Chapter 2 (TROHP)

Since I forgot to remove my line-break reminders on FFnet, and now look like an idiot, I've decided to upload one more chapter today as an apology.

## September 20th, 1991

Hogwarts sucks. I didn't know why I didn't realize this before attending. Cursed Defense Against the Dark Arts position, with a stuttering idiot as a professor. A ghost that puts people to sleep, preventing people from getting passing grades and forcing them to self-study to get them. It would be far more logical to simply exorcise him and let students self-study or hire another teacher.

The classes were easy, effortless for me to pass. Hell, even Snape liked me! I was already first in my year and bored! Sadly, the mindless masses were intimidated by my intellect. Only Padma and Su Li are my friends, and even then were not terribly close to me. My efforts to dissuade my house from thinking James had special training were in vain, they simply started believing that I was lying out of jealousy.

I finally decided to just practice in secret, after I had asked for advanced studying from teachers, and even demonstrated my advanced magical knowledge to them. They refused in spite of that and even said I would gradually become more challenged. Only if I forgot what I already knew! But I was sure they would happily take credit for my progress and my hard work.

I quickly blasted a high-end training dummy into oblivion, while dodging an attack from another, and knocking it into a wall with a Stunning Spell, and quickly breaking it in half with an overpowered Disarming Charm. All my anger enhancing the power of my silent spell work.

"I-impressive, Mr. P-potter." I heard Professor Quirrell's unmistakable voice say.

I quickly turned to face him. "Professor Quirrell!" I said nervously. "Am I in trouble? Because I bought the training dummies myself, and I made sure the room was reinforced for dueling."

He walked to a wall and cast a spell on it. "Indeed you did, and did so very well. I have noticed that my class is easy for you, and I've overheard that you have asked teachers for private lessons. Just how advanced are you?" He said, without a stutter. Maybe he has stage-fright or fear of groups?

"I memorized the books for all seven years of Hogwarts, as they were during my parents time here, and secretly practiced wand movements since I was three. When I got my wand, I successfully performed all seven years of spells. I've also filled in the gaps in my knowledge by borrowing more recent books. I've also studied Occlumency and Legilimency and Wandless magic. I've become proficient at all of them, even repelling Albus Dumbledore from my mind in 1987." I said, to Quirrells undisguised admiration.

"Impressive. And you find you aren't challenged at Hogwarts? Have you considered studying other forms of magic?" He asked.

"Well, I'm studying wandlore and wandcrafting. I'm considering more combat oriented magic too. That or self-studying to get mastery level knowledge and skill in one of the classes here." I said, in reply.

"Are you aware that more combative magic is considered Grey or outright Dark by the Ministry?" Quirrell asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"That's ministry propaganda designed to control the masses. I would be using the magic only in life or death situations. Honestly, most dark magic can be used for good. People are just to afraid of being corrupted by it." I said, to his approval.

"And you aren't?"

"Of course not. I know who I am, and what kind of person I want to be." I said in reply.

Quirrell seemed to have become lost in thought.

"I'll give you private teaching, Harry. Just don't tell anyone. We aren't suppose to give private teaching and they would just interfere and slow your development as a Wizard." Quirrell finally said.

"Great! Thank you, Professor! What will you be teaching me?"

"Dark Magic." He said, carefully observing me for any disapproval.

"When do we begin?" I asked, eager to begin learning again.

"We will need to test your current level of knowledge in the Dark Arts first." He said, drawing his wand. "With a duel, use spells considered dark and try to defeat me."

I prepared myself, and assumed a dueling stance that I read about.

## October 31st, 1991.

I quickly used a wandless shield charm to block against a blood-boiler, and sent a bone-breaker at Quirrell. He batted it away, and retaliated with a cutting curse, which I just barely deflected. I responded with a bludgeoning curse, followed by piercing curses and another bone-breaker curse. He shielded, but I began barraging his shield with powerful spells, causing it to break. He quickly dodged, before I could take advantage, and sent a stunner at me.

I awoke an unknown amount of time later, to find Quirrell looking down at me with pride.

"Very well done, Mr. Potter. You are a true prodigy, already fifth year level in Dark Magic. You broke my shield charm to, which is incredibly impressive. I will test your shields, and then you may go prepare for the Halloween Feast." He said, and I quickly got into a dueling stance.

