Pieces Falling Into Place

Harry POV:

The following week was some of the best times of my life! Everything just felt so surreal. Above having answers and having someone to talk to. Above learning about the magical world that I should have never left. Above absolutely everything that they were doing for me was what the accessories they put on me granted. Peace. I had peace for the first time in forever.

No more housework, no more shouting, no more beatings, no more starvation, no more anything from them! It was great! The Dursleys barely even know I'm there at all. Dudley is both too young and too stupid to even notice.

Vernon is also too stupid but since he is an adult, there were a few times when he did remember me, but they were very short. Petunia has always ignored me as much as possible, so the magic of the accessories only helps that. When I asked about it, the mysterious helper had this to say.

??? - The ring and necklace I stuck on you are enchanted with notice-me-not charms. It does what the name suggests. I made it as strong as I could without people forgetting about you completely. Dudley is too young and stupid so he won't notice. Vernon and Petunia on the other hand would notice if the enchantment wasn't so strong. I made it so that they have to have their ENTIRE focus on you to notice and remember you.

??? - Most people don't have the mental discipline to maintain that strength of focus for long. You would need training in the Mind Arts or some other training to increase the length of focus and sharpness of your thoughts like military or martial arts training.

??? - Petunia and Vernon aren't very smart people and have no formal training, so they CAN'T focus on you for longer than a minute or two. The strength of mind required is too much for them.

??? - Be careful of being near your uncle when he is angry as his subconscious reaction is to go for you. He won't be able to think that for long due to anger or drunkenness or whatever else so a few seconds of running away and he'll forget again, but it's better to be careful.

??? - I could have made it stronger but then the teachers would completely forget about you as well and the government would get involved if that went on for too long, so best not. Have fun with it!

Thinking about how this week has gone made me smile as I bit into a sandwich I made earlier that day. I was still extremely happy to be able to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. He delivered on his promise to fix my body immediately. Whenever I wake up some parts of my body are hurting like a thousand ants are biting me, but when they stop I notice that the bone is now perfect.

It happened a lot quicker than I thought it would, but the stranger said it wasn't close to being finished. Another few weeks of them coming in the night and mending my bones are required before I can take targeted potions for my height and weight. I already feel much better than before and each day it gets better and better. Still, I was curious about it so I asked about it.

??? - I'll be blunt here Harry. Without magic, you would have died years ago. It's worked to keep you alive for so long that your body is constantly being saturated with magic to make up for its deficiencies. This will change as your body is repaired but right now your body is simply too weak. 

??? - Your magic has prioritised your brain and heart so those are the only parts of your body that are healthy. Everything else is so weak that the damage to it can't be fixed without magic. It's not all bad though and there is a silver lining. You will learn about that when we discuss magic theory.

??? - Being honest here Harry, if you decide not to get revenge on your relatives for whatever reason, I will be killing them myself when you get access to the Potter family holdings.

When he told me that, I was completely taken off guard. I remember thinking that I should be dead many, many times throughout my life but to have it confirmed like that hit me hard. I was angry, to say the least. The last bit made me think really hard about what I want to happen though. I wanted revenge against my relatives sure. But to murder them?... I don't think I could do that. That feels like crossing a line I don't want to cross.

If someone was actively trying to kill me and I killed them in combat I would be okay with that. I think. But to murder someone in cold blood. I don't think I could do it.

I finished my sandwich whilst thinking, sitting in the library. I no longer need to worry about my time at the Dursleys but it will never be home for me and I still really hate being there at all. I spend most of my time in the local library now. Weekends, after school and probably the holidays when they come.

My birthday is next month and I turn 6, but I've never had anyone to celebrate it with. The stranger said he would get me a cake and spend the whole day talking with me which is a new feeling for me. To have someone just acknowledge it is a wonderful feeling.

Other than enjoying my newfound freedom I've spent most of my time practising the Mind Arts and reading whatever the stranger puts into the journal. I had already mastered the first step long ago with the stranger telling me that was a survival mechanism.

