New life, New look
It had been a week since my visit to Diagon and I had been busy. I went on your typical first trip to the alley run, I got robes, books, potion ingredients and I even got the first year texts for that year by telling the shopkeep that I was simply "helping my older brother while he's getting his wand sir! oh but he has the list I don't know what books are needed can you help me please? my mum gave me enough money so I can pay, I promise!". A lot of the shopkeeps in Diagon are suckers for the whole innocent child shtick. I didn't get a wand as you need your Hogwarts letter for that, also the fact that I appear younger than an 11 year old, I was around 8? I think?!? I don't know, my age hasn't held meaning to me for awhile.
I also managed to gather a few tomes and books that weren't on any booklist, a few advanced spells, magical theory, a book labelled 'Meditation: magic for your mind!' which I was hoping would be my gateway to the mind arts later on and a few medical textbooks as well. I spent my time reading the medical books and theory on transfiguration while I was eating ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, this was so I could better disguise myself and hopefully appear old enough to rent a room. Afterward I had taken cover in between two shops and using a pocket mirror and extreme mental concentration I managed to make myself tall enough to meet the age requirement and forced my hair follicles on my face to mature, giving me faint stubble. My magic felt like hot magma flowing through my veins as I kept up the appearance and managed to rent a room in the leaky cauldron for two weeks, I also told Tom that my nephew will likely be coming up to see me frequently so that I wouldn't have to do this every time.
As soon as I had privacy I let go of my magic and my body felt like a rubber band being snapped and my magic felt like boiling water in my veins as I reverted back to normal. I laid on the floor for awhile until the pain ebbed away and eventually got to sorting my shit, my magic definitely didn't like what I had done and had become agitated, likely speeding up my obscurification. I spent my week practicing with wandless magic and meditating.
The meditation had specific breathing and focusing exercises that when performed by magical folk, would allow them to gently guide their magic through their mind and body to de-stress and improve recollection. For a normal person this process would maybe improve focus and memory for an hour after and eventually the entire day when performed consistently for a year. Nothing about my mind, body, soul or magic was normal, for me this allowed a much more fine control over my magic without the brute force method I had been using. I was able to gently guide the stream of magic through my brain and focused on remembering my time as a spirit and the other memories I had assimilated, this had the effect of boosting the rate at which my neurons connected allowing for all the memories that I had acquired from the Dursley's and Voldemort's less esoteric ones, to become crystal clear in my mind.
It took a bit more concentration for the memories of my time as a spirit to start becoming clear to me, I felt a light pleasant feeling in my head as I can only assume that my neurons arranged themselves into more strange patterns to hold the memories properly without the horrible onset of insanity. Sure enough when I had stopped meditating I could still recall the memories perfectly with no sign of madness present. It took 3 days for all my memories to finally become properly stored in my flesh brain but it was worth it as my meditation had also improved my recollection ability, afterward I focused on learning the lumos charm as my first proper spell. I used my finger in place of a wand and after performing the movement and incantation for the third time I got a dim glow on my fingertip, I could feel my magic bend and shape itself to become more refined as it traveled along my body toward my hand and it felt like I was trying to do the splits with my soul. Most likely a wand would act as the refiner so my magic wouldn't have to warp like that before being channeled.
However as I kept performing that charm and a few other easy spells my magic became more... agile? dexterous? It began to shape itself quicker and with more ease and it would take less mental effort on my part to coerce it into shape. I felt tingling along my veins and arteries whenever I started to channel my magic and try as I might, I couldn't make out any physical difference.
By the 5th day I had used the rest of the Dursley's money to buy basic lab equipment and a few muggle textbooks about medical practices and lab procedure. I set up a mini lab next to my potions station and managed to get a look at my left hand under a microscope after much awkward positioning and fiddling around, I tried the different magnifications and used the dials on the lens to adjust the image until it was clear. I had to arrange a 'ghetto ass' arm rest so my hand wouldn't constantly move and go out of focus but it worked. Observing the main blood vessel on the back of my hand I began to channel magic through it to cast a lumos, just barely I can make out a faint glow along the blood vessel as it started tingling.
No matter the setting all I can see is a barely there glow, I get up and start pacing around my room in contemplation until my gaze lands on the object leaning across my astronomy books. My telescope. Then the thought hits me, the lens of a magical telescope is enchanted! not only to add zooming capabilities but to allow an actual visual image of the magic flow around planets and stars and how its changes can have effects on our world, but if I have a microscope lens enchanted I should be able to better make out the flowing pathways of my own magic! I made my way to the shop I had gotten the telescope from and asked about microscopes, the shopkeep pointed me toward another store that deals in the enchanting of glass and lenses for glasses, I was able to order a lens to fit my microscope and came back the next day to collect it.
