As I regained consciousness, I noticed that I was on my couch in the Room of Requirement—I guess I was so exhausted when I came back that I didn't actually bother to check anything—plus I had lived on this couch for months now, so it wasn't anything new…
Some may wonder, "Why not a bed? You're in a room that's built to be its own semi-independent reality!"
Well, for one, I usually sleep with my Grimoire in hand or on the floor sometimes after some rather exhausting fight simulations…
Also, beds are for deep sleep—Somewhere along the way, I created an association in my mind that being on a bed means I'll sleep for a long time—Not that I actually need to sleep much—I can substitute it with meditation.
And with my body getting stronger the more I exercise and the more natural energy I purify, I believe that in the near future, I will abandon the need for daily sleep entirely—but that's neither here nor there.
I need to check on what's happening with the ritual and whether it's already complete.
I remember I squeezed everything to kickstart that ritual and passed out from exhaustion as soon as I relaxed.
I'm still disoriented, and I need water and food too…
Flicking my hand, I sprayed water all over myself and drank a little.
Ahh, that was refreshing. Truly, water is the essence of life…
Now then, let's check the time first; I want to know how long I've been out. My Grimoire materialized, showing me that I had been out for 15 hours.
How is it possible that I slept this long and still feel like crap? I don't know—Something must have gone wrong somewhere—I have to check on Hogwarts first before I start investigating what happened.
I sent a pulse of magic to inquire about what transpired and if the ritual was a success. The answer came in the form of information being imprinted directly into my mind, and now I know for sure that something went wrong.
You see, nothing can imprint information into a well-occluded mind unless they are connected to it in some way, and that's how I confirmed the fact that I have messed up.
I opened my Grimoire to check everything that happened and everything I did yesterday—and yes, my Grimoire now had a monitoring system—and as it turned out, I made a slight mistake yesterday when I squeezed everything I had to jumpstart the ritual without paying attention, which led to a small amount of Null energy to slip through after I exhausted everything.
Some may wonder, "How can you exhaust your magic? Shouldn't you have a huge amount of it?" Well, I do, but I also wrote tons of Runes yesterday.
Did you think that writing, carving, or whatever method you use to write Runes was just like putting ink to paper?
If it were that easy, we would have Muggles and cultists performing rituals every hour.
And before any smart-ass starts talking about the demonic stuff and how Muggles sometimes succeed in doing them, you need to understand that the Demonic magical system is very different—the demonic magical system converts any energy used into demonic energy, be it life, soul, or whatever type of energy a being has when using it.
Anyway, let's return to the mess I created.
First of all, I was successful in converting Hogwarts into a semi-Divine artifact, but I had also somehow managed to bond it with myself and, by association, the planet.
Now, there's pros and cons for everything in life, and the pros of this are that I can now use Hogwarts as a conduit to purify nature—which I have been doing passively, without even noticing—and there's also the fact that no one can bind him/herself to Hogwarts now, etc.
The only con I can think of right now is that I have just restricted my freedom a little bit, and I'm still figuring out the rest.
Eh, I have a feeling this will work out, but for now I have more urgent matters to attend to, like going out and freeing the Aurors who arrived to investigate the commotion, the professors who are also in the same situation, and let's not forget the esteemed headmaster who has been locked up as soon as he arrived.
Ugh, I wish I had stayed asleep.
I got ready quickly, used quick cleaning charms, dressed up, took my wand, and with my Grimoire floating by my side, I donned my robe and went out.
The journey towards the Great Hall didn't take long, and when I arrived in the hall, I was greeted by the sharp inhaling sounds of different students, the crushing hug of one Hermione Granger who came running towards me as soon as she saw me, followed by another hug from one Luna Lovegood.
The yelling of professors and the still-bound Aurors filled the room, but I ignored them for a moment.
I clapped my hands once—after seeing that these people have no intention to stop yelling—using magic to hush everyone in the Great Hall.
I freed myself from the girls' grasp and assured them that we can talk later.
I looked at the crowd for a moment before starting to move into the center of the hall, where a chair materialized in front of me.
I sat down—a treacherous voice in my mind yelling—'Yes, this is how you leave a lasting impression!' Ignoring it, I began to speak.
