《Harry Potter And The Rise Of Golden Falcon》


 Chapter 1

    Transmigration sucks! Why you ask? Well first off, to get transmigrated you must die and, believe me, that is not fun. How did I die? Well, I was hit by a truck. Yes, yes, I know that''s just clich¨¦, I have read light novels too. What they don''t tell you is how much it f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts.


    It all started out as a fairly normal day, although I suppose all days do - it is the events that make them extraordinary or peculiar. I was walking to my final exam, the weather was a little gloomy, and I was reviewing material for an exam in my head (perks of having eidetic memory). Well, I say that, but as I was distracted, I didn''t hear the warning shout, the tires squealing. I remember hearing someone screaming and I remember choking on my blood. My lower body was completely numb but I had this agonizing pain in my lower abdomen, and as I looked down, I saw it was because the truck was pinning me to the side of a building on the street I had walked on. My head was pounding from the loud noises and from where my head had hit on impact. It was the least of my worries at the time but I wanted to tell the woman who just kept wailing and screaming to shut the hell up. I opened my mouth, trying to say something, but couldn''t because of all the blood. There was so much blood, the world was hazy around the edges, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I heard sirens in the background, but I closed my eyes and let out a relieved sigh when the screaming finally stopped.


    So yes, step 1 of my transmigration was pretty shitty. I''ll try to avoid trucks from now on.


    Step 2 is hard to describe. One moment I was dying, The next thing I remember was waking up, my eyes blinking the sleep out of them, and observing what was obviously a film shooting, two men wearing what looked like weird coats or robes, both having some kind of wooden sticks. They were moving about, pointing their stick at one another shouting. The light effects were good, all kinds of lights shooting out from the tip of the sticks (must be pretty high-tech sticks being able to produce all kind of effects like ribbons, shields, etc.). After a while, both were hit by lights produced by the other (One of them shot out green light shouting "Avada Kedavra", while other one shot out red light shouting "bombarda"). Weird thing was that the one that got shot with red light got his head blown off while another one just hit the floor. I was just sitting there wide-eyed with my mouth open. Then suddenly I felt like my head got hit with a brick, along with a terrible headache, came a set of memories. These memories were that of a child of 6 years old named "Aiden Canis". Aiden was an orphan with blonde hair, blue eyes and overall handsome look, who lived at an orphanage at 23, White Garden, Northshire, London.


    Aiden, while playing got lost and stumbled upon the two men fighting and got hit with a green light "Avada Kedavra" and the next thing was me waking up. And just like a punch, the realization hit me, I got transmigrated in the body of 6 years old Aiden Canis.


    And now, we arrive at glorious step 3, where I am currently at. These weird men with sticks looked awfully like wizards from the Harry Potter books, which means I am in the Harry Potter universe.


    Who am I and why am I talking to myself? Good question my new best friend! Well, my name is ¡­ no longer important. I got a new one now anyway, so I should probably stop using my old one. I am, or rather was a genius with 187 IQ and eidetic memory. I was walking to my final exam for this term, wanted to cross the road and BAAAM, here I am. So why am I talking to myself then? Well, I figured if transmigration is a thing now, then maybe the Multiverse Theory is also true, which means someone out there could be listening to my ramblings.


    Anyway focusing on the matter at hand, Since I am in Harry Potter universe, the logical conclusion is that since both wizards were fighting in open which I presume is muggle neighborhood, If ministry is competent, Aurors should be arriving here anytime soon. They might try to erase my memory (I know for a fact that obliviators are a thing) if they found me lurking around the scene of the crime. I hurriedly got up and walked up to their bodies and searched for any loot (hey don''t judge me, I am an orphan with no resources, dumped suddenly in a dangerous new world, without any warning). I found a small box which I presume to be a shrunken trunk on one of them and a pouch on another. I left their wand alone to avoid suspicion from Aurors and left quickly.

 Chapter 2

    I ran as fast as I can towards my orphanage ( while original Aiden got lost, I had an advantage of eidetic memory and all memories of Aiden, using which I found my way to the orphanage) and went to my room. locked the door and quickly ( filled with an unusual amount of excitement) laid the loot on my bed. I fiddled with the trunk and when I tapped what looked like to be a rune, trunk got enlarged. I opened the trunk and looked inside. It had a lot of stuff for a small trunk ( space enlargement and weightless runes I presume). I quickly went through the stuff and found a few robes and books, a whole lot of books, a pouch, and a broom. The pouch contained a lot of coins, many of which were gold and a few bronze and silver. I almost shouted "Jackpot" but quickly calmed myself and started to look at books. Books were nothing special just Hogwarts yearbooks for all seven years on all core subjects ( transfiguration, potions, charms, DADA, history of magic, astronomy, herbology ) and two electives (Arithmancy, Ancient runes). The only book that stood out was on occlumancy. I really hit the jackpot with the occlumancy book ( i like my mind protected, thank you very much), from what I read in Harry Potter books occlumancy was a rare art and books on it were highly regulated.


    Now the problem was that I don''t have a wand, I nearly started to panic ( I repeat I don''t have a f***ing wand ) but remembered that few of the powerful wizards like Dumbledore, Voldemort could do magic wandlessly ( Voldemort could even fly without a broom using wandless magic) , So if they could then why couldn''t I.


    Yes, it''s going to be difficult but I had time to spare. I had years to go before my Hogwarts letter. I also had a unique advantage of having lived a life without magic in my body so it should be easier for me to sense magic now that I have magic. I also had the advantage of being a genius with 187 IQ and eidetic memory which means that I could remember books from cover to covers just by turning pages while looking at them. And BOOM, I can memorize a book in just a few minutes.


    Since the problem of being able to do magic is now sorted out, I started to go over all my resources and looked at the pouch I lifted from other man and the poor bastard only had a few coins in it. Anyway, its time to go over all of my currency. From what I remember from the books, Wizarding money comes in three denominations: bronze Knuts, silver Sickles, and golden Galleons. There are 29 Knuts in one Sickle, and 17 Sickles make up a Galleon. I had a total of 11000 Galleons, 79 Sickles, and 46 Knuts, which I presume is a lot of money (Triwizard competition had only 1000 Galleons as a reward ). I put away all of the stuff and started to read first-year charms book and went over the Lumos spell. Lumos spell is first spell to be taught in charms class Since it is easy to use and takes very less magical power. I pointed my index finger like a wand and started wand movements while saying ''''Lumos''''. I barely felt a weird sensation trickle through my body reaching out of my finger and produced a single tiny spark ( a spark so tiny that I had to focus all my attention on the finger just to barely notice it ) for a second before it went out.


    Suddenly, I felt very exhausted, it washed over me like a feeling of powerlessness so strong, unlike anything I have felt before. I laid there for half an hour going through everything that just happened before I felt like I could move again. Good thing is that I know how it feels when magic is moving through my body and even though it was just a very tiny spark produced for barely a second, I could do wandless magic.

 Chapter 3

    No wonder only a few wizards can do magic wandlessly. First, it takes more magic to do wandlessly, than a wand and before age of 11 years old magic cores of wizards and witches is very small to do any wandless magic (and often unpleasant form my example just now ). Second, after getting a wand wizards gets accustomed to a wand to do magic easily and it gets harder and harder for them to do magic wandlessly.


    Now since that''s done, time for me to move on to the next urgent topic, security, and privacy of my mind. From what I gathered from the books, Severus Snape and headmaster Dumbledore often used passive legilimancy to read the thoughts of students. Which makes occlumancy a very important skill to have. It takes me a few minutes to go through and memorize the occlumancy book and next hour to understand the content. From what I understand, first the user has to focus the magic on his/her mind while meditating, the memories of untrained mind are like spheres of lights floating around in mind, easily accessible to anyone with legilimancy skill. User has to organize the memories in an order familiar to them and erect a barrier around the memories to protect them from being accessed by others. Advanced users are able to build a mindscape and hide their memories in it. They are able to build various defenses in their mindscape varying from person to person. Master occlumens are even able to show false memories to anyone who enters their mind, they are able to lie under veritaserum show false memories in pensieve (which is why veritaserum testimony and pensieve are not valid in wizarding court).


    Following the steps, I access my mind and saw my memories floating around like light balls. I also noticed a sphere with blue gas moving around in it which I presume is my magical core. If blue gas is any indication(as opposed to blue liquid or solid), my magical core density is abysmal. Then again it may be due to the fact that I am only 6 years old and my magical core will grow with my age, which will explain the fact that students wait until the age of 11 to buy a wand and attend Hogwarts.


    Well, whichever is the case, I will find out soon enough. For now, I don''t have enough magic to sort the memories, it will have to wait until my core has grown a bit. Maybe the magic is just like a muscle, which will strengthen more by using it more often.


    "Lumos". And the spark lasted just a bit longer than before, which proves the theory of it being like a muscle.


    Next is the issue of Hogwarts. For a proclaimed safest place in England, From troll to basilisk, dementors, etc. it sure felt a lot more dangerous in the books. It''s dangerous enough as it is, let alone getting involved and helping main characters which will have the danger level hit through the roof. No helping (or even interacting with them) will have to wait till I am strong enough and even then if it directly helps me in one way or another. Hey don''t judge me, I am a pragmatic person and this world is a dangerous place where every wizard or witch carry weapons of mass destruction(wand) even if they don''t realize it and ministry is not competent enough to make me feel safe (Not when minister of magic prefers to bury his head in the sand instead of facing problem even if it hits him in the face) and given that teachers have low regard for students safety, some even like to outright bully them(read Severus Snape). It''s bad enough when the headmaster of school likes to give second chances to everyone like they are going out of style, what''s worse is that he is chief warlock who presides over the wizarding court. Yup, laying low till I am strong enough is the way to go.

 Chapter 4

    Currently, the year is 1983, which means I will attend Hogwarts in 5 years, in 1988 which is three years before Harry Potter starts to attend and the storyline starts. Meaning I will be three years head start to get stronger and will be out of the school by the time Voldemorts resurrect at the end of Triwizard competition. Given that I work hard enough I should be able to survive the war or even able to fight Voldemort if I am unlucky enough to encounter him.


    But for now, practice is the key to get stronger.


    #### Time Skip : six months ; Age=6 years old ####


    It has been six months since I started doing Lumos. Slowly but surely my magic is getting stronger. I am now able to light up a fairly big ball of light for minutes. My core also has more blue gas in it. Its time for me to start on next spell, which is a levitation spell. I pluck a leaf from the plant in orphanage''s garden and start the wand movement for "Wingardium Leviosa" charm using my index finger as a wand. It takes a few tries, but the leave starts to levitate. Substituting leaf with heavier objects like a pen should be enough for me to easily exhaust my magic and thus increase my magic core for a while now. Since my magic has grown enough, I can now start to sort my memories and start on occlumancy.


    #### Time Skip : One and half year ; Age=8 years old ####


    It''s been 2 years since I have started doing magic. My hard work and daily practice have finally shown results. My core has grown strong enough that I am able to levitate a brick continuously for minutes. I reckon I am strong enough to start on first year books (for subjects which use wand i.e Charms, Transfiguration, DADA. I have already memorized all 7 years content for subjects which don''t require one i.e Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, Astronomy ) and will continue to make my way up the course material for all 7 years. Occlumancy has made some progress, I have sorted all memories and already started to separate them in 2 parts. One for the memories of my past life and another for the current one. Memories of my past life will be hidden even deeper than the memories of my current one.


    I have also started to levitate various objects with different weights and move them in a random direction to help my control and precision. I have also started doing light physical exercises and jogging to increase physical fitness.


    #### Time Skip : 3 years ; Age=11 years old ; ####


    Its been 3 years since I started on Hogwarts course material in charms, Transfiguration and DADA( again, I have already covered Hogwarts material up to NEWTs Herbology, potions, History of Magic, and Astronomy theoretically ). On the day of my 11th birthday i.e 29 June 1988, my core went through a transformation. Previously it looked as if highly compressed blue air was trapped in a sphere which rapidly swirled inside it, waiting to be released, now it is like the compressed blue air is converted into the blue water. Core size has grown smaller than before. If previously it was assumed to be the size of a tennis ball, now it is the size of a marble. Magic has also grown in potency i.e it takes much less magic than before to do the same spell. Before the transformation, I was barely able to do a single 5th-year spell before exhausting, after transformation I can easily do more spells continuously for 5th-year wandlessly. But while I know the theory and wand movements for NEWT level spells (i.e year 6 and 7), I can only a few easier spells, I still don''t have enough magical strength to do them all wandlessly. Anyway, as good it is to have a stronger magical core, I still need to find about this transformation.


    occlumancy has also come along nicely. I now have a basic occlumancy shield, enough to know if someone is probing my mind. While it can block legilimancy attacks from less skilled users, masters like Snape and Dumbledore can easily break through it. For now, avoiding eye contact with them is the way to go.


    Physical exercise has also panned out, I now have a fairly fit body and above average height for 11 a years old boy.

 Chapter 5

    ## Date : 24 July 1988 ##


    Today, like every other day, I was in my room doing my magical exercise. Suddenly, my door was knocked. It is a strange occurrence since I don''t interact much with anyone. Before I occupied this body, Aiden being a shy little boy, barely speaking with anyone and had a reputation of being an introvert, but after I took over I haven''t helped it any. I spend all my free time in either my room practicing magic or outside doing my physical workout in mornings and evenings. I barely see anyone in orphanage aside for when its time to go eat food in the hall. Even at school, all other children leave me alone since I am ahead of everyone else in coursework. Skipping a few grades and attending classes with older kids haven''t helped the matter. Due to my awesome academic performance, Orphanage matron usually assumes that I am in my room studying hard for school (which I am, but just not the one she thinks) and leaves me alone. Anyway, it brings me back to the matter at hand, someone knocked at my door. I put away all my stuff and open my door. What greets me is the view of an older woman wearing strange robes with a pointed hat, I quickly recognized her as Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Prof. Minerva McGonagall. Come to think of it, its time for me to get my Hogwarts letter. I assumed I will get my letter via an owl as a warning before a personal visit from the Professor. Well perks of being an orphan, I guess. They can''t very well just send an owl in broad daylight in orphan full of muggles, someone is bound to think its strange (owls are nocturnal), that''s just asking for trouble.


    I quickly cease my line of thinking and focus on her.


    "Hello, How can I help you?"I asked politely, feigning ignorance.


    Matron replied from behind her, "Aiden, this is Prof. McGonagall from a private school and she wants to talk to you about your potential enrollment in it."


    "Thank you, but I would like to speak to Mr. Canis privately." Said the professor to the matron.


    "Alright then, Aiden call me if you need anything." said matron while going away.


    I politely invite her to come in and sit on the chair, shutting the door afterward.


    "Before we begin, have you ever noticed anything strange happening while you were in an emotionally distressed state?" asked Prof. McGonagall.


    Ah, she is talking about accidental magic. Well, the truth is that I have never experienced it. Since I have started to control my magic wandlessly, I keep a tight lid on it. Occlumancy has also helped me to control my emotions. Hence, no accidental magic. But for the sake of moving the conversation forward I say, "Yes, I have. There was that one time when I was running away from bullies, desperately wanting to be anywhere else. One moment I was running away from them and next moment I was in my room. I always thought that was weird." Well, thank you, Harry, for selflessly providing my accidental magic story. Since he can accidentally Apparate, then it''s logical to think that anyone else can too. This also has an advantage of me being able to act curious about the apparition and to ask questions about it. Magical teleportation has a lot of advantages and it would help a lot to be able to easily go anywhere I want.


    "That Mr. Canis was apparition. It is by many a.d.u.l.t wizards for transportation. It is dangerous and should not be used by anyone underage." she warned sternly.


    "Wizards, ma''am?" I asked, looking unsure.


    "Yes, Wizards. In fact, you are one Mr. Canis. Perhaps a demonstration is in order to convince you. I have other Muggleborn students to go talk to later today." said Prof. McGonagall while turning my table into a pig and then turning it back.


    I stood there doing my best to act surprised with wide eyed and open jaw. After that was done, she quickly went over brief on the wizarding world and Hogwarts. She then gave me my Hogwarts letter. I made the appropriate joyful expression on my face, opened the letter and ?read its contents. Well, nothing new there. Its the standard issue first-year Hogwarts letter, same as in the books.

 Chapter 6

    Good thing was that the books for the year were the same as those I read previously. I won''t have to memorize the same content, just in a different format again. While I have the books and trunk already, I would need to buy new ones to keep up appearances and to avoid awkward questions.


    Going over the letter, I ask professor, "But professor, How am I going to buy all a supplies." I did my best expression of agonizing, portraying the fact that I am broke (which I am actually not, I have yet to spend any money I looted from those wizards years ago).


    "Well, generally Hogwarts provide the necessary funds for the orphan students. But you, Mr. Canis, have more than sufficient funds to go through the Hogwarts and pass out. Your parents set up a trust vault before their passing, which you will use to provide for school supplies and other needs."


    This is better than I thought since now I can use the excuse of my trust vault to spend money without suspicion. Since they set it up, means they were wizards, there are high chances of me inheriting other stuff like a house or other properties.


    I quickly asked professor "Professor did you know my parents, if so can you tell me more about them."


    "While I didn''t know them personally, they were once my students at Hogwarts. Your parents, Edward and Iris Canis were both pureblood wizards. Your father, Edward was head of ''Most Ancient and Noble House of Canis which is one of the sacred 28 families. The canis family was a neutral family and didn''t support the dark lord, You-Know-who and were killed by him like many other families. Due to not having any living relatives, you were placed in the orphanage." said Prof. McGonagall. She then proceeded to tell me about the wizarding war years ago, in brief.


    Prof. McGonagall stood up and said, "Now that I have answered your questions, I am going to take you to buy your supplies."


    She started to leave. I quickly Informed matron and followed her outside. Ducking in an abandoned ally, she gestured me to take her hand, when I did so, she apparated, taking me along with her.


    I felt an unpleasant feeling of squished inside a tube and scenery changed. We were now standing outside an old and dingy looking bar, which presume is ''leaky cauldron''. She walked and I followed her inside and we proceeded toward the back. She tapped the brick wall with her wand a few times and the shifted to form an arched opening. What greeted me now was a scenery of a crowded market filled with weird stalls and shops.

 Chapter 7

    "This is Diagon ally, where all wizarding supplies can be bought." she said and proceeded to take me with her. We stopped in front of White building, standing in front of which on both sides of the gate were short and weird creatures dressed in armor, wielding spears. ''Goblins'' I identified. I am not sure how to treat them. In some of the fanfictions, I read in my previous life portrayed goblins as helpful creatures who were friendly to the wizards if given proper respect. While others portray them as bloodthirsty mongrels who tried to constantly find different ways to screw wizards out of their money. Until I know for sure, I have decided to stay neutral.


    We walked inside and waited in front of a teller, who proceeded to ask us about our business. She produced my key and stiffly told the teller "Mr. Canis would like to make a withdrawal." and gave the key to him. Teller checked the key and motioned a nearby goblin, who then proceeded to take us to my vault in a cart. While in the cart I asked the goblin about required age to access my family vault, who then stiffly gave me a reply that I need to be 17 to access it. The ride was quick and short. The cart stopped outside vault 530 and we disembarked the cart. Goblin opened the vault using the key. Inside the vault was a small heap of gold coins along with a few bronze and silver coins scattered here and there.


    By just looking, I presume there are around 15000G in there. Goblin provided me a bottomless pouch for 1 Galleon and I put around 1000G in it, thinking it should be enough.


    Exiting the vault, I pocketed my key before prof. McGonagall can take it. Her face told that she disapproved me holding onto my key, but I ignored her.


    She took me to Madam Malkin''s shop to get my school robes and left me there to give measurements while she went to buy my other wizard supplies. After she got back we proceeded to buy my wand at Ollivander''s wand shop.


    It was a dingy looking shop filled with boxes from floor to ceiling With a counter, behind which stood an old man. Ollivander was a creepily old man who proceeded to tell me about my parents'' wands. Buying a wand was anti-climactic. I was prepared to wait for a long while, waving many wands before getting matched with one, But I got a match with the first one and different colored dense stream of sparks were produced, like a flamethrower. It feels like a wand connected to my core and siphoned magic easily. Unlike doing magic wandlessly, when I have to control and forcefully move magic to do a spell, my magic moved fluidly on its on to the wand from my core. Wand also seemed to amplify and focus my magic while producing sparks. Sparks were ceased to exist when I stopped my magic from moving. Ollivander didn''t seem to notice the unusually high number of sparks and went on.


    "Yew with Dragon heartstrings, good for transfiguration and charms. I expect great things from you, Mr. Canis. That will be 7 Galleons. "


    I also bought a maintaining kit and a wand holster from Ollivander. I am not going to just stick my wand in my pocket like a plebeian, that''s just asking for it break or worse, stolen.

 Chapter 8

    We left the Ollivander''s and I bought a grey owl from pet shop since owling is the main method of contacting others in the wizarding world. I also insisted on getting some extra books from the book store and bought books on wizarding etiquette.


    ## Date : 31 August 1988 ##


    Since prof. McGonagall didn''t warn me about underage magic, I have spent my time going through all spells using a wand. No, wonder wizards don''t usually do wandless magic. Using a wand took a little less than 1/10th of magic as compared to wandless. I was even able to do NEWT level spells easily since I have more than enough magic while using a wand. Doing spells non-verbally took a while to figure out but I have managed to do all 1-7 years spells non-verbally. Meaning I have already covered the syllabus of all subjects aside from those that require practice without a wand i.e Potions, Ancient Runes, Herbology. Arithmancy was just a bit different than math which I studied in a previous life, But I have managed to memorize and understand it to up to NEWT levels.


    I read the books I purchased on wizarding etiquette, laws and theory book on magic cores.


    I memorized etiquette and law books. I didn''t want to seem like an ignorant person to others in the wizarding world.


    Theory book on magic cores was very interesting and illuminating. Seems like the transformation my core went through is called ''Magical maturity''. According to books, A wizard or witch can go through a maximum of 2 magical maturities. Different wizards or witches go through a different number of magical maturities. More magical maturities a Wizard''s core goes through, stronger it is. Usually, an average Wizard or Witch don''t go through any magical maturity. Their core has magic in the form of blue gas. Stronger than average wizards like a few stronger Aurors, strong professors like Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Alistor ''Mad-eye'' Moody, Filius Flitwick, etc. go through 1 magical maturity. Their core has magic in the form of blue liquid. Very few magical powerhouses like Albus Dumbledore, and dark lords like Voldemort, Grindelwald, etc. go through a 2nd magical maturity, letter in their life. Their core is in solid blue form and is very dense. According to the book, it takes decades for a magical core to go through 2nd maturity. Albus Dumbledore''s core is said to go through his 2nd maturity in his 50s, just a few years before he defeated Gellert Grindelwald. Even then he is proclaimed to be the 2nd coming of Merlin.


    From this, I can summerise that a magical core has 3 stages. Stage 1: Gaseous state, Stage 2: Liquid State, Stage 3: Solid state.


    From gaseous to liquid to solid states, Density and Potency of magic core increase and thus amount of apparent usable magic output seems to increase exponentially.


    Magical strength also depends on the size of the core. Just like the size of my core shrunk after transformation, but it still has much more magical strength in a liquid state than it had when it was bigger in the gaseous state. As more magic is acc.u.mulated in core it gets bigger and bigger till it is big and dense enough to go through a transformation to next state i.e. ''Magical Maturity''.


    From this, I can say that even though I am only 11 years old, my magical core strength is above than average a.d.u.l.t wizard since it has already gone through 1st magical maturity and is in a liquid state. But is weaker than like of Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall since their core is already in the liquid state, but due to the passing of many years after their magical maturity, their magical core size is bigger than mine.

 Chapter 9

    The next day, I woke up early due to excitement as it is the day I start Hogwarts. I already packed my stuff in my new trunk last night. Going over things the last time, I am now ready for Hogwarts. Matron gives me a ride to the railway station. I made my way toward platform 9 and went through the barrier by following other wizards who were dressed in robes. Coming out through the barrier, I saw the Hogwarts express with a red engine. Since it is early at 10:00 AM, Platform is not crowded. I easily make my way to the train and board. I found an empty compartment towards the back and went in and put my trunk on the overhead rack. I didn''t shrink it to avoid suspicion since as an orphan 1st-year student, I am not supposed to know any magic.


    At exactly 11:00 AM, the train started to move. Since I already know the coursework, I didn''t have anything to do. So I started to work on my occlumancy (No such thing as too strong occlumancy when you are about to meet 2 master legilimens). About 2 hours in, I was disturbed by the sound of knocking on my compartment door. I opened the door and saw an older girl of about 14-15 years old. She looked like she was crying recently. The weird thing was that the color of her hair was changing rapidly. She asked ''''Hello, I am Tonks, a 4th-year student. I recently had a fight with my friends and don''t want to talk to them right now, can I sit with you.''''


    "Yes, of course. Please come in." I replied and she came in and sat down on seat opposite to me.


    I recognized her as Nymphadora Tonks, a metamorphmagus witch. From the books, she later married Remus Lupin and had a child with him. She died with Remus in the battle of Hogwarts. This pairing, like many other pairings, never set right with me. A beautiful, selfless (her joining order of Pheonix and fighting against Voldemort and death eaters) and a powerful witch (if her apprenticing under Moody is any indication ) like her deserve better. I always liked her in the books. I need to go out with her before gets together with Remus to have a chance. But now is not the time, I will ask her out after I pass out of Hogwarts, interacting with her in Hogwarts due to age difference will set my image as a cute little boy (yes, i am that cute, I still need to go through puberty to be called handsome) which will later become hard to change.


    "So, are you a new student?" she asked.


    "Yes, I just got my Hogwarts letter this year. Oh, I am Aiden Canis. " I replied politely.


    "Canis as in that pureblood wizarding family?"


    "Yes, I think so. I don''t know much about my family. I grew up in an orphanage and didn''t know about magic until a month ago." I replied feigning sadness (since they weren''t my real family).

 Chapter 10

    "So, which house do you think you will get sorted to?" she asked cheerfully, trying to change the previous sad topic.


    That got me thinking and I started to go over all 4 houses in my head.


    Gryffindor is out since I am not dumb or reckless enough and it will be too close to main characters (and dangerous) for my liking. There is also an issue of privacy, which I won''t get any in a house full of nosy people.


    Slytherin is out too for obvious reasons. Even if I could handle a house full of back-stabbing bigots, it has a reputation of being evil and it won''t do to alienate other 3 house. Additionally, in the future when I will reveal my strength, risk of being seen as Dark lord will be too high by the rest of wizarding sheep.


    Hufflepuff is also a no-go. Everyone sees Hufflepuff as a house of leftovers and it won''t do to be seen as a pushover. Also, the only person I am currently loyal to is myself, so low chances of the hat to sort me in this house. Additionally like Gryffindor, lack of privacy will be a major issue.


    Now, Ravenclaw is something I can work with. To start with, everyone gets individual rooms and since everyone minds their own business, Privacy won''t be an issue. I can attribute my extra knowledge to being a Ravenclaw (read nerd).


    "Ravenclaw, I think. I always liked to read." I replied looking unsure.


    "Well, too bad you won''t be in Hufflepuff with me, you would have liked it among puffs." she replied cheerfully.


    We chatted idly for a while and went back to minding our own business. She took out a book and started to read and I went back to focus on my occlumancy.


    When the train stopped, I heard the booming voice of Hagrid, calling first-year students to boats. I shared a boat with three other students while we crossed the black lake. Hogwarts castle looked majestic and ambient magic amount just shot through the roof. Hagrid guided us to the entrance where Prof. McGonagall was waiting. She gave the same speech as in books about houses being families and points and whatnot which I ignored (house points. A joke in presence of prof. Sevvy snape).


    She guided us inside until we reached the gates of the main hall and left us there. Some of the idiotic students (future Gryffindors, I am looking at you) started to come up with one after other idiotic theories about the sorting process. She came after a few minutes and took us inside. In front of was now an old and dirty sorting hat placed on a stool on the podium. Sorting Hat started singing a ridiculous song which I tuned out.


    She then went up to the podium and started calling out student names for sorting. Soon came my turn.

 Chapter 11

    "Canis, Aiden" She called.


    I walked calmly up to the stool and sat down with sorting hat on my head.


    ''You are the most peculiar case I have come across in more than 1000 years of sorting history, Mr. Canis. A world traveler, peculiar indeed. But you don''t have to worry since I am not authorized to talk about a student with anyone unless the security of Hogwarts itself is in danger. Now where to sort you, you will do well in Slytherin, but since you don''t want to be sorted there, then the obvious choice is "RAVENCLAW".


    Happy with the tun of events, I skip over to Ravenclaw table and sat down with other younger students. I Ignore the rest of sorting since only students I need to pay any attention is Cedric Diggory who will go to Hufflepuff and Roger Davis, who will be in Ravenclaw with me.


    Instead, I focus my attention on the staff table, I don''t know what to think of Headmaster Dumbledore. While he came across a nice and grandfatherly old man in books, many fanfictions I have read make me wary of him. Whether good or bad, it still it does not change the fact that he is a powerful old wizard who likes to manipulate other for ''Greater Good'' and keeps his cards close to his c.h.e.s.t until the right time. Like other matters, I will keep my attitude neutral towards him until I have more information to go on.


    Other professors are the same as in books aside for DADA (whose name I won''t bother to try to remember, he will be gone soon enough) and care of magical creatures.


    After sorting was done Headmaster stood up and gave a speech. Afterward, the feast began and everyone started to eat. Food was a bit too heavy for my taste, but lately, after my magical core maturity, my appetite has grown, I am not complaining. After the feast was done, Headmaster gave a usual speech about banned materials, forbidden forest, and other rules.


    We were guided by 5th-year prefects to Ravenclaw dormitory after the feast, where the head of house Filius Flitwick gave a welcoming speech. Everyone went to their own separate rooms afterward since it was already too late.


    I found my room and went inside. My trunk was waiting on my bed. I unpacked my stuff and called it a night. I tried to sleep but I was too excited to do so.


    So, I started about my goals for the next few years:


    ? Abuse Room of Requirements to bring all the books on subjects not taught at Hogwarts i.e. Healing, Warding, Curse breaking, Alchemy, Ritual magic and Legilimancy and self learn them.


    ? Use Room of Requirements to train for battles. Also for magical and physical exercises.


    ? Be a top student with O+ every year.


    ? Become Animagus.


    ? Learn Apparition (Silent and instantaneous, ready to be used in battle) and to make portkeys.


    ? Keep wandless magic and magical strength secret.


    After listing all my current goals, soon enough sleep embraced me.

 Chapter 12

    It has been 2 weeks since I have started Hogwarts. First of all, let''s talk about the classes. Since I am very far ahead of coursework, first-year classes were very uninteresting and boring for me, Aside from potions class. Say what you will about Snape, despite his teaching method (if you can call his method of writing recipe on board and hounding class for rest of time "teaching") Dude knows how to keep things interesting (if you can look past his whole shebang of trying to scare you). For a brooding death eater, he sure is very dramatic. I have still not found which spell he uses to bellow his robes like that while walking. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that he is an unregistered bat animagus.


    Aside from the classes, I spent all my free time holed up in Room of Requirements (RoR). RoR is a whole lot better than I imagined. Aside from consumables like food or drinks, it can provide me with anything, given its present somewhere in Hogwarts itself. Means I have access to all the books including restricted library books and teachers personal collections. Access to Dumbledore personal collection of books including Alchemy books almost made me drool. My core has started to visibly become bigger due to a high amount of ambient of magic present at Hogwarts. I also got around to read a few books about dark arts. Previously I thought that magic is neither light or dark, it was all about user''s intent i.e. depending on its use it could be either good or bad since even light magic could be used for killing someone. And boy, I was in for a rude awakening. Turns out there is a good reason to classify magic in light and dark. Let me explain in this way, magic is all about equal exchange meaning output is proportional to the input. Light magic uses a wizard''s or witch''s core magic input for d.e.s.i.r.ed output as a spell. Meaning more magic you feed it, the stronger the spell. But it''s not the same for Dark magic. Dark magic uses negative emotions of the user along with the user''s magic to cast spells. Meaning, if the user has high enough negative emotions, Dark spells use less of the user''s magic to cast.


