12 Chapter 12 Preparing for the Finals

The scoring was a mixed bag. The Durmstrang Headmaster gave him a zero on account of the lack of magic Harry used. The fact that Harry got his hostage the fastest didn't mean anything to him. Dumbledore gave a nine and Bagman another ten. Beauxbatons headmistress gave an eight for getting her champion's hostage and for the interesting entertainment that came with it. Crouch gave a seven saying he would have given a ten had Harry used a single spell.

Harry didn't particularly care about the points but the Quest said he would be penalized if he did not get full marks for the third task so hopefully the scoring for that one would be different.

The final task was on June 24th giving Harry four months to prepare.

What was interesting right after the second task was not the lack of a certain reporter's presence, but the presence itself. Harry had been waiting for her and he had been getting better at identifying specific energy signatures. He felt hers in the tent where he was going to meet his godfather but he didn't see her. Though he did see a beetle that happened to be crammed with exotic energy.

Harry whispered to Sirius, "Animagus bug reporter," before saying aloud, "I'm really glad all those bribes Malfoy paid got some good information on the second task ahead of time."

Sirius had been a part of more than just one or two pranks in his lifetime so he knew how to improvise. He said, "Who can blame him, it's thanks to you the man who controlled him is gone, what better way to thank you then helping from the side. Everyone cheats in a game like this."

Harry asked, "Well since I did as you asked and used muggle toys, the odds of me winning should be in the negatives by now. Malfoy will definitely win back what he put towards this from the bets."

Sirius nodded and said with a straight face, "Well it's thanks to him no one knew I broke out of prison and rescued you from those muggles. The winnings from those bets are definitely deserved. Good job with that Pettigrew thing. Now I don't have to pretend to still be in Azkaban."

Harry asked with concern, "What do you think he is going to do to get me to win the last task?"

Sirius answered, "Malfoy told me the last task will be some one on one duels. We'll get some muggle toys that will let you beat the others easily. I think Malfoy said something about sabotaging the other contestants. I hope he doesn't infect them with dragon pox again. The last time he tried that it wasn't pretty. That poor fellow."

Harry innocently asked, "Do I have to cheat?"

Sirius answered in a hard tone, "Yes, if not for Malfoy helping me you'd still be with those horrible muggles and I'd still be in Azkaban. We owe him a debt and Wizards take debts very, very, serious."

Harry looked down in sadness but in reality he was having trouble not laughing at that Sirius being serious line his godfather snuck in there.

Harry left the tent and after a few moments he confirmed the beetle wasn't following before he couldn't take it anymore and collapsed into a fit of laughter.

Sirius also took it as he cue and let it out as well. They laughed like a pair of madmen for a few minutes before his godfather asked, "Animagus bug reporter?"

Harry nodded. "Skeeter, you know her?"

His eyes shot up, "The one who did those lovely stories about my adventures?"

Harry answered back, "I sensed her magic in a beetle in the tent. She showed up instantly after the last task and I was actually waiting for her. Instead of giving me another interview, she decided to play 'fly on the wall.'"

Harry already told Sirius about his energy senses and his godfather took it into account during their magic practice over the last two months. Harry could almost predict what spell a person was going to cast before they cast it and he had no problem sensing spells from any direction.

Once Sirius realized the very person Harry tricked into writing those ridiculous stories had just heard that performance of all things, he once more burst into a mad, cackling fit of laughter.

Both of them were looking forward to what was to come.

A week passed and neither were disappointed. The headline was titled Conspiracy and Lies.

It spoke of deceit and betrayal around the Triwizard Tournament and the betting that had been going on in the background and the dirty deeds mixed in. It listed unnamed sources that prove Sirius Black and Harry Potter were cheating the tournament to affect the betting pools due to a debt they owed to Lucius Malfoy for preventing the press from discovering the fact that Sirius Black had escaped prison long ago. The article also mentioned Malfoy's plan to infect the other contestants with Dragon Pox to ensure Harry's victory.

Harry fell out of his chair laughing in the Great Hall. The small blond Slytherin who also seemed to be Malfoy, not Mofo like he previously thought, was very confused at the article.

