Chapter 16 – Two steps forward

Harry returned to Sirius's place after the ball and decided to spend some time on figuring out the Veela alure. It would have been easier if he was with her, but considering he knew her effect on his occlumency shields he had a general idea, at least.

DND was great fun, but after a few days of consecutive gaming, it was starting to feel like a chore, and the group decided to turn it into a weekend thing, rather.

'Um, Harry?' the hat asked, one morning. 'Are you close to the school right now? Aren't you supposed to only come back in two days?'

'I was in the library earlier, so I decided to test something.' Harry said. 'I left a few rune-relays for the interface, back to London, from Hogwarts, so that I can more easily communicate with people there.'

'And how were you in the library, earlier?' the hat asked, frowning.

'Flew.' Harry said, shrugging. 'Then I just popped back home.'

'Popped?' the hat pressed.

'I teleported… I think.' Harry said, easily. 'Well I suspect it would probably be considered something else because I didn't actually deconstruct and reconstruct, nor did I use a wormhole. I just accessed a relay, placed myself in the interface there and exited here. It didn't really feel like anything. I just walked through, like it was a door.'

The hat sighed. 'Did you just admit to inventing a new form of instant transportation?' he asked.

'Not really.' Harry countered. 'It's more like I stored myself in my interface, like we can normally store things and then I just… un-stored myself, here.'

The hat didn't even know what to say. Still, his incredulity was soon overcome by curiosity. 'How would I do that?' he asked.

'Just… I don't know, think of using my interface, the one you're talking to me with right now, and push yourself through your interface, into and out of mine. It's the same principle as sending someone a message.' Harry said. 'Just remember that you don't have access to an interface that side. You'd need to wait for me to be back that side before you could come to me again through yours.'

'Like a network?' the hat asked, even as he took a moment to visualise that concept. He'd long since figured out that that was the best way to get the results he wanted. Without even realising it, he floated out, in front of Harry.

"See?" Harry asked. "It's not hard at all, is it? Feels like nothing."

The hat turned around, to look at Harry, still sort of shocked, and then slightly disappointed. He understood why Harry was so nonchalant about it. It really had felt like nothing. Still, that was a lot of distance to cover in an instant. Then, the hat smirked. "Oh, I'm going to need access to this network of yours. You've just given me a new power that I want to be able to use."

Harry shrugged, as he continued mentally flipping through a book on Veela he'd copied from the library.

"What were you in the library, for?" the hat asked, as he settled himself on the coffee table, in Sirius's place. "And where's Sirius, now that I think about it?"

"Sleeping off a bit of a bender." Harry said. "I figured he was tired of babysitting me, so I told him to bugger off and go get laid or something, because I wanted to do a bit of studying. He stumbled back in at around 4AM." Then Harry showed the hat what he was reading.

"Veela?" the hat asked. "Are you experiencing strange feelings, or just doing standard research?"

"Fleur was telling me that controlling her allure was an issue sometimes." Harry said, flipping a page. "I'm going to try and create something for that. It's obviously a magical ability, so once I have enough information about the effect and how it's been countered in the past, I should be able to create a simple limiter/amplifier function for her."

"And do you intend to give her a grant?" the hat asked.

"I was thinking of giving her only one program." Harry said. "She shouldn't even need to see it. Just a feeling of upping power or lowering it. Maybe something like directing it would also work?"

"Is that possible?" the hat asked.

"I mean, it really doesn't matter if someone sees it, does it?" Harry asked. "The function is there. The shaped magic and the intent which made it still exists. If I put that in her mind and the magic knows what to do, it should still work. Logically at least. We make interface rune boards and the only function that that performs at the end of the day is to hold shaped magic. A function. The function may be to put an interface on there, but at the end, it's just a bit of magic that holds other magic. Fleur is a magical being, so we know that she can perceive, conceive and process magical processes."

The hat went silent at that, as something clicked for him. It made perfect sense. The interface was never an actual thing. It was just a way to access and communicate with magic, directly. To teach it to understand humans on an individual basis. What Harry had created, and claimed, wasn't a spell or magical invention. It was a new way of thinking about the magic that all magical beings used.

"Merlin!" the hat finally exclaimed. "You've unlocked the basis of communing with the source!"

"Like, the source of magic?" Harry asked, not understanding.

"No." the hat said. "Magic doesn't have a source, per-se. Magic is just another energy, like life. All beings are unique, and thus all life is unique. Everyone perceives magic in a certain way, because of that quality. Therefore, there is no one way to use magic. Everyone trains their own magic based on their own perception of the source of their magic. Everyone learns at different speeds because their minds try to interpret the magic in their own unique way, and needs to be trained to see things, in a uniform way. It's basically just a form of control.

"What you've discovered, Harry, isn't a new way to learn and adapt magic, it's a new way to do what everyone should have been doing all along; by finding their own understanding, and building off of that, to reach their own potential. What you plan to do for Miss Delacour isn't giving her a power, or control. You're applying your own control and showing her magic what you want it to do!"

Harry considered that, for only a few moments, before he nodded. "Well, yes." he said. "Isn't that what I've been saying all along?" he asked, seeming confused.

The hat needed a moment to think about that. The boy was right. He'd never said that he was changing someone or giving them powers. He was just allowing them access to his perception, and then letting them build off of that. To be fair, things like the core orbs that he'd been using proved that there are some rules and universal standards, but still, with this new understanding the hat finally saw what Harry had been saying all along. Magic wasn't as limited as people seemed to think. The rules were there, but it's only when you allowed yourself to believe in those limits, through biases you learned from others, that they apply to you. Harry had been freeing people from their limits all along, and he'd never had any because he refused to be influenced by other people's perceptions. He'd even said as much to the hat back in first year during his sorting. He'd been preaching it since his first train ride over to Hogwarts!

"Merlin." the hat whispered. "You really are a marvel, you know that?"

"Meh." Harry said, shrugging it off. "I just like to learn and try new and fun things."

"You don't understand what this means, do you?" the hat asked.

"The fact that the rules of magic are only there, to be broken?" Harry asked. "Yeah, sure. I know that. Dumbledore told me that it takes years to train your magic, so I wanted to prove him wrong and now I'm probably the strongest fourteen-year-old magical in the world. Aunty Poppy told me that magic couldn't heal everything, so I helped her see how to overcome that. She also told me that some spells could be designed, but that it would be impossible to cast due to complexity, and I proved that wrong too.