    Dark magic has a very well founded ill reputation since the user has to feel negative emotion again and again to cast spells. No wonder the Black family has a reputation of its members going insane.


    Which brings me to my current problem. I previously thought I am currently strong enough to defend myself since I already have a liquid core. But if faced with an experienced user of Dark magic like a Death Eater, even if he had a gas core, I can still be easily defeated since he can perform a higher number of or stronger spells using negative emotions. It explains why a few Death Eaters could easily spread terror among the wizarding population. Not to mention the Dark Lord himself. Voldemort with his solid core and use of dark magic could throw around powerful spells like they are going out of style. His opponent i.e. Albus Dumbledore could also match him despite only using light spells since he has stronger magical to back it up. Its been around 5 decades since his 2nd magical maturity and defeat of Grindelwald and since then he has been sitting on top of a top magical nexus with 7 ley lines like Hogwarts, his solid magical core is bound to be strong enough to contend with Voldemort. Seems like there is a good reason why he is called the second coming of Merlin. This makes me realize that even if I were to achieve my 2nd magical maturity before the resurrection of Voldemort at the end of Triwizard competition, they both will be still leagues above me and I will be just cannon fodder against them. No, to contend against monsters like them, I need to find unique advantages. One of the things that can make me stronger is Ritual magic. But from the basics I have read about it, I need to give up something equal in exchange. I could not afford to look like an inhuman like Voldemort. No, I need to find a ritual that suits me. I need to continue to learn and train in Room of Requirement till I find suitable ways to make me stronger.


    On a side note, I have also hit a more pressing problem called ''Assignments''. Professors in every subject give assignments, measured in feet of parchments. Meaning I can''t skim on work if I don''t want to give up on my goal of getting O+ and seen as a bright student. Being unaccustomed to quill and ink makes it particularly hard for me. Snape being a sadistic bastard that he is gives a lot of homework to torture students. I am not happy about hours I need to spend to do the homework especially since I already know the material. But after spending hours in Room of Requirement doing research, I have found the solution to the problem. I am going to modify and use the method they use to write Hogwarts letter of students. Handwritten letter to students of all years are sent before the start of the term using animation spell. Deputy Headmistress animate the quill to write in standard Hogwarts letter format and fill out names afterward. I just need to modify the charm to write what I want instead of the standard Hogwarts letter format. Since I already know the material to write, I can just charm the quill once and it will write for hours. I can also add a reference to older years of material to give the impression that I spent hours researching the content in books. This will give me an excuse to spend hours alone "doing homework". I can also explain any extra knowledge a let slip by this way.


    I am going to drown professors in feet and feet of parchments, They won''t have any choice but to give O+. I am going to add extra feet of parchments for Snape and him a lot of material to check to give him a taste of his own medicine.


    #### Time Skip : At the end of Teaching term ####


    ~~~ Scene: Teachers Meeting ~~~


    All of the professors were sitting at a long table with Headmaster Dumbledore sitting at the main seat.


    "Another year has come to an end. So, let''s start this meeting by voicing issues anyone of you had this year." said Headmaster Dumbledore kindly.


    "Someone broke in my office and stole stuff. Why, in my time students were punished by chained and ...." Filch starts to rant.


    "Alas, while most unfortunate, we don''t know the culprit and thus can''t punish anyone. I am sure the culprit will see the error of their ways" said Headmaster Dumbledore to Filch gently.


    "If there is nothing else to report, let''s talk about new students this year. Any in particular worth mentioning. Let''s start with you Minerva." asked Headmaster Dumbledore.


    "There are a few notable students this year, Especially Mr. Diggory from Hufflepuff and Mr. Canis and Mr. Davis. Though Mr. Canis seems to be a bit overzealous in handing out his homework for lack of the better word " said, prof. McGonagall.


    "A bit overzealous!!! The brat hands out bundle full of parchments every time. It takes more than an hour to check them all. Not to mention he even writes every single little detail and obscure facts that even I don''t remember and need to check in books." said Prof. Snape while scowling.


    "He does tend to get a little carried away. According to others in Ravenclaw house, he spends hours and hours holed up in his room doing homework. Though I am a bit proud as his head of the house." said Prof. Flitwick.


    ....


    ~~~ scene break ~~~

 Chapter 13

    #### Time Skip : 3 years : Date: 1 Sept. 1991 ###


    I am currently sitting in an empty cabin of Hogwarts Express, going for my 4th year of Hogwarts. This will be the year when the main characters start to attend Hogwarts and storyline from books start. The train has already started running a while back. I did see Harry Potter when he was boarding the train from my cabin. He looked just like he was described in the books. He was shorter than an average of 11 years old and wore old baggy clothes. Though I pity him I will not get involved with him or his friends, especially this year since Dumbledore will have his test for Harry and his friends set up with Philosopher''s stone and whatnot. No, getting involved with him might get me entangled with Dumbledore''s web of manipulations and currently without being strong enough and with no backing, it might prove fatal to me. I know Dumbledore might not be as bad as I think and just be little manipulative but I am not risking my safety on assumptions. So, true to my original plan, I am going to lay low, get stronger and bide my time. Though thoughts of stealing Philosopher''s stone did cross my mind but the risk of getting caught will be high since Dumbledore won''t leave it unprotected and there will surely be other protections aside from traps to test Harry and his merry band of do-gooders. Also, the stone may turn out to be fake since Flamels are more than 5 centuries old and they won''t just hand out their lifeline or they would not have survived all these years by being idiots.


    On a high note, the last three years were very productive and fruitful. My core has grown much larger in these three years due to high ambient magic in Hogwarts and my constant magical exercise. At this rate I expect it to take another 3 years to transform. On the topic of magical core transformation, I had a big breakthrough. All the hours upon hours of going through magical theory, I was able to come up with a way to increase my magical core strength. According to my research, as core transform from gaseous to liquid to solid density and potency of magic increase and thus overall magic output. Means increasing the density of core will directly increase potency and overall magic available. So, instead of having my core transform from liquid to solid, I am going to arrange my magic in a diamond like atomic structure and thus transform it to crystal core instead of a solid core. This will increase my core density much more than a solid core and my magic potency and overall available magic will increase much more than a solid core. Though I still won''t be able to match Dumbledore''s it will take me closer. Due to the crystal being a stable structure, it will also make my magic easier to control.


    Next, I was able to several of the goals I set for myself earlier. I acquired (stole) marauder map from Filch''s office in the first year. Even though it was made of various complicated calculations and spells, I was able to make one of my own map ''Marauder Map V 2.0'' or ''MMV2'' with RoR and chamber of secrets on it. After doing so I put back the original one in Filch''s office for twins to find since it plays a big role in Harry''s 3rd year and I want the timeline to be as close as possible till I make my move.


    Next, I completed all the material I set for myself including warding, curse breaking, Healing, Alchemy and ritual magic up to NEWT levels. Due to the increased size of my core since then and the years of wandless magic exercises, my control over my magic has grown and I am now able to easily do all spells up to NEWT wandlessly.


    Legilimancy has also come along nicely, though not as good as my Occlumancy which has already progressed to an advanced stage with Mindscape, I am able to read minds of anyone without occlumancy training. One of most interesting use of legilimacy was that I read minds of few of muggle martial arts trainers and a few muggle special force veterans to learn hand to hand combat. As a result, my physical exercise intensity has grown and it is reflecting quite nicely on my body.


    Even though Apparition was easy enough to learn, I had to practice a lot in RoR to Apparate silently and instantaneously. The interesting fact is if you put a very high amount of magic during Apparating, it is possible to break through the Anti-Apparition wards. Though I am not nearly strong enough to break through Hogwarts wards.


    I hit jackpot on Animagus front. Why? you ask. Because I have 2 animagus forms. Yes, that''s right 2 forms. I was shocked too when I found out. You see, I mastered my first animagus form of a ''Golden Falcon'' at the end of my 2nd year. Though not as great as I hoped it to be, it still has its advantages as it is able to fly. An interesting side effect included increased eyesight. After mastering my form, I thought that was it but I found that I have another animages form after I took another animagus revealing potion. Though I am still not sure what it is. Its a little blurry and looks like a dog or wolf. But the interesting thing is that I don''t have enough magic to be able to transform into this form. That''s right, not enough magic to transform into 2nd form while I can easily transform into my first one. I am guessing it is some sort of magical creature which is weird enough as books on animagus say that it is not possible to have a magical creature as animagus form. Then again books also say that it''s only possible to have 1 one animagus form but I proved that incorrect. I am guessing, the reason I have 2 animagus form is related to me being transmigrated. Meaning one form belongs to me while others belonged to the original Aiden Canis. While unsure I think to have magical animagus form may also be attributed to this.


    On a side note, Snape always scowls and seems to be very annoyed when I hand over my homework, I wonder why?

 Chapter 14

    Knocking on my compartment door brought me out of my thoughts. I stand up and unlock the door (some people just can''t take a hint, I obviously locked the door to not be disturbed) to find an 11 years old bushy haired girl whom I recognize as a future member of ''Golden Trio'', Hemione Granger. I guess she is looking for Neville''s toad.


    "You know locking cart''s door is against the rules." she stated.


    I forgot how much of stickler for rules she is at this age. But this is still annoying and not to mention idiotic on her part. She is either clueless or doesn''t seem to care about the fact that what she is doing is clearly antagonizing he senior by few years who logically should be much more knowledgeable and more powerful than her in a train without any teacher on board or in absence of any witnesses. But then again she is still very young and inexperienced. She still thinks that Hogwarts will be just as safe as her muggle school. She has no idea how dangerous magical world is, boy is she in for a rude awakening. Yeah! the troll will dislodge that belief soon enough. I always thought that she should be in Ravenclaw but given how naive and idiotic she currently is, maybe sorting hat was onto something by putting her in Gryffindor.


    "Do you need something." I replied neutrally.


    "No need to be rude, I was just pointing out the rule for you. Anyway, have you seen a toad, Neville lost his." she huffed.


    Wow. She really is as bossy as portrayed in books. If not for the fact that I spent the last 3 years portraying myself as helpful but soft-spoken, reclusive nerd, I would have shown the error of her ways right now. Had she asked nicely, I would have just summoned the toad using Accio charm but not with her attitude.


    "No, I haven''t," I replied stiffly while closing and locking the door.


    "Hey, you c..." she started but I put privacy wards on the door for the peace of my mind for rest of the journey.


    After the train reached the Hogsmeade station, I changed into my school robes and deboarded the train and started to make my way towards the Hogwarts castle. Unlike the first year, older year students board the carriages pulled by Thestrals ( weird bony horses with wings ). They say that only those who have seen death can see them.


    Anyway, I take a carriage towards the end. To my surprise, I saw Tonks sitting alone in it. Nymphadora Tonks has grown to be a beautiful witch. She is now in her last year of Hogwarts.


    My initial plan was to not interact with her while I am still in Hogwarts. But as a result of practicing martial arts (legilimency for the win), my body has grown up nicely. While I don''t have a bulky physique, I am taller than average for my age and has a swimmer like body. I can safely say that I have physically upgraded from cute to handsome. Since that is the case, it won''t hurt to talk to her a bit to set my image as a nice guy now and lay the groundwork for future. Since she is in her NEWT year and needs good grades for her to be accepted in the Auror program. I can identify her weakest subject and help her in it saying it''s my favorite subject and I read ahead in it to earn points in her books.


    "Hello, Tonks. It''s Aiden. Remember me. Can I sit with you." I asked politely.


    "Hey, Aiden. Yes, of course, come in." she replied.


    "So, how has it been? " I asked.


    "Can''t complain. Though workload has increased since last year due to NEWT level subjects. So, there is that. But nowhere near as much workload as you have. I have heard younger Puffs complaining that you always submit a lot of parchments as homework and no matter how much hard work they put in they always seems to fall short especially in potions." she replied.


    Ah, didn''t think Hufflepuffs will try to compare in homework. Then again since their house is known for hard work, it must hurt them that someone is working harder than them. Poor puffs, they will never know that I am working smart instead of hard. It doesn''t help the matter when I giving a whole lot of extra parchments to Snape when he annoys me. There was that one time when Snape was taking his anger out on me about something when it was not even my fault and next day I gave him so many parchments of homework that I couldn''t even carry them all due to weight and had to levitate to potion classroom. Snape''s face when he saw them was a Patronus worthy memory.


    "Speaking of NEWTs, What are you planning on doing after Hogwarts?" I asked looking curious.


    "I always wanted to be an Auror. But everyone says I won''t make it as I am too clumsy," she replied looking down.


    "You know, I something tells me that you will make it (future knowledge from the books, but she doesn''t need to know that), you just need to have confidence in yourself. In fact, I will bet 5 Galleons on it." I replied looking sure.


    She giggled and said, "You know what, I will take that bet."


    Soon enough we reached the castle and deboarded and made our way inside.


    Soon after we got settled in the main hall, Prof. McGonagall brought first-year students inside.


    After a ridiculous and painfully long song by sorting hat, Sorting commenced. Everyone got sorted to the same houses as in books. So, nothing new there. I almost laughed out aloud when Draco Malfoy got sorted into Slytherin. Draco is as Gryffindorish as they come, boy doesn''t have any cunningness to speak of and has a standard reply when insulted: "My father will hear of this."


    If dear old Salazar Slytherin knew of this, he would be rolling in his grave.


    I ignore the rest of the sorting and focus on the staff table.


    Prof. Quirrell, unlike his previous years at Hogwarts when he taught Muggle Studies, is wearing a turban. Already possessed by Voldemort I see. Seeing him made overcome with a sense of urgency. It is a reminder that I am still a cannon fodder against Voldemort and even though Quirrell won''t attack me, He can kill me anytime in this school term.


    I control my raging emotions with Occlumancy and start to plan for the following years before Triwizard Competition and subsequent rise of Voldemort. Since I have completed the goals I set for myself including learning all Hogwarts subjects plus warding, curse breaking, Healing, Alchemy and ritual magic up to NEWT levels. My new short term goals till my 7th year are:


    Start on mastery level material for transfiguration, charms, healing, DADA, and warding.


    follow Harry at end of his 2nd year(disillusioned), record him using Parseltongue to open chamber of secrets, after his adventure and exit, open chamber of secrets and harvest Basilisk using pre-learned spells.


    Learn Patronus before the start of book 3.


    obtain an Auror training method and start training in it.


    Master 2nd Animagus form if possible.

 Chapter 15

    Next three years went exactly as planned i.e. same as canon. True to my plan I acquired Basilisk after Harry had his little adventure. I harvested every part of it aside from its bones which I left at their original place to avoid suspicion. I kept its venom and hide and sold everything else. And dear lord it fetched quite the amount. My personal vault is now ~860,000 galleons richer. Thank you, Harry, for selflessly donating the Basilisk, your donation won''t get unnoticed. I suppose I can help him out a little in Triwizard competition and against Voldemort depending on circ.u.mstances, provided that I stand to benefit in one way or another ( hey, I will still be helping him, just not at the cost of my own life). Anyway, did I tell you that I nailed my OWLs? Yup, true to my self created a reputation as a giant nerd, I scored the highest marks ever recorded in the last 200 years. I took OWLs for transfiguration, potions, charms, DADA, history of magic, astronomy, herbology, Arithmancy, ancient runes, healing, warding, Alchemy, dueling, language (4 languages), Muggle Studies, Divination, and Care of magical creatures. Yup, 17 subjects and I got O+ grade in every one of them. I self-studied for the electives courses that I didn''t take in 3rd year ( Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies) because it looked more impressive to have more subjects in my OWLs report card. An unexpected benefit was that I had to take the exam for the subjects not taught at Hogwarts at Ministry itself. Meaning unless someone specifically requests my OWL results, everyone at Hogwarts will only know about my OWLs results of Hogwarts subjects and not for the self-taught subjects like healing, warding, dueling, curse breaking and languages. I decided against taking OWLs for Ritual magic since it is banned in magical England and I don''t want uneducated sheep to think that I am going dark. Still, everyone at Hogwarts thinks I took 12 OWLs and got impressive O+ grade in each one of them. Even 12 OWLs subjects were a lot for them.


    Anyway, I learned Patronus charm in summer after my OWLs. Unsurprisingly my Patronus is a wolf which I previously found was my 2nd animagus form. Though getting corporal shape was a bit difficult, I managed it in a few days. The rest of the year was uneventful and went exactly the same as canon though all those dementors were a tad bit annoying.


    #### Time skip ; Date 3 August 1994 ###


    I just had my 17th birthday a few days ago. Meaning I am now legally a.d.u.l.t in the magical world and can take Headship of the most ancient and noble house of Canis. Which means I can now access Canis family vault and other properties and businesses. But I was waiting because my magical core started to show signs of 2nd magical maturity and true to the plan I arranged my magic in a diamond like a lattice structure just before transformation and I now have a marble size clear blue crystal core. After getting the crystal core my Magical strength hit through the roof. It is now around 20 times more than before transformation. Even my magic now recovers at a noticeable rate. Due to my high magical regeneration rate, I can throw around spells like stunner charm indefinitely because my magic recovers faster than I spend. But as many advantages my 2nd magical maturity brought me, it also has a huge disadvantage. Well, not a disadvantage per se, more like a major inconvenience. You see, my plan was to lay low during Hogwarts years and show my true strength when I am strong enough to fight against the likes of Voldemort and Dumbledore. But due to magical maturity, my eyes now shines like bright blue lights because of the very high amount of magic in my body. Well, that answers the age-old question of Dumbledore''s twinkling eyes and Voldemort''s shining blood red eyes. Good thing is that book about magical cores and maturity doesn''t mention it anywhere about shining eyes meaning the rest of wizarding world doesn''t know about this fact. But, Dumbledore is going to know that I had my 2nd magical maturity, the moment he sees me. So, there goes my plan of laying low.


    Well, no point of crying over spilled milk. Since I can''t lay low, I am now going to do just the opposite and show everyone my power in a well planned manner so that I can control the scenario and be called a genius instead of being dubbed as a Dark Lord by the rest of wizarding sheep ( gotta get rid of Rita Skeeter, she has too much influence and might write bullshit like me going dark in newspaper just to get publicity and most of the wizards being sheep may actually believe her. Yeah, she gotta go. The easiest way would be to smash her in her ''water beetle'' animagus form while she is spying on champions.)


    The best way for me to show my power in a good way is to participate in the upcoming Triwizard competition. Being a champion, it will be obvious to everyone that I am stronger than the rest of the students. Everyone in England will support me as Hogwarts champion and if I were to be much stronger than the champion of others schools, they will just think that Hogwarts is a better school than others to stroke their ego. It will portray me in a good light since I will be ''working hard'' to win the competition for Hogwarts and by the end of it, they will just accept the fact that I am better than them as Hogwarts champion. This way I can expose my powers in a positive way while getting popular.

 Chapter 16

    Moving on to the next topic, knowledge.


    I took full advantage of ROR and milked it for its worth. Aside from all NEWT levels in subjects I previously mentioned, I am now on mastery level for Healing, Transfiguration, Charms, Warding and Defence against Dark Arts (DADA).


    Knowledge on dueling and Extensive Auror training manual ( which I acquired from knockturn Alley while hidden under a dark robe and glamour charm) has also helped my battle skills very much. I can now link wand movement of subsequent spells and fire charms and hexes rapidly at my opponent. ROR also helped me by providing animated statue targets to improve my battle efficiency. With my newfound magical strength due to crystal core and battle efficiency, I reckon I can easily fight experienced Aurors like Mad-eye Moody.


    Though I am not good enough to battle Dumbledore and Voldemort to a standstill, I should be able to hold them off briefly and run away.


    Still, I have yet to find any unique advantages over them in my years of research in ROR.


    Speaking of unique advantages, while I couldn''t transform in my 2nd animagus form due to my previous lack of magical strength, I should now have enough magical strength to do so now. But I need to find a personal and isolated place to attempt it.


    Good thing is that since I will be going to take up the headship of Canis house tomorrow and there are bound to be some properties that fit the requirements.


    Next day, I left the orphanage bright and early and Apparated to Diagon Ally. I made my way towards the Gringotts and soon enough saw the white marble building with two goblins standing on each side of gate wielding spears. I went inside and stood in a line for a teller. Soon it was my turn. I remembered that goblins don''t like to waste time so I went straight to the point.


    " Hello, I would like to claim Canis family headship, please." I told the teller politely.


    " Shortclaw will take you to the Manager of Inheritance." He told stiffly and gestured a nearby goblin to take me to my destination.


    "Follow me." Said the goblin which I presume is Shortclaw.


    I followed him silently through the twists and turns and finally, we were standing in front of a door. He gestured me to go inside and I complied. I saw an elder goblin sitting behind a table as I came inside.


    "Hello, I am Aiden Canis. I would like to claim the headship of house Canis." I said politely.


    "Before we move forward, I would like to inform you that if you are an imposter or ineligible candidate, your life will be forfeited." He informed. I nodded and he proceeded to put a bowl stained with dry blood in front of me while handing me a knife.


    " Pour some blood in the bowl." He said and I complied while nicking my finger with the knife and poured some blood in the bowl. I gave back the knife and healed my finger wandlessly (master Healer over here Y''all).


    " Your claim is valid. Please wait here while I call Canis family manager."


    I nodded in affirmative. And he pulled a chain and said something in gobbledygook.


    While waiting, I destroyed my blood in the bowl wandlessly ( Blood can be used in a number of ways to easily harm someone and I don''t trust anyone enough to let them have my blood sample). He looked like he wanted to say something but held it in.


    Soon another goblin came in and said, " I am sharpfang, Canis family manager, follow me, Mr. Canis." And walked away. I followed and soon we were sitting in another room which I assumed was his office.


    He took out a short but expensive looking wooden box opened it and gave it to me.


    "This is Canis family lordship ring, Mr. Canis, put it on" he informed.


    I saw a beautiful ring with a picture of a wolf on it with "audere est facere" (to dare is to do ) written underneath the picture.


    I put the ring on and it flashed with light but soon enough the light died out.


    " No need to worry, It was just checking if you are worthy of Canis house lordship. Now, Since that is settled, let''s move into your properties, Lord Canis." He hurried.


    It contained around 2.3 million Gallons in hard money. There were also many artifacts and jewelry. What caught my attention were books, Canis family grimoire to be exact. Canis, being a family of over 1000 years of history is bound to have many unique and special family magic. This could contain my unique advantage I have been searching for.


    I contained my excitement and moved onto business.


    "Sharpfang, I would like you to acquire shares in a few businesses" I told him while listing some of the businesses, one of notable being Firebolt broom company. Which I know is going to be famous. Unfortunately, goblins didn''t the investment in Muggle companies or I would have made a fortune from them using my future knowledge. Seems like I need to find a Muggle investor for that later.


    "I would like to Access my family vault now." I informed Sharpfang.


    Sometime later I existed the Gringotts bank after taking a few items from my vault including family grimoire.


    I put on some glamour charms and made my way towards knockturn Alley to buy a house elf.


    House-elf were very useful creatures who liked to do housework and would leech on a wizard''s magic to survive.


    They are also useful in many other things like buying something from diagon ally, sending urgent letters to someone and many of other things.


    I have always wanted to buy one but due to lack of house, I couldn''t buy them. Since now I have a manor and other properties, it will be very helpful to have one.


    I bought a house elf named ''Ricky'' from a dingy looking shop in knockturn Alley and sent him off to my new Manor while I went back to the orphanage to pick up my stuff.

 Chapter 17

    I Apparated to my room at the orphanage and packed all my stuff. I gave a last look to the room I had been living ever since I got to this world. Even though it was a small worn out room with old furniture, it was still mine and I will miss it OR!!! So would I have felt if I was a sentimental person or someone who gave a crap, but I am a pragmatic person and I have an expensive Manor now. The only thing I care about this orphanage is the Matron. Even though Matron is in her late 50s, she still doesn''t force any of the kids to work and takes care of everyone. Even though I was a selfish child who never helped around and spent all my time holed up in the room, she always treated me kindly and never once complained or got angry with me. No matter what any of the children did, she was always patient with them. If genuinely good people exist, she is certainly one of them.


    I picked up my stuff and moved out of the room. I made my way towards Matron''s office and knocked on the door.


    "Come in." I heard from inside.


    I made my way inside. Matron was sitting behind her table, looking our some papers.


    "Hello Aiden, come please sit. What can I do for you." She asked kindly.


    "Hello Matron, I just wanted to inform you that I am moving out of the orphanage. I just came by inheritance, turns out my parents were quite rich. I will be living at my family house from now on." I replied.


    "That''s good news. Even though you were one of the most intelligent children here and I always thought that you do quite well after moving out, it''s still good to know that you now don''t have to worry about money and can live a good life. But remember if you ever need my help or someone to talk to, you are always welcome here." She said gently. Like I said, a good person.


    I took out my checkbook and wrote a check for 100,000 pounds for her. ( I opened an account in a Muggle bank after I sold Basilisk parts and put some money in it.)


    "Matron, I want to make a donation to the orphanage. Please accept this." I said while I handed her the check.


    " it''s too much money, I am afraid I can''t accept this." She denied and tried to give back the check.


    " Don''t worry it''s not too much, As I said, I inherited quite a lot of money." I said while trying to convince her.


    Before she could deny further I stood up and said, " well Matron, I need to go or I will be late for my train. Goodbye."


    "Goodbye Aiden, this money will certainly help a lot of children." She said looking grateful.


    I left the orphanage after saying goodbye and Apparated to my manor.


    I spent the rest of the month mastering my wolf animagus form and going through the family grimoire.


    First of all, let me tell you about my wolf animagus form. Like I previously predicted, my wolf animagus form is that of a magical creature, Shadow wolf to be exact. When I first transformed, I thought I was mistaken since it just looked like a normal black wolf. But when I put more magic in it while transformed I turned into dark shadow like fog and vanished and reappeared in a different part of Manor. Meaning I now have a unique way of magical traveling which can''t be blocked by anti-apparation or anti portkey wards or any known method. Meaning I can sneak into any place unnoticed and can even travel inside a heavily warded place like Hogwarts. I called this ability ''Shadow traveling''. While experimenting further I found out that I can turn a part of my body or whole body into shadow like dark fog and let objects pass through me. I have yet to experiment with spells since I am alone, but I am positive that I can let spells pass through me too.


    I am training to be able to use them during battle quickly and efficiently.


    But the good news just doesn''t stop there, I finally found what I have been searching for all these years. Yup, that''s right, I finally found a ritual good enough and the best part is that I don''t have to sacrifice my looks or modify any part of my body.


    Turns out Canis family secretly specialized in Ritual magic. Secretly because, if others found out, it would have been called dark like Black family instead of maintaining the status quo as a neutral house.


    There were a lot of good Rituals in the grimoire but I found one which will fit my requirements and will be easily doable in my current circ.u.mstances.


    The ritual requires one to kill a dragon singlehandedly without any help and uses this dragon''s heart in exchange for increased physical strength and magical affinity. Meaning I will be both physically and magically stronger after doing this ritual. I just have to kill a dragon and use its heart as a price. Since ritual magic is based on equal exchange meaning the stronger the dragon more benefits for me.


    Problem is that due to low numbers, dragons are protected creatures and live in dragon reserves.


    But I know a way to legally fight and kill a dragon in front of everyone while looking awesome doing it. Yup, that''s right, the first task of Triwizard competition. The best part is that everyone is even going to cheer for me while I am doing it. And I will even claim dragon''s corpse legally as dragons are XXXXX class dangerous creatures and subjugating one will legally entitle me to its corpse and ministry will have to bear the cost.


    Yeah, the idea of taking part in Triwizard competition is looking better and better. Can''t wait to start.

 Chapter 18

    I was once again sitting alone in a cart on Hogwarts express. Train just started running 10 minutes ago. I was in a good mood since I just mastered Occlumancy yesterday. My mind is now safe from any intrusion via legilimancy or from Veritaserum ( truth potion). As a master, I can even give out false memories for pensieve. A major advantage of mastering Occlumancy is the perfect control I now have over my body and emotions. It will be soon helpful as Dumbledore''s going to talk to me as soon as he sees me since I now glowing blue eyes because of 2nd magical maturity.


    I first considered telling Dumbledore about Barty Crouch Jr. Polyjuiced as Moody but then I decided against it since it will be difficult to explain my knowledge about the matter and secondly he played a major part in Voldemort''s resurrection. While it is tempting to stop Voldemort from resurrection I am going to let it happen just like the canon. This is because he will find another way to come back soon enough and it will be more advantageous for me to know exactly when he will return so that I can plan for it. Dumbledore and Harry only started to look for Horcruxes after Voldemort''s return so it will be better to let him resurrect and get it over with. So I can''t expose Barty since he has an important role to play this year for Voldemort''s resurrection.


    The rest of the train ride passed while I was lost in my thoughts. After reaching the Hogsmeade station, I made my way towards Hogwarts with the rest of the students.


    Sorting went more or less the same as the previous year.


    After sorting and feast Dumbledore stood up and announced, " Now that everyone is fed and watered, I have an important announcement to make. Hogwarts will be playing host for the Triwizard Tournament this year."


    "You''re joking." Shouted one of the Weasley twins.


    "I assure you that I am most certainly not joking. For those of you who don''t know, Triwizard is a tournament in which a champion is chosen from one of three schools each. These chosen champions will then put through 3 challenging tasks and the winner will earn eternal glory and Triwizard cup." Dumbledore paused for a moment when his eyes met mine but started again, " But be warned that these tasks will be especially difficult and won''t be for those with a faint heart. So, consider carefully before putting submitting your name."


    After the announcement, students stood up and perfects started to guide new students to their respective dormitories. As I started to make my way, professor Flitwick stopped me and said, "Mr. Aiden, Headmaster would like to talk to you in his office, please. As you head of the house, I am obliged to present if you require."


    "No, thank you, professor, but that won''t be necessary." I replied politely and made my way towards Headmaster''s office.


    Gargoyle stood up and made way for me when I reached there without any password. I guess Dumbledore is waiting for me. I made my way up the stairs and when I was just about to knock, Headmaster''s voice came from inside, "come in, Mr. Canis."


    I did what I was told and went inside. Headmaster''s office was filled with different artifacts and books. One of the walls was entirely dedicated to a bunch of portraits which I assumed were of previous headmaster and headmistresses of Hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, looking at me intently.


    "Good day, professor. What can I do for you?" I greeted and asked politely.


    "I was simply curious, my boy. You see, even the most gifted Wizards or witches hardly go through their first magical maturity at you age let alone second like you. You must admit that this is a very peculiar and unbelievable situation." He said gently but his eyes over looking at me very intently, trying to solve the mystery that was me.


    Hmmm.., I need to answer carefully, this might be a bit problematic if he thought that I was using dark magic to forcefully increase my core. It would be bad if he saw me as another budding dark lord like a certain ''Tom Riddle'' who needs to be stopped be gaining more power. After years of carefully observing him, I can say that even if a bit manipulative, Dumbledore is a good guy like in canon. If I play this right, I might be able to convince him that I am a light wizard (which I totally am since using dark magic will eventually leave me insane). Though I can easily escape using shadow traveling, it will serve me better to be thought of as a good guy. I need to convince him that my core strength is due to my talent and hard work ( which it totally is) at least for now.


    I carefully and slowly take my wand out of the holster without pointing at him. Dumbledore sat straight and looked alert but allowed me to proceed with my actions.


    I pointed my wand upwards and said in a clear tone, " I Aiden Edward Canis, swear on my magic that my magical core strength is due to natural talent and hard work and I didn''t use any external means to aid it in any way. I have never used dark magic in my life. I have also never intentionally harmed anyone in any way. So I say, mote it be. Lumos."


    Well, it''s true, I have yet to do the Ritual and Rita Skeeter is also alive, for now at least. While I will do these things in the future, Dumbledore doesn''t need to know that.


