Chapter 5 - 5 Grind to Live

[New Quest: Survive Hogwarts

-Protect Philosopher's Stone

-Slay Basilisk

-Master Patronus Charm

-Pass the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament.

-Defeat Voldemort

Listed items not completed before the Finals of the Triwizard Tournament will be faced simultaneously. Rewards will increase for every item completed before the end of the year. Long term penalties and restrictions will apply if full marks are not received in the final task.]

The announcement caused a moment of silence to wash over the Great Hall before one of the redheaded twins shouted, "You're Joking!" This successfully drew attention from the fact that Harry's complexion had shifted to a purer shade of white than the Hogwarts Ghosts and would have fainted from the blood leaving his head if he had a human body.

A number of children laughed and Dumbledore looked amused before he said, "I am not joking, though if you come find me later I can tell you an amusing one I heard about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

McGonagall coughed which Dumbledore took as his cue to continue.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

Hermione seemed to be the only one who grew pale along with the already liquid paper white Harry as the rest of the students seemed to get excited.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger."

Harry had no confidence in this man what-so-ever.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

Questions echoed back and forth with guesses of who was going to enter and how the judging worked. The identical redheads both looked confident and seemed sure they would enter.

That confidence turned into outrage on the next line.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put forward their names to compete in the tournament."

"This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion."

Hermione finally noticed that Harry looked even paler than she was and got Neville's attention before she asked, "Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry gave a weak smirk to the pair and said, "Remember that earlier I told you that I didn't have a problem with rules and common sense, but they have a problem with me?"

Hermione said, "Yes, but I still don't know what you meant."

Neville however caught on and said, "You think you're going to be entered into the tournament?"

Once the words passed his lips an expression that was half disbelief, half horror formed.

Hermione was in full disbelief and said, "There is no way they would allow a first year to enter this tournament."

Harry said, "Wanna bet?"

Hermione hadn't expected that and was left without a response.

Harry said, "If I get entered into the tournament, you have to prank a teacher."

Neville said, "Do it Hermione, both of those are impossible right?"

Before she could answer, the group was told it was time to head to the common rooms.

The young redhead from before tried to approach him but was knocked aside by the two older identical redheads. One said, "What's this I hear about a bet?" The other said, "And what's this I hear about a prank?"

No one else was speaking as they were led to the common room so Harry answered back in a tone that everyone could hear, "I was telling Hermione that I am a danger magnet and she didn't believe me. I bet her that if I was entered against my will in this tournament, she would have to play a prank on a teacher."

The twins looked at each other and turned back to Hermione, "Well? Are you going to take the bet?"

Hermione's last shred of common sense and faith in the rules urged her to announce, "It's impossible for Harry to be entered as a first year so fine. I agree."

The other twin turned to look at Harry, "You really think you're going to be entered?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, so I need to start practicing how not to die a bloody violent death."

They reached a corridor in the hall next to a moving portrait of a heavy set woman in a pink dress that looked like it had been made sometime between the 16th and 17 century. The woman took a look at the before stating, "Password?"

One of the taller redheads, and Merlin were there a few of them, said, "Balderdash," and the portrait swung in revealing another hall. The redhead with the title 'Prefect' turned to the first year group and said, "This will be your dormitory for the next seven years. Don't forget the password or you'll have to wait for someone to come along who didn't."

Without waiting for a response he entered the portrait hole and the rest followed behind.

The common room had a very large fireplace and a half dozen chairs of various types and levels of cozy. Harry somehow felt through his connection to Goose that the Flerken was already here somewhere. The group spread out and a few turned to get Harry's attention but he had already gone up a spiral staircase and turned a corner to find a couple of four poster beds and Goose was chilling on one of them. Harry asked, "So what do you think?"

Goose didn't bother to respond. She wasn't asleep, she just didn't feel answering was worth the effort. A very Goose like response. The fact that there was a cat bed nearby which Goose obviously had no intention of using was also very like the Flerken.

Neville, the youngest redhead, and two others came into the room and started claiming beds. The redhead said, "How'd you know where the first year beds were? My brother wouldn't tell me."

Harry pointed at the orange cat who already claimed the bed next to the window and said, "I already have a familiar bond so I could sense where she was."

One of the other boys looked like he was about to say something but seemed to change his mind. Harry could practically hear the thought, 'Well, it's Harry Potter.'

Neville got his pajamas from his trunk and went to change along with the others leaving Harry conveniently by himself. He opened his menu and equipped his own pajamas before the others returned. Neville grabbed a chair and pulled up to Harry's bed and said, "Harry, where have you been for the last year? I heard you were in a muggle house that exploded."