"I heard you have some questions about what happened?" I asked in faux innocence, my voice smooth and calm.
I removed the silencing spell from Professor Flitwick and Pomona Sprout, as well as from two of the five Auror squad present—one of whom I believed was named something something Tonks, but I couldn't remember the name of the man.
Sure, I recognized his face from my trial, but nothing about his name.
"Excellent charms work, Harry. Truly excellent work! I would reward you 100 points if we were in class," Professor Flitwick's first words came as soon as the spell lifted, only to be scolded by Professor Sprout, who yelled, "Filius, this is not the time!"
I laughed, relaxing a little. Truly, this is what it means to be dedicated to your work.
"Thank you, Professor," I said with a smile.
I wanted to start small talk with him, only to be interrupted by the male Auror's yelling, "Harry Potter, you are under arrest. We will be taking you into custody and questioning you in…" He couldn't finish because he was hit by a lightning-fast and very empowered stunning spell that sent him flying back a few meters.
"Anyone else stupid enough to start running their mouth like him? Hmmm?" I asked with a soft smile.
Only to receive frantic head shaking from the now scared Aurors.
Some may ask: Why would they be afraid of a stunning charm? It's not the spell that scared them; it's how fast it all happened that actually terrified them.
Because now they knew deep down that they wouldn't be able to react before a spell hit them in the face. And who's to say the next spell is gonna be a stunner?
—and if you didn't believe all that bullshit then you're smarter than most and, I may or may not have released a little bit of killing intent towards them—
"Excellent stunning charm, Harry…" Professor Flitwick said, only to be silenced by a venomous look from Professors McGonagall and Sprout.
I chuckled softly at the situation, relaxing more in my chair and glancing at the people in front of me.
I gestured for Tonks to speak.
"Um, Harry, I think we all want to know what happened to the castle. The amount of magic that was released yesterday was enormous. And also, what are you doing here? Did you have anything to do with what happened?" she asked in quick succession.
With a soft smile, I answered her questions.
"Well, where to begin, hmm? Ah, I know…
I have been here since I got out of Azkaban.
What I'm doing here is what everyone should be doing—studying magic, researching it, and practicing it. It's a really stupid question if you ask me, but eh, what can you do? It happens sometimes." I decided to throw a jab just for the sake of it…
I then sighed dramatically and continued:
"As for the amount of magical discharge, I honestly couldn't tell you; I've been passed out since I started the ritual…" This made everyone look at me with an inquiring look, so I decided to explain before anyone asks anything…
"Now, if you want to know what happened in detail, you're going to need to swear an Unbreakable Vow—But if you just want the child-friendly version—then I tampered with Dumbledore's long-prepared ritual and turned it into a ritual that evolved Hogwarts into what it was meant to be—a refuge and a magical school for wizardkind to study, research magic, practice it, and live without outside interference.
And yes, that means from now on, Hogwarts is completely independent; the new rules will be provided to everyone here later.
And just a small friendly warning: don't break the rules. The punishments are severe, depending on which rule is broken.
I'm also hereby informing you that by tomorrow, every book that was ever taken from Hogwarts will be once again in the library.
Now, is that all, or do you have another question?"
"Harry, how did this happen? What can you tell us about the ritual? You know rituals are a very dangerous subject," Professor Sprout asked before Tonks could speak.
"Ah, right! I will inform you about the ritual once the Aurors leave and I retrieve the still-bound Dumbledore.
You will also have to swear an Unbreakable Vow, and that's not up for negotiation.
And yes, especially you, Snape—you will have to swear every kind of vow there is, or you'll be staying in this castle until you die. And believe me, that won't take long, not with that slave mark you have anyway," I answered them.
I then turned my attention to Tonks and waved my wand, unbinding the rest of the Aurors, only for one of them to take this chance and try to curse me.
'I should have known that stupidity knows no bounds,' I lamented inside my head…
Still, I sent him hurling back and slamming against the wall with a wave of my wand, and now we have two sleeping Aurors.
I looked at the rest, and they were behaving well.
"Take them with you and be on your way. I have lifted the apparition restrictions, so you can apparate from here," I told them, and they moved quickly. With practiced ease, they dragged their companions and left…
The only sound left behind was the popping sound of air displacement left by their departure…
---