Chapter 24: Ch 24 Harry Potter 1
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Carl clicked on the screen to start his next jump only a few hours before the deadline was up. He had spent his time relaxing with Rover while getting his head back on straight after applying his perks to his base body. It was time well spent.
Looking at the screen, Carl saw that his next jump world was Harry Potter.
Carl looked down at Rover. "Well, it's going to be a magic world again Rover. Looks like I'll finally get some magic schooling, instead of relying on only self study." Rover twisted his head quizzically. Carl chuckled at Rovers cute expression.
It's July 24th 1991.
10 years ago Lord Voldemort attempted and failed to kill an infant named Harry Potter. In the process his body was somehow destroyed.
His followers were rounded up and the wizarding world has had peace for the last decade.
The world is not the secure place people think it is however. The dark forces are rising once more – Lord Voldemort has found a servant at last and plans to steal the Philosopher's stone to regain his body. The magical world is a dangerous one, full of violent monsters and people with more power than either basic decency or common sense. The non-magic population is ignorant as always.
Today is the day that children with magical ability all over the British Isles are receiving their letters of admittance to Hogwarts.
Harry Potter is one such child (although he is currently unable to read his letter) and you are another. You are either 11 years old or will turn 11 in the next couple of months. Hope you like puberty and magic. You will spend the next 10 years in this world.
"Well, I've already gone through puberty a few times so I'm used to it, and yes, I do like magic." Carl smiled at the introduction. It tried so hard to make the Harry Potter world sound dark and dangerous, instead of magical and inviting.
Sure, there was evil and danger afoot, but most kids who read the series focused on the fun and magical aspects of it. The warnings would likely go right over their heads.
After looking through the jump document once, Carl was unsure of what to pick. There were so many things he wanted that he was already tempted to use his banked points from Monopoly.
"First things first. I'm not going dip into my banked points yet. I'm saving them." Carl started reasoning things. "After the trouble I went through getting them, I'm not spending them on the first 'shiny' perk that I see."
"So let's see how to winnow this down. First off, split the perks up into two broad categories. Those things that I can learn from the 7 years of schooling will be put in the no pile, since I'll be learning those anyway. The perks that give me abilities that can't be replicated will be on the A list."
"Things like knowledge and skill with wand making, potions, and magical creatures I can get through study over the ten years, so spending cp on them, while giving me an advantage, would be kind of wasteful."
"Why should I care so much about making wands when I'm going to be trying to train wandless magic? I can already do basic stuff wandless, like controlling the elements to attack vampires and demons. I'd imagine after learning how to do the spells with a wand, I can train myself to do it without."
"Okay, what are the absolute musts here?" Carl changed his train of thought as he looked at his A list. It was easier deciding now that he had rejected many of the perks. "The only exception to the list of things I can learn is Occlumency 100cp. Yes, I can learn it in the world, but it is a must have skill from the beginning. While I can learn it in world, I won't really have time to do so before I meet some legilimancers at school who I need to protect my mind from. And there's no way I'm letting Snape or Dumbledore into my head."
"Even if this is the canon world, J.K. kept things vague enough that Dumbledore and Snape's actions could be interpreted a number of different ways. They could totally be good guys trying their best to end Voldemort before he can come back to power. Snape could be a noble man acting as a spy, sacrificing himself for the good of society."
Carl paused for a moment before snorting in disgust. "Yeah, I can't even keep a straight face saying that. It sounds too much like a line he would use to pick up chicks in a bar, playing the tragic misunderstood hero. And he mocked Harry Potter for his celebrity status. Sounds like Snape's jealousy of all things Potter was very strong."
"At the end of the first war in 1981 from what I understand, Dumbledore vouched for Snape as his spy so Snape wouldn't end up in Azkaban. Once Snape was outed as Dumbledore's spy, the cat was out of the bag. No one on the Dark Lord's side would truly trust Snape. At most they would utilize his skills while keeping him at arm's length."
"And that wasn't the only time Dumbledore locked the doors to the barn after the animals already escaped. Riddle used Harry's blood to re-bodify himself. After that, how much use would the blood wards have been on his aunt's house?"
