When they arrived back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore, Poppy, the hat, Fawkes and Hedwig were there to greet them. It was into the early hours of the morning already, but they seemed to have decided to wait up.
"Ah, I see I had enough foresight." the old man said, smiling at the larger group. "The whole pride joined, then?" he asked.
"We couldn't leave them there." Moody said. "The survivors will likely blame the pride for the deaths of the people who'd enslaved the sphinxes. They would have sent hunters."
Dumbledore nodded at that.
Hedwig had flown over from Poppy's shoulder and landed on Harry's. "Chick should be sleeping. Night-time is for sleep, for you. I should have hunted, tonight."
"I know, Hedwig." Harry said. "I just couldn't leave our new friends in their predicament."
"Not angry." the owl said. "But next time, I come. I will teach you to hunt, better."
"The owl speaks?" Anakratu asked.
"I feel the connection." Tena said. "Our mage has touched his familiar with his soul. He did that with me too when I was still a hostage." To hear her say it, it sounded like a good thing. Like she was bragging.
"Technically everyone here besides Moody has been granted the use of part of my magic." Harry said. "I intend to share with him too, if he's willing." he added, which made Moody lift an eyebrow.
"You should be careful with whom you share your soul, young mage." Anakratu said. "Those you share with, will also become targets."
"I have considered these people well, Anakratu." Harry said. "They are considered friends, and family. I share with friends and family, as I will likely share with you and your pride, in time."
The male had apparently not expected that, but finally nodded, accepting it. There was more there, Harry realised, but the sphinx said nothing further.
"Come then." Dumbledore said, as he indicated for Harry and the sphinxes to follow. "We have a large space above the infirmary, ready for their occupation. Hagrid is still there. He's quite looking forward to meeting our guests."
"Then to bed." Poppy said, sternly. "And Alastor, I think we need to talk." she said, in a voice that had a bit of steel. She'd not missed the fact that people had died tonight. She had a few words for the master auror.
Moody sighed but accepted it. He had made that choice, without consulting with her. She had a right to be angry. He didn't think he'd made the wrong choice, but she was his guardian, and he knew she cared for the boy.
III-III
The sphinxes had settled in nicely, and Harry had gone to his room in Poppy's apartment. He was asleep quickly, because he had had a long day.
He did not expect to be awoken by something jumping on his bed and then onto his chest.
Harry opened his eyes blearily and looked up at a smiling young sphinx, who was bouncing on him, while four more jumped up onto the bed, to do the same. He'd finally had time to play with his eyes, after the experience with the contact lenses. He just felt wrong without his glasses on, so he usually used ones with clear glass, still.
"Mage Harry!" the one on his chest said. "The sun is out! Come play with us!"
Harry heard a chuckle from the door and saw Poppy standing there. No doubt, she'd gone to check on the guests, and the kids were already awake. He looked at the time, and realised he'd only had a few hours of sleep. Of course, this meant that Poppy was getting a bit of revenge, for his worrying her. Well that, and she likely wanted him up, so that he didn't ruin his sleep cycle.
"Okay, I'm up." Harry said, as he rose. "Thanks for the wake-up call kids. Where are your parents?"
"They are still sleeping." one of them said. "We wanted to explore, but mama Tena said that if we asked nice you'd show us around, and maybe get something to eat?"
Harry looked at Poppy. "I'm assuming that they won't be joining in the great hall?" he asked.
"No." Poppy agreed. "You will be eating here, and then you can spend a bit of your time entertaining the young ones. They are your responsibility, right now."
Harry shrugged, as he got up. "Okay, kids, let's get something to eat and then we'll go bother Hagrid." he said, as he started getting ready.
It turned out that Hagrid was still in his hut, and he had also been sleeping, considering it was weekend and he'd been up late, too. Fortunately, he was more than willing to get up, to spend some time with the young sphinxes. Proving that he really did know his subject, he started tapping at one of them, in an emulation of playfully cuffing them, and that quickly evolved into a game of playful growls and pounces.
"So, why aren't you practicing magic?" Harry asked the big man, as he sat on the ground and copied the big man, which meant that he was getting a friendly sphinx child-like fighting match of returned cuffs and growls from two of the five that had come with him. Hagrid was playing with the other three.
"After m' name was cleared, I was offered it." Hagrid allowed. "Bu' I don't have the brains to learn, like you do. I struggled, back when I was a student, too. I got a new wand, bu' it's not easy for me, and I stopped tryin' to learn new things. I think I'm fine with wha' I do now, and I can at least do a few things, while I'm stayin' 'ere."
Harry shrugged. It wasn't his place to dictate to the man. "Fair enough, I guess. Let me know if you ever change your mind. I have a few tricks that might help you learn, even if you just want to finish fifth-year, so that you can legally use magic outside of Hogwarts, at least." he offered anyway.
