MC POV
I woke up at 5 AM in the morning to the snoring of Ronald Weasley. It was a harsh, grating sound that made me want to hex him into silence. He'd always been there—through trolls, spiders, and all the other dangerous messes I'd dragged him into. But even with all that, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd be better off without him.
Somewhere deep inside, I knew he was a friend. We'd shared laughter and danger, but now, with every snore, he felt more like a weight. A chain. A reminder of all the ways I'd let myself get distracted.
The thought gnawed at me — Ron is always tagging along, holding me back. Always the sidekick, never the hero. Always in the way.
I shook my head and forced myself to get up. I needed to focus, to be stronger. I wouldn't let myself be weak—not now, not ever.
Completing my system assigned workout in under two hours, I head back to my room where Ron was still asleep. After taking a bath and getting ready to leave for Hogwarts, I started to practice my wandless casting for some time before hearing the notification.
--Wandless Magic(Novice) skill raised by 1 Level--
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-Side Quest: Training (Completed)-
--Rewards: 1 body stat point, 1 free stat point--
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-Side Quest: Wandless Training (Completed)-
-Rewards: 1 magic stat point, Wandless Magic skill raised by 2 Levels-
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Finally, both my quests are finished. Collecting my rewards, I decide to use the free stat point on Mind stat. 'Status'
-Status-
-Name: Harry Potter-
-Stats (Free Stat Points:0)-
--Body: 7--
--Magic: 10--
--Mind: 8--
----Occlumency(Novice): 8----
----Legilimency(Novice): 1----
----Obliviate(Novice): 0----
-Skills (Free Skill Points:0; Free Experience Points:0)-
--Transfiguration(Novice): 10--
--Charms(Novice): 10--
--Defense Against the Dark Arts(Apprentice): 1--
--Healing(Novice): 3--
--Divination(Novice): 0--
--Astronomy(Novice): 9--
--Alchemy(Novice): 0--
--Potions(Novice): 10--
--Herbology(Novice): 9--
--Magizoology (Care of Magical Creatures)(Novice): 5--
--Runes(Novice): 5--
--Arithmancy(Novice): 5--
--Flying[Broom](Expert): 10--
--Wandlore(Novice): 5--
--Illusion Magic(Novice): 0--
--Appartion(Novice): 0--
--Wandless Magic(Novice): 7--
--Parseltongue(Journeyman): 10--
--Dark Arts(Novice): 5--
--Elemental Magic: --
----Fire: 3%----
----Water: 2%----
----Earth: 1%----
----Wind: 1%----
----Lightning: 1%----
I have nearly completed my third-year syllabus for core subjects and half of the syllabus for electives.
After everyone was ready to leave, we made our way toward the ministry-assigned car to get to the King Cross station. Following the Weasley tradition of arriving just before the train leaves, we quickly went inside to find a compartment to settle in.
Just like in the books and movies, we sat in the same compartment as Professor Remus Lupin. That suited me fine, given that I still hadn't mastered the Patronus Charm — not for the lack of trying of course. Every time I tried, the spell fizzled out in a misty haze, leaving me panting and exhausted.
Settling in the compartment we all talked about miscellaneous things and joked around. After some time, I decided to read my Arithmancy book to pass some time.
"Harry, mate, what are you reading?" Ron asked, peering at the book like it might bite him.
"This here is the Arithmancy book for the third year and I was getting bored, so I decided to read ahead," I answered not overly surprised by his outburst.
"WHAT? But I thought we were taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures together."
"Yeah, I changed Divination to Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, but hey we still have COMC together," I replied just before Hermione interjected.
"I am so happy that you finally decided to take your studies seriously Harry. If you need help in any of the electives, you can come to me" she said gently with a smile.
"Sure," I said not wanting to give Ron a chance to further escalate this argument, and buried my head in the book while taking some notes in my study journal.
Seeing that I was busy reading, Ron and Hermione started discussing the Hogsmeade trip and making plans to visit all the different places. Everything was going nice and quiet before the blonde ponce named Draco Malfoy decided to show up for his yearly visit to our compartment.
He tried to get a rise out of me by goading me with Sirius's name, but I did not even look at him and proceeded to ignore him making him more and more angry by the second. Before he could continue any further, we heard a cough coming from Professor Lupin which made his presence known to Draco and his goons. Realizing that there was a professor sitting in our compartment Draco decided to run away as quickly as possible.
After Draco and others went away Harry once again busied himself with his course book.
Suddenly the train came to an abrupt halt" We have not reached Hogsmeade yet. Why did the train stop?" Hermione questioned. I noticed a layer of frost forming on the window and all the lights went out. There was a rattling sound coming outside of the door before it opened revealing Neville and Ginny coming inside the compartment. I pulled out my wand and muttered "Lumos" lighting up the entire compartment. Ginny quickly entered the compartment and she sat beside me while Neville sat between Ron and Hermione.
Everyone started discussing and speculating the reason behind the train's halt. The discussion came to a sudden stop as the temperature around our compartment suddenly plummeted. Ginny quickly grabbed my hand tightly and started shaking as gloom began to surround us all.
That's when I saw it, Dementor, a humanoid creature of approximately three meters, covered in dark hooded cloaks of long ripped black cloth, making them closely resemble wraiths. Its body was greyed and decayed looking, like a decomposing corpse, and its breath sounded rattling like it was trying to "suck more than air" out of a room. Its hands were glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed. It seemed to suck out all the happiness and light around it.
"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go away" Professor Lupin shouted at the dementor. Ignoring Professor Lupin, the dementor made its way towards me and Ginny making her shake even more.
A high, cold voice. My mother's scream. A flash of green light. A baby crying.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the memories forced themselves into my mind: my mother's lifeless body, her face twisted in fear, the green light that took her, the last laugh of a madman.
I tried to recall the happiest memory that I could while pointing my wand while doing the wand movement at the dementor and shouted; "EXPECTO PATRONUM"
A silver mist came out of my wand which formed a shield around me and the others protecting us from the dementor but it was too weak. After a few seconds, Professor Lupin decided to intervene and drove off the dementor with his corporeal Patronus.
Ginny continued shaking due to the dementor exposure before Professor Lupin gave us some chocolate and went to find the conductor of the train.
"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Ron shuddering.
"A Dementor" I replied in a serious tone.
Hermione then went on to explain all she knew about the dementors I decided to check the system notification I just received.
--Charms(Novice) has to upgraded to Charms(Apprentice)--
--Defense Against the Dark arts(Apprentice) raised by 1 Level--
--Occlumency(Novice) raised by 1 Level--