The giant hound's three heads sniffed in amusement and Harry knew that he was right. The Cerberus wasn't some average magical creature. It was deeper than that. It was made of magic, mixed in with a few other things, but fundamentally it was a being of energy. No wonder magic couldn't hurt it. Harry still didn't really understand the killing curse, but if it was made of magic, it technically couldn't kill a Cerberus. Yet, the beast was just so oddly familiar, and Harry knew that he had just scratched the surface.
However, the more he listened, the more his magical crest started to burn in his chest. It was a slow prickle that slowly turned into what felt like someone putting a torch to his chest. Harry yelped and stopped actively listening to the Cerberus.
He gasped as he let go, and one of the heads pushed him playfully out of the door. Oh, so it was playfully asking him to leave. Isn't that kind? Harry just grinned in response, "I'll be back."
The dog growled and the door closed by itself, and Harry heard the distinct click signifying that the door was locked. He tried to open it but felt the ward getting stronger and stopping him from doing it. Shaking his head, he turned with a small smile on his face and left the corridor. He noticed that the ward on the door was now pushing him to not notice it. Harry removed the illusion of his magical song, and the ward stopped working.
Oh, so it saved the magical signature of whoever enters and only works after the student sees the Cerberus once, denying them access. If that wasn't a red flag that Dumbledore was planning something, Harry didn't know what would be.
Still, Harry slowly walked to his common room, with his head filled with questions. What was the Cerberus, really, how was it born, and if it was made of magic? And why did his magical crest burn when he looked deeply into it?
Harry went to bed and dreamed of giant three-headed dogs.
...
20 December 1991, Hogwarts
Still, Harry slowly walked to his common room, with his head filled with questions. What was the Cerberus, really, how was it born, and if it was made of magic? And why did his magical crest burn when he looked deeply into it? Harry went to bed and dreamed of giant three-headed dogs.
The term passed quickly after the infamous Quidditch game. It was odd. Harry's first two months at Hogwarts were exciting, with one crisis after another. From the excitement of attending magic school to making new friends, losing a friend, experimenting with magic in general and fighting a fucking toll, Harry's initial impression of Hogwarts was that it was a place of excitement and adventure.
Alas, this wasn't to be. After the Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, things started to stabilize, and Harry found himself having a daily routine that barely deviated. He woke up early, every morning, to take his ritual bath. The treatment was working. His magic had adapted to the change, and after two months, Harry barely needed a bath every couple of weeks. Harry's capacity to channel magic was increased, and the Potter scion found himself relearning his old spells to adjust the power output. After almost blasting a wall with a basic cast, Harry did learn that he had to hone his control over his magic, which took a lot of time. Every morning, if he didn't need a ritual bath, he would simply train his control even further.
Afterwards, he would go to class, study to maintain his grades, and then go to lunch with his friends. After classes, he would go to the library to self-study. He had bit the bullet and chose to start learning runes. It was a tiresome and boring endeavour, but it was the bottleneck in his magical education. Apparently, it was required for most students to learn two runic languages to start working on Alchemy, Warding, and Enchanting. Harry had chosen Elder Futhark and Norse Runes, which had the most potential to be used immediately. He was tempted to learn Hieroglyphics because of its involvement in impressive wards on their tombs, but there wasn't really any other use for them, and considering how complicated they were, it just wasn't worth the effort as his introductory runic language. Aztec runes were still being experimented on, which made them unpredictable, so Harry chose to stay with the basics for now.
Runes, by definition, were languages that were used to cast magic. Harry couldn't really find out why those symbols had power and there was practically no book about their creation. It was probably something to do with the fact that magic remembers. So, thousands of years back, someone used these symbols in some kind of magical act that made magic itself remember them, which was why they had power. It was the most common hypothesis, but there was no sign of proof of it so far.
.....
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