"Thanks." the big man said, smiling at Harry, before he let himself get pulled into the game, and fell over, acting like he'd received a fatal wound. The little sphinxes by him, jumped onto his chest, and inspected him, until he came upright and scared them playfully.
Hermione and Neville showed up shortly after that, with the hat floating next to them. He'd obviously gone to tell them where Harry was. They were trying not to let too many people in on the fact that they had sphinx guests, after all. The parents might have an issue with that. Sphinxes were considered quadruple X dangers, after all.
Fortunately, neither of the friends were angry at Harry. He'd taken Moody with him, after all. They'd have preferred being told by Harry, though, rather than Madam Pomphrey, when they came looking for Harry. Still, they were happy to know things had worked out.
Dumbledore had used his time wisely, too. The men that they had captured, had been subtly threatened, and he'd gotten them to swear an unbreakable vow never to talk about what Harry could do, or that he held any claims. That was all they could do, really. Then he'd gotten in contact with Madam Bones, who had sent a squad of Aurors to arrest the men, officially. With the way they'd done the vow, they would still be able to confess to attacking Harry, to learn his secrets, without giving away what secrets.
There had already even been an article about it.
-Foreign wizards attempt to kidnap Triwizard winner, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived!-
The Daily Prophet was never one to care about inconvenient facts. According to them, Harry was the winner, and while it was technically true, they didn't mention the other winners. The article did mention that Harry had apparently taken out all eleven of the men, using unknown means, which meant that there was already some information out there.
Fleur and Victor came looking for Harry too, because they'd be going back home the next day when the term and year ended. They wanted to stay in contact, and Fleur needed to hug Harry again, for everything he'd done for her and her sister. Victor requested that they play a seeker match on occasion, seeing the boy as a fun challenge. Not many people pushed him as hard as Harry did, and that was rare for him.
The farewells weren't all that long, but they were the farewells of people, who had become real friends. They all fully intended on staying in contact. Actually following through on that though, was something that would need to be seen.
When the year ended Harry took the train home with his friends, only to return to Hogwarts, by moving through his interface. He still needed to make plans for the Sphinxes.
Dumbledore actually had an idea for Harry. A Fidelius. A charm that hid places from living memory.
That had potential, to Harry, and he thanked the man for the information and then left to go speak to Moody.
III-III
"You want me to what?" Moody asked.
"Be an Auror again, but not for the ministry." Harry said. "I want you to be a new sort of Auror, and a chief of police, for an idea I want to start up."
"What's the plan?" the man asked.
Harry smirked. "Ever heard of what tends to happen to the muggleborn outcasts?" he asked.
Moody considered that. "There are a few places, where they end up congregating, forming communes of a sort, sometimes." he said.
"Exactly." Harry said. "What if I told you that I intended to start a new one? A really big one, too. One where not only muggleborns were welcome, but also open-minded purebloods, outcast squibs, and creatures with sentient intelligence."
"The sphinxes?" Moody asked, even as he nodded. "It has been done, a few times." he said. "The problem with places like that, is that they become just as insular as the wizarding world already is due to the statute. They shun newcomers, once they've established a functional system. Then education, law and order goes down the drain, and problems just start again."
"Well, I'll have to have a chief of police, then, won't I?" Harry asked. "And a school, and a way for them to fit in with muggles and make livings outside the community. No need to stagnate, if we can give people proper opportunities, and teach the children. I'm talking about a true community, which doesn't close their doors, but is selective in who they take in. I don't want to bring the magical world and the wizarding world together. I want to make something new. Something better than what we have, currently."
"And you think your claimed magic can do that?" Moody asked. It was the only factor he didn't know everything about, and to do as Harry claimed, it would need to be a big secret. He'd heard the story about Harry being a recipient of a grant, but hadn't believed it, after everything he'd seen.
Harry smirked again. "Care to go to the training ground, for a quick spar?" Harry asked.
Moody considered the boy, but only for a moment, before he turned and started walking toward where the temporary training ground was. He saw Harry do something, lifting a hand, with his magical eye, but he didn't see what. And then, he was standing in the middle of the walled off space they'd been using. "Did you just apparate me, inside Hogwarts?" he asked. It hadn't felt like apparition, but it was obviously something like that.
"I'm calling it teleportation, for now." Harry said. "It doesn't work like apparition, so it's not limited like apparition would be. No wards for something you don't know exists, after all."
"How very useful." Moody said, smirking. "Range?" he asked.
"I've gone to Kent, instantly, using this." Harry admitted. "Doesn't even take a lot of power. The range is limited by the range of a set of… lets call it tethers, for now, yeah?"
Moody nodded, before he suddenly shot a curse at Harry, trying to catch him off guard.