    " That''s good to know, my boy. Forgive me for prying, I once had a student who was talented beyond the year, Alas he went dark. I always blamed myself for it, if I had just tried a bit more, I could have shown him the proper path. Anyways you, my boy, have more talent than anyone I have ever seen, even more than me. I hope you use it responsibly and in a good way. You can come to me anytime, I will be happy to show you the proper way." Said Dumbledore gently.


    Yeah, like that''s going to happen. But my face didn''t betray any of my thoughts and I replied, " Thank you, professor, I will be sure to remember that."


    " That will be all Mr. Canis, thank you for seeing me." He dismissed and I made my way out of his office and towards Ravenclaw tower.

 Chapter 19

    #### Time skip, Date : 30 October 1994 ####


    I am currently sitting inside a great hall. Beauxbaton and Durmstrang schools groups just arrived a few minutes ago. Beauxbaton''s group arrived in a flying carriage pulled by what looked to be winged horses and while that of Durmstrang , via a boat. Both groups got settled in great hall after arriving. While Durmstrang students chose to sit with Slytherins at their table, Beauxbaton''s students sat with us at Ravenclaw table.


    After everyone got settled in, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and announced, "Eternal glory, that''s what winner will earn. Every student has until tomorrow afternoon to put in their names." He gestured towards the goblet of fire, "This is the goblet of fire and it will fairly choose one champion from each school. But be warned, if chosen, you will stand alone and there is no turning back. There have been many deaths previously in this Tournament. So, think hard before putting your name in. Due to the highly dangerous nature of this Tournament, an age restriction has been added by the ministry this time. No one under 17 will be allowed to enter their names." Said Dumbledore while drawing an age line around the goblet.


    #### Next day, evening ####


    There are some guests present at the staff table whom Dumbledore introduced as Barty Crouch Sr. And Ludo Bagman as ministry representatives from the department of magical sports.


    After everyone was done with their dinner, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and announced, " the moment everyone has been waiting for has arrived, it is time to announce the champions from each school." Fire in Goblet suddenly changed its colour from blue to red and it spat out a piece of paper. Dumbledore caught it and loudly announced, "Champion from the Durmstrang is ''Victor Krum''." Krum stood up while others from Durmstrang were congratulating him and made his way towards the staff table. He was sent to the antechamber via teachers entrance in the back.


    Fire in Goblet changed its colour again from blue to red and it spat out a piece of paper. Dumbledore caught it and loudly announced, "Champion from the Beauxbaton is ''Fleur Delacour''." Similar to Krum, Fleur also made her way towards Antechamber in the back.


    I hold my breath and eagerly wait since it''s critical for my plan to have my name on the next slip of paper. I was not disappointed when Dumbledore announced, "And the champion from Hogwarts is... Aiden Canis." Everyone from Hogwarts cheered loudly as I made my way towards Antechamber. Fleur and Krum'' were present inside. "Hey, I am Aiden Canis, Champion of Hogwarts." I introduced myself.


    "Fleur Delacour, Beauxbaton''s champion." She introduced.


    " Victor Krum, Durmstrang." He said gruffly.


    Just as we were done introducing ourselves, Harry came in. Ah, poor Harry, he must be very confused right now since unlike us he didn''t put his name in the cup.


    Behind him were judges and professors arguing loudly. As they came in Dumbledore asked Harry urgently, " Tell me the truth Harry, did you put your name in."


    Before Harry could reply, fake Moody said:" Of course he didn''t, a very powerful confundus charm is required to do so, magic beyond any Hogwarts student."


    I strongly disagreed with his statement but kept my mouth shut.


    "You sure seem to know a lot about it." Accused Igor, Durmstrang''s headmaster from the side.


    "Enough, goblet of fire constitutes a binding magical contract. Whether he put his name in or not, Mr. Potter must complete. Triwizard tournament now has four Champions." Declared Barty Crouch Sr.


    Next few weeks went by quickly and it was the day before the first task.


    These weeks uneventful aside from the ''Potter Stinks'' badges and wand weighing ceremony.


    First, about the badges. Just like cannon, Draco Malfoy came up with the brilliant idea of "Poter stinks/ support Aiden, Hogwarts real champion" badges. Brilliant because while badges were insulting to Harry, they made me very popular among students. And the best thing was that I didn''t need to do a thing.


    I was expecting for Harry to come and warn me about the dragons just like he did with Cedric in the books, but he never did. After a quick legilimancy probe inside his mind, I found out that he did know about the dragons from Hagrid like in canon. Seems like he only Informed the cedric on the books because he knew Cedric from before since they went to Quidditch world cup together via the same portkey.


    So much for him being a martyr.


    Anyway, wand weighing ceremony went without a hitch. Just like the canon, Rita Skeeter came to interview us. She took Harry to a closet for the interview first. Poor Harry, don''t know what he''s getting into. When my turn came for the interview, I just blew her off and refused to comment. She looked pissed.


    Later that day I found a ''water beetle'' following me. I guess Skeeter wants to find some dirt on me for revenge. I just acted naturally like I didn''t notice her till she came closer. When she came very close to me, I swatted her like a fly, she went splat on the table and I brushed her aside. Well, that takes care of her.

 Chapter 20

    It''s the day of the first task, champions excluding Harry were all present in the Champion''s tent. Krum was leaning against a pillar, trying to look calm while Fleur was sitting straight on a chair, looking visibly nervous. I was too sitting but unlike Fleur, I looked calm and nonchalant. I was barely holding in my excitement. I already prepared the Ritual in the chamber of secrets last night due to it being an isolated and private place. Unless Harry feels like going in it for a stroll inside dirty pipes just for fun, I am sure I won''t be distributed during the Ritual.


    Just then Harry entered the tent looking very nervous. Judges i.e Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch Sr, and Head of three schools. Bagman gestured for us to come closer and held out a bag.


    Just like canon, Fleur''s turn was first. She took out a miniature dragon from the bag.


    "Welsh Green for Beauxbaton''s champion." Declared Bagman.


    Then Krum had his turn and Bagman announced, " Chinese fireball."


    Now it was now my turn, from what I know, only Swedish shortsnout and Hungarian Horntail were left. But since Horntail was spikier then the other dragon, I felt it from my fingers and took it out.


    "And most dangerous and violent Hungarian Horntail for the Hogwarts champion. Which leaves the Swedish shortsnout for our youngest Champion." He declared.


    " Now that the champions know which dragon they will be facing, it time to go over the rules. Each dragon will be protecting a golden egg, and champions have to obtain said egg which will contain a clue for the Second Task. Each champion will be given 30 minutes for completing the task. Judges will announce the scores after each champion complete their task. Champions will go in order of number written on their miniature dragons." He explained.


    Harry was first, then Fleur, after whom it was Krum''s turn. I was the last to go.


    Since I was sitting inside the tent, I didn''t get to see their performance. But I guess they did same as in the books.


    Soon it was my turn. I was not nervous since I already prepared and have a solid plan. I walked out of the tent confidently. I heard Bagman shot, "And now, Hogwarts champion, Aiden Canis will face against the Hungarian Horntail." The crowd roared in cheers.


    I looked ahead and there was a giant, mean looking Dragon standing in front of me, filled with spikes. But all I saw was an ingredient for my upcoming Ritual, walking around.


    The dragon opened its mouth and fired a blast of dragon fire, the moment it saw me.


    I took out my wand from the holster, in a quick manner and practiced ease.


    I pointed my wand forwards and wordlessly cast "Portego horribilis" charm in front of me. It is the same shielding charm used to protect Hogwarts.


    A thick blue shield formed in front of me and easily protected me from the flames.


    Seeing this, the audience erupted in loud cheers for me.


    After the flames died out, I removed the shield and waved my wand to transfigure the ground in front of the dragon. The ground easily transfigured into chains which then wrapped around the dragon, binding it firmly. The dragon tried to move but couldn''t because the chains were made of titanium (strongest metal I could find with highest tensile strength in Muggle books). Sure, it took more magic to transfigure ground in Titanium than iron, but results are worth it.


    After it was tightly bound, I made a show of slowly moving towards the golden egg. The crowd thought that I completed the task and cheered loudly but I had something else in mind. I covertly and wandlessly made one of the chain snap. The dragon freed one of its paws and proceeded to attack me with it. At this point, I was within its attack range. To everyone else, it looked like I was unaware of this but I was on full alert. Everyone exclaimed thinking that I was done for. Just when it was about to hit me, I quickly turned around and fired a custom made attack spell of mine. A thick stream of lightning erupted from my wand, accompanied by a loud BOOM of thunder and hit the dragon''s face. To everyone else, it looked like I had no choice but to attack the dragon due to getting caught off guard. I had many powerful spells to quickly dispatch the dragon but I purposely used this one to leave a lasting impression in everyone''s mind.


    Arena went silent for a while, then everyone erupted in cheers much louder than before.


    Just like I previously said, killed the dragon in front of everyone else and looked awesome doing it, while everyone else cheered me on. Ahh, life is good.


    I walked on and completed the task by picking up the golden egg.


    I looked around and found minister Fudge. He looked very pale, seem like he caught onto the fact that ministry is going to have to fork out the galleons for the dead dragon.


    I ignored him and called my house elf Rickey, "Ricky take the dragon corpse to the manor and put it in stasis."


    Rickey did as told and the dead dragon vanished.


    "Hey, what are you doing?" shouted one of the dragon handlers. Fudge looked like he also wanted to know the answer.


    " While unintentional, I still killed the dragon and as dragons are XXXXX ranked magical creatures, I am well within my right to take its corpse by the law." I replied calmly.


    Fudge looked like he wanted to argue further and stop me from obtaining the remains but held his tongue since I was right.


    Since I killed the dragon, I got the least scores from the judges and was in the last place. But it was worth it.

 Chapter 21

    After the task, I quickly made my way towards a hidden spot and shadow traveled the chamber of secrets. I called Rickey and had him bring the dragon corpse.


    I separated it into ingredients using harvesting spell and put everything in unbreakable containers except its heart. I gave all the containers to Ricky and sent him away.


    Now, time for the Ritual I have been waiting for all this time. I quickly prepping the Ritual with dragon heart. After some time, Ritual was ready to go and so was I.


    I removed all my clothes and stood in the middle of the Ritual. I wandlessly made a cut my finger and poured the blood on dragons heart as per Ritual and started going through various steps described in Ritual.


    After everything was done, the dragon''s heart burst into particles which enveloped my hide body and formed a cocoon around me. It was the last thing I remembered before I went unconscious.


    I woke up after what seemed like a few hours.


    I ripped off the cacoon and emerged from it.


    First thing I noticed was the sheer amount of strength coursing through my body. I had a fit body before, but now it''s ripped. I now have well-defined muscles all over my body. But unlike bodybuilders, my body is not bulky, it''s more like that of an athlete''s or a swimmer. I wandlessly conjured a mirror and saw my face. My face is like it''s carefully chiseled out. I was handsome before but I was on a whole new level.


    Aside from my appearance, my body is much stronger than before. My bones are hard like diamond and my muscles seem like they are made of bundles of steel fibers. My physical attributes like strength, agility, endurance, dynamic vision, etc are on a whole new level.


    I estimate that my physical strength is around the same as a lesser vampire.


    That''s not all, aside from physical changes, my Magical strength has also grown by leaps and bounds.


    Previously my crystal core was very small since it just transformed a while back. But now my core is much larger. It''s the same size when my liquid core was about to go under transformation. Meaning my crystal core is now as big as it''s ever going to get. Assuming that Dumbledore''s core has also the limit And is of the same size as mine, I am now magically much stronger than him, since crystal core is 3 times stronger than a solid core like that of Dumbledore''s.


    That''s not all, my body is also more in tune with magic means, magic now flows much easier and without resistance through my body than before. Previously, wandless magic took around 10 times more magic than with wand. Now due to less resistance, it only takes about 1.5 times the magic wandlessly as compared to a wand.


    As an added bonus, due to much higher physical and magical strength, I can just shrug off low-level spells without any protection.


    Finally, my years of hard has paid off. But though I am physically and magically stronger than both Dumbledore and Voldemort, they have more experience and knowledge than me, but even than I should be able to match them one on one easily.


    I can now safely say that I am strong enough to survive any situation. But if by off-chance, I am in a difficult situation, I can easily run away with shadow traveling.


    Now, that my primary task of getting strong enough is complete and my safety is secured, I can now finally focus on secondary objectives like enjoying life, becoming famous getting politically stronger and many more.


    Previously my plan was to lay low and let Harry do all the thankless work of getting rid of Voldemort. But now that I am strong enough, it won''t hurt to Duke it out against Voldemort a few times and get famous. If I were to be seen actively fighting against Voldemort in the upcoming war, it will help me politically after everything over and Voldemort is dead. It certainly won''t hurt my reputation if I am seen as a good guy and future light lord since Dumbledore is old and might hit the bucket anytime, even if I were to save him from dying like in canon due to cursed Horcrux ring. Yup, it''s settled, I will now work on being seen as new and improved Dumbledore.

 Chapter 22

    I spent the next two weeks getting used to my newfound physical and magical strength by training in Room of Requirements.


    And, boy I feel awesome. Due to my physical strength, I can weave through wand movements like nobody''s business. My wand practically blurred went I cast chain spells. By linking subsequent spells and spell chains, I can now cast spells so rapidly that it will make my opponent''s mind spin. No, I am not exaggerating, I can fire around 70-80 spells per minute by linking spell movements. Who, new my physical strength will have such an awesome side effect.


    After the euphoria of my new powers left, I concentrated back on the present. Next problem is the 2nd task. While the task itself is simple, it''s my hostage I am worried about. The only person I even remotely care about in this world is Matron from the orphanage. Unless they are willing to abduct the old Matron, I don''t see anyone close to me who will be eligible to be my hostage. While I don''t particularly care about it, it won''t be good for my reputation. No, I need a patsy for the 2nd task, who will become my hostage. A sacrificial pawn if you will.


    From what I could remember, Krum and Hermione weren''t close enough for her to be his hostage. She was most likely chosen to be his hostage because they went to Yule ball together. It was also the case for Cedric and Cho Chang. Harry had his best friend i.e Ronald Weasley as his hostage. Fleur also had her sister as her hostage.


    From given facts, I can only theorize that unless a champion has someone very close to him/her like a best friend or close family member present, they will choose champion''s Yule ball date as a hostage.


    This means I need to carefully and strategically choose my date since she will be my hostage. She needs to be hot enough so as to not embarrass me in front of everyone while being casual enough to not get attached to me afterward.


    Good thing I am popular and handsome enough to easily land myself a date. While people did notice that I was looking much more handsome than before, nobody is close enough to me to notice the exact changes. Everyone must have attributed it the puberty and new workouts.


    I spent the next two days looking for a suitable target-*cough *, I mean suitable date.


    I chose Robin Serpen, a seventh year Ravenclaw who is in the same class as me. While currently single, She has had a few boyfriends up until now. She should be casual enough and being a Ravenclaw, she is busy studying for her NEWTs this year, so she won''t expect to be in a relationship with me due to lack of time. She is also beautiful enough and serves well for my purpose.


    I quickly went up to her and asked, "Hey Robin, how are you doing. I was wondering if you would like to be my date for Yule Ball."


    "Hey Aiden, sure I would love to." She giggled and replied. I guess having a handsome face didn''t hurt my chances.


    Well, congratulations, Robin. You have just unknowingly agreed to participate in the 2nd task. Thank you so much for your selfless service. I don''t know what I would have done without you.


    Weeks passed by and soon it was the day of Yule ball. I was dressed in custom made robes I ordered from a Muggle tailor. I didn''t like robes in the shops from diagon ally, so I had them made by a Muggle tailor. He looked at me a bit strangely when I asked for him to make robes but he held it in since I was paying very generously. Also, I may or may not have used legilimancy on a few Muggle dancers to learn to dance. Everything for ''greater good'', I assure you. I like that line, maybe I am going to start using it ( here greater good refers to '' my own greater good'' but I am going to let that part out while saying it in front of everyone else). ''Greater good'' what a magical phrase. I guess I still have a lot to learn from Dumbledore.

 Chapter 23

    It was the night of Yule Ball, I was waiting for my date, Robin, in Ravenclaw Common room. I didn''t have to wait too long, I saw her coming out of girls side of dormitories. She looked pretty and wore a beautiful blue dress.


    "You look very beautiful, Robin." I complimented her.


    She looked happy at that and said, "You also clean up nice."


    " So you ready to go?" I asked and she nodded.


    We made our way towards the great hall where the ball will be taking place. Soon, enough we reached the doors where Professor McGonagall was standing. Fleur and Krum were already present with their dates Roger Davis and Hermione Granger respectively. Soon enough Harry came with his date, one of the Patil twins if I remember correctly.


    " Now that all the champions are here, it is time to get things going. Every champion will go in with their dates when announced, first will be Miss Delacour then Mr. Krum after which Mr. Canis will go inside. Lastly, Mr. Potter, we go in with his date." She told.


    Everything went as she told and soon we were sitting at the head table with judges. Percy Weasley was attending on behalf of Crouch Sr. and sitting at the table with us. We all made polite conversations until Dumbledore stood up and announced, " Now that we are all watered and fed, it is time for the champions to start the ball with their dates."


    At this, we stood up and made went to the dance floor. Us four champions danced with our respective dates for a while until everyone else started to join us on the dance floor. Soon it was pretty crowded. After a few traditional dances, a popular band, weird sisters, if I remember correctly, came and started fast-paced songs and everyone just went nuts.


    After spending a few hours at the ball, I made my way out of there with Robin. Soon enough we were standing in the Ravenclaw Common room. It was empty since everyone was most likely still at the Ball and younger years students must have slept since it was pretty late.


    "So, did you have a good time." I asked.


    "Yes, I did but the night is not over yet." She replied and pulled me towards the girl''s side of the dorms. I guess she is pretty frustrated due to studying for her NEWTs and wants to blow off some steam. Not that I am complaining, as a selfless good guy, I will gladly help her.


    That night I found out that legilimancy has many more applications than I thought. Knowing what she wanted, whenever she wanted by passively reading her surface thoughts helped very much. Having vampire like physique and stamina definitely didn''t hurt.


    It sure felt awesome helping others. Maybe I should help people more often, everything for the ''greater good''.


    We woke up pretty late the next morning.


    " Good morning, Aiden." She greeted


    "Top of the morning to you too, Robin." I greeted back.


    "So, last night was awesome. But, I am going to just come out and say this upfront that it was just a one-night thing and I am not looking to be in a relationship right now. I couldn''t even if I wanted to since I don''t have much free time due to NEWTs preparation." She said.


    It''s like she just read my mind. If not for the fact that I am a master Occlumans, I would have thought that she was using Legilimancy on me. If I had a time turner, I would have gone back to the time when I selected her to be my date and pat my past self on the back for a job well done.


    I made a face like I was disappointed and said, " Even though it''s regrettable, I understand."


    I started to stand but she pulled me back and said, "Maybe one more time won''t hurt." And started to kiss me.


    An hour later, I got dressed and put a disillusionment charm on me and made my way out of her room and to my own.


    Contrary to her words, Robin and me ''helped each other out'' a few more times before the NEWTs exam.

 Chapter 24

    Well, it''s official, I am bored. There is nothing much to do at Hogwarts. I am already on mastery level for Healing, Transfiguration, Charms, Warding and Defence against Dark Arts (DADA) and a bit above NEWT level in other subjects. My magical core has also reached the limit, so no training required. Everyone in my year group is studying hard, preparing for their NEWTs. So, As per everyone''s expectations, a top scoring and studious student like me should also be buried in the books, preparing for NEWTs or for the next task of the Triwizard tournament. But the thing is I have literally read every book Room of Requirements can provide me (since I just had to quickly go through the pages to remember the contents due to my eidetic memory) which is every book present at Hogwarts including teachers personal collection. Though I can remember the contents, it will take some times to understand it, especially for master level for subjects like Alchemy and runes which requires understanding the contents. But since I can just go through the contents in my mind, I don''t need the books now. Meaning places like RoR and library have exhausted their use for me. I also have more money in my vaults than I could ever spend in a lifetime so getting into business and making even more money is just pointless. I can''t even play in the political field since it requires me to be 21 to take my seat at Wizangaomot and before then there is not much I can do to politically strengthen House of Canis or me. Stupid wizards and their stupid rules. Since Voldemort has yet to rise and war has yet to begin, that source of entertainment is also not available. I can''t also be seen hanging out and about doing nothing since I should be studying like everyone else in their last few months of Hogwarts. Why couldn''t that stupid Voldemort plan his resurrection earlier, I am literally board out of my mind here and could really use some entertainment. Unlike Dumbledore I who has too many titles to entertain himself, I am currently just a student.


    Maybe I should go and see what Tonks is up to. Since she is apprenticed to moody who is currently stuffed in a trunk, she should be assigned somewhere in ministry as she is yet to be experienced enough to go out in the field. So, ministry it is.


    Doesn''t an animagus have to legally register their form at ministry? Maybe I should go and register my golden Falcon form so as to misdirect everyone from my Shadow wolf form since it is generally possible to only have one form. If people thought that they knew my form already, the won''t go poking around for my Shadow wolf form. I can also visit Tonks while I am there.


    Yup, that''s it. It''s as best excuse to go to ministry as I am going to have. I am also now old enough to be a known animagus since it won''t raise suspicion for a talented and hard working 7th year like me to become animagus. In fact, it will only help my reputation as a Hogwarts champion.


    With that in mind, I went straight to Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall''s office since she is the one who has authority to give a student permission to go out of Hogwarts legally other than the headmaster. She is also a registered animagus so maybe she can give me a few tips to register my form easily.


    Soon enough, I was in front of her office door. I reached out and knocked gently.


    "Come in." Came her voice from inside.


    I went in and saw her checking a stack of parchments. On closer look, the parchments in that stack looked familiar. Shit, isn''t it the homework I submitted yesterday. Maybe I should have given her fewer parchments to check. Whatever, what''s done is done, just face it like a man.


    "Ah Mr. Canis, I was just checking your homework. Since your homework is more detailed and is of a higher level, I usually set aside some time just to check it." She said.


    I quickly changed the topic and said, "Professor, I understand that an animagus has to register their form at the ministry."


    " Yes, that would be correct, Mr. Canis. If an animagus is found unregistered, it can land him/her in Azkaban." she replied.


    " Well, in that case, professor, I would like to go and register myself as an animagus." I said.


    " Are you saying that you are an animagus, Mr. Canis?" she asked.


    " Yes, that would be correct, professor." I replied and transformed into my Golden falcon form to prove my point.


    She stood up and came beside me with her wand in her hand and quickly cast a few diagnostic charms on me and asked me to transform back to my human form.


    " Yes, I believe everything is in order. But you should have come to me and asked for me to properly guide you through the process, Mr. Canis. Attempting to be an animagus without proper supervision is very dangerous." She said sternly.


    " I am sorry, professor". I apologized whilst looking bashful.


    " Anyway, since you are already an animagus, your decision to register is correct. In that case, I would suggest you go to ministry and register as quickly as possible. While you are legally an a.d.u.l.t, but if you want, I can come with to the ministry to help you register." She offered.


    " Thank you for the offer, professor. But I would be fine on my own." I replied looking sincere.


    " well, in that case, you can use my office''s floo to go directly to the ministry." She said.


    I did as I was told. I pinched some floo powder in my fingers, stood inside the fireplace and threw the powder which saying out loudly and clearly, "Ministry of magic." and was engulfed by green fire.

 Chapter 25

    I smoothly came out of the fireplace and used my wand to clean myself. I looked around and found myself standing in a large hall filled with lines of fireplaces. I followed the crowds to the entrance. There was a clerk sitting beside it, checking everyone''s wand for visiting records. There were 2 Aurors guarding on both sides of the entrance. Like everyone else, I got in line for checking my wand and soon enough it was my turn.


    "Wand and name" asked the clerk monotonously.


    I gave him my wand and said, "Aiden Canis".


    He passed my wand over a rune for record and gave it back to me. I took it and walked inside. From what I know, DMLE being a law enforcement department should be the place to register my animagus form. I followed the signs and made my way towards the DMLE. I opted to take stairs because the lifts were packed full and I didn''t want to squeeze inside. Soon, I reached my destination. I walked up to a receptionist and asked, "Hello, I am here to register myself as an animagus."


    " Go down the hallway, two doors left, you will see an Auror sitting behind a desk who will inspect and register your form." She replied.


    I followed the instructions and lo and behold, the Auror sitting behind the desk was Tonks. Guest luck is on my side, found just the person I was looking for.


    She was buried deep in the paperwork. I walked up to the door and knocked on the door and said, " hey Tonks, good to see a familiar face. How are doing."


    " Wotcher, Aiden. Good to see you too. What are you doing here, shouldn''t you be at Hogwarts right now." She asked.


    " I am actually here to register myself as an animagus. I was told this is the place to do so." I replied.


    "Animagus huh, that is a pretty high-level transfiguration. Not my wizards manage to do it. Congratulations." She said.


    "Thanks. So, how do we go about the whole registration process." I asked.


    " Well if your form is big, we need to go to an empty training space but if it''s small, you can just transform right here. After you transform, I will do some diagnostic charms to find if you are properly transformed. After that, I will need to write about the proper description of your form and that will be all." She replied.


    I transformed into my Golden falcon form, flew towards her and landed on the table right in front of her.


    " Wow, a falcon must be nice to fly around whenever you want without a broom." She said while looking at me.


    Now that she said it, maybe it''s time for me to learn to wandlessly fly, without a broom just like Voldemort. It will be very helpful, not to mention cool. Alright, it''s decided, I am going to learn to fly.


    She took out her wand and proceeded to cast some spells on me. After that, she took my measurements and told me it was done. I transformed back into my human form while she was busy writing all about my animagus form on a parchment. She stamped it after it was done.


    She filed it away and said, "Alright, it''s done. You are now officially a ministry registered animagus."


    "Well, actually there is one more thing. You actually forgot about our bet. You know, the one we made about you becoming an Auror In the carriage at the start of your 7th year" I said.


    She thought for a few seconds and said, " hey I remember it now. Thank you for believing in me at that time, everyone else said that I won''t make it due to being too clumsy."


    "You''re welcome. But it''s time for you to pay up my winnings, five galleons to be exact." I happily replied.


    She reached into her pocket and took out 5 galleons while grumbling, " Hey, shouldn''t you be like super rich right now. I thought House Canis was very well off."


    She reached her hand out to give the coins to me but I declined it and said, " You know what, I would prefer to have my winnings in form of dinner."


    She giggled and said, " Are you asking me out on a date."


    " Yes, I am." I replied.


    " You know, I would love to go out with you, but you are still in Hogwarts. Even though you are legally a.d.u.l.t you will still have to stay at Hogwarts and it won''t work out between us." She shot me down sadly.


    Shit, it would be awkward to ask her out again after this, even after I pass out of Hogwarts. Think Aiden, Think.


    I quickly went over all possibilities in my head and came to a solution just in seconds and replied, " You are right, but it won''t be a problem since I am planning to give my NEWT exams early and pass out of Hogwarts." I replied.


    She looked at me suspiciously and asked, " Are you sure, you look like you just came up with the idea. Besides, you will have to wait until the end of the year and take your exams with the rest of the students."


    Boy, she is perceptive. No wonder she made the cut to become an Auror, not to mention personal apprentice of a veteran Auror like Moody himself.


    But, I played it innocent and said, " Don''t know what you are talking about. I already planned to go to the department of magical education to submit my early NEWTs request right after registering for animagus. Also, due to my being a Triwizard champion, I am exempt from all the classes if I so wish. So, I can take my NEWTs early. Besides, I have already prepared for my NEWTs and it will just be a waste of my time to stay at Hogwarts. I just need to be present there for 2nd and 3rd of Triwizard tournament."


    She didn''t look very convinced but accepted my explanation.


    "So, Will you go out with me now." I asked again.


    " You know what, since you are graduating from Hogwarts, sure, I will go out with you." She replied.


    "Alright, then I will contact you again right after my NEWTs." I said happily and made my way out of there.

 Chapter 26

    After meeting with Tonks, I made my way to the Department of Magical Education (DOME). Though taking my NEWTs early is a sudden move, it is well thought out and calculated move on my part. You see like I previously stated, Hogwarts has already exhausted all its use for me since I have already memorized all books Room of Requirements can provide. No, staying at Hogwarts now would only have been a constraint. Getting to date Tonks is also a significant gain from this plan of action.


    Soon enough I reached the DOME. Unlike the rest of the ministry, it''s practically empty. I saw an old, dignified looking lady sitting behind a desk with nameplate showing ''Griselda Marchbanks'' written on it.


    I went up to her and politely asked, " Hello ma''am, I would like to inquire about the procedure for taking my NEWTs exams. Though I am a Hogwarts student, due to being a Triwizard champion, I am eligible to take my NEWTs earlier."


    " Triwizard champion you say. Hmmm, you should be eligible for NEWT exams if that''s the case. But are you sure you want to take them this early, NEWTs scores are after all very important for a wizards career." She asked.


    "Yes, I am sure. I have already prepared for them." I replied politely.


    "Well, in that case, you can take them anytime you like since not many students take their NEWT this time of year and all the examiners are free. In fact, we can even start right now, if you want." She said.


    " Yes, I would like that, in fact, I would like to take all my NEWTs as early as possible." I asked.


    " Well, since NEWTs are almost all practical exams, no written test is required. The examiners will orally ask about theory during the practical exam itself. So, you can take as many exams a day you can handle without exhausting yourself." She replied.


    Well, since I exhaustion is not a problem for me, I guess I will take all my exams in one go and get it over with.


    After almost eight long hours, I was done with all 12 of my NEWT exams. I gave exam for transfiguration, potions, charms, DADA, Herbology, Arithmancy, ancient runes, Alchemy, healing, warding, dueling, and care of magical creatures.


    After all, exams were done, I politely asked Madam Marchbanks, "Ma''am, how long will it take for me to get my results."


    "Well young man, As you are the only one who took the exams and since all exams were practical, examiners should have already graded your exams. You can have the results right after your scorecard is compiled. It should take around 10 minutes or so. You can wait here if you want or you can have them tomorrow morning at Hogwarts." She replied.


    I opted to wait and true to her words, I got my scorecard in around ten minutes. I quickly opened it and read my results, "


    Transfiguration(O+), Potions(O+),


    Charms(O+),


    Herbology(O+),


    Arithmancy(O+),


    Ancient Runes(O+), Alchemy(O+),


    Healing(O+),


    Warding(O+),


    Dueling(O+),


    Care Of Magical Creatures(O) "


    11 O+ and 1 O, I can live with these results, I guess. I never really liked Care of magical creatures subject anyways.


    " Well, that''s an impressive score, young man. 12 Outstandings and 11 of which were Outstanding with Distinction. Very impressive indeed. Guess you weren''t lying about already prepared. I have never seen such scores in my entire career." She praised.


    " Madam Marchbanks, I would actually like to inquire about the procedure for taking Masters exams too." I asked politely.


    While I won''t take them right away, it won''t hurt to ask about the process.


    " Well, young man, it will take a panel of 5 masters in the subject to determine the expertise of the master candidate. The standard procedure is to submit the application for at least 3 months before the exam to gather the examiners. " she replied.


    "And if a candidate were to take more than one masters exam." I asked again.


    " In that case, the candidate can submit all applications together and can take all exams on different days after three months." She replied looking curious.


    She looked at me closely and said, " Before you ask, you can submit your applications to me.


    Three months huh, if I submit my applications now, I should be able to take all my masters exams just before the 3rd task.


    "Well, in that case, thank you, Madam Marchbanks." I replied and proceeded to fill 6 applications for Transfiguration, Charms, Healing, Warding, DADA, and Ancient Runes and gave them to her.


    While I have yet to be on mastery level for Ancient Runes, I will be in 3 months.


    " Six masteries, Right after NEWTs, it certainly will be a sight to watch, very well, be present for your tests in about three months. Exact details will be sent to you via owl." She replied.


    I guess I will be having my date with Tonks earlier than I imagined.

 Chapter 27

    I made my way towards the DMLE and reached Tonks'' desk once again. Thankfully, she is still here, I feared that she will be gone home by now.


