Chapter 3: 03 The Library

Harry Potter graded from his first year at school with a perfectly average score that was just barely above a passing grade. His report card was filled with disparaging comments about him not participating properly, about him ignoring the other students, and about him being too quiet and only answering questions when he absolutely had to.

His aunt and uncle loved it. They even used a magnet on the refrigerator to display the proof that they had been right and he was a horrible child.

Harry thought that was perfect as well, because they never knew that he had been stealing and storing food for himself, right under their noses. He had also levelled Gamer Body twice since he had been eating well and countered the levelling debuff he didn't know he had. He had also grown an inch and Dudley's cast-offs didn't seem so big and roomy anymore.

The best part was that he had also finished going through the school's library. He had picked up a few new skills, even if he was never going to use them. At least, that's what he assumed.

Public Speaking? Debating? Skeet Shooting? Farming and Agriculture? Marine Biology? Astronomy? Cartography? Calligraphy? They were all skills he was sure that he was never going to use. Of course, he was only five, almost six, and didn't know what he would need for the future. He took whatever he could get, just in case.

Over the summer, Harry levelled up Gardening, Running, Cooking, and Cleaning and they upgraded to Horticulture, Distance Running, Junior Chef, and Sanitation. That was the good news. The bad news was he was not allowed to visit the local library on his own. He was too young to be left unsupervised, according to the librarian, and Petunia was never going to take him there. That would make Harry happy and she hated anything that would make him happy.

When asked, the librarian said he had to be at least eight years old to be trusted to be on his own or be accompanied by an older person hat would be responsible for him. She did not have time to babysit him while she looked after the library.

Harry had given her a squinted look. “You are going to regret giving such stupid reasons for not letting me learn.”

“So, you really are a delinquent like everyone says.” The woman responded with her own squinted look.

“I wasn't before.” Harry said and let a smug smile show on his face. “I think I will be now.”

“Get out and don't come back.” The woman ordered and pointed to the door. “Bad kids like you are not welcome here.”

Harry looked over at a couple of people not far away and saw their embarrassed faces. He knew they wouldn't help him, even though they were adults and he needed adult supervision. He walked out of the library and went back home to get ahead on his yard chores, since he wasn't going to be studying like he wanted.

He came back when the library was going to close and hid around the corner of the building to wait. He watched as the woman left the building and locked it up, then he saw what car was hers. He would think of something to do to it later. Maybe he could empty a garbage dumpster on it. No, he would put the garbage dumpster on top of it. Yes, that's what he would do.

No one would ever figure out how a full garbage dumpster had made the journey from six streets away and had crushed the roof of the librarian's car the next day.

*

Harry's school life was filled with repetitive actions. Store this, store that, read this, read that, steal this, steal that, hide here, hide there, run, run, run. The school's library didn't get any new books, so his time there was spent writing with his Calligraphy Skill and drawing with his Cartography Skill as he drew maps of the street, the school, the library, and anything else he could think of.

He had learned how to pick locks on an old lock Vernon discarded in the garage and eventually maxed the skill out, which then combined with Pickpocketing to become Basic Thievery. He had taken a lot of Vernon's spare change and the fat oaf kept thinking that he had lost it somewhere.

That summer, the community librarian quit her job because of all of the things that kept showing up inside her car. Bees nests, roadkill, fertilizer, spoiled milk, and bags of garbage would appear, as if by magic, because the doors were always locked and the alarm never went off. She had always accused the local delinquent of doing it, despite there being no proof that Harry had been anywhere near there, not even on the security camera footage.

The replacement librarian was a very nice older woman and on her very first day of work, Harry had shown up at the library with a carefully picked bouquet of wildflowers that just so happened to be the woman's favorites. She accepted the bouquet gratefully and cooed at him for such a nice welcoming gift and waved him into the library and told him to help himself.

Unlike everyone else in his life, he sincerely thanked the woman and gave her an awkward hug. It was his first one, after all. When she heard that, she pulled him back in close and showed him what a real hug was like.

