The Protagonist System

I only spent about week or two in each world past the first few, no matter how good or bad it was, since I knew I could always go back and enjoy myself there. I also didn't want to set myself up somewhere that I knew I wasn't going to stay for the long term, since that was both a waste of time and resources.

Plus, I had somewhere to be and stepped all the way back to the original world I had first wanted to go to and had only gone on a very long side trip to occupy myself until this time. I still had a few weeks left to set myself up as I needed to and I used a realtor to buy a house on the next street to Privet Drive and filled it with fun things to do that any teenager would enjoy.

Water slides, bouncy houses, trampolines, a roller coaster, slides, game stalls like a carnival where you could win small stuffed animals, and everything else. It was intended to be a fun place and I even added a bunch of free vending machines with different snack foods and drinks available in each. There was going to be nothing that anyone could want and they wouldn't have it, which was perfect.

By the time I was done making everything perfect, the day I was waiting for finally arrived. I changed myself back to look like my chosen age, instead of the adult that Atlas was, and put on jeans and a nice shirt before I made my way over to the hidden castle that everyone else saw was a normal house, even with all of the magical animals in the backyard.

Since I didn't intend to cause any harm to anyone inside, especially my chosen target, I passed through the blood wards and other heavy protections like they didn't exist. I also felt how welcoming it was and realized I really missed it. I stayed back and out of sight until I felt the floo activate and the other me went off to 12 Grimmauld Place to walk to King's Cross Station.

I remembered what had just happened to cause me to flee from Vernon's anger and chuckled as I saw my target come outside, her face red and giggling like she had just gotten away with something. She had, because she had just kissed the other me and shocked the hell out of me. In my eyes at the time, it had come out of nowhere and wasn't something I could deal with then.

Now, however? I knew exactly what to do. I stepped out of my hiding place and Amy's fast walking slowed down and she looked a little nervous. Instead of saying anything, I put a finger up to my lips to make a hush sound and changed my forehead to show the telltale scar Harry Potter had when in costume. I even equipped the t-shirt that said if I was Harry Potter, I'd be the best Harry Potter.

Amy gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, then she squealed with delight and ran over to me. She leapt at me to tackle me, like she did when she ambushed me, so I stepped slightly to the side and caught her as I swung her around like a helicopter blade and she laughed and laughed.

I slowed down and stood her on her feet and she looked at my face that was at a similar height to her, instead of my other self's current 5 foot 6 inches of height, and she grinned at me.

“Hi, Amaryllis.” I greeted her and changed my t-shirt back to a normal shirt and let the scar fade.

“It really is you.” Amy said with wonder in her voice.

“I did just promise to never leave you.” I reminded her and she nodded. “We only have a few hours before you have to be back for lunch...”

“LET'S GO!” Amy yelled and grabbed my hand and ran off back the way I came.

“You don't even know where we're going!” I said with a laugh as I stumbled along after her.

“It doesn't matter!” Amy shouted happily and laughed and laughed.

I laughed, too. The innocent joy she felt was something I hadn't experienced in a very long time and I let her sweep me along and guided her with a few touches of telepathy to where I currently lived. Again, it looked normal from the outside, just like the castle did. I had put up extensive but subtle wards that wouldn't disrupt any nearby magic or be noticed by anyone else, just in case.

Amy didn't even pause as she reached the door and it opened at her touch. She gave me a knowing look and dragged me inside, then she gasped at the theme park in front of her.

“I did a lot of work over the last few weeks to make this the best place for us to hang out when we're not in school.” I told her and she gasped again and whipped her head around to stare at me. “I do look younger for a reason.”

Amy looked up and down me and noticed my shorter height.

“I registered at Surrey Elementary as a transfer student and will be starting there in a few days.” I told her.

“Are you in my class?!?” Amy asked, excitedly.

I smirked at her. “Maaaaaybe.”

Amy squealed in delight again and hugged me, then she ran off towards the stairs and went up them. “The first one down the slide WINS!”

“Hey! No fair!” I complained as I pretended to race after her.

Amy laughed as she reached the right spot and dove head first down it. I shook my head at her enthusiasm and slid down it in a sitting position. I came out of the slide and dropped down into the huge ball pit full of cushioning charms.

“I WIN! Hahahaha!” Amy laughed and rolled over in the pit and sunk down.

I laughed and stopped moving to sink down as well. She wanted to play submarine again and I was more than happy to do so. Even though I made sure that she always won, it was still a blast to play.

*

Being disguised as I was, neither Vernon nor Petunia suspected who I actually was. Amy really got a kick out of it every time she had me over to visit, too. Apparently, my protection stopped anyone I didn't tell from figuring it out, even the house elves treated me like a guest and not the person who bought them and the castle.