    I knocked at her door once again. She looked at me with a bit surprised expression and said, " Wotcher Aiden, good to see you again. But what are you still doing here, shouldn''t you be back at Hogwarts by now."


    " Well, Tonks I am here for my promised date." I replied.


    " But I thought we decided to wait until you pass your NEWTs." She asked, looking confused.


    " I know, that''s why I am here." I replied and gave my scorecard to her.


    She took it, still looking confused and opened it to read. After she started reading it, her eyes went more wide with every passing second. After she was done reading, her mouth was opened wide along with her eyes and she looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.


    " But....But you only went to take your NEWTs Today, how can you get results so quickly. Not to mention what''s up with 12 Outstandings not to mention 11 were with distinction. Tell me the truth, if you faked the results, as an Auror, I will have no choice but to arrest you." She asked me with a dumbfounded expression still on her face.


    " Hey, the results are absolutely true. You can verify them at DOME. Besides, all examiners were free so I gave all the exams one after another." I replied looking hurt, but fake enough for her to realize that I was not in fact, hurt.


    "But, that would mean that you took 12 exams for eight hours straight and aside from Care of magical creatures, you had to perform practical magic and spells continuously. I was exhausted after every time I took even one test, not to mention 12." She asked looking exasperated.


    " Well, you can say that I am a bit more magically powerful than others" I replied downplaying my strength. It won''t do good and give her impression of me being too haughty if I were to come out and say that truth that I am 3 times more magically powerful than Dumbledore. No, being humble it is, at least for now.


    She grumbled something inaudible like," A bit more powerful, he says" under her breath, but caught her bearing soon after and continued.


    " I see you even took NEWTs for subjects not taught at Hogwarts. Not to mention Healing, warding, and Alchemy, only those who specialize in those fields take NEWTs for them, since they are so difficult. You took them together, not to mention O+ in each of them" she praised, looking impressed.


    She continued, " You even got O+ in Dueling, Even after Auror training, very few candidates get an O, not to mention O+. You must be really good at dueling. You know, we should duel sometime."


    " Sure, I will happily duel with you, anytime you want." I replied playfully while winking.


    She punched me at this, playfully of course, while saying, " Prat."


    " So, now that your NEWTs are done, what are you planning to do after this." She asked.


    "Well, I sure would like to go on a date in immediate future" she punched me playfully, again, at this and I continued, a bit more seriously, " Well, I would leave the Hogwarts and get settled in my own house ( A Manor actually, but again, being humble) for now. Since I still have to participate in the 2nd and 3rd task of the Triwizard tournament, I will be preparing for them. I will also be studying further for masteries on the side." I replied.


    " ''Masteries'' not ''mastery'', meaning more than one, nice. Anyway, I am a bit busy due to Auror duties, how about the day after tomorrow for our date?". She asked.


    "Sounds awesome to me. It will also give me the time to get out of Hogwarts and get settled at my house." I replied.


    "Alright then, meet me in front Leaky Cauldron at 6:00 pm, at Muggle side, day after tomorrow." She said.


    After it was finalized, we said our goodbyes, And I went back to the ministry floo and flooed back to Professor McGonagall''s office.

 Chapter 28 - 28

    I saw professor McGonagall as soon as I entered her office through the floo. And, boy oh boy, she looks pissed.


    " Mr. Canis, I can''t fathom how you spent around nine hours to just get registered. In fact, From what I know, it just takes a few minutes to complete the whole process." She said sternly.


    Damm it, I completely forgot about her. She does look pretty mad. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. I should just rip it off like a bandage and tell her about my NEWTs since she is going to know about it soon enough. Better to hear it from me.


    I took out my scorecard and said while handing it to her, " Well, you see professor, I got lost when I was coming out from DMLE after registering and got to DOME by mistake. It looked pretty empty and all the examiners looked pretty bored sitting there doing nothing. I just couldn''t let them suffer and since I was already there, I thought, ''hey, since I am already here, why not take the NEWTs exams'' to help them out of their boredom." I bullshited and handed her my scorecard. ( Also examiners were all happily playing some weird board game and were pretty annoyed to be distributed.)


    She looked at my scorecard and I once again had the same conversation with her, same as I did with Tonks, without any flirting of course.


    After my long explanation about how I took all NEWTs together, she said," Well, congratulations on getting exemplary marks, Mr. Canis. Since you have already taken you NEWTs, you can either stay at Hogwarts till the end of the year or you can opt to pass out early. In either case, you will still need to be present at the Triwizard tournament''s tasks."


    " I would like to pass out early, Professor. In fact, it would be better if I can go tomorrow itself." I replied.


    " Well, in that case, I will talk to Headmaster. You are free to leave Hogwarts tomorrow, Mr. Canis. I will have Headmaster make the announcement tomorrow morning to inform everyone else." She replied.


    " Thank you, professor. I couldn''t have got as good marks without your help." I said looking very sincere. ( In fact I could have taken my NEWTs even before entering the school, while not O+, I could have easily scored O on Hogwarts subjects since I already learned up to NEWTs from the books I found in trunk of that Wizard who selflessly donated his trunk after he passed away, when I first got to this world.)


    "While I appreciate it, Mr. Canis, but all the professor including myself only guided you, all hard work was your own." She replied looking a bit pleased.


    "Anyway, thanks again professor, it''s about time for the dinner." I replied and walked away.


    After some time, I made my way towards the great hall to have my dinner.


    I had my dinner in relative peace. After I was done, I saw Harry and his two friends come inside the great hall. I guess Ronald Weasley is over his jealousy phase over Harry becoming Triwizard champion. Well, good for him, though I never liked the guy, too lazy and stupid for my taste, never mind his inferiority complex and random bursts of jealousy. But, hey who am I to judge. Whatever floats Harry''s boat. If he wants to be Ronald''s friend, no skin off my back.


    After they sat down, I stood up and made my way towards Harry. Since he won''t have Cedric to tell him about clue for the second task, I guess I will be generous and do one last favor for him before I leave Hogwarts tomorrow. He will probably feel bad that even though he didn''t tell me about the dragons, I still helped him for the task. Being a selfless do-gooder type of guy he will see me in a positive light even if he won''t notice it. I guess I can now understand the reason why Dumbledore likes his little game of manipulations.


    Soon I reached him and said, " Hello Harry, can I talk to for a bit."


    Everyone in the hall went silent and looked at us. Even teachers at the staff table looked curious, especially Dumbledore.


    Harry stood up and said, "Sure."


    He looked a bit alert but calmed down when I explained, "No need to worry, I only case privacy wards around us so that others won''t hear our conversation."


    His friend, Miss Granger, seemed a bit put out that I didn''t include her in the ward and that she couldn''t hear our conversation. Well, tough luck, I guess.


    I subtly looked around and found Dumbledore and Snape looking directly at Harry or his eyes to be more specific. I guess they are interested in what I am planning to say and are using passive legilimancy on Harry to hear the conversation through him.


    Well, no matter. In fact, it will only help me since they are going to witness me helping Harry.


    " Have you found out about the clue for the 2nd task." I asked.


    He looked bummed out, I guess he still hasn''t, just like cannon.


    " Well, you don''t look like you have. In that case, may I suggest perfect''s bathroom? It''s truly wonderful and relaxing, I often find that it helps to just clear your mind and relax. You should take the egg with you. Wash it a bit, you know, maybe you will find something." I said mysteriously.


    He looked confused ( seriously, did he wants me to spell it out for him) but nodded and asked, "Why are you helping me, wouldn''t it increases your chances of winning if I don''t decipher the clue."


    Guess he at least has a brain, no matter how small.


    " While I do want to win ( I don''t really give a flying Fu*k about winning Triwizard tournament, none whatsoever, and only entered for the dragon mainly, everything else is just added bonus, but again I am going to keep that bit to myself) I don''t want someone you care about to get hurt, especially since you have disadvantage of having less magical education than other three of us champions." I replied gently.


    He looked alarmed and asked, " what do you mean about not wanting to get someone I care out to get hurt."


    " You will find out soon enough after deciphering the clue. Remember to take a nice relaxing bath with your egg." I replied mysteriously once again.


    I removed the wards and existed the great hall.

 Chapter 29

    After my exit from the great hall, I went to my room in Ravenclaw dorms and called it night since it''s already late and I have a lot to do tomorrow.


    Next day, I woke up bright and early and packed up all my stuff. After a while, I was all packed up and ready to leave.


    I shrank my trunk and put it in my pocket. I went to great hall for my last meal as a Hogwarts student.


    When I entered the great hall, everyone went silent and looked at me. Many students were pointing at me and conversing with others in a hushed voice.


    ''What are these sheep up to now?'' I thought to myself. But then I saw that almost everyone had a copy of Daily prophets newspapers. I ignored the stares of all sheep and went to sit at my usual seat. After sitting down, I grabbed a copy of the newspaper from nearby and started to read it. Oh, the reporters sure are fast. It''s not even been a day, but my NEWTs scores have already made the headlines. Well, guess that explains all the attention I am getting from the rest of the sheep.


    I focused back on the newspaper. There was a big picture of me on the front page. Headlines above my pictures read, " HOGWARTS CHAMPION SCORES HIGHEST NEWT SCORES AND BREAKS 230 YEARS OLD RECORD" Well so good so far, good thing I got rid of Skeeter or she would have called me rising dark lord just to get publicity. I continued to read," our ministry sources from Department of Magical Education (DOME), reported a piece of sensational news last night and informed this reporter that Hogwarts champion, Aiden Canis, took all of his NEWTs exams yesterday. That''s right, dear readers, all 12 of his NEWTs exam, back to back, without any break. As everyone knows that NEWTs, being practical oriented exams are exhausting. In fact, even one NEWT takes a lot of magical strength to perform and leaves almost every student exhausted. But Hogwarts Champion has not only taken one, but 12 NEWTs together and even then our source reports that Mr. Canis still didn''t look exhausted and even waited for his scorecard. Many experts speculate than Mr. Canis should have already had his first magical maturity for some time now. For more information about magical maturities and their respective magical strengths read page 12. This reporter is also astonished that our Hogwarts champion took 12, a staggering number of NEWTs. On average, students select 5-6 NEWTs due to their difficulty level. These 12 NEWTs also contained specialized and rare subjects like Alchemy, Healing, and Warding. After finding about this astonishing news, I simply couldn''t believe what I was hearing and this reporter personally went to Department of Magical Education (DOME) to confirm for myself and requested a copy of Mr. Canis''s scorecard, since they are public records and anyone could access them.


    And after reading his scorecard, I was shocked yet again. His scorecard read, "


    Transfiguration(O+), Potions(O+),


    DADA(O+),


    Herbology(O+),


    Arithmancy(O+),


    Ancient Runes(O+), Alchemy(O+),


    Healing(O+),


    Warding(O+),


    Dueling(O+),


    Care Of Magical Creatures(O) "


    " Yes, dear readers, you read correctly, all Outstanding and 11 of which were outstanding with distinction. Mr. Canis has broken the last 230 years of NEWT score record. To read more about NEWT score records continue to page 13. But, Dear readers, that not all. Since Mr. Canis scored such good scores in his NEWTs, this reporter also requested a copy of his OWLs scorecard. And dear readers, I was shocked yet again, I would have never guessed what I saw. This reporter found out that Mr. Canis also broke last 200 records for highest OWL scores with a staggering 17 Subjects and all 17 Outstandings with distinction. Keep in mind that Hogwarts only provide 12 courses even including all electives. That means, even if a student were to take all Hogwarts subjects including electives, He/She can take a maximum of 12 OWLs. Means Mr. Canis self-studied for 5 extra subjects and even got O+ in them. In conclusion, this reporter can confidently say that Mr. Canis getting chosen for Triwizard champion was no fluke."


    I saw sitting beside Harry and Ron in the great hall when owls arrived with today''s Daily Prophet. I took my copy and started to read the newspaper.


    What caught my attention was that on the front page, there was a big picture of Aiden Canis, 7th year Ravenclaw. A rude boy in my opinion. I haven''t talked to him much, I fact, the only time I talked to him, was on Hogwarts express at the start of my first year. I only pointed out his mistake and told him that he was breaking the rules by locking the doors but he rudely shut the door in my face. Even after I shouted and pounded on the door for a while, he didn''t open the door again. Even when I complained to Professor McGonagall about his rule-breaking after sorting, she did nothing and told me that he must be studying and locked his doors to get privacy.


    There is also that thing with his homework. Even after using a time turner and writing for more than 10 hours straight, I can barely match the amount of homework he gives out. I suspect that he also uses a time turner every day for hours to do his homework. But I won''t lose to him, I will show him that he is not the only smart guy around and I am smarter than him by doing more homework than him.


    Another thing that irks me about him is that he also enslaved an innocent house elf, just like Malfoys. I wanted to confront him about this after the first task but when I told everyone in Gryffindor about this they stopped me every time. Poor creatures, Yes, I will start a protest to free those poor creatures.


    Anyway, I started to read the article, the more I read, the angrier I got. Here, I am working hard every day, even using time turner for hours and cutting my sleep so much, but I am barely managing to study just the 12 courses Hogwarts provide. There is no way he can study for 17 OWLs and even get O+ in every one of them. He must be abusing his pureblood status to stay so far ahead. Yes, there is no other way he can study so much, not to mention getting such good marks, even on subjects not taught at Hogwarts. I heard that the Canis family is some Pureblood family. Yes, his family must be providing some illegal potion or something to boost his learning speed and providing private tutoring in summer for him to learn subjects not taught at Hogwarts. I need to confront him in front of everyone here and expose his cheating. Yes, it''s not fair that he is so far ahead of everyone else just because he is a pureblood.


    Thinking this I stood up and confidentially walked up to Aiden Canis to confront him.

 Chapter 30

    ### POV: Aiden Canis ###


    After reading the article, I started to have my breakfast. I was in the middle of my breakfast when I saw Hermione Granger coming towards me with a determined face.


    She came up to me and started in a loud voice, " You won''t get away with this. I won''t rest until I find evidence and then, I will expose you in front of everyone."


    What the hell? What is going on about? Has she finally lost it? I always knew that using time turner for hours every day, just to do homework is not healthy for her mind. Even though she was studying a bit extra using time turner in canon, she is just hardcore in real life. I mean, I have noticed her sometimes in Library, writing for hours on out, doing homework.


    Besides, I haven''t done anything worth exposing besides killing Skeeter, even then no one knew that she was an animagus, so no one can accuse me of just killing a water beetle. Well, guess that settles it, she finally lost it. Good luck Harry, on your future endeavors with her, you have my sympathy.


    Since we are in public, telling just telling her to Fu*k off won''t be good for reputation. Well, in that case, I will just humor her. Besides, I can use some entertainment with my food.


    I didn''t get up and just calmly continued on with my breakfast.


    She stood there for a few seconds, looking confused. Guess she thought I would be more involved with her confrontation and actively defend myself. Sorry to burst her bubble but I don''t have Gryffindorish tendency to shout loudly and heatedly defend myself like her friends, also I am not going to insult her publicly and call her ''mudblood'' like Malfoy, that''s just asking for bad reputation.


    After seeing that I am not defending myself, she continued confidently, " what no words to defend yourself. I knew it you cheated to get good marks."


    Once again, I continued to calmly eat my food while barely sparing a glance at her.


    Seeing my lack of attention and no response, she started to look a bit out of her comfort zone. Guess only confrontations she has been part of were with Draco Malfoy, who is quite vocal for a supposed Slytherin.


    She persevered despite my lack of attention, " I know you are a pureblood, I bet your family provided you private tutoring in summers and probably provided you with illegal memory potions for you to be so far ahead of everyone else. But, unlike you, I can''t even use magic in summer, but I am still first in my age group."


    Many of the pureblood, especially Slytherins looked enraged at her accusation.


    Well, this is just sad. She is digging herself in a deeper and deeper hole, even without my assistance.


    But, this could be a chance for a good old sympathy play, so I replied calmly," I am an orphan, I also don''t have any living relatives. And just like you, I couldn''t do any magic during summer since I lived at a Muggle orphanage till my seventeenth birthday which was recent. In fact, I only had access to trust fund until then, just like your friend Harry."


    Everyone was silent and listening to our conversation. She looked like she wanted to still continue but professor McGonagall came and sternly said, " Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for baselessly accusingly Mr. Canis of cheating. In fact, students are checked for potions before they take their NEWTs. Now go sit down at your seat and quit disturbing everyone else."


    Hermione looked like she wanted to start crying right there but held it in and quickly left the great hall.


    Professor McGonagall also went and took her seat at the staff table.


    Seeing the tense atmosphere, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and announced, " I am sure by now everyone has read the newspaper and found out about Mr. Canis accomplishment. I am happy to say that Mr. Canis has certainly made all the teachers proud with his scores. Also, now that he has passed his NEWTs, Mr. Canis has chosen to pass out of Hogwarts and will be leaving later today. I hope everyone gives him a warm farewell."


    Everyone clapped. Though, Those from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang looked a bit less enthusiastic at my accomplishment.


    After I had my breakfast, I bid my goodbyes to everyone and left Hogwarts on foot. When I reached Hogsmeade, outside Hogwarts wards, I Apparated to my Manor.

 Chapter 31

    After I Apparated to my manor I called my house elf Rickey and gave him my trunk after unshrinking and opening it," Rickey, take the trunk and unpack my stuff. I will be living here from now on, so buy all necessities and grocery accordingly, take the galleons to buy them from my trunk. Also, clean up the house I own in London."


    " Rickey be doing as master says" he replied happily and popped away.


    I am having him clean up my house in London because I want to keep my Manor secret under a fidelius charm and I will be meeting everyone there.


    I checked the security of my Manor and tested the wards. While wards were good and befitting the Manor of a Most Ancient and Noble house, they still lacked in my eyes. Though I will be keeping it under fidelius, more and better wards won''t hurt( Hey, it''s not paranoia if you know that a war is about to happen).


    As a master in wards, I am quite good at warding. I searched for the Manor''s wardstone and updated the wards around the Manor after finding it. At last, when I was satisfied, I put the Manor under the fidelius charm.


    After I was done with the manor, I Apparated to my London house. It was a big and beautiful house with a garden. Though, not as good as my Manor, its still magnificent. It is good enough for people to believe that I live here, which is exactly what I will tell them. Until I and Tonks are in a serious relationship, I will also tell her that I live here. I am going to all this trouble because if anyone tried to destroy my home while I am absent, I won''t lose the Manor. If people think that they already know where I live, they won''t try to find my Manor i.e. my real home.


    Now for the security, while the wards for manor were somewhat acceptable, wards here are just shit. I quickly found the wardstone and rectified the error. I put the best wards I know around the house. I didn''t put this house under fidelius, because it will defeat the main purpose.


    After I was satisfied with the security of the house, I went inside and told Rickey to make this house liveable and buy toiletries and groceries for here too. I made the master bedroom here my secondary room after my primary room at manor since I might need to actually spend some time here as per the situation.


    Next day, at evening I Apparated to Muggle side of the leaky cauldron, at 5:55 pm, exactly five minutes before my date with Tonks. She arrived a few minutes later. She was as dressed in a beautiful Muggle dress.


    " Hi, Tonks, you look beautiful" I complimented.


    I quickly rectified this error by taking out my wand and silently Transfigured my robes into jeans and shirt.


    " Hey, you didn''t need to do that, I just like wearing Muggle clothes off duty since I have to wear Auror robes all day." She replied looking amused.


    Shit, here I thought that she wanted to go for our date in Muggle London. Transfiguring them back now will look bad. No, this could be a good thing, bet as a pureblood she thinks I don''t have any Muggle knowledge. It could be my chance to impress her since her father is a Muggleborn and he should have shown her around in Muggle neighborhood.


    " No, actually since we are going to Muggle side for our date, I planned to do it anyway." I replied confidently.


    " Are you sure?" she didn''t look sure. I guess I was right about her thinking that I am ignorant about Muggle things like other Pureblood wizards, since even Weasley''s are ignorant, even after having a reputation for being Muggle loving.


    Now, where to take her? Since she''s an Auror, she must be adventurous, so Amus.e.m.e.nt park it is. Those dangerous rides should provide her with enough adrenaline. Thinking this I extended my hand and Apparated us both to an amus.e.m.e.nt park I know in London.


    " wow, that was the smoothest Apparition I have ever had in my life. How did you do that? There was like no squeezing." She asked excitedly.


    " I didn''t like getting squeezed every time I Apparated, so I learned to ''enlarge the tunnel'' by spending more magic. It takes more magic but it''s comfortable. I can teach it to you too sometimes if you want." I replied calmly.


    She looked very excited and said," I will hold to that promise."


    Next couple of hours we spent on various rides. After the amus.e.m.e.nt park, I took her to a 5-star hotel for our dinner.


    After dinner, we came out of the hotel and simply walked together in a neighborhood park for a while. After some time she said, " I enjoyed our date very much, I have never been to Muggle side for a date before, it was very nice especially the rides. But it''s getting late, I should be going home now, I have my Auror duties tomorrow morning."


    I leaned my head in and kissed her. She heatedly reciprocated. After we separated from our kiss to breathe, I said," Alright, meet you at the same place tomorrow, for our next date?"


    " You bet." She replied before Apparating.

 Chapter 32

    #### Time skip , day before the 3rd task ####


    ( AUTHOR''S NOTES :


    I have given it a lot of thought and I just don''t want to write about anything before the 3rd task in detail. The 2nd task just went almost as same as canon, I am sure everyone has already read the book or even watched the movie, and me writing about it is just wasting mine and everyone''s time. I will just give a quick recap. Don''t worry, the story won''t be ending anytime soon, even after Voldemort''s death. I really don''t want to add meaningless filler chapters just to stretch the story. Also, this story is not about romance, if you wanted Tonks and MC''s whole dating process in detail, the story is not for you. Also, I won''t be showing MC taking his master test and whole Newspaper thing in detail, I just did that about his NEWTs a few chapters back, doing it again will be just boring and repetitive. MC is just going to take his tests and ignore everyone''s reactions as I am sure you can imagine a newspaper article like his NEWTs calling him a Prodigy and blah blah blah.


    I am sorry if me not writing the aforementioned things are off-putting, but I have been thinking about the issue whole day and just couldn''t write this stuff. )


    Its the day before the 3rd task. Due to Tonks'' mentor, Moody getting stuck in Hogwarts this past year, her Auror duties have had unpredictable timings and she is assigned wherever she is needed like for paperwork, guarding duty in different parts of ministry, etc., Whenever any Auror takes day off, she gets assigned with said Auror''s work for the time since she is in reserve for now. Due to this our dates have unpredictable timings and could happen back to back for two days or not for even two weeks. But we have managed to make it work, as this will only be until the end of Moody year of teaching at Hogwarts.


    At first, Tonks was kind of guarded and we didn''t have s.e.x for almost a couple of months. But I didn''t push her and waited for her to feel comfortable and not pressured. After a couple of months since we started dating, she finally confessed the reason. Turns out she was a v.i.r.g.i.n until then. She told me that the boyfriends she had before always wanted to use her due to her metamorphmagus ability and wanted her to turn into other girls to fulfill their fantasies. So, she always waited to see if the person she is dating wants to be with her or just to take advantage of her metamorphmagus ability. But since I never asked her to turn into someone else or pressure her to have s.e.x, unlike her previous boyfriends, she finally told me and we took the next step in our relationship. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait. Let''s just say that she is very adventurous in bed too, and leave it at that.


    She is officially my girlfriend now and she has even put some of her clothes and other stuff at my place since she frequently spends the night with me.


    Like I previously predicted, my hostage for the 2nd task was Robin since I and Tonks are keeping our relationship at down low and also as she was absent during my 2nd task due to Auror duties.


    I used the bubblehead charm and Aguamenti charm to propel me forward in the water. I quickly located Robin''s location using a previously placed tracking charm on her. After finding her I cut the ropes binding her and used the Aguamenti charm again to propel us back to surface. Not that I care about it, but I got the highest marks for saving my hostage first. Everything else went as same in books. Since when I saved my hostage, Fleur was still in the game, and I just couldn''t save her hostage as she was still in the task. Just as in the books, Harry saved her hostage with his own. Well, whatever.


    Next Big thing was me taking my 6 Masters exams. Since I had submitted applications for 6 masteries, DOME couldn''t reveal the news until I took all 6 of my exams, as per the rules. But after it was over and I had my 6 masteries, news finally leaked to everyone via the newspaper. Daily Prophet practically exploded with the news. My pictures were on the front page for many days and there were articles about me called as ''once in lifetime Prodigy'' and other shit. Papers practically printed my whole life story (good thing they didn''t know anything I wanted to hide from others) and even other stuff like Canis House. I became very famous and many of pureblood families even sent marriage contracts for their daughters but I ignored everything.


    The best thing that came out of the whole ordeal was that Tonks rewarded me very generously and uniquely in bed for my achievements. Let''s just say that I am very motivated to study and take more mastery level tests, just for her reward.

 Chapter 33

    #### Day of the 3rd task ####


    I am currently at Hogwarts for the 3rd task. All four champions are currently present. I have already made all the preparations. Not to win but to fight Voldemort in front of all his minions to tell them that I am not someone to mess with. As Voldemort is going to call all of his inner circle death eaters and as I am sure Dumbledore will watch the memory of Snape and Harry to know what exactly happened, in his pensieve, all major players are going to see some extent of my true strength. But I will not show all my strength and keep my Shadow abilities secret. I have already placed some one-way mirrors with self destruct runes, in the cemetery around Tom Riddle Senior''s grave, where the Ritual is going to take place. This way I am going to monitor everything that''s going to happen and make my entrance at the right time.


    When it was about time for the task to start, Bagman explained the rules and the sequence we will enter the maze, as per our previous scores. Harry was first, then me, then Krum and lastly Fleur. A loud blast of canon signed the start of task and Harry ran straight into the maze. After a few seconds blast sounded again and I ran straight towards the maze. When I came inside, all the sounds disappeared and there was total silence. I turned into my falcon animagus form and started to fly due to which I could see the entire maze. I could even see the Triwizard cup at the center. If I wanted to win, I could just fly straight to it and win in seconds. But I know that it is a portkey straight to the cemetery. My plan is to let Harry win so that Voldemort could obtain his body and rise again. After some time I saw Krum and after him, Fleur enters the maze. Due to good eyesight of falcon, I could see that Krum is already under the imperious curse of fake moody when he started to attack Fleur. I let him do so since I could use treating Fleur''s injuries as an excuse to reach the Triwizard cup late. Since Krum ambushed Fleur, she was seriously wounded. After she got injured, I quickly transformed back and stunned Krum. I assessed Fleur''s injuries, she was in a critical state but nothing I couldn''t easily handle as I have a mastery in Healing. I slowly and carefully treated her with many spells, without any potions since I didn''t have any and once she was stabilized, I treated her further and cast many other spells which will slowly heal all wounds without leaving any scars. In one day there wouldn''t even be a single scar left, but for now, she needs rest. I fired a sphere of red light from my wand to let them collect both Krum and Fleur.


    After that was done, I made my way towards the Triwizard cup. When I reached there, the cup was gone. Seems like Harry already got portkeyed to the cemetery. I pulled out a mirror and started to look at it. I saw that Voldemort was already up and about, insulting Harry and forcing Harry for a duel. Death eaters were watching from the side. After a few moments, Voldemort hit Harry with a Cruciatus curse and Harry was on the ground, writhing in pain.


    That was my cue, I channeled my magic and scanned the area for magical residue for the previous portkey and quickly found it. I traced the signature and portkeyed myself by latching onto it. I did so because I wanted a reason for me to go there. I could just later say that I thought portkey would take me to the stage of the competition since officially cup was a made a portkey to do so. Like this, I could feign ignorance later since I am sure that Dumbledore could and would scan the area and confirm my story later.


    True to the plan, I was portkeyed to the cemetery and Said out loud after looking around," Well, looks like I am in the wrong place since it doesn''t look anything like the stage of the competition."


    Everyone''s attention was on me since I purposely portkeyed very loudly.


    "You, I recognize you. You are that mongrel that gave me bundles of Homework to check when I was possessing Quirrel. You will pay for that." Voldemort said very heatedly.


    Huh? What the hell. He is still holding a grudge for that little matter. Sure, I gave him a bit extra bundles than Snape every time, but that was only because I was seriously very annoyed with his stuttering. He was just so annoying that I just couldn''t help myself. Also, I knew he won''t break his disguise until he gets the Philosopher stone and will leave the school when confronted with Harry at the end of the year.


    " Seriously, you are still holding a grudge for a little matter which was like years ago. To think a feared Dark Lord would w.h.i.n.e like a little bitch, just for having to check a few parchments of homework, in front of his minions no less. Dude, I don''t know about you but I am embarrassed for you." I said while mocking him.


    I noticed that one of the death eaters, had one of his eye twitching madly under the mask when I said,'' a few parchments of homework''. I see, looks like Snape also made it here like I expected.

 Chapter 34

    Voldemort looked very mad and loudly said," You will pay for your transgressions. If I didn''t have had to waste my time checking your bundles of homework, I would have had more time to obtain the Philosopher stone. You wasted so much of my time, if not for you I could have obtained it. But, enough of that, now it is time for you to pay."


    Voldemort looked at his minions and loudly ordered, " I will punish this mongrel myself, None of you shall interfere."


    While he was saying this I pulled Harry behind myself and told him quietly, "Be ready, I will tell you when the time is right. When I do so quickly take the Triwizard cup and portkey back to Hogwarts."


    "But, what about you?" he asked back.


    " I will be fine, I know how to Apparate. Don''t worry, just take the cup and go back to Hogwarts when I tell you." I replied calmly.


    By now Voldemort was done speaking. I was ready when he fired his first spell, Cruciatus curse, guess he really wants to torture me first. I quickly took out my wand from the holster and conjured a tile of stone in front of me. When Cruciatus curse hit the tile, it shattered but blocked the curse. I quickly transfigured the stone pieces into Titanium spikes (titanium is much stronger than iron and due to it I can make tips even thinner and sharper, without breaking them, increasing the piercing power) and banished them towards snake-face with an overpowered banishing charm. Voldemort put up a powerful magical shield in front of him, but to his surprise, titanium spikes almost broke through the shield and one of them even pushed through and stabbed him in the upper t.h.i.g.h. Guess he was expecting spikes to be of iron.


    After getting injured, he forgot all logic due to anger and fired various spells rapidly. I was ready, I fired and countered spells at a bit higher pace than him ( nowhere close to my firing speed limit) and easily matched him from spell to spell. As time passed he got even madder and increased his firing pace. I did the same and still matched him easily.


    Seeing this, he started to add variety in his attacks by mixing transfiguration with charms and his attacks got more fierce. I did the same and quickly the whole area was filled with attacks. Battle with transfiguration was much more devastating than before, when we were only using charms and curses. Seeing our battle, death eaters got further away from us, not wanting to get caught up in the middle. This was the chance for Harry to get away. I told him," Harry, death eaters can''t catch you since they are further away, go and take the cup and portkey back to Hogwarts."


    Even though he was reluctant he did as I said and portkeyed away.


    We battled for minutes (I held back and didn''t even use half my strength). Seeing that this is not going anywhere, Voldemort started to use wandless magic to attack me by surprise and catch me off guard. He must have thought that he had the advantage over me since he could use wandless magic, even while fighting me with his wand( very few could use wandless magic, not to mention in the middle of such fierce battle). Little did he know, I was even better than him in using wandless magic. I easily countered his wandless magic with mine ( we were still fighting with our wands during this), since I was much better than him at wandless magic, he quickly got overwhelmed and got hit right in the stomach.


    Seeing that he was losing, he angrily said," You will pay for this later when I am back to my full strength."


    He must be thinking that I could only match and hit him because he was not at his full strength since he just got a new body. Little did he know, I was also holding back even more than half my strength.


    As he said his piece, he Apparated away. Seeing their master fleeing, death eaters also followed his example and Apparated away.


