Chương 27: The Summer Holidays (Part 1)
The power to be strong, and the wisdom to be wise
All these things will come to you in time.
On this journey that you're making, there'll be answers that you'll seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain, It's you who'll reach the peak.
- "Son of Man" by Phil Collins
16th July 1992
Carter Residence
Harry Potter lay in complete bliss on a comfy bed, covered with an unbelievably soft duvat. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and go back to sleep, but the offending rays of light slinking past the curtains made sure to thwart his efforts. After trying to ignore the call of the morning sun and failing, he forced his eyes open and sat up on the bed.
It took him a moment to remember where he was, and when he did he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. He was at Carter Residence, his friend Benjamin's house, in the guest room that had been temporarily designated 'Harry's'.
Harry still couldn't believe the odd turn of fortune he was experiencing. Just a couple of months ago, he was dreading the prospect of the summer holidays, when he would have to leave the castle and return to the Dursleys. Even if his odious relatives didn't lock him up for the duration of his stay, the only bright light in the impending darkness would be the letters from his friends. Letters telling him how they were having fun, while he was stuck in Little Whinging.
He could've never imagined that instead of going back to Durzkaban, he would be spending the summer at his friend's house. His friend Ben, who could apparently see the future, or atleast a future. Harry didn't quite understand all the stuff about timelines or other universes, never having been allowed to watch any films or read any novels that the Dursleys thought he might enjoy. Nevertheless he knew that he owed Ben a lot. Not only for hosting him for the holidays but for also taking care of Voldemort.
Ever since he joined the wizarding world, he had realised the deep terror the Dark Lord had instilled in their society, so much so that they were even afraid to utter his name a decade after he was gone. He got a taste of that fear for the first time when he confronted Quirrel last month. Hearing that chilling voice coming from the back of Quirrel's head had been the stuff of nightmares. He had stood petrified as Quirrel began to unwrap his turban, convinced that he was going to die fighting Voldemort, just like his parents.
Only for help to come from an unexpected corner. Apparently Ben, his very first friend knew much more than he let on. The ease with which he dealt with Voldemort's wraith gave Harry hope that even though Voldemort had somehow survived, Ben and Dumbledore would take care of him now, and Harry might not even have to get involved. This was a load off Harry's chest, as all he wanted to do was have a normal school life like everyone else. Well, as normal as it can be in a magical school.
He had been a bit hurt that Ben hadn't trusted him enough to tell him about Quirrel, but that feeling fled when he learnt that Voldemort could read minds. Now he was thinking about asking Ben for a pair of those enchanted glasses he would be making for Hermione. Who knows how many people could just look into his eyes and read his thoughts! He would've tried Occlumency, but honestly sitting around and trying to empty his mind for months sounded too boring to even contemplate.
Reaching out to the side table, he put his glasses on and took a look around. The room was big, far bigger than Dudley's second bedroom he had stayed in for a few days. He had a feeling space expansion charms were involved. The room was tastefully although sparsely decorated. Mr and Mrs Carter had asked him to decorate the room as he saw fit. For a boy who'd spent his formative years sleeping on a ratty mattress in a boot cupboard, it was a overwhelming gesture of kindness.
Looking at the clock informed him that it was now 5:37 am, which meant that he had 23 minutes to join Ben and Mr Carter for their morning constitutional. Hopping out of the bed, he paced across to the private bathroom attached to the room. While washing his hands, he studied his own reflection for a few seconds and nodded. Following a regimen of nutritional potions for a year had allowed him to finally discard his scrawny frame, and achieve the normal height for a boy his age. His quidditch training on the other hand, made sure that he was in excellent shape.
Coming out of the bathroom, he went to the closet and took out a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt. Mrs Carter had been appalled at the state of Harry's wardrobe, which had consisted entirely of Dudley's hand-me-downs. Having learnt of their origins and confirming there was nothing of sentimental value, she had promptly vanished them and took Harry to a London Departmental store.
Inside, Harry had found himself nearly overwhelmed by the shiny tiled walls, enticing display windows and all of the brightly lit signs. That was not the sort of place that Aunt Petunia had ever taken him. The oldest, darkest second-hand store had always been the destination Aunt Petunia had dragged him to whenever he needed something that he couldn't simply get from Dudley after he'd either outgrown it or broken it.
After what seemed like many days, Harry had finally escaped from the store. Mrs Carter and Sophie, the helpful sales assistant had insisted that he try on clothes after clothes after clothes as though he was some kind of real-life dress up doll. When he returned that afternoon, burdened down by a dozen or so bags, both Ben and Mr Carter had given him commiserating looks, apparently having shared similar fates before.
"Good morning, Hedwig," he said to the beautiful snow-white owl resting in her cage after her usual nightly hunt. He chucked her a couple of owl treats and she affectionately nibbled his fingers.
Out in the hall, Ben was already waiting for him with a smirk on his face.
"You're far too chipper in the morning," Harry groused.
"Oh come on, Harry," Ben said with a laugh. "This will be good for you."
"Why do people always say 'this will be good for you' when they're talking about something unpleasant?" Harry asked sourly as he followed Ben down the hall.
Outside on the front lawn, they were joined by Mr Carter, who was warming up wearing a muggle tracksuit and a barking Teddy, who looked like he couldn't wait to start running.
"Good morning, lads! Ready for some invigorating exercise?" said Mr Carter, having limbered up. "Oh, cheer up Harry," he added cheekily, taking a look at his half-asleep visage. "We're about to go jogging, and it won't get any more enjoyable if we're dour about it."
