Once I was back in my room at the pub I set straight to work practicing my magic as I only had a small amount of time left before school started. Two weeks may not sound like a small amount of time but when you were focused as I was that simply wasn't true. As expected the time came and went as I devoted my time to further expanding my wandless magic as well as a single wand spell that was giving me no end of grief to pull off, Protego.-
I had no books on the spell and had to go off of what I read in my past life as well as the movies but the spell was considered quite advanced for a reason. The effect of the spell was to summon up a magical barrier that was supposed to protect the caster. The problem was that the spell required more than simple rote memorization and recitation to cast. You needed a genuine desire to protect yourself or someone else for the spell to even try and fizzle into existence. This part was unfortunately not easy for me to pull off at all. -
As it turned out having haki was actually detrimental here as when I used armament I gained a sense of being protected which for obvious reasons was counter productive to what I wanted. Filling my mind with the image of a broad impervious shield was easy but I lacked that desperate feeling of needing protection and didn't feel like putting myself in harms way to get it. The spell was useful for several reasons yes but not strictly speaking necessary to learn. I wanted to learn it in case I needed to block spells without exposing haki or learn it's more advanced forms that were quite varied actually.-
The spell Protego was the most basic of shield spells with there being a great deal more advanced versions because, to no surprise, people REALLY valued their lives. The three advanced versions I personally knew of from my past life were Protego Maxima, Protego Horribilis and Protego Diabolica. The first was just a direct upgrade to the normal Protego spell meant for a single person. The second was a version that created a wide area of effect barrier that was stronger than a normal Protego but not by much since it covered a wider area. The final however was less shield and more conceptual construct that was both offensive and defensive. -
The only known user of that version was it's creator Gellert Grindelwald but what it did was create a sort of blue fire that wouldn't burn those the caster thought were allies but would reduce enemies to ash near instantly. There was some speculation that the spell was a strange fusion of Protego and the forbidden fire spell Fiendfyre thus creating the flames that sensed the heart.-
Whatever the case that was a future me problem as the time finally came for me to head to Hogwarts. I had already passed off the goods to Rockwell and received the eggs that now sat quietly in my inventory to prevent them from spoiling so I just needed to approach Hagrid himself.
"You know how you are getting to Kings cross right?" Tom asked when I came down the stairs with my enchanted trunk.
"Yeah, the knight bus. Have to admit I'm a little excited to see it in person. One of the rare cases of muggle-wizard hybrid technology after all." I said with a grin.
"You won't be so excited after actually riding in that bloody thing. Still I'll keep your room clean while you are at Hogwarts so don't worry about that and focus on your studies. Can't say I don't envy you lad, some of my best memories were from my own time there. Most british wizards will say the same too." he said with a nostalgic look.
"Oh I don't doubt my time there will also be quite memorable as well. " I said with a chuckle as I thought of the events from the books.
The first year had Voldemort himself serving as a teacher on the back of Quirrell's head, the second had Lockhart and the chambers whole shenanigans. The third had Dementors and Sirius Black lurking about while we have a bloody werewolf as a teacher. -
The fourth was even worse as we had a madman hiding as another madman with Polyjuice as a teacher while we had an international tournament between the russian, french and british wizarding schools. That alone was going to cause all sorts of drama that is then punctuated by the resurrection of Voldemort himself. The fifth year was Umbridge's year and one I was frankly NOT looking forward to since from both the books and movies she seemed to make it her mission to ruin the lives of every student in the school that year.-
The sixth years had highs and lows with Snape getting the DADA position while Slughorn took up potions again. Draco Malfoy working to bring the Death eaters into the castle and kill Dumbledore was a big downside as well. Then of course theres also the fact Dumbledore is dying the whole year and keeled over at the end after setting a really complicated plan in motion. The final years were by far the worst though as while the books didn't cover it much since Harry and his friends were elsewhere the few lines we get show that it was being run by the Death eaters and not in a positive way.-
I wasn't sure if things were going to play out the same way this time since I was going to be making moves in the background that would interfere with cannon to different degrees but I was going in with the assumption it would all be roughly the same for now. I said my farewells to Tom and walked out front of the pub before raising my wand in front of me and waiting. There was a strange sound as a blue double decker transit bus seemed to snap into existence on the street in front of me. -
"Welcome to the knight bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this day. Off to kings cross I take it?" the thin blonde guy standing at the front of the bus said casually.