"Then there's the petrification and de-petrification, something that could only be applied in certain circumstances with certain tools and magical creatures involved, but we were able to replicate and create those too. You just need a bit of imagination. To open your mind, see one possibility and then build off that. Nothing is impossible if you can push through the limitations you place on yourself." Harry summed up.

The hat was so damn proud of the boy, he just wished he had arms to hug him, just then. That gave him an idea. "Do you think you could make me a body, or something?" he asked.

Harry frowned. Technically, the hat was a sentient being, but he didn't have the actual brain, that could handle motor-function, like a normal human did. Still, he'd been able to make a peg-leg that could feel, because he knew enough about the nervous system and automatons, to create a program to emulate that and send those sensations to the brain.

That's all that Moody's rune-tablet did, in fact. It was just a storage space for a magical program, to emulate the functionality of a single leg. Making something like a whole body and having the magic perform all the functions shouldn't be all that difficult. It would likely take time, though. Unless he did something like create a homunculus, without a mind, which had all the functionality, and a proper nervous system.

Still, he thought that making something like a humanoid manikin which was connected to a few different programs, which handled different functions would be very doable. He even had the perfect model for it. His own body-model. He could just copy that, apply it to the system, connect the functionality to a central point and then connect that to the hat through an interface, and boom: Body.

"Sure, that sounds like a fun little side-project." Harry said, smiling. "I should be able to do something like that in just a few days, if I cheat a little bit."

"Really?" the hat asked. "That quick?"

"Well, yeah." Harry said. "It's going to take a few different projects to get there, but I've already done most of the research I'd need to be able to do it. Maybe I should make a body for Hedwig, too?" he pondered aloud. Then he shook his head. "No. She'd become an absolute pest if she could follow me around as a person all day, while her body slept and then disconnecting to do the same as herself, at night."

The hat was silent, the folds that acted as his eyes, wide.

"There's just one question, I guess." Harry continued. "Do you know what you want to look like?"

"I can choose what I want to look like." the hat said in slight awe, his voice trembling a little. He hadn't known that he wanted to be a person until that very moment, and it was affecting him deeply.

"Sure thing." Harry said. "But please don't choose to be a woman, or someone famous or something? I think that could become an issue, and I've already started thinking of you as a 'him', rather than an 'it'."

The hat needed a moment to reign in its… his emotions, before he sighed out. "Technically, I was made to be a male intelligence, until the founders put something from all of them into me. I'm technically me, and parts of two men, and parts of two women. At least, at an intellectual level."

"Genetically speaking, all men are at least part woman. We don't need nipples, but we have them because before a certain point of development, we are all female." Harry said. "Only women are all woman."

The hat let out a bark of laughter at that. "Never change, kid. I love that mind of yours." he said.

"Wait, as solely an intelligence, was that like a profession of love?" Harry asked, smirking. "Because I'll tell you now, Gryff, I don't swing that way."

The hat chuckled at the obvious joke, before he sobered. "Harry, as an intelligence that also considers himself a male, a straight one at that, I agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly, but just so you know; I consider you family. So yes, I do love you, but not in a romantic way. I dare say Hermione would be rather upset if that were the case."

As had been his intent, Harry blushed and stammered at that and the hat just chuckled at the lad, until he narrowed his eyes and suppressed his embarrassment. Then he grabbed the hat and pushed him through his interface, into the connection that Harry had left in the library.

'Figure out what you want to look like so long.' Harry said through the connection, which he then summarily closed and blocked.

The hat still chuckled as he floated up and decided to go catch up with Fawkes. The phoenix and he had actually been playing wizarding chess recently. The pieces moved on verbal commands after all. The phoenix's voice, just like Hedwig's, was something Harry set subconsciously, and the hat suspected that that meant that Harry thought the Phoenix was wise and powerful, which wasn't untrue, but the voice wasn't so much an actual representation of the way the phoenix thought, as much as it was one Harry had chosen for him.

Hedwig's voice was more like a woman in her twenties, but that was also likely a representation of how Harry thought of her. Hedwig sometimes acted like a young mother, so that made sense to him too.

Fawkes and he often chatted, now. Phoenixes were immortal beings and Fawkes was quite old to boot, not that the bird had a number for his age because phoenixes apparently didn't think of that. They just lived from burning day to burning day, with youthful vigour when they reached young adulthood, and then calming as they reached middle-age. Apparently, they could then choose to go through a burning day early, to feel young and powerful again more quickly, but seldom did. They quite enjoyed their old age, sitting around and watching as the young acted young.

When the hat mentioned the possibility of getting a body from Harry, the phoenix asked him if he would be becoming a bird. That thought hadn't even crossed the hat's mind. He could be… anything really, and suddenly he had a suspicion that Harry would likely be doing this for himself at some point too, if he couldn't already change his body. With what he'd seen, it was entirely possible that Harry could in fact, already choose to change himself into anyone that he'd already scanned, with just a simple application of his body-replacement magic. That had the hat bragging about his friend again, and the phoenix just accepted it as fact because he also had a lot of faith in the young man.

III-III

When school started up again, the hat had not heard a word from Harry, and Harry seemed to be very tight-lipped. He'd asked Poppy if he'd offended him, worried that the joke had gone too far or something, but Poppy had already spoken to Harry and knew he was just embarrassed. He'd not realised that he liked her and every time that someone joked about it, he'd shied away from the idea because he didn't understand it. He was aware now, and he was dealing with it.

When the hat still went to go talk to Harry, floating through the dorm window, as he'd done on many occasions, and wanting to make sure things were fine, he found the boy calmly floating above his bed in the lotus position, with a serene smile on his face.

"Am I interrupting something?" the hat asked.

Harry didn't jump. He'd been aware of the approach of the hat because he'd had his detection wards up, along with the standard silencing magic around his bed which the hat knew about. It was just better that way. Meditating was very calming, but when you were deep into meditation and someone snuck up on you, it could scare the hell out of you.

"No." Harry said calmly, still with his eyes closed. "Sorry about the silent treatment, by the way. I didn't mean to worry you. I was a little confused by my own feelings and reacted badly. That being said…" he opened his eyes and looked at the hat directly, "don't joke about Hermione and me, please? I'm still trying to figure out my feelings, and I don't like blushing like that. It's… irritating, I think."