When the redheaded twins saw the article and realized what had happened, they bowed to Harry and declared him the Lord of Pranks. He actually got the Daily Prophet to post such an article for all of Magical Britain to see.

Outwardly Hermione declared it wasn't very funny, but Harry caught a few twitches of her lip as she worked to prevent a smile.

At this point in Harry's schooling he had memorized every significant book in the Library including all the material from the restricted section.

Harry already got Sirius to agree to take him to the Black Family home for Easter Vacation next month. Harry intended to memorize every book in that library and spend the rest of the vacation experimenting on projects he couldn't do in the RoR.

At this point Harry had already reached the limit of the RoR for training. It couldn't provide greater than 10 times normal gravity so Harry spent a large amount of time when he could just analyze the magic of the room to see how it was put together.

Harry's weekday schedule consisted of waking up at 2 or 3am, four hours after sleeping and heading to the RoR. He'd exercise to his limit then spend time until morning either experimenting or studying. Much of his studying included charms, runes, and potions. He did buy a large amount of every ingredient and a nice cauldron so he certainly wasn't going to let Snape stop him from mastering the art. One problem most people had with potions was that they expired after a while. Since time in Harry's inventory didn't move, Harry had stocked an impressive amount of potions and had every intention of increasing that number.

The two hours before breakfast he'd use battle meditation to earn energy and then return to the dorm in time to join the others on their way to breakfast. The higher his level the more he needed to level up and it was already taking three days to level at this point.

The twins somehow found out about Harry's training and asked him where he went each night. Harry told them about the RoR which gave the pair some nasty smiles.

After classes Harry would tutor Neville and Hermione, the latter getting tutored longer as she was also learning high school classes. Harry would first go over what they learned the prior week to ensure retention of the lesson then go over the theory of the new lesson then the practical application. Hermione benefited more from the theory but Neville learned more from the practical. Both were now doing the equivalent of their fourth year classes which for Hermione included the electives of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He was also giving her a basic foundation for Alchemy by showing her where certain branches of chemistry were applicable in transfiguration and potions.

At one point, Hermione jokingly said, "Harry, we're going to run out of things to study soon. Whatever will we do next year?"

Harry however couldn't meet her in the eye.

"Harry?"

"Hermione, I don't think I'm coming back next year," he honestly answered.

"What? Why?"

"I've already memorized the library Hermione. The whole thing. Other than teaching you and Neville, there isn't much left for me to do here."

"But you can't leave, you're still underaged. You'll not be allowed to perform Magic unless you graduate."

Harry shook his head, "Actually, the law says that anyone who doesn't graduate Hogwarts will have their wand snapped and will be forbidden from acquiring another. That doesn't apply to me as I've never used a wand. Also, my entry into the Triwizard Tournament has actually made me a legal adult. I haven't been an underage wizard since the 31th of October."

Hermione looked downtrodden. Harry asked with a little hope, "Do you want to come with me?"

She looked up and saw that it was a genuine offer. She could leave Hogwarts and return to the muggle world. She wouldn't be allowed a wand but she had already taken steps to learn intent based wandless magic and had confidence she wouldn't need her wand forever. That being said.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I can't."

Harry gave a weak smile and said, "That's ok. Can I ask why though?"

She answered, "Do you remember what you said when I asked you if you were from a wizard family or a muggleborn?"

Harry half smirked and repeated back, "Neither. I am an anomaly, an aberration, a tear in reality and a magnet of impending doom. You have been warned."

She nodded and said, "This has been the most exciting, the most terrifying, the most insightful, and the most amazing year of my entire life. Warning or not, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. But to be honest Harry, I can't keep doing this. I'm getting burned out. If each of the remaining years of my life are less eventful or even boring, I'd be ok with that. But I know that if I stayed with you, this would just be the beginning wouldn't it?"

Harry nodded. He'd grow to like Hermione then really like her, maybe even more. But he knew that she was right. She was an amazing person, but she was perfectly happy with being a big fish in a little pond. He knew it would be different if he relied on her. She was the type to go above and beyond for anyone in need, but the fact was, he didn't rely on her.

Harry said, "Well then, I promise to at least continue to write when I can."

