued talking for a while, with Rowena retelling her experience with her ability. Harry didn't want to use this on humans, but maybe there were some that deserved it. Like the Death Eaters that he learned about, the ones that had escaped imprisonment.
The days passed on. Hermione had become a friend to him and the people he spent time with. She was a smart girl, and as long as she didn't act bossy, she was also good to be around. The grades of the group were the top of the year, and they had a few new additions to it as well.
Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones had joined them from Hufflepuff, Padma Patil and Terry Boots from Ravenclaw, and Hermione had invited Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor. Granger liked helping as she believed that if she was useful, the others would like her. Neville and Ron were the two with the worst grades in Gryffindor, but unlike Ron, Neville had a good nature and had never acted mean to her. Hermione didn't mind assisting him and asked if the boy could join them.
Neville was an interesting case. The boy was a prodigy when it came to Herbology. The subject came to him as natural as breathing. The same couldn't be said for the other subjects, but that was due to his mindset. Nevile didn't have confidence and didn't believe in himself. He had the mindset that no matter how much he tried, he would fail in the end. As long as he didn't believe in himself, his magic wouldn't work for him.
They've been working on improving Neville's confidence, but that wasn't his only problem. His wand wasn't suitable for him since it was a hand-me-down from his father.
When Harry had given Ororo his mother's wand, Dumbledore had explained to him that it wasn't suitable for her and told him that the wand chooses its owner. He had advised Ororo to visit Ollivanders if she wanted a proper wand, but she had refused. Harry had given her his mother's wand, and that gesture meant a lot to her. Ororo didn't care about having a wand suitable to her since she didn't plan on mastering magic like Harry.
When Neville was told that his wand wasn't suitable for him, he told them that he would consider visiting Ollivanders if he continued having trouble with his magic. Otherwise, he was adamant about using the one passed down to him from his father.
Harry continued focusing on Transfiguration, but he didn't forget about the other branches of magic. His proficiency with Charms grew a lot thanks to Professor Flitwick. The detention with the head of his house was nothing like the one with Snape. The Professor shared quite a few stories of his mother and father without making him scrub cauldrons. He also showed him and taught him how to duel. Flitwick had brought a training dummy that blocked, redirected, and fired spells at Harry.
That's how he spent his time until the holidays arrived. Some of the kids would stay at Hogwarts, but most of them would return to their homes to spend time with their families. They boarded the train and left for King Cross Station.
"Harry, what's your address?" Tracey asked him. He was sitting with the three Slytherins since he was closest to them. "I want to send you letters during the holidays."
Daphne and Blaise were also interested in knowing his address.
"How would you send me letters?" Harry asked, even though he knew the answer.
"With an owl, obviously," said Tracey.
"Can owls fly over the Atlantic Ocean?" asked Harry with an amused smile.
"I don't think so," Tracey said with a frown, and Daphne shook her head. "No, they can't."
"Then there's no point in telling you my address," said Harry. "I live in the USA."
"Oh... I see," Tracey said sadly. Besides Daphne, Harry was her best friend, and she would miss him.
"Don't worry. The holidays break is only two weeks long. We would see each other soon enough," Harry told her with a smile. He had gotten close to them, but the people at the mansion were family to him. He missed them a lot and would give his undivided attention to them during the holidays.
"How would you travel to the USA?" Blaise asked in interest. "I know you can't use the Floo Network due to the distance. Are you going to use a Portkey? I heard Continental Portkeys are not only hard to make but quite expensive, as well."
"No, I won't use a Portkey," Harry shook his head.
"Then, how? Some kind of Muggle way?" Daphne asked, knowing he was interested in Muggle technology. The two had spoken quite a bit on that topic, and she was amazed by how impressive Muggle technology was.
"No," Harry shook his head again.
"You're not going to tell us, aren't you?" Daphne asked with a sigh, knowing how her secretive her friend could be from time to time.
"Nope," Harry confirmed. "It's a secret."
They chatted until they arrived at Kings Cross Station and bid their goodbyes. Everyone left with their families while Harry made his way towards the Leaky Cauldron. Ororo had left him 50 pounds to have just in case, so he took a cab there.
Usually, he would receive Christmas gifts from the others living at the mansion, so now that he had a lot of money, he wanted to give them presents as well. His biggest problem was that he didn't know what to get them.
