Young Celestial Wizard [Celestial Grimoire, Harry Potter]

After dinner…

Harry walked down the corridor with his friends, still grinning from their second prank. The dancing chairs had been even more successful than the boomerangs. Every student in the Great Hall had suddenly found themselves stuck to their chairs as the furniture came to life, waltzing them around the castle in a grand parade.

"Oh, that was magnificent!" Peeves cackled, floating alongside them.

"Absolutely delicious! The way young Percy Weasley squeaked when his chair tangoed him past the Fat Lady! And Professor Flitwick trying to hop after his own Ravenclaws while they fox-trotted down the moving staircases!"

As if summoned by Peeves' words, Percy came dancing past them at that very moment.

His chair was doing some kind of magnificent spin move while Percy clutched the armrests with white knuckles.

"Bill, help me!" Percy called out as he whirled by.

"Toodle-oo, Percival!" Peeves sang after him. "Mind the suits of armor!"

Harry had to admit, watching Bill's normally composed little brother getting swept away in an involuntary waltz was pretty entertaining. The house-elves had been brilliant partners in the prank. Once Harry explained that they were trying to save Beatrice, every single elf in the kitchen had volunteered to help. They'd coordinated with their little group well, making sure all the chairs were affected and timing it so the teachers would be too busy to immediately investigate who was responsible.

"So, Peeves," Charlotte said, slightly out of breath from laughing, "we held up our end of the bargain. Two legendary pranks, just like you asked."

"Indeed you did!" Peeves's bells jingled as he did a little loop in the air.

"Now then," Peeves continued, floating down to eye level with the group, "Peeves always keeps his word when proper chaos has been delivered! Follow, follow!"

The poltergeist led them through several corridors, past confused students still being waltzed around by their chairs, until they reached a dusty alcove near the abandoned North Tower.

"Here we are!" Peeves announced, pulling aside a moth-eaten tapestry. Behind it was a small niche containing what looked like a rolled-up painting. "Found this ages ago, I did! Looked all dark and gloomy and vault-y, so Peevesy thought it might be important someday!"

Charlotte stepped forward. "That's it? That's what you've been hiding?"

Harry eyed the rolled painting. He didn't know what made this the 'key' to their Cursed Portrait problem, but Peeves seemed convinced it was important. The poltergeist had kept it hidden for who knows how long, waiting for the right moment to trade it for some proper chaos.

"Looks ordinary enough," Bill said, reaching for the painting. "But then again, most cursed objects do until you get too close."

"Don't touch it directly," Penny warned. "We should probably wrap it in something first."

Harry pulled out a spare cloth from his enchanted pouch and carefully wrapped the rolled painting.

"Brilliant work, you lot!" Peeves cackled one more time before floating away.

The group made their way back through the corridors, stepping around students who were still being waltzed about by their chairs. A few teachers were working on counter-charms, but the house-elves had done their job well. The dancing spell was proving very stubborn.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do with this?" Charlotte asked, gesturing at the wrapped painting Harry was carrying. "I mean, it's obviously connected to the Cursed Vaults somehow, but..."

"Maybe it shows the location of the next vault?" Chiara suggested. "Or contains some kind of map?"

"We could try unrolling it," Tonks said. "See what's actually painted on it."

"Absolutely not," Bill shook his head. "Unknown charmed objects are dangerous enough as is. We have no idea what might happen if we activate this thing without proper precautions."

Harry had to agree with that logic. He'd read enough about cursed objects over the years to know that the safest approach was usually the most cautious one.

Well, unless you were strong enough to handle whatever came out.

"We need expert help," Charlotte glanced at Bill and spoke up. "Someone who actually knows about curse-breaking."

"Professor Rakepick," Bill suggested immediately. "She's been studying the Cursed Vaults longer than anyone. If this painting is connected to them, she'll know what to do with it."

Well, Professor Rakepick is a world-famous curse-breaker, and she was here at Hogwarts specifically to deal with the vault situation.

She'd probably have more insight into this than anyone else they could easily reach.

"Makes sense," Harry agreed. "She should be able to tell us what we're dealing with, at least."

The group made their way toward the Great Hall, where they'd last seen Rakepick dealing with the aftermath of their chair-dancing prank. They found her near the entrance, having just freed Merula from her dancing chair. The Slytherin girl looked thoroughly disheveled and deeply annoyed.