"So, even if they are good guys doing the best they can, they are still busy bodies who think they are allowed to make important decisions for everyone else. And I don't want to take the chance, however remote, of them mining me for information before Obliviating all my memories away until I really am a clueless 11 year old."
"Well, whatever the truth of the matter of Snape and Dumbledore's alignment, the point remains that I'm not letting those two into my mind, so Occlumency is an absolute necessity."
"Parselmouth 200cp and Metamorphmagus 400cp are abilities that I can't train, but that I really want. I've already been tempted to change up my appearance from time to time, but didn't want to look substantially different when I finally reunite with my girls, so Metamorphmagus is a definite plus. It'll also enhance my acting ability, if I can have a new face with every persona."
"And while I may not have a need for Parselmouth beyond getting into the Chamber of Secrets, there are all those fanfictions talking about the other uses for a vibrating tongue. Cunning linguist indeed."
"Okay, next on the list is Clean Blooded 100cp. That will keep me from catching any illnesses or diseases. I've been lucky to not be dropped into a zombie apocalypse world so far. But if I ever find myself in one, that perk should keep me immune from getting infected."
"So if I pick the Drop In background, that will give me the best price with the discount to Metamophmagus. I already have a form of telepathy, so it shouldn't be hard to learn Legilimency while I'm in the world. I will, however pick up the Memory Spell Specialist that is 50cp with the discount from being a Drop In. Never know when I will need to make someone unsee something they shouldn't have seen."
Carl had 400 more points to spend. While he could spend it on Animagus or Quidditch Star, he noticed something that he'd appreciate much more. He looked down at his pet, Rover.
"How would you like to be a Phoenix, Rover?" Carl asked the dog. He took the bark and wagging tale as agreement. "Okay, then. I'll import you as my Phoenix familiar then." Carl thought the 300cp was a pretty good investment to make sure his pet could hang out with him in the world. And having the Phoenix abilities available were a game changer.
Carl then looked at the Scenarios offered. If Carl picked a Scenario, his stay in the world would no longer be stuck at 10 years. He would stay in the world until he fulfilled the condition. With those conditions his stay could be only one month, or an entire lifetime, depending on how he played his cards.
The Scenario that interested Carl was Statute Scrapped: You have decided that, for the greater good, it is about time wizard kind stopped hiding from the muggles. This puts you at odds with both international wizarding law and public opinion. Whether you decide to pursue this politically or illegally, your goal is to cause over 90% of muggles in the UK and Ireland to wholeheartedly believe in magic. Reward: Any message you have that you want spread does so like wildfire. If you want a secret or idea to get to pretty much everyone all you have to do is tell one person and before you know it they will all know.
The biggest reason Carl was interested was because of his time in the Sword Art Online world. It would have made things so much easier at the beginning if he could have countered the anti-beta player bias early by spreading the idea that they were victims of Kayaba too. Or even spread the idea that there was hope. That would have kept a lot of people from going crazy and doing some of the things they did.
While Carl was inside the virtual world, he had seriously doubted the high number of fatalities that was said to have happened in the first month. But when he exited the world, and found out that it was actually more than what they knew about, Carl had felt a punch to his gut. He figured most of those people had to have gone a little mad from their lack of hope, their certainty that they would die. So they just gave up and ended things, or they went crazy and killed others.
But if Carl had had the ability to spread an idea of hope to the people in that early hysterical time, a message of hope that people would actually pay attention to, then many people could have been saved.
Carl had succeeded in that world in giving Kayaba what he wanted. He died satisfied, and Carl got a world seed that he could build into a virtual reality/dream world. But he was going to hold onto it for now, and only use it in the future when he had need of it, or had a reason to utilize it.
After some time of thinking about it, Carl decided to go ahead and take the Scenario so he could have the reward ability. And if he was going to be outing the wizard world to the muggles, he was going to take Setup Wizard 200cp which would make him very adept at mixing technology and magic. If he was going to be outing the wizards to the muggles, Carl planned to make it as easy as possible for the wizards to mix in with the muggles, and for the muggles to see the benefits of not freaking out about magic being real.
So now Carl needed to take a drawback to get at least 100cp, unless he wanted to dip into his savings. Being branded with a dark mark for 100cp didn't seem worth the hassle. He didn't want any kind of tether to Voldemort. 100cp was not enough pay for him to subject himself to that.
