Another boring day in classes. I guess my interest in lectures is the same across dimensions. I thought to myself as I sat in the Room of Requirement finishing up my essay for Charms. Care of Magical Creatures was held in the afternoon but Hagrid didn’t assign any work.
It was after dinner, most of my classmates would be in their common rooms finishing up their homework also but I was determined to get something done tonight. I want to write out all the books and all of the plot points I could remember so that I could start planning on what needed to change and what needed to stay the same.
It would be a late night because tonight, Astrology was held at 10 p.m. for fourth years, so I was stuck with plotting and practicing for a few hours before I had to attend.
I finally put the finishing touches on the Charms essay and another piece of parchment appeared. Once again, I fucking love this room.
I started on my task of writing everything out and eventually I got through the end of this year and reviewed on what I knew.
The good news is that we can stop Voldemort’s resurrection from ever happening and stop the war from ever breaking out.
How did he survive again? Something about a… a sharp pain racked my skull as I tried to remember how he survived. Panic overtook me and I continued my task of writing out the rest of the books.
After I finished I found out some very interesting information. I had a gap missing in my memories, some of it being in The Half-Blood Prince but a lot of the The Deathly Hallows was blank.
I couldn’t remember why Dumbledore started pulling Harry into his office, I could remember most of Tom’s backstory but there were also missing pieces about the ‘why’ Dumbledore was telling Harry all of this. Is it so he can know his enemy?
Why didn’t we go back to school in our seventh year? What were we hunting for?
Fuck! BLOODY FUCK!! I thought having a temper tantrum. What is happening?
Pretty much all of the Order of the Phoenix was there, even the full prophecy. Whatever it is, someone or something doesn’t want me knowing. My brain supplied. And it’s obviously important, like literally the reason Voldemort was defeated important.
I sat back and collapsed into the chair as I digested all of the information. There was no other option. I have to get more powerful for it not to matter, blackthorn is a warriors wand? That is what I’ll become.
A warrior capable of standing against Voldemort… and Dumbledore if necessary. Stupid fanfiction.
I sat up after that revelation and brought the pen to paper, a basic plan.
1. Train your ass off. Learn magic/dueling/everything. Get back into shape
2. Remove the trace.
3. Moody.
4. Stop Voldemort's resurrection.
5. ….The Yule ball
I could worry about everything else later, the plan could change but that’s what is immediately pressing.
Wait the Yule ball?? Bloody teenage hormones. I thought as I continued looking at the list, knowing that eventually it would get longer and more detailed.
Numbers one, two, three, and four are all long term goals. Five can be solved almost immediately.
I won’t be taking anyone to the ball. There was a war going on inside of me, a moral war. I have lived over thirty-eight years combined and all the people around me are teenagers. My mind didn’t feel thirty-eight, in fact it felt somewhere between nineteen and twenty-two. I refuse to enter into a relationship with anyone my age, it’s as simple as that. As long as they’re of adult age then that is a different story but what adult would accompany a fourteen year old.
In short, I will be going to the ball alone.
With number five marked off of the list I can now concentrate on the rest. I had no clue about how to remove the trace from my wand.
The Room of Requirement took that time to slam two books on the desk of the studies. Neither of them had names on the covers.
“Ohhhhkkkkaayyyy.” I said aloud not worried about a room reading my mind constantly.
I flipped through the first few pages and it was a journal of sorts. Not wanting to waste any time, I started.
“The ministry approached me today, they asked me about ways to ‘trace’ underage magic from young wizards and witches. I immediately denied them but they have threatened my job here at the school, one of them is on the board.
I have already thought of several ideas but they will need to be tested……”
The journal continued a recap of the day but nothing about the trace. I continued to turn the pages and skim for any information regarding it. Eventually I found it about halfway through the journal.
“I finally figured it out, a way to trace underage wizards. It has been a guilty pleasure of mine to figure out the magic of this magnitude, even if I don’t like spying on children.
I have enchanted a book, the book itself has been enchanted to have neverending pages, to act as a sort of home base. This ‘home base’ can have other things, anything would work, keyed into the enchantments. These ‘keys’ will act as beacons, they are enchanted with a ward that is the most basic of detection wards. It will scan any wizard within its range to determine the age, if it finds your magic under seventeen years old then it will ‘mark’ you. So faint and so soft that it would take a ritual to detect it, but since those have been banned and information about them purged, no one will ever know how to take it off.