    I almost feel sad for them, since Voldemort has a tendency to torture everyone nearby him when he''s mad. But, I don''t really care if they get tortured with Cruciatus by their master''s hand, they were the ones who chose to follow a madman. It''s time for them to pay the price, I guess.


    Well, nothing left for me to do here now. I destroyed the one mirrors I set beforehand, and Apparated back to Hogsmeade, to go back to Hogwarts since I don''t want to destroy anti-apparation wards at Hogwarts.

 Chapter 35

    When I reached back to the place of the 3rd task, there was complete pandemonium. Everyone was shouting something and screaming. As I got closer, I heard people shouting at Harry, calling him a liar. Many were even accusing him of killing Adien Canis to just win. Wait, what? Isn''t that me, they are accusing him of killing me. Why in the hell do they think that I am dead? What did Harry even say to them, for them to assume me dead? I quickly made my way towards where Harry, Dumbledore and minister Fudge were.


    Due to all the noise, I asked Harry loudly, "Harry, what did you tell everyone? Why do they think that I am dead."


    Harry looked stunned when he saw my face. Did he really think that I was sacrificing myself, just to make sure he gets back and survive? Oh, dear me, this is just rich.


    Everyone else surrounding us went quiet when they saw me alive and dandy, without so much as a scratch.


    Even Dumbledore looked very surprised and curious. He looked quite eager to talk to me privately and ask about the juicy details about my recent ''adventure''.


    "But....but, how are you even alive. How did you get away from Voldemort, I thought that Triwizard cup was the only way to escape." Harry stuttered and asked.


    Almost everyone flinched when he said ''Voldemort''.


    Before I could answer, someone from the peanut gallery shouted, " I knew it, he was just lying to get attention. There is no way You-know-who is back. Besides Mr. Canis is obviously fine, without any scratch."


    Quickly, Already frightened Minister Fudge asked me," Mr. Canis, tell me the truth. Harry is just lying about the whole thing for attention, isn''t he?"


    Although he asked for the truth, he obviously wanted me to say that Harry is lying.


    Well, seems like I have a choice to make. If I tell the truth and say that Voldemort is back, I will be called a liar and have my name dragged through the mud in newspapers with Harry and Dumbledore for at least one year, before Voldemort''s public appearance at DOM.


    On the other hand, I can say what everyone wants to here and tell them that Harry is lying. Even though I would then have my reputation intact for the upcoming year, I will obviously be alienating Harry, Dumbledore and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix along with my girlfriend who is soon going to be a part of said group. Well, my choice is obvious.


    " I am afraid Mr. Potter is telling the truth, Minister. Voldemort is indeed back. He was resurrected in the cemetery via a ritual." I replied calmly.


    "I knew it, you are in on this scheme of Dumbledore''s to take my seat of the Minister. I won''t fall for this obvious lie and will make sure that nobody else does either." He angrily replied and hastily walked away with his two Auror bodyguards.


    When I was out of the Hogwarts wards, I Apparated back to my House.


    Tonks didn''t come to my house that day. I assume she was with her mentor, Moody, who I presume was found in a trunk when everyone found out that it was actually Barty Crouch Jr. that was polyjuiced as Moody.


    Now that I think about it, Dumbledore should form his little Order quite soon. Though we decided to keep our relationship secret from others until attention I am getting due to masteries died down, I know she won''t be able to hold out much longer and tell the order about our relationship, because she is a good person and she would definitely want me to join the order to fight against Voldemort and his minions, to save the people and wizarding world form deaths and destruction.


    Next day, when I saw the newspaper, I was once again glad that I got rid of Skeeter beforehand. The newspaper was filled with articles about how Dumbledore, Harry and I were lying to seek attention and possibly to usurp the Minister''s power by spreading false rumors. Though none were as venomous as Skeeter''s would have been.

 Chapter 36

    ### That day, at Number 12, Grimmauld palace, London ###


    There were various people sitting around a large dining table including Tonks. Dumbledore was sitting at the head table.


    " Thank you, everyone, for coming here at such short notice. I must regretfully inform all of you that ''Dark Lord Voldemort'' has risen once more. As such, I am reinstating the order of Phoenix once more." Announced Dumbledore.


    "Are you sure Albus." Asked Hestia Jones.


    " Yes, I am afraid, I am quite sure. Harry was personally present there when it happened. I have even seen his memory of that happening." Replied Dumbledore calmly.


    " What about that kid from Canis family, Harry said that he fought You-know-who himself and even escaped alive." Asked Sirius Black.


    " Ah, yes, Mr. Canis did in fact fight Voldemort. As you know, being our spy in their midst, professor Snape was present there from start to the end of the fight and he has graciously provided us with his memory of the fight. In fact, I was just going to show it to all of you to ask of your opinions about the fight and Mr. Canis." Replied Dumbledore.


    As Dumbledore said this, he placed a pensieve on the table. He then took out memory from a phial which looked like silver strings and placed it in the pensieve.


    He projected the memory from the pensieve outwards for everyone to see.


    The members started with Aiden''s entrance. It showed how Aiden insulted the dark lord. Some of the Order members couldn''t help but giggle a bit when they saw this.


    The memory then showed Aiden protecting Harry behind his back, the battle that took place, death eaters getting a further away to not get caught in the crossfire, Harry taking the cup and portkey away, then even more fierce fight. Everyone took in a sharp breath when they saw the wandless fight alongside a fight with wands, and lastly, Voldemort getting overwhelmed, injured and Apparating away. The memory ended after this.


    Everyone was silent after memory ended.


    It was Moody who broke the silence and said," That boy didn''t just escape by dumb luck. He is a skilled fighter and shouldn''t be taken lightly."


    " I agree with Mad-eye, he is a highly skilled fighter. Not to mention the strength with which he was throwing the spells, he should be very strong Magically." Said Kingsley Shacklebolt.


    "But how is this possible for him to fight the Dark Lord head on, he is just 17." Asked Sirius.


    " I have read that he has 6 Masteries, not to mention his impressive NEWTs marks." added Remus Lupin.


    " Yes, Mr. Canis is indeed very strong. He even has knowledge and control to back up the magical strength. In fact, he already had his 2nd Magical maturity last year, even before he started his 7th year at Hogwarts." Replied Dumbledore sagely.


    "But how is it even possible for him to have 2nd magical maturity at 17. Did he do some dark Ritual to increase his strength." Asked Sirius Black loudly.


    " Yes, he must have had used Dark magic to get this powerful." Shrieked Molly Weasley.


    " No, Mr. Canis didn''t use any external aid to increase his core strength. In fact, he gave me a magical oath to prove this. I believe he is just naturally talented, not to mention hard-working if his time at Hogwarts was any indication. But the fact remains, Mr. Canis is a very talented, highly knowledgeable and powerful wizard. He didn''t, in fact, use a single Dark spell during his entire exchange with Voldemort, so I am sure that he is a light wizard. I believe we should invite him in order. Order will benefit very much if he were to join." Replied Dumbledore.


    "I concur, a light wizard of such strength will be very valuable. Aside from being a formidable fighter, he is a master healer. He could save many lives during upcoming war, just by healing since we don''t have a healer as poppy is not an official order member and we can''t just go to Hogwarts every time one of us is injured, not to mention his other useful masteries like warding which can be used to secure our safehouses. I really think it would be best to invite him to the order." Agreed Mad-eye Moody.


    " Now, the question is, how should we go about inviting him, so that he won''t refuse. He was a very reclusive person at Hogwarts and liked to be by himself, mostly studying." Asked professor McGonagall.


    " Yes, it is indeed a problem, Minerva." Dumbledore replied.


    After hearing everything, Tonks finally decided to tell everyone and said," Actually, maybe I should ask him. Since I am his girlfriend, I don''t think he would refuse."


    Moody decided to ask his apprentice," Since when have you been dating him? And why didn''t you tell us before?"


    " Well, we have been dating for close to five months now. We decided to keep our relationship secret for a while as he was getting too much attention because of his NEWTs and then his masteries recently and didn''t want to get me mobbed by reporters at work to get them an interview with him or to attract unwanted attention from other Pureblood families since they were sending him too many marriage contracts." She replied.


    " Smart move. Constant vigilance." Praised Moody.


    "Wow, you really lucked out Tonks. According to Witches weakly, he is currently the most desirable wizard due to his handsome looks, pureblood status, his status of being head of rich and influential Canis family. Not to mention his NEWT scores and 6 masteries. Prepare to get many Howlers from jealous Witches when your relationship goes public." Said Hestia Jones while giggling.


    " It is indeed fortunate for us. Chances of him joining are very high if you are the one who asks him. With this, I conclude today''s meeting. We will discuss everyone duties and tasks when we meet tomorrow" announced Dumbledore.

 Chapter 37

    I have finally learned how to fly without a broom. It took close to 5 months for me to figure it out. Though I was able to pretty easily levitate around, it took fine-tuning for months to fly around fully in control and to fly around without thinking like second nature. I can now fly around at high speeds and even do complicated moves and stunts. Though I could previously do that in my falcon animagus form, flying in my human form is just awesome. If I had any heroic tendencies, I would have put on tights, a cape on my back and symbol of house Canis on my c.h.e.s.t, and would have gone around saving people, calling myself ''SuperWizard''. Even better, I don''t have any weakness to some random rocks.


    But that''s enough for now. I just felt Tonks ( she really hates when someone calls her by her first name or even any nickname) crossing the wards around the house and come inside.


    " Hey babe, how is everything? I heard they found Moody in his trunk. How is he doing?" I asked her when she came inside and kissed her.


    She kissed me back and replied," Oh, he''s fine. You know how he is, Even though healer told him to rest, he didn''t listen and even showed up for work. Not to mention he''s extra paranoid due to Barty Crouch Jr. getting a jump on him. He spent his whole day hitting random Aurors with stinging hex shouting ''CONSTANT VIGILANCE''. Everyone was super annoyed."


    " Anyway, since he''s back that means you are on active duty on the field with him, right?" I asked.


    "Yes, I am back to field duty. Thank god, paperwork was killing me, not to mention irregular hours of work" she replied looking happy.


    Since it was getting late, we had our dinner and went to my room. She spent the night with me, not that I was complaining.


    Everything has been going pretty great between me and Tonks. I really like her.


    Next morning, after we had our breakfast, I asked Tonks," Hey Tonks, I have been thinking about this a lot and I want you to move in with me. You, know since we are already spending so much time together and you already have some of your stuff here. I think you should move in, you know, that way you won''t need to go to your apartment to get ready for work. Besides, since Voldemort has risen again, a war is about to happen and I think it will be safer for me to have an Auror close by to protect me. (She is a strong and independent woman. I didn''t want to say that she needs protection and imply that she is weak since she might take it as an insult. So I went about it by joking and saying that I was the one who needed protection.)"


    "You need someone to protect you!!!" she exclaimed and continued, " I saw your fight with Voldemort, it sure doesn''t seem like need whole lot of protecting."


    So, she already joined the Order. Well, Dumbledore sure didn''t wait before reinstating the Order. It''s not like they do much of anything besides stalking Harry.


    " Hey I am just a civilian, It''s your duty as a big bad Auror to protect me" I said jokingly.


    "Prat," she said and punched me playfully.


    "Well, joking aside, I really think it would be a good idea for us to live together." I said seriously.


    " You know what, you are right, I spend most of the nights here anyways. This way I won''t have to go to my place every day just to get ready for work. Alright, I will go get my stuff and cancel the apartment lease. But before that, I have something very important to ask you." She stopped and looked at me. She continued when I nodded, " I wanted to invite you to join a group with me. It''s called Order of the Phoenix. It''s lead by Headmaster Dumbledore to fight against the Dark Lord and death eaters and to save lives in the upcoming war."


    " So, despite being an Auror, you joined this vigilante group to fight. Why didn''t you go to Head of DMLE, Amelia Bones, and convince her to organize Aurors to fight and prepare for war? This way you can legally join the fight and save lives." I asked her.


    " I would like to but I can''t. Minister Fudge is refusing to see the reason. If DMLE were to prepare for war, he will think that we are staging a coup against him, and might take drastic measures. Besides, there are many traitors and Death Eater sympathizers in all departments of the ministry. It will make it even harder for us if they were to find our plans in advance." She replied looking desperate.


    "You know, for you, I will go and hear them out. But, I will only join if I agree with their goals. But, before I do that, you need to come with me to meet Madam Bones. House of Bones and House of Canis have always been allies ( though they allied with light families in last war after my parents died) and I will be meeting her as Lord Canis, since she is the current Regent of House Bones, to discuss our stance on upcoming war. I have already written her, and we will be meeting at Bones Manor today, I want you to join us." I stated.


    If I remember correctly, she was attacked and killed in the 5th book by Voldemort since she was head of DMLE( also one of few competent people at the ministry) and could possibly organize Aurors to fight against him and death eaters. I will be warning her against possible threats against her life. She should become a minister after Voldemort gets seen in public and Fudge gets booted. It will be good for me to build relationsh.i.p.s with a future Minister of magic.

 Chapter 38

    Later that day, I went to Bones Manor with Tonks via Floo. Madam Bones was sitting inside the living hall, waiting for us. There were two Aurors present as her bodyguards.


    When I saw her, I greeted," Hello Madam Bones, Thank you for meeting on such short notice."


    She stood up and greeted me back," Hello, Lord Canis, it''s good to finally meet you. I didn''t realize that you would be bringing company." She then looked at Tonks and said, "Auror Tonks, what are you doing here?"


    " Ah, She''s my girlfriend. I am sorry to bring her without prior notification, But, it was a spontaneous decision." I told her apologetically.


    " It''s quite alright. Now then, I believe it''s time for us to get started." She said while motioning her bodyguards to go outside.


    Soon, we three were the only ones present in the room.


    I started," Madam Bones, I am sure that you have already heard the rumors about Voldemort rising back up during 3rd task of Triwizard tournament. I am sorry to inform you that they are indeed true and I have seen him alive personally, We even exchanged a few spells. I am going to give you my memory of that event to you as evidence to prove my claim." As I said this, I took out a phial in which I already stored a copy of my memory and gave it to her.


    She took the phial and said," But how is this possible for the Dark Lord to rise again. Everyone thought that he died on that Halloween night, years ago."


    " I don''t know how, yet. But he is surely back. I believe you should first see the memory yourself before we continue our conversation further." I stated.


    " Alright then, I have a personal pensieve here at Manor. I suppose I could see the memory first since you clearly believe that it is prudent for me to do so." She said and stood up.


    She left the room for a couple of minutes and came back with a pensieve. She then took out the memory from phial and put it in pensieve. After that, she started to watch the memory at the desk where she put the pensieve.


    After she was done watching it she came back and sat down at her original seat.


    " You were right, Dark Lord has indeed come back. Not only that but even has his inner circle death eaters back with him. Though I must say, it was quite a fight, Lord Canis, I knew you were knowledgeable and powerful, but I had no idea you were strong enough to fight the Dark Lord himself." She complemented and continued, "Anyway, I would love to start preparing ministry for the upcoming war and warn everyone about the Dark Lord, but the problem is that minister Fudge is convinced otherwise. If I were to start preparing Aurors for battle, he will surely know. If that were to happen, he might take some drastic measures to stop me." She said with a frown.


    "I believe you can do something else to prepare until Voldemort is seen publicly and everyone has no choice but to believe that he is returned. If that were to happen, I am sure Fudge will be booted from his seat." I replied confidently.


    " And what would this ''something else'' be that you would want me to do." She asked.


    " Yes, I don''t see what else we can do without secretly opposing the death eaters and Dark Lord himself." Said Tonks regretfully.


    " Well, I am sure that there are traitors and death eater sympathizers in the ministry. Until you can overtly prepare for war, I believe getting rid of these moles would be the best use of your time." I replied confidently.


    " And how would I go about doing this, Lord Canis. The ones working at ministry don''t have death eaters mark and I can''t exactly force Veritaserum down everyone''s throats, no matter how much I want to do so." She asked curiously.


    "No, but we can take advantage of the situation. I believe it''s time for minister Fudge to be useful. Since he is convinced that Dumbledore is after his position, you just need to take advantage of this fact. You can just show him false support to let him think that you are on his side and tell him that there are Dumbledore''s people in the ministry, spying for him( which is true, order members are indeed present, spying for Dumbledore). You just need to convince him that for him to protect his position from Dumbledore, he needs those spies rooted out of ministry. When Fudge authorizes you to do so, you can legally start to take action and remove the death eater supporters from the ministry. I believe you should start from DMLE and DOM to root out spies from Aurors and unspeakable. You can then use them to secure other Departments." I explained.


    " That''s actually a great idea. You can start with Aurors you think are trustworthy and test their loyalty using Veritaserum and then they can help you further identify the moles and get rid of them. I am even willing to personally submit under Veritaserum and then help you." Said Tonks enthusiastically.


    "The idea indeed has merit. But Veritaserum could be cheated by master Occlumans. Actually we can stun the unsuspecting and unprepared target, use confundus charm along with Veritaserum before reviving them, this way even master Occlumans would not be able to fake it and tell lies since they won''t be able to prepare beforehand (not me since I have too much Magical strength and since my occlumancy barrier encloses my core, my barriers will still hold strong even if this method is used on me, but aside from me, Dumbledore and Voldemort, this method will work on everyone else since they do not have high amounts of magic like us). We can then use obliviate charm to change their memories to keep our interrogation secret from others. I could use the excuse for a promotion opening to get one on one interviews with Aurors, without any suspicion. After I am done with them, I can begin with other Departments. I believe head Unspeakable should be able to handle his Department, DOM." She thought out loud.

 Chapter 39

    While we were talking, I suddenly felt anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards go up. What the hell? Didn''t Voldemort attack Madam Bones in summer after 5th year? Did me beating him up in front of his minions made him do this? It is certainly possible. If his minions think that he is weaker than before, they might decide to not follow him again. Voldemort certainly needs a show of strength and who''s better than a strong witch like Madam Bones, who is the boss of all Aurors? It will also help with his plan to take over the ministry, if Madam Bones were to die, Aurors will be in disarray and it will certainly take time to organize them again by new DMLE head.


    "We have a problem. I just felt anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards go up. I am sure that even your floo is about to get closed for maintenance if it''s not happened already. It''s classic death eater technique. We need to move now." I announced suddenly.


    "Are you sure?" She asked and I nodded. She then continued, "Alright then, let''s go, we will also take my Auror bodyguards with us. They should be just outside." Madam Bones replied calmly.


    We stood and hurriedly made our way outside. Just as we reached outside we saw one of the Auror killing his partner with Avada kedevra (AK).


    Madam Bones whipped out her wand from the holster in one quick motion and cast cutting charm on the standing Auror before he even had time to react, his head was separated from his body.


    "Well, look on the bright side, we just found out the first mole. It could have been worse, he could have caught you off-guard. He certainly was in a position to do so as your personal bodyguard." I stated.


    "He must have become a traitor after becoming my bodyguard because I personally confirmed that he was loyal before I gave him this position." She replied, still very calm.


    "Alright then, let''s go. We need to assess the situation outside. Since they haven''t started attacking, we can catch them off-guard by surprise attack." I declared and the three of us hurriedly went towards the front door.


    When we almost reached outside, we looked around, while hiding behind cover to assess the situation. Voldemort himself was present, along with many of Death Eaters, making some speech inside privacy wards(a foolish mistake if you ask me. If it was me I would have hit hard and fast without wasting time. But then again, he must have thought that the situation is under his control since he has closed all avenues of escape and he must be waiting for the traitor to give a signal. Looks like someone is about to have rude awakening). Guess I wasn''t off the mark, he really seems to be here to show his strength to his minions.


    "Alright, I see Voldemort and 19 death eaters with him. No matter what happens, I won''t go down without a fight." Said Madam Bones with conviction.


    " Who said anything about you dying? You and Tonks are both going to stay inside the cover" I told them both.


    They both protested and Madam Bones said, "Even if you are strong enough to fight dark lord, you won''t last since there are 19 death eaters with him. Me and Auror Tonks will try to cover you while you are fighting with Voldemort. It''s our best shot."


    "No, it''s not. Believe me, I will be fine. No offense but having you both with me will just be a distraction. I will be fine on my own." I said.


    Before they can protest further, I cut them off and said, "just watch me from cover. If you think that I won''t be able to handle them, you can just come out and help me then."


    They didn''t look happy, especially Tonks, but they conceded.


    " Well, if ain''t Dark lord V-man himself with his shit eaters. To what do I owe the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e today." I calmly walked outside and said loudly to get their attention.


    " You again, what the hell you doing here. No matter, you won''t make it out alive." He said and ordered his minions, "everyone, attack him with me, we are here for Amelia Bones, it will be prudent for us to take care of him quickly before Aurors arrive. It will be very disadvantageous to our plans for me to be seen publicly, especially before we assemble our army."


    Talk about shameless. He just wants them to attack together because he knows that if he fails to defeat me again, especially when he was trying to show them his might, it will worse for him to get beaten again than him making excuse and have them all to attack together with him to get rid of me.

 Chapter 40

    Voldemort didn''t say anything and just started to attack. His first spell was Avada kedevra. Death eaters also surrounded me and started to cast their own spells.


    ''Looks like it''s time for me to break out my own custom made spells'', I thought.


    I took out my wand and transfigured ground around me as a shield. It took the brunt of AK and other initial spells of death eaters. While I was doing so I simultaneously cast a spherical shield around me wandlessly, which I named as ''Mage Shield''. Its specialty was that it was a one-way shield, meaning it only stopped the attacks from outside while letting the spells from inside pass through.


    After my makeshift transfigured shield broke under enemy spells, I transfigured the broken parts to small circular Titanium shields circling around me using my wand, for unforgivables and other spells.


    By now, I was surrounded by them all. But, it didn''t matter, with my defense done, I started going on the offensive. I cast a powerful ribbon like cutting spell and it cut through two of death eaters. Though I don''t want to kill them all, I don''t mind killing a few. ( I don''t want them to think that I won''t kill them and only use non-lethal spells like the order of the phoenix. They won''t exactly fear to fight me if they think that they won''t die like previous war and will only get hit by stunners.)


    Seeing two of death eaters die, everyone else seemed to stop, some of them even started to shake. So much for being veteran death eaters, looks like they didn''t expect to die here. Since many of them are wealthy purebloods, they will take time to get used to war and death again, especially since they spent the years comfortably after the first war.


    Seeing this, I started to fire spells and caught three of them with blasting curse. Seeing their comrades die they seem to awaken and started to fight once again with dark spells. Meanwhile, my fight with Voldemort was going non stop from the start with my wand. Just like last time we both used transfiguration with spells and curses. But this time I using wandless magic with my other hand to fight death eaters. They had an advantage in numbers but I was much faster with spells due to my physical enhancement from Ritual. I cast spells rapidly and so fast that even with the superior number, they weren''t able to match me, not to mention that they barely blocked my overpowered spells.


    The fight went on fast-paced for a couple of minutes. Only 11 death eaters were alive by now along with Voldemort. Seeing that he was rapidly losing his men, Voldemort ordered them to retreat, and they followed his orders very enthusiastically. After death eaters retreated to a safe distance, Voldemort Cast ''fiendfyre'' due to being desperate. The cursed fire took shape of many animals like dragons and Phoenix and attacked me.


    I didn''t panic, I had already planned for this spell in advance since I knew that it''s very difficult for anyone to face against the cursed fire. After months of research and hard work, I was able to make a custom spell, just for the single purpose of beating ''Fiendfyre''.


    "SANCTUS IGNIS" ( or holy fire in English), I shouted loudly and a thick stream of white fire produced from my wand. Just like ''Fiendfyre'', it took the shapes of animals. Both fires met and Animal shapes of both fires fought with each other. But my fire was ''holy fire'' and against ''cursed fire'', it easily won out. Soon, every bit of fiendfyre was exhausted. That''s not all after my holy fire was done with ''fiendfyre'', I controlled it to attack Voldemort. He anticipated my move and dodged it, but he still got licked by a few strands of holy fire. Everywhere it touched, Voldemort was badly burnt. Seeing his plan backfire on him and even getting badly injured, Voldemort once again chose to retreat via a portkey. Death eaters also followed his example. Soon only a few corpses of death eaters remained.


    After everything was done, Madam Bones and Tonks came out of hiding.


    "Oh my god, that was awesome." Tonks exclaimed and passionately kissed me.


    " It certainly was something. I didn''t know that it was even possible for someone to be strong enough to fight them all at once, not to mention while fighting with Dark lord simultaneously. But, I am more interested in that white fire spell you used in the end. It even easily defeated the Fiendfyre spell, which is notoriously known to be very hard to defend against. Not only that, Voldemort got hurt very badly, just by barely touching it. Please tell me that it wasn''t a dark spell." Asked Madam bones seriously.


    " It was actually the opposite of dark, it was holy fire. I made it after reading about the regenerative properties of Phoenix flames. As you know, I have a mastery of Healing magic. I developed this flame to actually heal people who are injured very badly. It can even regenerate body parts like missing limbs. I especially made it regrow limbs and other body parts for those who lost them since there was no previous way for anyone to heal from such extensive injuries. Fighting fiendfyre was actually just a side benefit( it was actually just the opposite, not that I am telling it to anyone else). Since these are essentially Holy flames, they have regenerative properties for those who don''t use Dark magic. They are only offensive against dark magic users and dark spells. They are completely harmless against those who don''t use dark magic." I explained and demonstrated my point by summoning a very small stream of fire and dousing my whole body with it. Just like I explained, it had no effect on me since I have never used dark magic.

 Chapter 41

    " Wow, that was awesome, it didn''t even burn anything, not even the clothes." Said Tonks excitedly.


    "Yes, it only burns dark magic. It doesn''t burn any physical objects unless they are tainted with dark magic, in which case it will just burn off the dark magic and purify the object." I replied. ( Actually, it should even purify the Horcruxes without destroying the objects.)


    "But wouldn''t that mean that it would only purify a person from dark magic if it''s used on one." Tonks asked.


    "No, if a person uses dark magic, their souls and body get tainted and saturated by it. Unlike an object which can be purified, living beings will get burnt whole if exposed to excessive amounts of Holy Fire." I replied.


    "Even then, it''s potential is unlimited. Not only light wizards will be able to heal from grave injuries including missing limbs, but it can also even be used against dark and cursed objects to purify them. Just being able to defeat ''FIENDFYRE'' is a major achievement, not to mention its other uses." Said Madam Bones, looking very impressed.


    " Actually, there is one more very useful use. You see, since I made this spell by studying about phoenix fire, which means after I master it a bit more, I will be able to use Holy flame travel, just like a phoenix. But, while it''s potential is virtually limitless, it''s not possible for anyone else, other than me, to use it. You see, I used my core strength, potency, and density along with my Magical signature as variables for complex Arithmancy calculation to create this spell. Not to mention my knowledge on masteries like Healing and charms for using this spell. It had very complex calculations which took almost one year of constant hard work even when I was just using my magical parameters which I am most familiar with, it''s virtually impossible to do them for generalized magical parameters. Also, let''s not forget that even if I were to make it a generalized spell, which anyone could use, it needs a certain density and potency of magic, which only those who go through their 2nd Magical maturity could provide. So, in a nutshell, the only person who can use it is just me." I explained.


    " That sucks, and here I was thinking that it would have been awesome if I could travel around using flames." Said Tonks disappointedly.


    "Yes, it''s certainly regretful. It would have certainly been useful for Aurors to treat their injuries, not to mention incur fewer fatalities due to cursed objects. But at least you could use it to heal critically wounded patients at St. Mungo''s hospital and some other wounded wizards with missing body parts or limbs." said Madam Bones.


    That''s actually an awesome idea. No better way to improve my image than to publicly heal wounded patients at a hospital. I totally need to make some free time for this.


    "I was actually planning on doing that after mastering the spell and fine-tuning it a bit." I lied without missing a beat.


    I continued, "Actually, we have a more pressing issue at the moment. Death Eaters and Voldemort knows your address now. It''s very likely that they will try to attack you at home again. Actually, they might even attack your niece, Susan, since Hogwarts term is about to end and she would be coming to spend her summer here, soon. I think it would be best that you stay somewhere else until everything gets sorted out." I said seriously.


    "You are correct. It was certainly fortunate for me that you were present here today. It''s definitely not safe for me and Susan to stay here any longer. Actually, they might even use Susan as a hostage to blackmail me to do their bidding if they get their hands on her. Not to mention, I am about to remove their moles, they will definitely try to do something to stop me. It''s certainly necessary for me to relocate somewhere else." She agreed with me.


    Okay, now is the chance for me swoop in and help her. Having future Minister of magic in my debt definitely won''t hurt me in the future.


    "Actually, how about you and Susan come live with me and Tonks at my house. I just recently updated all the wards, so it''s definitely secure enough. Besides, as lord of allied House, it''s only right for me to offer my help." I urged.


    "It would definitely be safe. After today, I really don''t think that they will dare to attack your own house, even more so if you are present. Having Susan there will definitely be safe for her. Alright, I agree, you have my gratitude for your help at such a time of need." Said Madam Bones gratefully.


    "Alright then, let''s go there and continue our conversation. I will send my house elf to get your stuff later. You could also use floo there to inform Susan about the living arrangements." I said and extended both my hands.


    They both took one of my hands each and I Apparated us to my house.

 Chapter 42

    As they both took my hands, I Apparated us to my house.


    "Alright, Madam Bones, welcome to my humble abode (it certainly is humble, compared to my manor, not that anyone else knows about it). You can choose any of the free room for yourself and Susan, as you like. But for now, how about we retire to my study and continue our talk." I said and she replied affirmatively.


    "Actually, I think I should go get all my stuff here as we agreed in the morning." Said Tonks, I agreed with her and she Apparated away.


    Madam Bones raised one of her eyebrows and I answered the unasked question, "We decided that we will be living together this morning, she is going to bring all of her stuff here and live with me from now on."


    She nodded and we retired to my study.


    She asked, "So, What else did you want to talk about?"


    "I actually want to talk to you about a group called ''Order of the Phoenix''. I was invited to join but I would like to know your opinion about it. As far as I know, it operated during the last war." I asked.


    "Ah yes, Order of the Phoenix. My brother and sister-in-law were members of the group. Though they said they were fighting against the dark lord, they made things more difficult for DMLE. You see, many of good Aurors joined the group thinking that they were helping but truth is, order only used non-lethal spells and Death eaters almost never suffered any casualties because of that and even got more encouraged and bold. Since many of the Aurors were part of the group, they didn''t even use Lethal spells during official DMLE raids. Not to mention, order didn''t do anything else other than cripple our fighting strength by making many Aurors passive. If you ask me, they were also terrorists that weakened our forces. Not to mention their leader, Dumbledore. He sat with thumbs up to his a.s.s without doing anything until it was too late. He even pardoned many death eaters at the hearings as he was chief Warlock." She said angrily.


    Whoa, somebody does not seem to like the Order and Dumbledore. Hmm, I can use this. Since I can''t outright reject them as Tonks was the one to ask me, but I can use the excuse of them not using lethal spells and refuse to join them. Yes, making an alliance instead of joining will be more beneficial.


    "Yes, I agree with you. I think it will be better if I were to help you and ministry to prepare for the fight. Besides, if anyone attacks me with the intention of killing me, I am going to defend myself with lethal force. Using stunners is not really my thing." I told her stoically.


    We discussed a few more unimportant topics and she decided to go to her room.


    That day Tonks brought her stuff and started to live with me. Since the next order meeting is not for a while, I decided to make myself busy doing research. What research you ask? Well, lately I feel like my progress has come to a halt. I have not grown strong since the Ritual. I know books say that it''s possible to only have 2 Magical maturities. But that''s only the case because a wizard/witch''s body is not strong enough to contain more magic than 2nd Magical maturity. But due to the ritual, my physical strength is on par with a lesser vampire. My body should be able to contain more magic since I feel no strain even though my crystal core has more magic than a solid core, which should not be possible according to the books. If, that''s the case, who''s to say I can''t progress further.


    So, I have been looking in other Magical cultures which could be helpful. Almost all of them were a waste of my time but I didn''t give up.


    After much research, I finally found something. Chinese magical community.


