Harry flipped the Daily Prophet over and kept reading.
The very first article he saw caught his eye.
"Latest Report on the Illegal Entry into Gringotts:
The investigation into the illegal breaking and entering at Gringotts on July 31st is still ongoing. It is widely believed to have been the work of an unidentified Dark wizard.
The goblins of Gringotts reiterated today that nothing was stolen. The underground vault that was searched by the intruder had, in fact, been emptied earlier that same day.
A Gringotts goblin spokesperson stated this afternoon: they refuse to disclose what was stored in the vault and advise the public not to meddle in this matter."
Harry remembered Ron mentioning on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't said exactly when.
Now it seemed the attempted robbery and the day he'd gone with Hagrid were one and the same.
He recalled Hagrid taking out a very special package that day, one which contained a powerful alchemical construct.
He'd tried to ask Hagrid about it, but Hagrid had refused to say anything.
Could that alchemical artifact have been what the thief was after?
Harry decided to probe a little. "Hagrid, the day of the Gringotts break-in, we were in Diagon Alley too, weren't we?"
Hagrid didn't dare meet Harry's eyes and pretended he hadn't heard a thing.
Half-giants weren't exactly gifted liars. Aside from thick-headed Ron, even Hermione noticed something was off.
Judging by Hagrid's reaction, there was a very high chance that alchemical artifact was exactly what the thief had been after.
...
Ron went back to the Gryffindor common room—he'd probably end up playing chess with Neville and the others—while Harry and Hermione, as usual, headed for the library.
Harry was currently working on fifth-year material. Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration and more—all together, even he couldn't fully master them in a short time.
As he read more textbooks, Harry noticed that a lot of knowledge simply wasn't recorded in them—things like Legilimency and Occlumency, the three Unforgivable Curses, any form of ancient magic, and potion recipes with real strategic value.
He guessed this knowledge was too dangerous and had been sealed away, just like the Restricted Section of Kamar-Taj's library.
Conveniently enough, Hogwarts library also had a Restricted Section where many dangerous texts were kept.
If he wanted to get his hands on the truly precious knowledge of the wizarding world, he'd have to get into the Restricted Section.
But ordinary students weren't allowed in; you needed special permission, like a signed note from a teacher.
Right now, Harry had two options. The first was to sneak in using the Disillusionment Charm and the Invisibility Cloak. He could put that plan into action immediately, but it would be easy to get caught.
He needed to spend a long time reading in the Restricted Section; he couldn't be skulking around forever. So that route wasn't ideal.
The second option was to ask a professor to authorize him. Harry preferred this one.
He was quite confident he could get permission from at least one teacher. He'd heard that Professor McGonagall loved Quidditch; if he displayed truly exceptional talent on a broom, he could probably earn her favor.
Combined with his accomplishments in Transfiguration, it should be enough to get that elegant lady's approval.
And if he couldn't get it from Professor McGonagall, he still had Professors Snape and Flitwick to fall back on.
Especially Professor Snape—because of his mother, that cold-blooded bat with the warm heart would be the easiest to handle.
Having made up his mind, Harry set aside thoughts of the Restricted Section for now. He'd act next week during class and aim to get McGonagall's approval then.
For the moment, he turned his attention back to Hedwig.
Right now, Hedwig was still crunching magical equations about electromagnetic forces every second of every day. Of the four fundamental forces, electromagnetism was the easiest to grasp.
Starting from electromagnetism, there was no doubt he could create many powerful spells, and Harry already had a rough concept in mind.
The most basic manifestation of electromagnetism was, of course, generating a magnetic field.
He could use that field to control metal, but that would be the simplest—and most wasteful—approach. It would chew through far too much power. He might as well just use telekinesis.
Instead, he decided to use the Lorentz force and acceleration principles, instantaneously constructing a powerful magnetic field and creating huge numbers of directed moving charges.
As long as a metal projectile appeared inside that field, it would be hurled away by an immense electromagnetic force.
The stronger the magnetic field, the faster the projectile would fly. According to Hedwig's calculations, if he successfully constructed the field, the initial velocity of the projectile could easily reach several times the speed of sound.
Harry decided to call this move the Super Electromagnetic Cannon.
There was one more thing he needed to consider, though, before the Super Electromagnetic Cannon would be complete.
Ordinary metals, when moving at extreme speeds, would quickly melt due to friction with the air—and molten metal obviously wouldn't do the damage he needed.
But this was easy to fix. Metal projectiles forged from uru-engraved alloys or vibranium would have no trouble withstanding the heat.
In fact, different projectiles could produce different effects.
Harry had Hedwig pull up a barrage of magical texts on his retina and grabbed a sheet of scrap paper to start sketching the magic array he envisioned.
Once he completed the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, his offensive power would skyrocket.
If he didn't mind letting his magic run wild and poured everything into the magnetic field, he could even obliterate a starship in a single shot.
Just as Harry was fully absorbed in his research, a soft body leaned against him. Hermione peered at the magic array on the draft paper and asked curiously, "Harry, what's this?"
Harry's eyes flickered slightly. Thinking of the role he'd planned for Hermione's future, a warm, springlike smile appeared on his face.
"Come here, Hermione, I'll teach you. This is an ancient magic array, a completely different system from modern magic."
Raise the little girl from childhood, then have her pay off the debt by working for you when she grows up.
Clearly, spending your life as an overworked, underpaid Sorcerer Supreme was already way out of fashion.
Very soon, Hogwarts' first weekend passed without incident.
Harry spent both days in the library, studying new spells and teaching Hermione the Kamar-Taj system.
Hermione worked hard and progressed quickly; she'd already mastered over a hundred runes.
Meanwhile, over those two days, Harry successfully used the array structure for Borsat's Thunder as a foundation to create a preliminary magic array that could convert mana into electromagnetic force.
That night, Harry watched Ron and the others squabbling like a long-suffering dad.
Dean and Ron were arguing about which sport was the most popular.
Obviously, Muggle-born Dean and pure-blood Ron had very different ideas. Dean insisted the most popular sport was football, while Ron was certain it was Quidditch.
Neither could convince the other, so they finally turned to the one person they both trusted—Harry—and asked him to be the judge.
Harry yawned and didn't answer. He actually found watching the two kids bicker quite entertaining, so he decided to mess with them a bit and let the argument drag on.
He glanced out the window at the darkening sky, jumped down from his bed, and headed for the dormitory door. Over his shoulder, he called back, "I'm going out for a bit. Don't worry about me."
It was time to deliver Mr. Filch his borrower starter pack.
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