Harry seemed to do nothing, as the curse just disappeared. Moody had seen something happen to it, but he wasn't certain what it was. When Harry crossed his arms, no wand in his hand, he realised the boy wanted to show off, so he started firing more spells. Curses to affect him, directly. Spells that affected an area. Even spells that had no light, or indicator, cast between other spells, and silently, refused to do anything.
Harry seemed as calm as ever, as he just smirked at Moody.
"Shield?" he asked, as he lowered his wand. "Or is this some sort of rune-effect? Maybe a new shield spell?" He had heard of the things Harry had already studied, after all, and he liked to know such things.
"Just a simple shield, which I cast at your spells." Harry said. "All of which I could see, thanks to my claim, and a bit of work."
"You cast, at my spells?" Moody asked, frowning. "Without a wand, motion, or indication of an action?" He shook his head, then, as he started smiling, too. "Damn kid, you've got quite the advantage there. How many times could you have taken me out, in that time?"
Moody saw a spell coming at him, but as he focussed on countering the simple stunner, he failed to realise that there was a disarming charm and a body-bind, coming at him, from behind, through Harry's second interface, which was invisibly hovering behind him. His wand was ripped from his hand, and spun away from him and Harry, but a moment later, it still appeared in Harry's hand, while he was bound up, and started teetering forward, about to fall on his face. But Harry simply flashed forward and caught him.
Then, shocking even Moody, Harry lifted his whole body up, over his head, with one hand.
"A couple of times, I suspect." Harry said, smugly.
Moody just started laughing. "Ha-ha! This is brilliant!" he laughed, as Harry placed him down, released him and gave him his wand back. "Damn it, kid, I want to see what you can do when you really try!" he added, still grinning madly. "But I want in on this magic of yours. This eye can see some things, but I can't see everything. Where the hell did those other spells even come from?!"
"We'll discuss terms, but for now, I'll give you a temporary grant, to show you what it can do, but I want your word, that it stays with you." Harry said.
"We need a witness, if we're doing this right." Moody said. He was inwardly quite pleased that he'd not fallen for the idea that Harry was the recipient of a grant. He'd not be able to hand out grants if he was the one benefitting from one, after all.
"We have one." Harry said.
Moody looked around but saw nobody. Even his magical eye saw nobody else. "Your Transportation Shield?" he asked, intuiting that much already, considering what he'd learned of the Transportation Shield.
"Part of it." Harry allowed.
"Then I give you my word, kid." Moody said. "I'll keep your magic secret, for a temporary grant, and I'll consider working with you."
The sorting hat slipped from the invisible space that Harry had set him up in, beforehand, and did his part, before he went to sit on Harry's head. He didn't have anything to contribute, but he wanted to stay. Seeing people's reaction to the capabilities of systemized magic, was always fun.
III-III
An hour later, Moody had received not only an interface, but also a copy of a lot of what Harry had made over the years. That included: a list of quick spells, his targeting system, a copy of the lie-detection function, which still wasn't perfect, but was still reasonably reliable, and a demonstration of how to move through the interface, to another one.
The last one he gave him, was the magic-detection system, which Moody was really interested in testing, considering it was apparently capable of things his magical eye wasn't. It basically functioned by scanning for all known forms of magic and giving it colour, through the interface. It could detect the strength of a spell, and most of the time, it actually popped up with a small description of the spell as it flew, thanks to Harry taking the time to add that automatic identification function.
Then, Harry gave Moody a chance to play with the magic, by creating multiple targets, and allowing the man to fire on all of them, as quickly as he could. Forty targets were soon lying broken on the ground. They'd all been taken down in under three seconds. Harry didn't know if he could do that, without pushing up his perception of time, and he'd not told the man about that, so it was truly impressive.
And Moody seemed impressed, too.
Then, they sparred again. Suddenly, seeing how Harry was blocking spells so quickly, with small shields, that were always powered exactly to the right strength to nullify a spell, made that trick make sense to Moody, and he'd copied and applied the same function, before the end of the duel, which really impressed Harry. But Harry was also suddenly much faster too, and Moody was eventually overpowered, through sheer volume of spells, and spells that came from other directions, on occasion. Still, he'd made Harry work for that win.
"I can see how this is an advantage people would kill for." Moody admitted, when they were sitting down, enjoying a perfectly chilled butterbeer each, which Harry had pulled from… somewhere. "Whole magical communities would come for you, if they knew what this could do."
"And I don't intend to share it like this, with everyone." Harry said. "The way the interface is programmed can be transferred and taught to a person, without needing an interface. I gave Miss Delacour a way to control her allure completely, without having an interface, and it worked. Aunty Poppy has access like you do, but we're planning on making completed applications that contains the programming, which basically gives powers to people. At present, it's all for beneficial magic. Later on, I might end up using things like that to forcefully bind someone from being capable of doing magic at all, or maybe I could make a system that just stops a person from harming someone… I don't know yet."