Back in my room I was amazed as I could make out what looked like branching pathways from the main artery except they didn't have blood in them, they had magic! Every time I tried to channel my magic in a wandless spell the branches would grow and spread throughout my body, I even noticed what looked like some kind of magical scar tissue that resembled the angry channeling of an obscurus, most likely from the stalled transformation. I consulted a book titled 'Medical and Magical anatomy' and learned that the pathways were called magicka vessels and would form as a witch or wizard used magic throughout their life, eventually they would have vessels that could deliver magic to any part of the body just like the circulatory system. The various tissues of the body would become more heavily saturated with the persons magic which would have the side effect of passively encouraging cell growth and preventing damage to the body. Of course the book didn't use those exact explanations it just spoke about how the magic slowed down aging and increased durability.
Now the process of forming magicka vessels should take years to accomplish but I believe that due to a combination of my assimilation of extra magic, the strange nature of my soul and the wildness of my magic from the stalled obscurus process that my magic was much more plentiful and stronger? lively? than average, and that's not even breaching the topic about the part of me that is void touched. Anyway I spent my weekend practicing spells and meditating, not only would I channel magic through my brain to help record my memories properly but I also started channeling throughout the rest of my body to form the rest of my magicka vessels. I was hoping that if I could finish the vessels in my eyes I would get some sort of mage sight but so far there has been no change.
Catching up to the present it was now Monday and I was practicing my potion making while using my magic to 'feel' how each of the ingredients felt, this actually helped me when making potions as I could tell when the magic of the potion changed and stabilised after the correct amount of clockwise and anticlockwise turns. It also aided in telling which ingredients would not mix as I could feel how their magics didn't...mesh?... didn't vibe with each other, however I hadn't actually started experimenting on my own yet, I was just going off recipes from my books. With great satisfaction I noted how the winggenweld I was brewing came out the exact color and consistency as in the book.
Taking a break and looking at the mirror I took notice of how my body looked now, when I first became Harry I was a pale ghoul of a child and now I looked like a healthy and fit 8 year old, my skin was still pale but it was human pale now. I didn't look exactly like Daniel Radcliffe or the illustration of Harry on the book covers but there was a resemblance, also apparently I had carried a few minor traits from my first life, the cheekbones and jaw resembled that of my old face... luckily it didn't clash too badly with Harry's features, in fact they complemented each other. My eyes drifted to the infamous scar upon my forehead it sat above my eye and it was no longer the angry red scab it had been, now that the horcrux was gone the scar had turned nearly pale white, noticeable enough to stand out from my skin. I could've brute forced my magic into it to completely restore the tissue but I decided to keep it, after all I need to eventually get use to living and identifying as Harry and the scar was a part of me now, a chapter in my story.
Although it was kind of... small, I mean one of the most powerful and supposedly unblockable curses left a tiny little jagged mark? I know its suppose to resemble a rune but still, when I picture lightning bolt I picture a big force of nature branching off into multiple jagged lines striking the ground with force. Not this tiny thing. Actually... I have an idea, when I was in Diagon I noticed the Harry Potter adventure series and went to Gringotts and long story short the Potter family vault has actually been receiving royalties for the books since they first published, so that's one fanfic trope taken care of already.
Anyway a lot of people expect me to have the whole glasses and lightning bolt scar spitting image of James Potter thing but... why not give the people a surprise? With that thought in mind I stare intently at my reflection and let the river of magic within me flow through the scar, but instead of healing the tissue I focus on replicating the scar tissue to surrounding cells. Firstly the lightning bolt itself becomes slightly larger, then the end starts elongating and tapering off until it reaches my eyebrow, The end splits and branches off with the now two ends passing straight through my eyebrow, the hair on my eyebrow where it passes turns white. The main body of the bolt zig zags down toward my eyelid while the other branch dies off, I close my eye so I can have the scar create a clear line across the slit of my eyelids, the eyelashes that touch it turn white. I have the main body go down to the center of my cheek where I eventually let it taper off into a point, I create a few branches of smaller bolts off the main body and voila! I have one big, accurate bolt of lightning on my face.
I polish it up a bit and give it a last minute addition, I have the top of the lightning bolt extend toward my hairline and end right at the first line of hair follicles, giving me a strand of pure white hair among my raven black bird's nest, it reminds me of the color my magic turns when I call upon the void aspect of it, somehow blindingly bright and darker than a singularity at the same time.