School was a little boring, since we weren't allowed to be rambunctious all the time. But, I sat beside Amy and I made sure that she was always entertained and learned much more than the lessons were teaching her. I didn't really have to enhance her or anything, although I did. She was smarter, more resilient, had more energy, and I made sure to suppress her growing magical abilities.

I had a much better plan than letting her attend Hogwarts, since I had magical knowledge from several worlds and she wouldn't be so restricted to always need a wand to perform her spells. It also explained why she never received a letter to attend, despite Petunia being a witch when Amy was born.

Recess and lunch were good times, since Amy was the little sister of the two most popular kids that had attended the school. She had lots of friends that asked about Dudley and Harry all the time, which she always answered with where they were and that they were just as popular at their new schools, Dudley at Stonewall High and Harry at a private boarding school.

After school, Amy went home and spent time there with her family and the house elves. She would eventually go outside when she realized how empty the place was without Dudley and Harry there, so she would come over to my place and have the fun she should have had with her brother and cousin.

This also explained why Amy never complained about them being gone for most of the year, too. She had been distracted and kept occupied by me and she was always happy. If that wasn't the best reason to come back to this world, then there would never be a reason to come back.

Although, I had made a huge mistake when I did eventually leave this world and I would fix that right after the other me left. That was the huge purchase I had made before coming here, actually. I would keep it in my inventory until it was time and then I would reveal it and pass it on to my descendant, probably in the same way Albus Dumbledore did it with Harry in canon.

Time moved on and it seemed like Christmas came too quickly. I had to make myself scarce, since Harry was visiting for Christmas and I didn't want to meet myself. It was better to stay out of the way and not take any chances, which Amy appreciated. She didn't want her time with me to come to an end before it had to, which according to her, never would.

The other me even managed to visit Amy on New Year's Eve and gave her a kiss, starting the next year off on a very high note for her. She had been worried needlessly about Harry forgetting about her after he went to school, since I had been quite busy back then with all the girls I had been courting at the time.

However, Amy knew that Harry was betrothed to Astoria Greengrass and there was no chance for her to either stop that or be included, not if she didn't attend the same school and managed to slip herself into that whole dynamic. She accepted it without protest, since she also had me all to herself.

School went back into session after the new year and time seemed to pass before I knew it. On the plus side, it had been filled with fun and enjoyment and lots of extra learning, so it hadn't been a waste. Again, I had to make myself scarce for the summer, since Harry was coming back and had other things he did during the summer months. I also didn't begrudge Amy's need to spend time with her brother and Harry when she could. She loved them with all her heart and I would never make her choose between them or me. I was there to help and support her, not cause a rift between her and her family.

I also got to see the storm of owls that summer after it was revealed that Harry Potter could get any woman pregnant, guaranteed. Let me tell you, it was a sight to see the constant flow of owls going into and out of the castle as they delivered the deluge of letters Harry received and sent out.

That also reminded me I should probably register at the Ministry of Magic as homeschooled and could apply to take the OWLs and NEWTs at the next scheduled session. I just had to decide if I wanted them under my name or not, then shrugged. It honestly didn't matter what name I used, since I could produce documentation on anything I chose.

So, Harold Peverell sat inside the Ministry testing offices and took his OWLs, passed them with modest scores to not gain attention, then did the same a week later when he sat for his NEWTs. He didn't take a ton of them at once, either. It was just enough to qualify as a fully trained wizard in the wizarding world... and then he scheduled make-up exams for all of the other courses they offered accreditation in.

By doing it this way, he gained all of the OWLs and NEWTs available, even the most obscure ones, and they didn't count as part of his official record and were added individually. When he ended up with 20 OWLs and 15 NEWTs, since five of the subjects didn't have NEWT levels to test on, Harry Peverell was considered the most educated wizard in the world.

The funny part was that no one but him knew about it. Not even the testing authority bothered to check the previous records he had when he wrote a make-up exam, since it was seen as a previous failure and he had only passed during a second chance at taking it. That kind of effort was automatically dismissed and had less value in their eyes.

When Harry Potter went back to school in September, I went back to school with Amy. She looked less happy than she had at the start of the summer and I soon found out that Harry was a little too busy handling the mess of the wizarding world to spend much time with her and Dudley.

I gave her a hug and told her that I was sorry I was such an idiot to ignore her needs like I had, which was why I had come back to spend all this time with her. It made Amy smile and her mood improved. We were in the same class again and she was really happy about that, and the rest of the day passed with her having a smile on her face the entire time.

