The Intelligent Potter

An: If you wanna read the latest chapter of The Intelligent Potter a few days earlier than they are available on FFNet, pretty please (with a cherry on top) check out this story on webnovel!

*** A Walk Around The Lake

Harry was walking.

He was very rarely free these days. He was always involved with the war.

He was still a school-going child. It was certainly something that the Leaders of the Light forgot from time to time, considering how involved with the war effort Harry was. Between training with Iliad, who he could now defeat in one-on-one combat, and researching the horcruxes, of which only two remained now, Harry had scarcely any time to think about or concentrate on his schooling.

Harry himself forgot sometimes that he was still a child. He was still in school. His OWL exams came and went, and he was sure he had aced them all. He was just beyond the level that he could learn anything from the school now. He had been forced to learn and progress so fast, that he could hardly pay any attention to just living his life.

He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't even thought about where he was walking to, so he came to a standstill as he tried to pick a direction to go.

He could head up to the Room of Requirement, and get some more drills in. He could head up to the Headmistress' office to ask McGonagall whether there was anything that needed doing for the war effort that he could help with. He could find Iliad and duel the man once again. Harry may have bested the Lord Greengrass, but that did not make it an easy battle for the young Potter, even with the additional power of the Elder Wand. Finally he decided on none of the above, and headed down to the Lake. It was one of the few places where he could just concentrate.

Just two years ago, he would have found dozens of couples snogging each other senseless underneath the trees by the side of the lake, but these days there were very few students of Hogwarts who went outside the castle, unless they had to for classes. After the great battle for Hogwarts which had occurred on the grounds, there was a fear of getting caught in the middle of such a conflict, were the Dark Lord to attack the school once more.

While, obviously, Harry wasn't a fan of the fact that the entire school lived in the kind of fear which children should not have to face, he was quite glad for the solitude which the lake afforded him. He could walk around it over and over again, with just himself for company, and it was the most relaxing thing which he did these days.

He just thought. He tried to come to terms with the million and one things which were going on in his life at any given point in time. He had continued on the Quidditch team, mostly because Quidditch drills were good for his flying capability, if it ever came in handy, not to mention that it was one portion of the overall training which kept the young man in tip-top shape.

Not to mention the fact that Harry was already exceeding expectations at all their subjects. Not even in potions did Harry face any troubles, for Snape had run away when Dumbledore died, presumably to join The Darkness' forces, and he had been replaced at the school by a man of the name Horace Slughorn, who was a serviceable replacement.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when, out of the blue, he heard the gates of the old castle swing open slowly, and he was immediately on guard. There was not supposed to be any visitors to the castle this day, he knew that.

'Still', he thought, 'The castle would not let in anybody who meant anyone inside any harm at all, so it should all be okay."

He padded up to the gates.

It should have been all okay.

It was not all okay.

Rather, it was quite the opposite, it was Lord Voldemort himself. For the first time since that night in the graveyard, he was not completely covered by The Darkness, but there was no mistaking the snakelike features and the red eyes.

Voldemort was just standing there, taking in the view as if he hadn't seen the castle in decades, even though he had stood on these very grounds, and killed the Headmaster of this very school, not even one year ago.

Then their eyes met, and Harry could not make out what Voldemort was thinking at all. He was not the deranged psychopath or the determined mass murderer that Harry was familiar with.

"You," Harry uttered with utter hatred.

If Harry had looked down at Voldemort's mouth, he would have noticed that the man was trying to speak.

Alas, he did not.

Instead, he drew out the Elder Wand, and funneled all of his considerable magic through the magic-magnifying wand and conjured the largest piece of elemental magic that he could muster.

A truly fearsome snake of fire rocketed towards Voldemort.

*** End of Chapter

AN: Aaaaand Scene! Just a few thoughts on how school has been progressing because the entire focus of the story has been on unusual events and war, and fourth year was almost completely skipped and I wanted to at least mention how school was going for our young protagonist, even though his schoolwork has really taken a backseat in this story from how much it featured in year 1 and year 2.