After Matthew returned home he continued with his research on the Soul inside the strange Stone. He almost completed everything he wanted to this Summer, there was only one event he had to visit the alley for once again. This specific event would ensure him a lot of political influence and support in the future. All he had to do was to invest a few hours. But that happened only in a few days so Matthew had a lot of free time.
All he could do was research at the moment and the only thing of real research value at the moment was the stone. Through his experimentations, he managed to develop a spell that allows him to differentiate between humans, animals, and other Souls. With this new data, he improved his sonar spell and added a soul search modification to the spell. This allowed him not only to see with the spell but also locate living things and identify what kind of living being it was. He even managed to differentiate between different animal species. Since he located a few in the garden and used them for his experiments. To complete the spell he now only needed to scan different animals which he would add to his database so he could identify the specific animal in the future.
But his main focus on this kind of research was to find a method to strengthen his soul, by absorbing or devouring other souls. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work with animal souls since they were too different from humans and had lots of energy particles in them that were incompatible with humans. The Soul part in the stone should be compatible even though it wasn't human but it wasn't an animal either, but the soul was far more powerful than his own at the moment and would instead devour his. So his research on a soul strengthening technique hit a wall that could be only overcome through better research subjects. But he couldn't just go and kidnap innocent people and experiment on them, he wasn't a psychopath. So he would have at least waited a year before he could continue with these experiments, since then he would be able to gain a research object.
So in the end he decided to focus his research on other topics related to souls, like how to control them or to better understand them. And so the next few days would pass.
~ Scene Break ~
Wednesday, 31st July 1991
Today was the day Matthew would visit Diagon Alley again, to place himself in Harry's good graces. Harry had his 11th Birthday today and was visited by Hagrid at Midnight in the Lighthouse where Harry and the Dursely's fled from the Hogwarts Letters. He had already learned of his Wizarding heritage and the truth about the Death of his Parents by now.
It was already late morning, Hagrid and Harry started early in the morning and would need around 4 hours from the hut on the Rock to Diagon Alley in London. So they should arrive around Lunch and would first visit Gringotts. After preparing himself and a nice Breakfast Matthew opened once again a Portal and traveled with two jumps to the Back Alley of the Leaky Cauldron. He arrived around Lunchtime in the Alley. His best chance to meet Hagrid and Harry and get a quick scan on the Philosopher stone at the same time would be if he 'randomly' met them in Gringotts.
To not miss them he entered a store close to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and waited there pretending to browse the goods while keeping an eye on the entrance. Matthew hadn't to wait long, after a few minutes the entrance from the Cauldron formed into an Archway, and the beardy figure of Hagrid who was twice as large as a normal stepped through it while saying something to a person behind him with an excited smile. He probably said," Welcome, to Diagon Alley!" since this was one of the iconic scenes from the books and the movies Matthew remembered it very well. Behind Hagrid followed the small dark-haired figure of Harry who watched everything with an awed face.
After Harry watched the entrance close again they walked further into the Alley in direction of Gringotts. Matthew trailed slowly with a bit distance behind them, as they entered the White Marble building of Britain's only Wizarding Bank he decided to wait a few minutes before he followed them into the bank since he wanted to only meet them when they left the bank.
As Matthew entered the Bank he approached leisurely the usual counter for withdrawal and slowly handled his business. He earned another 300 Galleons since he withdrew some money last Weekend for his Hogwarts Shopping. As he finished his 'Business and was about to leave he spotted the large figure of Hagrid who looked pale, because of the wild cart ride, who was followed by Harry. Matthew approached them.
"Hello, Hagrid nice to see you. Are you okay you look somewhat pale?" He greeted them as he mentally requested 'Sarah use every available scanning tool we have and scan the Objects inside Hagrids Mantle.' Unfortunately, he couldn't touch the stone since Hagrid would absolutely forbid it and that would alarm Dumbledore. So he had to use only the simple energy and radiation scanners of the AI Chip, but that would give him some data to work with and plan his further steps.
[Task Confirmed. Beginning Scan. Multiple Objects found. Beginning detailed scan. Estimated finishing time: 3 Minutes 19 seconds. The host needs to stay in scanning range.]
'No Problem.' Thought Matthew as he waited for Hagrid to reply.
"oh, Matthew nice to see ye outside Hogwarts. Ey am a bit unwell because of these damn carts." Replied Hagrid a bit sickly, while turning to Harry. "Harry, this is Matthew Mason he is a Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts. Matthew this is Har- " began Hagrid to introduce them as Matthew interrupted him.
"Harry Potter. I know. Nice to see you. I told you Harry we would see each other soon again." Said Matthew as he grinned at the younger boy.
"The boy from the Zoo? You are a Wizard!" replied a bit shocked Harry.
"Yup. Just like you." Answered Matthew with a grin.
"Ye know each other?" Asked an exhausted Hagrid who stared down at the two boys.
"Yes, we met each other this year in the Zoo in London. Harry here performed a nice feat of accidental magic and freed a Boa constrictor who scared his Cousin. The boy deserved it." Retold Matthew as he explained their first meeting. Suddenly he heard Sarah's Mechanical Voice in his mind.
[Beep! Scan Complete. Uploading gathered and analyzed Data.]
'Hmm, that's interesting.' Thought Matthew as he comprehended the new Data until he got his thoughts interrupted by Hagrids reply.
"Well, that was probably well deserved. The Dursley is a horrible bunch of people." Said the exhausted Hagrid while smiling at Harry. Who nodded a bit shily.
"Hagrid, how about you go to the Cauldron and rest a bit and I help Harry with his Shopping? You seem to be a bit exhausted from the Cart ride. How about we meet in two and a half hours outside Olivanders?" suggested Matthew with a nice smile.
"It would be nice if ye could do that for me. And harry would learn a bit from another student." Replied Hagrid as we left the bank, after confirming that Harry was fine with it he left for the Cauldron and Harry and Matthew remained behind.
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