She accepted it with a small smile, which Wisdom returned as she passed Terry a book as well. "This one Harry hasn't tried yet, but you may find interesting. It doesn't actually do anything but light your wand different colors, but the colors change based on wand motions. You can use it to perfect your casting ability, since you decided to not have your core tuned to your wand." Terry seemed to light up at the thought, and began rapidly turning pages looking for good stuff.
Harry had no clue where Hermione had gone, but he thought he had heard a squeal in the "Hogwart School Book" section. She must have found some of the books that he had bought that had been assigned to previous first years. The texts didn't change much, but he enjoyed reading the differences when bored. Padma had a book that covered Harry's memories of ducks. He didn't want to say anything, but that was one of his favorites.
He settled into his chair, and began reading the book Wisdom had chosen... oh. Hogwarts Charter, rules and bylines. Great. Oh well, she had to have picked it for a good reason. Or she was teasing him. Whatever. He felt her ruffle his hair as she went back to the map room to continue updating it.
A few days later, Harry stretched. "Hey Jim, how long have we been in the mind?"
"Quack."
From several chairs (All purple of course) heads raised to look at Harry. "Oh, he said about 4 hours. It is getting close to lunch time, anyone want to take a quick break for it? We can work on building your individual mind world when we get back." He got a few nods. They had taken time bouncing between practicing thread control, reading in the library, and watching some of Harry's special clouds (He had one that was really important, the FIRST movie he had ever seen. It had even been in a theater!).
Watching the movie through his memories was interesting, since they could make fake seats for them to sit in to make it feel like they were there too. He had introduced the three 'pure-bloods' (Susan, Padma, and Terry) to memories of his favorite popcorn and soda, so they had something to much on during the film. Even Wisdom watched with them, which made it kind of special to Harry. She may only be a part of him, but she did represent his desire for family... and his friends really made him feel special.
However the call of food (And a bathroom break) was enough to get everyone moving off the couch and back outside to the grasslands. As Harry turned to his friends, he grinned. "Ok, I have set this up with Jim so it should be fun. To get out of here, just think 'I want to go home' and take a big step backwards."
He watched with a strange sense of loss as one by one his friends returned to their bodies. He knew they were just a few feet away... but having someone in his mind, so close to his heart... it had felt nice.
He felt Wisdom give him a hug from behind, and he leaned back into her. "I... I want to let someone see everything one day. Even the bad places." Wisdom nodded and hugged him. She didn't say anything, and he didn't need anything said... they just were quiet together before he left.
Padma stretched. Her limbs SHOULD feel sore and locked up, after not moving for four or so hours. Instead her body felt refreshed, like she was somehow more HERSELF than she had been in a while. She felt balanced. Looking down, she missed seeing the pink threads and her core. She could still sort of feel the ropes, but the threads might as well be gone in the waking world. Her clothing also felt a bit tighter... oh.
Hermione nudged her shoulder. "Yeah, something like this happened to us too. When Harry covers you in magic, your body fixes stuff that bothers you. It fixed my teeth, my hair got less bushy, I got a bit taller. Things that never really bothered me too much were just... different." She shrugged with a grin. "Not like I am complaining or anything."
Terry grinned as he looked at his more defined muscles. "No kidding." He wasn't larger, but it was clear he had lost some of his baby fat around his arms and neck.
Harry's eyes seemed to brighten, as if he was checking back in. He stretched as he stood and wiped his hand through the air, breaking the spell muffling them. "Well, I say lunch is in order. Shall we?"
A few nods and everyone followed Harry out. Terry had talked with Hannah and Susan a day or so ago in mind space and had mentioned how Harry had been building one HECK of a mental map of the school. Either that or he was a ghost, since he had beaten Terry to breakfast.
Three turns, one magical painting and a tunnel later and they were standing in the Great Hall, most of the party confused and happy that they had gotten here... even if they had headed in the opposite direction for half the time.
Terry of course was still irked. "HOW did we get down to the ground floor? We climbed UP three flights of stairs and we STARTED at the Library."
Harry shrugged as he sat at the Hufflepuff table. "Magic of course. Pass the ham, would you?" A confused puff passed the dish to Harry while his group absently sat around him. Eventually one of the older students leaned in. "Excuse me Harry, did you get the right table? Ravenclaw is one more over you know."
His green eyes glinted with a grin. "Yep! Turns out in the rules that we only have to be at our House tables during the big stuff, like opening and leaving feasts. Plus I want to make friends with people in the other houses, and we all have to eat sometime, right?"
"Indeed we do, Mr. Potter." A woman who seemed half grown was behind him. "For promoting inter-house relations, take 5 points to Ravenclaw." She turned to the other puffs. "And if you have friends my dears, feel free to eat with them too. We are the house of friendship and loyalty, after all." Some of the older kids were already glancing at significant others that were in other houses. Harry grinned, and whispered to Susan. "Who is she? I like her."
"Professor Sprout, she is our Head of House and the teacher of Herbology." She grinned right back. "We all love her to pieces, and she knows all kinds of plant stuff."
Table conversation naturally degraded to Quidditch at some point, but Harry enjoyed being surrounded by laughter. He made a note to do this more often if he could... it felt like it was healing something inside.
Everyone was back in the library, spelled for privacy again. They had chosen a table hidden by some shelves this time... apparently some of the other Claw's had been curious about a bunch of children staring quietly for a few hours.
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