The Corrupted Gamer: Harry Potter

The sounds of shuffling feet, and mumbling from a lot of people, came from both stairwells. Harry didn't try to hide or used his skills to disappear, because he was now sure that this was part of the reward he had earned. Everyone in Ravenclaw had to see that it was him that did it for him to get his reputation with them maxed out.

“Bones?” A seventh year Prefect asked as everyone piled into the common room. “What are you doing out of bed?”

Harry dismissed the blue box with the boy's name and didn't bother reading it. “I've finally finished my present for Ravenclaw House!” He said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“It's five in the morning!” A surly sixth year spat.

“Well, it's not like I could sort and catalogue the entire Ravenclaw Library with everyone using it during the day, could I?” Harry asked and everyone stopped mumbling to stare at him. “I've been coming down here every night since school started and went through everything, writing down the names of the books, the authors, the subjects, and everything.”

“You're joking!” A third year exclaimed.

“Nope!” Harry said and pulled the pages out of his robes to show off the lists. “When I had them all recorded, I went through them all and sorted them by subject and put them back on the shelves.”

“That's what you were doing last night!” Padma gasped.

Harry nodded. “I'm done and I just put the magical index card cabinet in place. I hadn't realized it would make that much noise, though. I'm sorry that I woke everyone up.”

“You're joking.” One of the older students whispered. “You have to be joking. There's no way a first year could do that in a single night.”

“I didn't do it in a single night. It took me nearly all night every night for a week.” Harry said and waved at the cabinet. “It works just like the one in the school's library, too. Ask it what you want and the card will pop up for you to copy. Follow the directions to get the book, periodical, or scroll that you need.”

Complete silence met his words and he wasn't sure if they understood, then the seventh year girl he knew the name of, Elisa, stepped forward and stopped in front of the cabinet. “Bubblehead charm.”

One of the drawers opened and a card slid out.

“Charms section, third row, top shelf, fifth book. Underwater Charms used for Exploration.” Elisa read.

No one said a word as she walked around the cabinet and they all followed her into the library to the third row. She reached for the top shelf and counted to the fifth book. She pulled it out and showed everyone that it was the right book.

“I REALLY LOVE YOU!” Padma yelled and pulled Harry into a hug and kissed him senseless.

While Harry's mouth was being assaulted by Padma's tongue, the other students started to ask the magical cabinet for different things. It wasn't long before the entire House had books that they had searched for and couldn't find previously, then everyone piled into the common room to read.

Padma looked inordinately pleased as she snuggled up on a stunned Harry's lap and read the book that an older student had told her had great stories about ancient wizards from other countries that had visited Britain, one of which was from India.

When 7:30 rolled around and breakfast was being served in the Great Hall, each and every student of the house walked by Harry and thanked him for giving them the best gift a bibliophile could ever asked for. Organized information that was easily searched through.

*

Amelia arrived at the school just after breakfast and was glad that it was a Sunday, because she didn't want her presence at the school to cause too much of a disruption. She wouldn't realize it would be the exact opposite of that until she entered through the large oak front doors and dozens of students saw her and pretty much scattered to tell everyone that she was there.

She had barely let a sigh escape her mouth when her niece came out of the Great Hall. Susan took one look at her face, laughed, and stepped aside as Harry and a pile of his friends came out of the Great Hall.

“We need to talk.” Amelia said in the tone of voice that every child recognized as 'you're in trouble'.

“Bye, Harry!” The boys and girls around him said and quickly made themselves scarce.

“We're meeting in the school library later.” Padma said and kissed his cheek, nodded to Amelia and waved to Susan, and left with the others.

Amelia led her charges to the closest empty classroom and sat them down. She had thought to exclude Susan from this, in case Harry didn't want to explain what was going on, then she decided that they were family and if Harry was going to keep doing things like that, they all needed to know about it. She paced across the front of the classroom for a minute before she managed to arrange her thoughts into the proper order.

“Harry, I'm going to ask you a question. I want you to think very carefully about how to answer it.” Amelia said and tried to keep her face impassive. “However, if you lie to me, I will be very disappointed in you.”

Harry gulped audibly and looked reluctant as he nodded.

Amelia took a deep breath and let it out. “Do you know how to apparate?”

Susan gasped and Harry's eyes widened at her question and looked panicked.

“I was woken up last night when someone appeared inside Bones manor and then apparated out.” Amelia said and looked at Harry. “Harry, what is your answer?”

“Um... I... just a second!” Harry said and then disappeared with a crack.

Susan made a startled sound and Amelia stared at the spot where her son had just been, because it shouldn't have happened. Apparition inside Hogwarts was supposed to be impossible.