The hat smiled and nodded. "I understand and apologise for doing that. Back in the day, people used to do that as a sort of encouragement. I know that for you I should handle things differently. You are a unique young man after all."

"Thank you." Harry said, closing his eyes again.

"What are you meditating about?" the hat asked.

"Nothing, really." Harry said. "Just watching some processes going, and basically enjoying the show, while I watch the neurons fire. It's like a sort of electrified spider-web. Do you want to see?" he offered.

"It does sound interesting." the hat allowed. The next moment the hat received an invite to see what Harry was watching. As soon as he connected, he was looking at a model of a brain, but it had been modified somehow, and he could actually see sparks all over the general structure of the brain, which was transparent. It did kind-of look like a web, which was conducting millions upon millions of little sparks. 'That's strangely beautiful.' the hat commented in his mind, and watched as a certain part of the brain activated more as his brain internalised his words. 'And now I think I know why you needed to do this. It's to help Miss Delacour, right?'

'And you.' Harry said. 'You don't have a brain, just a consciousness. For you to feel, like a human does, when in a human form, you'd need a magical brain, which processes things like we do. I've incorporated a copy of this, into your body's programming.'

'My body?' the hat asked, with a bit of excitement coming into his words.

'I've got a basic model for you.' Harry said. 'I modelled it after the statue of Godric Gryffindor, for now, not that I know how accurate that statue is.'

'Which one?' the hat asked. He'd not mind looking a bit like Godric, on some level. He was technically part of him, and he felt it had a certain poetic correctness to it.

'The architect of Hogwarts one.' Harry said. 'It's the most detailed one, but it's also him as an old man, so I can change it.'

'No, I think that's actually perfect.' the hat said. He did feel like he was old. 'Just, drop the beard, and maybe a few of the wrinkles.' he said, with a bit of humour. 'Back in those days, people got a lot of sun. They didn't know it was bad for them.'

'Can do.' Harry said, as he disabled the view of his own brain in action, and pulled up what he'd made, showing it to the hat. 'What do you think?' he asked, as he started modifying the face.

'He's a bit bigger than he was in his old age.' the hat admitted.

'I added a good strong muscular structure, along with strong bones, clean arteries and some standard, healthy things that will give you the feel of youth. If I did it right, at least.' Harry said. 'Wouldn't want you to miss out on the perks of being a human, after all. I can't guarantee that everything works exactly right, because I tried not to focus too much on things like reproductive organs, which you can likely understand.

"You can always learn and modify as necessary, but things like hormones and stuff will be your baby if you want them altered, besides a standard human physiology. And obviously you won't be able to reproduce, because while your body is mostly human, it's also a construct which doesn't possess actual DNA. On the bright side, your body will be basically immortal. If it's damaged beyond repair, you can just put it away, and bring it up again and it will be brand new.'

The hat looked at the body and face, as Harry finished changing it. He nudged Harry, here and there, so that he could change one or two more things. He didn't want quite that large a nose, and the ears were similarly large, which he didn't want. A bit more colour to the hair, and a fuller mane, too, because he might be old, but he didn't want to look ancient, like Dumbledore.

When it was done, he'd basically reverted the body back to what muggles would consider to be their mid-thirties. Harry chuckled at that, and the hat joined, realising that he'd basically changed the look almost entirely.

'That good?' Harry finally asked.

'I think, it looks perfect.' the hat said.

'Well, then all you need is clothes.' Harry said. 'I took the liberty of getting you something I think you'll appreciate.'

As the hat watched, the model was clothed in a reasonable semblance of a rogue's outfit, daggers and all. Strangely, the hat really liked that. He'd be dressed as his character from their DND game. 'That's simply perfect, Harry.' the hat said, smiling mentally. 'Do you think you can find books or something on lock-picking, for me?'

'Why not just go out into the world, and buy some yourself?' Harry returned.

Gryff hadn't even considered that. 'I can go shopping!' he exclaimed.

'Well, there are still limits.' Harry said. 'This construct isn't free. Manifesting and then maintaining it will have a cost on your core-orb. My estimate is currently a maximum of a day, at most, with your current orb. But that just means that if you start following a normal routine, and don't do too much magic, that you should be able to spend time as a human, during normal hours, and then just sleep at night, to recharge, like a normal person. You could also just ask someone for a charge if they have access to an interface, to feed you some. I'm still trying to figure out a conversion system, so that you can metabolise food, for magic, but I think that a direct conversion would have bigger issues, like nuke-level issues.'

'Please tell me that you haven't figured out how to make a nuke?' the hat begged.

'Ask me no questions, Gryff, and I'll tell you no lies.' Harry said, seriously. 'But, for your peace-of-mind, if I ever did figure something like that out, you could bet your ass that I've got it under mental lock and key, and will never even admit to it, with people that I don't trust implicitly.'

The hat mentally shuddered at that. He'd seen, through Harry, what devastation the muggles had come up with. Nukes were the worst invention that muggles had ever made, and it scared him down to the core. Playing with powers like that, should never even be considered, and the people that invented it, should have rather just gone back to bed, and forgotten the idea.

'I trust you, Harry.' the hat said, knowing that Harry didn't have a personality that would ever let him play with those sorts of things. 'And I officially request that you just rather skip that metabolizing concept and never think of it again please. If what you're thinking is right, then I'd rather you don't even contemplate it.'

'Already have, to be honest.' Harry admitted. 'Powering magic on that level, shouldn't ever be necessary, though, so I agree with you. Rather not play with that. I already forced myself to forget most of the idea, and I just remember the concept, now, so that I could detect it, should someone else play with things like that. Wouldn't want to miss it, if someone else starts playing with something like that, after all.'

'Very wise, Harry.' Gryff agreed. Then he sighed. 'So, how does this magic body-thing work? Do I become the body, or am I still a hat, who just wears a body, as opposed to the other way around?'

Harry smiled at him. 'You can choose, actually, but in actuality, you become the body. You can just choose to have a hat, that looks and acts like yourself, but it would be a replica. I thought it would be a good diversion, should someone decide to steal you off your body's head. You can also choose to send your magic from the replica, using a wand, when you need to. An added layer of security for you, you know?'

'And if I'm hurt, as a human?' the hat asked.

