Chapter 7

Harry stood with his wand straight, facing the rubber doll in the practice room once again.

He'd just finished reading two of the books Bella had provided: 'Practical guide to perfect spells', and 'Spell power and Efficiency'. Occlumency made him able to read a book worth 65K words in just under 2 hours. More importantly, he understood everything written in it on first glance.

According to the two books, spells were powered by magic and so to understand how to Control your spells, you must understand how to control your magic. There were 4 main things that were used by a wizard when manipulating magic: Will, words, emotions, and intent.

It wasn't anything new to Harry, having known how to shape his magic quite expertly. But that was all through practical and live experimentation. He hadn't known the theory behind it. Especially not how to use Occlumency to control your Will and intent. That alone made a visible difference in his spells.

But his main goal today was much more complicated.

He levitated the rubber doll in the air with a silent levitation charm, and then used Occlumency to channel his Will and intent clearly to his magic.

'Let the ends meet each other', He Willed, sharp and clear, and the rubber doll suddenly rolled up, it's feets twisting forward to touch its head.

Harry marvelled at the effect in mild surprise; he'd never used levitation charm like this in his life.

Still in the air, he Willed the doll to zoom around the room with extreme ease, before finally throwing it against the warded wall.

Dozens of ideas popped in his head on how to use his new level of control over his spells...Ideas that he would later review.

The second important thing he learned was spell management. Every spell, no matter how weak or powerful, has its own speciality. And not just in its utility, but also on how and when to use it.

The killing curse and entrail-expelling curse basically does the same thing: Kill instantly. And yet, both of these spells have thier own moments to shine. Entrail-expelling curse is faster to cast and takes considerably less effort than the killing curse. Plus it also reaches the opponent more quickly.

Another thing he learned was the spell-chains. Basically, they were a group of spells that uses the same kind of intent and emotions and thus were much more faster and efficient to cast, boosting each other to become more powerful.

Levicorpus and Levitation charm, for instance, could be successfully chained. While they did slightly different things, both needed a Wizard's intention to make someone or something levitate in the air. So if Harry continuously used this two-spell combo, he will be casting them at a much more greater speed than normal.

But this won't work for long, because spells were basically Latin words. And words had a tendency to lose meaning if repeated continuously. And words without meaning were just stupid sounds that cannot be used to control magic.

Which was why a wizard either used a spell-chain with 4-5 spells in it, or used many different spell-chains instead of using a single one.

Harry planned to prepare both.

One of his combination currently comprised of Diffindo and Sectumsempre. Both were born from the intention to cut, and if feuled with a strong emotion like hatred or anger, could cause some serious devastation.

Another was Confringo, Bombarda, and Expulso. This was a combination of massive firepower, something he had actually used against death eaters before, with terrifying results. Though he hadn't known what he was actually doing back then.

"Harry!" His godmother's panicked yell brought an end to his studies and experimentation. "Harry, come down now!"

"Coming!" He replied, quickly making way for the main hall.

"Harry, pack your things! We're leaving!"

By the time he reached the hall Bella had already emptied the entire room in an expandable suitcase.

"What happened?" He asked, old Paranoia showing its ugly face at Bella's visible panic.

"Sirius Black has escaped Askaban." She answered, her face calming at his voice. "That in itself would've been cause for concern but we're in immediate danger. We need to leave."

"Wait, you think he's that much of a threat?" Harry asked, surprised.

After just a little bit of research he'd found out that Bella was considered one of the best duellers in the entire Europe. Sirius must be atleast at Grindelwald's level to send Bella into panic.

"On his own? No, Of course not. He was a lvl 5 Duelist when he was imprisoned, and after rotting 13 years in Askaban I'd wager even you could whoop his arse black and blue."

Harry tried not to feel offended at 'Even you'.

"No, what I'm afraid of is him coming here. He's still the heir of house Black, and should he enter the manor he will gain full access to these wards. We're no longer safe here. C'mon."

They rushed through the packing, thoroughly looting the Black Manor.

"Valuable stuff, all of these." Bella informed him. "Old and valuable. Normally no one except the lord of the house could take them out, but exceptions will be made when the said lord is rotting in Askaban. Even if he has escaped now."

Next, they looted the library. Every book except the family magic section, which even the lord cannot take away from the room.

