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I was sitting on the floor in Hogwarts' core room amidst a pile of rune stones I took from Hogwarts' inventory—getting ready to update and add more protection…
With my wand ready in my right hand, it was time to get started, so I began enlarging the stone using wandless magic—a simple "Engorgio" spell layered with a timer one before sealing said spells into the stone… it was a very basic level of dual casting, so nothing to brag about…
This was the way to do it in the olden times—back when magic was deserving of the name—because, believe it or not, this technique was the graduation exam for both runic engraving and warding back in the day…
Sure, there are different ways to do the same things—some easier and some much harder—but that's not the point. I am doing it this way because this is the only technique I know; I didn't bother practicing the rest…
Anyway, it's done this way so that I can have a bigger space and decrease the margin for error—plus, the stone will return to its original size when the spell's energy is depleted later.
Don't get me wrong; I can make it permanently bigger, but that would be a waste of magic and would defy the purpose of this whole thing…
I began channeling pure magical energy through my wand and compressing it at the tip so that I could start carving the runes—I was carving a runic array for soul scans—which would take me about 37 minutes of rune carving, linking, and layering just to make it do one simple function: it would allow Hogwarts to scan for souls of everyone on her premises instead of just their magic.
As soon as she integrates this runic array, she will gain the ability to detect souls…It's that simple.
Now, the next one is what will really give her an edge—a tagging/marking runic formation. It does exactly as the name suggests—it tags… What it tags, though, is up to Hogwarts.
Sure, Hogwarts already had one, but mine will add more options. After adding this, Hogwarts will be able to tag anyone or anything—living or not—within its territory.
But I was still not done; those were just pieces of the puzzle I was creating and assembling.
I then went ahead and started creating runic inscriptions, arrays, and formations for different things: interference, anti-interference, cleansing, reading, biological scanning, energy scanning, mind scanning, shielding, extraction, suppression, and more…
I was finally done after—I don't know how many—hours of work, and the update to the school's defense system was surprisingly smooth.
What Hogwarts did was incorporate the functions of the rune stones into her core system by absorbing them—Now she gained new abilities—If only I could do that…
*Haaaah.* anyway, now that this is finally done, I'll just leave it to Hogwarts to do its job: scan and identify any and all foreign influences (harmful or not) and notify me…
Uh, oops. I seem to have forgotten to add a data storage function—want to know how I found that out? Well, I felt the scan go, pinging many things and transferring said data directly into my mind, which thankfully was directly transferred it into my grimoire before I croaked.
Believe me, the amount of data I received would have torn my mind apart if I didn't have this nifty little defense mechanism…
Here we go again—as soon as I finish doing something, another pops up…
Still, I finished this one quickly—because it wasn't complicated—so it wasn't that big a problem...
I was more annoyed about missing something like this than anything else really…
I then went into a different room and started drawing massive containment, fortification, and jailing formations all over the place. After I was done, I extracted the psychic parasite locked in my mind and locked it in here instead.
You see, this room will be used to contain it (and anything of similar nature) for me to experiment on and study later—because there's no escape. Only I or Hogwarts have access, and even Hogwarts needs my permission to add anything. There will be no escape.
Now, I truly have nothing left to do with this thing until I am sure it's the only one. If there are more, they will join it later while I trace back its origin and find a way to erase it from existence…
I went back to the Room of Requirement after that and finally sat down…
I didn't have the mood to do anything else today, so I just started reading stories from my grimoire.
I started reading *One Piece* again. I can remember everything about it if I want to, but I locked most of the stories in my mind some weeks ago—I did it in such a way that I'd remember any story related information if it coincided with events or people I met in reality, but otherwise, they're sealed…
I could give many reasons to why I did this, but the truth is: I simply wanted to enjoy reading these stories over and over again when I had time…
I should ask the old man if it's possible to visit one of these worlds in the future—if I meet him again—after I finish my job…
Still, now that I'm on the topic, I noticed these stories—no matter how great—are just that: stories. If similar events happen in a reality, there's a low chance they'd 100% match. These stories were written for entertainment; authors may have been inspired, but they were crafted to accommodate audiences of different ages. The events might be very different. I need to remember this if I visit a similar reality for a job.
*Ugh.* I started this to relax and not think! So why am I thinking now?
I closed the story section and started studying magic. If I have to think, let it be productive. I wanted to start alchemy, but I still need to finish required ritual and potion knowledge, so I began studying spells.
'I am bored….'
"What's happening to me today? I'm not normally like this…"
To figure this out I sat on the floor, meditated and entered my mindscape, and started scanning everything.
The good news is that nothing's wrong….
The bad news? I'm a teenager, and my emotions are finally in sync with my body—which, in my opinion, isn't good.
Puberty is affecting my emotions, and I can't stop it without stunting my growth or damaging my still recovering emotional core.
I should go ask Hermione some questions about how to deal with all of this… and for once I would be the one asking, hehehe…
And so I did.
I went to the library—*of course* she'd be there—and found it full of students. It was a great sight; it made me feel closer to achieving my goal and repaying my debt to magic…
I found Hermione in the east wing, her table covered in books, notes, and parchments, with Luna sitting next to her reading a book upside down.
'What the hell, Luna?!' I walked over, ignoring questioning looks. I took Luna's book, flipped it right-side up, and handed it back…She looked at me like "I" was the weird one, so I decided to explain and said, "Your book was upside down." She didn't say anything in response she just wordlessly showed me the book, and lo and behold it was designed to be read upside down—what can I say, even the books she read are like her…
I just scratched my neck and looked away—I didn't want to look at her right now, one embarrassing moment for me is enough for now…
Hermione on the other hand was immersed in her books. Not wanting to disturb her, I sat down and just watched her—Her serious expression, slightly furrowed brows, her hair messily bunched with her wand holding it… she looked pretty.
"Huh!" I shook my head—"She's always been pretty"—Yeah, Harry focus, and the fuzzy feeling will fade.
She finally noticed me. "Harry! What are you doing here? How long have you been here?" Her voice was loud with excitement…Good thing I cast noise-canceling spells over the library's.
"Hm, not long , I just came to ask questions, if you're not busy, that is" I answered, scratching my cheek.
"Well, ask away! What are you waiting for?" Her tone radiated excitement.
'What is she excited about?' I don't know and it's not the time to try and decipher how her mind works…
"Um, uh, how do I say this…" I fumbled, but she cut in: "Start from the beginning."
"Okay, so my emotions are finally in sync with my body and as you know, I'm going through puberty, so my emotions shift unpredictably and I don't know what to do. I guess I want to know what people our age usually do to refocus. I'm distracted and my emotions shift every now and then plus I can't use Occlumency to reign all of this in yet—it'd be counterproductive…" I summarized.
"Uh, I don't know, Harry. Why not ask the boys? Girls handle it differently. Sorry," she whispered, blushing, her face turning red.
"Well, I don't have friends on the boys' side," I said quietly, looking away.
"Harry! Don't say that! I'm sure you have—" Luna interrupted her rant: "Harry, talk to Neville. He's always been on your side. You can trust him." Her serene voice and, dreamy expression felt unusually focused.
Huh. I guess I lumped all the boys with Ron in my mind that I forgot about him. I stared at her a few seconds while thinking about it before standing. "Okay, I'll go find Neville. Thanks for the help," I told them as I started walking leaving the library.
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