The idea is to litter the magical outposts with these ‘keys’. Originally I thought we could dot the countryside with these ‘keys’ but there is the possibility of the Muggles finding and moving them, so the magical places in the world will have to suffice, a brick in every building maybe? Anyway every wizard or witch will need to visit Diagon Alley’s and Hogsmeade’s of the world eventually. That is when they will be marked with the ‘trace’. Once marked, the ‘key’ sends back the information of the wizard it’s marked and logs it. Once the wizard uses magic, the book knows instantly.
I do not feel good about this, but I do feel a slight sense of accomplishment. I have accumulated the best ways to counter the ‘trace’ on the page following this one. Unfortunately it will be the last entry.
I will have to lose this journal, I’ll have a house elf dispose of it.
If anyone ever finds this, my apologies.
-Anonymous Professor of Hogwarts 1870.”
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Holy fucking shit. Summed up my reaction to figuring out how exactly the trace in the Harry Potter world was implemented and who did it.
It made sense too, why wouldn’t the ministry approach a professor to carry out this task, professors at Hogwarts were some of the most accomplished in their fields. It was most likely the Charms or Arithmancy professor of the time. A part of me wanted to research it to find out but it also didn’t matter at all.
I flipped the page and saw the ways the author had to counter the trace.
The first was the easiest way to counter the trace. It was an enchantment that was supposed to be cast on a piece of jewelry or something that I would wear everyday. The best part was that you could also cast other enchantments on top of it and it would cooperate. My mind was already racing with the possibilities.
The second was a little bit harder. It was purely theoretical, it proposed a ritual that was designed to conceal your magic from others. The way the professor worded it was ‘to ward your own magic from others’. It didn’t actually give any instructions on the ritual.
My eyes fell on one of the other books that occupied the desk, the second that fell when the journal was provided by the Room of Requirement.
Setting the journal aside I grabbed the book and once again there was no title to it. I opened the front page and was met with a fairly basic title.
“Rowena Ravenclaw’s Collection of Rituals.” I read aloud.
I think I experienced a mind orgasm at the discovery that this was one of the legendary founders.
I carefully opened the book to the first page.
“If you have managed to open the book to this page then congratulations, you have been deemed worthy of the knowledge.
This is an accumulation of all of the rituals that I have managed to gain access to in my travels. The creators, or at the very least the owners of the rituals, have all added the theory and mindset behind the ritual as well as what it is supposed to accomplish.
Anything past page one hundred and seventy-four is theory about possible rituals that have not been completed, try at own risk.”
-Rowena Ravenclaw
I looked up from the book as my mind melted to mush at everything the world was supplying me with right now. My luck couldn’t get any better.
My head shot up, a flick of the wrist and my wand was in my hand. “Tempus. Nine fifty-six o’clock at night.” Five minutes to make it to the astronomy tower. “Fuck!” I yelled as I scrambled to put everything up and realized I would have to run to make it.
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I woke up in the dorm to the sound of the seven thirty bell signaling breakfast was starting, it was the latest I had slept since the ‘merge’. No one was up and ready yet. Oh yea, we’re all teenagers.
I got up and quickly went through my morning routine, which only consisted of showering, brushing my teeth, and dressing. My hair was still an ugly red waterfall falling down to my shoulders, I haven’t decided on what to do with it yet.
After everything was finished, I decided to take a good look at my appearance. Freckles dotted my pale skin, I was clean shaven but my hair fell down to my shoulders just like in the movies. However, I did not look like Rupert Grint. I had some baby fat clinging on to my cheeks and jaw while my cheek bones weren’t as defined as in my last life. A longer than average nose poked out of my face, but that was familiar. All in all, I wasn’t the most handsome face in the school, nor was I the ugliest. One things for sure, I looked completely different than in my last life. I miss my high and sharp cheekbones, and my fit body. I hate the American culture for making me so fucking vain.
On the bright side, I am already taller at 14 than I was fully matured in my last life, standing at about five foot seven. I knew that I would eventually stand at about six feet even if the books were to be believed.
I decided to end that line of thinking and got dressed. Soon enough I was walking down to breakfast with Harry enjoying the silence, that is until Hermione joined up with us.
“Hello boys, have you finished your essays for Transfiguration and Defense?” Hermione asked as we walked into the great hall.
I didn’t answer at first, instead I steered us to the Gryffindor table. I forgot she normally proof reads our essays. “Yea we finished it after the announcements of the champions.” I stated after we sat down.
I started piling my plate full of meats and vegetables, avoiding anything with carbs and ignoring the sugary jams. Orange juice filled my glace instead of chocolate milk. It was time to start eating healthily again. I would need it for the workouts I was about to start again. It’s going to be fun starting over.
“Well? Let's see it then.” Hermione demanded after a few moments.
I obliged and offered the parchment over to her, Harry did the same. I focused completely on my task of eating enough food to satisfy an elephant, although I did it with much more class than I used to.
