Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts
Universal Time: December 5th, 1988
Time until Hun and Po souls are deemed suitable by the laws of the Harry Potter Universe to learn structured HP magic: July 31st, 1991
Harry’s Physical/Mental/Emotional Maturity: 13 years old
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One week later…
Harry sat by the Great Lake with Charlotte, Penny, and Chiara, watching the Giant Squid lazily wave its tentacles in the crisp December air. They had spread out a thick blanket on the grass, and Penny had brought hot chocolate in a self-heating flask.
"So you just... clear your mind?" Charlotte asked, frowning in concentration. "That's all there is to it?"
"Not exactly." Harry took a sip of his chocolate. "It's more about learning to recognize your thoughts without getting caught up in them. Like watching leaves float down a stream."
Penny groaned dramatically, flopping backward onto their blanket. "I keep thinking about potions ingredients! Every time I try to clear my mind, I start cataloging properties of dittany and wondering if I should reorganize my entire storage system and maybe I should write to Professor Snape about that modified Calming Draught and-"
"Penny!" Charlotte laughed. "You're doing it again!"
"I knooow!"
Chiara sat perfectly still, eyes closed, a small smile on her face. Something in her expression reminded Harry of their night in the Shrieking Shack last week… that same peace after it was over.
"I think..." she whispered, then paused. Her eyes opened, reflecting the winter sky. "I understand now. Some things can't be fought. Only... observed."
Harry nodded slowly. "Exactly. Just like how the lake surface stays calm even when the Giant Squid moves underneath."
"Oh! Oh! Speaking of the Giant Squid-" Penny shot up, nearly knocking over her hot chocolate. "Did you hear what happened yesterday? Bill Weasley tried to race it on his broom, and it grabbed him right out of the air! Just yoink!" She mimed the motion with her hands. "Dumped him right in the shallow end!"
Charlotte burst out laughing. "No way! What did McGonagall say?"
"She didn't see it! But Hagrid was there, and he just stood there laughing until Bill dragged himself out. Said it served him right for bothering the squid during winter napping time."
"Bill's been extra energetic lately," Harry said. "Something about curse-breaking applications..."
"Ohhh, that explains it!" Penny clapped her hands. "He's trying to build up his resume! I heard Gringotts only takes like a limited number of applicants each year."
A cold breeze swept across the lake, making the girls huddle closer around the self-heating flask. The winter sun hung low in the sky, turning the castle windows into sheets of gold. In the distance, smoke curled from Hagrid's chimney.
"Hey Harry?" Charlotte pulled her scarf tighter. "Could you maybe... you know..." She wiggled her fingers meaningfully.
Harry smiled and held out his hand, azure flames flickering to life above his palm. The fire gave off gentle warmth without scorching the blanket beneath.
"Much, much better!" Penny scooted closer, holding her hands out. "I still can't believe how pretty that is. Normal fire is all orange and wild, but yours looks like... like..."
"Like summer sky caught in crystal?" Chiara suggested quietly.
"Yes! Exactly like that!"
Harry adjusted the flame's size, watching his friends' faces light up in the blue glow. These moments felt precious… no training, no cursed vaults, no expectations. Just four friends sharing warmth on a cold day.
The peaceful atmosphere broke when Tonks came sprinting down from the castle.
"Guys! Guys! You'll never believe what just- WAAH!"
Her foot caught on a root and she pitched forward, arms windmilling. Penny reached up to grab onto Tonks's robes and yanked, sending them both tumbling onto the blanket in a tangle of limbs.
"Ow ow ow..." Tonks rubbed her elbow. "Thanks Penny! But listen, listen! Professor Sprout just got in a whole shipment of Bouncing Bulbs and one of them got loose in the Great Hall and now everything's chaos and there's food everywhere and Peeves is throwing mashed potatoes and-" She took a huge breath. "And Professor Flitwick is trying to catch it but it keeps bouncing off the ceiling and Professor McGonagall turned into a cat to chase it but she slipped in gravy and-"
"We should probably go help," Harry started to say, but Charlotte was already on her feet.
