บท 57: Chapter 57 Girl Drama
Harry was not sure if he should have been surprised or not, but the number of girls in his house was much higher when he returned home on Wednesday than he was certain lived there on Tuesday.
Harry entered the waiting room which had several tables and chairs from other rooms moved in and at one of the chairs Harry saw Jade sitting down with two textbooks out. On the other chairs Harry found three other girls he did not recognize.
Jade looked up and said, "Hi Harry! I formed a study group!"
"And you invited them over?" he asked.
"Yep. Gotta keep my grades up and they agreed to come over when I told them who I lived with."
At the table a blonde haired girl said, "I'm sorry Mr. Potter, she said you'd be okay with this."
Harry waved it off and said, "If you're not my students, don't call me Mr. Potter at my home. I turned sixteen a few months ago so I doubt our ages are that different.
The redhead at the table said, "You're the same age as we are?" She turned to jade and said, "You must've hit the jackpot."
Jade rolled her eyes and pointed at the redhead, "That's MJ," then the blonde, "Gwen," and last she pointed at the silver haired girl, "And that's Felicia. Felicia is fifteen but is a year ahead and Gwen is fourteen but two years ahead so we're all in the same class."
Harry said, "I could have sworn the High school I sent you to was co-ed."
The silver haired girl who looked far more mature than a fifteen year old ought to said, "Jade invited Peter too but he didn't believe she was telling the truth about living with Harry Potter. He's the school's secret genius and the only one besides Gwen who skipped two years."
Harry said, "Well, bring him next time lest my wives torment you the same way they've been teasing Jade."
MJ asked with a slight tease, "Wives? As in plural?"
Harry answered, "All three fell in love with me and I fell in love back." Harry was very straightforward about it. Love wasn't complicated for him. He fell in love with those who loved him. It wasn't intentional nor planned. But if you could plan love, it wouldn't be love.
Harry knew that wasn't normal but also knew the cause. Not only did the Phoenix Force take part in the creation of his gift, it even gave Harry a part of its power. There were side effects of bearing any power and the Phoenix's power was not an exception to this rule. Bearing the power of the universal entity of life and passion made it so that Harry could give his love easily and and love with all his heart.
Jean had it much worse though and sometimes had trouble keeping it to herself. Part of Jean's teasing of Jade was to help her have fun being a girl instead of a tomboy while another part was an honest wish for more love for Harry and for herself. Wanda and Rogue had spent years starved for love and affection and after spending one hundred years together with Harry they had tossed aside traditional conventions and had no problem with more love in their lives.
Jade continued, "Yeah, if you bring Peter you guys can hide behind him when Harry's wives show up and try to snatch you into his harem."
Gwen asked, "Really?"
Harry answered, "Probably not. They seem to have already targeted Jade so if you want to be targeted, you'll need to defeat Jade in open combat and take her place."
Gwen said, "That's a relief."
The silver haired Felicia said, "Oh I don't know, it doesn't feel bad to be sought after."
Gwen asked, "Is that why you pretend to be oblivious to Peter?"
MJ snickered, "I almost feel bad for him. Almost."
Felicia said, "He looks at you too Gwen when he thinks no one pays attention. Until he makes his choice, he'll be riding solo."
Harry interjected, "What if he chooses you both?"
Felicia licked her lips and said, "Well, that's a choice too isn't it? He's cute in his own way you know."
MJ and Jade started laughing at their perverted friend while Gwen blushed a little. MJ said, "He's been my neighbor for years and has always been a little brother to me."
Harry walked over to look at the textbooks on the table and said, "You can come over with Jade if you want but don't let her copy anything. I told her she'll get a reward if she gets top grades her first month so I'm sure you can guess why she was so quick to make a study group."
MJ blinked slowly at Harry and asked with a smile, "Oh, and what type of reward will she get? Anything she might be willing to share?"
Harry walked behind the seated Jade and started massaging her shoulders. "If she got top grades I promised her I'd show her something... really special..."