It took her a couple of minutes to read over mine but at the end she scrunched her brow and mouthed something to herself. Then she set mine to the side and looked over Harry’s, her frown became even more pronounced.
“Ron, who wrote this?” She asked holding my paper up.
Stolen novel; please report.
“I did, why?” I answered truthfully.
“It’s really, really good.”
“Thanks.” I said grabbing it back from her and neatly placing it in my bag.
She looked at me suspiciously but didn’t say anything, instead she turned her attention to Harry who was on the opposite side of her and went over his.
My attention was suddenly grabbed when the hall quieted. I looked around to figure out the disturbance and found that almost all of the male population of the hall was staring at the entrance with glassy eyes. Fleur Delacor was walking in with her posse to start their breakfast.
They normally don’t eat here, must be low on supplies or something. I thought before remembering an important detail. Or broadcasting themselves as available for the ball, trying to catch a date.
Either way it doesn’t matter to me. Oh that reminds me.
“Harry!” I called to him from across Hermione, my raised voice carried across the hall and a certain silver haired girl whipped her head this way, although I didn’t see it.
“What?” He said with a mouth full of biscuits.
“Don’t let me forget to tell you something when we’re in private.” I said a bit quieter than earlier, thinking about the first task.
It took us another fifteen minutes before we walked out but as that was happening I noticed a certain veela looking our direction. Naturally our eyes met and using the experience of a twenty-four year old bachelor, I didn’t break eye contact, neither did she. Women don’t want meek men. I thought as I held her gaze. Gryffindor courage combined with years of studying psychology kicked in.
Then a thought popped up in my mind, that I would later realized was hormone driven. What if no one warns her about the dragons.
And that is why I broke off from the other two of my party members and walked over to her, eye contact the whole time.
I leaned down and tapped my ear to let her know of my intentions, she moved her head to the side as I whispered in her ear.
It was low enough that no one else could hear but us two. Her face was stony, no visible reaction besides furrowing her brows. I didn’t wait for a response and turned around to join my friends.
“Wait!” She said and I turned back to face her. “What is your name?” She asked in her sexy accent.
Hook, line, sinker. “Ron Weasley.” I enunciated as properly as possible to make sure she caught it. I turned to my friends once again to join them and noticed that almost the entirety of the great hall was listening and watching me. I took one look at the crowd and then walked out.
“What was that mate?” Harry asked as we made it into the hall.
“I told her what I’m about to tell you.” I said as I pulled the two close, made sure no one was around, and whispered. “The first task is dragons Harry.”
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A few words about how Charlie sent me a note about the dragons solidified my knowing of the task and Harry never asked again. The next week flew by in a blur and I established a routine. Every morning I would wake up at seven a.m. and then I would drag Harry to breakfast where we would eat and review the previous class’ work before we would turn it in.
Then we would go to class and in the breaks we would hang out with Hermione and the rest of our classmates and also finish some assignments. At the end of the day we would eat dinner together around six and then we would all vanish to go do our own things. I went to the Room of Requirement, Hermione went to the library, Harry spent most of his time at the library stubbornly refusing help from us, determined to figure out the tasks alone.
I wasn’t sure why but the only thing I could think about was the propaganda Malfoy and the slytherins were spreading about how he needed me and Hermione to bail him out of everything. None of it was true, obviously we all brought something to the table but I think it hit him hard. I knew he would come up with a shitty plan but everything would be alright, at least I hoped so.
I was too busy catching up on previous years magic, which I finally did in under a week. I could cast the entire first three years worth of magic silently, although it took some concentration and wasn’t seamless yet. I was quite proud of the fact that I mastered three years of work in a week. It helped that I had already done it before and I approached it with the mindset of an adult with a little help from a very good book.
My left hand had a new addition, a basic silver ring adorned my index finger. The ring was enchanted to interrupt any type of tracking charms placed on my magic. It was actually a well known enchantment that used to be commonplace for the children of prominent families, more specifically the heir and the heir rings. It is most likely still apart of the enchantments on the heir rings but considering no one wore them anymore, they were useless. Even the Weasley family heir ring was lost, possibly pawned, a long time ago.
A quick thought and the room had provided multiple rings with which to cast the spell. The spell needed to cast the enchantment was actually fairly simple, there weren’t any complex wand movements and the mindset was easy to grasp. It only took me four tries to successfully cast it. At least I think it was successful, we’ll find out this summer I guess.
My research into rituals was also fruitful, I already had a few planned but only one could be done with my current funds and I haven’t decided on which one to do yet, the ingredients were quite expensive.
