Prodigy

After Harry left, the remaining professors and guests sat in silence for a few moments, each thinking about the presentation they had just seen. There was no question about it, Harry Potter was a Prodigy.

“So, what do we do now?” Professor McGonagall asked finally, breaking the silence.

“This has been a most impressive morning, I believe. Many of our closely held beliefs about magic have been shattered. By an eleven year old, no less,” Dumbledore wisely offered.

“I do not believe that Mr. Potter's theories are entirely correct, but he is certainly onto something,” Nicholas Flammel said, getting nods from around the table. “I know for myself, I'm going to need time to familiarize myself better with his studies.”

“I certainly agree. I can also see portions of his education have been lacking,” Dumbledore said.

“What do you mean? His knowledge of magic is nearly greater than everyone is this room combined,” Flitwick observed.

“During his practical demonstration, not one focused on Defensive or Offensive magic. With the current state of the wizarding world, this might be a problem,” Sirius offered. He had immediately noticed that Harry had said absolutely nothing about those subjects, since it was his area of expertise. His blue hair was momentarily forgotten.

“Ok, that's a starting point. I trust that you can handle teaching Harry, say, three to four times a week on the side?” Dumbledore asked. Sirius nodded with a smile. He was looking forward to it. While the boy was obviously very smart, he also clearly had a mischievous side to him as well. The kind of pranks they could pull together would be historic.

“If I may, I also noticed something interesting,” Remus said. Dumbledore nodded for the werewolf to continue. “While he has his theories, as well as a very good knowledge of spells, potions, and the like, he seems to have missed some of the more advanced studies of magic. Enchantment, for example. While he has a very good understanding of potions, he seems to have ignored Alchemy all together. His father was an animagus, and it certainly seems like he has the talent to become one himself. Please don't misunderstand me, I don't think he purposely ignored them, but he could definitely begin learning these things.”

“That is an excellent point, Remus,” Professor Flitwick said. “I would be happy to work with him in enchantment, and possibly even ward casting.”

“I had noticed his lack of knowledge of Alchemy as well,” Nicholas Flammel said. “I can help him in this subject, if you do not mind, Albus.”

“Of course not, Nicholas,” Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. He turned towards his transfiguration professor. “What about advanced transfiguration? An animagus is but one possibility. He also did not mention anything about animation transfiguration or conjuring for that matter.”

Professor Minerva McGonagall smiled. “I'll be happy to!”

“I would also like to work with him to learn this potion system he has set up. While I don't doubt that his knowledge in this is advanced, he seems to not know some of the current problems the wizarding world is facing. I'm sure that together we can come up with some new solutions. Wolfsbane and Post-Cruciatus come to mind right off the bat.”

“Excellent!” Dumbledore said excitedly. “Personally, I would like to work with him in mind magic. While there is definitely no doubt that I will be learning from him, I might be able to teach him a thing or two as well.”

While the staff was meeting to discuss Harry's education, the boy in question had deposited his trunk in his room and left to explore the castle some more. He packed up the M-Machine in a book bag that he swung over his shoulder and headed out. His first goal was to find the library.

As he wandered the halls, he was surprised to run into someone who seemed to be completely translucent!

“Er, hello?” he asked the strange looking figure.

“Oh hello, you must be a first year,” the figure answered him kindly. “Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington.”

“Pleased to meet you, sir. I am Harry Potter,” Harry said. “If you don't mind me asking, why can I see through you?”

“You don't know? The famous Harry Potter doesn't know what a ghost is? Well, no matter. After that display you gave at the sorting, I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose,” Nicholas said.

“A ghost? I didn't know they really existed!” Harry said excitedly.

“Yet here I am, `in the flesh' so to speak,” Nick said.

“Or not, which is sort of the point,” Harry grinned. The ghost certainly had a sense of humor. “I'm wondering if you can help me. I'm trying to locate the library.”

“Of course, Mr. Potter. Take the staircase over there up two flights and the hallway on the right. You'll find it at the end,” Nick pointed.

“Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine, I assure you.” Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington floated off with his parting statement. Harry watched amused as the ghost went completely through a wall, before setting off to follow the directions he had been given. There were a few students milling about, but they didn't really pay any attention to him.

Soon, Harry came to the doors at the end of the hallway and opened them, revealing a huge room full of stacks and stacks of books. Harry could see part of the library was partitioned off with big signs saying `Restricted Section.' He made a note to talk to Dumbledore about getting access to it, but that could wait. He drifted along the rows, looking at different titles to see if anything caught his eye. He was so caught up in taking the books in, he ran smack into someone, knocking them both to the floor. Harry rubbed his nose as he got up.

“Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going,” Harry said, holding out a hand to help the other person up. It was the girl that he had talked to during the welcoming feast. He tried to remember her name, but couldn't.

“No worries,” The girl said. “I don't think I was watching where I was going either.”

Harry picked up one of the books the girl had been carrying and glanced at it before handing it back. Strangely, the girl didn't move to take it, but seemed to be dazed for a moment. Harry wondered if she had been hurt when she fell.

“I know where I've seen you before!” the girl exclaimed suddenly. Harry looked at her curiously. “You were in a castle in Germany. I opened a door to a room and you were standing over a book. I turned around for a moment to talk to my father, and when I turned around, you and the book were gone.”

Harry's eyes widened as the memory came crashing back to the forefront of his mind. Yes, the girl was right, he realized. He stood there quietly as he tried to think of what to say.

“I'm right, aren't I?” the girl continued. “I had wondered briefly if I was out of my mind at the time, having you suddenly disappear like that. Obviously, now I know it must have been some sort of magic. What were you doing there? What was that book? How did you disappear? Why did that door suddenly appear out of nowhere? Why did you let my father believe I was hallucinating?”

The girl continued firing off questions for another few minutes while Harry felt his mind begin to whirl trying to keep track of them all.

“Ok, slow down for a minute,” Harry said when he could finally get a word in edgewise. The commotion had caused several people to look in their direction, and Harry saw an older lady moving towards them.

“Please, I must ask you two to quiet down or leave,” the older woman scowled at them when she arrived. She turned quickly leaving them once again alone. They looked at each other sheepishly before the girl gestured to follow her back the table she had been working at. Harry sat down across from her and they began talking in a whispering voice.

“I'm sorry, but I can't really tell you about that yet. I will say this, though. I'm sorry that I disappeared on you like that. I'm also sorry that I don't remember your name,” Harry said. He added the last part both in a hope to distract her, and to find out what her name was (again). The girl frowned at him. She would have to be persistent, obviously to find out what she wanted to know, but had no doubt that she would one day get her answers. She decided to drop it for now.

“I'm Hermione Granger,” she explained as she held out her hand over the table. Harry took it in a firm handshake before letting go. Hermione continued, “I know what your name is.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Harry had no idea what to say or do, while Hermione seemed to be studying him carefully, making him uncomfortable.

“Ok, if you won't tell me about that little adventure, why don't you tell me about what you've been studying? It's very strange to have someone not be sorted, you know.”

Harry thought for a moment. It was one thing to tell his professors about what he had been up to; it was another to share it with another student. The lesson of Prometheus was at the forefront of his mind.

“Perhaps another time,” Harry said standing. “It was nice talking to you, but I need to go.”

Hermione looked somewhat disappointed, and somewhat hurt as well. Harry frowned inwardly. The whole situation was very confusing to him. Without another word, he turned and made to leave the library.

“Goodbye, Harry,” Hermione muttered sadly under her breath after the person in question was gone. She sighed. She always seemed to run people off. She had been hoping that Harry would be different, as she could see the obvious intelligence in his eyes. She let out a deep breath before returning to her school work. It was difficult to keep her mind off what she considered to be yet another rejection in her life. Eventually, though, her studies grabbed her attention, and she momentarily forgot about what had transpired.

End Chapter

A/N: Ok, once again, sorry about taking a couple days to get this up. I've been having a hard time sleeping at night, only getting a couple hours of sleep, so I've been walking around feeling like a zombie.

A couple important notes. Several people said in their review that the fic I was looking for was “Desperate Measures.” Unfortunately, this was not the case. I did stumble upon a really great fic called Blissful Suffering by Tartaros. It's not been updated in a while, so everyone should go over and bother the author until she does so.

Lastly, I went ahead and uploaded my outline for those looking to be spoiled. You can find it by going to my profile page, and then going to my website. From there, read my blog and you'll see a link. Sort of a roundabout way, but hey, you get to see my website!

Wow, over a thousand reviews now! I'm so happy. You're encouragement (or flame) is greatly appreciated. Several people have flamed me now, but I'm slowly realizing that their opinion doesn't really matter. This story isn't perfect, but people still find it very entertaining. That's all I can ask for.

Someone asked if the world was about to end. I can say with confidence that it already has. We escaped through a mass exodus to the Restaurant at the end of the universe and then returned with a massive memory wipe. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who seems to remember this as the memory wipe was very successful. Until next time, so long, do well; win awards, and thanks for all the fish. See you in the funny papers.