    There are only a few books available because unlike other Magical cultures, Chinese Magical community is closed for outsiders. From what I''ve read from these few books, Chinese wizards call themselves ''Cultivators''. Though from what I''ve read they seem more like lazy old people who sit around for years on out to ''Cultivate'' to get stronger. Yeah, that''s not gonna work out for me. I am nowhere patient enough to sit around for years. But their method has merit. If I could modify it for needs, it might prove to be very beneficial. Unlike wizards who use most of their magic externally using magic wands, these ''Cultivators'' use magic internally. There also seems to be other methods called ''Body Refining Techniques'' to get physically stronger. Hmm, it seems worth checking out at least.

 Chapter 43

    Since there was a way for me to get stronger, I didn''t wait and hastily made my way towards China. I left a note for Tonks to inform her that I will be gone for a few days. It should not be a problem since the next order meeting is not for quite some time. And even if there was, me getting stronger is much more important than maintaining my image.


    I didn''t wait around and directly shadow traveled to China.


    I thought that it would be difficult for me to find Chinese Magical community since they were so secretive but seems like I was in luck. Just about one hour after arriving, I found a young man picking a fight with a rich looking dude. Normally I wouldn''t give a damm if someone was fighting, as it''s none of my business but what caught my attention was that I could sense weak power fluctuations from the young man. It wasn''t magic but something a bit different. It would seem that I unknowingly stumbled upon a Chinese Magical practitioner. From what I make of the situation, it would seem that the young man was eating at rich dude''s spot at the restaurant and rich dude kicked up a fuss just because of that and because he had a girl with him who he wanted to impress.


    Ah, the young man just slapped the rich dude. Seems like someone is quick to anger. Rich dude also called his bodyguards over. Looks like I am about to see Chinese Magical arts first hand since six bodyguards have surrounded the young man.


    The young man also seemed eager to fight and threw a punch at one of his opponents and knocked him out. Seeing one of their comrades getting knocked out, other bodyguards tools out their batons and started attacking the young man.


    The fight didn''t last long. Though young man knocked out two more of his opponents, he also got hit in the head from behind by a baton. Remaining bodyguards also took the opportunity and started to hit aggressively. Though young man tried to put up a fight it was already a foregone conclusion and got beat up very badly. Rich dude also didn''t let go of opportunity and kicked him a bit and left with his girlfriend after spitting on him.


    Huh, so much for me seeing Chinese Magical arts, although the young man was an about thrice stronger than average man, he still wasn''t strong by my standards. Even I have the strength of about 20 tons after the ritual, not to mention my superhuman agility and speed. Though comparable to lesser vampires in this world, I was still physically stronger by normal standards.


    Anyway, it was a godsend opportunity for me to get to know the location of the Magical community here. I walked up to the already unconscious young man. I opened his eyelids and used legilimancy on him. As he didn''t have any mental defense, I easily got to know the information I wanted.


    Even though he didn''t know as much information as I wanted, I still got to know the basic information about Chinese Magical arts. According to what I now know, Chinese Magical arts are called ''cultivation''. Cultivation is divided into different stages. The young man only knew about the first two stages of cultivation. Stage 1: Qi condensation stage which is divided into 10 sub-stages.


    The young man was on 7th sub stage of Qi condensation stage.


    Stage 2: Spiritual sea stage which was also divided into 10 sub-stages.


    He didn''t know stage above stage 2 since the leader of his sect was only in the 6th sub stage of Spiritual sea stage.


    Chinese Magical community is divided into sects. These sects are like different Magical schools, to which potential students apply for studying. But unlike Europe, they start their Magical education at six years old age. Different sects scouts the students based on some criteria which I am not sure of. Though they seem to divide the student''s potential based on these criteria. The determined potential then dictates the worth of the student.


    Anyway, the young man didn''t know much in detail. Though one thing I found out was that every sect leader was on stage 2 of cultivation. Only a few top sects have people called ''Martial Ancestors'' above stage 2. These martial ancestors were a reclusive bunch who were holed up in some cave ''cultivating'' until some emergency comes up.


    One thing that astonished me was that this young man was the son of a sect leader who sneaked out of his sect to experience the muggle or ''mortal'' world as they say. He was deemed as a top-notch talent by the sect elders and was cream of the crop of young cultivators in his sect. He seemed an about 18 which means he has been cultivating for about 12 years and he still got beat up by a few bodyguards.


    I am speechless, to think someone who was deemed talented like him got beat up even after 12 years of cultivating. This ''cultivation'' doesn''t seem much if you ask me but I will make the final decision after I know a bit more. What''s better than this young man''s sect. Since he selflessly provided me with location and secret entrances, it would be ungrateful of me to not make use of this information.

 Chapter 44

    Since I now know the location of hidden sect this young man belong to, I didn''t waste any time. Not to mention I need to go back quickly before the term end of this Hogwarts year. If I remember correctly, Order members will take turns to protect Harry this summer, right after he leaves Hogwarts. Since this is the case, I expect the next order meeting to be held just before that.


    As the young man was the son of the sect leader, he knew the secret entrance to his sect. Though I won''t need it since I can directly shadow travel there. What? Did you think that I would sneak in there using a secret entrance, like a two-bit Thief? No, that is just inefficient, not to mention time-consuming.


    What I needed was the location of the library, where all of their knowledge is stored to shadow travel.


    From his memory, I found out that, due to the low level, he was only allowed at the bottom floor of the library. Well, no matter, since the elder who is present there is not a wizard, I can just cast disillusionment spell and sound muffler spell to move undetected.


    Confirming my plan, I quickly put it to action. I cast both the spells and shadow traveled directly to the sect library.


    Just as I expected, a sect elder was present at the entrance. But as my Shadow travel is silent, I got there undetected by him. The library was practically deserted, as students only needed to make a copy of one these books, which I assume hold cultivation techniques. There are also some other books about crap like offensive, defensive, etc techniques corresponding to different cultivation techniques. But since I won''t be cultivating, they are useless to me.


    Since the elder was seating at the entrance, looking for threats outside, no one was watching me. Well, no time like the present. I cast Geminio spell on cultivation books and made copies of them. I stored them in my mokeskin pouch.


    But since there are three more floors above this one, my task hasn''t ended yet.


    I saw stairs leading upwards, but I encountered an unexpected problem. Some Chinese runes are present at the stairs, which I expect are present to either act as a barrier or to alert the elder.


    But this much is nothing for my great self. I directly shadow traveled to the other side and reached the floor above. I repeated the process of duplicating books and moved on.


    At last, I reached the top floor. There are only eleven books present here as opposed to hundreds of books present at lower floors. But they each are stored very delicately in wood boxes, wrapped in silk. Guess, I finally found the good stuff. I duplicated them too and stored them in my moleskin pouch.


    I really lucked out because unlike Hogwarts library, there are no spells placed on books to prevent them from getting duplicated.


    Since I was done here, it was time for me to take my leave. I shadow traveled directly to a Chinese market where all cultivators from nearly all sects gathered.


    In the market I found numerous cultivators roaming about. Once a while, I would see some arrogant young cultivators going about like they owned the place, with their lackeys in tow.


    I will never understand their foolish behavior. It''s like just because they belong to the more powerful background than others, they are overwhelmed with the urge to announce it to everyone else. They don''t seem to know the meaning of staying low until they are strong enough, just like your''s truly. It''s like they are asking for trouble. If someone stronger comes through, they will be the first target.


    But, who am I to complain?


    Since they are so generously providing me with easy targets, who am I to refuse?


    I transfigured my facial features and clothes to looked like a nondescript Chinese cultivator and walked out of my hiding place.


    I just roamed aimlessly market. Once a while, I will cross paths with some arrogant fools and passively use legilimancy to find out the location of the library in their sect. Since there didn''t have any mental defense, I easily accomplished my task.


    After a few hours, I found out the locations of libraries in quite a few sects. Just like previously, I disillusioned myself and shadow traveled to these locations. But this time, I directly moved to the top floors and made copies of only books stored there, as I have enough books on lower floors for reference.


    By the end of the day, I accomplished my task. It was time for me to go back home. No sense in staying here, I can just examine the books at my home.

 Chapter 45

    After I was done ''Acquiring'' the cultivation books, I shadow traveled back to my house.


    By now, both Tonks and Madam Bones were settled down there, though for different reasons. As we discussed earlier, Tonks and I are going to live together from now on.


    When I returned home, it was empty as both of them were at work. Hmm, I need to ask Amelia about the progress of rooting out the death eater moles from ministry, she should have started by now. Well, that''s for later, I currently have a more pressing issue to deal with. I have been really put out by the fact that my core has not grown strong since the Ritual.


    Previously, whenever my core reached the limit, it automatically transformed into a higher stage. Like, when my gaseous core grew big enough, it automatically transformed into the liquid core. But, even though my crystal core has reached the limit, it''s not growing stronger. Previously, I hypothesized that a wizard core doesn''t transform after reaching the solid core''s limit because of a wizard''s body not being able to handle the amount of magic it will have after transformation. I concluded this by observing Dumbledore''s solid core, which already hit the limit. But even though my body is much stronger than a typical wizard and is able to easily handle the magic my core would have after transformation of my core to next stage after crystal core. But it''s not showing any signs of transformation. In fact, it hasn''t changed in any way since the Ritual.


    I have researched almost every wizarding culture to overcome this issue, but there had been no progress.


    My only hope is that the cultivation techniques I now possess will somehow help me overcome this issue.


    Since I already have a possible solution for my problem, I didn''t wait and went to my lab, straight away. I wrote a note, telling Tonks to not disturb me unless it''s an emergency. I even told my house elf to leave me alone and not disturb me, aside for my food and drinks.


    I spent next week holed up in my lab, researching the Chinese cultivation techniques. I believe I have already understood the cultivation techniques by now.


    Turns out that these cultivation techniques are inherently different from western Magic, which is wizards use.


    As opposed to wizards, who use this magic to perform different spells, Chinese cultivators don''t use magic at all. These cultivation techniques change the Magic and transform it into a sort of life force which they call ''QI''. Cultivators use this life force or Qi and store in their bodies. Unlike magic which is primarily used for performing spells, Qi is not used primarily for spells but to increase physical strength. Yes, they do perform some spells but it''s not the primary focus of cultivation.


    Qi, when circulated inside the body, will be absorbed by every part of the body. It removes impurities from the body and strengthens the body at the cellular level. As the body of a cultivator is saturated with Qi at the cellular level, it increases the life span of the user. As a cultivator climbs up the cultivation levels, quality of this life force or Qi increases, which in turn increase the bodily strength and life span.


    But, it''s not without drawbacks, conversion of magic into Qi is a very lengthy process and it takes a very long time for a cultivator to make progress. This is where different Tiers of cultivation techniques comes into play. Low-level cultivation techniques take longer time than higher level cultivation techniques to convert magic into life force and circulation of Qi inside the body. The cultivation books that I found on the top floors of libraries are in fact the top Tier cultivation techniques. But even these top tier cultivation techniques are different as each technique follows the different route of circulation of Qi inside a cultivator''s body. The longer a circulation route, the more cells inside body absorbs Qi, per circulation, Which in turn increase the speed of cultivation.


    As a master healer, I know a human body inside out. I used my medical knowledge and combined the circulation route of every top Tier cultivation technique and made a new technique which follows the much longer route, in fact, it covers every part of body per circulation. I even studied the conversation of magic into Qi. In fact, it''s is quite similar to Alchemy as it changes one form of energy into other, which is quite similar to changing the form of matter using Alchemy. I used my extensive knowledge of Alchemy, transfiguration, and Arithmancy to increase the conversation rate of magic into Qi.


    Thus, I was now in possession of a new custom made cultivation technique, which was tens of times better than the original top tier cultivation techniques. If one were to cultivate using this technique, cultivation speed will be much higher.


    But, I didn''t stop there. My goal was not to cultivate, but make progress for the advancement of my magical core.

 Chapter 46

    As I previously stated, my goal was not to cultivate but to make the progress in the advancement of my core.


    So, for that goal, this new cultivation technique was basically useless for me. I made it only for the purpose of fully understanding the Qi or life force cultivation, which I accomplished.


    For the next few days, I experimented on the conversation of magic and Qi. After a complex series of experiments, I was able to merge both magic and Qi, which resulted in the formation of completely different energy than either magic or Qi.


    I call this new energy as ''Magic Force'' or ''M-Force'' for short, as it is a combination of magic and life force.


    I have got to say that this new M-Force is very unique in nature. Just as Qi, it strengthens the body on the cellular level and increase the life span of the user. In fact, from my research, I concluded that it is even more effective than Qi and increases life span and physical strength much more than the same amount of Qi. It not only increases the physical strength but mental strength too. Meaning cultivating M-FORCE will result in all around the progress of my entire body.


    Not to mention, unlike Qi, which is very hard to use to cast spells, it can easily be used for spells, just like magic.


    But, the problem is, I can''t cultivate in my newly found M-Force. This is because my body already has been saturated with magic. If my Magical core was in the initial stage of gaseous state, I could have converted it into M-Force, but as a crystal core, it is very stable as such it is impossible for me to convert it into M-FORCE.


    Change like solid to crystal was easy since I was only changing the density, not nature.


    Even changing my body by leaving my current body for a new one will be a demerit for me as it will require me to use very dark sorts of magic. I would rather not go insane by using such dark magic, thank you very much.


    Not to mention, even if I were to somehow change my core to M-FORCE forcefully, I will not be able to do magic. M-Force and magic are different. All the spells and masteries I obtained up until now will be useless, as I won''t be able to cast any spells due to M-FORCE being inherently different from magic. All my hard work up until now will have gone down the drain if I were to convert my core to M-FORCE.


    All after all this researching, and I at least got something to show for it, as it was not a complete waste of my time. Due to my research of Qi circulation route, I can now use this knowledge to easily circulate my magic to every part of my body. It drastically improved the efficiency of my wandless magic. Previously, my wandless Magic used much more magic to cast spells than my magic with a wand. It was due to the wastage of magic due to the inefficient route taken by magic. But now due to the optimization of my magic route, waste of my magic during spell casting is almost negligible. In fact, my wandless magic only cost as low as almost 60% of magic than with my wand.


    Not to mention, because of my experiments of magic conversion, I can now convert my magic for my spells much faster, meaning my spell casting rate is now much faster.


    Thus, even if was not increase the total magic in my core, I was still able to increase the efficiency of my magic, thus increasing the total effective magic, I can utilize.


    So, I can cast almost double the amount of spells wandlessly than I was previously able to cast even with a wand. Thus, I now consumed more magic to cast spells with a wand rather than without a wand using wandless magic.


    Not to mention my spell casting speed was now on the monstrous level. A machine gun got nothing on me now.


    So, even I failed in my endeavor of evolving my core, I still made myself more than twice as stronger than before.


    In total, even though I spent almost two weeks on my research, I am quite satisfied with the results, even if I was not able to fulfill my primary objective.

 Chapter 47

    After spending two weeks on my research, I finally came out of my lab. After I came out, I checked my schedule and found out that next Order meeting is going to be held tomorrow. Ah, almost forgot about the meeting of Dumbledore''s little cult. Well, whatever, not like I am going to formally join the cult. I am just going there because Tonks asked me to. Though I am going to maintain cordial attitude towards them because of Tonks, I don''t really need to subordinate myself to Dumbledore. But even if I am strong enough to act in anyway I want and can tell them to piss off, I am not dumb enough to do so. Why choose the route of villain like Voldemort, when I can easily portray myself the next lord of light, after Dumbledore kicks the bucket in almost two years?


    No, I have decided to think of some bullshit reason to deny joining them. But I am not going to waste such good opportunity to increase my reputation of being a good guy. I will just offer them my support without actually joining them. Not like they can afford to reject my offer, as my skillset is not something they can afford to lose. Especially, since most of order members are almost useless like Weasley family.


    This way, I still get to be seen as a good guy, without actually joining them and following Dumbledore''s orders.


    Since I will have a good reputation in ministry, due to my support to Amelia, who is certain to become the next Minister of Magic, after news of Voldemort ''s return goes public. This way, I will maintain a good reputation with almost everyone aside for Death eaters families.


    Now that I think about it, Amelia should have made progress by now and should be cleaning ministry from death eater spies.


    Its already evening, both her and Tonks should be home by now.


    Thinking so, I went to dining room, as it''s almost time for dinner.


    As I suspected, both of them were sitting at dining table. I also took my seat and greeted them both. They returned my greetings and we started our conversation.


    "So, Madam Bones, how goes the cleaning of ministry? I know I was unavailable for last two weeks, but I would like to help in anyway I can." I asked.


    " No, it''s alright. Everything is going as we planned. Just like you said, Minister Fudge was very excited to offer his help when I mentioned about rooting out "Dumbledore''s" spies. He practically handed me all the authority over ministry personal. Though his secretary Umbridge protested very much against it, he wouldn''t hear any of it. He was so afraid of Dumbledore stealing his power that he didn''t even question me about anything. So, after I had Minister''s permission, I first started with Aurors. I spread the news of promotion to interview each Auror, one by one. Since I already tested Tonks beforehand, ahe disillusioned herself and stood in corner. Just as someone would enter and sit on chair opposite to mine, she would stun them from behind and dose them with Veritaserum. This way they got caught off guarded, without any preparation. After the questioning, we gave them antidote and obliviated them, replacing their memories with that of an interview.


    After I was done with DMLE, Head Unspeakable was also done with his Department, just like I previously asked him to do.


    After we were done with Aurors and unspeakables, we started cleaning out other Departments one by one, starting with Department of Magical Transportation, to look at Floo maintenance staff, as there were way too many Floo connections closed for maintenance, during death eater attacks in last war.


    One by one, we have already managed to clean out almost all of ministry, aside for a few departments. Minister is also happy, seeing we uprooted many of "Dumbledoor''s" spies in last few days."


    "That''s good, at least now you don''t need to worry about any backstabbing traitors from the ministry. But there is only so much we can do. Until Voldemort shows himself in public, you won''t be able to increase number of Aurors and thus, ministry''s fighting force against Dark lord''s army." I said.


    " True, Fudge is too paranoid, recruiting new Aurors will not be to his liking. But, it doesn''t mean we can''t prepare meanwhile. Though number of Aurors is less than I would like, and their equipment is outdated due to budget cuts, I am still having them train hard and improve their skills everyday. This way, we can still have elite Aurors with high battle skills, though less in numbers."


    " You know what, I may not be able to help in increasing their numbers, but I can at least supply them with new equipment. I am sure I can fork out enough galleons without any trouble."


    " Thank you, Lord Canis, but I would have to decline your offer. Though I appreciate the sentiment, I can not accept your money."


    "Well, that''s alright. Since you aren''t accepting money directly, how about I just provide equipment to Aurors. This way, you won''t owe me anything, since I will be directly donating equipment to Aurors for their safety. As you won''t get any money, there won''t be any strings attached."


    It will actually be better for me. Had she directly accepted the money, others won''t know who to thank for their new equipment, aside for a few. This way, though I won''t directly gain anything, everyone in DMLE will know that it was me who provided them with new equipment, which might directly save their life someday.


    "That''s very generous of you, Lord Canis. In that case, I would thankfully accept your help."

 Chapter 48

    "Alright then, how do want to proceed? I don''t think buying the same equipment for everyone will be good." I asked.


    " Well, it would be better if Aurors can buy equipment as per their needs. But it won''t do to just hand over money to them, it won''t do us any good if they buy cheaper equipment to save galleons for themselves." She replied.


    "Yes, you have a point there. How about I set up a new vault in Gringorts, just for purchasing equipment and supplies? This way, Aurors can buy what they need and charge it on this vault. We can also keep tabs on everyone''s spending and make sure they don''t use it for their personal gain."


    " Hmm, it could work. But are you sure about this? From armor to flying brooms, buying equipment and supplies for everyone will be very costly, especially since they will be buying the latest equipment."


    "Yes, I am sure. It won''t be a problem. Canis family is not an Ancient and Noble family for nothing. No need to frown over a little spending."


    Yeah, even 1/5th of money I got from selling Basilisk parts would be more than sufficient. Once again, thank you, Harry, for your generosity. I am sure Aurors would appreciate your support, along with me. You are the true hero here, but I am sure you value your anonymity, so I will respect your wishes and won''t tell anyone about your contribution. Everything for the ''Greater good''.


    Hmm, it''s strange. I don''t know why I suddenly got an urge to laugh out loud like a typical villain.


    Anyway, forgetting this oddity, I continued our conversation.


    " Alright then, it''s settled. I will have my Gringorts manager to set up the vault. I am sure that Aurors will soon put their new equipment to good use. It won''t do for Voldemort and his army to catch ministry and Aurors flat-footed."


    "Yes, they are getting sharper everyone day with extensive training. DMLE will be ready to face Voldemort and his death eaters when they show themselves."


    "That is quite reassuring, Madam Bones. But, we still have a grave problem to take care of until then. I had a private investigator look into Minister Fudge and his staff, what I found out was worse than I had hoped. I am sure you are aware of Lucious Malfoy''s influence on Minister Fudge. But not only that, I found that Minister undersecretary Dolaris Umbridge also has quite a say in the matters. I have looked into her and results were not very reassuring. She is as big a pureblood bigot as they come, not to mention her views on the like of werewolves and giants, etc. I am afraid that her passing so many laws against them only serve to alienate them and have them join Voldemort''s army like last war."


    "Yes, I am quite familiar with her. But, as she has Minister''s favor, there is nothing much we could do about her."


    "I am sorry to say it Madam Bones, but she needs to be taken care of, one way or another. It''s bad enough that she is so close to minister and has influence over his decision, but I have recently come across a quite concerning new information. I have heard that Minister Fudge, due to his ever growing paranoia of Dumbledore, has decided that he would send Umbridge to Hogwarts as a new DADA professor, to keep an eye on things. I am sure I don''t need to tell you what it would mean to have someone like her in a school full of impressionable children."


    "Are you sure about your information?"


    "Yes, I am afraid, I am quite sure."


    "But, I thought that it''s up to Headmaster to decide over a new professor''s appointment."


    "Yes, it is. But, it would be a different matter if Headmaster Dumbledore was not able to find a new DADA professor. In that case, the ministry is free to send a professor as per their wish."


    "Yes, but that''s only if the headmaster is not able to find a replacement for previous DADA professor. I am sure he would find someone like he does every year. Though I am not sure about their teaching standards, anyone else would be better than Umbridge."


    "I am afraid you have underestimated them, Madam Bones. Between Fudge''s influence as Minister and Malfoy''s financial and political backing, I am afraid not many will be courageous enough to accept the job."


    "Now that I think about it, it''s a much more pressing issue than I previously thought. Having Umbridge as DADA professor will be a nightmare. I have heard many questionable things about her in ministry. It won''t do to have her around a school full of children. I can''t let someone like her get anywhere close to my niece."

 Chapter 49

    "You are right, but I don''t know what can we do about her. Going after her will only serve to turn Minister Fudge against us. Not to mention, she is careful to not leave any evidence behind, which we can use against her." She said.


    Well, I can think of many ways to just make her disappear. But, not like I am going to tell her that. She has a strong sense of justice and suggestions like that could lower my reputation. Besides, not like she is personally after me, so I am not as concerned.


    "Actually, it could be a good thing. If we can just find a good DADA professor, we can very well profit from this situation."


    "I don''t understand, how will having Umbridge present in school full of children will help us?"


    "Well, you see Madam Bones, Since Minister Fudge is wrapped up in his paranoia of Dumbledore, he will somehow find a way to insist Umbridge''s presence in Hogwarts next year. I think appointing her as High Inquisitor to ensure Hogwarts education standards will be as good as an excuse as he would find. This way, she might have the power to dismiss teachers, who are not good at their jobs. But, as she would need to find valid reasons, backed up by proof to dismiss any professors, professors who are good at their jobs won''t have any problems. On the contrary, professors who aren''t good at their job would be booted out. Also, as High Inquisitor, she won''t have any direct influence over the students. At most, she can appoint some of the students as her helpers. This is actually a win-win situation, we can improve Hogwarts education standards by booting out bad teachers using her as well as keep her away from the Minister."


    "Yes it could work, but only if find someone who is good enough to teach as well as someone who Minister Fudge and Malfoy won''t dare to do anything against. This way, new DADA professor can limit Umbridge''s influence on students as she won''t go against them since even Minister won''t be able to easily touch them." She agreed.


    Perfect, this way, when Harry goes to DOM next year, with his merry little band, I will have an excuse to go after them and replace Dumbledore in fighting Voldemort. Nothing like a good reputation builder as beating Dark Lord''s a.s.s in front of everyone in ministry. As an added bonus, our fight surely makes the front page, by then everyone will get to know about my strength.


    She said after a thing a bit "How about you, Lord Canis? With your multiple Masteries and NEWT scores, no one will be able to question your ability to teach. You also have a DADA mastery, so you can easily get the job and no one will be able to object. Also, as a lord of Canis house, you have enough financial and political clout so they won''t be able to easily touch you. Not to mention, with your strength, even Voldemort will think twice about going against you, not to mention his death eaters like Malfoy."


    Bingo, I was waiting for her to suggest my name. Now, I don''t want to seem overeager, so I am gonna play a bit coy, before accepting.


    "Are you sure about this? I mean, many might object, saying I am too young to be a professor. Besides, there is still more than two months left, who knows, maybe we will find someone better suited to teaching than me."


    "Alright, no need to be hasty. But, it would be better if we give your name to Dumbledore as a last resort. It would be good if he manages to find someone on his own, but if he doesn''t, he will still have you as an option."


    "Alright, I am fine with that. So, when are you going to talk to him? It would be better if he were to know about the Minister''s plan so he could make ample preparations." I said.


    "As current Hogwarts term is coming to an end, I have to Floo there tomorrow morning to pick Susan up, I think it would be better to talk to Dumbledore then."


    "Right then, I think that''s it for today. Besides, it''s already quite late. I am sure we can discuss other issues later." I bid her good night and went to my bedroom.


    Tonks already left us to our discussion earlier and went to the bedroom already. Even though she already moved in here two weeks ago, I was busy in my research, trying to make myself stronger, so I spent every waking moment in my lab. So, it will be our first night together since she moved in and we started living together. Let''s just say I am looking forward to it.

 Chapter 50

    Next day, just as I suspected, Tonks informed me that the Order''s meeting is going to be held later today. I was not surprised as I already predicted it because it was the day before Hogwarts school term comes to an end. Since Dark Lord Voldy was now out and about, it was only natural for Dumbledore to upgrade his "Harry monitoring" plan to "Harry stalking". He may fool his cult members, saying that they are for "protecting" Harry, but as far as I know from the books, they didn''t do much to protect him, aside from stalking him from outside his house, invisibly, of course, skilled stalkers, the lot of them.


    If they were truly protecting him, they wouldn''t have let a dementor anywhere near him during his summer holidays after 4th year.


    But instead, Harry was forced to use Patronus charm to defend himself and subsequently, had to face trial.


    Sometimes I wonder about the reason for their cult to exist. I mean aside from stalking Harry and guarding prophecy at Dom in 5th year, there was nothing worthwhile, that they managed to accomplish.


    Well anyhow, not like I am going to join them. I am just going there because Tonks asked me to and to maintain my good reputation in front of order member. I mean, not like I necessarily had to maintain my reputation but why go through all the trouble of fighting and killing, just to make my way to the top in an idiotic manner like Voldemort, when I can just as easily take Dumbledore''s path to the top as light lord.


    Say what you will about the old man, but he is a true genius at manipulation and one can learn a lot from him. I mean, on the surface, if one looks at Dumbledore''s history, he just seems nothing but a good guy. But, if you look closely, he is as good at manipulation as one can get.


    Even though he possessed so much strength, he chose to be a Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. Some might say that he did so because he wanted to lead a peaceful life and liked being a teacher but I call it bullshit. He chose to be a teacher because the man was a freaking genius. When his old pal Grindelwald was going around the world, waging wars and being Dark Lord, he was smarter. He simply chose to squat at Hogwarts, denying everyone''s request for him to battle Grindelwald to stop the bloodshed, as he was the only one strong enough to do so at that time. No, he made his move, after a few years, when everyone was desperate enough.


    If he had simply defeated the dark lord Grindelwald, right at the start, it wouldn''t have made much of an impact on everyone because they had yet to experience the terror, that was war.


    No, he made his move when everyone was desperate enough and doing so had a great impact on everyone.


    But, If he had just defeated the dark lord Grindelwald, right at the start, people would have at most thanked him and patted him on the back at the time and he would have forgotten soon enough by everyone.


    So, you see, even without doing much work and without going through the path of a dark lord, he still managed to easily reach the top of the political field. As I said, I am still learning from the guy and just like him, I too am planning on following the path of the light lord.


    Actually, to tell the truth, I could have easily killed Voldemort, when I confronted him at Bones Manor with my custom spell ''Sanctus ignis''. As Voldemort''s soul was filled with nothing but dark magic due to making multiple Horcruxes, Sanctus ignis spell would have been easily able to burn his soul and kill him on the spot, that is if I had wanted to do so.


    No, killing him at that time would have been nothing but the height of foolishness. Not to mention, everyone believes that Voldemort has been dead for years, claiming to kill him would have earned me nothing but mockery from every as they would have thought that I was claiming to do so just to become famous.


    No, just like I said, I am going to follow Dumbledore''s path. And in fact I have already started to do so as I intend to become a new DADA professor, as for pesky little jinx, it is non-consequential in front of my abundance of Magical power.

 Chapter 51

    So, later that day I met up with Tonks, who just finished her Auror shift.


    " Wotcher Aiden, ready to go?"


    "Yes, let''s go then."


    "Right then, hold my hand."


    I did so and she Apparated us both. After Apparation, I saw that I was now on a road. In front of me were number 11, Grimmauld place and Number 13, Grimmauld place. Hmm, that odd, why isn''t there a number 12 between them? I felt like I was missing something. From the back of my mind, I felt like I knew the reason, but I just couldn''t remember.


    Seeing the look of intense concentration on my face, Tonks said," No need to think about it so hard. Here read this."


    As she said so, she handed the name a piece of paper.


    The paper read," Number 12, Grimmauld place is located between Number 11 and Number 13, Grimmauld place."


    As soon as I read it, memories about this place came back to. Fidelius charm truly is frightening, even if I knew about this place from before after Dumbledore cast the Fedilus Charm, but I forgot about it as soon as the charm was cast. But as soon as I read the piece of paper, I got my memories of this place back.


    In front of me was Number 12, Grimmauld place, Tucked away in northwestern London, a twenty minute walk from king cross station. Both Unplottable and hidden behind a Fidelius Charm, the house is invisible to all but a few. Though the neighbouring Muggles don''t even know the building exists, it was for many years home to the Black family ¡ª one of the wizarding world''s oldest pureblood families, and extremely proud to be so.


    It is not without reason that Dumbledore cast the Fidelius and made it Order''s headquarter, as soon as Voldemort came back. This house has almost every security measures known to wizardkind. You would be hard pressed to find a place more secure than this, aside from Ministry of Magic and Gringorts bank, obviously.


    But, it doesn''t mean that I was overly impressed by it, I put better wards, which were custom made by myself along with a Fidelius on my Manor, which I inherited from Canis family. Even the house I was currently residing with Tonks too had better security measures, though not Fidelius, as it would have defeated the whole purpose of me hiding my Manor.


    Anyway, I focused back on the present and walked up to the house with Tonks.


    She unlocked the magical lock, which was placed on the door and walked inside.


    As I wasn''t added to the wards yet, I waited outside. Yes, I could easily break through these wards with my status as a master on warding and overabundance of Magical strength. But, it would create unnecessary problems. Besides, Tonks should be working on the issue right now.


    Soon, I was proven correct as I felt the wards shift and allowing me to pass. I didn''t hesitate and walked directly inside.


    As I came inside, I saw the house covered in layers of dust and grime, with Pixy infestation here and there.


    Once the luxurious house of the pureblood Black family was now is not in any condition to even live. But, this should be expected, as Dumbledore should have made it the Order''s Headquarter and cast Fidelius on it just a few days ago, after the return of the Dark Lord.