Prophecy +100cp would make only the superstitious distrust him greatly due to fitting a famous prophecy about a dark wizard. "So, pretty much most of the wizarding world." Carl snorted. Yeah, that was off the table.
Bully Teacher +100cp wouldn't be so bad if he could just get rid of the teacher, but it said that the replacement would also harass him just as much. And since Carl didn't want one of the teachers of the main subjects to shortchange him a valuable part of his education, Carl decided to pass.
Carl eventually decided on Prisoner of Azkaban +300cp: A mad wizard will escape from Azkaban at some point in your first 3 years. He will desperately want you dead, cannot be reasoned with and is very intelligent, skilled, and resourceful.
Carl knew it was somewhat of a risk to take a drawback that pointed an enemy at him that was determined to kill him. But even though he would be de aged to 11 years old, he would still have the body of a Master Class Martial Artist, his tier 4 senses, magic abilities, and sharpshooting ability. If he couldn't take out a single wizard with all of those advantages, then he should really just give up now.
And it would give him 200 cp to bank for later.
Carl looked down at Rover. "So, you ready for this boy?"
Rover barked excitedly. Carl finalized his choices, and the world blacked out as he was inserted into the jump world.
Carl blinked and the world came back into focus. Looking around he saw he was standing in a reception area of a building. He could see out of one of the windows a playground where several kids under 10 were playing.
His attention was caught by the sound of someone entering the room. The middle aged lady seemed a bit surprised to see him standing there.
"Who are you, then?" The lady asked in a kind voice.
Realizing that this was the orphanage that he would be staying at according to the jump document, Carl introduced himself. "I'm Carl." He didn't know if he had a last name here, so he chose to only introduce his first name.
"Ah, yes. Carl Edwards. There was an odd person here for you earlier today. They seemed surprised you weren't already here. They left a letter and a message that they would return tomorrow morning. It's all so unusual. But we've received your papers from St. Agnes' Orphanage so you're fine." The lady handed Carl his Hogwarts letter, then rambled on for a bit, explaining to Carl about their schedule, curfew, mealtimes, and whatnot.
"So, did you have any questions before I show you to the room you'll be staying at?" She finally paused.
"I didn't catch your name, Miss…?"
"Oh, dear. I do sometimes forget the simplest things. I'm Edith Adley. Just call me Miss Edith, everyone else does."
"Thanks, Miss Edith, for taking me in." Carl picked up the suitcase that he found next to him.
"Don't you worry about it. It's what we do. Now, follow me. We'll get you situated. You've got a couple of hours until supper, so that gives you some time to get settled. If you have any problems, come find me or the handy man, Mr. Keene. He shows up once a week to inspect things around here, and does any maintenance needed."
Carl just nodded along as he followed Miss Edith to his room. Once she left, Carl opened his suitcase to see what was there. Carl found a note that explained that the money from his hotels, rentals, and farms were going to a bank account that would follow him from world to world, courtesy of his Uncle Moneypenny.
In the Harry Potter world, he could access his account in both the muggle and the wizarding world. Gringotts already had his information, and he could pull galleons, sickles, and knuts out from there using the key he found in the suitcase. Alternatively he could go to a Barclays branch and access muggle money; he found a debit card in the suitcase next to his Gringotts key.
If he was ever in a world where there were no banks, he could use the suitcase, state how much currency he needed, and it would appear in the suitcase when he opened it. The suitcase would return to his Warehouse if he ever lost it. If it was ever destroyed, he would have to wait until the next world before a new copy would show up in his Warehouse.
Carl was pretty happy with the added ease by which he could access his money. It would make things so much easier. Getting up, he opened up a portal to his Warehouse.
Entering the Warehouse, Carl looked around for Rover. He soon found his dog turned Phoenix on the ground in front of where the terminal was that Carl used to access the Jump Documents.
Rover counted more as a possession/pet/familiar than an actual companion, so he hadn't been pushed out of the Warehouse for the time it had been shut down when Carl entered the world.
Carl looked down at his brave, noble, beautiful Phoenix. He tried, he really did try not to laugh at Rover, but he couldn't help it. He looked so pitiful and distressed flopping around on the ground, Carl couldn't help but chuckle at his plight.