By the time they were done, it was deep in the afternoon and the house was looking completely new and naked. Bella hadn't left anything unturned, even the silver cutlery had found a place in her suitcase.

"Where will we go?" Harry asked as both stood in front of the fireplace, his own suitcase and Hedwig were tucked inside Bella's.

"That...depends really." She said with a bit of reluctance. "You have some options. You can stay with your family in the Potter manor which is even more luxurious than this. They also have a quidditch pitch and a real Dueling room. And Lily would be absolutely thrilled to have you. Or...well, you can come with me but I won't recommend it. I was planning to stay in my cottage, down in Godric's hollow. Which is...not very impressive honestly. You wouldn't have any of the luxuries that you had here."

"Well great, that's settled then. I'm coming with you." He replied without hesitation.

"You're joking." She snorted, incredulous. "Didn't you hear a word that I said?"

"I did. Now shut up and let's go."

She mumbled something about him being a stubborn bully, but he must've misheard.

"Fine. Alright. Don't blame me when you're wallowing in misery though. I've already warned you it's not a big house like you're used to."

He just urged her on, taking a fistful of floo powder (the only thing they didn't steal).

"Right. Well, you go first. You know how to use floo powder yes? The place's name is Black cottage."

His decision to go with Bella wasn't that hard to make honestly.

While he liked Lily, he did not want to stay in a house with 3 children in it, even if they were his siblings. Plus he could feel some sad and nervous energy in Bella when she described her collage. The woman didn't look like she wanted to go back to living alone on her own.

And Harry, being the gentleman that he was, obliged kindly.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the idea of staying alone with an older, bewitchingly beautiful, witch. Even if it did tighten his breeches slightly.

So without further preamble, he stepped inside the fireplace and bellowed, "Black cottage!"

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Knockturn Alley was home to one of the most notorious crime network in Europe. The few legitimate businesses that were actually present here were showcased as the front to fool Aurors and hit-wizards.

The deeper parts though, were as mysterious as they were disturbing. It wouldn't be out of question to find a dead body or two lying around the streets casually, only cleaned when they start rotting. People simply couldn't care less about other's business.

So a meeting between two hooded men, dressed completely in black didn't attract any attention whatsoever. Which was exactly why they'd agree to meet in such a shady place where even the aurors could go home robbed, beaten, and maybe even raped if they were unlucky and attractive enough.

"Black." A gravelly voice greeted. "What a day to be alive, is it not?"

"Abernathy." The other rasped. "I'm surprised you're still alive."

"For the greater good, sacrifices must be made. As you have done, I'm told."

The other barked a crazed laugh, howling with twisted mirth. "Yeah, you lot will know all about the greater good, eh?"

Abernathy grunted gruffly. "You have my orders?"

"The lord is impatient." Black replied, extending a piece of parchment. "But we're making some preparations. Our big day will come at quidditch finals. I'm sure you lot will like to have some fun as well."

"Oh, we will." The other reassured. "Would be even better if America makes it to the finals. Love to spill some home blood."

"I don't fucking care. Mate." Black grouched. "As long as we flatten those bloody Gypsies, I'd be happy. If not, you better believe I'm gonna have my own fun in the side."

With a last snort Abernathy turned around. "See you soon, Black. Remember, your lord shall owe us for this."

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Rituals were one of the most exotic streams of magic. And like runes, there were no known limitations on them either. Instead, what they had were rules. Rules so strict that in some cases, wizards were known to lose access to their magic completely. Rules that even the most greatest of wizards cannot break without suffering some major crisis.

Currently one of those rules had tightened it's grip around Harry like a noose. After some long hard thinking and a little bit of cussing he'd finally accepted that he cannot hope to break off the ritual that his younger, more foolish self had started, and must see to its completion.

He had hoped to complete the ritual in the safe confines of Hogwarts, under the chambers of secrets. Maybe that useless portrait of Slytherin could have been some help.

But no. One of the rules in these kind of rituals was it's completion under a given amount of time. Sly-Harry had already completed his first ritual by January of this year, with the maximum break period of 6 months. Which basically meant that he would need to complete atleast one other ritual before August.

So Harry decided to go according to his younger selves plan, mostly because the boy had already pushed them down on this path and there was no way for him to break things off right now.