    I am guessing that it should be in a clean or hospitable state in the upcoming summer. What with Molly Weasley ordering around Harry, Hermione, and Weasley siblings to clean it with her, manually no less.


    How the hell did Harry manage to defeat Voldemort in books? What with forcing the Chosen one to clean the house instead of Training him for upcoming danger, I am really surprised he managed to luck out and defeat the more knowledgeable and experienced Dark lord.


    Sure Molly had a reason to have them clean the house manually, as there are may dark artefacts scattered all around the house but even then wasting Harry''s, the one prophesied to defeat Dark Lord''s, time to clean is nothing but aiding the enemy. If they really wanted to die so much, why didn''t they just committed suicide, instead of trying to drag whole Magical England with them?


    I can''t stress this enough that it was only luck that Harry managed to defeat the dark lord.


    Sure I could easily destroy Voldemort, but I am sure as hell not going to be the one to kill him. No matter how strong I am, I am not foolish enough to go against the prophecy. Doing so would only invite unnecessary trouble and messing with a prophecy is never a good idea.


    My plan is to fight Voldemort directly in front of everyone and beat him up so that he is weak enough for Harry to kill him.


    This way not only will my reputation will soar, but even Harry would also know that he couldn''t have killed him without me. A win-win situation if I ever heard one.


    Like I said, Everything for the greater good. But, for now, it''s time for the Cult..... I mean, Order''s meeting to start.

 Chapter 52

    As I entered the kitchen, I saw a large dining table, around which many people were sitting. I recognized quite a few of them. Weasley family, Mad-eye Moody, Severus Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Mundungus Fletcher, and Tonks, of course, were the ones I recognized. Dumbledore was also sitting on the head seat, presiding over the meeting.


    As I entered, everyone''s attention shifted to me and


    "Aiden, my boy, thank you for joining us, please take a seat." Dumbledore said as he gestured me to sit.


    As I did so, he announced, "Now, before we begin, let me into our newest member, Mr Aiden Canis. I am sure everyone has already heard about him."


    But, before he can continue further, I interpreted, "I am afraid you have me at loss Headmaster. As I have already Tonks, I have yet to make any decision about joining this organisation (yeah, actually I have, not gonna join). I am here to listen and verify a few things about the organisation before I consider joining."


    Some of them made sour faces at that. But Dumbledore took it in stride and said, "Hmm, seems like I was under the wrong impression. But, no matter. I am sure we can clear any doubts you have before you join."


    Now, if I was a stupid person, who didn''t consider things carefully before saying anything( *cough* Ronald Weasley *cough*), I would have directly rejected them and go my merry way. But, as that is not the case, I am going to let them down easily. As complimenting someone rarely goes wrong, I am going to first butter them up before refusing to join them, instead of an outright refusal.


    "Yes, I have actually done my research and read about the order activities during the previous war. Got to say, Order did many admirable things and saved many lives during the last war. Not everyone can stand up against dark lords and fight for what''s right. For that everyone here have my respect." Here I paused for dramatic effect.


    Everyone looked pleased and sat a bit straighter as I said so, well almost everyone. Dumbledore, Moody and Snape were the ones who didn''t show any outwards reaction and maintained stoic faces as they listened and I continued, "As I said, I admire the goals of this order. But, I am afraid, I do have some doubts."


    " And what would they be, my boy. I assure you that everything that order does is for the greater good."


    Woah, how the hell did he just say that with a straight face, in front of everyone at that? Greater good my a.s.s, all this cult does is stalking Harry, and he can still bullshit about ''greater good''. In front of his shamelessness, even I feel like an amateur.


    Say what you will about the old man, but he is a pro at the international language of bullshiting, that''s for sure. Even I can''t say the phrase "for greater good" with such confidence like I actually mean it. Hmm... I really should practice in front of a mirror so that I can too toss around ''greater good'' as he does. The old man is a treasure trove of knowledge, I fully intend to learn as much I can from him, before he kicks the bucket in new two years, so that I too can bullshit with the best of them like him.


    Despite my inner monologue, I still kept a stoic face and betrayed none of my emotions.


    "Yes, I am sure order has the best of intentions and it works towards the greater good. But Order''s goals are not the problem, it''s the method employed to achieve said goals are what makes me hesitant to join."


    "Methods you say? I am afraid, I don''t quite understand what you mean, my boy."


    "Actually, I have done my research about the order''s fighting style, before I came here. I am actually quite dismayed that order members only use stunners and non-lethal spells in battles."


    "Again, my boy, I don''t get what''s the problem? Bloodshed is never a good thing. Everyone must be given a second chance for them to see the error of their ways and rectify their mistakes. If we fight to kill, then we won''t be any better than the ones who we fight against."


    Even though Dumbledore looked wise and told me in a sagely voice, I only heard bullshit coming out of his mouth. It might have worked against his cult members and rest of the wizarding sheep, but no way I am getting swayed by his bullshit. Did he think that I don''t know what a war is? You don''t win a war of you keep giving second chances to your enemies. I mean, look at what happened after last war. Barely a small portion of Death Eaters paid for their crimes and a large portion of them got off the hook by bribing their way out of Wizangaomot, spewing nonsense like they were under an imperious curse. If they were taken care off appropriately after last war, Dark Lord V-man wouldn''t have had his army of Death Eaters under him, as soon as he came back from "dead".


    Not to mention, as Chief warlock, it was Dumbledore himself who let the Death Eaters bribing their way to freedom. If he had just done his job and put them on fair trial, there would not have had any war to fight this time around, just the Voldemort.

 Chapter 53

    "You are correct, Everyone deserves second a chance to correct their mistakes and normally, I too would have supported you. But, current circ.u.mstances are anything but normal. I am sure everyone here knows that wizarding England is on the brink of war, as Dark Lord has returned and has already started to gather his forces. Even though he is currently hiding, it is but a matter of time when he shows himself in public. Using stunners and non-lethal spells on death eaters now will be utter foolishness. Besides, they already had their second chance, when they bribed their way out of Wizangaomot after last war."


    "Aiden, my boy, I am afraid you are going dark. Violence is not the solution, I am sure they can still be saved and brought back to the path of righteousness. We need to show everyone that we can still prevail over evil without resorting to violence."


    Wow, and here I thought he already reached the Pinnacle of the language of bullshiting, but then he goes and reached even higher heights. Truly, his ability to bullshit knows no bounds.


    I am going dark? Yeah, right, as if I would ever use dark magic and risk corrupting my mind. Here I was all polite and stuff, but then he goes, throwing accusations at me (not that I personally care, but I have a reputation to maintain), just because I disagree with his point of view. Yeah, Fu*k him and Fu*k politeness. He needs to know that I am not someone who he can push around and whom he can walk all over.


    I flared my magic to its limits and said in a deep voice, "Those are some serious accusations you are throwing around, Dumbledore. You better have some evidence to support your claims of me going dark. If you have any evidence, then take it out otherwise, I am going to challenge you for an honour Duel."


    I am going to point it out again that the sheer amount of magic my crystal core contains is no joke. Everyone, including Dumbledore, is under pressure. This effect is even more pronounced on weaker members, who are visibly struggling to even sit straight. Not to mention, my eyes are now glowing intensely with blue light. But I didn''t just stop here, I shattered some of the glasses, with my wandless Magic, just for dramatic visual effect, to convey the fact that I am very pissed at the moment (yeah, I am not above a little theatrics to achieve my goals).


    No, before you ask, I am not throwing such childish tantrum because I am truly angry. I am just doing so to remind them of my power and convey the fact that I am not some henchman of Dumbledore, who he can push around.


    "Now now, my boy, no need to get angry. We are just having a conversation ---"


    Dumbledore started to speak but I cut him off. I need to show that I am not going to take any more of his bullshit.


    Dumbledore went silent after that as he knew he was in a disadvantageous state, either way. We stared at each other for some time. No, one made any sound and just waited for the situation to play out between the two us.


    At last, it was professor McGonagall who broke the silence and told Dumbledore, "I believe Mr Canis is right Albus, you had no right to accuse him of going dark, with no evidence at that. He is justified to defend himself from such accusations."


    Wow, did McGonagall just defend me against Dumbledore? I certainly didn''t expect her to do so, and from the look on his face, Dumbledore didn''t either.


    After McGonagall, some of the other members too spoke on my behalf like Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks of course, with Tonks being the most vocal amongst them.


    Seeing the situation play out against him, Dumbledore, being a veteran politician that he is, changed his tactics and apologized, " I am sorry for my thoughtless implications my boy, I admit I lost myself in the arguments. But I would still say that violence is not the way to go here."


    I gotta admit, it was a rather nice save on his part. And since he already apologized, if I was to remain childishly stubborn, it would reflect rather badly on me. Besides I have already proven my point and shown my strength, I would gain nothing from continued to remain stubborn.


    Besides, it serves me better to move on and accept his apologies as my goal is to remain on acceptable terms with Order or even form an alliance. By doing so I will maintain my good reputation with the future winning side of the war.

 Chapter 54

    I sigh dramatically and said, "Fine, I accept your apology. But that doesn''t change the fact that we have different views on fighting against the dark lord''s army. As I already said, if someone were to attack me or mine, I will not hesitate for a moment to retaliate ruthlessly, no matter who the attacker is and I will certainly not change my principles to join the order."


    "*Sigh* My boy, even though I very much want you to join the order, it can''t be done. As you said, we have different viewpoints and principles and I can''t ask you to change yours, nor could I change mine."


    Well, of course, he won''t let me join after what just happened. In fact, I would be actually surprised if he would have let me join the order after I stood up against him and threatened him just now, in front of every member of the order no less. Letting me join and accepting my terms would have undermined his authority as the leader of the group. In fact, if I was in his place, I would have made the same decision as him, and wouldn''t have let someone join, who started to question my every move. It would have been nothing but inviting unnecessary trouble.


    "Well, even though we have different viewpoints on fighting, it doesn''t mean that we don''t have the same goals. I want dark lord gone as much as everyone present here( not really, again I don''t really give a F*ck about Voldy, I can just beat his a.s.s easily if he gets in my way) and even if I couldn''t officially join the order, it doesn''t mean we can''t help each other."


    "Hmm, got to say, I am intrigued, my boy. What are you proposing?"


    "I am thinking of forming an alliance of sorts. Nothing hard and fast, just help each other when necessary to achieve our shared goal of defeating the dark lord. In fact, I have formed a similar arrangement with Madam Bones in helping her to prepare the Aurors for the fight against the dark lord''s forces."


    As I said so, Everyone was shocked including Dumbledore, well aside for Tonks, who already knew about it. That''s right, if I had said the same thing about Fudge or any other ministry official, they could have accused me of bribing and conducting shady deals. But, as the one involved was Madam Bones, it was practically guaranteed that there was no bribing or shady under the table deals were involved. Involving Madam Bones practically means that everything was perfectly legal and by the books. Meaning, I was already on the side of government and correct authority in the upcoming war, unlike the vigilante cult they have going on here.


    Even though I didn''t gain anything tangential from my earlier deal with Madam Bones, I earned something much more important to me currently i.e credibility, which is the very same thing that I stand to gain from this alliance with the order. After the war ends, these deals will pay my share of dividends and I could say that I played a very important role in the war, well aside from directly fighting Voldemort, and sway the general sheep that is wizarding population, in my favour, and no one will be able to refute my claims. With Dumbledore dead by then, these deals will then help yours truly become the next light lord. By then I will be able to do whatever the hell I want, spewing bullshit like greater good and no one will be able to say anything against me.


    Dumbledore made the sensible and logical choice and asked, "What would this alliance entail, my boy?"


    "Like I stated earlier, both our goals of defeating dark lord coincide and I will provide the help necessary to achieve this goal and expect the same from the order. The only condition I have is that you share the relevant and necessary information with me without hiding anything( which is highly unlikely as Dumbledore keeps his cards close to his c.h.e.s.t and have a compulsive need to keep the relevant information to himself)."


    "A fair condition, my boy. In fact, the order can also use your expertise as a healer and warding master, as we don''t have a dedicated healer for the order and even though young William here is a proficient curse breaker, he doesn''t have as much expertise in warding as he does in destroying them. We can save many more lives if you were to lend your help."


    "Yes, I am sure no one here any objections. Henceforth, Order will have an alliance with the Canis family." Said Dumbledore jovially as we shook hands.


    As my work here was done, I didn''t waste more of my time and said, "Right then, if you require my help, you can either send a Patronus or have Tonks call me using her two-way mirror."


    As I said so I stood up and said my farewells and made my way out of there.


    I really don''t want to hang around the cult more than I have to. Besides, not like they are going to discuss anything other than to overtly or covertly stalking Harry in upcoming summer ( if books are any indication, they are not even going to do that right and let a dementor attack Harry and the round meatball he calls his cousin, and subsequently let him suffer through that farce of underage magic trial, which Umbitch concocted.)

 Chapter 55

    Next few weeks went smoothly, without any issues, for me at least. For Harry? Not so much. Like books, he had to go through the whole dementor and trial ordeal. Also just like cannon, Dumbledore wasn''t able to find any DADA professor and Fudge being ever the paranoid and incompetent fool, was pushing for Umbridge to be the next DADA professor, or so Madam Bones told me. But as previously discussed, she came through for me and talked to Dumbledore about me being the new DADA professor, who in turn thankfully accepted as he too didn''t like the dearest pink toad Dolaris Umbridge. Though Fudge tried to argue, saying that I was too young for the position, it didn''t work as there are no rules about a professor''s age. So, if someone is qualified enough for the job, which I was actually overqualified for, the job is their, inconsequential of age. Actually, seeing that it was me who is going to be the new DADA professor, almost everyone was in favour of me being the professor.


    Well, at least my talks with Madam Bones had the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect. Just as Fudge was feeling anxious, for not being able to have his spy, Umbridge, at Hogwarts to keep an eye on Dumbledore and his treacherous schemes to usurp his position, madam bones provided him with an Idea of sending Umbridge as high inquisitor to identify the issues in Hogwarts teaching standards due to having less NEWT level potion students and subsequently the lack of Auror eligible candidates.


    Fudge reacted like expected and announced Dolaris as the high inquisitor, the very next day. He gave the speech about the declining quality of Hogwarts education and the whole shebang, not that he managed to convince anybody about his true motive. Everyone knew him for the incompetent and paranoid fool that he was, and played along with his new scheme. But, even though a fool, the man was still the Minister of magic and had the power to appoint the high inquisitor.


    Looks like upcoming Hogwarts year is going to be very interesting, well for me at least. But, for Dumbledore and his pet, Snape, not so much. Who knows, she might manage to kick out useless teachers like Binns, Trelawney and the others and actually improve the Hogwarts education standards. Thinking so, I pat myself on the back for my hand in making this good deed happen. Man, sometimes I think I have actually caught the protagonist disease. Real deadly that disease, I tell you. Symptoms include foolish jumping in a dangerous situation and to help someone random people without anything in return, obsessive-compulsive need to force risk their own lives to save people, hero complex, etc.


    Anyway, During the summer, I finished up a few of my pending projects, which were to dangerous to be done in a school full of children. Yet, despite my best efforts and cautiousness, I am sure Harry and his little band will still manage to land themselves neck deep in needless trouble. Another symptom of the aforementioned disease, which I forgot to list earlier. As I said, the disease is too deadly and I am taking every precaution I can to avoid catching it.


    On a side note, as previously discussed Madam Bones and her niece, Susan spent the summer at my house with me and Tonks. Though young Susan asked me to tutor her, I managed to wiggle out of it saying that as her new DADA professor I don''t want everyone to think that I was showing favouritism and teaching her stuff in advance. Yeah, like I was going to waste time tutoring her without getting anything in return. Did I ever mention that I was a wee bit pragmatic person? Not like madam bones was going to notice the I effort I would have put in tutoring her, certainly not with all the increased workload since she started to work on cleaning the ministry of spies and training Aurors for the upcoming war.


    Speaking of Aurors, as previously discussed, I asked my Gringotts account manager to set up that vault for Auror equipment I talked to Madam Bones about. Even though only a few of the Aurors knew about it( no one wanted Fudge to find about the war preparations, lest the fool get wrong ideas about madam bones wanting to usurp his position and act out irrationally), they knew the one to thank for their new goodies and soon the rest of them will know too.


    Anyway, so here I all dressed up and ready, in front of Floo to go to Hogwarts. Gotta admit, I certainly never thought that I will go to Hogwarts again for my eighth year. Life works in mysterious ways.

 Chapter 56

    Using the Floo at three broomstick pub at Hogsmeade, I made my way towards Hogwarts. As I was neither a student nor a teacher yet, I didn''t have access through the Hogwarts wards. As Headmaster allows the new teachers access at the start of the term, I had to go through the front entrance of the castle, which is the only way for visitors to come inside.


    But I didn''t mind and leisurely walked to the castle entrance.


    As the Hogwarts express had already arrived at Hogsmeade station, I expected the students to come here soon. So, I didn''t waste any time and went straight to the great hall. Some of the teachers were already present, though Headmaster, deputy headmistress and newly appointed high Inquisitor were noticeably absent.


    As I approached the staff table, I greeted the ones present there and took my seat. Soon the older year students started to come in. In around ten minutes, almost all of the students except the first year and all the staff members were present in the great hall.


    Most noticeable was the New high Inquisitor, Dolores Umbridge. Got to say that the books didn''t do her character justice. She was even more hideous then depicted in the books. Even though I expected it to some extent and prepared myself in advance, I nearly gagged when I saw her for the first time. So much pink, I almost thought that I was going to go colour blind. I don''t know what spell she used, but it is certainly working in making everyone hate her the moment they saw her. What''s worse was her sickly sweet and high pitched voice. You might think that I am over exaggerating but I assure you that I am not. You see, due to my dual animagus forms of falcon and wolf, my sense of hearing and eyesight are much stronger. Add on that Ritual I did to enhance my body last year, all of my senses are many times that of average wizard''s. So her overall pink theme and high pitched sickly sweet voice is affecting me much more than the rest.


    Shit, even though it was my idea to have her here, I don''t think I can endure this torture for one whole year. I think it will be for the greater good if she were to suddenly drop dead during this Hogwarts year. Yes, a horrible person like her who tortures students and someone as blood bigoted as her deserve to die and for the greater good, I am willing to undertake the task myself.


    But, damm it all, every time I look at her ugly mug, I want nothing more than to vanish her out of existence. Good thing I am a master occlumans, otherwise I don''t know if I could endure this torture.


    I was brought out of my thoughts when deputy headmistress McGonagall brought in the new first-year students for their sorting.


    Soon the sorting of the new students started but I didn''t pay any attention to it as there were no noticeable characters amongst the new students. Instead, I focused on older students. Actually, many of them were pointing at me and Umbridge. I can sense their confusion as there is only one opening for DADA professor and there are two of us new staff members seating on the staff table. Many of them were guessing about which one of going to be their new DADA professor.


    Soon, the sorting of new first-year students was finished. Dumbledore stood up and started his speech, "Good evening, everyone. Now, we have a few changes in staff this year. Please welcome back professor Grubbly-plank, who will be substituting classes in care of magical creatures subject, while professor Hagrid is on temporary leave. We also wish to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, professor Aiden Canis, I am sure most of older year students remember him and the ministry appointed High Inquisitor, Dolores Umbridge. I am sure you will all join me in wishing them good luck. Also our caretaker Mr Filch has asked me to remind you-"


    "*hem hem*" here Umbridge interrupted Dumbledore and stood up from her seat and started, "Thank you, Headmaster, for the kind words of welcome. how lovely to see all your bright happy faces smiling up at me. The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards of vital importance. But, sadly it has come to the ministry''s notice that the educational standards for this great institution have fallen in the last few years. So, to ensure that students get the proper education, our esteemed Minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge has appointed me as the High Inquisitor. I am sure we are all going to be very good friends."


    [Soft applause]

 Chapter 57

    Next few days went by quietly. As it was a weekend at the start of term, it gave the new students and staff members time to adjust. But soon enough, it was Monday and time to give my first lecture came.


    And as luck would have it, my first class was 5th year combined class of Gryffindor and Slytherin.


    After a quiet breakfast, I went to the designated DADA class, just at the correct time.


    As I went inside, I saw that all the students were present. I waved my wand and soon my name was written on the blackboard.


    " Good morning, everyone."


    As everyone went quiet, I continued.


    " I am sure all of you know me from the previous years. My name is Aiden Canis, your new DADA professor. Now before we begin, I would like to point out that this is a very important year for all of you as you will be taking your ''Ordinary Wizarding Level'' examination or OWLs for short. As you may all know, your OWL scores will play a very important role in your future employment, so I would suggest you all to take your studies seriously this year. Now, as a former student here up until last year, I know firsthand about the DADA course situation, and lack of structure in this course. But, worry not, I assure you all that I will try to fill the gaps from previous years and prepare every single one of you for your OWLs exams, provided that you study, of course. Now, enough with the introductions, everyone takes out your DADA books and turn over to page¡ª"


    "*Hem Hem*"


    I was interrupted mid-speech by none other than Umbridge.


    Damm it, I was avoiding her for the last couple of days, but it looks like my luck just ran out. I want to do nothing more than to just hit her head with a blasting curse and be done with it. But I clamped all emotions with occlumancy and asked calmly.


    "Can I help you with something, Madam Umbridge? As you can see, I am in the middle of my lecture and would appreciate if I can continue without any further interruptions."


    "Of course, dear. But before you do so, I would like to make some announcements."


    My face didn''t betray any emotions and I calmly gestured her to continue.


    As she said to, she waved her wand and a stack of books came flying in. Well, I''ll be dammed, she is still going through with forcing students to study that horrible DADA book I saw in canon. If I remember correctly, basically everything in that book can be summarised in one single sentence: When in trouble or attacked, act like confused and terrified sheep, hide and call Aurors.


    No wonder, any Tom, D.i.c.k or Harry can attack a few of sheep and call themselves Dark Lords.


    But, the ministry has the right to change any course book they see fit, so saying anything against it will be useless. Well no matter, not like it''s going to have much effect, I will just focus more on teaching them practical spells and just have them take notes from what I dictate when I show them the spells.


    As such, I let her continue with her charade.


    By now, every student had a copy of the new book on their tables and every old DADA book they had was taken away by Umbridge.


    " You all will be pleased to know that from now on, you will be studying from the well structured DADA books prescribed by the ministry. I am sure Professor Canis should be fine with this, right dear?"


    She asked as she turned towards me. Well, if she''s looking to get a rise out me, she''s going to be most disappointed as I am no idiotic Gryffindor. In fact, one might even say that she is doing me a favour. How? You ask. Well, now when I teach the students practically, without the books, they are going to appreciate it even more. Comparing to the books, what I am going to teach them will look even more impressive.


    So I answered her evenly,


    Just like before, "Of course, Madam Umbridge. I am sure the ministry has nothing but the best of intentions for the students."


    Here Umbridge answered, " I assure you, dear, everything you need to pass your OWLs is in that book. There is no need for you to learn practical spells. This way students can learn in a controlled and safer environment."


    Harry, being a Gryffindor that he is rose up to the occasion and asked, "But how are we suppose to learn to protect ourselves from what''s out there."


    "There is nothing out there, dear. There is no reason for children like you to learn to defend themselves."


    Man, no wonder he played right into Umbridge''s hand and got himself the detention in canon. Say what you will about the toad, but she is a veteran politician and someone idiotic and brash like Harry doesn''t stand a chance against her in scheming. Anyone can see that she is purposely getting a rise out of Harry to give him detention. But, I am no rookie either, I am sure I can find a way to get this to turn in my favour. But for now, I kept quiet and continued watched.


    " Yes, there is, we need to learn to defend ourselves from the Voldemort."


    *Cue shudders from everyone*


    "Detention, Mr Potter for spreading baseless rumours and lies. I want you in my off¡ª"


    " Actually, Madam Umbridge, as you are not a teacher, you don''t have the authority to assign detention. But, seeing as this is my class, It stands to reason that Mr Potter here spends his detention with me. Now, if you are done with the announcements, I believe it''s time for me to start my lecture."


    She looked like she just swallowed a sour lemon. Well, anyone would be, as after all this trouble, I snatched away her prize form her.


    "Sure, be my guest." I said so and gestured towards the corner.

 Chapter 58

    "Alright then, Everyone settle down, it''s time to get on with the class. Now as I was saying, there are a lot of gaps in your earlier years Dada subject knowledge, as such the material I will be teaching will be as per my own discretion. As such, we won''t have the time to study the newly prescribed DADA book in the classroom, but I will expect each and every one of you to read it on your own as homework. Now let''s start with¡ª"


    *Hem hem*


    Now I was getting really annoyed.


    "What is it Madam Umbridge?"


    "Professor Canis, I am afraid this is not acceptable. You must teach from the book provided by the ministry."


    "High Inquisitor Umbridge, As the professor of Dada subject, what I teach in my class is my business and mine alone and ministry has no say in it. If you have any problem with it, you are most welcome to bring the matter to the school board and DOME. Now, I have had enough of your interruptions, you can either sit down quietly for the rest of the class or get out."


    She looked shocked at this but soon shock transformed into anger. Guess, she didn''t expect for me to disagree with her. But she still sat down as I was right.


    After I was done with her, I took out my wand and casted space extension charms on the classroom. After that, I rearranged the desks with students still sitting on them and soon enough the classroom was as big as the Great Hall and there was free space in the front of the classroom and desks were on the back. I Warded the front area for safety and conjured some practice dummies. Soon enough there was a practice range set up in the front of the classroom.


    "Alright everyone, stand up and come inside the practice range."


    Every one of them was confused but they still obeyed my instructions nonetheless. After everyone was inside the range I said, "As the subject name implies, I will teach you how to defend yourselves in dangerous situations from your enemies. But for that, before we go further with new spells, first of all, every one of you must know to effectively dodge the attacks and accurately hit your enemies. Now some of you might think that dodging is unnecessary and might think that defending using a shield charm would be better. But that thinking is absolutely wrong and might get you killed in a real fight. Aside from the fact that there are spells that can completely ignore the shield and hit you, like the unforgivables, casting shield charm would waste your magic and you might get exhausted magically before your opponent does. Not to mention that even overpowered standard cutter and blasting charm can easily shatter your shield not to mention advanced spells. So, unless it is absolutely necessary, dodging is almost always the better choice. Also, no matter how knowledgeable and magically stronger you are than your opponent, if you can''t aim your spells correctly and hit your opponents, everything is pointless. So, you all will be doing a simple exercise to improve both your aiming and dodging capabilities. For that I want each of you to pair up with a student of different house and stand opposite to each other."


    To save time, I announced the Slytherin-Gryffindor pairs myself. Just for the shits and giggles, I paired up Harry and Draco Malfoy together. I mean, they fight regularly enough, why not give them the chance to do it properly. Not to mention, as they hate one another''s guts, they will be pushing each other harder.


    After they were done, I continued, "Now I want one from each pair to attack their partner with a stinging hex and the other to dodge and alternate after every five minutes. Also, if any of you don''t have good aim, I want them to start practicing on the dummies to improve their aim. But, be warned, if I catch anyone of you casting any other spell then stinging hex, they will be punished very harshly."


    The class went unexpectedly smoothly after that, well other than the fact that I stopped Ronald Weasley when he tried to cast another spell on his opponent, who even tried to justify it by saying that ''slimy snake deserved it'', when his opponent hit him with many stinging hexes because he was not fast enough to dodge. Well since I didn''t want to spend any more time I had to with him, I promptly assigned him one month of detention with caretaker Filch as his punishment.


    Days went by smoothly and quietly and soon enough it was the weekend once again. I was sitting in my office when the door was knocked. After I gave my permission, Harry entered my office and greeted me.


    "Hello, Mr. Potter. Here to serve your detention, I presume."


    "Yes, and thank you for defending me back then. I don''t think I would have liked to serve my detention with her."


    "No, problem. Have a seat, then. Now, I don''t like wasting time so I think it would serve both of us better if we use the time productively instead of having you do some pointless chore. So, you can study on your own or ask for my help if you need my help with something."


    "Umm¡­Professor, actually there is something. Do you know how to use Occlumency? Professor Snape is tutoring me on it but I am having trouble learning it."


    "Well, I am actually a master occlumens and am very proficient in mind arts. But why do you need to learn Occlumency so urgently? Mind arts are complex pieces of magic and it would be better for you to take your time to slowly learn Occlumency."


    "Actually, I am having these nightmares from some time and when I told professor Dumbledore about it, he had professor Snape tutor me privately but I am not having any progress at all. Everything I have to show for it is the blinding headaches I get after my tutoring session with him."

 Chapter 59

    "Nightmares? Have you consulted with a healer about it? I mean sure Headmaster is a very knowledgeable wizard, but he is not a healer."


    "Umm¡­no, I have never been to a healer other than Madam Pomphrey. I mean they are just nightmares, everybody has them, umm¡­right?"


    "Yes, Mr. Potter. But not to the extent that they have to learn Occlumency to control them. You know, I am also a master healer. If you want, I can check if there is any problem."


    "You are? Alright then, but umm¡­I don''t have to drink any potions, do I? I really hate drinking them."


    "*chuckle* No. No Potions, just the diagnostic charms."


    He looked relieved at hearing that. I chuckled once again as I took out my wand.


    "Now Harry, stay still. I am just going to cast some diagnostic charms on you. But if you feel uncomfortable at any time, just tell me."


    "Okay."


    He said weakly.


    For the next few minutes, I casted various types of diagnostic charm on him, some of which were of my own creation and let me tell you, results were not pretty. Years of malnutrition, broken bones that were not healed properly, various scar tissue on his body were just the tip of the iceberg. I also found traces of the basilisk venom and Phoenix tears in his blood. Not to mention the soul shard in his forehead. I also found very strong blood wards bound to his magical core continuously siphoning of his magic which would explain the blood wards on his uncle''s house. But the problem is that the blood wards were siphoning a large portion of his magic from his magic core even though be is at Hogwarts and not there, like 40% of his magic was continuously going to blood wards and around 15% of his magic was continuously used against the soul shard in his forehead to limit its influence on Harry means he only had access to less than half of his magic. Not to mention that there are no signs of antibiotics in his system for any of the magical diseases like dragon pox, means he was never taken to a healer to get the vaccination and as his magical guardian, it was Dumbledore''s job to make sure he got his vaccination. Even Madam Pomphrey should have picked up these things and given that Harry takes at least one trip to the infirmary, she had many chances to do so.


    Yeah! Dumbledore really screwed him royally.


    Seeing how serious I looked, he asked meekly, "Umm¡­Professor, is everything okay?"


    "Well Harry, I think we should have this conversation in the presence of Headmaster, as he should be your magical guardian."


    "My magical guardian? He is?"


    "Yes, he is. Now come along."


    "Hello, Professor McGonagall. I hope you are not busy."


    She looked up from the papers she was grading and asked, "How I help you, professor Canis. I see that you have brought Mr. Potter along, is there any problem?"


    "Actually, yes. I was just taking Mr. Potter to Headmaster''s office. As the head of his house, I would like for you to be present."


    "Alright, but can I ask what this is about?"


    "Well, you see, Mr. Potter was serving his detention with me and he mentioned that he was having nightmares for quite some time so as a Master healer myself, I offered to do a check-up on him and things I found were quite concerning. So, as Headmaster is his magical guardian, I would like to discuss a few things with about Mr. Potter''s health. I think it would be prudent if you were present there as head of his house."


    "Hmm¡­If you think that it is serious enough for me to be present there, then alright. Let''s go."


    As we''re going to the Headmaster''s office, I was going over the consequences of what I am about to do here. For one, Harry and McGonagall are going to get a rude awakening about the hero worship they have for Dumbledore.


    Second, depending on whether he is genuinely a good guy or a wolf in sheep''s clothing, he is going to to either hate me for bringing his schemes about Harry to light or be grateful for helping Harry by healing him and removing the soul shard from his forehead which he believed to be not possible without a killing curse and Harry''s death without the deathly hallows. Either way, I am not worried since he is going to be dead next year anyway.


