Was Rowan Mercer a genius in this world?
Not really.
His Hogwarts body had average memory and perfectly ordinary comprehension. Nothing remarkable. If anything, his other self, the one living in a different world, was far closer to what people would call gifted. That body carried the genetic legacy of Charles Xavier, and with it came exceptional mental clarity and learning speed.
If that were all Rowan had, he would never dare imagine becoming the most outstanding student Hogwarts had ever seen.
His confidence came from two very specific advantages.
First, he didn't rely on a single brain.
His will was one, but his awareness wasn't limited to a single body. With practice, he could now operate two minds at once. When his Hogwarts self worked it out alone, a complex problem might take twenty seconds of mental calculation. When both minds worked together, the answer arrived in less than ten.
The same applied to magic. Two perspectives studying the same spell, analyzing structure and theory in parallel, gave him a learning speed that rivaled genuine prodigies. To make this sustainable, he adjusted his schedule. His Hogwarts self studied during the day. His other self stayed awake at night, acting as a second processor, then slept during the day to recover.
The second advantage came from preparation.
Before term began, Rowan had quietly done something extreme. Using the advanced systems hidden beneath the mutant school, he digitized every spellbook, textbook, and reference he had read in the wizarding world. Every subject. Every margin note. And he wasn't planning to stop there. Everything taught in class and every book he could access in the Hogwarts library would be added in time.
Even with two minds, perfect recall was impossible. No wizard, no matter how legendary, remembered every word they ever read. But now it didn't matter. With keyword searches, any theory or formula could be retrieved instantly.
Security wasn't a concern. The system was isolated, offline, and unusable without magical cognition. To a normal person, it would read like nonsense.
Which meant that in lessons, when professors asked questions, he could always answer. In exams, theory papers were effectively open-book.
Over seven years, that advantage compounded.
Why go to such lengths?
Because excellence bought freedom.
Hermione Granger didn't receive a Time-Turner by accident. Tom Riddle didn't gain followers and forbidden knowledge by being ordinary. Talent earned access, trust, and opportunity.
If that made Dumbledore wary, so be it. Dumbledore didn't destroy students for being exceptional. He watched them closely, nothing more.
And besides, half of Slytherin already reminded people of Voldemort.
"I'm kind of nervous," Colin admitted quietly. "How do they even decide which house we go into? I haven't studied much besides magical history."
Ginny shrugged. "Ron said it's terrifying, but I don't believe him. If it were dangerous, he wouldn't have passed."
Luna tilted her head dreamily. "My father said it's simple. Everyone ends up where they belong."
Colin relaxed. "That's good. So which house do you want?"
"Gryffindor," Colin said immediately. "Harry Potter was in Gryffindor. So was Dumbledore."
"Same," Ginny said, cheeks faintly pink. "My brothers are all Gryffindor."
"Anywhere's fine," Luna said.
Rowan nodded. "Same."
A sudden scream echoed through the room as a group of ghosts drifted through the walls, laughing and commenting loudly on the students. When Professor McGonagall appeared, they vanished instantly.
"Line up," she said sharply.
They followed her into the Great Hall.
Rowan's eyes lifted despite himself.
Floating candles lit the vast space. Above them, the enchanted ceiling mirrored a star-filled night sky. Four long tables stretched across the hall, each packed with students from different houses. At the far end sat the staff table, Dumbledore at the center, with professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Lockhart nearby.
Snape was missing.
Rowan knew why.
Glancing toward the windows, he spotted two boys peeking in before being yanked away by a large hand.
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had arrived late.
That was going to hurt.