"Reducto! Confringo!" He said. I felt their power as they hit, but I held my shield, and it easily withstood the extremely powerful spells. "Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Reducto! Confringo!" My shield began to severely crack. "That will do, Harry." He said to my relief. I was just glad he didn't keep going until he injured me, again. "You're free to go. I'll see you tomorrow at the same time."

"Alright, thank you sir." I said, before exiting his classroom. I began my walk back to Ravenclaw Tower.

The last month was painful, but very educational. My mediocre knowledge of Dark Magic was very easily overcome by Quirrell during our first duel. But, thankfully, he began teaching me spells, which, according to him were taught at Durmstrang. I began quickly picking them up, and even began to master the spells fairly quickly. Quirrell had proven himself a good, albeit brutal and cruel teacher. He has cut me, burned me, and has broken bones and then healed them all.

It was horrible, but if I wanted to become an Auror or Hit-wizard; I needed to build up my pain tolerance. I was advised against becoming an employee to the Ministry by Quirrell. He said that I would never truly reach my full potential, if I became a servant to an institution that consumed all of my time and left none for me to better myself. When I heard that explanation, I promptly agreed with him.

I still needed to work harder, though. I knew that Quirrell was holding back a lot, and I had been going all out and doing everything in my power to win. I knew he didn't hold back on his Stunning and Disarming Charms, and my shields easily withstood those. I could tell that between my classes, private lessons, and magical exercises; my magic had grown a reasonable amount, though nothing to impressive. It had only been a month after all!

I arrived at the Ravenclaw common room, a few minutes later.

I quickly went to my dorm and prepared to take a shower.

I was in the Great Hall, an hour later.

As I began loading my plate, Quirrell ran into the hall and up to Dumbledore and slumped against the table and gasped.

"Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know." Quirrell said, before sinking to the floor and seeming to faint.

He must have ran here and been out of breath, or our duel was more tiring than I thought.

I watched the mindless masses panic, with clear disapproval. Dumbledore ruined my entertainment with a spell to get their attention.

"Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore ordered.

We all began following Penny Clearwater back to Ravenclaw Tower.

## November 1st, 1991.

As I sat down at breakfast, I overheard several absurd stories about someone killing a Troll with a single Knockback Jinx. The stories only got more idiotic from there.

"Who are they talking about?" I asked Padme.

"Your brother. Everyone is saying he killed the troll last night." She replied, not bothering to hide her scepticism

"I can safely say, with absolute certainty, there are only three smart Ravenclaw first years. Myself, you, and Su Li." I said, causing them to smile.

"You think your so smart, don't you, Potter?" Corner asked angrily.

"I know, that I'm smart. I know better than to believe idiotic rumors or whatever someone says. You have already proven yourself an embarrassment to Ravenclaw by believing such a blatant and obvious joke, which was intended to make you realize that you have to prove rumors, before accepting them as fact." I said, coldly. I noticed that I was receiving pitying looks. No doubt the idiots believed I was jealous of my brother. None of them were stupid enough to insult me to my face, though.

I quickly, without sacrificing my impeccable table manners, finished eating. I left the Great Hall and waited for my brother outside.

He showed up ten minutes later and I intercepted him.

"We need to talk, little brother."

Ron started to talk, but I wandlessly silenced him.

"Now, James." I silenced Hermione when she opened her mouth.

James waved them on and I led him to an unused room. I quickly cast several protective spells, though I made sure to conserve my magic.

"Explain these rumors about how you supposedly killed a troll." I said, beginning to monitor his thoughts with Legilimency.

"Well Ron said some cruel things about Hermione yesterday and she ran into a bathroom to cry. The bathroom the troll went into." He said nervously.

"So? Ron's a cruel idiot who gets intimidated when somebody is better than him at anything, yet he's lazy and refuses to better himself and condemns himself to an endless cycle of jealousy." I said to his shock and anger. "It's not hard to see how his life will go, if he refuses to change."

"Well we locked the troll in the bathroom with Hermione, we realized what we did and tried to save her. I ended up shoving my wand up the trolls nose and Ron levitated its club and dropped it on its dead."

"You shoved your wand up its nose?" I asked in disapproval. "And Ron, a Weasley, did something useful?"

He nodded yes, looking humiliated.

"Have you been trying to perform to the best of your ability, academically? Including turning in all your assignments and prioritizing?"