The other boys were getting their things out of their trunks as well but were suddenly making an effort to do so quietly so they could hear Harry's answer.

Harry turned his head and said, "Not sure to be honest. I woke up in a park a few weeks ago knowing a lot more than I knew a year before that. But I don't have any memories of learning what I knew. I had a letter though that told me a bunch of things including that I agreed to have my memories, but not my knowledge of the last year removed for my own safety."

Harry waited for the others to digest this before continuing, "The letter said how to get to Diagon Alley and said to go to Gringotts and give some instructions to the Goblins. They were surprised I wasn't dead too so they did a blood test and said I was me. Which is good because if I wasn't me, I don't think they would have been very nice about it."

Neville visibly winced at that. Seemed the boy was familiar with goblins.

"I asked them a bunch of questions and they told me all they could. I didn't want to cause a ruckus so I didn't say anything until now."

The redhead spoke up, "I heard my mum say you were with muggles. Why were you there?"

Harry wondered if this one would ever introduce himself but for now he had to be polite. Harry said, "I didn't know where else I could be. Before going to Gringotts, I've never stepped foot in the magic world and I'd never heard the term Boy-Who-Lived. I really don't like that term though."

"Why not? It means you survived what no one else could, like a miracle."

Harry shook his head and said, "But my mom and dad didn't. So it sounds like people are calling me the 'Boy Who Lived When His Parents Were Murdered By A Psychopath.'"

The redhead had enough sense to look down in embarrassment, not that it was his fault.

A slight scurrying sound against metal could be heard in the pause and everyone but Harry turned to see a cage that sounded like it had something running around.

Goose's head got up and hissed slightly. 'Little pest.'

The redhead looked accusingly at the cat and said, "Keep her away from Scabbers."

Harry didn't bother to respond since he doubted the cat shaped Flerken would actually bother hunting a mouse or whatever that was.

The various conversations didn't extend long after that as the day was tiring for the others and the bed was warm. Harry felt traces of exotic energies which matched the house elves had been used to warm the beds which explained why Goose was already quite comfortable. Harry expertly got into bed without disturbing Goose and once comfortable he Paused the world.

In the frozen silence Harry got out of his bed and went to a nearby chair and focused on his stats.

[Harry Potter

Level 32 Age 11

STR 42 AGI 75

INT 100 WIS 100

LUK 10

Warrior Path rank 5

Scholar Path rank 5

Magic Path rank 13

Tech Path rank 5]

If Harry was going to get through this year with as few deaths as possible he needed more than just power, he needed an ace in the hole. One of those Goals for the quest was to fight Voldemort. Harry couldn't see other people's levels, but thanks to his energy sense he could get an approximate level. Dumbledore would be level 150 with a Magic Path rank of 24 or so. That made him about sixty times stronger than Harry was since every tenth rank was ten times stronger than the first.

If Harry got hold of the entire Hogwarts library and spent every waking moment practicing it, Harry figured it would still take several years just to match him. Harry doubted Voldemort was much weaker given his reputation. It wasn't the stats that were the problem. Even if Harry got to level 300, Dumbledore could still crush him thanks to superior magic usage.

So learning magic was required but using it alone to survive wouldn't work. He could build an army by teaching others using his Scholar Path bonus, but most of them would likely get killed which he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for.

The only way to beat something stronger with any guarantee was to use its weakness against it. Witches and Wizards use magic, so their weakness would be something that doesn't use magic. Harry would have to bring his tech path up along with his magic path and use them in a way that a wizard couldn't fight against. Even the strongest flame dies if it has nothing to burn. Everything has a weakness.

In paused time Harry couldn't use a paper or take notes of anything so when he processed and theorized he had to do it all mentally. This was easy for some things but harder for others. Things like runes for example were easier to visualize when you could see them and write them down. Harry had to brute force his understandings so he could comprehend and test various rune arrangements without actually drawing them out. He wanted to figure out a Exotic Energy Stasis rune cluster before October which would give him time to buy and test various electronics to work in combination with magic for unexpected effects.

Of course theoretical practice could only go so far before tests must be done. Harry intended to spend each night working up to the limits of theoretical practice and would physically practice afterwards.

Harry spent what could have been hours or weeks doing the mental calculations before deciding he had reached the limit and unpaused, finding himself back in bed. Since it was a sleep environment, Harry was able to fall asleep the moment his eyes closed after hitting the pillow.

*Ping*

[You have fully recovered after a night's rest.]

Four hours later and Harry woke up to the silence of the dorms. Well, almost silence. The redhead snored.