"Are you kidding? We HAVE to see this!" She pulled Penny up. "Come on!"
They rushed up the sloping grounds toward the castle, Charlotte dragging Penny behind her. Harry and Chiara followed at a more reasonable pace while Tonks jumped between groups.
"You should have seen Professor Rakepick's face when I deflected that hex yesterday!" Charlotte called back over her shoulder. "She said I'm learning faster than any student she's had! Well, except that time I nearly hit Bill with the ricochet, but he ducked really quick and-"
"And then Merula had to open her big mouth," Tonks cut in, rolling her eyes. "Going on about how SHE got picked as assistant Curse-Breaker too..."
"Ugh, don't remind me!" Charlotte threw up her hands. "At least Bill's there to keep her in line. But I swear, if she makes ONE more comment about my brother-"
A tremendous crash echoed from the castle, followed by peals of ghostly laughter. They picked up speed, charging through the entrance hall where several students were wiping mashed potatoes from robes.
The Great Hall was absolute chaos. The Bouncing Bulb ricocheted between walls and ceiling like a green rubber ball gone mad. Peeves swooped overhead, pelting everyone with handfuls of food and cackling. Professor Flitwick stood on the Ravenclaw table, sending charm after charm at the plant while ducking flying vegetables.
"PEEVES!" Professor McGonagall's voice cracked like a whip. "Stop encouraging it THIS INSTANT or I'm calling the Bloody Baron!"
The poltergeist responded by dumping an entire tureen of soup over the Slytherin table.
Harry watched the mayhem with a small smirk on his face. The Bouncing Bulb seemed to have developed a special hatred for the enchanted ceiling, repeatedly smashing into it as if trying to break through to the sky. Every impact sent more food flying as students ducked under tables or cast hasty Shield Charms.
Professor Sprout burst in through the side door, levitating what looked like a giant butterfly net. "Everyone stay calm! Just need to- oh dear-" She ducked as a handful of peas went whizzing past her ear.
It just got more and more messy as professors and prefects tried to contain the chaos. Harry caught sight of Bill Weasley attempting to coordinate some kind of pincer movement with other prefects, only to slip in a puddle of pumpkin juice and take out three other students.
He should probably put a stop to this, shouldn’t he?
One week later…
A week after the Great Hall incident, Harry found himself watching Uncle Filius demonstrate the wand movements for a particularly tricky charm. The tiny professor regularly invited Harry to observe his class, claiming it would help prepare him for when he could finally use structured magic.
"Now watch carefully!" Flitwick squeaked, standing atop his usual stack of books. "The Atmospheric Charm requires absolute precision. One wrong flick and you'll have rain instead of a thunderstorm!"
Harry smiled slightly, thinking back on his own storm that he created through manipulation of the material world. It would be a lot easier if he could just wave a wand instead, though the charm was only meant for human-sized thunder clouds…
Two weeks later, it was finally January of the new year. Snow blanketed the grounds, turning Hogwarts into a winter wonderland that had first-years enchanted and seventh-years grumbling about wet socks. Harry spent more time indoors, splitting his days between the library and his private workroom where he practiced painting, increasing the number of Albedo flame spheres he could create, and work on his Mantis Style to keep his body flexible and strong.
One particularly cold morning found him in Grandpa Dumbledore's office, engaged in what had become a new weekly tradition of chess and conversation over tea and sherbet lemons.
"Peeves still won't look me in the eye," Harry remarked, moving his knight to threaten Dumbledore's bishop. "I might have overdone it with the fear mist last week."
"Ah yes." Dumbledore stroked his beard as he considered the board. "I must admit, making him flee in fear was quite effective. And your technique with the Bouncing Bulb was equally impressive. Who knew plants could be calmed by a gentle touch of contentment?"
Harry shrugged, watching Dumbledore move a pawn to block his knight's advance. "The mist works on anything with emotions. Plants feel things differently from people, but they still feel."
"Indeed." Dumbledore popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth. "Queen to E4."