Felicia whistled and MJ growled while Gwen burst out laughing at the cherry red blush Jade started showing. She softly asked, "Can you stop giving them the wrong idea? Please?"
Harry continued giving her a massage and said, "Everything in this world has a price Jade, there are no exceptions. If you want these girls to assist you with getting top grades, then letting them viciously torment you while doing so is perfectly reasonable."
Gwen said with a light smile, "He's not wrong Jade."
MJ added, "Your wives have trained you well."
Harry nodded sagely.
Felicia asked, "But is it really ok for Jade to bring random strangers here? You have a lot of expensive looking stuff around."
Harry shrugged. "It does look expensive doesn't it. I'd even go as far as to say that much of it is priceless. However there's no actual way to steal any of it and even if there was, none of it would sell for much."
Gwen asked, "Why's that?" She didn't know much about art but she knew the antiques, sculptures, and beautiful works of art displayed around the home looked expensive.
Harry answered, "Artifacts, relics, and historical pieces are priced on the value of their stories. The pieces here have stranger and more esoteric stories than anything you could imagine and I doubt there are more than three or four people in the city even vaguely familiar with them. And those people I know. No one else would pay more for any of it than the value of a shiny bobble or a piece of junk. The paintings on the other hand were all painted by Wanda, one of my wives."
Felicia asked, "Really? She's very good. I've seen lots of paintings before but none I really liked. These I like though."
Harry nodded and said, "I know she'd appreciate it if you told her that later."
Felicia nodded and said, "No problem. But what do you mean there is no way to steal it though. I don't see any security."
Harry asked with a smirk, "So you're very familiar with security systems then?"
The silver haired teen crossed her arms and pouted as if she had been falsely accused of something. "My mother updates her alarms every few months to the best in the market."
Harry nodded as if he completely believed her and walked away from Jade over to a framed relic and took it off the wall. With the frame in hand he walked over to the door, but once he got close a light flashed and the hallway to the door was gone. it had been completely filled in.
Harry then walked back over and put the frame back on the wall and said, "Every room has a Hard-Light Projection system built into it. The Federal Reserve wishes it had a system like this. The only catch is that Hard-Light constructs can only form in an enclosed room so they can't be used outside. While inside however, I make the rules. In order to steal something, they have to come inside. And no one who comes inside can break my rules without consequences."
Harry snapped and the forcefield over the hallway vanished in another flash of light.
Gwen shouted, "That is so cool! How does Hard-Light even work? I've seen papers on the-"
Harry interrupted, "It's just a static barrier with a hologram over it. The barrier itself is made of three waves which are emitted by three or more emitters built into the walls. When the waves cascade against each other, it vibrates in a way which causes the location of the vibration in space to act like a solid. The tricky part is moving the position of the barrier to mimic real movement. The programming and calculations can't be done without specialized processors."
Gwen blinked twice and said, "Wow, you're a really good teacher."
MJ added, "Yeah, even I understood that and I'm nowhere close to Gwen's level in science stuff."
"It's what I do. In any case I don't have a car so make sure to either head out before dark or confirm a ride if you plan to stay until after the sun sets."
Felicia asked, "How come a guy like you doesn't have a car?"
Harry shrugged, "Couldn't build a carport due to the location of the property and I don't like parking garages." He got a license a few days ago but up to this point he never had a reason to get a car.
As Harry walked upstairs MJ leaned over to Jade and said, "For someone who complains so much, you didn't seem to mind him rubbing your shoulders."
Jade did her best to sink through the bottom of her chair and muttered just loudly enough for the table, and those with enhanced senses, to hear, "he gives really good massages..."