For Xavier, he thought of getting him a book since he liked reading. He considered quite a while what book. In the end decided on Hogwarts, A History. Xavier would be happy to learn more about the school he studied at.
Logan was a tricky one. Harry had no idea what to get him. He searched Diagon Alley for some time, but he found nothing suitable for the wild man until he stopped at a particular shop, Magical Drinks. Logan complained that alcohol didn't affect him, so he hoped wizard one might do the trick. Blishen's Firewhisky was expensive, but he had galleons to spare.
For Ororo, he got her books about all the magical languages he could find. The African beauty would appreciate the gift, and Harry could learn them as well. She would be happy to teach him.
Jean was the hardest to find a present for. Harry had no idea what to get her, and after a while of wandering, he found himself in Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment. The shop sold a wide variety of magical instruments, but one of them caught his attention. A small enchanted mirror that spoke back to the user when looked at. It told Harry that he had to consider getting a new haircut. He figured Jean would appreciate it more than him.
For Scott... well, Harry didn't know him, so he didn't buy him anything. And even if he did, it would probably be something to prank him. Ever since he received that first letter about Scott from Jean, Harry didn't like him.
Before he left Diagon Alley for good, he passed through Sugarplum's Sweets Shop to stock up on some wizarding sweets. Hopefully, they would be appreciated by Jean since the others didn't eat sweets, and he wasn't going to offer them to Scott unless they were bad. After making sure he got everything he needed, he found a secluded alley and called Ryze.
"How are you doing, girl?" Harry scratched the cooing phoenix. After enjoying a bit of pampering, Ryze took him back to the mansion.
"Harry!" No more than a second after he appeared, he was assaulted by a red blur. Jean squeezed him tightly, and he hugged her back.
"I missed you so much!" Jean told him with her head burrowed in his chest.
"I missed you too!" Harry replied and dropped his mental shields to connect with her telepathically. They could converse a lot faster that way.
The moment he dropped his shields, he heard a boy's thoughts. 'So that's the Harry she always talks about? What's so special about him? Why does he get hugged by Jean? Why doesn't she hug me?'
While Harry heard his thoughts, Jean felt the jealously that was being radiated by the brown-haired boy. She looked back at the older, sunglasses-wearing boy, but paid him no mind. Harry had just returned, and they had so much to talk about, so much to share. She connected with him telepathically, and the two started sharing their memories.
"It's good to see you, Harry," Ororo greeted him and hugged the two since Jean wasn't letting him go. "How has Hogwarts treated you?"
Harry had told them quite a bit about the school, but it was through letters. Hearing it from his mouth was a lot different.
"He fought a troll!" Jean exclaimed before he could answer.
"That was supposed to be a secret!" Harry told her, feeling betrayed by her, but she only giggled in response. Ororo looked horrified and was about to scold him, but Charles beat her to it with a stern voice. "What is this about a troll?"
"Nothing," said Harry with a fake laugh.
"The troll was huge! Like 12 feet tall huge with a big club!" Jean told them with a mischievous smile.
"Jean!"
"Harry didn't even hesitate to fight him!"
"Jean!"
"Harry transformed the club into a spear and shot it towards the troll's head!"
"Jean!"
"Whoops. Was I not supposed to tell them?" Jean laughed and stuck her tongue at him.
"I guess you don't want my present then. Maybe Ororo would appreciate it more," Harry said and looked away. He tried releasing the hug, but Jean hugged him tighter.
"Noo! I'm sorry!" Jean cried out. "I was only playing! Don't give her my present!"
"So, you are only sorry because of the present? Tsk." Harry clicked his tongue with a hurtful expression.
"No!" Jean hugged him even tighter. "You're more important than the present!"
"I guess I could forgive you then," Harry said.
"So you fought a troll, eh pub?" Logan looked him up and down. "Not bad, and you don't seem to have gotten fat."
"I made sure to train in the mornings," Harry replied to Logan.
Before he could be asked any more questions, Jean grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away. "Let's go and spend time together." She got him in trouble, so she would get him away from the adults for now.
They passed by the brown-haired boy, and Jean said without pausing. "Oh, this is Scott, by the way."
Scott looked at him with a frown while Harry shot him a cheeky grin.