'If I did it right, you'll feel pain and bleed.' Harry said. 'If your body dies, you'll likely lose consciousness and revert to being a hat. I'd suggest just turning back if that ever happens and then go through your interface to the one in the library, or maybe put one in the headmaster's office, but I'll warn you now, if it's there, I'll be able to access it.'

'Give me one.' the hat said, instantly. 'I won't mind a quick exit and entrance, and the headmaster doesn't need to know, even though he hides very little from you, these days. He really does care, and he's really trying to be a good man.'

'I know.' Harry said, as he pulled up the entire program cluster for the hat's body and pushed it to him. 'There you go.' he said. 'Please do remember the clothes before you transform, every time. The default is nude, so that you can choose different clothes. You can just store it in your interface, or your secret compartment.'

'You knew about that?' the hat asked, even as he inspected the body, and pulled up the clothes, which instantly appeared on the model, again.

'I've known about it for a long time, now. Second year, Christmas.' Harry said. 'It was that storage space you have, that gave me the idea to add an extra space in my trunk for a fridge. Well, that, and the other compartments.'

'Wait, you have more?' the hat asked.

Harry decided to smirk at the hat, that time, not answering the question. "Go ahead. I'd like to see your first transformation, please?" he said, aloud, for the first time in a while, which wasn't all that long, considering they'd been communicating mostly mentally for the last while, and had been perceiving time differently, again.

The hat excitedly floated to the end of Harry's bed, and focussed on the program, which didn't just have a button, like Harry tended to make. Knowing that this would be different somehow, and remembering their conversation at Sirius's pad, the hat focussed on the image completely and willed himself to change, connecting a feed from his core to the image, as he went.

There was a strange feeling of liquidity, as the hat morphed and changed, growing as the program activated, and the hat, for the first time in his existence, was no longer a hat, as the human body fell to the bed, prone.

"Ughaghl." Gryff, the human, spoke his first word.

"Yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that you'll need to learn to use that body, like any other human needs to." Harry said, smiling an amused smile.

'You could have warned me.' Gryff, the human said in Harry's head through his interface, while his body tried to learn to move for the first time.

"Oh, relax." Harry said. "Your mind and muscles are way more developed than a baby's. It shouldn't take you all that long to get used to it. If you can't figure it out, just connect to my mind, and read the motor-control from my Cerebellum. The only problem with that, would be that you'd be unable to move, without me around, again."

The hat had no issues getting a little help though, and he used his connection with Harry, with a little help from him of course, to get his body under control, and he slowly started moving. It took him a few minutes, because there was a lot of new information to take in. Eyes had muscles, and those needed work. Babies learned to focus them as they learned to see. Tiny adjustments and little movements were the most the hat could do, at the moment, on his own. Harry was helping, though.

"Th-is…" the human body got out, "is- har-der- tha-n- I- th-ought."

"Speak in my head, for now." Harry suggested. "And I wouldn't suggest trying to eat, just yet, either. You wouldn't want to bite your tongue off, after all. Biting one's own tongue is not fun, and part of being human, is pain. A lot of it, actually. You'll get used to it, though. Fortunately, I programmed things like breathing, directly in. And your heart will work like a normal human's, automatically."

'I thought being human would be such an easy upgrade.' Gryff said, as he looked around, still struggling to focus his eyes right.

"Being human has never been an easy thing." Harry said. "The human mind takes a lot of things and starts doing them automatically, but I couldn't just program those in, since every mind is unique. I couldn't know how your mind would work beforehand. That's up to every individual. I'd suggest focussing on learning to use one limb at a time."

Deciding he'd had enough, the hat turned back into himself. Turning back was easier, fortunately. "Well, there goes my idea of just showing up and acting like I could turn human all along." he said, sighing in relief now that things were back to being simple. He'd noted that Harry didn't look surprised at his success but kept that tidbit to himself. Harry had probably tested some things already and wanted to surprise people.

"Sorry." Harry said. "I did as much as I could for you, but if you want the whole experience, you'll need to learn."

"Don't apologise." the hat said, as he floated up. "I like the idea of earning my legs. I'll put in the effort, don't worry. For now, I think I'm still quite capable, with the flight you allowed me. I'm assuming there would be a higher magical cost, to try and fly, while in my human form."

"You'd need a different system, for that, unfortunately, and more power, yes." Harry said, nodding.

"Still, if I want to fly, I can just change." the hat said. "Am I reading my core right? It takes more power to change, than it does to maintain?"

"Changing has an initial cost, yes." Harry said.

The hat nodded. Harry had mentioned manifesting and maintaining. He just hadn't mentioned that those two were different. "Thank you, Harry. This is probably the greatest gift anyone has ever given me."

"Who said it was a gift?" Harry asked, archly. "This is payback, for your friendship and support, over the years. I think I still owe you, in fact. You were my first real friend, here at Hogwarts."

"You don't owe me a thing." the hat insisted. "I learned from you, as much if not more, than you learned from me, and let's not forget that you have given me many gifts, since you showed up. Your friendship was something I appreciated, just as much as you did, I think. Then there was the time you spent just talking to me, while we played a game, or when we conspired together to prank the headmaster. I've not felt so alive since Godric died."

Harry's face fell a little at that. He didn't want to think about ever losing people like that, and then living on after they were gone. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right.

"That's not for you to worry about, kiddo." the hat said, reading that from him. "I'm not going anywhere. When you leave Hogwarts one day, I'll probably go with you and just return when I'm needed for the sorting. People don't need to know where I went after all, and like I've said before, I used to just sit there and wait for the next batch of students every year. My life is so much fuller, now that I've got a real friend."

Harry smiled lightly at that. "I think I agree." he said. Then he yawned.

"Off to bed now." the hat said, noticing the signs of him needing to go to bed. "I'll fly on back to the headmaster's office, and then we can play a quick game of checkers, before I pop out my orb, to charge for the night, too."

Harry sighed but nodded. He'd had a successful day, and now he was going to sleep well.

III-III

By the time the hat had made it to the headmaster's office, Harry had already fallen asleep, and the hat sighed contentedly.

"Good news?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry will be just fine." the hat said. "He just didn't understand his feelings. He's asked me not to poke at that particular subject anymore, though. He's not quite ready to face those feelings, I think."

Dumbledore smiled. "Young love can be an overpowering thing." he said. "In my youth, Gellert and I…" he trailed off, as one of his first, and biggest mistakes flashed before his eyes.