She smiled sweetly and said, "I'd like that Harry." She was happy she wasn't going to lose her friend.

Harry's weekdays were almost nothing when compared to his weekends. Sirius would be considered a level 120 Wizard with a Magic rank of 20, close to 21. When Harry started sparring with him, his own Magic Path Rank was at 16. Thanks to this difference, Sirius had been thrashing Harry for three hours a day every Saturday and Sunday.

Few knew it but Sirius Black was actually the strongest wizard below Voldemort and Dumbledore in the whole of Britain.

Some thought it was the Charms Professor Flitwick or the Transfiguration Mistress McGonagall, but Sirius could defeat either without difficulty if it came to a fight. Sure, Flitwick was a champion duelist, but duels had rules, etiquette, restrictions. Flitwick's strengths thrived in a fight with such limitations for him and his opponent. But in a fight that didn't have any rules, Sirius would win. McGonagall was the second best user of Transfiguration magic in Britain behind Dumbledore, but Transfigurations was a flashy, power intensive magic that looked impressive but lacked finesse. In a fight without rules she was weaker than Flitwick.

Not that either were considered weak, both were equal if not a hair stronger than Voldemort's supposed second in command Bellatrix Lestrange. But compared to Sirius Black both were lacking.

He'd been raised with access to the Black Family Library yet he had the heart of a knight and the soul of a prankster. He had a reason to become strong, the means to do it, and a mischievous perspective that allowed him to easily think outside the box. The only person on Voldemort's side who could defeat him in a one on one fight was Voldemort himself. Even on a bad day, Sirius could play with his cousin Bellatrix without difficulty and even make a show of it.

Once Sirius understood Harry's skill level, he dueled his godson without holding back. Harry actually had to brew potions to recover stamina for his godfather so he could put everything into each duel before collapsing.

The results however spoke for themselves, Harry's magic path rank had increased to 18 and he wanted to get it to 21 before the third task.

Once Easter Break started the training was amped up to another level. Harry put every single book of the extensive Black Family Library in his inventory and then spent what may have been a full year paused before coming out of it. He'd never spent that long paused before because it would distance him from others. However since Hermione pretty much dumped him, he didn't have a reason to hold back.

And that was just the first day. For two weeks Harry would spend some unknown time paused going over everything and then unpause and experiment and finally he would duel Sirius for three hours and then digest the practical experience before experimenting some more.

Oh, and Harry and Sirius saw something both of them wished they had never seen.

On the second day of Easter Vacation, the Black Family House Elf shouted at Goose and told her she was a disgusting creature of the filthy half blood. Harry had taken Goose with him since he had no intention of leaving her at Hogwarts and he still spent some time each day chatting with her or petting her.

Goose's response to the elf's accusation was to open her mouth and release a swarm of horrible purple tentacles and teeth more terrifying than anything the pair had ever seen. The tentacles grabbed the elf and he screamed and cried out and seemed to try to escape using elf apparition and elf magic, but once bound by the tentacles, it seemed ineffective. The tentacles drew the deranged house elf into Goose's mouth where they disappeared behind the snapping sound of those unspeakable teeth which then completely withdrew into her body.

Both witnesses agreed never to speak of the incident again.

Once Harry got into his rhythm he realized how much he underestimated the Black Family history and magic itself.

The Black Family had more volumes of Grimoires on various types of magics than the Potter Family, the Hogwarts' Library, and Salazar Slytherin's study combined. It wasn't too surprising as a Grimoire is something written specifically by a witch or wizard about their own experiences with magic. A lifetime's worth of wisdom and comprehension on magic and the Black family Library had over two hundred of them. Many Grimoires dated back to before the time of Hogwarts. There were even a few encoded passages you wouldn't understand without reading the lot and once Harry had gone over them all a few times he cracked the code to the deeper aspects as well.

Exotic energy was not the only energy that could be used for magic, but it was the only one witches and wizards used. Every generation of Blacks felt that magic powered by Exotic energy was the strongest as other forms of magic would manipulate the rules of nature to achieve the effect while exotic energy magic rewrote the rules of nature to achieve the effect. One was clearly more powerful than the other.