Ritual of physicality it was then.

He was currently in the middle of a dense forest, just south of Godric's hollow.

It had been around two weeks since they'd shifted to their new house. And yes, he did consider the Black collage as 'their' house now. No point in pretending that him and Bella weren't as close as family by now. If anything, the past couple of weeks only strengthened the budding relationship between him and Bella.

While he wasn't completely sure what this relationship was exactly, he knew she was the only one he trusted in this world currently. How could he not? When she risked her job and broke laws just to meet his demands.

While he hadn't had a problem with the house when they first settled down here, he was quite disappointed to know that the wards that let an under-aged wizard use magic was only limited to the Black Manor and cannot be replicated in their new residence. Harry hadn't complained about it ofcourse (He wasn't a git), but Bella had been able to read his feelings and decided to do something about it herself.

And the result of that was him currently holding a 12 inches long wand, made of Elder wood and Thestral tail hair. It was a custom wand commissioned by Arcturus Black I who was arrogant enough to deem himself worthy of the most powerful wand. The wand was ultimately held as a failed imitation when it didn't claim the man and refused to even shoot sparks of fire without burning it's owner's hand off.

Too valuable to throw away, the wand had been thawed away in the Black treasury until now. Out of all the options presented to him, he had not been expecting this one to choose him. Nonetheless, he was pleasantly surprised when the wand claimed him because it worked almost as good as his holly wand.

But yes, Bella had done something illegal for him and he would be forever grateful. Really, people would be scandalized if they knew that their head of DMLE broke such an ancient and honoured law. And she would no doubt end up losing her job at the very least, no matter if Bones was her friend or not.

Which is why he'd been practicing his magic in secret, deep in the woods behind Godric's hollow, far away from prying eyes.

Not that people of Godric's hollow seemed to care really. They mostly kept to their own and were never nosy about others. Even the muggle families living here.

But he'd rather not risk it.

Bella was currently off to work in Dartmoor, where the stadium for this year's quidditch world cup was built in. She wouldn't be back for 4 more hours, making this the perfect time to complete this bloody ritual.

The past few days he'd done nothing but carve the runes and symbols necessary for the ritual, and now it was finally ready.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

If this worked, his problem with his current unfit body would be instantly solved.

But the thing was, it could just as easily backfire and ruin his magic forever. Should that happen he could kiss his mission goodbye. He wouldn't even be able to duel Pettigrew then, let alone Voldemort.

He sighed. "Let's get this over with."

The ritual circle that he'd created was over 2 meters wide, with another small circle, half a foot in radius, inside it. The circle had 7 moons covering it's circumference, each hollow and carved with absorption runes.

He raised his wand and slashed his other palm with a silent Diffindo, letting the blood well over. Then he approached each one of the moons and fed it with his blood until the black lines of the rune turned blue.

Fortunately the dizziness from blood-loss hit him only after all the 7 moons were fed. Unfortunately, while he'd come prepared with a blood replenishing potion, he couldn't use it until the ritual was over.

Surviving the ritual was one of the rules that everyone must face. For physical enhancement, he will need to survive the physical pain and weakness. After everything he'd been through in the past few years, the pain was laughable really. He didn't even care about the slight tingling when he'd cut his hand.

His main worry though, was blood loss. He was worried that this weak body might not be able to pull through.

Still, he hoped for the best and took his place in front of the central circle. His Sacrificial items were ready and waiting, the incantations for the ritual he'd already memorized (Occlumency for the win), his Will was as strong as ever and the faint dizziness that he'd just got was pushed to the side.

He was ready. And so he started.

"Oh Magic, I summon thee, heed my callings for I know thee live alive..."

The words were spoken in Latin but he knew the meaning by heart. He had to really, incantations were nothing without meaning. Especially in rituals because there was no such thing as silent casting here. Your words were the most important thing in a ritual, and he was careful to follow the book's instructions to the letter.

When the words of sacrifice were spoken, he calmly put the two items in the central circle and kept on with the incantations.

At some point his dizziness really grew to an alarming degree and he had to put some pressure on his palm to stop any further bleeding.