'Why does she want to spend time with him and not me? Why does she hug him? Why does she hold his hand? Why? Why?' Jean was a year younger than him, but Scott was more than interested in her. The moment Scott met her, he knew that she was his future partner. He was sure of that.
Jean had always been kind to Scott, and the two had spent a lot of time together in the past month, but she had never acted like this with him. Why couldn't she see that the two of them were perfect for each other? Wasn't it obvious? Why was she spending time with this Harry when she could be spending time with him? Scott didn't like Harry due to how much Jean talked about him, but now, he hated the raven-haired boy.
"Will talk more about this troll business later, Harry," Charles called out to the fleeing duo.
'Bollocks.' Harry thought, and his eyes widened. 'I've spent so much time with the brits, I've started cursing like them!'
Jean giggled since they were still connected telepathically. 'I like 'Merlin's beard' better or 'Morgana's jugs.' They sound funnier.'
'Now, tell me more about the friends you made there!' Jean demanded. Unlike what Harry thought, she didn't feel bad about how many new friends he made. In fact, she was more than happy about him. Jean even considered them her friends as well since she got to relive his memories by seeing them.
Unfortunately, Harry couldn't think the same for Scott.
'He is lonely since he doesn't have many friends,' Jean told him. 'You have to give him a chance. He is kind, although he is a bit boring.'
Harry considered for a moment whether to show her Scott's thoughts before deciding to send them to her. Which might've been a mistake. Jean's hair started wildly flowing as if there was a hurricane in the room, and pieces of furniture started floating around them.
"He thinks I'm his?" Jean was furious. "Just because I was nice to him, he thinks I belong to him?"
"Red, it's okay." Harry hugged her. "Shh, no need to get angry."
It took her a moment, but Jean calmed down and dropped the furniture gently on the floor. 'I'm not some kind of object," she whispered.
"No, no, you are not. You are Jean, the prettiest redhead there is, and you don't belong to anyone." Jean beamed at that. "So, let's taste some of the wizarding sweets I got us, what do you think about that?"
"Definitely!" Jean was more than happy to check how magical those sweets were.
Sadly, they didn't know that Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans' name was quite literal. They found out the hard way, and Jean got lucky with her dirt flavoured bean. Harry, on the other hand, would prefer to never speak about the one he got. The rest of the beans were given to Scott, but apparently, every single one was delicious.
During one of the days, Ororo took Harry out to New York. He didn't get many chances to visit the city that never sleeps since there were too many people there. Their thoughts were too loud, and he would get headaches from them. Now that he had mental shields thanks to Occulemncy, he was able to freely explore the city.
Ororo showed him around, and they had a good time going through the stores. They were passing by a three-story Victorian-style brownstone mansion when they felt something odd. Ororo knew there was something weird about the place, but she wasn't sure what. Harry, on the other hand, felt it. The place reeked of magic. He was wondering if a wizard family lived there when the doors to the mansion opened up as if they were inviting them to enter.
"Um, what should we do, Aunt Ro?" Harry asked her.
"You are the one that studies magic, you know better than me what to do in this situation, but I don't think we should enter," said Ororo.
"I mean you no harm," came a male voice from inside the mansion.
"Yeah, that just sounds fishy," said Harry. "I think we should leave, but I also really want to check the place out."
A tall man wearing a dark blue outfit and a red cape came out of the mansion. He had a sharp face with short black hair and a goatee. "No matter what I do or say, you never choose to enter," he murmured as he walked up to them.
"Greetings, Harry Potter, and Ororo Munroe. I'm Dr. Strange, and it's a pleasure to meet you two," said the man with a kind yet mischievous smile. Both were surprised that he knew who they were, but before they could question him, he continued. "I've been expecting you two, so why don't we enter the Sanctum and speak privately. I promise you, I mean you no harm."
They were hesitant to enter. Ororo because she couldn't utilize her powers to their fullest potential indoors, and Harry because he could feel the magic inside the mansion. He also wasn't able to hear Dr. Strange thoughts since the man had mental shields. However, he was interested, he wanted to know how this man knew them, and he wanted to speak with a wizard that wasn't from Britain.
