I just finished chapter 100 on patreon! It feels really good to have reached that milestone. It's pretty crazy how far this had gone! To celebrate, I made chapters 99 and 100 really long! Feel free to go support me there if you want, or it can be something you can look forward to when it comes out later.
(Word Count: 2,411)
As Harry entered back onto Diagon Alley, he found a little nook behind some stacked trunks and took off the invisibility cloak. He stuffed it back into his trunk, and stepped out onto the street.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed, forcing down the twisting in his stomach. It had only been a year and things had already changed so much. He can't rely on his knowledge of canon anymore.
'It's alright, I knew things would change. That's why I've been developing my divination so much!' Harry thought, calming himself down.
One thing was for sure, Harry could no longer simply coast through the canon events as he did last year. He needed to be more proactive, or things would snowball out of his control. He needed to get his hands on the horcruxes as soon as possible.
As soon as he gets home, he'll have to talk to Kreacher about that locket. He had initially left it alone because his occlumency wasn't very good and didn't want to mess with it. After that, he was sort of content to leave it as it was until he needed it. Now, Harry could no longer ignore it. The diadem as well, once he got to Hogwarts. The ring… Well, that one may actually be the most tricky. He had no idea what sort of curses Voldemort may have used on the Gaunt's shack, so he wanted to do some studying before he tackled that one. He didn't want to involve Dumbledore with this one either.
In the meantime, he needed to finish his school shopping! He hadn't gotten anything on the list yet.
At that moment, his system dinged him, telling him there were some new quests available.
[Year 2 Quests:
Fate Quests: Tom's Diary[!], Dueling Club [!], Gilderoy Lockhart[!], Death Day[!], Polyjuice Potion[!], Hagrid's Arrest[!], Hagrid's Friend Aragog[!], Chamber of Secrets[!], Slytherin's Monster[!]
Magic Quests: Dueling Club[!], Acromantula Nest[!], Save the Basilisk[!], Free Dobby[!]
Death Quests: Slay the Basilisk[!]
Overall Quests:
Fate: Fulfill the Prophecy, The Snake Nagini, Draco's Dilemma[!]
Magic: Ravenclaw's Diadem, Slytherin's Locket, Hufflepuff's Cup, Find Excalibur!, Room of Requirement (repeatable), Magical Tutor (Repeatable)
Death: Horcruxes, Ghosts of Hogwarts
Completed Quests:
Fate: N/A
Magic: N/A
Death: N/A]
Seeing the Quest for the Diary, he tapped on it to see what it said.
[Fate Quest: Tom's Diary
When Tom Marvolo Riddle was in his senior years, he made his first Horcrux. Now, 50 years later, it's making its way back into Hogwarts! No matter which option you choose, you're not allowed to bring in the help of the adults. It would be too easy that way. Don't be boring!
Go With Canon!: Allow the events to play out as they did and get the diary at the end of the year.
Reward: +1 Curses
Prevent Ginny From Getting the Diary[CLAIM!]: Prevent Lucius from planting the diary in Ginny's cauldron.
Reward: +1 Skill Point
Obtain the Diary Super Early: Find the diary before it can get to Hogwarts!
Reward: +1 Level
Obtain the Diary Early[NEW!]: Ginny no longer has the diary, but someone else does! Find out who now has the diary and get it before the Chamber of Secrets can be opened.
Reward: +1 Class Point]
'Really? Why am I only getting this now? If I had seen this quest I wouldn't have been freaking out!' He thought, a frown on his face. 'It seems like I was wrong before. Things hadn't diverged far enough from canon for Fate to be unable to manipulate things back to canon events.' Judging from Fate's quests this year, they're still based around the canonical events, meaning if Harry left things as they were, this year would play out as canon. The only difference would be who the diary possessed to do it.
Not that Harry would allow it to play out that way.
'Since the diary is with another student, then they'll still likely attack Hagrid's roosters first. They can't unleash the basilisk until they're gone. They might even still wait for Halloween to do it. That's a pretty auspicious date, and Tom's pretty dramatic.' He would then know who has it and grab the diary then.