"There," Rakepick said, brushing off her hands as Merula's chair finally stopped moving. "That should do it."

Merula smoothed down her robes and tried to fix her hair, which was sticking up in several directions. "This is absolutely ridiculous," she muttered. "When I find out who's responsible for this..."

Her eyes landed on their group. Charlotte, Bill, Tonks, Penny, Chiara, and Harry himself, all standing together looking suspiciously innocent.

"Professor Rakepick," Charlotte said quickly, stepping forward before Merula could say anything. "We found something that might be important to freeing Beatrice from her Cursed Painting…."

"Oh?" Rakepick raised an eyebrow. "What kind of something?"

Bill gestured to the wrapped painting Harry was holding. "Peeves had it hidden away. He said it looked 'dark and gloomy and vault-y' so he thought it might be useful someday."

"We, uh, convinced him to trade it to us," Tonks added with a completely straight face.

Merula's eyes narrowed as she looked between them. "Convinced him how exactly? By any chance did this convincing involve stupid childish pranks that turned the entire school into a ballroom?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Merula."

"Right," Merula said sarcastically. "And I suppose you also have no idea how three hundred Ever-Bashing Boomerangs just happened to appear during breakfast this morning?"

"Nope," Charlotte replied cheerfully. "Complete mystery to me."

Merula gave Charlotte a look that promised future revenge, but Professor Rakepick was focused on the wrapped painting.

"May I see it?" she asked Harry, holding out her hand.

He passed it over, and Rakepick unwrapped and unrolled it, giving the contents a quick glance.

Harry caught a glimpse himself of what looked like a dark room that resembled prior vaults.

"Excellent work," Rakepick said, rolling the painting back up. "This is indeed an important clue. We'll be facing a dragon in the next vault, so we'll need to prepare accordingly." She tucked the painting under her arm and started to turn away. "I'll handle this from here."

But Harry wasn't having any of that.

He stepped forward and snatched the painting right out of her hands.

"Hold on," Harry said with a small frown on his face. "How could you possibly know there's a dragon involved? I saw that painting too, and there wasn't any dragon in it."

Rakepick's expression immediately shifted from pleased to annoyed. "Mr. Potter, I am a Professor and a professional curse-breaker. Please return that painting to me immediately."

Harry shook his head. "That's not an answer. You took one look at a painting of a dark room and immediately jumped to dragons. How?"

The annoyance in Rakepick's eyes deepened. She clearly wasn't used to being questioned by children, especially not in front of other people. "If you must know, I've found other clues that suggest the next Cursed Vault contains a portrait, and there's a possibility that a dragon has been trapped inside the vault itself. We need to be prepared for that eventuality."

She gestured toward Charlotte, Bill, and Merula. "Which is why I want to teach these three the Conjunctivitis Curse first. Dragonhide is extremely resistant to magic, but their eyes are a vulnerable point. If we can blind the creature temporarily..."

Harry's frown eased slightly. If that was actually the case, he could understand wanting to be more prepared. Dragons were definitely dangerous creatures, and most wizards would need specialized training to face one safely.

But honestly, they really didn't need to go to all this effort.

Just a dragon?

How difficult could it be to subdue it?

Well, his friends and Rakepick weren't aware of his true strength, so their caution was understandable. But Beatrice was still trapped and in danger.

Maybe he should reveal some of his capabilities to speed things along?

"How long would it take for them to learn the spell?" Harry asked.

"It's impossible to say," Rakepick replied. "Could be a day, could be a week. The Conjunctivitis Curse requires accurate wand movement and-"

That's when Harry's green eyes darkened, though nobody noticed.

[Endless Wallet – Legend of Zelda] – Costs 0CP, 200CP available to spend.

So many clinky shiny rupees for you to find, but so few places to store all of them. No longer, as this pouch can contain any amount of money you collect, regardless of if it's rupees, gold, or paper bills. It will hold them all and never get heavier. It will also convert them into any other types of currency you need at the moment.

This was actually pretty useful, and it was free too. He could put all his currency into this pouch, whether it was his Galleons, the gold reward from Fire Lord Ozai or anything else he might collect and convert it into whatever he needed.