He could have hit the pillow again for another four hours but that would have been a waste as it wasn't needed. Instead, he got up and equipped his robes and headed down into the common room. The fireplace was out but a few of the candles lit themselves when Harry entered and he found a nice table to work with.

Harry turned the fireplace back on and took out a lot of parchment and quills and one by one wrote down his rune cluster tests. He could have done it with a pen or pencil and pulp paper, but the quills used actually transferred intent better according to his energy sense which explained why they were still used. The parchment also prevented exotic energy from dissipating so it retained it better than paper did. Thanks to these properties Harry was able to grant the proper magic effect to runes he wrote down though it was quite weak. Still, thanks to his energy senses he could properly tell which rune clusters worked together, which would fizzle out, and which were catastrophes waiting to happen.

Some arrangements however needed time to see if their effect would work or not so many of the parchments Harry used were set aside to be checked out later.

After several hours of practice which only caused five explosions, a new personal best, Harry heard someone coming down the stairs and gathered up all of his parchments into his arms. Before the new arrival was half way down, Harry had thrown them all into the fireplace and left for the dormitory exit.

Harry had no intention of leaving evidence of his plans for an ace in the hole. Those don't work unless no one knows about them.

The portrait didn't ask for a password for Harry to leave and he opened his map to find an exit to the castle. He remembered Neville telling him the schedules would be handed out before breakfast but that was still an hour out so he had time to get a morning workout done.

The map of the castle was a bit odd as certain parts seemed to shift sometimes. Harry had to change directions twice after some of the paths the map showed vanished and reappeared elsewhere. The castle itself was possibly more bizarre than his parents described. According to his energy senses, there were doors that were for decoration, walls that were illusions, and places that looked like the entrance to Diagon Alley in that they seemed to require specific operations to open.

Even something as ordinary as the stairs from one level to the next were far from simple as a number of them were illusionary and stepping on what you thought was a step would have your foot fall through and trip you up something fierce. The fact that the staircases themselves changed as they pleased would be a hassle unless he could learn to fly.

Luckily there seemed to be a number of shortcuts, several of which were slides hidden behind tapestries, so his journey to the first floor was both quick and fun.

Once he reached the door, a concentration of exotic energy appeared before him, though still without visible form. Harry said, "Can you move out of the way, I wish to go outside."

The invisible house elf shimmered into view and said, "Students shouldn't be out before the sun rises. It bees against the rules."

Harry frowned. It was about 6am but he didn't take into account the sun. Harry asked the little elf, "I wish to stretch and exercise, is there any place for me to exercise in the castle?"

Most colleges, universities, and boarding schools he'd researched had such things. It stood to reason Hogwarts would as well.

The elf answered back, "There be no place like that sir. Wizards be not good at ex'cising."

Or not, Harry thought.

The elf continued, "But I knows a place where yous can do it sirs. I can take you there."

That didn't make sense. There wasn't a place where he could exercise but there was. Harry said, "Thank you, please do."

The elf walked over to Harry and took a handful of Harry's robe and apparated them to another part of the castle. Harry was surprised that House Elves could not only apparate within Hogwarts, but side along apparate. Something to look into later. Their new location was a dead end hall with a large moving tapestry of a large fellow attempting to teach a group of trolls how to dance. However that was not what drew Harry's attention. The wall opposite it may have been unadorned, but to his energy sense it was practically a glowing sun.

The elf motioned to the wall and said, "We's be in the seventh floor sir. This is the Come and Go Room, also called the Room of Requirement. Walk before it three times thinking of what you want sir and a door to it will appear."

Harry immediately Paused just so the hurricane of implications that just presented itself could be properly gone over. This certainly would let him move a number of plans forward. He was even tempted to figure out elf apparition so he could pop around the castle and come here whenever he wanted. Unfortunately it would be too easy to get caught doing that since the elves might see him and rat him out. His best defense against those who wanted him dead was a lack of information. Hell, they only figured out a few hours ago he wasn't dead which certainly gave him a leg up.

After a few more intense cycles of what if possibilities, Harry unpaused and said to the elf, "Thank you very much for your help."

The elf nodded and shimmered away. It was still there for a moment though before the concentration of exotic energy popped away.

Harry walked back and forth before the wall three times thinking of something very specific. It was in a cartoon his mother said she used to watch when she was a kid.

The energy of the wall changed and settled into a door which Harry opened quickly to find a long room with a set of weights close to the door. Harry ignored the weights and walked further into the long room and smiled as he felt the effect he requested. The further into the room he ventured, the greater the gravity.. Oh yes, this would work very well.