C3 One Year

One year had passed since Harry was adopted by the Grangers.

He could say without a doubt that he was never happier in his life, both of them.

Going back to school, and this time with Hermione, Harry decided that he would do his best on his studies. That was actually his new motto: Give your best in everything you try to do.

In the beginning, it was hard. Subjects like Math and English were not a problem, it would be embarrassing if couldn't do multiplication and division or know the past tense. It was the other subjects that gave him problems, after all, it had been years since Harry had gone to mundane school, and even then he had no drive to be good at it since being better than Dudley would mean more punishment for him.

However, it didn't take too long before he was reading ahead of his peers. He was by no means a genius but he was intelligent and had the mental age of a twenty-year-old. By the time he turned ten, Harry was way ahead of his peers, Hermione the only one that could keep up with him.

Harry didn't leave Hermione behind in his studies. No, once it was clear to her that Harry was intelligent, at least from her perspective, she also started studying ahead with Harry and both of them were more or less at the same level.

In conclusion, while Harry was intelligent, Hermione was a prodigy. He already knew that but this just reaffirmed that belief.

Harry also thought about the magical world. He wanted to get Sirius out of Azkaban but couldn't. The only proof he had that Sirius was innocent was Pettigrew, and the rat was now with the Weasleys. There was no way he could get the rat even if he was crazy enough to try and aparate to The Burrow.

How would he explain he knew about magic? About how he knew to aparate?

There's also the fact that he shouldn't know anything about Sirius or that the rat was with the Weasleys.

No, that plan had too many holes in it. So, Harry decided to take the rat when he went to Hogwarts.

Considering he could not do much about the magical world at that moment since he wasn't supposed to know about it at all, Harry thought about practicing magic that wouldn't out himself to his new family.

If he knew any way to tell Hermione and her parents about magic, he would have done so. However, he shouldn't have any knowledge of it. He couldn't say that the Dursleys told him, it would be easy enough to know that he was lying if anyone from the magical world went to the prison his Aunt was and asked a few questions.

So, Harry worked on his occlumency. He even used a mundane technique called Mind Palace that he searched for after reading Hermione's Sherlock Holmes books. To his surprise, both went very well together. The best part about this was that if someone, like Snape, found it strange about how Harry was an occlumens and went to the Headmaster, they would need to admit that they tried legilimency on a student.

Harry knew for a fact that it was illegal to perform legilimency if one was not part of the Department of Mysteries or DMLE. That legilimens were rare notwithstanding.

If he was still called for about his shields, he could just say he brought a book about the subject and he was already practicing before going to Hogwarts because a similar technique, Mind Palace, existed in the mundane world. After that, he would send a letter to the DMLE about Snape.

That guy might be on the light's side, but Harry would not spend another seven years in his class.

Next would be wandless magic. However, even in the moments, he knew he could practice without the fear that someone would catch him all Harry could do was very simple magic. Unlocking doors, making light. Little things like that. After all, he couldn't blow up his room wall and call it an accident.

Harry then decided he need help, so one night when everyone was sleeping, he used his new powers as an avatar of Death, asking for someone that could help him with wandless magic.

That's how he met Marius, a wizard from the Founder's time. Marius also came to the discovery that the magical core was located on the soul and that wands merely made an artificial connection, enabling the easier use of magic.

Marius told Harry how he wondered what would happen if natural connections existed, from the magical core at the soul to the physical body. He studied the soul and the body, its connection with each other for years before coming up with a ritual that would open natural pathways from through the body that connected to the core.

Marius did the ritual and it was a success.

From that day onwards, Marius could do wandless magic just as well as if he had a wand. Using a wand for magic became even easier, since from then on the wand didn't create a pathway to the core but instead used the ones that already existed.

It was a shame that his line ended, and his research was lost to the times.

The process of opening the pathway was simple in practice. He only needed to write a few runes with his own blood on his body and charge mana on the runes. The price of the ritual was the blood you used and your pain but in the end, the pathways would be open.

Marius also said that after he had his own pathways, if he wanted to open them for another wizard or witch there was no need for the ritual. Harry only needed to find his target core and let their mana copy his own pathways configuration. The wizard or witch would still fill pain but they would end with pathways of their own.

That was another thing to do at Hogwarts since he couldn't imagine what would happen if his family found him with blood marks on his body and a knife on the side.

Since there was nothing much he could do, Harry decided to enjoy his time before Hogwarts, and now one year had passed.

"Harry!" a voice called. "Get up, breakfast in on the table!"

Groaning, Harry blinked his eyes open. Usually, he would wake up earlier but the night before he went to sleep late reading Lord of the Rings.

"I'm awake! Give me second," answered Harry.

Harry got out of bed and went down the stairs. In the kitchen, Dan, Monica, and Hermione were already sat, waiting for him.

"Good morning," said Harry.

"Good morning, dear," Monica said, as she put a plate of pancakes at the table.

"Morning, Harry," said Dan while reading the newspaper.

"Harry, you shouldn't stay awake until late," said Hermione, helping herself to some pancakes.

"It's Saturday today, so it's fine," answered Harry, taking a sip from his juice.

It was just moments after breakfast that the sound of knocks resound around the house and alerted the inhabitants that that was someone at the door.

"What?..." Hermione said as she glanced over to her parents. "Were you expecting someone Mum, Dad?"

"No..." they both said. Puzzled, Dan stood from his seat at the table and headed for the door. She opened the door just as another knock was beginning.