79 Sowing Karma

Oz had many things on his agenda for this year at Hogwarts but one of the main things he wanted to work on was his knowledge of Horcruxes and specifically how to detect them. Oz could sense the dark magic in Harry's scar when he was face to face with the boy however that energy would be hard to pick out even with his eyes if he weren't directly looking at the source. Due to this, searching for horcruxes by himself would be a no go. The easiest method would be to carry Harry around like a horcrux sensor however such a setup would be pretty bothersome in the long run.

So what would Oz have to do? Well he had already thought up some ways of combatting this difficulty. The most straightforward way was to familiarise himself with the dark magic in Harry's scar to the point where he can sense it easier and easier. When he gets to a point where he can sense it like any other magical signature, searching for the diary and diadem in the school would be much easier. Oz did think about trying to take a portion of the dark magic from Harry's scar and replicating what he did with Salazar's portrait which allowed him to track the old snake via his own marauders map however with the horcrux energy being embedded into Harry it could be a very dangerous procedure to take such energy out abruptly. After all these years it had rooted itself pretty deeply into Harry's psyche so any sort of abrupt detachment could lead to some long-term issues and damage Harry greatly.

If Oz could get his hands on a horcrux that was just an item however, maybe he could create some sort of detector which would work much better in comparison to his eyes just detecting the aura of a horcrux, however seeing as though horcruxes are an ancient dark magic technique Oz wouldn't be surprised if there were some 'security' measures put in place that made it so Horcruxes were hard to detect, especially considering how dead-set Voldemort is on hiding them.

There was then the issue of the diary being at large and Oz not knowing its wielder. The most straight forward method would be to wait until someone is attacked and then stake-out the toilets which led to the chamber of secrets, waiting for the diaries wielder to appear. If Oz had to, he would follow this method however only as a last resort seeing as though it'd put others at risk. In the original canon, the victims of the basilisk got extremely lucky, only ever seeing the beast through reflections leading them to be petrified. Seeing as though the canon was changing a lot already, Oz wouldn't be surprised if the first victim this time around was an actual death.

So for this year mainly, Oz wanted to improve his knowledge on horcruxes solely. His magic prowess was at a bottleneck anyway and he foresaw that he wouldn't be able to improve until he was ready for the Ambrosius ritual.

Currently as all these thoughts were spiralling in his head, Oz was walking through the Hogwarts castle between lessons. Lessons these days for him he barely paid attention to, usually just showing surface level attention when in actuality his mind is in a completely different zone. Walking through the castle with much on his mind Oz kept a calm pace, although this year in the long run seemed bothersome, after it was done was when the fun for him would truly begin.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Oz suddenly felt a finger prod his shoulder from behind. Feeling this Oz turned his head slowly to see a small girl looking up at him.

"E-Excuse me... Are you Oz?".

Oz immediately recognised the small girl that had approached him, with a smile on his face he nodded.

"Yes I am, you've grown a lot since I last saw you".

Luna's eyes widened as she heard Oz's reply.

"You actually remembered me?! But that was so long ago!".

Oz tapped his finger on his head as he gave a cheeky smile.

"Well im known for having a pretty good memory... I'm more surprised you remembered me".

Luna blushed slightly as she scratched her cheek.

"How could I not remember you seeing all the fame you're pulling in these days... My dad instantly recognised you when those daily prophets went out about the descendant of Merlin".

Oz sighed deeply noting how his fame was greater than he gave credit to. He didn't even realise pictures of him had been released to the media. There sadly wasn't much he could do about it now though and he couldn't be bothered at this point to try and do anything anyway.

"Well Luna... we have some time before our next lessons. Want to sit and chat for a while?".

Luna nodded her head fervently as she followed Oz to an area where they could sit and chat. Oz sat down slowly as he looked up at the blue sky above him.

"I should have returned this all a long time ago... Please give my apologies to your parents".

Luna looked at Oz in confusion as he reached into his bag rustling around, eventually taking out some familiar looking books as well as a piece of paper.

"Back when I visited your house, I was young and naïve. I had only just learned that there was a world of magic and I was desperate to know more... If I had known how expensive these sorts of materials were I would have never asked for such a selfish request. I feel its best to give all this back to you now".

Oz handed over all the books to a bewildered Luna who looked a bit stumped at what to say. After some time though, she simply gave Oz a wide smile and nod as she received the books. Oz felt the need however to ask one important question.

"How are your parents may I ask?".