The theory behind the rituals also put them into a new light, they weren’t dark, nor did they even require any blood. None of my blood at least. Most of them were just ways to make what potions can do, permanent. Although there were a few that I knew a potion couldn’t achieve, like the one that I was leaning towards performing immediately.
It didn’t have a name but it was one that Rowena, Salazar, and Helga had done. It basically enhances your mind slightly, nothing drastic. It takes away anything that you didn’t want, absent mindedness, ADHD, things like that. A way to improve the foundations of your mind and make you more focused is the best description I can think of.
The ritual is supposed to be performed before any type of Occlumency is learned. It’s a very subtle way of increasing your intelligence. After Occlumency is mastered, you’re memory is boosted and it stacks on the ritual. If Occlumency was mastered before hand, the effects would be lessened.
It’s very hard for me to explain, but the way that I understand it goes like this. Occlumency is the art of ‘organizing your mind’, but the kicker is that magic is supposed to be circulated to the mind while doing this. Magic helps the electrical currents of the neurons in the mind solidify and not stray often. The ritual does the same thing but when Occlumency is already known, the electrical currents in the neurons are already solidified by magic and don’t want to change to the way the ritual wants it. But if you do the ritual first and then build upon that foundation, it would take you farther.
I would need this if I was going to go toe to toe with Tom. Something in the back of my mind told me that Voldemort already performed that ritual on himself also. There were a lot of small rituals that focused on little things like fixing eyesight or changing hair color. The heavy hitters were designed to improve the functions of the body, mind, or magic while leaving everything else in tact, they were very detailed. In theory there was nothing you couldn’t achieve with rituals as long as you had the supplies needed and the power to make the change.
Astrology was also a major factor in the success of the ritual, some required there to be a new moon, some a waxing gibbous, etc.
I had already priced out the first ritual and what the ingredients cost and it would set me back one hundred galleons, almost a third of what I found in the Room of Requirements. It turns the twins were very knowledgeable on the prices of supplies, it made sense really, they were constantly brewing or making things for their pranks. I always wondered where the money they made from running a gambling ring went to.
That is why he was hunting down Harry two weeks before the first task. Finally he found him in a nice isolated corner of the library.
He never even looked at me until I plopped down beside him, only then did his emerald orbs meet my sky blue.
“What's up mate?” I asked casually.
“Oh just getting over my latest panic attack. You?” He casually said back.
I couldn’t help but laugh, I wanted to tell him that muggles did that without a looming task hanging over their heads but I didn’t.
“I have a way to help you and take your mind off of the task, come on.” I said as I stood up.
“I can’t Ron I…”
“Get up, or I’ll drag you out of here. We both know you’re not actually reading that book.” I said as I grabbed his arm and lifted him up.
It took him a minute to put all of the books back in the library but soon enough we were wandering the halls.
It didn’t take us long to get to the girls bathroom on the second floor and Harry soon found out why we were here.
“We’re going exploring!” I said as I raised my arms up dramatically.
“You want to go into the chamber?” Harry said and gave me the ‘are you stupid look’.
“Yep.” I said giving him the same look back. “Now open it.”
He didn’t argue, instead he concentrated on the snake emblem before speaking. I have heard him speak parseltongue before but I could definitely understand how people got creeped out by it.
Soon enough the entrance was revealed and before he could jump in I decided to test a theory of all fanfictions. “Ask for stairs, see if it works.”
Another hissing sound and the stone moved again as stairs appeared before us.
“How did you know about that?” He said shocked.
“I honestly didn’t expect that to work.”
Nothing else was said between us as I went down first. There were quite a lot of stairs but eventually we made it to the bottom and continued on. Neither of us said anything until we came to the place where Lockhart tried to obliviate us.
“Good memories.” I said aloud as we saw the spot.
“Yea but wasn’t this caved in the last time we were here.” He responded ignoring my comment.
“Oh yeah…” I said eloquently as I whipped out my wand as prepared myself to run into someone or something. He was right, there should be rocks littered around this area, I cleaned out a path for Harry and Ginny in second year but it was only enough for someone to squeeze through, not spotless like it was now.
Harry did the same after he noticed me. “Nice.” I said noticing his flawless flick of the wrist. I only got a nod in return.
“Maybe the chamber is warded to fix itself?” I continued.
He didn’t respond immediately but eventually croaked out. “Doubt it.”
We continued walking and didn’t speak until we came upon the chamber. I hadn’t actually seen the basilisk before, and let me tell you, it was fucking huge.
