On a more personal note, he had made massive strides in his own magical studies the past year. The magical channelling had effectively improved his body's physical attributes to the levels of a healthy adult and his burgeoning magical powers would dwarf most students in their 6th and 7th years. Since midway through the year, he no longer needed to sleep in the traditional sense and replace it with a form of meditative channelling in a state of zen and even finishing off with plenty of energy at daybreak everyday
The room of requirement was mighty useful for his rune overlay practise. The room where everyone hid their stuff was full of the various ingredients and materials he needed and he was practising at least once a week. He was still not at the stage of producing his own magical inventions but he could make small trinkets and was sure of much more progress the next year.
One of his greatest achievements was completing his Animagus transformation a month before the end of the year. Two occasions were instrumental in helping him transform even earlier than he had expected. Hearing his qualities laid out bare by the sorting hat at the start of the year helped him out part of the way in his own understanding of self. But the greater contribution was from Professor McGonagall whose talks had helped fill in all the blanks in his understanding of the process. Even after that, it took him the better part of the year to complete the rest of the process. He had transformed into an Ocelot, a fierce specimen of the feline species and was very happy with the transformation. It had extremely good senses, capable of sneaking everywhere easily and looked amazing to boot. He had also started working on his own version of the Marauder's map with the help of the ocelot form. Though he didn't have the way to sync his map with the Hogwarts wards yet, he did manage to create a map that filled itself in as he explored an area. Best of all, it wasn't just limited to Hogwarts. The map would fill in every place he went to automatically.
Intent casting had also rapidly improved after furthering his understanding of spell mechanics. It was technically an even higher level of magic than non-verbal casting, which was only taught after the O.W.L.s and he was proud to be as good at intent casting as he was. His proficiency at it also resulted in an improvement to his non-verbal casting automatically. To the uninformed viewer, the two didn't have much difference but intent casting was a level higher and much more versatile and independently functional than the other. Though doing it with a wand gave greater control and power, its biggest advantage was that it could be used without one.
He had taken up quidditch or rather flying as a regular form of relaxation and rapidly got better at it. The strengthened reflexes and balance that came from the channelling lent themselves to his flying skills and he was better than most on the team by the second half of the year. He didn't join the team though, as he had only flying as a skill and was not particularly skilled at any of the playing positions. He did help out the team in improving their flying when he had the time. He had taken on a sort of unofficial advisor position and helped with their planning and cast spells to keep them in their optimum conditions when flying in bad weather or when they needed minor injuries healed.
The healing also brought to his attention his lack of skill in this particular area and he started on it with a vengeance. Madam Pince helped him out with searching the books from the various sections. He finally understood the complexities involved and why healers were so highly regarded and had stringent conditions to enter the profession. Healing was tied in with potions, transfiguration, herbology, charms, and defence against the dark arts depending on the type of injury or illness and there were countless possible combinations of maladies as well as cures. Well, he wasn't going to make a career of it anyways so it would do to learn the basics. The 'Episkey' spell for minor injuries, Haemostasis potions as well as a few more and some herbal salves were what he had in his arsenal as of now.
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He was also no longer worried about any theoretical exams. He had been working on spells of his own and a couple of them had borne fruit. He named the spell 'Fortis Memoriae' and it was a spell to fortify the memory to eidetic levels for a specific duration. He had reverse engineered the spell workings from the memory charm 'obliviate' and depending on the amount of magic used it would be viable for anywhere between an hour to a day. So now he just had to use it during his revision before the exams and he could remember what he learnt word for word whenever he wished. If he could get proficient enough with rune overlay to configure the spell on an object, he could rake in the galleons just selling it all over the world. But that would require a level of proficiency in both spell craft and rune overlay that he didn't possess right now, so that idea would have to wait a while. Meanwhile, he no longer had to waste much time studying and could use the time to persue his own interests.
He had also practised the Patronus charm. Fearing it to be a difficult spell, he had decided to prepare in advance for the dementors. But to his pleasant surprise he was extremely good at the spell and had a corporeal Patronus with the form of an ocelot before the month was out. He hadn't needed to struggle for memories. He had the memory of realising he had woken up in the Potterverse and that would carry him throughout his life.
Another important discovery was the reason for Ollivander's request to return the next year for a check on the wand. He realised over the course of the year that the wand had slowly increased in its potency and amplification. After running some tests and observations, he found that the wand seemed to resonate with him. He supposed that it was a combination of the similarities in the essence of the wand and him. Wand were made of magical cores to further amplify and focus the casters magic and his resonance with his wand further promoted that and developed the wand into a greater casting aide. He couldn't wait to run his conjecture by Ollivander, but he had a hunch that he was right. Well, he wasn't complaining. Which witch or wizard wouldn't want a wand that evolved as they developed their own magical powers.
The end of year tests went well, just as he had expected and he passed with flying colours in each exam. He was the topper in his year. Unfortunately, he hadn't managed to make enough of a difference that Gryffindor won the house cup and it went to Ravenclaw instead, with Gryffindor a close second.
The Weasley twins had invited him to The Burrow during the second month of the holidays and he had had happily accepted after running it by his mother. The twins and he planned to use the time to further improve their products to the level where they became a viable business option. It was going to be a fun summer and he looked forward to it.
The year was finally over and the first years made their way across the lake and reached the station. They would be taking the coaches starting next year and he wondered if he would be able to see the Thestrals. He had died himself after all. Finally, the train left the platform and they were off for home. He was in a compartment with the twins and Lee Jordan and made merry the entire way back.
They were finally back at King's cross and he met his mother. He had sorely missed her. He had grown to love her deeply as a mother and was pleased to be back with her. They made their way out of the station as he regaled her with the tales of his year at Hogwarts.