"Which, if people knew you could do that, would have them sending assassins to stop you." Moody said. "You could easily become the worst dark lord in recorded history, if you decided to go down that route."
"Aunty Poppy also worried about that, for a while." Harry admitted. "Power corrupts. Absolute power-"
"Corrupts, absolutely." Moody finished, nodding.
"He's made a deal with me, though." the hat said. "If he ever turns dark, I have a way to incapacitate and capture him."
"Not kill?" Moody asked.
"Harry's not dark." the hat said. "If he ever turns dark, it will be due to outside influences. I've only ever seen him angry a few times, and he's never even thought of seriously hurting someone, even if he did take a bit of his anger out on that sphinx."
"I told her that I was sorry." Harry said.
"Don't worry, kiddo." the hat said. "She knew it, and still gave you her name."
"What is this 'true mage', business?" Harry asked, since he had a moment.
"Mages, at least True Mages, are what history calls those legendary magicals who changed the magical world for the better, due to a certain understanding or connection with their magic." Moody said. "An obvious example would be Merlin. He created, or pioneered, most of our current understanding of the functions, uses and capabilities of magic."
"There were others, like Circe." the hat added. "She's much older. These days many believe her to be a myth. A goddess, even. She started her craft in the druidic magics of her time, but branched out into casting directly, in a way never seen before. She was basically the one that discovered the use of a personal focus, to direct personal magic. She also turned into a bit of a dark lady. When people turned on her, stealing her ideas and trying to stop her from using her own craft, magic itself responded and enacted the right to claim magic, refusing others to use the magic that they knew was possible, but didn't have a right to. Rowena believed that Circe was her great ancestor."
"That's what you meant." Harry said, nodding. He remembered the hat mentioning something like that, in the past.
"Anyway, it seems that the sphinxes believe that you will one day become one of those great people. A true mage. A turning point for magic." the hat said.
"Which will gain you only more enemies, if anyone finds out." Moody said. Then he sighed. "I can see it, too. This magic system you've invented, could turn a conscript with only a bit of magic, into a real threat."
"I can also heal most injuries and help people better the world." Harry countered. "And yes, that's what I intend for the sphinxes. I have a few ideas, too, to give them better lives. Hedwig has an item that Beth made. It's a bit of a secret, but the long and the short of it is, she has her own magical reserves, now. I'd like to give the sphinxes something like that."
Moody considered that, as he took a sip of butterbeer. It was illegal obviously, but also, he didn't have a problem with it. They were magical creatures, after all. They had a right to magic. Still, humans liked to think themselves the ultimate authority on the planet. Everything else was below them, so they didn't deserve to have something as useful as the ability to cast magic. There would need to be security to protect that secret, too.
"She doesn't cast spells too often, I hope?" he asked.
"She likes to show off to the other owls." the hat said, chuckling. "She tells them that she has the best familiar. 'He' is even smart enough to give her magic."
"Owls talk, like that?" Moody asked.
"Many animals do." Harry said. "A common garden snake has enough brains to talk about their favourite spots to sleep in the sun."
"You're a parseltongue, or did you give a snake the ability to talk, like the owl?" Moody asked, interestedly. It was noted that he didn't seem to judge.
"I'm a parseltongue." Harry confirmed. "Think I got that from the dark lord."
"Call him Voldemort, kid." Moody said. "Don't be afraid of a name."
"Then I should call him Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr." Harry countered. "That's his real name, by the way. My interface once picked up that it's an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort', or something like that."
"You know his name?" Moody asked.
"Ask Dumbledore." Harry said. "We've been getting rid of him, over the last couple of years."
Moody's face hardened. "He's still around?" he asked.
"Technically." Harry said, easily. "We've captured the primary part of his soul, so he's much less of a threat. We're just struggling with the last part, now. It's in a vault in Gringotts somewhere. Once we have that, we'll be able to get rid of him fully."
Moody's face grew angry at that. "And Albus has been, what, waiting for it to come to him?!"
"No." Harry said, again. "When we can, we move on the horcruxes. If we don't find a nice way to do it, I intend to break in, find the right vault and just going in to take it. Maybe if we give the goblins a place in whatever we end up making, they'd even be willing to go in and get it for us."
"Currently, we suspect that it is either a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff treasure." the hat said. "He had Slytherin's locket, Ravenclaw's diadem, The Gaunt family ring and his old school diary. Tom had an obsessive personality. He'd have wanted to get as many connections to the founders, as he could. Then there's the fact that the items were all things that were meant to be used, which could then enable him to return, by feeding off the victims, to power the bits of soul."