"Apparently going from four legs to two and wings was a bit of a transition, huh, boy?" Carl asked as he helped the juvenile phoenix that was the size of his hands, to stand on two legs. "Looks like it will take some practice before you get the hang of your new body."
Rover chirped in such a way that Carl could tell it would be a distressed whine in a dog. He carefully petting the small phoenix familiar while helping him get used to moving around in his new body.
Carl talked about how birds learned to hop around and flap their wings, and how they eventual learned to fly. Rover seemed to be learning fast now that Carl was there to provide help and encouragement. He was still only a fledgling at the moment, so he couldn't learn to fly yet, but he was getting the hang of moving about on his own two legs.
After a couple of hours, it was supper time, so Carl set out some food for Rover while he left for the orphanage dining room. He soon got introduced around to the dozen other kids there, all between the ages of 6-16.
It seemed like a decent place. Miss Edith seemed to care about everyone, the kids were dressed in decent clothes, and the kids seemed normal. They weren't balls of sullen rage from being mistreated, or fake happy from being drugged up to be made more pliable. So Carl figured that there wasn't anything hinky happening there. It was just an ordinary orphanage.
'Sure, it may be odd to always be watching out for those kinds of things, but who knows what might happen in a jump world.' Carl justified to himself. 'It's not like there isn't someone out to get me, so my paranoia is justified.' Carl was thinking about the Azkaban Prisoner that would break out sometime in the next three years as if he didn't inflict that drawback on himself. Self-fulfilling prophecy, and all that.
After helping clean up after supper, Carl spent some time watching television with the other kids, getting to know them. He knew he wouldn't be spending a lot of his time here in the future, once he went to Hogwarts, but it didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the simple things that came with being 11 again.
When it was late, Carl finally returned to his room. He was pleased that the orphanage was big enough to give everyone their own room, even if the rooms were pretty small. He entered his Warehouse to check on Rover, who was sleeping in pile of blankets he'd made into a nest for him.
Smiling at the connection he felt with his new familiar, Carl left Rover to his sleep. He changed clothes to his workout Gi, which was a bit big on him. Carl had made it a habit to never get rid of any clothes that he simply outgrew. He hadn't worn that particular Gi since he was 13 in the HSDK world.
Carl laughed at that thought. "An eleven year old reminisces about what he did as a 13 year old, 20 years ago. I guess that's why sometimes Dr. Who just answers questions with 'It's complicated.' Going into the details would just make it even more confusing."
Banishing his thoughts, Carl entered his dojo and started his workout. He still had all of his strength from having a Master's body, and his skills would never deteriorate anymore, but he still needed the exercise. He had only reached the Master Class, not even a Grand Master yet. And he was in a small body again, so he needed to reacquaint himself with his actual body's range.
After finishing his workout, showering and dressing for bed, Carl spent some time reviewing the new knowledge he found in his head about Occlumency. He dropped into meditation quite easily, and started sorting out his memories in his mind.
Judging from the instructions he found about Occlumency, Snape had been a right bastard when he was teaching Harry Potter. When he shouted "Clear your mind!" before assaulting Harry Potter's mind, he had been skipping a few steps. Eventually a part of learning Occlumency was to test the strength of one's defenses against an attack. But in the beginning "clear your mind" had to do with organizing memories, which is much better done under peaceful meditation, not painful assaults.
Once the memories were orderly and sorted, then the defenses could be built over time. Finally, after all that was done, then they could be tested. Weaknesses and flaws in a defense could be pointed out and shored up during that final phase.
Snape taught Occlumency like he taught Potions. No instructions, no help, and no explanations, but with a very abrasive manner.
Carl found that while his memories weren't sorted, he had barriers and defenses already in place, due to his purchase with cp. After running through a few memories and sorting them, Carl determined that it would take a few weeks to go through them all and take full control of his mind defenses.
After spending some time on his organizing his mind, Carl went to sleep so he would be rested for the next day where he would meet the strange man that left his Hogwarts letter for him.
"Carl!" A voice shouted out, interrupting the game of football he had been enjoying with the other kids at the orphanage.
Looking over, Carl saw Miss Edith standing at the door, beckoning him to come over. He obliged her, running up to her.
"Yes, Miss Edith?"