He nodded yes, thinking the worst was over.

"Good. Academics and then Quidditch and then relaxation?" I asked for clarification.

He nodded yes, to my immense surprise. My Legilimency confirmed he was being truthful. Perhaps I was a good influence after all.

"Good, now for a brief lecture. You should have informed a teacher, if they refused to listen, you should have made them listen. If you had mentioned a students life being in danger, they would have listened. I'm proud of you for protecting her, but you shouldn't have taken the risk. It's better that one person die, than three," I said to his anger. "and I will explain why." I said, seeing his anger.

"Through some fluke of magic, you managed to defeat the worst Dark Lord Britain has ever seen. If another Dark Lord rises, your existence, as well as Dumbledore's, will give people hope for victory. If you died there, that hope would likely die with you. Dumbledore, though still extremely powerful, is old and will eventually pass on. When that happens people will look to you, and you being who you are, won't refuse them. You will step forward and will probably fight that threat, because that's just who you are. You need to apply yourself academically James, because if your not up the task: you will die. Even if this threat never occurs, there are still the Dark Wankers merry band of inbred idiots and they would love for a chance to kill you in revenge." I said, making him laugh at the derogatory names. I noticed he was looking sad and even had a few tears, so I decided to let him go.

"I'll let you go to breakfast, just remember what I said." I casually dispelled the protective spells on the door and opened it to see the Weasleys looking concerned. They seemed to look directly at my brother, before becoming angry. Ah, the tears.

"What did you do to him?" Ron snarled. I discreetly got closer to my wand.

"We talked, I made a joke that had him laughing so hard he cried. Not that it's any of your business; the matters of Most Ancient and Noble Houses are not the concern of outsiders, especially peasant trash like your family. Your family was thrown out of the Wizengamot and reduced to peasant status for betraying your own kind. Using a love potion to essentially to commit rape, so I didn't expect you to understand, unless I explained it to you idiots." I said snidely. They reached for their wands, but I already had mine.

I quickly used a wandless shield to take Fred and George's spells and stunned them, before doing the same to Ron. I quickly placed them in the room that James and I were just talking in.

"You could do the same thing, with training." I said to my brother who was in shock. "I put them in there to preserve their dignity, they can wake up in private and not be humiliated." I lied, he just nodded, still shocked by my skill and power. "I'm going to go prepare for classes." I said. I enjoyed goading those idiots.

"Later, Harry," He said.

I walked away, pleased with myself. I hopefully impressed upon him to be more careful. I inspired him to step up his education, hopefully. That brief little skirmish should have inspired him too. He'll need it, because I've grown tired of Hogwarts and cannot suffer it any longer. I have to leave, I'm miserable here.

Later that night...

I had just walked into Quirrells classroom.

"Sir, can I ask you a question?" I asked nervously.

"Obviously, you just did." He said in amusement.

"Does Durmstrang accept transfer students?" I asked, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I'm grateful for everything, and our lessons are the only good part of my time at Hogwarts, but your position is cursed and you will be gone by next year. I'd like to transfer if possible and redouble my efforts to improve my skill with the Dark Arts." He actually looked pleased.

"I'll help you, but why is Hogwarts so bad?" He asked in concern.

"I already know everything they're teaching, I can't access the resources that I need to continue learning. All the students think my brother is the second coming of Merlin and believe that Dumbledore gave him secret training." I said, to his amusement. "Oh yeah, I pranked my year. I told them Dumbledore sent him back in time to train with Merlin and Four Founders, during which time he died of old age, and was reincarnated as himself after spending time in Heaven learning 'holy white magic' from angels. That he could even lead them in battle against the forces of darkness." I said making him laugh, truly laugh. "I'm pretty sure several people believed me, I know Michael Corner did." I said causing him to laugh even harder.

He finished laughing a minute later. "I'll have to limit us to twice weekly duels, and focus on teaching you more magic." I nodded, that was a good idea. "I'll want you to try using the newly learned magic in our duels, and I'll have to contact the Highmaster of Durmstrang. Though you'll want your test results as proof of your worthiness. Durmstrang adopts a more fascist approach and only accepts the strong, you could likely test into seventh year. They do offer private tutelage for mastery level courses, without the traditional mastery traditions. You'll be able keep the rights to your work, and progress far faster than you would here. By the time your classmates are graduating, you could have multiple masteries and even teach them. You would still be a student, at least until you pass all your classes or fail out of them, but I doubt you would fail any classes." Quirrell said, and I soaked up every word.