However there was a problem with that. Each Wizard's exotic energy reserve was limited. Other sources of energy were not. Someone using nature energy which fills the air could use magic to create a thunderstorm and call down lightning with only some difficulty. Wizards could perhaps do the same or more if they had the reserves, but no witch or wizard had enough internal exotic energy to compare the amount of nature energy that flowed freely outside. It was like comparing a bucket of spring water to a fire hydrant connected to a city's water system. Quantity over Quality.

Many members of the Black Family sought to fix that. They tried to combine their exotic energy reserves with external energies like the energy of nature or dimensional energy. They blew up.

Harry figured from cross referencing history books that every wizard who had gone down the path of mixing energies had exploded. Not figuratively either. Their bodies weren't built to store energy like that. Their's weren't, but Harry's was.

Unfortunately it was not that easy. Harry tried absorbing Dimensional Energy and Natural Energy through his battle meditation but even if used to increase the level of his body, it didn't allow him to control it or use it to power his magic. He tried to control external dimensional energy but it wouldn't move as he wished it to. Even if it did, he wouldn't be able to master it before June so he decided to work on that if he was still alive once summer started.

The Black Family home itself had many quaint features and random curses on the floors, doors, and items. Harry could see magic so they didn't catch him unaware, but most of it was odd. Especially that locket in the downstairs drawer. From his senses it looked like a mass of black tentacles trying to infect others so he didn't want to even put it in his inventory. For sixteen days Harry considered this place his home since for all intents and purposes, his family was here. However all good things eventually come to an end.

At least when the end of the holiday came around, Harry's stats looked much better.

[Harry Potter

Level 112 Age 11

STR 80 AGI 201

INT 300 WIS 300

LUK 20

Warrior Path rank 13

Scholar Path rank 17

Magic Path rank 20

Tech Path rank 11

Crafting Path rank 6]

Harry spent most of the second week in battle meditation when he wasn't sparring with Sirius. Harry was now able to reliably beat him without having to use blood magic to boost the strength of his spells. Harry was now a master at dodging spell fire thanks to his energy senses and agility. He also finally relented and added a few points to luck since experimenting was partially reliant on luck and he had many more experiments to attempt.

Once Harry returned to Hogwarts, he found some good news and bad news. The good news was that the Dementors had left the grounds. Sirius even agreed to accept Dumbeldore's offer and move into a guest room once he found out. The bad news was that there had been a mass breakout of Azkaban and the Dementors were no longer following the direction of the Ministry of Magic. Yeah, that was bad.

Also, Harry's request for the goblins to acquire some muggle firearms for him was denied. Their letter did explain why though. Muggle ammo did in fact tend to go off on its own when stored in a magic rich area, when magic was used near it, or when used by a magical being. Thanks to that it was too dangerous to get near and Gringotts had very specific policies on them. There were even stories of magicals losing fingers or even getting killed just trying to load a muggle gun.

They didn't even have any suggestions on where to get some himself. They stated that in 1997 handguns were made pretty much illegal so outside of rifles for sport, there were no means to acquire concealable firearms. You couldn't even walk into a store that sold rifles and use magic on the clerk since the ammo in the store would go off.

Harry really wanted one for plan M, even if he had to manually inscribe every bullet, but it seemed it wasn't going to be that easy. He wanted to face Voldemort and his Death Eaters and whip out two tommy guns and shout, "Say Hello to my little friends!" He doubted anyone at the time would get the reference but it would still be satisfying to say.

During the second week of April Harry complained about this problem to Hermione and Neville. Neville was not surprised Harry thought he would have to face Death Eaters and understood why he wanted a gun. When Harry explained how a fast moving bullet could go through any magic shield, Neville certainly saw why they appealed to Harry.

Hermione of course being Hermione made Harry feel like an idiot by asking, "Why can't you make a magic gun that shoots solid bullets using magic?"

Harry then spent the next thirty seconds banging his head against the table while Hermione gave him her smuggest grin to date.

Although Harry had access to more magical knowledge than anyone in the school, that didn't mean the answers to some questions would just pop into his head. Did he know a dozen different potions recipes that could make something as good or better than gunpowder? Yes. Did he know metal transfiguration spells that would let him mold or strengthen metal to any form? Of course he did. Did he know runes he could directly carve onto bullets that would make them more powerful than an anti-tank round? Why yes, yes he did. But until Hermione mentioned it, he didn't put it all together.