"You have a visitor. It's that strange man I mentioned yesterday who brought you that letter for the oddly named school." Miss Edith explained as she led him to the sitting room.
When they arrived, Carl saw a short man, four feet tall, sitting on one of the chairs, sipping tea while his legs dangled, kicking back and forth. He had a pair of spectacles on, and sported a large brown handlebar mustache.
"Carl, this is Professor Flitwick of Hogwarts. Professor Flitwick, this is Carl Edwards." Miss Edith introduced them to each other.
"Pleased to meet you professor." Carl greeting the diminutive man.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Professor Flitwick cheerily greeted him back. "I'm here to see if you'd like to take your place at Hogwarts. We are an exclusive boarding school up in the highlands of Scotland… Term begins on September 1st… You can reach the school from a train here in London that departs at 11 in the morning from Kings Cross."
The professor gave the sanitized version of the school spiel since Miss Edith was present. But his spiel was interrupted by Miss Edith laughing merrily.
"Oh, no need to beat around the bush, Professor. I'm a squib from a wizarding family, so I know all about the magical topic you're trying to skirt around. Go ahead and give him the full version of the talk."
Carl couldn't help but chuckle along with Miss Edith at the situation. Apparently Miss Edith had been having a bit of a laugh, describing Professor Flitwick as a "strange man". It was only when he was taking so much time beating around the bush with her present that she finally took mercy on the poor professor.
Professor Flitwick seemed to be taken aback a moment. It had been his experience that squibs were usually bitter about their lack of magic. They weren't usually so cheerful around fully fledged wizards or witches. Miss Edith seems to have found her calling in life, and was completely content.
Smiling back at the cheerful orphanage caretaker, Professor Flitwick began the normal explanation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He continued on with the subject of the school subjects, how the term went, what he taught at the school, and the general basics of the hidden wizarding world, and the necessity of keeping the Statute of Secrecy.
After a few quick demonstrations of Charms, Professor Flitwick finally asked Carl the question. "So, Mr. Edwards. Would you be interested in attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
Carl nodded eagerly. "I'd love to go!" He exclaimed, really getting into his persona of a young boy excited about magic. "So, the letter you left me had a list of school supplies that I don't think the local stores supply. Where do I go to get what I need?"
Professor Flitwick smiled at Carl's enthusiasm. "There is a shopping centre near here called Diagon Alley. If you're not too busy, I could escort you there now? If that would be convenient for your caretaker, Miss Edith?"
"Now is as good a time as any, Professor. With my duties here I'm afraid I'm unable to escort him at this time." Carl also got the sense that she was relieved she wouldn't have to step back into that world. That she was perfectly content with her life and duties at the orphanage.
"Well, then. Why don't you gather you get ready and grab anything you need, Mr. Edwards."
"Sure thing, Professor. I'll be back in a few moments." Carl left the room to get changed from his play clothes that had gotten dirty. He was back in less than 10 minutes, with his Gringotts key and the Entrance Fee envelope.
"Professor, just before I moved here yesterday, I received by owl what they called my Gringotts bank key, and a letter saying it was for entrance to my school of choice. I wondered if you knew anything about a bank called Gringotts?" Carl asked a leading question. He wasn't sure what plan Professor Flitwick had to pay for his school supplies, but since Carl had his own account, he'd rather just take care of it himself.
"Ah, excellent, Mr. Edwards, that is good news that you probably don't have to rely on the Orphan's Fund. Gringotts is a goblin run bank for the Wizarding world. We'll stop by there first thing when we get to Diagon Alley."
"What about the school fees? Do some families pay for all 7 years of schooling up front, when their kids are young?" Carl asked a leading question. If he could get the professor to admit that school could be paid in one lump sum, his Entrance Fee item could probably take care of it, and he wouldn't have to pay out of his bank account.
"Yes, some families that have the money pay for their children's full seven years after they are born. It saves them money in the long run if the prices increase at some point, you see…"
After the professor talked about the subject for a bit, Carl got him to divulge how much the full 7 years cost was. Once that was settled, Carl opened up his Entrance Fee envelope, and found a draft note for the full amount that he handed to the professor.
Once the fees for Hogwarts was taken care of, Carl and Professor Flitwick exited the orphanage and the Professor explained and showed Carl how to summon the Knight Bus.
