Chapter 58

Dumbledore would find him trying to fit the broken shards back together several hours later, bleeding from the numerous cuts he'd gotten when the mirror exploded and from where he'd cut his hands and knees as he crawled over the floor gathering up as many of the glass silvers as he could find. The bearded man tried to explain to Harry that the mirror was just an enchanted mirror that showed him his heart's desire and that it was incapable of granting said desire but Harry didn't want to believe him. The news that the mirror was also irreparable was the last straw and Harry broke down sobbing over the loss of what he thought had been the answer to his prayers.

Harry would spend the next two days in the school's Infirmary recovering from his various injuries and a severe case of magical exhaustion (all three of his Status Bars dangerously low). He had several visitors turn up to see him during that time but he refused to speak to any of them, drowning as he was in his renewed grief. Not even Hedwig could sooth his aching heart this time, though she tried to several times.

Once he was released from the Infirmary, Harry holed himself up in his bed for another three days to wallow in his grief before he grew angry at himself for giving up so easily. He then spent sixteen hours in the Forbidden Forest wiping out close to sixty Acromantula in his rage before he hunted down a pod of Forest Trolls.

On the eleventh of June, the Gryffindor Quidditch team faced the Slytherin team a second time in order to determine the winner of this year's Quidditch trophy as both of their teams had tied for first place according to the points. Gryffindor won the match in less than five minutes as Harry wasted no time in collecting the snitch; the eleven year old in no mood for a long drawn out game. Their house partied late into the night while Harry retreated to his bed once more and spent the night lavishing attention on Hedwig in order to make up for ignoring her in the days immediately following his battle with the Two-Faced Voldemort hybrid Monster Boss thing.

The final grades from their End-of-Year Exams were posted on the boards on the fifteenth and Harry found that he'd tied with Hermione for top scores in History and Astronomy, with Neville for the top score in Herbology, with Draco Malfoy (a Slytherin that occasionally pestered him and all of the other first years not in Slytherin) for the top score in Potions, with Padma Patil (a Ravenclaw) for the second highest score in Transfiguration (Hermione had earned the highest score in that class), and had highest scores in both Defense and Charms.

Overall, Harry was listed as the top student of his year with Hermione coming in a close second (much to the young witch's chagrin and pride – the latter strictly because she'd helped tutor him when he first started classes). The fact that Harry didn't care that he had the highest scores out of their entire year only served to upset those that truly cared about their grades (mostly the Ravenclaws who prided themselves on being the smartest). The only reason Harry had put in the effort to score so well was because he couldn't risk being held back a year if he wanted to beat this game as quickly as possible.

During the Leaving Feast on the evening of the sixteenth, Gryffindor was awarded the House Cup for having earned the highest number of House Points through the course of the year. The only house that wasn't pleased with that revelation was Slytherin due to the fact that it ruined what would have been a seven year winning streak (the House of Snakes had won the House Cup for six years running). That was on top of them losing the Quidditch Cup to Gryffindor that year as well.

The next morning, Harry would watch from the top of the main staircase as the other students were escorted out of the castle and down to the train; the eleven year old the only one who would not be leaving the castle for the summer.

Dumbledore tried to claim it was because his aunt and uncle had been found unfit to raise a magical child but Harry only saw it as another attempt by the game to supplant reality in his mind (he firmly believed they couldn't send him back to his aunt's because his aunt didn't exist in the game). The fact that his godfather arrived an hour after the other students left only solidified that impression in his mind as he was informed that he would have the summer to 'get to know' his godfather.

Harry only stayed in the castle long enough to stock up on food before he vanished into the Forbidden Forest in order to spend the summer improving his Skills so that he'd be better prepared to face the next challenge the game would force upon him during what would be his second year.

XXXX

Friday, June 24, 2022 11:36 AM

Harry watched the Bugbear he'd been fighting shatter in death as he lowered his wand back to his side. He'd been living in the forest for a week now and he'd been slowly improving his accuracy and speed in spell casting as well as learning how to better control the amount of magic he fed into a spell. His only companions during that time, aside from Hedwig, had been Firenze (who spent twelve hours a day at his side) and another centaur named Bane (a dark centaur in color and mood who'd watch him during the remaining twelve hours).

Both centaurs had taken to teaching Harry archery when he showed an interest in learning how to use a bow and arrow after half seeing Bane shoot down an Acromantula that had attempted to attack Harry from behind while he'd been trying to trap another pair of the overgrown spiders. The more he improved using the bow, the better his accuracy became in spell casting as it took far more effort to hit a target with an arrow than it did with the splash of a spell. The physical aspect of drawing the bow to fire the arrow also helped improve the strength of the muscles in his arms which allowed him to hold his wand steadier.

Harry wished he had thought to learn how to use a bow in SAO as he quickly came to consider the bow a perfect match for him. Of course, he was even better with a wand but Harry wasn't going to admit that to anyone, least of all himself, since that would be an admission that he belonged in this world in his mind.

Hedwig launched herself from his shoulder to claim the Bugbear Meat that Harry had just pulled out of his Inventory and tossed into the air for the occamy. Harry watched her deftly pluck the meat out of the air with her claws and land on a nearby tree where she immediately tore into her food before he moved closer to the burrow the Bugbear had charged out of in order to see if there were any more of the monsters lurking in the depths. He bravely (or more like stupidly) stuck his head down in the burrow and nearly lost an eye to a playful sideswipe from one of the three Bugbear cubs occupying the den.

Guilt filled Harry; he'd stolen their only parent from them (male Bugbears never stuck around long enough to help raise their progeny).

Other players might have simply killed the young to prevent them from growing up but Harry couldn't bring himself to kill babies (regardless of whether or not they were monsters). It was one thing to fight an adult monster in a fair (or near fair) battle but killing defenseless babies made him sick to his stomach and if he'd known the adult Bugbear he'd been fighting was only defending her young, then he'd have left her alone. Besides, if he killed every single creature he came across there'd soon be no more creatures for him to face when he ventured into the forest as he'd quickly learned that these monsters didn't regenerate like the monsters from SAO.

Knowing the cubs wouldn't be able to survive on their own, Harry carefully collected them before he backed out of the burrow; he'd take them to Hagrid. The man had a soft spot for all creatures and he'd see that the babies were taken care of until they could fend for themselves. Using his silk rope, Harry made a small net to carry the cubs in so they couldn't bite him and so he wouldn't drop any of them on accident. He then waited for Hedwig to finish her meal before he headed back towards the castle with Hedwig tracking him from the air as she flew through the branches of the trees towering above them (the occamy stretching her wings) and Bane keeping pace from the trees beside the trail Harry was using.

.

.

.

.

.

👀The novel is available in PDF, visit my Patreon store👀

🚬Patreon.com/BlackGoku222🚬