156 Chapter 153

"Very well then Mr. Potter." Vector said, "You've done your work in Business modeling and Arithmantic projections. I know that you're serious about this, but I still need to hear your ideas about what the game is going to be. This file has nothing about that. Oh, and do sit down."

Harry took a seat, glad to know that he'd swayed Professor Vector.

"Scanning, Growing and Battling. That's the base of the idea." he said, starting his explanation about his game, "When a player encounters a real life creature, he will scan it, and a virtual copy of the creature will then be added to his collection. That's the Scanning part. Then those creatures can be used to 'Battle' with fellow players. I still have to figure out a way to design that part yet. The Evolving part is also something that I am still working on, but the basic idea is that a player can 'Grow' a non-magical creature, that he had previously scanned, into a magical creature by repeatedly using it in battle. And he can the further 'Grow' it up into a rarer and more powerful creature one more time. Something in the vein of growing a Snake to a Bisthmus, then to an Ashwinder."

The professor nodded as she kept looking at the papers in front of her, making Harry feel a bit nervous. He fidgeted a bit, before he couldn't remain still anymore and asked, "Do you have any questions Professor?"

"Yes actually. That scanning thing you talked about. Won't people be in danger if they go too close to a dangerous magical creature to scan it?"

"Um…no actually. I've had this idea, called the Minimum Safe Distance, from which a player can scan a creature. Every creature will have a different one, so that people will not have to go too near to a dangerous creature to scan it," Harry explained.

"And what is that Distance based on?"

"Depends on the creature." he clarified, "It'll probably be a couple of feet for a Niffler or Kneazle and more than a hundred feet for a Unicorn or Troll. It'll depend upon the rarity and danger from the creature. I'll probably be using the Ministry's XXX based classification to set the range in which players can scan the creatures. That way, people won't need to get close to dangerous or super rare creatures to scan them."

"Good" she just said, before flipping through the file once more, "Another question. I assume that this all this 'scanning' and 'growing' and all this data storage you'll need to do will happen inside the magical artifact that you want to create?"

"Yes. I've got most of my years at Hogwarts left, which is why I want to keep working on that as a side project. While I did calculate the business projections to prove to you that I'm serious, this is a passion project. Something I'm doing as a challenge to myself."

"Hmm. It is good to hear that you aren't going to rush it and are willing to take your time in developing this. Patience is always a good thing. And let me tell you this. If you honestly pull this off before you leave Hogwarts, I'll happily nominate you for an Arithmancy Mastery," she said, finally giving Harry an approving look, which relaxed him quite a bit. "So what are you asking from me?"

"I need your help in making this a legitimate project Professor. If you accept this project as an official Arithmancy project, I will be able to work on this as a school project and won't have to go through all the hoops of getting a license for Arithmancy experimenting from the Ministry. And your help will definitely be very welcome and appreciated."

Professor Vector seemed to think for a second, considering the detailed proposal that Harry had just put forth. And then she spoke.

"You'll have to be very patient while you work on it under me. And I will not have you slacking in your regular studies in the name of a side project for my class."

"Understood."

"You'll also have to convince all of the Professors that you can handle the extra load."

"I'm willing to do that."

"It won't be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile is."

At that very moment, deep underneath Hogwarts in a vaulted chamber, a first-year girl with red eyes finished setting up all the potion ingredients in a corner safe from interference and loose rubble, before warding it up against any pests that might have taken residence since he'd last been in this chamber.

Making sure that it all was in place and protected, she walked out to the center of the chamber with a bone-chilling smile on her face.

It was time.

She closed her red eyes before hissing, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four"

Salazar Slytherin's gigantic stone face rumbled and moved. Dust and rocks formed over decades of disuse dislodged themselves and fell to the ground as the statue's mouth opened wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.

Two giant yellow eyes shone from the depths of the darkness.

...

Halfway through the breakfast next day, Harry had already seen more than enough of his share of googly eyes and admiring looks for owning a phoenix. It was annoying as all hell to have people staring at him while he was eating a banana.

Not to mention just plain creepy.

Sighing, Harry picked up his goblet of pumpkin juice and sipped on it as he watched Terry and Hermione discuss the very interesting conversation that the second year Ravenclaws had with Professor Flitwick this morning.

"Now listen here second years," Professor Flitwick had said after waking the entire tower up using a very loud alarm charm, and handing out their class schedules, "When you begin your third year, you will have to choose two or more electives to sit for the rest of your years here at Hogwarts. There are five electives to choose from. Divination teaches methods of divining the future or gathering insights into future events, through various rituals and tools. Arithmancy deals with number patterns and calculations, which will have applications in many aspects of magic, not the least of which is spell crafting and modifying. Study of Ancient Runes is a mostly theoretical subject that studies the ancient runic scripts of magic. In Care of Magical Creatures you will learn about a wide range of magical creatures, and you will be taught about feeding, maintaining, breeding, and proper treatment of these various creatures. Muggle Studies is exactly what the name implies, the study of the daily lives of Muggles."

.

.

.

.

🐉 patreon.com/William777🐉

Subscribe to my Patreon for more advanced chapters