He would also like to see Fate try to return things to canon when he collects the horcruxes. 'Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder what Fate will do for next year? I've already cleared Sirius's name, and Pettigrew is locked up in Azkaban. I don't see how Fate can make Sirius a runaway again… Wait,' Now that he thought about it, it didn't have to be Sirius that is the runaway. 'Don't tell me Pettigrew's going to escape?'
He couldn't see how, since Pettigrew's animagus form is now well known they've put him in a special cell that's rat-proof.
Harry put aside the thought, and dismissed the Quest page. He could look at the rest once he got home. School shopping wouldn't take long anyway.
Harry quickly purchased everything, getting new robes, potion ingredients for this year's potions class, and the second year textbooks. He didn't really need them, since he already read through all of his mother's textbooks. Still, they were the updated versions, so there were some differences. Aside from that, he also picked up some owl treats for his owls.
After shopping, he apparated straight back home. Sirius welcomed him back as he moved past.
"How'd the little Malfoy handle muggle music?" He asked.
"Surprisingly well," Harry replied. "He seemed to enjoy Rock n' Roll, so I got him some albums. I also pulled him into a prank for his father. I bought some classical music albums like Beethoven and Mozart, and I plan to give them to Lucius, pretending to have found them at that one music store all the purebloods supremacists shop at. I'm hoping that by the time he realizes they're muggle, he would already have fallen in love with the music. It'll shatter his worldview."
Sirius laughed, throwing his head back. "Oh, that's brilliant!"
"I will have to create a fake cover sleeve for them, to make it look like it came from a wizard though, maybe enchant some moving pictures for it. You want to help?" Harry asked conspiratorially. "I want to get them done by Christmas, it'll be my gift to show Arcturus how 'close' we've grown."
"Of course!" Sirius cheered, "Just leave it to me, we've got plenty of old albums laying around here, so we can make them look authentic."
"Brilliant!" Harry said, heading to the stairs. "I'm a bit knackered, so I'll be going up to relax in my room!"
Harry went upstairs, and flopped down onto his bed, pulling up his quest page.
The Fate quests weren't very interesting. They were only the canon events as usual, and all of them gave skill points, class points, or stat points. Useful, but not very interesting. What was interesting were the contradictory basilisk quests he had gotten from Magic and Death. Unlike the Philosopher's Stone quests last year, where they could be completed sequentially, these ones were one or the other, directly opposed to each other.
He could only hope that choosing one over the other didn't anger the other.
[Magic Quest: Save the Basilisk!
The basilisk is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous magical creatures in the Wizarding World. Yet, it is also the most endangered. Since the first basilisk was bred by Herpo the Foul, only approximately 500 have been born since. This basilisk is one of only 5 basilisks still alive, and it is the oldest. Spare its life and find a place for it to live.
Reward: +1 Magizoology, Perk: Basilisk Affinity, Basilisk Hide Armor]
[Death Quest: Slay the Basilisk!
The basilisk should never have been created. Ensure this basilisk dies.
Reward: +1 Curses, Perk: Basilisk Slayer, Basilisk Fang Dagger]
'There are 4 other basilisks?' Harry thought. The method to create a basilisk is one of the most infamous rituals out there, so he was surprised there weren't more of them out there. Though, he supposed, chickens were one of the most common livestock animals out there, so it would be rather hard for a basilisk to grow up without running into one. 'I wonder if there is a correlation there?' Did everyone start raising chickens and roosters to protect themselves and their settlements in ancient times to protect themselves against the newly created basilisk? Now that's a thought.
Still, he was surprised there wasn't some sort of underground breeding farm that raises basilisks. Or can a farm only manage a small handful, keeping them young so they don't get out of control?
Putting aside the runaway thoughts on basilisks, he looked at the quest rewards.
Magic's quest gave a level in magizoology, which made sense since he was saving a magical creature. Death's quest gained a level in Curses, presumably due to the dark nature of the basilisk itself.
As for the equipment, it seemed like Magic was giving him what he wouldn't have been able to get if he spared the creature. Harry had always thought he would be killing the basilisk because he had wanted the armor. Basilisks had extraordinary magical resistance, even greater than dragons, so having it given to him as a reward did negate the primary reason Harry had to kill it. Aside from it threatening the lives of all the students in the castle, that is. For Death's quest, it gave him a dagger made from the basilisk fang. Harry was a bit confused on why Death would give him this item, since if he killed it he could always make one for himself.