The girls burst into laughter as Harry reached his study and sat at his newly built supercomputer. Thankfully most of the work for his businesses and deals with the Goblins could be done over a computer. Harry loved his new Technopath Perk. Technopathy was basically a specialized form of Electromagnetic Sorcery and though Harry tried to figure out the trick to it a few times, he was never able to manually replicate the effect. With the Perk that was no longer an issue. Technopathy allowed Harry to communicate with computers with his mind. That meant that Harry's programming speed was no longer limited by the physical materials his keyboards were made of. He could program at the speed of thought.
Harry's new computer was built specifically with Technopathy in mind. Everything else he built up to this point was actually immune to Technopathy as Harry considered it a security risk, meaning now that he had it he had to create some Technopath interfaces with securities against other technopaths built in. Thankfully Technopath security was similar to mind magic so Harry was able to make something very strong very quick. Just to be safe, he added dozens of traps which would either fry the mind of an intruder or destroy the interface if someone with an exceptionally strong talent for Technopathy appeared.
It didn't take too long for his girls to come home and meet Jade's friends. Harry could tell from the overheard conversations that they were of course perfectly civil and didn't taunt or tease any of them. They knew how to play the long game of course and didn't want to scare any of them off. Jean and MJ apparently got along particularly well, as neither had another friend with hair as strikingly red as her own.
Harry saved his progress on the program he was working on and returned downstairs to make dinner. Jade's friends decided to call it a night and after Harry finished, Jade used the phone Harry gave her to take pictures of the food to taunt them with later.
Harry asked, "So how often are you going to have a study group over?"
"I was thinking Mondays and Thursdays," she answered between bites. Today was Tuesday but it was more of a trial run to make sure Harry didn't kick them out.
"Alright, then tomorrow night we'll start with Chi Magic."
Jade made a guts pose and Harry continued, "After you finished your homework."
"Tch! You don't have to tell me that."
Harry only had two Energy Physics Classes the following day. During the first one, Harry's phone got a text message. Thanks to the technopathic interface Harry built inside it, Harry could read the message without even looking at it. It was from Jade. [Dragon at school, help!]
Harry internally sighed. He was still teaching class but he'd panned for stuff like this so he walked over to his desk and bent down as if he was opening one of the lower drawers which allowed him to be completely out of the line of sight of the students. Harry had confirmed there were no cameras in this room or pointing at him from afar and he cast an invisibility spell on himself and silently apparated away.
Harry appeared on the roof of the school and immediately sensed the Dragon Chi. Jade was in a locker room with a few others and a tiger sized green dragon had broken in and was chasing them while doing damage to the various lockers.
Harry simply apparated in and stunned the dragon. It was a common demon dragon and Harry only needed a moment to understand why it was there. Jade had two talismans in her possession. Harry confirmed everyone was decent and walked over to Jade and said, "Talismans. Now."
Jade lowered her eyes and obediently handed him the Horse and the Rooster Talisman she'd brought to school. Harry then handed her a lunch box containing a roasted chicken leg.
Harry cast a few repair spells on the locker room and then took out a marble from his inventory and transfigured it into a larger than average mongrel looking dog. The girls who had been running around were still there, kinda just staring blankly at him and Harry used a combination of telepathy and magic to change their memories of a dragon into this dog. It wasn't too difficult. After removing their memory of himself, Harry opened a portal and threw the dragon inside before closing it and apparating out. The dog got up and started chasing the girls again much to Harry's amusement.
After a few moments, Jade took the chicken leg out of the lunch box and threw it to the dog who nabbed it in the air and started eating it. Everyone rationalized that the dog wasn't chasing them, it just wanted the chicken leg. Some teachers that heard the ruckus came over shortly after and asked about what happened and they all got the same answer. More teachers tried to chase and catch the dog, but it was able to run away.
Once Harry confirmed everything was fine, he used his Time Turner to go back an hour and wait. The first thing he did was damage control. Harry made sure that any signal leaving the area that was not one from his tech was monitored and intercepted. He had to set up a few tools but such was life. After the dragon arrived Harry confirmed no one got a picture of it or uploaded a video of it before Harry got there. Harry then packed everything back up and bent down again before apparating back to his classroom and standing back up.