Carl was having fun with the ride where all the seats shifted around like crazy. He simply grabbed onto his chair, tucked his legs up out of the way, and rode it out. It was like an out of control bumper car rally, really.
When he and the professor exited the bus at the Leaky Cauldron, Carl could see a huge grin on the professor's face. Professor Flitwick, it seemed, had also enjoyed the exciting ride. They bypassed the main bar floor of the tavern, and Professor Flitwick showed Carl which bricks to tap to open the portal.
"And this is the main wizarding shopping center here in Britain." Professor Flitwick explained. "There are other, smaller local shopping centers around the country wherever there are gatherings of wizarding homes, but this is the biggest shopping district." The professor led Carl down the main thoroughfare, a straight shot from the entrance, to the white marbled building that was Gringotts.
They soon entered the building by the wide double doors that were flanked by a pair of goblin guards. After waiting in line for 10 minutes, Carl approached the teller.
"Carl Edwards to make a withdrawal from his vault." Carl confidently stated to the teller as he presented his key, following the advice given to him by Professor Flitwick, he talked in a no nonsense but polite tone.
"And how much are you withdrawing, Mr. Edwards?" The teller asked after scanning the key.
"100 Galleons." Carl replied.
The teller nodded and made a notation in his book. They then waited for a vault runner to fetch his gold. Since he was just standing there, Carl couldn't resist asking some questions.
"Do Goblins give out quests?"
"No." The teller barely blinked at his unusual question.
"Do Goblins always live underground?"
"No."
"Do Goblins have harems?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a harem?
"No."
"Do Goblins regularly call Humans 'spitroast' in your language?"
"No."
"Really? Not even jokingly?"
"No. But for you I'll make an exception." The teller bared his teeth in a mocking grin while Carl chuckled.
"Cool. Do you get warm fuzzy feelings when Humans are polite to you?"
"No. It only makes me wonder what they want from me."
"Are you charging me per question or by time?"
"Both." Carl laughed.
"Okay. Well, that's all I've got for now. May your enemies be crushed and driven before you." Carl stated as he accepted his pouch of gold.
"And may you hear the lamentation of your enemy's women." The teller returned.
"I didn't think you'd be a Conan fan."
"Who do you think produced the movie?" The teller, Knot-Ripper asked with bared teeth.
Carl laughed in response. "Awesome! I hope to see more good movies in the future." He waved farewell to the Goblin as he rejoined Professor Flitwick who had waited by the doors.
"Where to first professor?" Carl asked as he rejoined the cheerful charms professor.
"I believe we'll get your trunk first. That way, when we get your other supplies, you can simply pack them away in your trunk."
"Sounds like a plan." Carl agreed.
They soon arrived at the trunk shop, and Carl spent some time carefully reviewing the options. He didn't really need the trunk, he had his Warehouse for storage. But to avoid anyone asking questions about why he didn't need a trunk, it was necessary to get one.
Added on to the fact that he'd enjoyed a few good Harry Potter stories in his original world. So the whole shopping experience was part of entering the wizarding world, and he didn't want to shortchange his inner child of the opportunity to revel in the fun.
After looking over his options, Carl decided on a 3 compartment trunk. One compartment was for all his clothes and toiletries and whatnot. The second compartment was for all his school supplies for potions, astronomy, quidditch, and whatnot. The third was for his small personal library, quills, ink, and parchment.
Satisfied that he would have a drawer, cubbyhole, shelve, or bin for anything he would need for his school supplies, Carl paid for his trunk, and followed Professor Flitwick to Madam Malkins shop to get his robes.
As he was getting measured, he asked Madam Malkin about the robes and the charms she puts on them. The robes were designed to last a year. During that year, they would keep growing with the student to make sure they always fit. And that was pretty much it for her standard robes.
Carl learned there were more charms and even runes that could be sewed onto robes, but that they were so expensive that they were not worth bothering with for daily wear robes that he would outgrow.
After getting his wardrobe and placing it in his trunk, he and the professor moved on to his potions supplies. Out of curiosity, he asked the potions supply attendant if there was a Slytherin potions kit available for purchase. Just one of those fanfiction things Carl wondered about.