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Harry frowned at the board. The headmaster was setting up a trap, but where? He ran through possible moves in his mind, going through dozens of potential sequences, building a mental map of the game's flow.
"Bishop takes pawn at C6," Harry declared after a moment. "Check."
"My my..." Dumbledore smiled gently. "Nicolas mentioned you were getting better at chess, but this is incredible. You've improved tremendously since our first game."
"The Flamels taught me a lot about strategy." Harry watched Dumbledore's king retreat. "Nicolas says chess helps develop tactical thinking for alchemy experiments. Something about seeing multiple steps ahead?"
"Rook to F7."
Harry immediately spotted the combination. In six moves, Dumbledore would have him in checkmate unless...
"Knight to D5," Harry moved quickly. "Threatening both queen and rook."
"Excellent!" Dumbledore beamed. "You saw through my trap completely. I don't suppose you'd consider joining the chess club for a match sometimes? Professor Vector has been asking about you..."
Harry shook his head. "I'd rather keep chess as something casual. Just for fun, you know?"
"Of course, of course." Dumbledore moved his queen to safety. "Sometimes the best things in life are those we do purely for enjoyment. Speaking of which, how are you finding your time with young Mr. Black? Sirius mentioned something about traditional broom games?"
"He's been teaching me Swivenhodge and Aingingein." Harry captured a pawn with his bishop. "Check. Did you know the Irish version uses actual dragon fire for the burning barrels?"
"Indeed! I once singed my beard quite badly during a particularly exciting match in Dublin." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he moved his king. "Your move, my boy."
The game continued in comfortable silence for several minutes, broken only by the soft clicks of pieces moving and occasional trills from Fawkes. Snow fell steadily outside the tower windows, adding to the peaceful atmosphere.
Finally, Harry sat back with a sigh. "I think you have me in four moves."
"Yes." Dumbledore smiled. "But you made me work for it! Shall we call it here? I believe you wanted to meet with your friends? And you have another session at St. Mungo’s later today as well."
Harry nodded and stood, stretching his arms behind his head. He walked towards the door, waving goodbye behind him.
Three weeks later, in the Flamels' garden...
Snow crunched under Harry's boots as he paced back and forth, going over his encounter with Wei-Ku once more with Nicolas and Perenelle. The winter air bit at his cheeks, but he didn’t really care, too focused on describing the fear spirit's abilities.
"...and that's why I think we should try creating a portal here," Harry gestured with his hands. "Just a small one, under controlled conditions. The Spirit World in that universe was clearly separated from the physical world, but here-"
His voice cut off as his eyes darkened.
[Transcending Beauty – Gourmet Of Another World] – Costs 200CP, 200CP available to spend.
For one reason or another almost everyone in this world seems to be incredibly attractive. This becomes more noticeable the more powerful an individual becomes. This grants you two effects. First you become overwhelmingly handsome/beautiful. You would be worthy of being called a heavenly fairy or an equally impressive title. Second, as you grow stronger you shall become even more attractive. This effect occurs both with your cultivation rank as well as your overall power. This occurs due to the body being purified.
Harry's first thought was dismissive - he didn't need to be even more handsome, and Azula had seemed perfectly happy with his appearance anyway - but then the implications hit him like a thunderbolt.
Body purification.
Of course. OF COURSE. This wasn't about looks at all, was it? This was about foundation, about optimization, about clearing away the accumulated impurities that everyone carried within them. How many people in Snowdragon Mountain had talked about the importance of purifying the body? How many times had he read about practitioners spending many decades just cleansing their body? And here was an offer that would do that automatically, that would create an ideal foundation for everything else he was trying to accomplish.
Clearer meridians meant better chi flow. Purer cells meant more efficient energy storage. A refined dantian would process energy more effectively. And it wouldn't stop there… the offer specifically mentioned continued purification as he grew stronger. Every advancement in cultivation, every increase in power would trigger another round of refinement.
He barely hesitated. "Yes."