To the class, Harry had just bent down and got back up. This was the main reason Harry got a Time Turner. He knew he'd get caught eventually, but when he did, he'd at least have a foolproof alibi.
A few hours later Harry was sitting on the waiting room couch when Jade returned.
Harry had already looked over the dragon and figured out what happened. Rather than scold her once she came in, Harry said, "Sit," while pointing to the spot next to him.
She quietly sat and seemed to expect some shouting. Instead, Harry said, "I don't know where those Talismans used to be kept, but I suspect that Uncle placed some heavy protections on the place to prevent the Dragon Chi from leaking out. I don't know how many times you've taken those Talismans out before, but I suspect that Uncle had either directly or discreetly given you something to hide the Dragon Chi. He never told you how Chi magic worked so you wouldn't know any of this of course, and you wouldn't know the consequences of walking around without those protections."
Jade asked, "But how in the hell did a dragon just wander into New York?!"
Harry shrugged. "You went from the west coast to the east coast without any magic protection and twelve sources of demon dragon chi from an Immortal Sorcerer. I suspect those talismans left a scent and that dragon simply came across it and followed it to New York. This house prevents anything from leaking out of it, but when you took those talismans out, the dragon was able to follow the scent."
Jade asked, "So there are actual dragons just wandering around the world?"
Harry nodded. "Yep. Though most that do can hide as if they were air until they find what they are looking for."
Jade shook her head and leaned a bit onto Harry. "How do you know so much?"
"I have a skill that lets me memorize books and I've read from collections that were thousands of years old and memorized them all." It was true. Harry not only read every book in Kamar-Taj, but every book in the other three Sanctums and many, many more.
"Think I'll ever be that smart?"
"You're already smart. You just need to learn how and when to apply wisdom. So. Why did you bring two talismans out of the house? It's true, healing, weak telekinesis and flight are certainly not the worst ones you could have brought, but why bring any? You weren't going to show them off were you?"
Jade didn't even register her head was already on Harry's shoulder and said, "No, I just. I feel better when I have them I guess. It's comforting. They were actually locked up pretty good in San Francisco. They'd upped the security and included all kinds of stuff. But I just just really needed to see them. I even made some fakes and after breaking in, I swapped them all out. Section 13 doesn't even know they're missing and since they'll never use them, they never will."
Harry figured that Jade had many near death experiences and relied on the Talismans to stay alive. Do that too many times and you won't feel safe without your means of protection.
Harry said, "Well, let's start on our first Chi Magic lesson alright?"
Jade got up and said, "You mean you're still going to let me practice magic?"
"I said I would didn't I?"
Jade's eyes looked a little watery and she quietly said, "Thank you Harry."
"No problem. Now let's head to the basement. I've got a few things already set up."
Jade wiped her eyes and gave a big smile, "Cool!" and ran down.
The first step of Chi magic was, unsurprisingly, boring. It required meditation to gain awareness of the Chi. Once awareness reached a certain level, you could control it and use it for magics.
Jade pointed out, "Um, I've never done anything like that."
Harry wasn't surprised. He said, "Apparently when a Chi Wizard uses Chi magic, they must consciously emit it. You on the other hand have so much Chi, you unconsciously emit it."
"Woah. Doesn't that mean I have like, buttloads of Chi?"
Harry looked at her seriously and without any humor in his voice he flatly said, "Yes Jade. You have buttloads of Chi. Aren't you proud to have buttloads of Chi? Would you like a shirt that says 'I have buttloads of Chi'? Shall I go tell Jean and the others of your-"
"Ok, ok, ok I get it! Enough!"
Harry's blank face broke out into a smirk and said, "In life, the more you can carry, the greater the weight of the world. Unless you decide to live in a cave, strength and responsibility go hand and hand. There is no good way around this so you're just going to have to accept it."
Jade rolled her eyes, "Why do you sound like an old man?"