"Bloody monster wasn't satisfied with ruining other people's lives." Moody said, shaking his head. "He just had to go and split his bloody soul into multiple parts, too." He seemed to still be upset, but he was obviously considering the effects of what he was learning. "I'm not supposed to, but I know about horcruxes. Horrible dark magic. I should have known, though. He always claimed to be immortal."
He looked at Harry, and his eyes went to the scar.
"Yes." Harry said, not needing to hear the question. "I can speak to snakes, because I have part of his soul in my head."
"And the plan?" Moody asked. "From what I know about horcruxes… that may be an issue."
"I can handle it." Harry said. "I'm just keeping it, because I can use it to sense the others."
Moody frowned, before he slowly nodded. "Fine." he said. "I want to know your plan for that other one, then. Better to do that sooner, rather than later. I don't like the idea of you getting stronger, while that thing is still in you. Technically, we shouldn't even be discussing destroying him with that thing there."
Harry shrugged. It wasn't a threat, currently, but there was a threat. "It's only active when Tom's around. I've been monitoring. Whatever is inside me, isn't intelligent. I'm thinking it wasn't a large piece, because I was an accidental Horcrux. My memory… Please, don't tell anyone about this? My memory shows him killing my mother, and then casting the killing curse at me. Either that, or my mother's dying protection was enough to keep him dormant."
Moody nodded, again, having suspected something like that. "Lily was a bright girl. She had an interest in the old magics. The kind from fairy tales and muggle folklore. Powerful stuff, and small things, both. Self-sacrifice is one of the most noble ways to die, but not everyone could pull that sort of magic off. Most people, even parents, would instinctively still care for their own lives. That sort of sacrificial magic would only work if a person cared for someone else enough to not regret dying for them, themselves."
Harry smiled a sad smile at that. His mum had truly loved him. It was good to know, but it was also hard to hear. He couldn't remember much about her. Her or his father. He'd heard many conflicting stories about his father, really, but not much about her.
"Focus, lad." Moody said, after giving him a moment. He knew that the boy had some emotional issues. Poppy had raked him over the coals, for allowing him to see people die, and had explained some home truths. For now, it was better to stay on subject. "If we're going to start something, there's a lot of information I still need."
"Right." Harry said, nodding, and pulling himself together. "Well, that community we infiltrated had farmland, which was built out in the desert, right? That means that we could just buy some unused land, in some country with the correct weather. I'm thinking some place with a good foundation, and land that can be worked for farming would be good, but we want to be self-sufficient, so we'd need cattle and crops. Then, there's infrastructure. I'd like to get some muggleborns to the place we get, grant them interfaces with a very specific load-out, after explaining the plan, and have them start up the community.
"The idea is to sell magic to the muggle community, but without them knowing." Harry continued. "That way we have a currency, and we are still part of the wider world. We have people find ways and places to safely sell magical effects. Healers with an interface could act like doctors, and sell their services as researchers, helping people with 'experimental procedures'. Give them a few sugar-pills, made to look like some colourful drugs, and just have them sign an NDA.
"We could repair things, too, something magic is uniquely good at." Harry continued. "We go buy broken things, repair them, and sell them at a higher price, in a different town. Things like flea markets and pawn shops would be very good for things like that. Then there's transport and delivery. We do have the fastest way to travel, currently, and people would pay for that. Hell, we could still even use owls. With a few of my gifts, an owl could use an interface to pop from place to place. All we need to do, is set up a safe way to deliver things, without being spotted."
Moody considered that. "It will require a lot of security." he said, again. "I don't think there's much more I could teach you right now, anyway. I don't mind the idea of protecting people and trying something new while I keep an eye, and using your grant to see what I could do for extra protections."
"Feel free to make suggestions, too." Harry said, as he copied a blank document over, which was connected to one on his side. "As long as you are in range of the network, whatever you write on that, will appear on my side, too. It's basically a shared document, between you and me. I would like for you to figure out your own notification system. For me, I hear a ding sound, when someone has something to say, and the document that was modified glows."
"A secret communication system, that nobody but those in the know can see, or trace." Moody said, his smile returning. "It's things like that, that has me hoping you'll one day become an auror and share these things. A lot of good could be done, with things like this."
"We can do a partial grant." Harry said. "Just give them access to a document, rather than a whole interface. Someone in the department would need access to the original though, and right now I'm guessing Madam Bones is the one that should have that. She might even be a good candidate for a full combat grant. That way she can work on new and improved things that the aurors would need and can roll them out herself, once she has permission to do so and a system that works."
"She's a good lass, that one." Moody said, nodding. "One of my recruits, back in the day. She had potential, too. I'm glad she got where she is."