That would be incredibly helpful when visiting other worlds. Instead of being rich in one currency but poor in another, he could just convert what he had into local money. No awkward situations where he had thousands of Galleons but couldn't buy a simple meal because he didn't have the right coins.

He'd accept it later though. Right now he needed to focus on this conversation.

"A week?" Harry interrupted, refocusing on Rakepick. "We don't need to wait that long. I can handle the dragon myself."

Bill blinked at him. "Harry, what are you talking about? It's a dragon."

Harry looked at Bill's concerned expression and realized he needed to be careful about how he explained this. He couldn't exactly say 'oh, I've become a literal World and my chi's quantity and potency have been greatly enhanced through purification of my body.'

Nobody needed to know that.

But everyone already knew he could control fire and lightning without a wand. They'd seen him do it plenty of times, especially during the art competition in France. He just needed to get them to digest the fact he'd become a lot stronger without going overboard.

"Look," Harry said. "You all know I can control fire and lightning without a wand, right? You've seen me do it."

"Of course," Charlotte nodded. "Your wandless magic is incredible."

Harry decided not to correct her about it being magic. "Well, it's gotten a lot stronger recently. Much stronger. I'm completely confident that I could keep any dragon permanently blinded, no matter how big it is."

Rakepick looked skeptical. "Mr. Potter, I appreciate your confidence, but dragon hide is extremely resistant to magic. Even powerful spells can bounce right off-"

"I know that," Harry interrupted. "But I'm not talking about hitting its hide. I'm talking about its eyes. And I can be very precise."

He stepped back from the group and held up his hand. In less than a second, lightning began crackling between his fingers. But instead of just sparks, Harry shaped it into a miniature dragon that coiled around his arm.

It could've been mistaken for a real dragon if it wasn't made out of lightning.

"Holy Merlin," Bill breathed.

Harry made the lightning dragon grow larger, until it was the size of a real dragon floating above their heads. Its wings spread wide, and when it opened its mouth, he made use of Thunder Speech to emit a real dragon roar that rumbled through the corridors.

"This used to take me much longer to create," Harry said casually, dismissing the lightning dragon with a wave. "Now I can do it near-instantly. And I can make it much more precise than this."

Charlotte was staring at him with wide eyes. "Harry, that's... that's incredible. How did you get so much stronger?"

Harry shrugged. "Practice. Lots of practice."

That wasn't exactly a lie. He had been working on his firebending for a very long time now, never stopping to improve his proficiency in controlling fire and lightning. The true reason that his bending potency was so much greater now might have a different origin, but it didn't take away from his own efforts.

"Besides," Harry continued, "we can't take too long with this. Who knows what's happening to Beatrice while she's trapped in that portrait? Maybe she can last a year like that, but what if she can't? What if waiting too long makes it impossible to save her?"

Charlotte seemed convinced. "Harry's right. I've already seen what his magic can do..." She looked at the others with a far-away look in her eyes as if remembering something unpleasant. "If he says he can handle a dragon, I believe him."

Harry smiled at Charlotte. She'd been there during some of his most dangerous moments, and she trusted his judgment even when things seemed impossible.

Rakepick was very hesitant to agree, and Harry could see the conflict play out on her face. She was a professional curse-breaker, but it seemed that she was also someone who understood that sometimes you had to take risks to save lives.

"Very well," she said finally. "We'll attempt the vault. But I have conditions."

"What conditions?" Harry asked.

"Only Charlotte, Bill, Merula, and yourself will accompany me. The first three have been personally trained by me for months. They know how to handle dangerous situations. And you..." she gestured at where his lightning dragon had been floating, "you have enough raw power to blind the dragon if necessary."

Tonks stepped forward, looking offended. "Wait, what about us? We've been helping with the vaults too!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Tonks, but this is too dangerous. I won't be responsible for getting students killed because they weren't properly prepared."

"That's not fair," Penny protested. "We've all been working together on this!"

Rakepick's expression didn't change. "Life isn't fair, Miss Haywood. But it's my decision, and it's final."

Harry could see that Tonks, Chiara, and Penny were all hurt by being excluded. But he understood Rakepick's reasoning. If there really was a dragon in the next vault, things could go very wrong very quickly. Having fewer people to worry about would make it easier to focus on the actual threats.