It also hasn’t decayed at all since the last time they were down here. Is fanfiction always right? What the fuck, thats like three in a row. Dumbledore better not be evil. I thought as I took in the sight of the beast
“It hasn’t decayed at all. Incredible.” I said not even paying attention to Harry. “The body has got to be worth a fortune.” I said planting the seed in his head.
“Really?” He asked as he approached the beast.
“The venom is the deadliest in the world right? And the hide is extremely magic resistant, not to mention the rarity. You could name your price.” I finished.
“How would we harvest it?” He asked obviously interested.
“You could probably hire Gringotts to do it. They would take a cut but they also have the contacts to sell it. Better than letting it rot here.” I told him taking a gamble on another fanfiction trope.
When did he become fond of long silences. I thought as he ignored me.
“Let’s take a look around, you didn’t have the chance to explore last time right?” I continued.
“No, but I don’t see any doorways either.”
“Maybe try hissing again?” I said jokingly.
Finally he started laughing and then he started speaking in parseltongue again, but this time it was much longer. Speak to me the greatest of the Hogwarts four? I guessed randomly in my head.
The mouth of the statue at the end of the chamber opened up with the sound of stone on stone grinding. We both approached it and looked inside, there was no hidden study, only a pipe that descended.
I flicked my wand in a basic motion and a light appeared at the end of it and lowered.
Harry looked at me shocked. “You did that without the incantation?” He asked.
“Yes. It’s only a first year spell, you could probably do it on the first try.” I said as my concentration broke and the light hovered.
I couldn’t see anything other than pipes the deeper it got, eventually it got useless.
“Ron, look at this.” Harry said from around the back side of the statue.
I walked around to look at what he was talking about and on the side of the statue there was a snake emblem, the same as on the front of the entrance to the chamber.
“Say whatever you say in the girls bathroom, maybe it's the same password.” I said taking a guess.
Sure enough another set of stairs rose from the ground, they twisted in the same way that Dumbledore’s gargoyle did. I could tell from the depth of the statue that the stairs ran along the opposite side of the pipes. We squeezed beside each other on the stairs as he hissed another command and it lowered us down further into the chamber.
My wand was trained and ready as we descended and soon enough we were met with the site of a study. The lanterns on the walls immediately lit up. “Proximity wards are still active, that means others could be too.” I said warning Harry of the danger.
I walked forward first and took in the sight of the room. Immediately when you stepped out of the staircase, there was a table with a few chairs around it, four to be exact. Further into the room seemed to be designed similar to what Dumbledore’s office was in the movies. There were two staircases that ran alongside the walls and led to a raised office. Along the walls were bookshelves filled with perfectly intact books. The middle of the room was decorated with another statue instead of a desk like in the headmasters office. The statue was of an extremely beautiful witch and was standing as if casting a spell, her robes billowed around her. It was an amazing sculpture.
Harry and I silently moved through the room and we both crept up both of the staircases and paused before we entered the study. I counted down from three with my fingers and we jumped out prepared to curse the first person we saw.
No one.
We found a marvelous mahogany desk with a very comfortable looking chair behind it. Behind that was a wall that had multiple windows on it depicting the great lake from the depths, fish swam along it frequently. More books filled the shelves in the walls.
We both relaxed and put away our wands.
“What is this place?” Harry asked as we looked around, he grabbed the nearest book off the shelves and stuck his head in it.
“If I were to guess, this is the real Chamber of Secrets.” I answered walking around.
“Natural magic theory by… no author.” Harry read aloud from the book. “What is natural magic?”
I was quick to look in all of the corners for more symbols of snakes and didn’t find a single one. Good I can’t take another hidden room. I’m starting to hate my knowledge of tropes.
“I honestly have no idea, maybe how magic appears in nature?” I said in response.
I continued after I pulled a book off of a shelf and opened it. “This is a perfect place to practice magic ...for you.” I answered as I pulled a book off of the shelves and opened it.
“Why only for me?” Harry asked as he appeared in my line of sight again.
“Because these books are blank.” I said as I looked up and met Harry’s gaze.
A frown broke across his face as he walked over to me. It didn’t take him long to open the book and reply. “No they aren’t.”
A look of realization appeared on my face mirroring my mind. “You can read them?”
“Yea, you can’t?”
The Horcrux? Or maybe because of his heritage with the Peverell’s, it was definitely mentioned that he was distantly related to Voldemort, who was the heir of Slytherin.
“No, they must be enchanted to only let parseltongues read them.” I lied, unable to think of a way to justify my knowledge of the bloodlines. It might be the truth.
I could tell that he really didn’t know what to say to that. He had a look of guilt on his face so I decided to put that to rest.
“It’s alright mate, you have your hidden room ...and I’ve got mine.” I said with a grin.