Durmstrang sounded like it met all of my needs.

"I can still take my OWL and NEWT in Defence Against the Dark Arts, right? I want that knowledge and recognition of having that knowledge."

"Yes, you can. By taking it with the home schooled students, you bypass the idiotic age and year requirements imposed here at Hogwarts. You will have to quadruple your work output: my lessons, your classes, and studying for your exams, and OWLs and NEWTs; you will be extremely busy and be pushing your mind and magic to their limits." Quirrell informed me.

"I know, but the gains are worth the effort." I said to his approval.

"Have you been continuing your magical exercises that you told me about?" Quirrell asked.

"Yes, sir." I replied, surprised by the question.

"Good. I want you to continue them, even during the more intense work you're going to undertake." He said to my shock.

"At your current level of power, you can handle it and even work your magic harder; allowing greater growth in magical power. I know this from experience; the stronger your magic gets, the harder you have to work it for growth."

"I'll do that, sir." I said, not wanting to waste my potential. It seemed to be like physical exercise, except more exercise is more weight.

"There are also rituals than enhance your magical power. Some even by thirty percent, though I doubt you'll be interested in them."

"I'll look into them sometime and consider them." I said diplomatically. He nodded in understanding.

"You will need to learn German too. I can teach you that and also the language charm."

"Great. Thank you, sir." I said sincerely.

"Did you read today's Daily Prophet?" He asked, curiously.

"No, why do you ask?"

"The Weasley's were fined for endangering the Statute of Secrecy and put in debt. It was finally leaked by Rita Skeeter. His planned Muggle Protection Act has taken a hit too, whoever exposed them did the Wizarding World a huge favor." He said, with a knowing smile.

"Did my disdain for the family give me away?" I asked, in concern. He nodded in amusement. "I hope no one else has realized I was behind it. I have very little leverage to use against some enemies. I can only ruin two families at this point and now isn't the time to make that move. When I reveal my beliefs on Dark Magic, I just might lose my heir status or at least endanger it. I can counter my fathers attempts very easily, though I'd rather not lose my family." Quirrell thankfully didn't ask which families I could ruin.

"Enough talking, Harry, we need to begin your training." Quirrell said, standing from his seat.

## December 15th, 1991.

The last month and half was hell, but I survived, with my power growing even stronger. I was able to learn all seven years of Dark Arts material taught at Durmstrang from Quirrell, who wrote me a letter of recommendation and I was accepted into Durmstrang, pending my excellent exam grades. I have semi fluent German, which I was told would improve with further use of the language charm.

I just had a confrontation to get over with, with my Head of House.

I knocked on his classroom door and made sure my emotions were suppressed.

"Come in, Mr. Potter." Flitwick said, with a smile.

"Thank you, sir. I need to speak with you, before I return home." I said, keeping myself emotionless.

"What about?" He asked in concern.

"I'd like you to send my transcript to Durmstrang." I said, wasting no further time.

He looked shocked.

"Why?" He asked, sadly.

"I'm miserable here, its like the powers that be gathered to create my own personal hell. I love magic and studying, and I enjoy studying ahead and mastering advanced spells, but I can't do that here. I'm not allowed, or its frowned upon or too dangerous. I can perform all the seventh year spells, and have the theory memorized and comprehended, and I did all of that without the help of Hogwarts. But, no one cares, and all that knowledge and skill is wasted and useless here. I'm not allowed to grow here and I refuse to stay in this hell any longer." I said, to his shock and pity.

"I have two friends and I'm not even that close to them. Everyone believes my brother is the second coming of Merlin and that I'm lying when I'm said he didn't have secret training." I said all I wanted to say, and decided to be silent.

"I'll send your transcript, Mr. Potter. I'm sorry for what you have endured here, and I wish I could have given you advanced teaching. It just wasn't allowed, and even if it was, you still would have been trapped in classes well below your skill level." Flitwick said, sadly. "I hope that Durmstrang is a better fit for you, you shouldn't be this unhappy and you deserve better. Though, I will be discussing this with you and your family over the holidays."

"Thank you, sir. I hope it will be too. And that will be fine." I said, before exiting his room.

I was free, and I could now be myself and reach my full potential.