The teller denied there being such a thing. But since he kept glancing nervously at Professor Flitwick, the head of the Ravenclaw house and the Charms professor, while he nervously denied there being such a thing, Carl didn't particularly believe him.
From the looks of it, Professor Flitwick didn't believe him either.
"So, Professor. Are you going to launch an investigation into whether there is such a thing?" Carl smilingly asked after they exited the store.
Professor Flitwick hummed in response. "And where did you hear of such a thing, anyway, young Mr. Edwards?"
"I overheard a couple of students talking about it. Seems odd that only one house would be involved in having a specially prepared potions kit. But I didn't know if it was something the professor set up for their students, the apothecaries set up to make the Slytherin's feel like they were getting something special, or what." Carl blithely lied about how he'd known.
Cause he hadn't overheard anyone talking about it, he just wondered about fanfiction tropes. But it looked like in this universe at least, Snape's bias towards all things Slytherin was manifested in a number of ways.
"Well, what next, Professor?" Carl asked excitedly.
"Next on the list is one of my favorite places." Professor Flitwick said before leading him to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts.
He only purchased the standard books on his school list while he was here with Professor Flitwick. He planned on coming back the next day to really stock up on books.
At the very least, he was planning on buying all 7 years of school books before Lockheart could get at the Hogwarts list and really screw it up by requiring all of his books to be bought by every student. That's not to say that previous defense instructors couldn't have messed up the list, but at least they weren't Lockheart, the useless fop.
And finally, at the end of the tour, they arrived at Ollivander's wand shop. Carl knew the old man was described as "creepy", but that was from the perspective of stupid 11 year olds. No, when Carl finally met the old man, he would have to describe him as very creepy.
The old man was creepy, but he was creepy in an amusing way. Kind of like how Halloween is "spooky", but not really scary, more fun. Carl could tell that Ollivander simply played up that aspect of his appearance because it was fun to mess with 11 year olds.
After spending a long time in the store trying wands, Carl finally settled on a 12" Pine and Unicorn Hair wand.
"I don't know, Mr. Ollivander. This one feels better than the others, but it doesn't feel perfect, if you know what I mean." Carl commented.
"Hmm, yes, it does seem to be only a partial success. I'm not too happy with that, but it's the best option at the moment."
"Well, Mr. Ollivander, let's say that if I come back sometime soon with a wand material that really matches well, would you be willing to make it into a wand for me?" Carl asked, thinking about Rover and how he could likely get a feather from him. All the fics said that a feather from his Phoenix familiar would likely make a decent wand for him.
Ollivander hemmed and hawed for a bit, but eventually caved in. "I can only try. I'm not promising anything. There's a reason I mainly only work with three wand core materials. So many of the others are too…temperamental to really work in wands. But I'll give it a try."
"Thank you in advance, then, Mr. Ollivander." Carl then paid for his wand and a holster before bidding farewell.
Now that all his supplies were purchased, his trunk was shrunk and in his pocket, and his wand was in his holster on his wrist, Professor Flitwick introduced him to the art of apparition as he dropped him off back at the orphanage. After thanking the professor, Carl made his way to his room where he started reading his books.
Over the next week Carl spent much of his day at Diagon Alley exploring the area, buying more books, asking the shopkeepers many questions about their business, magic, and what kind of things he would need to study at Hogwarts.
He felt he was getting a pretty decent handle on the wizarding world, and he was able to peruse a lot of shops and find many simple items that were made to save wizards and witches time, or make their lives more comfortable and convenient.
Over that week Carl watched as Rover grew quickly. He figured another two weeks and the dog turned Phoenix would be as big as Fawkes was in the movies. Whether that was his full size or not, Carl couldn't say for sure.
And on the 31st of July Carl made sure to be in the Alley early in the morning. Since he was in place early, he got to watch as a rather malnourished boy of 11 entered the alley for the first time, escorted by a half giant. The awe and joy on the boy's face made Carl smile along.
Carl stayed in place as he watched them enter Gringotts. When they exited, with the giant figured man stumbling off to the leaky cauldron for a pick-me-up, Carl moved in to greet the boy.
"Hey, there. My name is Carl Edwards. First time in the alley?" Carl asked as he sidled up next to the messy black haired boy.