“Make sure you tell me if you ever need anything, young man. Anything at all.” The older woman said and Harry smiled happily at her, which was also his first real smile in years.

“Can I live here?” Harry asked her with the happy smile on his face and the older woman laughed.

“I wish I could live here, too.” The older woman said and let him go. “I love books! There's so much to learn from them and I could get lost in all the stories and knowledge they contain.”

Harry nodded, because he had been waiting a long time to gain access to all of the books he hadn't been allowed near until now.

“Come and get me if you have any trouble finding anything, all right?”

Harry nodded again and moved off to go to the very back of the library. He didn't want to be too obvious about what he was about to do, considering he had made it a particular point to hide everything he could do and not just hide his much higher Intelligence. He had gained a lot of Wisdom as well as he worked through problems and things that he needed to get around.

He made sure no one was around the aisle he was in and he waved his hand at the bottom shelf of books. They disappeared into his inventory and he smiled as two Skill books appeared. It had taken him a lot of experimenting to figure that trick out. Putting things into his inventory counted as picking them up, so it activated the Skill book blue box.

He picked up skills in both Bird Watching and Bird Biology, even though he was sure that he wasn't going to use them. He never passed on a free skill, though. He put the shelf of books back and stored the next shelf of books. Both of his new skills levelled up several times from different books about the same subject, and he moved up the shelves to keep storing them and putting them back.

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Harry no longer needed to use a stepladder, because his Inventory had gained a five foot radius from him when his Gamer Mind reached Level 20. It also let his Basic Thievery Skill constantly level because he took pretty much everything from people's pockets as he passed by them or near them.

He gained a lot of money from everyone, as well as keys, receipts, packs of gum, cigarettes, and wallets. The keys and wallets he dropped off at random locations after keeping the money, just because he could. He couldn't use the IDs and licenses and the keys were useless to him, anyway.

The automatic loot option was one of the best things he had ever encountered, especially when he bothered by Dudley and his gang. Taking their things when they thought they were taking his, always made him feel happy. The little idiots never knew he had been robbing them blind each and every time they hunted him down and caught him, even though it was Harry's plan to be caught each time.

Plus, the beatings seemed to become less and less painful and he felt a little bit better each time.

*

A month before Harry's eleventh birthday, he had successfully cleared out the local library of all of its knowledge. The librarian had been the same for the last four years and the older woman named Maisie absolutely adored him. He always helped out when the local hoodlums showed up and he protected the building and especially the books, which made the librarian hug and coddle him whenever he was there.

Harry admitted to her that she was his first true love and she blushed and rewarded him by giving him his very first kiss. It was right on the lips, too! Even with Gamer's Mind levelled to 88 and Gamer's Body up to just over Level 55, Harry had blushed as well and sputtered that he didn't deserve it. That had earned him another quick kiss and a fresh loaf of homemade bread.

He spent that night wondering when the next shipment of books would be coming in, so he could help the librarian by sorting them and adding them to the computer system. Maisie was the only adult he knew that actually liked him and didn't judge him for his clothing or his reputation, both of which he chose to not change because of his relatives.

The next morning found him cooking breakfast to perfection, thanks to his upgraded Top Chef Skill. He was also a Master Horticulturist, an Olympic Runner, a Maintenance Chief, a Ballistic Specialist, a High Calibre Artist that combined his Calligraphy, Cartography, and Drawing Skills. He was also an Escape Artist, a Master Thief, and a Supreme Actor that combined his maxed Lying, Subterfuge, Disguise, Speech, and Debate skills.

There were a few others that didn't warrant a mention, like Botanist, Basic Chemist, Basic Physicist, and a few other things, because they were extremely difficult to level and would have to wait until he went to college or managed to sneak away to London to spend a few months or even years inside the central library there.