With the sound of another crack, Harry reappeared and held out two calming drafts to them. “I just took one myself.”

Susan downed hers immediately and took a steadying breath.

Amelia gave him a pointed look and sipped hers, just to confirm that it actually was a calming draft and not a forgetfulness potion. “Where did you get these?”

“I made them.” Harry said.

“Harry, I told you not to lie to me.” Amelia said.

Harry waved a hand and 14 pewter cauldrons appeared on the desks around him and different plumes of vapours came from them. “Boil cure, calming draft, blood replenishment potion, blemish remover, burn healing paste, draught of peace, herbicide potion, invigoration draught, manegro potion, oculus potion, pepper-up potion, poison antidote, restoration potion, and wiggenweld potion.”

Both Susan and Amelia stared at the cauldrons. They were all simmering nicely and neither of them knew how that was possible.

“I had them under stasis charms inside one of the dumpsters I left in my room.” Harry said and stored them again. “You wouldn't believe how quickly I can make tons of the stuff after a bit of practice. The problem is, if they are bottled up and sit for too long, they lose their potency. So, constantly simmering is best to keep them powerful and fresh.”

Amelia finished off the calming draught and sighed. “How long...”

“About two weeks before school. I had to read a lot of potion books and journals before I felt confident enough to start brewing.” Harry said.

Amelia looked at where the cauldrons used to be. “How did you do that?”

Harry didn't want to explain everything, since he didn't know everything himself, so he cheated. “Undetectable space expansion charm.” He said, without realizing how close to the truth he was, and he reached into his front pants pocket and pulled out one of his recently acquired giant-sized generic encyclopedia books.

Both Amelia and Susan stared at the book that couldn't have possibly come from Harry's front pocket.

“Before you ask, I have about 25 of these.” Harry said and put it back into his pocket as he stored it.

“Harry, you... you've only been at school for a week!” Amelia gasped.

Harry nodded. “I've already taken over the History of Magic class for the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. I'm tempted to take over potions as well, because Snape is a terrible teacher.”

“Professor Snape, Harry.” Amelia corrected.

“You don't automatically become a professor because you work at a school.” Harry said and recalled Ronalda Hooch and Binns. “Although, a lot of people assume so.”

Amelia sighed. “Harry...”

“I'm sorry if I worried you, mum.” Harry said and gave her a hug. “I just didn't realize how much stuff I had been carrying and dumped it back in my room.”

That reminded Amelia about what she had seen. “What in the world are you doing with thousands of packs of muggle cigarettes?”

Harry chuckled and looked up at Amelia. “I wasn't going to let the Dursleys or Dudley's friends ruin their lungs with that stuff. I took any pack I was ever around and I didn't even realize how many I had... or how much money they cost. Muggles sure do waste a lot of money.”

Amelia chuckled and hugged him back. “I'll have Mipsy dispose of them and...”

“What? Why?” Harry asked. “We can sell the unopened packs on any muggle street corner and we can give the opened ones away or sell them cheap.”

“Harry...”

“Oh! We could sell the lot to a store, too. One large lump sum. It's not like they ever go bad.”

Amelia sighed. “Harry, that's not really something that...”

“If you sold them for five pounds each, that's about twelve thousand pounds or so... or each unopened pack is worth a galleon.” Harry explained and both Susan and Amelia sucked in sharp breaths. “Do you still want to throw them out?”

Amelia shook her head. “I came here to tell you to stop apparating without a license.”

“You mean this?” Harry asked and took out a transfigured piece of parchment that looked like a real apparition license.

“Where did you get that?” Amelia asked.

“I made it.” Harry said.

Amelia sighed. “Taking it from you won't make a difference, will it?”

“No, I can always make another.” Harry said. “I was going to send a copy to the ministry next week and register it, since ages are not stated on them.”

Amelia opened her mouth to counter him abusing the law like that, then sighed again. “You're paying the fee yourself and making a donation to St. Mungo's.”

Harry smiled. “I'd rather give them potions instead. I'll pick up more cauldrons and start making Skele-gro next week when I have more time.”

Amelia nodded and let him go. “Take the vials to Madam Pomfrey and she'll verify them before she sends them on to the hospital.”

“I'll make some extra for her as well.” Harry promised.

“I don't know why I'm not angry at you about all of this.” Amelia said.

“I do.” Harry said and gave her another hug. “We're family.”

Amelia hugged him tightly. “Yes, we are.” She whispered.

“AWW!” Susan gushed and hugged the both of them.

*

Madam Irma Pince, the Hogwarts librarian, saw the object of her thoughts enter the library with a large group of friends. To her surprise, they were all quiet and weren't being loud or disrupted the other students. She felt a little warm inside as Harry broke away from the group and walked over to her.