The boy blinked a little warily at Carl, but eventually responded. "Yeah. I'm Harry."
"I'm pretty new to the wizarding world too, but I've spent the past week or so hanging out here during the day before going back to the orphanage at night. So if you want, I can show you around?" Carl offered after they shook hands in greeting.
Harry blinked a bit in surprise at the news that Carl lived at an orphanage and seemed cheerful about it.
"Sure, yeah. Why not?"
Carl then took him to the trunk shop first, while talking about some of the things he'd run across in the shops while he was there.
"You could totally trick out your trunk, you know." Carl commented when it looked like Harry was going to get the cheapest, most beat up trunk there. "You can get multiple compartments, make it so it can shrink and be put in your pocket. Heck, you can even put an apartment in the trunk. Why not get something nice that will last you all seven years of Hogwarts." Carl offered.
Harry flushed a bit, looking down and mumbled, "Cause my relatives would never let me have anything nice." If Carl didn't have superhuman senses, he would never have been able to hear him.
"Well, look at these security options here. With these put on your trunk, you could have the nice trunk you deserve while they wouldn't be able to touch it. Heck, they wouldn't even need to know you had it, really." Carl encouraged. "Besides, it's your life, your magical education, and your money. You shouldn't limit yourself because of their disapproval. You've got magic now! You should enjoy it!"
Carl could see the realization like a revelation come over Harry. He didn't have to care about his relative's disapproval. He would be away from them most of the year, and he could really learn and live without their constant abuse. From then on Harry started coming out of his shell a bit more, excited about the possibilities his new life offered.
They spent only a bit of time in the potions ingredient shop gathering Harry's ingredients. They spent a bit more time in book shop, since Carl encouraged Harry's desire to learn about the magical world. Carl had already picked up a few extra copies of a book on Occlumency, and he planned to gift a copy to Harry. It was his birthday, after all. Carl made sure to talk about the dangers of mind readers, to encourage Harry to study Occlumency.
The earlier a seed is planted, the earlier it could grow. And Carl would prefer this world to have a Harry Potter who was knowledgeable and proactive, rather than a Harry that follows along at Ron Weasley's lazy pace.
When they made their stop at Madam Malkins, Carl encouraged Harry to get a whole new wardrobe that he could wear at school, eschewing his normal hand-me-down rags.
"I'm not saying you should care overly much about appearances." Carl tried to explain a bit more about why he thought it was important. "But it really does help a bit with self confidence. If you look good, and know you look good, it's a lot easier to be confident in yourself and your abilities."
"If you are forced to dress in rags, and you feel like you don't deserve anything better, then it's a lot harder to gather that confidence in yourself and your abilities. And our magic responds to our will. If you have a weak will, or are not firm in what you want your magic to do, then it will wiffle waffle on you. But if you are confident, and feel strongly about what you are doing, then your magic will respond to that, and almost leap to do your will."
"Well, I guess I'll try that." Harry tentatively accepted Carl's reasoning, and bought himself a full wardrobe. "But I'm only going to wear it at school. If my relatives found out I have money, they would try to take it away from me."
"That's probably the smart thing to do, then." Carl agreed. Baby steps.
Before Hagrid came and took Harry away, Carl passed him his book on Occlumency and a couple more items that he had picked up during the previous week. One was a magical lockpick that advertised itself as able to open any muggle lock. The other was an item that would have a muggle notice-me-not field around it.
Carl gave Harry those items to ensure he could sneak out of the Dursleys whenever he wanted. Carl also explained to Harry how to summon the Knight Bus, and extracted a promise from the young wizard to meet the next day in the alley so they could explore more.
With that, Carl pretty much ensured that when September 1st rolled around, Harry would not be quite as ignorant of the wizarding world, and wouldn't be crazily desperate to latch onto the first redhead that entered his train compartment as his best friend ever.
And if some people happened to see Harry Potter hanging out at Diagon Alley, getting introduced to the magical world for the first time, and spread the news that the boy didn't know anything about the magical world before then? Well, that could only smoothen out his relations with his fellow wizards when they realized that Harry wasn't stuck up or anything.
But then again, maybe Carl was giving the average wizard too much credit. Carl shrugged the idea away for the time being. For now, it was time to be a kid again. Acting!
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