Black sludge immediately began oozing from every pore. Harry dropped to his knees as unknown energy forced itself through his body. He could FEEL the impurities being forced out, not just physical toxins but deeper contaminations, subtle flaws in his very cells being identified and expelled.
"Harry!" Perenelle rushed forward but he waved her back.
"It's fine!" He said, luckily not caring all that much about the agonizing pain because of the separation between Hun and Po. "Just purification-"
Another wave hit as his virtue cultivation was accounted for. The black sludge turned darker, almost solid as it was pushed out. Harry could sense his meridians being scoured clean, his dantian becoming clearer, more crystalline. But even as the process continued, he knew this wasn't anywhere near complete purification… he could still sense impurities remaining, too deeply embedded to remove at his current level. That was fine. That was natural. Complete purification was impossible, and trying to force it would only cause damage. This was about laying a foundation, about creating better conditions for future growth.
The process lasted nearly ten minutes. When it finally ended, Harry stood on shaking legs and fetched a mirror from his pouch to look at himself. The changes were... noticeable.
His already handsome features had become almost ethereal. High cheekbones, perfectly clear skin, eyes that seemed to shine with inner light. He still looked thirteen, but now he looked like someone had taken all the best possible features of that age and enhanced them to their ideal form. Cute wasn't quite the right word, he looked like a young celestial being who had stepped out of some heavenly realm.
"Don't worry," he reassured the shocked Flamels. "Just a new offer. It purifies the body and... well..." He gestured at his changed appearance. "Makes me more handsome as a side effect. And apparently this will happen again whenever I grow stronger."
Nicolas held his nose with a slight grimace. "The black substance..."
"Impurities. Physical, energetic, maybe even spiritual. But there's still plenty left - this was just the first stage. Complete purification probably isn't even possible, but that's okay. It's about having a better foundation to build on."
"Actually, speaking about that… I need to test something." Harry walked toward the garden wall, feeling the lightness in his limbs. His muscles felt... a lot more responsive. Like they'd been wrapped in cotton before and now could finally move freely.
He drew in a breath, feeling chi flow through his purified meridians. The difference was incredible… where before the energy had moved like water through a clogged pipe, now it rushed smooth and strong. His dantian felt like a clear crystal pool instead of a murky pond in comparison to before he accepted the offer.
"I always wondered why my spiritual energy felt so abundant while my physical energy felt limited," Harry smirked. "It wasn't the spiritual side at all. My body just couldn't generate enough physical energy to match it. But now..."
He bent azure flames around his hands, eyes widening at how much chi rushed from his dantian. "I should be able to maintain flight for an hour now. The chi generation is just... so much cleaner."
"Harry?" Nicolas stepped forward. "Perhaps we should-"
Harry ran, crossing the garden in a blur that kicked up snow in his wake. Before Nicolas could complete his sentence, Harry had already made three more passes, each movement leaving trails of swirling snow powder behind him.
"Twenty-five meters per second!" Harry called out excitedly, coming to a stop beside the stunned Flamels. "And it feels EASY! My old speed of 20 meters per second used to strain my muscles, but now..." He picked up a fallen branch and squeezed gently at first, but then more and more. The wood just crumpled like paper in his grip. "Seven tons if I had to guess. Maybe more if I really pushed it. Everything just works better!"
If his chi generation had tripled, and his physical vessel was operating at peak efficiency, then his overall combat capability had increased by... no, focus on the immediate changes first. His reaction time had improved by 20%, his speed by 25%, his strength by nearly 40%... and all of this wasn't even counting the long-term benefits of having a continually purifying foundation for future growth.
"Mon dieu," Perenelle whispered. "We were told you were fast before but... it was difficult for me to even track you."
"And this is just the beginning!" Harry grinned. "The purification will continue as I grow stronger. Every breakthrough, every advancement in strength will trigger another round of refinement. My meridians will get clearer, my dantian purer, my cells more efficient-"
"Maybe," Nicolas cut in firmly, "we should continue this discussion inside? Before you accidentally break something important?"