One long sweaty run later ----
Man, nothing beats the feeling of warm water running down your body after a long hard workout. I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to dry myself. Putting on some clothes, I left my room and joined Harry and Teddy on our way downstairs for breakfast.
I had almost forgotten about Harry's summer arrangements. Now that he wasn't close friends with Ron, there would've been no one to rescue him from the Dursleys after Dobby paid him a visit. The Headmaster took some convincing, but ultimately decided that it was relatively safe for him to stay as our guest. After all, Dad was an Auror and our house has some pretty powerful wards.
After breakfast, Harry went to the living room to update his knowledge of pop culture. He would spend his mornings and afternoons watching TV or reading books of the sci fi or fantasy genre. You know, things a normal kid of his age would do, instead of cleaning the house or mowing the lawn as the Dursleys would have him do. In the evenings, we go to the park and play cricket or football with the neighborhood boys.
Rachel on the other hand, went to visit her friends Ginny and Luna. You must be thinking 'How did that happen?'. Well, turns out Ginny and Rachel met on platform 9 3/4 last year and really hit it off. They started exchanging letters and even visited each other a few times. And since Luna lived nearby, she naturally became acquainted with my sister as well.
As for me, I headed to the basement. Walking down the stairs, I made my way past the wine cellar and mom's impromptu potion lab, and placed my hand on a specific wall. A moment passed, and then the wall in front of me transformed into a pair of solid oak doors, which I pulled open to enter an area approximately the size of a large warehouse.
After more than a year of practice, I was a master of the Space Expansion Spell. As soon as I got home, I had created this place to serve as my personal workshop. Now unlike Hogwarts, my house wasn't built on top of the confluence of 3 ley lines. Which means unlike the Room of Requirement, my new man-cave can't withstand some of my more destructive spells. But that's okay, I was more focused on enchanting right now.
My repertoire of spells has had a few recent additions, such as -
a) Scrying (Spatial Magic) - It allows the caster to view images of a remote location.
b) Subspace Creation (Spatial Magic) - It allows the caster to create a pocket dimension independent of their own reality.
c) Memory Transfer (Spirit Magic) - It allows the caster to retrieve, transfer and store memories.
I now understand why the Masters of the Mystic Arts in the Marvelverse use sling rings to open portals. After all, if you know the spell, isn't it better to perform it by yourself than to rely on an artifact that can be taken away? As it happens, everytime you open a portal there are a bunch of calculations involved, and trust me no matter how fun portals are, it gets really tedious after a while.
So, I decided to create a Portal Ring, which would open portals by running the calculations by itself as long as I could visualise the destination in my mind. This would not have been possible without incorporating the new spell 'Scrying' into the ring, which allows it to process the information and make necessary adjustments by itself.
Speaking of rings, of course one can't forget the classics - a Storage Ring. A relatively simple concept, open a pocket dimension (subspace) and overlay it on an object in reality. It's execution is anything but easy. Unlike Spatial Expansion, where there is already exists an empty space (no matter how small), Subspace Creation requires you to 'open up' a new unstable space that the surrounding ether particles try very hard to close.
Compared to Spatial Expansion, Subspace Creation requires tremendous amounts of magical energy. Expending all my present energy reserves, while using my wand which significantly boosted my power, I could only create a pocket dimension of about 1000 cubic metre and attach it to a ring where it stabilized. All things considered, not bad, although I wouldn't be creating pocket dimensions that can house entire islands anytime soon.
And finally, the project I've been working on for the last few months - a magical projector. But unlike the muggle movie projectors that require a screen, my artifact casts extremely realistic illusions in mid-air by overlapping sheets of darkness and light of different wavelengths.
Before I left the castle for the summer holidays, I borrowed the Headmaster's Pensieve and studied it in detail for a few days. But only after Dumbledore made me promise not to damage the artifact in any way. Apparently, Pensieves are extremely rare with only a handful of them surviving, their creation being a long lost art. Their value lies in the fact that ancient Time Magic was incorporated in their creation, which explains how a Pensieve can create a realistic virtual environment out of the limited memories of a human mind.
Analysing the Rune matrix of the Pensieve allowed me to fill the last gap in my device - how to project sound waves alongside the visual illusions. The knowledge of how to create immersive virtual reality was interesting, but not necessary right now. Maybe later I could create some VR games, once my familiarity with Spirit Magic was up to par so that the player's spirit doesn't suffer when they take damage during gameplay.
Then with Gravity Magic, I created a diamond disc of 10 cm diameter (which could approximately store 50 Billion GB worth of data) and started filling it with all the memories of entertainment media from my past life via Memory Transfer.
I was planning on introducing movies at Hogwarts. Of course, a regular movie projector wouldn't do the trick. Hogwarts is one of the most magically saturated places in the world. An electronic device, no matter how heavily warded, will eventually stop functioning. So, I had to create the technology top to bottom.
This way, I'll be able to introduce muggle pop culture to the children born in the wizarding world, which will hopefully lessen the gulf between them and muggleborns. Plus, I can even show them some movies from the 21st century. Of course, I'll have to be careful not to show any future live-action movies to the general populace as that might lead to awkward questions about the actors. But I could definitely present animation and say that I created them on a magical computer I built. Hopefully this will provide some entertainment to the kids while fostering some positive feelings towards the muggle world.
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