Chapter 26

By the time classes had started, I had managed to gain enough control on my magic to not outright kill all the students when I practice a spell in a Charms or Transfiguration class. Well, that was a bit of an understatement because I had managed to almost regain the level of control I had pre-ritual.

Speaking of the ritual, I figured out why I seemed to have gained so much. It was because of my inherent talents (fake or real, doesn't matter, genius is genius) and magic. Usually, the ritual works like an addition to the caster, so the most one can get is 2 or 3 times the power of an average wizard and that too if they are lucky and the ritual doesn't end up killing them or doing something worse. But in my case, I was already about 3 or 4 times stronger than an average wizard and coupled with the fact that my soul is a bit.... unique, let's just say I don't exactly know how strong I am compared to an average wizard. In sheer power, I already beat Dumbledore or Voldemort pre-ritual but now I was sure I had more magic to use than they would have combined.

I had already decided to keep a journal or something to record my powers because I really need to learn my strength properly lest I end up killing someone inadvertently, which will be a huge pain in the ass.

Classes were even more of a breeze this time and I was contemplating on applying for an accelerated program so that I don't waste my time. I was sure Dumbledore would start to peg me as yet another Tom Riddle if I came to him with this so I decided to bypass the old Headmaster and contact the Ministry directly, Madam Marchbanks seemed like a good choice. Hmm, I suppose freeing Sirius now would earn me some goodwill from Amelia Bones if the fanfics were right and if I played things right, Fudge too would be willing to help me. The friendship of the Boy-Who-Lived and Lord Black would be icing on the cake.

I didn't interact much with the golden trio this time, apart from occassionally talking with Harry and ignoring or retorting against Hermione who for some reason didn't manage to get over the fact there was someone better than her in her year level. Well, I suppose that petty rivalry will evaporate when the 'character development' arcs take place over the years, though it would be a bit of pain to tolerate her till that time.

I decided to enact my plan after using the Integrator on the troll on Halloween which would boost my healing to ridiculous levels and my strength and resistance to pretty awesome levels as well. In preparation for that, I started spending a little bit more time with Susan Bones, because she was my contact with Amelia Bones for the future parts of my plan. I was mildly confused when she or her close friend, Hannah Abbott, didn't mind my company and seemed to even enjoy it but I let that bit of information go over mh head as I really didn't want to deal with kid crushes or whatever this was.

A part of me wanted to send an anonymous letter to the head of the DMLE and get it over with but my main reason of doing this was so that I could get in contact with Madam Marchbanks. I suppose it seemed like a lot of trouble for something that seemed small but in my opinion, the accelerated program was vital for my mental health, and if I managed to have a peaceful third year without dementors and time-traveling, well, that didn't exactly detract my mind from going through with this plan.

I would have preferred to remain low-key but I suppose with the amount of power I now had that would be kind of a pipe dream. I couldn't exactly waste years just so that I could blend in with the crowd so to say, and if I had to spend one more moment with the rest of the first years I would end up killing someone.

Soon, a month or so went with me firmly establishing myself as a genius (kind of an understatement, what with all the shocked looks of the professors and the not so subtle observations of the old bearded weirdo) and I had progressed more in my magic studies thanks to the RoR and my second Mind. I had turned off my detection radar because I no longer needed it, though I suppose it would come in use someday. I hadn't slacked off on channeling but I had to tame down a bit on the training because I was about to reach my first magical maturity, which I had learnt would correct a few things wrong with me, like playing with too much magic while still underage (magically speaking) and performing rituals that hadn't shown their entire results (this kind of scared me because I don't know if there were some nasty side effects that I would have to face).

Before long, Halloween came and things played out more or less the same as canon, with Quirrell shouting about Troll in the dungeons and fainting, Dumbeldore instructing everybody to remain calm and proceed to the dorms and Harry and Ron sneaking out to save Hermione.

As we were walking back towards the dorms, I silently cast a set of spells that I called the switch. Placing a lifelike illusion of myself (I had gotten better over it the past month) in my place, I cast my set of invisibility spells and made my way over to the girls' bathroom where I was going to use the Integrator on the troll.

My semi-super speed allowed me to get there fairly earlier than the duo of Harry and Ron, and I didn't find the troll there. Walking a bit randomly I found it making it's way over to the bathroom but I didn't let it do as it wanted to. I was a bit excited with finally using the Integrator properly but also a bit worried on changing an important event in the canon. Oh well, I would take things as they come. Taking care to see there were no portraits or suits of armour around me, I cast the invisible Integrator at the Troll and watched with fascination as the Troll seemed to visibly age and disintegrated into ash which then vanished as well.

The effects of the spell wasn't as immediate as I was expecting (Using the same spell on magical artifacts and living creatures has different results, who knew?) which is why I had managed to silently slip off to my dorm and had just managed to put up a set of powerful silencing charms and privacy wards before screaming out in pain. I could feel my body breaking down and reconstructing, though thankfully there were no adverse effects on my Mind and Soul. I shut off the pain by disconnecting my consciousness from my body (apparently you can do that when you are far enough in Occlumency). Silently counting to 100, I re-established the connection and tensed in preparation for a pain that never came.

Huh, I guess I managed to skim over an event that would have given me second thoughts about using the Integrator again. That's good.