The next step was to find my mindscape. Without anything else to do, I had a lot of time to spend on it. Therefore it wasn't surprising I found it on the third day. It was a gigantic forest with each tree being a memory, but the forest was sick.

The green of the trees was a sickly yellow, the grass was brown and the trunks of the trees were oozing a black sap-like blood. It was scary. I wrote to the stranger about this and the answer I got just made me feel worse.

??? - The mindscape is your mind. The state it's in is a reflection of your mental state and yours clearly shows you have a lot of healing to go through. It's unique for everyone. Someone with a sea for their mindscape might find it polluted, someone with a mountain range might find the mountains cracked. Like I said, it's different for everyone but it clearly shows that you are in a bad place mentally.

It made sense but was still depressing. Ever since I found my mindscape, I have had to go through my memories and organise everything as the first step. The occlumency books transcribed in the journal told me I could do defences first, but I was anxious to find memories of my parents.

I've been looking for them constantly, but haven't found them yet. The stranger said they're probably buried deep under everything else either by Dumbledore or through my mind shielding me from the trauma of their death.

I've only gone through a little bit of my memories so far. It's painful to relive everything. I wish I could just lock them away and forget, but that would damage my mind and if I don't sort through them then I won't be able to master Occlumency. The stranger said I should confront those feelings and process them properly before I move on.

I've been doing that and it's really difficult. However with every memory I go through my mind feels just a little bit lighter, the forest just a little bit greener. I don't expect just this to help me move past everything but I realised I need to confront everything that happened in my past before looking into the future. I can't ignore it.

I still don't know what to sort my mind into. The stranger said he miniaturised them and stored them in a tower along with duplicating them as a backup. He recommended for me to turn my memories into books and compile them that way. His were spheres so he didn't see the need. Trees are more cumbersome.

It makes it easier to do whatever I want with them than if they stayed as trees. It makes sense to me and I do like books quite a lot, so I've started to turn the tree memories I've been through into book memories.

It'll take a while to sort through all these memories and turn them into books, but at least it'll clear the landscape so I can finally find the memories of my parents. In the meantime, I've been laying out the books in chronological order. His idea of a backup of everything is a good idea so it'll help to have everything ordered for when I do that.

Outside of the gruelling process of mastering the Mind Arts I've been having some interesting conversations with the stranger through the journal about the magical world in general or clarifications for some things he mentioned but never fully explained. One of those things was an interesting discussion about magical Britain.

Harry - Hey, why do you hate magical Britain so much?

??? - I disdain a lot of the magical world honestly but magical Britain is by far the worst country to live in. Europe, America, Australia and a few other countries I disdain as they have banned a lot of magic, but they are otherwise good places to live for the common people. Britain is the worst, however. This is mostly because it never got purged.

Harry - Purged?

??? - From the 1930s to the mid-1940s, there was a dark lord called Grindelwald around. His defeat is credited to Dumbledore actually. This was the basis of his political power even though he never actually fought him until the final battle.

Harry - Sounds like he didn't do much then.

??? - He didn't. Anyway, before we get back to Grindelwald I need to go into a bit of history, but keep him in mind okay?

Harry - Grindelwald, got it.

??? - Good. Now, just like there used to be nobility in the non-magical world, there has always been nobility in the magical world as well. Old families lead the magical world just as the old families used to in the non-magical world. Everything was going swimmingly for a long time, but this all changed about 100-150 years ago with the technological era beginning. With me so far?

Harry - Yes, keep going.

??? - This differs from place to place but generally, before 100-150 years ago the non-magical world had been a complete shithole to live in for 99% of the world's population. Disease, short life spans, quack medicine, high mortality rate for children etc. It was a horrible place to live for everyone unless you were born rich.

??? - Almost every person who entered the magical world from the non-magical world, a.k.a muggleborns, found it to be a paradise by comparison. Clean houses, nice food, good medical care, long life spans, children didn't die before 5 years old, no dawn to dusk backbreaking jobs etc.