    Lastly, I am going to be firmly in the good books of Harry and McGonagall. And depending on Harry''s personality, he should be very grateful to me which should be really helpful to me in establishing myself as new light Lord after Dumbledore kicks the bucket and war is over.

 Chapter 60

    So, here I was, in front of Gargoyle protecting the stairs to Headmaster''s office, with professor McGonagall and Harry.


    As professors, both Professor McGonagall and I knew the password and soon after I said the password, Gargoyle removed itself from the way and the stairs were revealed to us.


    Before I had the chance to knock, Dumbledore''s voice came from inside, inviting the three of us inside. It would have been mysterious if I was some stupid plebian but as a master of wards, I easily noticed the identification ward in front of the door.


    We went inside to see Dumbledore seating behind his desk, putting down his quill which he was using to write something on a piece of parchment and focusing his attention on the tree of us.


    "I must admit, this is a rather unusual group. So, how can I be of assistance?"


    Since McGonagall didn''t know what this was all about and Harry being too shy, I took the lead and said,


    "Well, Headmaster, today Harry was serving his detention with me and he happened to mention about the constant nightmares he was having (I paused for the dramatic effect and sure enough, Dumbledore''s face fell as I mentioned about Harry''s nightmares and I continued) and as you know I am also a master healer, so I offered to do a check-up on him and let''s just say that results found were rather unnerving to say the very least."


    Harry looked rather anxious thinking that something was wrong ( he was right to be worried as he was in really bad shape both physically and mentally) and McGonagall was looking rather confused. But it was the look on Dumbledore''s unusually pale face that took the cake. He looked like someone just beat him up and took away his lemon drops.


    Though he recomposed himself rather quickly and said,


    "Thank you, Minerva, for coming but It is of utmost importance that I talk to professor Canis alone. Also, take young Harry with you, I am sure he would rather enjoy the weekend with his friends."


    Ah, Nice try there Dumbledore, but there is no way I am going to let you wiggle your way out of the shit I am about to throw at you.


    "Actually Headmaster, I think it would be better if they were both be present for the conversation, seeing professor McGonagall is Harry''s head of the house and as it''s Harry''s health we are talking about here."


    Seeing that his plan to dismiss both Harry and McGonagall failed, Dumbledore slowly reached for his wand. No doubt wanting to obliviate the three of us and erase our memory of the whole issue. A rather desperate and foolish attempt if you ask me. I am sure he must have watched the memory of me fighting against Voldemort and knows how strong I actually am ( though not to the actual extent as I held back quite a lot in that fight ). But I guess his plan must be to catch me unaware with a stunner, not that it would have ever worked.


    "Well Headmaster, I would strongly advise against drawing your wand. But, hey, if you think that you can take me on, then sure, go ahead."


    He stiffened and pulled his hand back with a sigh. Though McGonagall now looked alert and ready to draw her wand, looking warily at both Dumbledore and me. Though Harry looked even more confused and clueless if that''s possible. Again, how the hell did he manage to beat Voldemort and even survive in the canon is beyond me. Then again, protagonists do have the survivability of c.o.c.kroaches, guess it must be the power the Dark Lord knows not.


    Anyway, back to the situation at hand. Dumbledore sat there, his shoulders sagging.


    "*sigh* What did I find? For starters, no signs of any vaccination against any of magical diseases, Malnutrition, broken bones that were never properly healed, various scar tissues on his body, signs of basilisk venom and Phoenix tears in his blood, blood wards tied to magical core continuously siphoning off 40% of his magic. (McGonagall looked more and more furious as I continued with the list. Though Harry just continued to shrink further and further in himself. He must have known about it himself from firsthand experience, though he looked surprised when I mentioned blood wards siphoning his magic. But I had yet to drop the metaphorical bomb about soul shard stuck in his head.) And worst of all, there is a piece of soul stuck in his forehead, in his scar."


    McGonagall gasped as I finished and Dumbledore audibly sighed.


    "What do you there is a piece of soul stuck in my scar? ( For the first time in the conversation, Harry asked, looking furious, rightly so. But soon realization struck him and he turned towards Dumbledore) You knew about it from the start, didn''t you? In my second year, you said that I could speak parseltongue because I absorbed some of Voldemort''s power when I survived from his killing curse. *Gasp* It''s Voldemort''s piece of soul stuck in my scar, isn''t it? You knew about it but you hid it from me for all these years!!!"


    He finished loudly. Well, no one can blame the guy. It''s not every day when someone finds that there is a piece of the soul of their most hated enemy in their forehead.

 Chapter 61

    Harry''s magic was going wild as he continued with his outburst. Many of the delicate stuff like teacups shattered, broke or wildly thrown off.


    Accidental magic usually happens only when a wizard or a witch is in great emotional distress. By looking at the amount of wild and uncontrolled magic which is wreaking havoc in Dumbledore''s office, one can easily guess his current emotional state and the good part (for me at least) is that all his anger is directed directly at the Dumbledore.


    But Harry is not the only one who is angry. McGonagall looked like she was about to pop a vein in her forehead and looked like that it is only due to years of experience and control which is holding her back from hexing Dumbledore to the next week.


    I too supported a solemn look on my face. I mean it would have been really tragic if anyone of them caught me grinning from ear to ear like a fool at this time, so of course, I also played my part and condemned Dumbledore for his deplorable actions with my facial expressions like the other two, rather professionally I might add.


    Though that''s not all. Seeing that Harry''s uncontrolled magic was already doing all this damage, I wandlessly and discretely, of course, broke and shattered many of the things in his office including the trinkets and devices he had with Harry''s blood to track and monitor Harry at all times.


    I mean seriously, what the hell?


    I previously thought that it was only Order''s members who were stalking him in his summers but Dumbledore took it to a whole new level with these precise monitoring artifacts which track his position, magical, physical and emotional condition at all times.


    Anyway, since I destroyed all of his Artefacts, be won''t be able to track Harry from now on. Considering Harry''s anger and mistrust towards currently, I doubt Harry will give him more of his blood to make new ones.


    Actually, now that I think about it, this might be a great opportunity for me to replace Dumbledore''s place and establish myself as the go-to guy in Harry''s perspective. Hmm, a plan is already starting to form in my mind. I can offer Harry the combat training, which Dumbledore never provided him since I already know that he is going to need it when he goes Horcrux hunting in the near future. This way, Every time he fights, he will be reminded that it was me who taught him to fight and hold his ground. Also, unlike Dumbledore who hid information from him, I can give him a few bits and pieces of information, enough to keep satisfied and trusting towards me.


    While I was busy making future plans, Harry''s outburst was starting to end. Not unusual, as he should be almost exhausted due to the uncontrolled magic he was throwing around unconsciously during his outburst.


    By now, Dumbledore''s office looked like a that a hurricane had gone through here ( a large part of because of me. I admit that might have gone a bit overboard). Everything was a mess with many things broken, shattered and tossed around. Though it was the broken Artefacts which were used to monitor Harry, that attracted rather pathetically sad looks from him ( I mentally pat myself on the back for that).


    Once the Outburst died down Dumbledore started with a sad look on his face,


    "Harry, my boy, I am sorry that I hid this from you, but believe me, I only did it because there is no way to remove the Voldemort''s piece of soul from forehead without your death. I only did this because I wanted to let you have a normal childhood for as long as possible¡ª"


    Surprisingly, it wasn''t Harry but McGonagall that cut him off, "What normal childhood Albus? Didn''t you hear what Professor Canis said? He has Malnutrition, broken bones and various scars, which means he was abused at his house. I told you, Albus, many years ago when you placed him with those horrible muggles that they were not good people but you didn''t listen. Even when I asked you about him after that, you always told me that you were regularly checking up on him and that he was doing okay. Tell me, how was that a normal childhood for him to enjoy? Not to mention that you didn''t even take me to healers to get proper vaccinations because you thought that he didn''t need it since he was not going to live long enough anyway."


    "You need to understand Minerva, I only did it for the greater good. Harry needed protection which only the blood wards around his house could provide due to his blood relations with his aunt. Besides, I tried very hard but alas found no way to remove Voldemort''s soul from his forehead."


    Alright, finally it''s my time to shine.

 Chapter 62

    Dumbledore : "How is that possible? I researched very hard and read every book I can find regarding this, but found no solution."


    Me : "That''s the thing, Albus. As I said, you don''t specialize in this area but I do. Don''t forget I am a master in ''Defense Against the Dark Arts'' subject, as such to counter Dark Arts, I have read many books about Dark magic spells and rituals, including Horcrux."


    Here, McGonagall asked,


    McGonagall : "What''s Horcrux?"


    Me : "A Horcrux is a ritual made by Herpo the Foul, a despicable wizard more than a thousand years ago. Using this ritual, one can tear apart a piece of their soul and have it house in an object. Herpo the Foul made this ritual in order to gain immortality, As the user can''t die unless their Horcrux is destroyed. But make no mistake, it''s very dark magic which only a madman will use since it requires tearing apart their own soul."


    Harry : "Wait! It sounds a lot like the Voldemort''s diary I encountered in my second year which held his shade and even possessed a student. Does it mean that it was a Horcrux?"


    Me : "Possibly. But since Voldemort survived the deflected killing curse, it might be possible that he made a Horcrux prior to that."


    McGonagall : "Is that true Albus? Is this what happened to Miss Weasley? Was she possessed by the Dark Lord''s Horcrux?"


    McGonagall : "And you didn''t think to tell me the truth? I am deputy Headmistress of this school Albus, I have the right to know what happens here. You should have told me the truth. How am I supposed to trust you when you won''t even tell me the truth, especially when it''s directly related to the safety of the students?"


    Dumbledore : "*sigh* You need to understand Minerva, I only did it for the greater good."


    McGonagall : " Greater good? You are the Headmaster of this school, Albus! No matter what the reason is, you don''t play with students lives. I am very disappointed in you Albus, I never expected you of all people to risk student''s lives."


    Seeing that it was not going so well with McGonagall, Dumbledore changed the topic back to Horcruxes.


    Dumbledore : "Since you know what a Horcrux is, you must know that the only way to destroy a Horcrux is to destroy the object completely. Since Harry is also a Horcrux, I don''t see a way to destroy the soul shard without killing Harry."


    Me : "Who said Harry is a Horcrux? To make a Horcrux, an object must be prepared beforehand to house the piece of soul. But, due to getting hit by the killing curse deflected by Harry, I assume that Voldemort''s already fractured soul tore apart a piece of his soul and it stuck to the only living being present in that room, Harry. And as Harry was already wounded in the forehead due to deflecting the killing curse, that soul shard found a way inside the wound and got stuck in it. As such, Harry is not a Horcrux, despite him having Voldemort''s soul piece in his forehead. So, I only need to isolate the soul shard and destroy it, which can be accomplished easily by my recently made custom spell."


    Harry : "You mean I am not a Horcrux?"


    Me : "Yes Harry, you are not a Horcrux and you will be fine after I destroy the piece of soul in your forward. In fact, I expect that even your scar will be healed after that."


    Harry looked visibly relieved and his shoulders sagged a bit on hearing this. But McGonagall was clearly not happy with Dumbledore if her face was any indication.


    Dumbledore: "No, I assure you, Minerva, that''s everything."


    Wow, Dumbledore didn''t even blink while saying that. What about the Prophecy? He really should have come clean now because now. When Harry and McGonagall find out about it, he is going to lose their trust completely, that is if there is any left to lose. Well, his loss, my gain. The more he loses their trust, easier for me to replace him.


    But I am not quite done fanning McGonagall''s and Harry''s flame of mistrust towards Dumbledore just yet. I have one more card to play.


    Me : "Alright then. I think it would be best to start healing Mr. Potter as soon as possible. But the question is, How come Madam Pomphrey didn''t pick up on Harry''s condition? I mean, from I understand he has been to infirmary quite often since he started attending Hogwarts and even basic diagnostic charms should have picked up some of it."


    Given Madam Pomphrey''s personality, the only way to stop her from healing or even notifying others about Harry''s condition is for Dumbledore to use his position as Harry''s magical guardian to stop her or for him to outright obliviate her. Either way, Let''s see you explain this one, Dumbledore.

 Chapter 63

    As I asked about Madam Pomphrey, Dumbledore looked stunned for a bit but quickly recomposed himself.


    Dumbledore : *sigh* "About that, I needed to remove her knowledge of Horcrux, thus I had to obliviate Poppy''s memory about it. But, I couldn''t just remove a portion of her memory about young Harry''s diagnosis from the charm so I had to alter her memory about the whole diagnostic charm. As such, she didn''t catch on to Harry''s Malnutrition or any other injuries prior to his first year at Hogwarts."


    Me: " *In snarky voice* I am sure it didn''t have anything to do with the fact that as his magical guardian, you were directly responsible for putting him in an abusive relationship. How convenient for you to just alter Poppy''s diagnostic charm and hide it all away before she could complain about it to the DMLE."


    Dumbledore: "You must understand that I only did it for the greater goo¡ª"


    McGonagall: "Enough is Enough, Albus. You can''t continue to explain your crimes by simply saying ''Greater Good''. Just a moment ago I asked if you were hiding anything else from us and you assured me that you didn''t. I have had enough of your lies and manipulations, Albus. From now on, if you want to meet any of the students, I will be there with them as my capacity as deputy Headmistress. I simply don''t trust you enough to let you meet with the students alone, as you have shown that you will do anything for your perceived notion of ''Greater Good'', including endangering student lives."


    Before Dumbledore could sit anything else, she looked at me and said,


    McGonagall: "Professor Canis, you said that you could remove this soul piece from Harry''s forehead right? I think it would be best if we were to get started on that right away."


    Hmm.., Well I could easily remove it from Harry''s forehead in seconds but if I were to do so right away, Voldemort won''t be able to send visions to manipulate Harry to go to DOM to retrieve the Prophecy orb. It means Voldemort won''t be publicly revealed to everyone and I won''t be able to kick his a.s.s in front of everyone to further my reputation.


    *Sigh* What a dilemma I have found myself in, on one hand, I could easily remove soul piece from his head and end his suffering from nightmares about Voldemort or I could use this opportunity to further my reputation in front of everyone publicly. Yeah, the choice is simple.


    Me: "Right, I could remove the soul piece from his forehead right now, but I would advise against doing so. You see, it''s been present in his forehead for many years now and has a very deep hold on Harry''s soul. Removing it forcefully might damage Harry''s own soul. I would recommend that we first minimize it''s holding on Harry''s soul before removing and destroying it completely."


    Harry: "How long will it take for you to remove it safely professor, because I don''t want it in my had any second longer than it has to."


    Me: "Well Harry, I think if I were to cast the spells for its isolation right now, it should be safe to remove it by the end of the year latest."


    McGonagall: "I think waiting till the end of the year would be the correct choice with low risk of any harm to Mr. Potter health. What about his other injuries and Malnutrition?"


    Me: "Proper diet and some nutrition potions for a month and a half should be enough for the Malnutrition. For his injuries, With my spells, he should be completely healed in about two days but he would need bed rest during that time to heal, so I would suggest to do it on weakened. It would be best if we give him the vaccinations after his Malnutrition is healed properly."


    McGonagall: "That''s good at least. What about his magical core?"


    Dumbledore: "I think it would be best to let the blood wards remain for his safety during the summe¡ª"


    McGonagall again cut him off and said,


    McGonagall: "No, he won''t need the blood wards as he won''t be going to those horrible muggles any longer. I let you talk me into leaving him with those horrible muggles all those years ago but no more."


    Dumbledore: "But Minerva, he needs to go there for his protection. We don''t have another choice. Only the blood wards could protect him from the Voldemort."


    Harry looked furious at the prospect of going back to the Dursley''s again, but as a good guy and future lord, I once again saved the day for him.


    Me: "Yeah, about that, I don''t think that Blood wards are going to protect him any longer from Voldemort. Since Voldemort used Harry''s own blood for his resurrection, blood wards are now pointless and so is sending him back there. And as for the protection, I don''t mind having him over at my house during the summer. As my house has very powerful wards, he would be safe there."


    Not to mention the fact that I am going to have enough time with him to properly replace Dumbledore''s position in his head and be the new person for him to seek advice, for ''Greater Good'' of course.

 Chapter 64

    Dumbledore: "Since Harry can''t go back to his relatives this summer, I think it would be best for him to remain here at Hogwarts with me as I am his magical guardian. I am sure I will be able to provide him with the protection he needs."


    McGonagall snapped at him and said,


    McGonagall: "Now you remember that you are his magical guardian. And what''s this I hear about protection you are able to provide. If you''re so able to protect him now, why didn''t you do so from the start instead of letting him suffer for all these years with those muggles?"


    Dumbledore: "Now is not the time to let the anger get the better of ourselves. We need to think about Harry''s protection. As his magical guardian, it''s my decision to make and I believe it is imperative that he remains at Hogwarts for the Summer."


    Wow, talk about being shameless. If Hogwarts was so safe then why the hell is he in life-threatening danger each and every year, multiple times at that. Why not just come out and say that you want him under your thumb. Well, no matter, two can play this game. I didn''t want to do this since you are going to die next year anyway, but since you forced my hand then be prepared to let go of every hold you have on him. I guess it''s time for Harry to go independent, under my expert guidance and influence of course.


    Me: "Actually, it''s not your decision to make any longer. As an a.d.u.l.t, he can make his own choice about his living conditions."


    They looked confused at that. Seriously, how clueless can one get? Not to mention Harry and McGonagall, even Dumbledore is looking confused.


    McGonagall: "What are you talking about, Professor Canis? He is only fifteen and needs two more years for him to become an a.d.u.l.t."


    Me: "Yeah, about that, he became an a.d.u.l.t in the eyes of the law last year when he became a champion in Triwizard tournament. You see, it''s clearly written in the contract that one needs to be an a.d.u.l.t to become a champion and participate in the Triwizard tournament. Since Dumbledore as his magical guardian and Fudge as Minister of Magic let him participate in the tournament, they unintentionally declared him to be an a.d.u.l.t. Since they could have removed him from participating due to being a minor but chose not to, it effectively emancipated him."


    Both Harry and McGonagall looked shocked, while Dumbledore had a look of understanding. I continued,


    Me: "Well as you see, as an emancipated minor, he doesn''t have a magical guardian anymore and it''s his sole decision to decide where he wants to live. All we can do is to give him suggestions but it''s ultimately his choice to make."


    Harry: "Are you sure? I mean, I don''t have to live with the Dursley''s any longer do I?"


    Me: "No Harry. As I said it''s your choice to make and yours alone. If you don''t want to live somewhere, no one can force you to to do so, unless they detain you against your will, which is kidnapping."


    Harry looked happy at the prospect but before he goes and decides to live at the burrows with Weasley family, I interjected.


    Me: "But before you decide anything, I would like to remind you that Voldemort is still out there and it''s dangerous for you to live somewhere unprotected."


    Dumbledore: " I must agree with Professor Canis, your life is still in danger, my boy, until the threat is passed, you must stay here at Hogwarts so I can keep you safe."


    Me: "Actually, I think it would be best if he stays with me. I admit Hogwarts has powerful wards, but there are many secret passages which are unprotected and since Voldemort himself has studied here in the past, it''s highly probable that he knows about many such passageways. But unlike Hogwarts, my house is secure and has very powerful wards put up by myself personally. In fact, Even Madam Bones is staying there because of this fact and her niece Susan is also going to stay there during the summer until it''s safe."


    Yeah, if I am going to have a lasting impact on Harry and firmly establish myself as the one he looks at for guidance, I need to make sure to remove every hold Dumbledore has on him including Weasley family, as they are the firm supporters of Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore: "You are right, it might not be best for Harry''s safety if he were to stay here. In that case, I have a perfect place in mind. Harry, my boy, I am sure you would want to spend some time with your Godfather this summer, so you can stay with him. Additionally, the Weasley family is also going to stay there this summer, so this way you can also stay with your friends young Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."


    Harry actually looked like he was going to agree. Well played Dumbledore, exploiting his feeling for his only living family, his Godfather. But you are the only one who can play this card. Time for me to bring out the big guns.


    Me: "Actually about that, if you want you can bring Sirius with you. Since he was innocent and was unjustly imprisoned for all those years, it''s time to clear his name."


    Even though he''s was confused, he still asked with obvious excitement in his voice,


    Harry: "But how are we going to do that ? We dont have any evidence since that rat Pettigrew already escaped."


    Me: "Well You see, as you know Madam Bones is staying at my house and I brought up the issue previously and as Head of DMLE, she should be able to directly exonrate Sirius if we can convince her of his innocence. As he was never given any trial and imprisoned directly, he is still under her jurisdiction, pending trial. So she can just clear his name directly since he was never proven guilty."

 Chapter 65 - Not a Chapter

Hey guys,


    Sorry for not being able to write for so long. Had a really busy year.


    Anyways, I just finished re-reading this fic and I think that I could have done a better job with it. I am thinking about re-writting it from the scratch. let me know what you think In the comments.

 Chapter 65

    While Harry looked very excited on the prospect of exonerating his godfather and staying with him for the summer, Dumbledore, on the other hand, not so much. In fact, I am sure if he wasn''t a master occlumans himself, he would have looked like he s.u.c.k.e.d on particularly sour lemon dorp of his. As is, all I can see are some minor tells here and there, even that due to my enhanced senses.


    But still, he didn''t admit defeat and tried one more time, " While I believe that Mr. Black has already suffered much and no doubt deserves to be exonerated and live as a free man, I can''t help but think it''s not the right time for that."


    As he was saying that, I can''t help but notice that Harry''s magic was starting to flare and no doubt Dumbledore noticed it too, but still he continued, "Minister Fudge has become very paranoid these days and I am afraid of what he might do. He has been pushing all the blame on Mr. Black like the death eater attack during the quidditch world cup and other death eater activities. Clearing Sirius Black''s name will weaken his position and political power, not to mention public outcry since Mr. Black is a purebred wizard of a prominent family. I think it will be in everyone''s best interest if we let postpone this matter till we are done dealing with Voldemort. It will be for the best if concentrate on the war, which is no doubt coming."


    As he finished saying that, Harry, whose magic was flaring, went out of control one more time. Seriously the kid needs to learn to control his magic better. I mean sure he is very emotional right now but still, control is very necessary for a wizard to become powerful, like yours truly. Anyway once again stuff gets broken, a few knickknacks of Dumbledores that remained intact, broke now. Again, I didn''t miss out on the fun either and threw out some discreet wandless spells here and there to destroy some of his valuable objects. Oh, that book looks good, a very rare tome on Alchemy if I am not mistaken, from recently departed Flamel''s collection no doubt. Since Harry is still throwing temper tantrum of his, I see no reason to take- I mean to save this rare piece of magic tome from destruction. One discreet wandless conjuration and a switching charm later, the book was safe from harm and more importantly, in my expended pouch. I set the fake on fire to be sure and no one knew my good deed of preserving a priceless piece of magical knowledge. A necessary action for the greater good.


    I would pay good amount of galleons to see Dumbledore''s face when he is cleaning his office after this "discussion" is done. Anyway, Harry gathers himself and says with gritted teeth, "No. This isn''t fair, Sirius has already suffered enough. He deserves to have his name cleared and live his life, not in hiding like a criminal."


    As fun it is to see Dumbledore flailing around to keep Harry under control, I am done with it for now. If I try any more, it will look like I am trying too hard to get Harry under my thumb. Besides, it''s not like I am desperate for Harry to be on my side. Unlike Dumbledore who''s overly complicated plan depends on willingly sacrificing himself to defeat Voldemort, I don''t really care about Harry for my plans. Sure him having a good impression of me after his popularity rises when he defeats Voldemort would be good, but nothing I can''t live without. I already have future Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones on my side along with Aurors with my recent efforts. It''s already enough for me to be the next Light lord and I can always pull publicity stunts to bolster my image. Above all else, I don''t really care about Sirius Black one way or another.


    Even though I think this my face remains stoic as always and I say, "I think we should table this conversation till I talk to Madam Bones. Though the headmaster raises some valid concerns, no doubt Madam Bones will have greater insights into the situation as head of DMLE. We will know the extent of the fallout from the Minister as well as other lords and public for clearing Mr. Black''s name after I talk to her, and we can then plan accordingly."


    Both Dumbledore and Harry looked discontent, for different reasons no doubt but accepted my reasoning. Though McGonagall seemed more accepting of my reasoning, seems like my attempts are paying suitable dividends. As for Sirius Black, I will have to carefully consider my options and see if it will be more profitable to have Black remain a criminal or not. I will just nudge Amelia in the right direction accordingly.

 Chapter 66 - Update

Hey guys,


    As per the demand of the overwhelming majority of readers, I have decided to continue the story as it is.


    Thank you everyone for the continued support.

 Chapter 66

    As the conversation ended, the three of us headed back out of Dumbledore''s office, leaving him alone to his thoughts.


    As we are headed back, they both silently try to process the new side of Dumbledore that they have just come to know. As they do that I too go over the implications of what just happened.  Harry being vital to his plans and McGonagall being the deputy headmistress(and the one who actually did Dumbledore''s work and took care of administrative duties so he can go screw over people as chief warlock and Supreme Mugwamp) Dumbledore has to find a way to get back in there good graces. Depending on how desperate he is, he might just decide to ambush us and erase our memories. Hack it''s what I would''ve done as it''s going to be a lot of work after all the revelations they both had about him after this conversation. While both Harry and McGonagall will be easy targets for him, he knows he won''t be able to overcome me a straight battle. Although I am magically stronger than him with ample knowledge, I can''t forget that he has experience on his side not to mention he also have the death stick. Not only that as the headmaster he also has his spy network inside hogwarts as various portraits and ghosts. Hack it would be easy enough for him to have hogwarts house-elves slip some potions in our meals.


    No, I can''t underestimate him and I am not going to let my guard down for the rest of the year that I am in hogwarts. And just to be sure, I am going to save the memory of the conversation in a vial and owl it to Gringotts to keep it safe in my vault, just to be safe. While I am a master occlumans, I can''t afford to underestimate someone of his caliber, not to mention the fact that I am in Hogwarts for the rest of the year, which is his domain in all but name. Hmm... Now that I think about it, Umbridge forced him to leave due to that DA stuff. But since students are getting better DADA education than before due to me, they don''t need to form DA this time around. No, I can''t think like that, Dumbledore needs to leave for my peace of mind for the rest of the year.


    What use would I have for getting Umbridge here if I can''t make that happen? Yes, I think it would be for the greater good to have Umbridge kick Snape out of here. This way students can still form their little group and Dumbledore still gets the boot. Not to mention getting Dumbledore''s pet death eater spy out of here would be better for everyone, especially me. Can''t rule out Dumbledore having Snape ambush me after all, no matter how unlikely he is to succeed. Still, no such thing as too careful when magic is involved. Think a few carefully planted suggestions in Umbridge''s mind via legilimency would see to it. After all, can''t leave the greater good to chance.


    As they are leaving, reminded Harry, "Harry I think it would be better for you to get some rest and clear your head. I have no doubt you are exhausted after your magical burst in there. Come to my office tomorrow after classes and I will write you the prescription for the potions for your malnutrition and do some spells to make sure the soul shard is contained properly."


    He of course agreed with me and was visibly exhausted after what he''s been through in Dumbledore''s office.


    I bid them both farewell and went back to my office. Today has been very beneficial for me as not only did I set a favorable impression on future Wizarding hero but more importantly the future Headmistress of Hogwarts. McGonagall''s importance as future Headmistress can''t be taken lightly as Hogwarts is the only magical school in Britain. Sure, if I try I can easily become the headmaster myself when Dumbledore kicks the bucket next year. I seriously doubt anyone will be opposed to it, not when I prove my strength in front of everyone when I beat Voldemort inside ministry later this year. Till now only a few influential people knew my strength(that I let them see of course) but to everyone else, I am just a genius with many newts and masters.


    They still think that only Dumbledore is strong enough to oppose Voldemort and protect them. But after this year, I will be able to solidify my image as the next magical titans like Dumbledore and Voldemort. So, becoming the next headmaster will be easy enough but that isn''t something that I want. No, I didn''t try so hard to become so powerful and influential just to spend my days cooped up in this castle with a bunch of snot-nosed brats. No, I won''t take any influential positions like Headmaster of Hogwarts or Minister of Magic. I will be the one who controls the people in these positions without them even realizing it. I will just leave the boring and tedious work that comes with the job to them and just nudge them from behind in the direction I want them to take. This way I will be free to enjoy my life and leisurely delve deeper into the mysteries that magic hold.

 Chapter 67

    A few days have passed since then. As he was told, Harry came to my office the next day. While I did give him potions for his malnutrition, I just pretend to cast spells on his scar to contain the soul shard. After all, if I remove it, Voldemort won''t be able to send him visions and my plans won''t come to fruition. So I just told him to continue practicing his occlumancy lessons to contain them. Not like he will be proficient enough in occlumancy to make much of a difference.


    During this time I was on high alert just in case, Dumbledore decided to ambush me and tried to remove my memories. But surprisingly enough he hadn''t tried anything yet.


    On other hand, my classes have been going well enough, students certainly seemed to receive my lectures well. Though I can''t say the same about myself. Classes take a massive chunk of my free time, any time spent teaching these idiotic brats is the time less spent on my research. After all, even though I am strong as well as extremely knowledgeable, I have only scratched the true potential of magic. With magic, the possibilities are endless and I am not going to be content with the knowledge I possess about magic anytime soon. I am glad that I only have to waste my time teaching for this year. After I am done with the nuisance that is Voldemort and his death eaters, I can then enjoy my life and research magic to my heart''s content.


    During the weekend, I did floo to my house to meet Tonks as we weren''t able to see each other as often as we would like. While I am busy with my new job as a DADA professor, she has been busy with her duties as an Auror. From what she tells me, Madam Bones has taken my advice about cleaning the ministry of death eater sympathizers to heart. See has already cleared out DMLE and started to work towards the other departments. She has stuck the Aurors that are spies for death eaters on some minor out-of-the-way cases or has them doing useless paperwork. Other Aurors already know to be careful of them and when the situation arises they will easily be taken out. By the time Voldemort reveals himself, she will have identified all the spies and will be in a situation to deal with them swiftly. By that time she will have enough support to remove Fudge from the position of Minister of Magic and take his place.


    In the meanwhile, I have been carefully planting suggestions in Umbridge''s mind to steer her in the right direction. Already she has started to be a nuisance to both Dumbledore and Snape and sits in all of potion master''s classes. Even though she can''t fire Snape from his job immediately, she has started to gather the right memories from select few students and has started to slowly build up her case.


    Lately, I have been thinking of the whole Horcrux issue. As I already know where they are, it provides me a unique opportunity to use them to my advantage. While I can easily collect Ravenclaw''s diadem from the Room of Requirements, I think letting the others stay where they are would be more be better for me. After all, with my sanctum Innis spell, I can destroy Voldemort''s soul in the diadem without destroying it.


    From what I can tell from the legends about it, Ravenclaw''s diadem massively boosts the mental abilities of the user. With it, I may be able to think of finally advancing my magic beyond my current crystal core. Even though I can''t find any records of any wizard advancing beyond second magical maturity, it doesn''t mean it''s not possible. I just have to find a way on my own like I did when I advanced my magical core to crystal instead of the Simple solid core that comes with the second magical maturity.


    The only reason I haven''t taken Ravenclaw''s diadem till now was to give time to my crystal core to stabilize. Now that it''s stable, I can finally think about advancing now. For now, I only have a few vague ideas as to how I can proceed further, but nothing concrete. I don''t want to risk my magical core on vague ideas, I will only proceed further when I am sure it won''t negatively impact my magic. Also, I don''t want a simple advancement this time like previous magical maturities and changes in the state of the core because even if I succeed this time, I will have to risk my magic again and again in the future. No, this time I want to advance in a way that afterward I don''t have to worry about advancing my magic, it will continue to become stronger on its own indefinitely, without any unnecessary risk on my part.


    With Ravenclaw''s diadem, I will be able to think much better and expand on my current vague ideas to make a workable plan to go through my advancement without any issues.