"In youth, many make mistakes." Fawkes decided to say. "It's how you learn. You are not your mistakes, Albus. You are how you react to them. How you treat them, and how you overcome."

Dumbledore smiled at his familiar. He was still mostly quiet, but he'd said a few words to him, now that he knew he could speak. "Thank you, old friend. I appreciate your words, whenever you choose to share them."

The phoenix nodded, minutely, before he stuck his head under his wing, going to sleep.

"So, was Harry's holiday productive, or did he decide to actually just have fun, for once." Dumbledore asked Gryff, more quietly. Now that he knew that the phoenix was intelligent, truly intelligent, he tried to respect his rest, when he did so.

"Both." the hat admitted. "Harry finds discovery quite fun, and I may have accidentally given him an idea that he ended up spending a bunch of time working on, for me."

"Oh?" Dumbledore asked. "Anything interesting?" he asked.

"Nothing I'll be sharing, anytime soon." the hat said, smugly.

Dumbledore sighed, but accepted it, because he really didn't have a choice. "Should I be worried, or did he just do the impossible, again?"

"You shouldn't have to worry, and yes." the hat said. "That boy keeps on breaking the accepted rules of magic and doing wonderful and impossible things. I don't know when he'll find his limits, but he's shown no signs of slowing down. With what he's achieved already, if people knew, he'd already be celebrated. I have no doubt that he will one day be just as legendary as people like the Founders, and Nicholas, if not more so." the hat said, proudly.

"I think…" Dumbledore said, as a soft smile came to his face, "I think we all see that in his future." he finished. "I may be biased, as someone who wants only the best for him, but I don't think I'm wrong, either." he said, just as proudly.

"What did you get him for Christmas, by the way?" the hat asked. "I got him a book on Advanced arithmancy theorems. Things that will keep him busy, because there are issues that normally cannot be overcome, that he can try and work on overcoming."

"I may have been a little preoccupied with the tournament, to be honest." Dumbledore said, wincing, when he realised Harry had gotten him a whole lot of warm woollen socks, something he knew that he'd liked receiving, and he had then felt guilty, too. "I'm thinking of getting him a bicycle, to be honest, but I've not had the time to go looking for something."

"Get something else." the hat said. "Sirius got bikes for himself and Harry, last year, so that they could ride together. Sirius hasn't touched his bike since last year. Harry quite enjoys going for a ride, in the mornings, though."

Dumbledore frowned. Darn! "Maybe we should do something like coordination, when it comes to Christmas shopping?" he suggested.

III-III

Harry had knocked on the door of the Beauxbatons Carriage, the next evening, shortly after dinner.

"'ello?" a voice called from inside.

"Hi." Harry said. "It's Harry. I'm hoping to talk to Miss Delacour, if she's available?"

Harry did not expect the door to suddenly swing open, and a friendly smile to greet him. There were many smiling girls inside the carriage, and the girl that had opened, took a step back, indicating for him to come in.

"Sorry to interrupt." Harry said, as he nodded and stepped inside.

"Non." the girl said. "You are welcome. We heard that you are friendly with Fleur."

"'arry!" The girl in question exclaimed, as she ran up to him and gave him a quick hug and kissed next to his cheeks. "You 'ave come to visit?" she asked, hopefully.

"Something like that." Harry said, blushing slightly, as he tried not to think about the kisses, or the way the girl had pressed herself to him firmly. "I had some things I'd like to discuss with you, in private if that would be possible, regarding your request."

"Of course!" the girl said, excitedly. She didn't know that he'd start working on it this quickly, but she was more than willing to try. "Do you need me to accompany you to ze 'ealer?" she asked, remembering what he'd said, last time.

"I'd just like an initial scan and a bit of information." Harry said. "Nothing quite as invasive, which would require her, but if you are worried, we could go there too."

"Non." Fleur said. "I trust you, Monsieur Potter."

"Harry is fine." Harry said, smiling lightly.

"Fleur." she offered in return, as she took his hand and led him to a couch near a fireplace, pulled out her wand and cast some privacy magic. They'd still be visible, but what they discussed would be private. There were rules about not bringing boys to their rooms, so this would have to suffice.

Harry seemed to understand though, and nodded as he took a seat on a conjured chair. Everyone noticed that he'd not used any wand motions, nor an incantation. They were all watching, after all.

"Okay, so I've done a bit of research." Harry started. "I have a few ideas, and I'd like for us to do an initial test, which I can't do without you, because I need to get a reading on your magic when you purposefully activate and suppress your allure."

Fleur sat on the other couch and frowned. "I cannot completely suppress ze allure. Only for a short bit can I make eet less." she admitted.

"How about activating it, fully?" Harry asked.

"Zat can be done, but eet might be an issue." she said. "Eet eez possible zat eet could be too strong for ze mind arts."

"I'll be fine." Harry assured her. "Just, give me a moment, to activate the magic?" he requested, as he did just that, and pointed his wand at her slowly, to not surprise her, and then focussed on her as he made a model of her brain and started monitoring it. Then, he used magic-detection magic, something he'd been developing in conjunction with the aura-viewing magic, to see and feel where and how her magic changed, as she activated her allure. Lastly, he used Poppy's aura-viewing magic, itself, considering the allure was considered an aura. "Okay, I'm all set. Let's try for suppression, first. Just stop it, however much you feel comfortable with, please?"

Fleur sighed, closed her eyes, and started willing her allure to stop, as much as she could. Her mother was much better at it, but even she said that it could become irritating, to suppress it all the time, because it started to feel like an itch you couldn't scratch.

For Harry, her actual aura had diminished, and there was activity in a certain part of her brain. That made sense, though, because she was focussing on something. Thinking hard. He noted where it was focussing and made a couple of mental notes. The magic detection hadn't really picked up on anything either so the standard effect must be very low-grade, or something.

"Okay, that's good." Harry said, nodding. "I think I've got what I wanted from that. Could you please activate the allure, now?" he asked.

Fleur would object, but she actually wanted to tempt Harry. She wasn't too serious about it, but he still was a powerful young man, and she'd seen and felt what his body felt and looked like when they danced. A small part of her, the hormonal teen, was very interested in doing that again, and frankly, she wouldn't mind if it turned out he couldn't resist her full allure.

She unleashed it fully, in a second, and Harry seemed to just look at her. Unfortunately, there was no vacancy in his eyes as he inspected her and around her, as if he could see her allure visibly.