Harry looked down at the branch he'd crushed to splinters beneath his feet without noticing. "Oh. Right. Sorry about that."
They made their way back into the cottage's warm kitchen. Nicolas pulled out chairs while Perenelle went through the motions of preparing fresh tea, her eyes constantly darting back to Harry as if making sure he was still there and hadn't vanished again.
"More than six hundred years," Nicolas muttered, shaking his head. "I've seen kings and queens, watched empires rise and fall... but never, not once, have I seen any person move like that. Or look like..."
He gestured helplessly at Harry. The boy's features seemed to catch the light in impossible ways, making him look like some artist's idealized painting come to life. Even the steam rising from his teacup curled around him as if drawn to his presence.
"The speed alone..." Perenelle set down the teapot with slightly shaking hands. "Harry, do you realize what this means? No wizard could even hope to target you with a spell. Not unless they caught you completely by surprise. Even then, with your reaction time..."
"Twenty-five meters per second," Nicolas repeated numbly. "Faster than most brooms. Without any magical enhancement. Just pure physical capability." He sighed. "When you first told us about your abilities, about being able to move at twenty meters per second... we believed you, of course, but seeing it..."
"And you say this will continue?" Perenelle held her hands together. "This purification process will happen again as you grow stronger?"
Harry nodded, taking a sip of tea. The motion was unconsciously graceful, making even that simple act look like something from a classical painting. "Every significant increase in power will trigger another round of purification. My current level is just the beginning."
Nicolas exchanged a look with his wife. In over six centuries of life, they'd seen countless examples of extraordinary magic and beings. But this... this was different. This wasn't just power or skill… this was fundamental enhancement of what was possible for a human body to achieve. Far beyond it, even.
And Harry was still only eight years old.
Well, technically eight. Looking at him now...
Harry set down his teacup with a gentle clink. "So... about that portal?"
The words broke through the Flamels' daze. Nicolas blinked rapidly while Perenelle straightened in her chair.
"You still want to attempt it?" Nicolas asked. "Right now?"
"Why not?" Harry smiled, the expression somehow making the kitchen lights seem dimmer in comparison. "We're all here, I'm feeling stronger than ever, and I've got the experience from the other world to draw on. Plus..." He gestured at the window where snow continued to fall. "Perfect weather for experimenting with fear magic, don't you think?"
Perenelle sighed. "You said the portal there connected to a Spirit World. But our world doesn't have an equivalent realm... at least not one we know of."
"That's exactly why we should try it!" Harry said urgently. "What if there IS something similar here? What if it adapts to work with our world's rules? We won't know until we try!"
Nicolas and Perenelle shared another long look. Six centuries of marriage meant entire conversations could pass between them in moments.
"Very well," Nicolas pushed back from the table. "But we do this properly. Full safety measures. And at the first sign of anything unexpected-"
"I'll stop immediately," Harry promised, already standing. "Should we go back outside? More space that way."
Perenelle nodded slowly. "Yes... and I'll get the emergency portkeys ready. Just in case."
Nicolas turned to Harry. "You're certain about this? Attempting to create a gateway using the essence of a fear spirit... such a thing might not end well."
Harry met his mentor's concerned gaze. "That's exactly why we need to understand how it works here. If something like this exists in our world, isn't it better to discover it under controlled conditions?"
"True enough." Nicolas sighed. "But Harry... if you hear whispers, if you sense anything trying to reach through... close it immediately. Some doors, once opened..."
"Can never truly be closed again," Perenelle finished, returning with a wooden box. She removed three golden chains, passing them out. "These will take us to a secure room if activated. Use them at the first sign of trouble."
They stepped out into the snowy garden. The winter afternoon had grown darker, heavy clouds blocking what remained of the sun. Their breath fogged in the cold air.
"Remember," Nicolas said quietly, "we know nothing about how this power might interact with our world's fundamental laws. The Spirit World you described had clear boundaries, rules. Here..." He gestured at the space around them. "The boundaries between life and death, between being and unbeing, are far different."