“Good morning, Madam.” Harry whispered.

“Good morning, Harry.” Irma whispered back with a small smile. “What can I do for you today?”

“We're just browsing today.” Harry said and took out the lists he had made for the Ravenclaw Library. “I just wanted to give you a copy of the Ravenclaw Library's Inventory lists I made.”

Irma blinked her eyes several times in a second. “Excuse me?”

“I've been working hard every night all week to catalogue everything in the tower's library and I finished sorting it all last night.” Harry said and placed the alphabetized and sorted lists on her desk. “I hope this proves how much I care about libraries and those that run them.”

Irma looked at the lists and she was surprised at how comprehensive they were. In fact, she was sure that she couldn't have done better herself. “Harry, if you weren't already adopted, I would snatch you up and keep you all to myself.”

Harry looked surprised for a moment and his eyes lost focus for a second, then he gave her a bright smile as his eyes focused on her again. “Thank you very much, Madam. I... I want to compliment you for wanting to accept me... only I don't want you to think I'm being insincere.” He whispered. “Is there anything you need? Anything that I can get for you?”

Irma reached into her desk and took out a small piece of paper to hand to him. “I'm sure you are sincere in your thanks, Harry.”

Harry took the list and read the three books on it. He gave her a warm smile. “I'm sorry if I have overdue books out, Madam. I'll try and rectify that as soon as possible.”

Irma smiled back. “There's no rush, Harry. I will be more than happy as long as they eventually end up on my desk.”

“I understand, Madam.” Harry said and walked back over to his friends. They had brought a stack of books to one of the large tables and spread them out for everyone to choose from.

Irma gave him another quick smile at seeing him and his friends reading for fun and she picked up the sheets of parchment. She was going to enjoy reading a fully itemized list that someone else had taken the time to compile for her, because her mind loved bringing order to things.

She took her time reading through each sheet and as she progressed down each described item with the author and main subjects listed, that warm feeling in her chest grew. When she reached the list of scrolls that were almost always unable to be sorted, she shivered slightly at how much detail Harry had given for each one. He had successfully sorted them by subject and even indexed them!

Irma looked over at the subject of her thoughts once more and she regretted that he already had a family to take care of him. Out of everyone that she had ever met in the school for all the years she had worked there, only he was worthy enough to carry on her family's name and legacy.

*

The weekly meeting to discuss the students had the schools professors gathering in the faculty meeting room. As the teachers entered the room, there was a minor disruption as Minerva McGonagall carried in a very fancy and ornately carved wooden chair with velvet accents.

“We have enough chairs for everyone already, Minerva.” Albus commented.

Minerva made a huff sound and didn't place the chair at the table like he assumed. She placed it on top and in the middle of the table for everyone to stare at as they sat down.

“What are you doing with that thing?” Snape asked her with his trademarked sneer.

“You'll see in a minute.” Minerva said and motioned to Filius Flitwick. “Can you cast diagnostic spells on that for me, please?”

“Oh? Is it cursed or something?” Filius excitedly asked as he hopped up onto his own chair and started casting spells.

“Something like that.” Minerva said, cryptically.

Everyone waited while Filius worked for several minutes.

“I cannot detect anything, Minerva. It's just a chair.” Filius said, disappointed.

“I also determined that.” Minerva said. “If you wouldn't mind, could you try to dispel it?”

“Dispel it?” Albus asked and she waved for him to be quiet.

Filius looked excited again and cast several spells at the chair. It didn't so much as flicker by the time he was done. “Nothing.” He said and smiled at Minerva. “You've intrigued me, Madam.”

Minerva chuckled and ran a hand over the seat of the chair. “Would it surprise you to learn that this chair... this chair that every spell I've tried that confirms it is an actual chair... was conjured?”

Complete shock was on everyone's faces for several moments, then there was a sudden flurry of spellcasting as each teacher did their best to confirm that it was a real chair. Albus waited until everyone else was done before he tried and tested the chair himself. After a minute, he sat back and stared at the thing, just as everyone else was.

“How is that possible?” Someone asked in a whisper.

“I don't know.” Minerva admitted. “It technically shouldn't be possible.”

“Where did it come from?” Filius asked.

“I'm hesitant to say, because I don't want to alienate the source.” Minerva said. “I need to do more testing and I want another chair to compare them. If this phenomenon is repeatable, it could change everything we know about conjuration. If things can be made from nothing and they become permanent, I... I don't know what to think about that.”

Everyone fell silent as they also contemplated such a fundamental change in the nature of magic.