"Very interesting." Harry said, internally glad that he'd been able to control himself, when he was suddenly very tempted to look at her curves. Curves, which suddenly seemed more prominent, and fascinating. "Did you direct it at me on purpose or is that a subconscious thing, or because I'm the only male present?" he asked.

"Direct?" Fleur asked.

"Yes." Harry said. "It looks like the allure is around you, but also focussing a bit of itself directly at me."

"I… didn't know anyone could measure an allure, zat way." Fleur admitted. She blushed a bit at realising that he could see that she had wanted him affected, not that she had known that he would be able to see it, nor that it could be directed.

"There's a bit of claimed magic involved, that Madam Pomphrey owns." Harry said. "I can't tell you too much, and I'm sorry to say it's not something we can teach, at the moment." he apologised, as he continued inspecting her. "Could you try and direct the allure away from me?" he asked. "Or, just not focussed on me. Try and have an allure, as it were, but just not directed, as it is."

"I weel try." Fleur said dubiously, as she focussed on it again.

"Well done." Harry said. "You're doing it. It's no longer focussed on me." he congratulated. "Aaand… I think we're done." he said.

"Already?" Fleur asked, as she relaxed her allure. "Do you 'ave what you need, to start working on eet?"

"Give me just one moment, please?" Harry asked, as he continued working on the model, activating the model's allure as he'd recorded, and noticing that Fleur's allure reacted as it should, before suppressing it again.

"Are you…" Fleur asked shocked, as she felt her alure changing, activating and… turning? Moving? Was he directly manipulating her allure?!

"Almost done, Fleur." Harry said. "Just give me a minute to check my findings. I wouldn't want to hurt you, or something." he said.

The other girls in the carriage saw a look from Fleur, which none had seen before. She was seemingly stunned beyond words, her mouth actually hanging open.

"Okay, so… let me try something real quick." Harry said, as he did something that nobody could see.

The next moment the girls in the room who had been looking at Fleur, looked at Harry with hunger and a certain vacancy in their eyes. Fleur herself, closed her mouth, licked her lips and swallowed, as she looked at Harry, who was most certainly the most attractive boy who had ever lived, while she arched her back, to make her chest more prominent, her top pulling away, and showing him a bit of her bra.

"Woah." Harry said, as he realised something, and quickly disabled the effect. "Sorry about that." he said, as the girls blinked, and Fleur's vacancy vanished. "Didn't intend to do that." he admitted.

"Did you just… have an allure?" Fleur asked, shocked and slightly worried.

"Yours actually." Harry said. "Didn't mean to do that." he said, again. He'd just wanted to see if what he was doing was working as it should, by connecting the effect he'd been working on to himself and monitoring his own mind. He didn't want to cause discomfort, after all, and he'd take a bit of discomfort to save her from the experience. On the bright side, that seemed to have worked.

He quickly connected back to Fleur and focussed on what her mind and magic had been doing, when she suppressed herself, and then the opposite too, connecting in the program and applying what he would call a conscious thought, or switch. It just worked on passively applying the same control, that she'd normally need to apply with conscious effort and willpower.

"There." Harry said. "Try controlling your allure, again. Just, don't put all your effort into it. Think of a button in your head, which you push to switch off your allure and then to switch it on again."

"A button?" Fleur asked, frowning. What the hell was the boy doing to her?

"Maybe a slider, or a volume control, if that works better for you?" Harry offered, as he modified things a bit.

Frowning, Fleur tried that as she closed her eyes. She'd never been able to switch off her allure completely, but she could diminish it to a degree where it was barely noticeable, with effort. That much had taken her years to accomplish, though. She saw that idea, as her needing to put tension on something elastic which wanted to snap back into normal place. An allure was natural to her, after all. Suppressing it was unnatural. If she had a slider, which she could move down, and it would stay there, until she wanted it again and lifted it, that would make her life so much simpler.

And suddenly, that's how it worked. She'd imagined her moving it down and it staying there, allowing only the smallest bit of her allure out, as had always been her limit. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Harry. "Like zat?" she asked.

"Now, release the conscious control you're still applying." Harry said. He could see it, after all.

Sighing out, Fleur let go. Nothing happened. She frowned, as she shifted in her seat, as if trying to jostle something loose. Still, nothing happened. It was like she was still holding her allure down, but… just without having to think about it! Her eyes grew wide, as she looked at Harry, shock clearly written on her face.

"Now, block it completely." Harry suggested, still looking at her brain, and realising that she'd stopped focussing on it, her aura still suppressed.

Fleur shook her head as she looked at him, still shocked, but thought of the slider and moved it completely down, which actually worked!

"Ah, there we are." Harry said, nodding. "Your aura is purely your normal magic, now, excluding the allure. I think that with this, we could call the procedure a success." he said, as he stopped looking at her brain. Then he saw her look. "Ah, right. Sorry about not warning you. I just wanted to check, but it seemed I'd done enough research, and just applied a theory. You should be good now." he said, as he got up, and quickly made to leave the carriage. He did not want to be there, if the girl broke down in grateful tears, or something. He didn't do well with tears, and her jaw had already started shaking.

Fortunately for him, the girl was simply too shocked to do anything, and by the time the tears did come he'd already left.

"Is something wrong?" one of the girls asked her, in French, as she went to Fleur.

"No." the girl squeaked out. "He's just given me complete control. I… I didn't know it was possible! He's changed my whole life!" she exclaimed, and then she started bawling her eyes out. Her sister would not have to suffer as she did, which was a relief, but also, she was crying for all she'd suffered, all the stares, touches and worries when she caught certain looks. Always needing to be on the lookout and never being able to fully trust a male.

There were horror stories, about men that attacked Veela, and then claimed that they'd made them do it, which usually worked, too, because Veela didn't have the same rights as normal humans. The ability was therefore also a curse, which had been worrying her, ever since it had first emerged. She'd needed to become strong, so that she could protect herself. She needed to always have friends nearby, to protect her, too.

Now she could just be a normal girl, and if someone ever attacked her and she failed to protect herself, she'd at least know that it wasn't her fault and be able to prove it, too.

Suddenly, all that was gone. Wiped away by a young man who didn't even realize what he'd done for her. A young man she'd be grateful to, for the rest of her life. Now, she just needed to get Gabrielle to Harry, and ask him, if need be, on her hands and knees, to give her the same ability.