??? - There was nobility in the non-magical world just as there was in the magical world so no one complained. Life was much better for anyone entering after all. Then technology came. It uplifted the lives of all non-magicals. Monarchy faded away and Democracy took it's place.

??? - This made it so the people entering from the non-magical world no longer found it to be that much better than the non-magical one. Still with me?

Harry - Yes, I'm with you. I think I understand. I've read about all this before. But what does this have to do with Grindelwald?

??? - I'm getting there. Now. The thing is that magical people live for a lot, and I mean a LOT, longer than non-magicals. Depending on how powerful someone is they can live for hundreds of years. The oldest person is currently over 700 years old right now.

??? - The average magical lives between 150 and 250 years old, and that's AVERAGE. Most of the people in government right now and most old people in the magical world were alive when the non-magical world was still a shithole.

??? - Everything happened too fast for the magical world to keep up with. The people coming into the magical world now lived with democracy, progressing medical technological levels and were no longer led by the nobility. Their lives were much easier than before because of technology and science progressing further and further.

??? - Basically, they started viewing the magical world as old-fashioned and thought that the non-magical world was better. They were no longer content not being able to get positions in governments and other things like arranged marriages were viewed as backwards. It's obviously more complicated but these are the basic reasons.

??? - The magical world couldn't cope with all this. This is where the prejudice towards muggleborns comes from. The old families of the magical world started resenting muggleborns for trying to take the power they always had.

??? - It wasn't nearly as bad in America or Australia as the magical communities there aren't very old (besides the native magic users), but Magical Europe is thousands of years old Harry. Thousands of years. Still with me?

Harry - Yes I'm still with you. I had no idea the problems ran so deep though. No wonder Voldemort could get all the support he did.

??? - Very good Harry! Exactly! Anyway, this is where Grindelwald comes in. Using World War 1 and later World War 2 as examples, he gathered followers from across the globe around the banner of the dangers the non-magical world represents.

??? - Honestly, I see his point. I would never have joined him as he was extremely manipulative and I have dreams of my own, but he had a point. With the development of nuclear weapons and other weapons of war along with the destruction of the environment the non-magical world causes, the magical world has good reason to hate and fear the non-magicals.

??? - Using their fear and anger, he gathered followers and set about his path as a dark lord. I'm not sure if he wanted to wipe out the non-magicals, enslave them or whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. The point is, he didn't actually ACT on what he spoke. He wanted power and wanted to conquer the magical world. He barely touched the non-magical world at all. And here is where the purges come in.

??? - Grindelwald was not from an old family and old families have always held all the magical knowledge and power just like nobility did in the non-magical world. He wanted it. Between 1930 to the mid 1940's he and his followers razed practically all the old families in Europe to the ground. He stole all their knowledge and killed all who opposed him. Everywhere except Britain.

??? - This was once again because of Dumbledore. They had some kind of relationship when they were young so Grindelwald left England alone. In addition, Dumbledore is extremely powerful. He was the only magical who could match Grindelwald as far as everyone is aware. So all of Europe had practically all of their nobility and governments destroyed completely.

??? - This allowed new governments to rise in all these places with Democracies, voting etc. Some places are still a little old fashioned like Norway and Russia as some of their nobility survived, but generally, these places are now very progressive and good places to live.

??? - Britain on the other hand was never attacked by Grindelwald so all the old families still run the country and still have all the power. All of the above problems between the muggleborns and old families, a.k.a purebloods, worsened over time. These days it's extremely bad. EXTREMELY bad. Muggleborns are practically second-class citizens in Britain.

??? - There are so many laws favouring the old families it's really quite disgusting. A pureblood can do practically anything they want to a muggleborn short of killing them in the middle of the street and nothing would happen to them.

??? - And the opposite is true as well. Muggleborns can't get any jobs but the worst of them, a mere accusation from a pureblood is practically guaranteed years in jail or even execution whether they did it or not. The government in Britain is corrupt like you wouldn't believe Harry. It makes me sick. THAT is why magical Britain is the worst country.