Just like the other Harry at Hogwarts, the time seemed to pass by quickly as the daily slog made the days run together. The year came to an end and Amy went home and spent less and less time with Harry Potter, since he was getting older and spent more time away from home during the summers to visit with his growing group of girlfriends and with Andromeda and their daughter, Ermelinda Cassiopeia Tonks.

Unfortunately, Amy felt depressed about that, because Petunia had given her another talk about her unrequited love for Harry and that she would never be included in his group of girlfriends. By the time the summer was over and being neglected by my other self, Amy had pretty much given up on that version of Harry and fully latched onto me.

She knew I was not that Harry, even if I had been at one point, and she confronted me about that and asked exactly how long I had waited before coming back to make things up to her. Instead of lying about it or deflecting by answering with something else, I brought her over to the beanbag couch in the living room and plopped down onto it with her, then I told her everything.

It took quite a lot of time to go from the very beginning to reach the point I had become Harry Potter, then moving on and going to so many other worlds and being so many other people to gain enough powers and abilities to come all the way back here to where she was and where I had made such a huge mistake in ignoring her and I needed to fix it.

Amy had felt many emotions as she listened to me and her face had made many different expressions before she settled on adoration. What I had done to waste time before coming here to her, fixing over a hundred worlds and solving their problems, made her realize I would literally do anything to make her happy. She also cottoned onto something I hadn't realized myself.

“I wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for you.” Amy whispered and pulled me into a hug and kissed me. She felt grateful and also kind of lonely, because in all those worlds I had travelled to and handled the evils they had, not once had I mentioned that she existed in any of them. “Thank you, Harry.”

“You're welcome, Amy.” I said and she didn't let me go.

“So.” Amy said and her face flushed red. “What do we do now?”

I knew what she was implying and I also knew we were a little too young to go that far. This time I would distract her by avoiding it and offering her something else. “First thing's first, I'm going to add you to my party and start sharing a few things with you.”

Amy's eyes widened as she received a popup and had full access to the party screen. She spent quite a bit of time browsing through the options and chose several things for herself. I could see what she wanted and approved of it, then she hit accept and she gasped as her mind and body were flooded with information and upgrades.

Surprisingly, my Touch of Divinity that I had won from Eris back in Konosuba, also touched Amy and she gained a minuscule part of it. She also gained minor versions of my granted Blessings, which was a shock, because I had thought they were locked to me and I had never been able to share them before.

“We are going to have so much fun.” Amy said with awe, then she gave me a smile so full of promised mischief that I had to laugh.

“We do have to give token appearances at school and at your home, so they won't worry about you.” I warned her.

Amy waved that off. “Just cast a modified notice-me-not memory charm and no one will ask or care where we went.”

“You know what? Why not?” I asked and stood up, then held a hand out to grab hers and pulled her up to her feet. “I'll handle it right now and we can head off and do whatever you want.”

“Give me a copy of an Adventurer Card and register it to me, then we'll go raid the Bermuda Triangle and then we can go look for the lost city of Atlantis.” Amy said and held her free hand out to me.

I laughed and produced my own Adventurer Card and copied it, then blanked it and gave the copy to her. She put a drop of blood on it and put some magic into it, chose her class and the card formed with her information on it.

“Adventurer? Really?” I asked.

“They can learn every skill and aren't limited to a single class.” Amy said and made it disappear into her much smaller inventory. “Now get with the transporting thingy and let's go!”

I laughed and stepped with her to Petunia and cast the subtle magic on her to do as Amy wished, then did the same with Dudley, Vernon, and the people that worked at the school. A brief visit to her friends also handled everything and we were all set.

I stepped with her back to the castle and Amy asked the house elves to make her some adventuring clothes, which they presented already made. They had them ready for years and just waited for her to tell them to hand them over. She hugged each of them and then thanked Nanny for always taking care of her. Nanny blushed and shooed her away and said to have fun.

I stepped us from there to Florida and Amy didn't feel any discomfort from the change between the weather in England and the weather on the shore in Florida. I took a sporty-looking boat out of inventory and she squealed happily and hopped in, then familiarized herself with the easy controls.

“You do know that the Bermuda Triangle and the lost city of Atlantis are sometimes the same thing, right?” I asked and stepped into the boat with her.

“That's the fun part! We won't know until we check!” Amy said and then grinned at me. “Hold on! Here we GO!”

I grabbed the nearby seat as she gunned the engine. The boat took off and she laughed and laughed as the sea spray hit her face. She had a look of utter joy on her face as we dove off into the open sea and I knew I had made the right decision to come back for her and tell her everything.