Chapter 168

"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall.

"Good gracious!" whispered Madam Pomfrey as she pried the hand mirror the girl was holding in her hands and looked at it, "Completely shattered."

"What does this mean, Albus?" asked Professor McGonagall urgently. "The girl is a half-blood. Why would the heir even go after her?"

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that our fears have proven true. The Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again. And no one is safe anymore."

But on this particular October Wednesday morning, sitting on his bed, hidden from the dorm around him by his bed-curtains, he was unhappy about his abysmally low strength stats.

STR-17

VIT-24(+4)=28

DEX-22(+4)=26

INT-40

WIS-43

LUC-27

His Int and Wis stats were above most adults, but he was only as good as an average seventh year in the Str department. The complete imbalance of the stats towards his Int and Wis just felt really off to him.

Granted, he should have expected that. He was at a school that taught magic. Of course his skills would be more oriented towards the mana side of his abilities. But Harry really didn't want to slack in any department. He was very insistent with himself about that.

It was while riding that particular train of thought, that Harry remembered a memory about one particular idea that he'd heard about quite a while back, but never really used. Closing his eyes, he used Gamer's Mind to pull forth that memory of the Malfoy's New Year party.

Celestina Warbeck eyed her tumbler before looking at Harry. "Wanna take a sip."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me Miss Warbeck, but I'm kind of underage."

"Come on Harry. There's a lot crazier stuff to do than drink underage. The last guy I slept with used to turn his clothes into stone just to try to bulk up. Did it because I told him he was a fat slob once. Wanted to impress me." Celestina said

"So did he? Impress you?"

"Oh hell no. I left him three days later. Too desperate. So don't you wanna have your first drink?"

Harry sighed.

Wearing an inner vest made of stone wasn't exactly the best idea he'd ever had, but he didn't really have anything else he could do here at Hogwarts that could help him increase his Str except long hours training in an ID. And with the school's current atmosphere of pure paranoia and worry, he disappearing for hours on end would not only be suspicious but also stupid.

Besides, he did have his Healing ability, in case he ended up breaking a few bones. So there was nothing holding him back from a bit of experimentation.

He took off his shirt and set his wand onto the vest he was wearing, before he incanted, "Duro"

With an "Oomph!" he slammed right back into the bed.

Stupid idea.

Very stupid idea.

Looking like a turtle that had somehow turned itself upside down, Harry flailed around a bit trying to right himself, before he decided to bugger it and opened up his stat window before feeding 6 points into his Str, bringing it up to 23.

He felt the strain of the stone vest on his muscles reduce as his increased strength stats went to work. Finally able to move his hands enough to cast a spell, Harry put his wand tip to the vest and cast a feather-light charm before he sat back up.

He'd have to ease into the weight, he realized, and not just throw it all on in one go.

Having understood that, he slowly reduced the amount of mana he was putting into the feather-light charm, making the stone vest weigh closer and closer to its true weight, before he canceled the charm entirely. At approximately 15 kilos, it wasn't straining his muscles all that much anymore.

Letting the weight of the vest ease in, Harry moved his torso around a bit, before he slipped on his shirt and robes. Parting the bedcurtains, he stepped off the bed.

The others hadn't woken up yet, he noted as he walked around, getting himself accustomed to the weighted vest. Realizing that Hedwig was awake, and was watching him with glinting eyes, Harry walked over to her gilded perch and scratched her behind her neck, amusedly watching as her eyes slid shut and her right leg started twitching.

"You look like a cat" he pointed out and got a baleful glare in response.

Hearing a melodious trill from outside, Harry looked out the window, only to see the familiar red plumed form of Fawkes fluttering about just outside the tower.

It was Hedwig's time to be off.

Hedwig hopped onto his shoulder, and with a smile, Harry went over to open the window. With a quick flap of her wings, Hedwig took off and joined her older friend before flying off towards the forest to do some free exploration and playtime.

Harry mentally made a note that he'd have to remember to get Fawkes some quality apples for Christmas, incredibly glad that another older Phoenix was around at school to help him take care of Hedwig, who was practically a baby by Phoenix standards.

"She's off to the forest again huh?" came Terry's voice from behind him.

"Yeah," Harry replied, turning around to look at his pajama-clad friend, "She just keeps getting bored in the tower, and a bit of time outside with friends is good for a growing girl like her."

A grin spread across Terry's face, before he remarked, "You sound like my Mum"

"I do huh?" Harry remarked, before schooling his expression into a severe frown and saying in his shrillest voice, "Get ready Terry! Why haven't you changed out of your pajamas yet young man!"

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