It was horrifying to hear what magical Britain was like. And I believe him too. He hasn't lied to me yet and I can find this out myself when I enter the magical world anyway. He further explained that all the smart people had already left Britain to elsewhere and the only muggleborns left were either stupid, incredibly stubborn or Hogwarts students.

There are apparently very few people in Britain who can think for themselves these days or they're from an old family. 'The sheep of wizarding Britain' is what he called them. And I'm inclined to agree if people believe everything from a clearly biased newspaper. Reading the passage he copied from that day's issue of it filled me with disbelief at how clearly biased it was. And I'm a kid!

Well, there's nothing I can do about it. We spoke about a lot of different topics, and he recommended I focus on mathematics as that will apparently help immensely with something called Arithmancy. He explained it as the maths of magic and it is used to calculate all magic. It seems very important and I've always been good at maths.

He has started to transcribe entire books into the journal after the occlumency ones and I've been reading up on things like history, runes and magical theory. I will keep my focus and work on fixing myself both physically and mentally so I can follow my new dream: to become the best possible wizard I can be!

________

Draco's POV:

It's been a little over a week since then and my sixth birthday is coming up in a few weeks. Well, I haven't really paid attention to my birthdays much since being born. What's the point? I've already grown up once before.

I've been scouring the books I've scanned into my mind for some kind of solution to Harry's eyesight problem. And make no mistake that it is a problem. He might be famous for the glasses and scar but glasses are a detriment to any dangerous situation he finds himself in.

From what I've found so far, there isn't a super simple solution like a potion to fix eyesight. There are medical procedures to fix eyesight in the magical world, however, they all need to be done when the person is an adult. Luckily I've found a relatively simple solution.

In a book found in the illegal collection, there is a beginner sacrificial ritual I found that uses the eyes of a bird of prey to enhance eyesight. The book that contained the ritual specifically states that the bird must be caught and killed by oneself in order to have the best effect when sacrificing the eyes.

If not then the improvement stops at peak human levels due to a lack of mystical connections surrounding the sacrifice. This method would be perfect for him. It would be optimal if he goes through with the ritual properly but if not, I can send him some eyes i'll have Dobby buy and it'll still fix his eyesight to peak human levels.

I haven't brought it up with Harry yet though. Nothing can be done before his body is fixed anyway and I want to give him some time to get used to his new reality. I've been fixing his body whilst referencing different medical books we have here. As I told Harry, the medical profession in the magical world is extremely advanced. His situation is severe but all his problems are non-magical apart from the soul piece.

All his problems can be fixed with some potions and a lot of food. Potions are incredible in this world. They're extremely complicated magical effects focused into liquids. I mean take Felix Felicis/Liquid Luck for example. It's an extremely complicated potion yes. But how complicated would replicating the effects with a spell or ritual be? And how much power would that take?

Anyway, this research into fixing Harry's eyesight opened my eyes to the possibilities of rituals. I'll look into them as I progress for options to enhance myself.

Right now however I was sitting on my bed in my room at night before my nightly visit to Harry to continue his treatment. My thoughts weren't on him right now, however.

I had a problem. I am 5 right now and have been making sure to keep active and healthy, however, I haven't found a way to enhance my body beyond human limits. I've been thinking about this ever since I was born but it was more a thought in the back of my mind at the time as I was still a baby. It wasn't a pressing issue.

Right now however is the absolute perfect time to begin proper training. I'm 5, nearly 6, and whilst my body is stronger than a normal child without magic and I can cycle magic through my body to make it stronger, this doesn't solve the fundamental problem. The 'body' portion of 'mind, body and soul' is the thing that holds wizards back the most.

With my recent research for Harry, I do not doubt that there are rituals to make your body stronger, but that isn't what I want. I imagine that both Dumbledore and Voldemort used rituals to get to their current power, but my goal is much higher than just them. Those two are nothing in the multiverse power-wise. I need a way to enhance my body in a gradual manner that will allow me to surpass human limitations hopefully without a limit.