But all in all, he never truly felt in any lethal threat as he finally finished the entire ritual. The items in Sacrificial circle burnt down into ashes inside a red flame, and the black circle turned Blue, matching the other 7 circles in its satisfaction.

And just when he thought the entire thing was over...a ridiculously sharp bout of pain made his entire body spasm like a worm.

The pain was so sudden and so harsh that even his occlumency and years of experience couldn't do anything to stop him as he bellowed his agony out to the world. A small part of his mind sighed in relief for having put silencing charm around the trees, or he had no doubt that his screams would've reached the entire village of Godric's hollow.

On the other hand...if he died no one will know anything, and his body will rot in the forest till Bella came searching.

After what felt like being under cruciatus for an entire day, but was actually just a few seconds of terrible anguish, the pain disappeared just as suddenly as it had come.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the last embers of fire from the sacrificial circle seeping inside his body, marking the completion of ritual.

Still dizzy, and now terribly weak, he stumbled out of the circle which fizzled out behind him. Dropping to one knee, he quickly picked up his wand.

His vision was growing dark, and he knew he didn't have too much time.

"Accio potion." He weakly spelled. Thankfully his magic was as strong as ever, and the bottle snapped in his hand with a sting, and he remembered his still injured hand.

The bleeding had stopped but the cut remained.

He quickly downed the blood-replenishing potion, one of the few that Bella had give to him for emergency. Well, her exact words were 'When another bout of stupidity hits you' but whatever.

Then, he brought the wand down to his cut.

"Episkey." He cast, and the cut closed up instantly.

Harry then put the empty bottle back in the bag, swung the bag on his shoulder, occluded his mind to concentrate fully, and disapparated with a crack.

He arrived just behind his house, away from prying eyes, and quickly began stumbling inside the house. In under 5 minutes he was back in his room, throwing the bag to the side. He had just enough time to put both of his wands in the table drawer and hit the bed before he went out like a lamp, the dirty clothes still on.

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When Harry next woke up, it was to a light splattering of rain and a very chilly morning. He gave a deep yawn, stretching all of his limbs straight while absently noting the presence of his most favourite relative in his room.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Bella greeted him from the side, placing a cup of tea on the table. "C'mon, get ready. Today's a big day, remember? You have a reunion ahead of you."

"Yeah, I'm up." He grunted, rubbing his eyes. "What's the time now?"

"Just past seven. We leave in an hour."

Harry hummed, wetting his mouth with some water before touching the steaming tea.

"Remember not to be late, alright? Amelia would have my head if I'm not there by nine."

He grunted again as she left the room, sighing with relief when the hot sip of tea warmed his body.

Bella hadn't asked any questions about yesterday, for which he was grateful. After that disastrous night, he really wasn't looking forward to anything today.

He placed the tea cup back on the table and stood up from the bed, observing his body to see if he could feel any changes.

He didn't.

But when he took his first couple of steps forward, and found himself jogging ahead at a fast pace instead, he definitely noticed that.

"Woah." He gasped, coming to a stop abruptly, but his pace was too quick and he found himself falling straight on his face...

...Or so he thought. He was leaning down towards the floor, staring at it from barely half-a-meter away...but he wasn't falling. He looked back at his own legs and saw himself perfectly balanced on a single toe. Then, without any effort whatsoever, he pushed himself back on two legs.

He laughed aloud, twirling in place as he marveled at his amazing balance and speed. Why on earth had he not tried this in his previous life? Rituals were like magical cheats!

"Harry, I'm glad that you're happy but would you stop dancing and get ready!" Came his godmother's yell from below.

"Sure thing, Bella!" He replied with a laugh.

Harry flexed his hand and the elder wand jumped into his palm. It was the only piece of Wandless magic that he'd learnt.

Without further ado, he waved his wand to the side and the small wardrobe opened on its own to spit out a pair of clothes that came to land beside him.

He quickly grabbed the clothes and with a spring in his steps, entered the bathroom, excited not just about his new physique but also for the day ahead of him.

It was weird realising that even after 3 years of constant war, quidditch didn't fail to excite him. Well, it was England vs Transylvania so it made sense. Hopefully they won't lose as pathetically as he remembered in his previous life.

Though his hope was small and doubtful, considering that all the previous matches gave a similar result as his last life.

Hmm... perhaps he could use his future knowledge for some quick cash?