"Susan is a nice girl." Harry said. "Got a spine too. I'm assuming that she got that from her aunt."
"Well, her father was a hard man." Moody said. "Damn shame that he was killed. He was one of those I had an eye on for promotion. Good man to have at your back, in a conflict situation."
"Anyway, if you want to contribute to the Aurors again I'd not stop you, but if you're working with me I need you to have deputies. People you can trust to leave in charge, while you are on a different mission." Harry said. "If you can't give me that, or you can't work with me, I'm afraid I'll have to think of something else."
Moody smirked, rather than get upset at the veiled threat. "You've got brass ones, kid, but I understand, and agree. Your system of magic has great potential, but we need to know what it can do, how it can be abused, and then, we need someone in charge of keeping things in check."
"Already figured that one out." Harry said. "I can see any interface that I've given someone access to, so right now the deterrent is that I can do that. Well, Aunty Poppy is in charge of women with the interface. It's an issue with female security."
"Worried that you'd spy on someone in a private moment?" Moody asked.
"Basically." Harry said, nodding. "Well, that, and she's been developing things that are meant for women. Things that they can use for female pains, uneven development, some superficial things, and such. I'd rather not know, so I asked her to handle them."
"Ah." Moody said, nodding. That made more sense, really. Harry didn't seem like the sort to spy on people, for things like sexual curiosity, or perversion. No doubt that that would be a worry, later on, though. Or it would be if he wasn't so famous, anyway. He could likely have any girl he wanted in the magical world.
"Anyway, so now you've got an interface and a load-out that I've not shared with anyone." Harry said. "You've basically got my assault load-out. I've kept a few things in reserve, but that's because I have some tricks that I don't share."
"Like increasing stamina, strength, speed, and the ability to process while you move at those speeds." Moody said, grinning.
"Figured that out, did you?" Harry asked, smirking back.
"Well, I am old and experienced." Moody said. "When you move faster than my normal eye can keep track of, it's not something that escapes my notice, like it would with normal people. I also think you helped mister Longbottom with his stamina, in the beginning. He's since put in more effort himself, and I can tell it's been helping him build his own strength."
"Well, yeah." Harry allowed. "He gets a lot of pressure from his gran, and he struggles with his confidence. I actually think your training program helped, some."
"Of course, it did." Moody scoffed. "Kid's a Longbottom. Their family were war-wizards for many generations. Fighting will always be in his blood. Any action he sees will only make him more confident. Good thing that he's powerful, too. He's got potential. Not like you obviously, but then I suspect you did something to make your reserves larger."
Harry just smirked.
"Okay, kid." Moody decided, after upturning his butterbeer. "I think I have some thinking to do, but for the time-being, consider me onboard. I think you're going to need someone on security no matter what you do, and I'll be there to help put someone in place, if I decide not to stay."
Harry smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Professor." he said.
"Call me Moody." Moody said. "You're done with your training, and schools out. I'm not a professor anymore."
Harry nodded, accepting that. "You'll be in touch?" he asked.
"Going to Poppy's place in Kent?" Moody asked.
"I don't know yet." Harry said. "I'm going to need to get on finding a good location for the sphinxes first. I don't think it would be a good idea to keep them here indefinitely."
"Any ideas?" Moody asked.
"One of two." Harry said. "I'm just hoping for remote, and with enough exposure to all the natural resources a settlement might need. Fresh water, sun, solid foundation and maybe a forest?"
"Go underground." Moody suggested. "You could dig up any piece of dirt, and use magic to support it."
"Why, though?" Harry asked.
"If nobody knows where to look, you're pretty much set with only one point of ingress, which you can protect. Add a Fidelius and some other protections, and the only way to you would be through betrayal, something I think you'd be able to avoid." Moody said.
"You've obviously given this some thought." Harry said.
"When you're me, you always keep an eye out for safe spots like that." Moody said. "Public locations may not be the most secure, but anyone that breaks the statute trying to find you, will only draw the attention of the aurors and unspeakables. That's what I would do, anyway. Something like a city hall, or maybe an opening on the grounds of Buckingham Palace."
"I did once consider something…" Harry said, smirking.
III-III
"How was your meeting?" Poppy asked, once Harry came back with Moody following.
"Kid's got me updated." Moody said. "Gave me access, too. I'll be needing a few words with Albus first, but then we'll start making plans."
"I'm going to build an island." Harry said, then.
"Build one?" Poppy asked.
Harry just grinned.
Poppy sighed.
"He's got a good head on him." Moody said. "I like his plan. Better than mine, even."
"Don't go sharing." Harry said, narrowing his eyes at the man. "I want to surprise her."
"Fine." Moody growled. "I'm going to go talk to Albus. I need to know more about Riddle's pieces." With that, he turned and walked off.