'Maybe it has some unique enchantments?' Harry thought.
The most important rewards were the perks. Magic gave Basilisk Affinity, which would obviously increase his affinity with the giant snake, making it easier to control it to get it to wherever he would keep the thing. It would likely also extend to many other snakes, but that's just conjecture. Would it extend to his parseltongue?
Death's perk, Basilisk Slayer, didn't really make much sense. In normal gaming systems, a perk or title like "Slayer" would usually make it easier for the player to kill other creatures in the same vein, but here there were only four other basilisks in existence, so that can't be what it means.
Harry sighed.
Not for the first time, he wished he could see descriptions on quest rewards before he actually completed them.
Moving on, he looked at the other Magic quests.
[Magic Quest: Dueling Club
You have singlehandedly resparked the interest of Magical Britain in the Dueling sport. Now make sure they can learn the sport safely! Together with Professor Flitwick, restart the long-dead Hogwarts Dueling Club, and assist in its instruction.
Reward: +1 Dueling, +1 Focus]
It paired well with Fate's own "Dueling Club" quest, which had an option to help instruct the club so Lockhart didn't make a mess of it and get it banned again. This one gave its own reward of another Dueling level, so by doing this, he would gain two levels at once.
[Magic Quest: Acromantula Nest
This nest of Acromantulas has gone largely unchecked thanks to Hagrid's friendship with the Acromantula's patriarch, Aragog. Because of this, the spiders' numbers have grown exponentially, wreaking havoc on the rest of the magical creatures in the Dark Forest. Cull the numbers down to less than 100. This will allow the Centaurs to effectively manage their numbers from there.
Reward: +2 Levels]
This pairs well with Fate's Quest, "Hagrid's Friend Aragog", which had an option to kill it for +1 Magizoology.
Lastly, was the quest to free Dobby.
[Magic Quest: Free Dobby
The creatures you know as House Elves used to have a deep culture of worship and symbiosis with me and my lesser aspects. Millenia ago, a war was waged between the elves and wizards and, with the help of goblins, the elves that remained on earth were enslaved. Their unique symbiotic relationship with my lesser aspects was twisted and corrupted to serve a wizard's magic instead. Dobby is the first elf in a long time to have any desire of being free once more. Free Dobby from his enslavement.
Reward: Perk: Elven Affinity]
This one was the most interesting quest description. It described a bit about the old history of house elves, which Harry could not find any reference to when he first looked into it when he met Tripsy. He had assumed that house elves were some sort of alchemically bred creatures made by wizards to serve them, but this revealed that they were originally free elves.
It also implied that there were elves that remained free, but they had left earth to go somewhere else. Maybe Magic took them away? And what did it mean symbiosis with Magic "and [her] lesser aspects?" This ritual made it seem like the house elves were bound to the wizard's magic, but Harry couldn't see any sort of draw on his magic from Tripsy or Kreacher. And it wasn't like elves didn't have their own magic, since Dobby could still use magic when he was freed. So what exactly was this bond with magic?
Harry ruffled his hair in exasperation. He now had several more questions than before. It also made him feel a bit guilty. He hadn't freed Tripsy yet. He could free her from the bond and still employ her properly. She didn't have to leave. When he had first brought it up to her, however, she broke down into tears and begged him not to.
Could this mean that, to elves, being in a bond was almost a religious or spiritual part of life? Then, for house elves, losing this twisted bond to wizards would be akin to losing or failing their god?
Thinking of Dobby, Harry sighed. He would have to think of a way to trick Lucius to free him. While he hadn't been able to find any lore on elvish history, he did learn that only the head of the house could free a house elf from their bond to the family, so he couldn't get Draco to do it.
He could try to get Lucius so angry at Dobby that he released him on the spot. Though that carried the risk of Lucius simply killing Dobby.
Something to think about.
Thinking about elves, Harry thought of Kreacher. It was time to get that locket.