Luna's face suddenly changed at Oz's question and her previously bright demeanour morphed into one of sadness. Seeing this change Oz felt his heart sink a little.

"W-well my dad is fine... he's actually always wondered what happened to you. However my mother... she got into an accident while experimenting. Currently she's in St Mungo's and is in a coma".

Oz's eyes widened at the new revelation that Luna had brought to him. Pandora still went through an accident like in the canon however this time around she hadn't died. Oz wondered if his appearance at their house all those years ago led to this change.

"Is there any chance she wakes up?".

Luna looked down to the floor with teardrops filling her eyes.

"The doctors said it was... unlikely. However my dad isn't giving up hope and neither am I!".

Oz gave a warm smile to Luna as he heard her enthusiasm. At this point he then handed her a small piece of parchment with notes all over it.

"I've also been meaning to return this as well... it was with the books your parents gave me. I gather it's your mothers notes seeing as though the handwriting is so neat".

Seeing this piece of parchment Luna immediately snatched it up and tears streamed down her face.

"F-finally I found it! My dad's been going mad for years looking for these notes constantly saying that my mother would had put some details in them about how to help her or something... t-thank you so much Oz!".

Luna seemed to be extremely emotional towards receiving these notes as Oz just let her cry out a bit. It was horrible to lose someone close to you, however to a certain degree it was even worse to have someone close to you be stuck in a limbo between life and death. Constantly you'd be thinking 'will they wake up' and your hope would wane day by day. Seeing as though Pandora was alive to some degree though, Oz cemented in his heart that he had to help her seeing as though these Lovegood's helped him when he first came to this world. Smiling at Luna, Oz finished off their conversation.

"If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to come to me for help in the future. I also attend a little study group with some people which you're welcome to join as well so feel free to join us when we are in the library. As for your mother... I'll do what I can to help as well".

Luna's tears started to stop as she looked up at Oz and nodded with a smile. Seeing this affirmation, Oz headed off to his next lesson. His heart slightly lighter than before.

.

Currently Oz was in the Slytherin common room with Harry opposite him. Harry was looking at Oz in curiosity.

"So Oz, why have you called me?".

Oz looked at the bespectacled boy in front of him with a grin.

"You see Harry, I need your help with something again".

Harry's eyes widened as a bead of sweat fell from his brow.

"We aren't chasing after any teachers with two faces again are we? Not hunting any alchemical stones or anything right?".

Oz shook his head with a light chuckle escaping his lips.

"No no. This will be much simpler. I'm gonna tutor you a bit in magic and in exchange I'd like to study that scar on your forehead".

Hearing Oz's request Harry let out a sigh of relief. He had seemed to got in his mind at this point that whenever Oz called him for something, he would have to do some sort of big task, however this seemed to be much more lax in comparison.

"You don't need to tutor me in order to do that Oz. I don't mind letting you study this thing".

There was actually a reason to why Oz wanted to tutor Harry though that was extremely beneficial to Oz and Harry in the long run. As Oz knew, in the fifth book and film Harry would become a doorway for Voldemort to manipulate via his scar. Snape was enlisted by Dumbledore at this time to teach the boy occlumency in order to combat this mind invasion however Snape's way of teaching was far to brusque. With the amount of time Oz had he would be able to build Harry's mind defences to a far more powerful level so that Voldemort wouldn't be able to manipulate him. As a matter of fact, Oz also felt that he might even be able to use Harry to send Voldemort mixed signals instead if his occlumency grew to a good level.

"What I want to teach you Harry will be extremely beneficial in the long run especially in a world like this. Its gonna be difficult however over time you will come to learn. As for studying your scar, I only need to look at it while I'm teaching you".

Hearing that Oz was insistent on teaching him, Harry nodded with excitement welling up in his chest. Oz's prowess was well known and with him getting lessons from him, Harry felt that in the future he could grow much stronger.

As Oz was talking to Harry he rubbed the ring on his finger calmly, some thoughts filling his mind.

'If I combat this weakness early it should be beneficial for everyone involved... If he does truly struggle with defending him mind I can always give him this ring for a while. Although, As that old goat told me you need to learn the magic yourself for it to be effective, an artefact will only get you so far...'.

Oz recalled his lessons with Dumbledore in the previous year in regards to occlumency as he sighed. Although the headmaster was problematic he did understand magic well.

"Well Harry, there's no time like the present. Let's begin now...".

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A/N - 1999 words, please enjoy :)