For this, I turned to fiction. My first thought was a gravity chamber like in Dragon Ball Z but I quickly thought better of it. It is an absolutely great way to enhance the body... for an adult! I'm still growing right now and can't take the risks involved. I'm not a Saiyan. Plus, I'd need to invent it myself and that will take more knowledge than I have now. I put that idea on the shelf in my mind of future ideas for when I'm grown.

I flicked through the fictions and fanfictions in my mind looking for different methods. There are a lot of methods, but unfortunately, most of them require outside forces to act on the body to train it. Gravity, heat, cold, lightning etc. This isn't what I wanted either.

I frowned further as I kept thinking before an idea from a Naruto fanfiction popped into my head. In the fanfiction, the main character cycles their chakra faster and faster in their body whilst keeping total control over it. This put pressure on their entire body and also trained chakra control. This method has no theoretical limit.

Hmm... well it's worth a try. Magic and chakra are obviously different. I don't have a chakra network to start with. However, they're both a type of energy. Additionally, I already experimented a little. The body gets stronger as magic actively flows through it just like chakra in Naruto. Not to mention that I've had a constant flow of magic through my body since birth.

Ever since I connected my magical core to my mindscape, I've had magic running from my core through my body and back to my core constantly. 

Throwing these thoughts to the back of my mind, I thought I might as well try it. I won't lose anything from it. I lay down on my bed and focused on the cycle of magic constantly running through me.

This is usually a background process but now I'm taking control of the process. Gradually, I sped up the cycle of magic from core to body and back. As I had noticed before, my body got stronger when I did this but I ignored that for now and stayed focused.

Making absolutely sure to keep perfect control over my magic, I cycled my magic faster and faster and faster. Very soon I could feel a pressure affecting my whole body from the tip of my toes to the crown of my head. My brows were furrowed as I used my soul sense to see what it was doing as I gradually sped up the magic cycle. 

Quickly, I could feel a faint sense of danger resonating from my soul, alerting me that any more than this would be too much. Heeding my soul's danger warning, I stopped speeding up the cycle but kept it at the same speed. After a few hours, the danger sense came back alerting me that it was time to stop. Gradually I let the magic cycle go back to regular background levels.

Sitting up, I realised I was sore in every part of my body. It was a good sore though that I recognised from after a workout, only 100 times better than that. I could feel my magic even now soothing my body as it flowed slowly through it in a calm and gentle manner.

I was absolutely starving and covered in sweat so after a large meal delivered by Dobby, I had a shower. Standing in the shower in the bathroom attached to my room, I took a look through my memories of what just happened.

Looking through my mind as I washed, I grew more and more excited because it worked! I can't believe it! Hahahahaha! I finally have my method to get super strong!

When I cycled my magic through my body at high speeds, the pressure I felt was from 2 different effects. The first is my magic overloading the total capacity for magic that my body has. As stated previously, my body is like a superconductor for magic but even then, that has limits as the flesh, bones, blood etc. simply isn't strong enough for magic to pass through at that speed or quantity.

The second effect is simply the 'weight' of the energy passing through my body. 'Weight' here doesn't mean physical weight. All that magic moving quickly generated a field inside my body that put pressure on my entire physical existence. This has the side effect of tempering every aspect of the physical body including the blood and organs.

I couldn't stop smiling when I thought through everything. This will further help me in a few different ways! The first is obviously enhancing my physical body. The second is training my control. And the third is gradually upgrading the magic conductivity of my physical body even further than it is already.

After finishing my shower, I still couldn't stop smiling when I visited Harry for his treatment. Even when I woke the next day I was still smiling. I only smiled wider again when I realised I had recovered and could do the active magic circulation training again.

It immediately became part of my daily routine to do the magic circulation training every morning when I woke. After just 3 days I could already feel the difference. I was getting stronger. It won't stop here. I'll keep going further and further with this. The problem with my physical body has been solved.