Dr. Strange didn't wait for their response and turned around, knowing that they would follow him, which they did after Harry tugged Ororo by her hand. She was going to protest when she remembered Charles had once spoken about Dr. Strange. However, that man was supposed to be a doctor and not a wizard. She kept her guard and readied herself for a battle as they entered the Sanctum.
Without saying another word, Dr. Strange led them to a room with a table and three chairs. There was a teapot with three cups on the table. Dr. Strange poured tee in each cup before sitting on one of the chairs.
"I can't tell you how I knew about you," said Dr. Strange with an amused smile as Harry was about to question him. Harry narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, but Dr. Strange beat him to it. "No, I can't read your thoughts, you would sense me if I attempted that."
"No, I'm not a mutant."
"No, I haven't used a Time-Turner to go back into the past after already having this discussion with you."
Every time Harry was about to ask him a question, Dr. Strange would answer before he could do it, and Harry's eyes would narrow further and further until they were nothing more than thin slits.
"How can I know what you will ask? Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out," Dr. Strange said cheekily.
Ororo looked quite amused at Harry's frustration, but she kept her guard up. Dr. Strange was unknown to her, and she still didn't know what his intentions were.
"No, I'm not a wizard, I'm a sorcerer. The Sorcerer Supreme to be exact."
"Yes, like Merlin."
"The difference is that a wizard uses a power that comes from within him, a power that he was born with. While the sorcerer borrows the power of worlds and dimensions. Sorcerers are usually what your kind calls Muggleborns. People that were born without power. Sorcerers are quite hated by wizards due to that. Especially since our Wards are a lot better, and they can't enter our Sanctums."
Harry and Ororo listened to Dr. Strange intently and processed his word s.
"No, I already told you, I can't hear your thoughts, I'm not a mutant, and I'm not going into the past. It's not so fun when you are on the other side, is it now?" Dr. Strange said cheekily, and Harry started to think about how he was able to do this. This was a puzzle that he was definitely going to solve before he leaves the sanctum.
The sorcerer took a sip from his cup and turned to the African beauty. "The descendant of Ayesha of Balobedu," Dr. Strange remarked. "You come from a family of witches that have always favored sorcery."
"You know of my ancestors?" Ororo asked with wide eyes.
"I do." Dr. Strange nodded. "Ayesha was a Sorcerer Supreme in the distant past. She was a remarkable sorceress, and so were her descendants. Ayesha was also the Queen of Balobedu, an old kingdom that no longer exists."
"Can you tell me more about her or my other ancestors if you know about them?" Ororo asked, and unlike with Harry, Dr. Strange didn't cut her off.
"Certainly. Ashake of Egypt was also a famous sorceress. She..." Dr. Strange patiently told Ororo everything he knew about her ancestors.
Meanwhile, Harry was trying to figure out how the sorcerer knew what he was about to ask him. If he wasn't a mutant that heard his thoughts and didn't go back in the past, then that left very few possibilities. It took him a while, but he finally figured it out.
"You are correct," said Dr. Strange before Harry could call him out. "Now the question is how but that would be harder for you to figure out. And no, I'm not a seer."
Harry nodded and asked. "Can you teach me?" This time Dr. Strange didn't cut him off.
"I cannot teach you to do the same," said Dr. Strange and gave him a hint to how he was able to do it. "But I can teach you sorcery."
"Yes, please," said Harry with enthusiasm. "When can we start?"
"That would have to wait." Dr. Strange sipped from his cup. "Finish what you've already started then come find me again. I wouldn't teach you before that, but if you ever just want to talk, the door to the Sanctum would always be open for you."
Dr. Strange then turned to the African beauty. "Ororo Munroe, I would be happy to teach you sorcery as well." Knowing that her ancestors have been sorcerers, she decided to accept his offer.
They talked for a bit longer before Dr. Strange looked up with wide eyes. "What's that?" He asked in surprise, and his two visitors looked up as well. Dr. Strange then swiped his hand under their feet, and the two suddenly found themselves outside the Sanctum.
"Well, that was a mean way to get kicked out," Harry grumbled, and Ororo nodded in displeasure.
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firechicken
firechicken When you are left without internet for a few days, you get to learn a lot about yourself. Turns out I'm very good at Solitaire and at the dino jumping game on chrome. I would've never found out this amazing talent of mine if my internet wasn't cut off.
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