"I'm sorry," Harry said to the three of them. "I wish you could come with us."

"It's not your fault," Chiara said quietly. "Just... be careful, okay? All of you."

"And save Beatrice," Penny added. "That's what matters."

Tonks just nodded, though Harry could tell she was still upset about being left out.

The three of them walked away together, whispering among themselves.

"Come along then," Rakepick said, gesturing for the remaining four to follow her. "We need to discuss the plan before we attempt this."

She led them through several corridors until they reached her private office.

The walls were covered with maps of various countries, some with red X marks scattered across them. Odd artifacts sat on shelves alongside what looked like curse-breaking tools that Harry didn't recognize. A large trunk in the corner was covered with warning labels in multiple languages.

"Sit," Rakepick said, gesturing to the chairs arranged in front of her desk.

Harry took a seat between Charlotte and Bill, while Merula sat slightly apart from the group. She was still shooting suspicious glances at them, probably still convinced they were responsible for the dancing chairs.

Rakepick moved behind her desk and unrolled the painting they'd gotten from Peeves. She spread it out carefully, weighing down the corners with small stones.

"This," she said, tapping the painting, "is not just a clue. It's a Portkey."

"A Portkey to where?" Charlotte asked.

"To the Cursed Vault itself, I believe," Rakepick replied.

"So we just touch this painting and we'll be transported to the vault?" Bill asked.

"Exactly," Rakepick nodded. "But once we activate it, there's no guarantee we'll be able to get back easily. Portkeys can be one-way, especially if they're connected to dangerous locations that are charmed against magical means of traversal."

His Space Authority should be able to get them out if they got stuck, but he couldn't exactly explain that to everyone. He'd have to find some excuse if it came to that. Maybe he could claim it was some new kind of special emergency Portkey that Dumbledore had given him?

That should work…

"What about the dragon you mentioned?" Merula spoke up. "If there really is one in the vault, how do we know it won't just incinerate us the moment we arrive?"

"We don't," Rakepick said bluntly. "That's why I wanted to teach you the Conjunctivitis Curse first. But Mr. Potter seems confident in his abilities, so we'll have to trust that he can handle the situation if it arises and I am unable to act for some reason."

Harry gave everyone a reassuring smile.

Rakepick looked all of them in the eyes. "Before we do this, I need to ask one final time. Are you all absolutely certain you want to proceed? Once we activate this Portkey, we're committed. There's no backing out halfway through."

Charlotte was the first to respond. "I need to solve the Cursed Vault!"

"Beatrice should be freed as soon as possible," Bill didn't hesitate at all.

Merula crossed her arms. "I'm not afraid of some dusty old vault. Or a dragon, for that matter."

Harry nodded. "I'm ready."

"Very well then," Rakepick said. She stood up and moved around to their side of the desk. "Everyone form a circle around the painting. We'll all need to touch it at the same time for the Portkey to work properly."

The five of them arranged themselves around the rolled painting. Harry found himself between Charlotte and Bill, with Merula and Rakepick completing the circle.

"On the count of three," Rakepick instructed. "One... two... three!"

They all reached forward and placed their hands on the painting simultaneously.

..

A/N:

Harry's Character Sheet & Perk List have been published on this website:

https://celestial.paraxium.com/shared/0ee1681c-b776-4a3a-980f-7d203806a0b9

Since updating multiple versions was annoying to keep track of, and not possible on non-forums, this was done instead. It should always be up to date, though some perks may have CP costs that differ slightly from what's shown here, since some effort has been made to balance them. If you'd like to suggest possible future perks for Harry, you can do so on that website by creating a simple account (username/password) and navigating to 'Suggest Perk'.

Simply fill in the perk name, chapter (type of perk), CP cost, jump document (pretty much what media it came from like: Harry Potter, Naruto, Bleach, etc.), and a description. It will be sent for review, and if it's reasonably well-made and balanced, it will be approved and added to the list of perks that can be rolled through the website. If it's rejected, a reason will be given that can be seen through 'My Requests'.

Currently, there are around 500 perks available, though the collection is being expanded regularly. Whether a perk is rolled is naturally dependent on the luck of the dice.