III-III

As for Harry, he'd realised that he could actually emulate an allure, now, but he didn't care for such things, so he dismissed that idea, storing it away, and carried on with his life. It seemed to him like it had been a bit of a burden to the girl, and Harry couldn't imagine what it would be like to never know if your loved one really loved you back, or if they were just being affected. He knew for a fact that he wouldn't like that sort of attention, either.

Logically, he realised that he could probably have some fun with it, but if it was at the expense of someone else's freedom of choice, he didn't think he'd think that it was fun. Hermione's voice in his head told him that it was mind-control, like when he used magic to move and manipulate people.

Also logically, with this new information he could probably force the ability to stop functioning, too. He couldn't remove it, because it was natural, but he could create a program which he could set up to simply apply to a Veela, should he ever need to, with a single application.

A lot of this had come from his research into the basilisk, actually. He'd realised, as he studied the creature, that he could apply the deadly gaze of the basilisk, to himself, by simply copying the magic, and applying it to his own eyes. Of course, actually killing anyone he looked at, was far from something Harry would ever like to do, so that was neatly stored away under lock and key, in his mind, with most of his more dangerous ideas and discoveries. Not even the hat, nor Poppy, knew most of this, because it was simply too dangerous. If the next dark lord showed up, and somehow got that information from the hat, or the healer, then that could be disastrous.

Part of it was also something he'd used to create the connection for Gryff, to do self-transfiguration, and obviously, to use it specifically through a model-system, which he'd ended up copying mostly from his own complete model, which he'd modified. There were so many things he'd like to try using that.

For example, if he could secure his mind, using an interface brain model system, like with the hat, chances were he could change into any animal he could scan, and then, he'd be able to be a multi-form Animagus. The difference being that he'd still need to learn to use those bodies, and he suspected Animagi actually have instinctive control, because people tend to have only one form which suited them, and which was 'inside them all along' as the texts liked to say.

That was all on the back-burner though, because Harry wanted to get back to his arithmancy book. Gryff had gotten him some really interesting theories and past failures, which he was having fun figuring out. He'd already figured out how to break some laws of Arithmancy, using his spell-system to handle wand-motions. Now, he was upgrading it to perform partial motions, and resetting positions, hoping to make anything that was arithmantically impossible, possible.

Similarly, he was looking into the possibility of using wording, or pronunciation that was not humanly possible, and programming that into the system, too. After all, when he spoke in parseltongue, something he had tried and achieved some successes with, he was saying things only he could understand and perceive correctly. Thus, it stood to reason that there may be other formulae that were currently not possible, due to the people that created the current understanding of arithmancy not thinking about such things.

Harry was all giddy about the possibilities of that. He was also planning on trying something Gryff had mentioned, by trying to make his own magic by 'force of will' as he'd put it.

III-III

"What are you doing?" Madam Pomphrey asked, as she walked into her office, and stopped.

"Trying a new form of invisibility." Harry said. "How did you know I was trying something?"

"Because I'm suddenly blind." Madam Pomphrey said, shaking her head.

"Damn." Harry said as he ended the magic, and the woman blinked, looking around and spotted him, sitting upside down on her ceiling. He'd been playing with gravity magic for a while now and she sometimes found him in strange positions like that, sitting against a wall, or on the ceiling. It wasn't that simple to use that specific magic for flight, but sitting still was quite low-cost, apparently.

"Get down from there, and then explain to me why you need a new form of invisibility." Poppy said, exasperatedly.

Harry rolled his eyes, stood up, and jumped, doing a flip and landing on his feet easily. "It's Fleur." he admitted. "She's stalking me, or something. I tried my normal invisibility, but she still shows up, looking around. I know she knows my general location, somehow, so I was hoping to just blind her to my location. That way I could carry on as normal, and she'd be the only one that couldn't see me."

"Obviously your targeting and application both failed, then." Poppy said, thinking she understood why he was hiding in her office, now. People couldn't enter without her permission, and he had permission. "And why would the girl be stalking you?" she asked.

"Well, I may have installed a control for her allure, in her mind, so that she could switch it off without needing to apply conscious control." Harry said.

Poppy sighed, shaking her head, and smiling at him. She knew more than he apparently did, what that would mean for the girl. "So she wants to thank you and you're hiding from her?" Poppy asked.

"She already thanked me, but then she got all teary-eyed." Harry said, shuddering. "You know I can't handle that sort of thing."

"Harry, you do realise that you will likely need to handle a crying girl at some point, right?" Poppy asked. "Girls cry. We don't bottle our emotions like you silly men."

"Nonsense." Harry scoffed. "Men don't have tear-ducts, so it's natural for us to bottle emotions. Our eyes only sweat, sometimes." That was a direct quote from Sirius, and Poppy knew that Harry was joking.

"Uh-huh." Poppy said, as she went to her desk. She had some paperwork to finish, which was why she'd come in here, to begin with. "So, what's the real reason you're avoiding her?" she asked.

Harry flopped down in his normal chair, not surprised that she'd seen through him. "While I was helping her out, I may have accidentally given myself an allure, and blasted her and the other Beauxbatons girls with a full dose. I'm just keeping my distance, so that I know it's faded. Well, that, and I'm hoping she just stops trying to speak to me."

Poppy had stopped looking at her desk, as she internalised that. Then, slowly, she looked up at him. "You have a Veela alure?" she asked.

"No." Harry said. "I had one for less than ten seconds. I locked it up in the mind-vault. I'm not interested in influencing people that way."

The woman sighed, shaking her head, again. "I think that's for the best." she decided. "What about the rest of her powers?" she asked.

"Didn't touch anything else." Harry said. "Just scanned her mind, monitored what parts were active, and how her mind applied what control she had, and then did the normal thing, by creating a command connected to a function, for that one thing."

Poppy nodded. She'd seen how he did that for years now, and knowing his process meant that she wouldn't even doubt that it was well thought through, because she knew it was. This new application didn't even shock her. Harry had been contemplating giving people access to completed processes for a while, now. It was just the next logical step for him.

She smiled a proud little smile at him, knowing why he'd done it, and likely also why he was avoiding the girl. The one thing he'd not mentioned was that she was a beautiful young woman and Harry was just at the developmental stage where that made him quite uncomfortable, because he had no idea how to handle the emotions. "Well done, Harry. I will require you to show me how you did that, though. This could be very useful to healers, and if a Veela suffers with control problems, and she can go to her healer, and they can help, I'll want them to be able to offer this."