Petunia tried to glare at Harry when she entered the kitchen, except her mind had already classified him as a cook beyond reproach. His Eggs Benedict were absolutely divine in the mornings and his Bacon Surprise Toasted Sandwiches were her husband and son's favorites to eat immediately and to have later. That alone had earned the boy a lot of leeway with her husband the last few years.

Harry's masterful tea creations also gave her more pleasure than she would ever admit, mainly because they were the talk of the entire neighborhood because of her monthly tea parties. Everyone absolutely loved the little dessert cookies he made and a few of the busybodies even started to ask for the parties to be changed to by-weekly instead of monthly. That was definitely high praise from them.

Vernon and Dudley waddled into the kitchen and started drooling right away. Harry was making waffles this time and had already made nice stacks for them to pile with expensive syrup and tasty berries. They settled down at the kitchen table and started consuming the delicious food without even acknowledging either Harry or Petunia until they were done eating.

“Pet, wonderful nosh as always.” Vernon gushed at his wife and she blushed. “Hand me the paper, boy.”

Harry did so and then heard the mail slot open and close. He went right to it like he had been told to always do, and sucked the envelopes and things into his inventory. He sorted them and saw a letter with his name on it, which amused him, because it was the very first letter he had ever received and it was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs. That meant whoever put him here knew of his circumstances.

“Boy!” Vernon shouted.

“Just bills, uncle.” Harry said and took out the other mail from his inventory and walked back into the kitchen. “I threw out the adds and sales papers already.”

“Good lad.” Vernon said as he accepted the bills and didn't realize he had actually complimented him. “Ugh, I swear we just paid the utilities, Pet.”

Petunia nodded and gave Harry a pointed look. He knew what she wanted, so he went to the refrigerator and gave her the rest of the strawberries and a container of whipped cream without taking any for himself. She looked happy about that and ate the last of them as Vernon looked through the bills before he went back to the paper.

Dudley excused himself and left the house and Harry made a motion to the back door. Petunia nodded and waved him away, which gave him permission to leave early to get to tending to the garden and the prized rose bushes. The hedges were like solid walls and blocked sound like they were real walls, which pleased Petunia and Vernon immensely.

Harry did his chores easily and spent the rest of the time just relaxing outside. Despite the heat, he wasn't uncomfortable. He suspected it had to do with Gamer Body and he had tried to level it as much as possible. He wasn't sure what was needed besides what he had already done, however. He hadn't gained a level in it in almost six months.

He didn't bother trying to read the letter, because he wasn't an idiot. His Intelligence and Wisdom stats were extremely high, thanks to his excessive time spent in the library and consuming every single bit of information that he could. It didn't matter what it was, he read it and tried to add it to his impressive mental library.

That had been a wonderful thing to unlock at Gamer Mind level 50. It took some research to discover it was called a photographic memory, where he would always remember anything he had read or seen. Needless to say, he had spent an inordinate amount of time once more consuming the school's library contents and other books that he had found over the years, and then he did the same with the community library's contents. He had remembered a lot of it already and rereading things cemented them into his new memory permanently.

Harry went to bed that night in his cramped cupboard and never complained about it, because doing so would only cause trouble for himself. He was so far beyond caring about his relatives that he never tried to change them or asked them to treat him differently, because there was no point in wanting to experience disappointment like that.

He took out the letter from inventory and stared at the writing. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He read in his head. Is that what I am? A wizard? He asked himself and knew that if he tried to snap the wax seal, it would be quite loud in the quiet house. He stored the papers inside of it instead and the blue box description of envelope in his hands said it was empty.

Harry took out the two pieces of paper and the description said they were parchment and not paper. He held in his chuckle at the distinction and the paper style being from around the eighteen hundreds. He read the letter and it was confusing to him for about ten seconds. He reasoned out that they assumed he knew about whatever the letter was about and it didn't include any of the information he needed, like how to use an owl to send a response back.

For now, he stored the letter, the list of ridiculous items, and the empty envelope. If he was lucky, they would send another letter that asked why he hadn't responded as soon as possible or by the required date that just happened to be his birthday next month.

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