"You told him?" Poppy asked Harry. She didn't really mind. She knew who Moody was. He'd be very interested in helping stop the Dark Lord, for good.
"We discussed a few things." Harry said, shrugging.
"It was the fact that Harry is a parseltongue." the hat said, as he floated off Harry's head, and went to his spot on a table. "He connected enough dots, that we had no choice. I think it was a good idea, anyway."
"I agree." Poppy said, easily. "Now, let's discuss this island." she said, sternly.
Many things had been discussed after that, and Harry ended up getting to bed quite late, because while he had some plans, Poppy and Gryff had brought up quite a few things he had not thought about. This would require research, but Harry was not deterred. He was determined to create something new. Something fun. Something safe.
III-III
That holiday, things changed a lot. Harry started spending a lot of time on new research, and when he was able, application. They stayed at Hogwarts, for the purpose of the resources it had available to it, which Harry needed. Poppy had wanted to object, but seeing his determination and drive, made her decide to rather support him, than trying to be stern.
Hermione and Neville had been constant visitors, too. Harry had figured out the range of the system, and how it functioned, and then he'd extended it, tremendously. After only a day of work, he had enough devices made, so that Hedwig could go deliver them to different countries, too, making his network of available connections, global.
Delivering those items had only taken her a week, because she could freely use it as it grew, and she could fly faster than a jet due to her own version of a transportation shield, which Harry had made for her a long time ago already. He'd just needed to power her core up, a few times. When she dropped a device off at a location, it opened an interface and stored itself in said interface, staying in location and being invisible to all but Harry.
Therefore, when his friends wanted to visit, all they had to do was go through their own interface to go to him. To return, they did the same but to the nearest connection, which Harry had them place at their homes.
The Sphinxes had recovered rather quickly, with Hagrid helping where he could, and they'd finally had a place to go, after two months of the school holiday, not that Harry had told anyone but them where that was. Well, besides Poppy and Hedwig, anyway. More people knew what would likely be there, and that it was an island, but only Harry could go there for the moment. Not even Gryff knew the exact location, but he had an idea, and he realised that Harry wasn't done with the island. He'd need time to get it just right, before showing off.
He did sometimes come home very tired and magically drained, but he always took some time to send his core orbs to a few protected places, to charge, and he had a few stacks of them, now, which meant, the only reason he was drained, was because he'd already used all of the core orbs and had resorted to using his own reserves.
Beth had also walked in on him, as he worked on a core-orb, but he'd quickly stashed it away, because he was keeping something about his latest iteration a secret. She was bloody curious, but he'd simply refused to tell her, saying it was a surprise. He did promise to take them to the island, before the next school year started, though.
It was just one week before the next school year, when Harry finally came home with a smile, and a bit of excitement on his face.
Poppy had showed up soon thereafter, because Harry had sent her a mental message. He'd finally figured that one out too, so it was just as fast as mental communication could be (depending on how focussed a person was), with an actual telephone icon and people's names, for a person to dial that connection. It had taken playing a bit with perceived time and forcing a synchronization, so that the fastest person slowed down for those who were slower, but he'd cracked it.
He'd not told her much, but he'd told her he was home, and that he was finally ready. Beth was unfortunately busy with something, so she'd insist that Harry takes her at some other time.
"And?" Poppy asked as she walked into the lounge and found Harry sitting there with a smile on his face, as he ate a sandwich. "Can you finally show me?" she asked.
Harry grinned at her, before swallowing. "I can." he said.
'Not without me, you don't!' Gryff exclaimed in both their heads, as he connected to both of them, using the telephone function. Poppy preferred that, because she didn't like the hat capable of reading her personal thoughts. Only consciously projected thoughts go to the phone-system, after all, like Hedwig did it. The hat soon requested permission and Harry allowed him to move through his interface, to join them.
That was also another feature. You needed permission to use Harry's network, or to go to anyone, through theirs. He'd needed that, to stop people from simply coming to him, when he was busy with personal, or private things. Fortunately that had been a very simple function to add, considering people needed to choose to put things in their interface and to take it out, normally. It would also be needed for later plans. Once people started living on the island, they'd be working primarily in certain parts of the world, and would only be allowed, and capable, of going to certain places, using the system. Usually just to the island, and then to whatever town or city they would be working out of, to make a living.
These were security protocols that Moody had come up with. He was already learning to modify his interface and had started populating it with all sorts of security features, including but not limited to, the ability to conjure a jail-cell, which instantly blocked magic, magical escape, and which was indestructible. He'd put a lot of effort into that one. Everything from portkeys and apparition to Animagus transformations were impossible in those cells.