Harry nodded, accepting that easily. He liked helping.

"Now, I'm afraid you're about to receive company, so get yourself ready." Poppy said, having felt the approach.

"It's her, isn't it?" Harry asked, as he contemplated how to escape this time. He could just pop through his interface, to his bed, where he'd put an easy escape, but then he'd have to explain that to more than just Poppy. If the girl knew he was here, she must be tracking him, somehow.

"It is." Poppy said, nodding. "But why don't we both hear her out, okay? Maybe it's not too bad."

Harry grumbled as he shifted in his seat, feeling like a cornered animal. He did usually try to obey Poppy, but sometimes he felt like he'd rather not. Like at that very moment.

Then there was a knock.

"Come in, Miss Delacour." Poppy said.

There was a pause, before the door opened slightly.

"Yes?" Poppy asked, as the girl looked in, seemingly wary of the person who knew who she was, before she'd even seen her.

"Excuze moi, Madam Pomphrey." the girl started. "I was wondering eef…" she trailed off, as she spotted Harry. "'arry was 'ere." she finished, as a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Yes, he's been hiding from you here most recently." Poppy said. "Care to tell me why you've been following my ward around?" she asked, taking up the mantle of parent-figure.

"Um." Fleur said, as she walked in and firmly closed the door. "I 'ave a request, for 'arry."

"Oh?" Poppy asked. "So this has nothing to do with him accidentally activating a version of your allure the other night?"

"Non." Fleur said, shaking her head. "I would be a liar, eef I said I wasn't… eenterested een 'ow 'e did zat, but eet eez not why I am looking for 'im."

Harry sighed out an audible breath of relief.

Fleur noticed and smiled.

"Yes, it seems he was worried you were angry, or still under the influence." Poppy said, catching her look. "For what it's worth, I know Harry quite well, and I will vouch for his intent. He didn't mean to do that, and he's already informed me of the event, meaning he is sincere in his intent not to use that particular ability."

"Zat was never a worry." Fleur said. "I could tell zat 'e 'as feelings for-"

"Stop." Poppy interrupted her, sternly. "Harry doesn't want people discussing that situation just now. He's not ready. Please respect that."

Fleur seemed shocked at that, but nodded. Frankly, she had thought the boy would be more confident, considering his dancing skills and the ease with which he speaks to people, occasionally, but then she'd also noted that he didn't always seem quite that confident. Just in certain situations. Usually when he was doing something magical, actually. He seemed quite eager to leave, the moment she was feeling a little fragile. Being a Veela, meant that she could pick up on emotions, to a degree, and she wondered if the fear she'd felt, was some sort of indicator of an emotional issue he had.

"Could I discuss zees, wees you 'ere?" Fleur asked the woman. "Eet 'as to do wees zat sing 'e did for me."

"Ah, yes." Poppy said, nodding. "Please do. I was hoping to learn more, and if there is an issue I'd very much like to know. Not many people know this, but Harry has been helping me develop new medical procedures using a grant we both have access to."

"You do not need to lie." Fleur said. "I could feel ze magic een him, when 'e was een my 'ead. Eet ees 'im, who owns zees magic. I weel not tell anyone, zough, I swear eet."

Neither Harry, nor Poppy responded to that, merely waiting for her to continue.

"Oh." Fleur said, as she realised that they couldn't respond, to either protect someone else, or Harry himself. "Very well. I 'ave a baby seester. Gabrielle. I weesh for 'er to 'ave zees control. I would weesh eet for all Veela, but I would accept eet for just 'er."

"Oh." Harry said, as his face cleared. "Okay. Is she in the carriage? We can go now if you want?" he offered.

It hit Fleur what a sudden change that was. Harry really seemed to have only confidence in things he could control it seemed. Magic wasn't just something he excelled at, it was also his confidence. That likely meant that he had issues that they weren't telling people about, if she read him right and she didn't think she was wrong.

"She ees not 'ere, right now." Fleur said. "She was too young, and I was not ze champion yet, so she 'ad no reason to come."

"That makes sense." Harry said. "Want to go visit her?" he asked.

"Right now?" Fleur asked, frowning again.

"I mean, I did do the research." Harry said. "I know how Veela children are treated, and if she could hide her allure, that would likely increase her quality of life, considerably."

"Harry, you can't just plan a flight to France, on the spur of the moment." Madam Pomphrey said, sternly.

"We'll just ask Madame Maxime to go with us." Harry said, shrugging. "Surely she's aware of the situation and wouldn't object to our helping a little girl."

Poppy sighed. Harry had a look she had come to know. If she pushed this, he'd likely go against her, and do what they both knew was right. And damn it, if he wasn't the only one that could do it right at that moment, she'd offer to go for him. She was a healer, after all. She wanted to help when she could. "Fine, but I'm going with you and you're teaching me your new process."

"Deal." Harry said, easily. "Shall we go now?" he asked.

"Portkeys take a bit of time to arrange, young man." Poppy said.

"Oh, come on! It's just over two thousand kilometres from here to the Pyrenees mountains, if we go overland. Over the sea, I could do it in under half-an hour, easy." Harry said.

"And the magical cost?" Poppy asked, sighing.

"Nothing I've not done before." Harry scoffed. "I've gone twice that far, in the same time, and my magic wasn't even drained. Taking it that slow would make it cost way less."

"Excuse moi. What are you saying?" Fleur asked. "Do you eentend to fly all zat way?"

"Let's first arrange things, okay?" Poppy insisted. "Even without a portkey, we can't just cross international boundaries like that, all willy-nilly."

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. He believed that, yes, they should, because what's the point of magic if you couldn't, but he still nodded. "We'll go talk to the headmaster and headmistress so long. I'm going to invite Hermione too, because I know she'd love to go." Then he walked out of the office with Fleur standing there, for a few seconds, before she decided to follow Harry, a bit of excitement bubbling up in her. Harry seemed to be all kinds of fun.

Poppy just shook her head after them. No doubt, Harry had just made a life-long friend. She hoped Hermione was ready, because she had no doubt that if Harry was ever available, Fleur would be on him like a rash. She quickly set to work making arrangements over her personal floo.