Once Harry finished banging his head, he grabbed a parchment and drew a basic schematic of his idea. A few minutes later he walked over to a place he never thought he'd go. He knocked on the door and a few moments later it opened wide and he was faced with the perpetual sneer of Hogwarts.

"Potter.. What do you want?"

Harry said, "Can we speak inside?"

The potions professor was tempted to refuse but his curiosity got the better of him. "Why not."

Harry entered and the man closed the door. His mother had told him much about Snape as did his father which was why Harry never took anything the man did to him personally. Harry said, "It's not like I haven't enjoyed our game these last few months, but I need your help with something."

Snape didn't seem surprised in the slightest Harry knew his distaste for him was an act. Mostly anyways. The fact that Harry figured it out and went along with it would help Snape in the long run. But a meeting such as this was dangerous. Should Voldemort return, Snape would be expected to return to his side. The Dark Lord's skill at mind reading was nothing to look down at and Snape preferred there to be as few interactions between himself and Potter where they were amicable as possible.

Snape easily said, "As you know, according to the rules of the tournament, a member of the staff such as myself cannot assist you with anything."

Harry smiled at the wording and ignored it before getting out the schematic he drew earlier. He said, "Since we don't know what the final task is yet this can't be considered assistance for the tournament. I'm going to make this to kill you-know-who and any Death Eater who comes for my life. Do you know how a gun works?"

Harry didn't avoid Voldemort's name out of fear but simple politeness. Proving you could say it without flinching was about as classy as swearing during a dinner conversation to prove you were above caring for such things.

Snape took the paper and noticed the muggle weapon shape but the composition of the gunpowder was written with a potion recipe. Not one he'd heard of as it was obviously meant for detonation, but that was beside the point. He'd also recognized the runes that would operate the device that may as well have been called an artifact considering how it functioned. A chill went down his spine as he imagined the power behind such an artifact. And it would work too. Mostly.

Snape let out a deep sigh and handed back the paper. He said, "I cannot be a part of this."

If Voldemort ever saw this memory Snape would certainly be killed. He didn't mind death as he knew he deserved worse, but he would still prefer a less meaningless death.

Harry had already figured out Snape's angle and after a few moments said, "No one knows I came here. What if you give me all the advice you can think of, then Obliviate yourself of the conversation? Then we go back to how we were before."

Asking anyone else to obliviate themself would earn a broken nose, but it was perfectly reasonable advice to a double agent.

Snape took more time than he thought to consider it. After a full two minutes he said, "Under two conditions. First, I want you to answer every single question I have for you. Tell me what plans you already have and how strong you actually are. You've done a remarkable job until now playing the part of a simple slightly above average student. Should anyone ask, I can make myself believe it to be true even under Veritaserum or Legilimency, but if we're going to do this I need everything. Second, before I obliviate myself, I will write myself a letter and give it to you. If you successfully kill the dark bastard then you will return it to me. Do we have a deal?"

Harry held out a hand without hesitation and they shook on it.

Harry told him as much as he could without telling him that he was pretty much a video game character though he did give a summary of the effects. The extra details he asked Snape not to include in his letter.

Once Snape understood the relevant points he said, "Let me understand this. You are a mutant obscurial immune to the killing curse and poison. If you die from anything else you can easily, albeit painfully come back to life, though a little weaker. You have a timeless, internal pocket dimension of unlimited size. You are already stronger than myself and that foolish godfather of yours. And yet you intend on coming up with a method to defeat Voldemort, all his death eaters, and a hundred dementors, without revealing any of these facts to others."

Harry said, "I also have the dissected parts of a basilisk corpse."

Snape looked longingly to his shelves at his bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhisky but knew that it would be a waste to drink it for a conversation he won't remember.

The potions professor said, "Dumbledore hid the Sorcerer's Stone in the passage behind the third floor corridor. Unfortunately, it seems to have been stolen during the second task."

Harry felt his stomach drop. That wasn't good.