Taking a step back and looking at my whole face, I speak aloud "Goddammit I made myself look like a fucking anime protagonist". I mean I like the look... actually I love the look, I always felt a bit off in this body as it was Harry's, I mean I am Harry but I am also more than Harry, but now it feels like ours . Well in for a penny...I decide to also make my eye a pale milky colour, it doesn't compromise my sight its just an aesthetic choice.
Dumbledore and a few others will obviously be like 'hey wait a minute the scar wasn't that big and your eye was fine', my cover story is that the Dursley's were being right dickheads and I got so angry my magic boiled up and my scar exploded and there was screaming and blood blah blah blah... and then bam! I wake up with a big ass scar and horcrux free. Yeah Dumbledore will totally buy that... I hope. I bring my magic toward my face and hair and change to my long, light-brown hair, clear faced disguise and decide to find a few history books to find out how much this world differs from my own.
I spent the rest of my day purchasing a few books on history from both magical and muggle shops, Harry never spent much time outside so I didn't notice it at first but muggle London is... kind of modern, I mean its late 1988 but it feels closer to around late 90s early 2000s, wonder whats up with that. Once it started getting dark I made myself appear older which became easier now that my magicka vessels are more developed, however holding it to long may have... negative consequences. I venture into the shadier parts of Diagon and even take a brief look at a book store in Knockturn, I say store but its more of an alley than a proper shop.
I find a few books on the more obscure practices of magic which includes a nifty little book called 'Keeping family business private: How to teach your child basic occlumency'. The book is worn and obviously used but its the only book I've found that actually mentions occlumency so i bought it, pretty sure the owner overpriced it... bastard. But the real gem of my outing today is a book I am in dire need of, its a used copy and appears to even be an older out of date issue but its title reads 'A healers guide to rituals of a medical nature circa 1940' underneath the title in big block capitals was the subtitle 'FOR USE OF MINISTRY APPROVED HEALERS. PROPERTY OF ST. MUNGO'S'.
The guy selling the book spoke only broken English so I doubt he actually knew what the full title read or he might've not been selling it, anyway you know ya boy swiped that shit. I made my way back to my room and with a quick hello to Tom I was safely behind closed doors and away from prying eyes, I had been practicing my magic so I managed a very weak notice me not on my door and a silencing charm around the room, I felt slightly winded afterward but recovered quickly.
I open my out of date ritual book and find a chapter about early accidental magic and treating kids from abusive homes, if any chapter has what I need its this one. Sure enough I find a ritual that is suppose to "Help correct self inflicted magical injuries and also lay a strong foundation for the magical core to properly grow and develop from". As soon as I read the title I get a strange sense of déjà vu and am overcome with tiny bits and pieces of Tom Riddle Jr's earlier life flooding my memories, as soon as it starts it stops. seems I managed to jog some of the memories from the horcrux, of course it happens after I find the book and not when I need help looking for it, useless wanker.
Anyway the ritual is suppose to be performed on a new moon for a new beginning and to leave behind the scars from the past, usually the cause for the presents current problems. You have to draw a circle inside a diamond, you need to use wizard's chalk which is apparently chalk made from the bones of any magical creature, darker rituals call for the use of chalk made from wizard bones. If for whatever reason, you don't have access to wizard's chalk, you can use magically charged blood (blood of a wizard/witch). Bonus points if its the patients blood however it doesn't have to be.
Once that is done a large candle should be placed at each corner of the diamond, so four in total. The wick of each candle has to be a specific material, this is where its going to be difficult as the materials needed for each wick are a unicorn tail hair, dragon heartstring and a pheonix feather. The 3 supreme wand cores. It makes sense I guess, I am trying to heal my magical core, what better materials to use than those of a wand core. The fourth candle needs a wick made from the patients hair, however you can also use one from a family member. Now finally this ritual is considered basic as there is no incantation to be performed, once the patient is inside the circle simply hold your magical foci to the ritual circle and picture in your mind, a pheonix being reborn from its ashes.
The magic will follow the intent and the ritual circle will catch on fire and then each candle starting from the bottom in a clockwise rotation, will light up. The process takes half an hour and its recommended to have pain reliever or wiggenweld potion on hand as it can be painful, however there should be no lasting damage.
I made a note of all the specifics I needed for the ritual and closed the book, I let out a sigh of relief and reached for my book on muggle history. I'd finish the night with a quick recap on what I know from my reality and find out where this version differs on the muggle side, I'd go over the wizarding side tomorrow. Opening up on a chapter about WWII my most familiar history topic, I settled in for the night... until I was overcome by great shock, disbelief and horror at what I saw on the page, and no it wasn't the horrible atrocities committed during the war, I was familiar with those.
I was stunned because on the page was a picture of motherfucking captain America.