He'd also taken the time, to learn from Harry about how the teleportation worked, and had worked out a ward that would stop someone from using the functionality of the interface to store and send things, and thereby transporting themselves around. He was the only one that could cast that spell, though. He'd not even shared it with Harry, not that he needed to, because Harry had already figured it out. It was his system, after all. That had been included in his Inescapable Jail-Cell Spell Program, too.
Moody was very excited about that one and had named it himself. He'd tested it on Poppy, too, because she'd insisted, to see if there would be any negative effects on magicals, which there weren't, fortunately.
"So, are we going now?" Gryff asked, quite excited about finally seeing the island. He could feel Harry's excitement and couldn't wait to find out what he'd done.
"I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get Moody and Dumbledore, too." Harry said. "I'd not want to have to answer questions over and over, again."
"I don't know." Poppy said. "Moody, definitely, because he's going to be in charge of security, but I don't know that I want Dumbledore involved, just yet."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"He's still the head of the ICW, Harry." Gryff explained. "He may have oaths that he can't tell us about, that would require him to tell them about the island's whereabouts, especially when people start going there."
"Really?" Harry asked. "Why would anyone allow themselves to be bound by such an oath?"
"Security." Poppy said. "One of the main purposes of the ICW is to enforce the statute of secrecy."
"But the Fidelius?" Harry asked.
Poppy frowned. "You have your whole island under a Fidelius?" she asked. He'd not told her about that.
"Did I forget to tell you about that?" Harry asked, as he smiled a bit.
"You did." Gryff said.
Poppy needed a moment, as she thought about it. Harry had told her where it was, but not much else. "Did you already tell me?" she asked. She wondered if she'd just forgotten.
"Not exactly." Harry said. "You would know the general location, but I didn't tell you the actual secret, and if you don't mind, I think I'm going to keep that secret for a bit, still. I'll obviously allow you to use the system to go there, but I don't think telling anyone the actual location is a good idea."
Poppy thought about that and nodded. "Well, if it's secure and you can keep it that way, I suppose that makes sense." she said. "You did remember to make it unplottable, right?" she asked.
"Of course." Harry said, nodding. "Otherwise, someone with enough information could start working it out. I'd be able to do that, at least."
"Good." Poppy said.
"So… Is that a yes, on Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"I don't think it would be a problem, with the location being a secret." Poppy said.
Gryff just nodded.
III-III
In short order, Harry had made contact with Moody, who'd instantly stepped through Harry's interface, to go with them. Dumbledore needed an hour, though, because he had a meeting.
"Let's go." Moody said, once Harry reported about Dumbledore.
"Shouldn't we wait?" Harry asked.
"Why?" Moody asked. "He can just come through your interface, when he's able."
"Actually, no." Harry said. "My interface can take us to the island, sure, but there are only a few places on the island, where even I can enter the island. I've taken security seriously. I need to register an interface, to a connection at one of the island's transportation hubs, before anyone can go through them, and only mine and the current residents are on those systems."
Moody smirked at that. "Damnit, kid. I think I trained you too well." he said, as he slapped him on the shoulder, encouragingly.
"Well, I'm not an idiot." Harry said. "You're one of the world's most paranoid bastards, but you're also still alive after a hard-lived life. I'd literally need to be an idiot not to listen to you when it comes to security."
"Ha!" Moody laughed, slapping him again. Then, he calmed himself. "Still, you can apparate on the island, right?" he asked.
"Well… yes." Harry said, evasively. He'd not told Poppy that Moody had taught him how to apparate.
"You can apparate?" Poppy asked, her eyes narrowing at him.
"He needed to know." Moody said, interrupting Harry. "He asked, and I taught him." Poppy glared at him. "As I was saying, when Albus is ready, you can just go to wherever you can allow him through, and he can join us. I want to see what you've done, so that I can start planning. While you're catching him up, I can do a bit of scouting and see what's what."
Harry shrugged and nodded. "Fine." He really was excited to show off, and another hour's wait would just ruin the current anticipation, he thought. That was his reasoning at the moment, anyway. "Well, then." he said as he activated his interface, activated a new feature in it, and made a pushing motion, which did two things: First, it made the interface open one image of a swirling colourful portal, in the shape of a door, and secondly it became visible, a few feet ahead of him, and affixed itself to the floor. "Step on through to Anakratu Village." he finished.
"Anakratu?" Poppy asked, even as she looked at the door. She realised that it was in the same colours of Harry's magic. Moody didn't wait to walk straight on through, shocking Poppy, with Gryff following shortly after. "He's seen this?" she asked Harry.
"Anakratu is the village chief, of the sphinx village." Harry said. "They named it after him. And no, Moody's never seen my Teleportation Portal, before. That's what I'm calling this application."
"Ooh, I like that name." Poppy said, as she looked at the door, and finally walked through.
Harry soon followed, with the door vanishing the moment he was through.