Harry shrugged. "I've lived a very rich life."
Jade said, "I call bull. I've had tons of adventures too and I don't talk like Uncle."
"Really, what's the furthest you've gone back in time?"
"Umm. The seventies?"
Harry said, "Seventh Century. I pranked a group of Necromancers, killed an immortal dragon, rescued Merlin, and insulted Morgan Le Fay's fashion sense."
"What?"
Harry continued as if oblivious to the dumbfounded look on Jade's face., "Probably shouldn't have done that last one though, she did get me back. Lesson learned, never insult a woman's fashion sense."
Jade shook her head and decided to ignore the last thirty seconds of conversation and said, "So how do I gain awareness of my Chi?"
Harry asked, "Well, the normal way is a personal, spiritual journey that sometimes requires enlightenment. The fast way is that I can just guide you to it. Which would you prefer?"
Jade considered it for less than a fraction of a second before answering, "The fast way, definitely the fast way."
Harry nodded. "Alright, give me your hands." Harry set his hands in front of her palms face up and after a moment of hesitation she complied. "Now close your eyes and try to match my breathing."
Jade took in a deep breath and nodded before closing her eyes. After a few moments they were breathing in sync. Harry then said, "Ok, you can open them."
Jade asked, "That's it?" and opened her eyes. Only to find herself in a vast, white space with Harry standing at her side.
Harry answered, "Yeah. We're inside your spirit."
"Um, okay. Where's my Chi?" She turned around a few times but endless white was all that she saw extending into the void.
Harry focused for a moment and said, "There," while pointing behind her.
Jade turned around again but this time she saw a massive door.
"Woah."
Harry frowned and walked over and placed his hand on the door.
Jade asked, "Is my Chi behind that?"
"Yes. It's not what I expected though."
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"Well, there shouldn't be a door. It seems your Chi is locked. That's not the weird thing though. There are one thousand life times worth of Chi behind this door."
"Wait, what? One thousand?"
"Yeah. But something is preventing it from opening."
Jade appeared to think for a few moments and said, "Oh. They were looking for me."
Harry asked, "Who was looking for you?"
"Some monks. Umm. That's right, The Ben-Shu Order."
Harry gave a disbelieving smirk and asked with humor, "You're the reincarnation of that guy?"
"You've heard of him? Wait, of course you have."
Harry nodded, "Someone who reincarnated one thousand times does get around."
"I mean I guess. A few years ago they came to Uncle's shop and said someone there was his reincarnation. They thought it was Uncle's apprentice, Tohru, but after the awakening failed they confirmed it wasn't him."
Harry nodded, "At least that explains the door. Without it, your total Chi Volume would certainly have attracted trouble and you would not have survived until now."
Jade asked, "So what, do I go back to that temple and get them to awaken it?"
Harry shook his head. "Bad idea. Their awakening ceremony basically strengthens the Chi on the other side of the door to open it from that side. This would also strengthen and preserve their memories and would overwhelm you. Once it opened, Jade Chan would nearly cease to be and you'd just be another in the long line of his reincarnations. He was a pacifist by the way."
"Umm. How about no. What else?"
"I can think of three ways. The first is to simply start knocking. Meditate every day and return to this place and keep knocking. Eventually the door will open. This would be relatively gentle and have the best results. Your personality would stay dominant and you'd gain the Chi and memories of those lives without overly affecting you. The downside however it is could take five minutes, five days, or five years of constant knocking. There is no way to tell how long it could take. It's even possible it may never open."
"That sounds worse than the pacifism."
"Yeah. That leaves two more ways. The One is combat. Fight something stronger than you that will kill you if you lose. Push yourself to the limit and you'll either die, or your will to live will break the door. This will preserve your personality, mostly, but there will be side effects of gaining all that chi and the memories of past lives while fighting to the death. I know it could work, but I don't know how it will affect you."
"And option number three?" She really wasn't liking the sound of any of these.
