40 The End of Second Year

After his exams and the selection of next year's electives, Matthew hadn't much to do anymore for this year. He didn't want to risk entering the Room of Lost Things, where a lot of books, treasures, and maybe cash waited for him. The Horcrux or rather Horcruxes in general were sentient, he didn't have enough information about their exact capabilities since he didn't find any books specific on Horcruxes or didn't experiment on them yet.

Next year was Quirrelmort in the Castle, although thanks to his split soul he was mad, he still was a capable and intelligent wizard, the only thing that suffered under his split soul was his humanity. So he would most likely if he was aware enough in his wraith state, check if his Horcrux was still in the Room. And maybe the Horcrux could communicate with the Main Soul, and tell him that its location wasn't longer safe if Matthew entered the Room of Lost Things before. If Matthew just takes the Horcrux now, that would alarm Voldemort even more, and he would move and protect his Horcruxes even more. And Matthew would lose his Canon knowledge advantage before he even could really use it because everything would change. That was a scenario he absolutely wanted to prevent.

But besides perfecting his magical energy control, he could prepare for the Philosopher Stone. He didn't want to use it for immortality or gold but he still wanted to study it. He didn't know if the Stone was only placed behind the Traps during the Christmas Holidays after Harry found the Mirror of Erised, or it lay there basically unprotected. The other Traps were no challenge for him, a few first years could pass them. Animating a Music instrument to pass Fluffy the Cerberus was no problem at his level. He conjured a Violin and after a short afternoon of practice, he was able to animate it to play different kinds of melodies. So he could pass the traps at the start of the Year and check the Stone out if it was already there.

The real challenge would be to get it after it was placed inside the Mirror. Controlling your thoughts with Occlumency was definitely not the solution, since Voldemort was a Master in it and would definitely have tried it. And Dumbledore would have made sure, it didn't work. So besides Magic Training Matthew experimented with different ways to fool enchantments and Runes, after all, he didn't want to break the Mirror. But gaining the Philosopher Stone would allow him to open a gate to centuries of collected knowledge.

He spent the rest of the year experimenting and training until the end of the year came closer. Once again he completed his exams as top of the Year, with mostly Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy and History of Magic. Even with his restricted mind, he was able to perform above average, especially after he familiarized himself with the restrictions. According to Sarah's calculations, he would be able to apply the second level of the Spell before he left Hogwarts this year.

~ Scene Break ~

Sunday, June 16th, 1991

Today was the day of the Hogwarts end of the Year feast, tomorrow all of the Hogwarts students would travel from Hogsmeade with the Hogwarts express in direction of London. Early in the morning Matthew entered the Room of Requirements for the last time this year, according to Sarah his brain completely adjusted to the First Level of the restriction spell, his thinking speed was a bit faster than before he applied the spell on himself.

Once again he carved the runes for the spell formation into the ground and entered it. After sitting down he used his wand to cast the spell on himself. This time after a short stabbing pain, it quickly subsided, he didn't have a headache again. But his magic was again haywire and chaotic, and he once again had a hard time thinking. This time even his perception was affected, he had a hard time recognizing everything, it took him a while to see and recognize smaller details in his surroundings. It seems this level of the spell would affect the parts of his brain which were responsible for his preception. Which would be amazing after he mastered it, would he be able to pull of a Sherlock Holmes where he even was able to perceive and analyze the smallest details? That would be amazing.

Matthew spent the morning, practicing to reach an acceptable level with his five senses since he didn't want to walk against people and things. He also practiced a bit of magic, but his senses were his main focus since he already removed the trace from his dragon Heartstring wand. From now on he was able to practice magic at home, well as long he didn't go overboard, the Ministry would still be able to sense large-scale magic like wards or big spells especially in a dense muggle area like London which they monitor closely.

Since his Trunk was always packed, since he carried it shrank on a necklace around his neck everywhere with him, he could spend most of the day in the Room of Requirements. Only in the Afternoon shortly before the feast, he left the room to clean himself up in the Ravenclaw Tower, where he reunited with his friends in the Common Room.

"Where were you the whole day, Matthew?" asked Roger as he spotted Matthew entering the Common Room from the Dorms.

"I used the day to practice as much magic as possible so I wouldn't get rusty over the Holidays. After all, I am a Muggleborn and can't practice magic at home." Replied Matthew with a Half Lie.

"Damn, you are hard-working. You should try having more fun, after all, we are only once young." Stated Blake while starring at Matthew with an amazed expression on his face.

"Because we are only once young I want to use my life to its fullest, and learning Magic is fun for me. You are a muggle-born like me Blake, but you already seem to have lost the amazement for magic after only one year here in Hogwarts. I want to explore all its possibilities." Preached Matthew with glowing eyes.

"Huh, well that's a way to see it. Well, as long you don't overwork yourself. I am fine with it. We are friends after all." Answered Blake with a thoughtful face, he has sunken into his thoughts.

~ Scene Break ~

The end of the Year fest was the same as the last year, Slytherin won the House cup once again, thanks to Professor Snape's preferential treatment. Their Quidditch team lost again to Gryffindor thanks to the amazing performance of their Captain and Seeker Charlie Weasley. But this was his last year in Hogwarts and he would leave for Romania soon to study Dragons. Nymphadora Tonks would also graduate this year and enter Auror Training under Mad-Eye Moody, Matthew totally forgot her since he hadn't much to do with Hufflepuffs. She was one of the more interesting characters in Canon, if he could he would prevent her Death and befriend her in the future.

As for their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Claire Vermount, she left already two weeks ago, she got a new job assignment in Greece where they discovered some unexplored ancient Ruins. Matthew would miss her since she was the last DADA Professor who would actually teach them something before Remus Lupin and the Fake Moody, Bartemius Crouch junior arrived in Hogwarts.

After the feast, the Students slept the last time inside their Beds, before they would leave early in the morning for London with the Hogwarts Express.

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