"Use magic. There are a few ways to open, break, or even refine the door with magic. But this would have irreversible consequences and would definitely change you. Maybe a little, maybe a lot."
Jade sighed and asked, "I'd appreciate a recommendation."
"Options One and Two. Mediate daily and keep knocking for as long as you can. Then come down to the Danger Room and I'll have a setting for you to fight in. It won't kill you of course but you can still use intense combat to hone your will power. The knocking may even make the door easier to break through with fighting so one could help the other."
Harry waved his hand and the white void faded away to black. Jade then opened her eyes and found herself still seated with her hands being held by Harry's.
Harry stood up and pulled her up as well and said, "I'll hold back on practicing Chi Magic until you've opened the door. That way we can still practice together. Alright?"
Jade let out some tension she didn't know she had and said, "Thank you Harry. Really."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, no problem."
Harry spent the rest of the time showing Jade how to re-enter that state herself so she could start knocking. It might take a while but Harry believed in her.
The following day Harry had his next Foundation of Metaphysics Class. Harry had to stop himself from laughing when he found that the fake Hard-Light modules on the ceiling had not only been taken down and taken apart, but put back together and returned to the ceiling. The only possible reason to return some cans of coffee maker parts to the scene of the theft was to hide the fact that Harry had tricked them into stealing such a thing in the first place.
Jean arrived early for the class and discussed a few things with Harry. On the roster she was still Jean Grey but after her birthday in a few weeks that would change to Jean Potter and both would start wearing their wedding rings. Harry's muscled frame, tall stature, and professional attire made him look closer to twenty-two than he did sixteen so although everyone in the class was older than him, they had no reason to treat him like a child due to his appearance.
Once everyone was seated Harry started the lecture without preamble. The first month's course discussed how different materials reacted to different types of energy. In addition to this being the first step in measuring and detecting these energies, the subject was also completely relevant to Harry's project as the course material gave several possible avenues to make something resembling a light saber with.
Half way through the class the door opened and a large, green ogre walked into the classroom. It wore a rough spun brown cloth shirt and hempen shorts tied up with a rope belt and had some squeaky leather shoes. In its right hand was a large wooden cudgel and in its left hand was a briefcase.
A few of the girls gasped and Harry said, "Please keep side conversations below hearing level during the lecture." His back was turned and he was pointing at the illustrations on the board .
The ogre slowly walked over to Harry who still seemed completely oblivious to it and raised its cudgel.
Reed said, "Um, Professor Potter?"
Harry asked without turning, "Yes Mr. Richards?"
The ogre smacked Harry's head with the cudgel and Harry dropped. He fell behind his desk though the students could still see his legs sticking out.
The ogre set his cudgel against the wall and then placed his black leather briefcase on the desk before opening it. The ogre reached inside and pulled out some large reading glasses and placed them on its nose, in front of its eyes.
The ogre then said with a deep gravelly voice that had a somewhat Scottish accent, "My name is Mr. Shrek. And I'll be substituting for Professor Potter while he is out. Now the important thing to pay attention to when graphing the wavesigns of these energies is that the wavesign may oscillate in three dimensions. To compensate, you need to measure the wavesign three times using this formula which will give you the dimensions of these three dimensional wavesigns."
The ogre cleanly picked up on where Harry left off on the lecture.
Jean asked aloud, "Um, Mr. Shrek? Professor Potter is twitching." Harry's legs which were sticking out from behind the desk were indeed twitching.
The Ogre looked down behind the desk and walked over. He then made a kicking motion and Harry stopped twitching. The ogre then continued the lecture as if nothing important happened.
Seeing the other student's absolutely dumbfounded faces, Jean only kept a straight face through sheer mental discipline. Harry had informed her of this earlier of course and the calling out of the twitching Harry was pre-arranged. She knew of a few other pranks he'd pull as well but not all of them. There were times where she did like surprises and she wanted to enjoy this class for as long as she could.
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