Back in the castle, Harry found himself pacing the corridors, his thoughts consumed by the challenges ahead. He needed a way to travel that wasn’t bound by distance or hindered by magical defenses and he also needed a way to perceive magic more clearly—spells, curses, runes, wards. His "Now I See You" ability, allowed him to perceive magic, but it was faint, almost imperceptible. It wasn’t enough. Not for what he needed to do.

  The next month became a blur of research. Harry spent every spare moment in the library, pouring over books on spells and curses and also wards. As he had gathered from previous experimentation, without a clear concept, the effects of his manifested abilities varied randomly.

  For the ability that would allow him to perceive magic, He pictured a way to see magic in all its forms, not as faint whispers but as vivid, tangible threads. To use the ability “Knot of Undoing” on curses and spells, he needed to perceive them first.

  Manifesting the ability to perceive curses and spells didn’t take long. His prior experience with two perception-based abilities made the process feel almost instinctive. Within the first week of his research, he succeeded in unlocking the desired power: Spellweaver’s Gaze. This ability allowed Harry to see the intricate structure of any magical construct—be it a spell, a curse, or a rune—laying bare the hidden threads of magic that wove them together.

  Despite his relentless efforts, the teleportation ability he truly needed—the one that would grant him unrestricted movement, bypassing all magical defenses—remained frustratingly out of reach. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t manifest the precise ability he envisioned. Instead, what emerged were three distinct but imperfect forms of teleportation.

  The first resembled phoenix travel, engulfing him in a dramatic burst of flames as he vanished and reappeared elsewhere. Testing it within the Room of Requirement, he watched as the fire flared around him, leaving only scorched air in his wake before he materialized across the room. It was powerful, effortlessly bypassing most wards, but it was anything but subtle. The fiery spectacle would draw attention wherever he went—something he could not afford.

  The second was akin to a standard wizard Apparition. To test it discreetly, he sent a clone to Hogsmeade, ensuring no one noticed his experiments. The process was jarring—loud, uncomfortable, and disorienting. Worse, it was completely ineffective within Hogwarts’ boundaries, rendering it useless for his needs. Frustrated, he discarded it as a dead end.

  The third showed promise but had its own frustrating limitations. It allowed him to mark a location and teleport there silently, slipping past wards with ease. In theory, it was an improved version of a Portkey, but without requiring a physical object. He tested it by marking a spot deep in the Forbidden Forest and teleporting there from the castle. The transition was seamless, nearly imperceptible. Yet, the flaw was obvious—he had to mark locations in advance. He couldn't preemptively mark every place he might need to go, especially those shrouded in secrecy where Horcruxes might be hidden.

  Each ability held potential, but none granted him the absolute freedom he sought.

  Frustration gnawed at him as he paced the Room of Requirement, his mind racing for a solution. He sifted through every ability he had, every scrap of knowledge he’d gathered—anything remotely connected to teleportation. Then, it hit him—his "Messenger of the Gap" ability. The creatures he summoned traveled through something called "the Gap", a mysterious, boundless space that defied conventional understanding.

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  Turning to the "Magic Mirror" for answers, he inquired about the nature of the Gap. The response was cryptic yet intriguing: "The Gap is the state between the real and the unreal. It is the realm of imagination." Encouraged, he pressed further, asking how he could manifest an ability that would let him traverse it himself. But this time, the mirror remained silent. Just as it had when he sought the origin of his powers, it refused to answer questions related to his manifestations.

  With no clear guidance, Harry resolved to brute-force his way forward.

  He activated every perception-based ability at his disposal, then summoned a simple, generic owl through "Messenger of the Gap". The owl materialized as expected, yet his heightened senses detected nothing unusual. Dismissing and resummoning it, he repeated the process over and over, determined to grasp even the faintest trace of the Gap’s presence.

  Surprisingly, the straightforward approach worked. Gradually, glimpses of the Gap seeped into his awareness. It was chaos—shifting, boundless, impossible to define. Yet, as he focused on how the owl emerged, how it navigated this incomprehensible space to deliver messages, something within him clicked.

  And then, a new ability manifested.

  "Denizens of the Gap: You shall become a denizen of the Gap, where thoughts and imagination are reality."

  The change was instantaneous.

  The world around him fractured, splintering into countless fragments like the surface of a diamond. Harry gasped as his perception shifted, the familiar confines of the Room of Requirement dissolving into a kaleidoscope of angles and dimensions he had never imagined. He could see the room from every possible perspective—above, below, sideways, and angles that defied description. It was overwhelming, yet exhilarating.

  He reached out with his mind, and the world responded. Distance became meaningless. With a single thought, he was no longer in the Room of Requirement. He stood—or rather, existed—in the streets of London, the bustling city alive with movement and sound. But to Harry, it was as if he were watching a scene through a thousand panes of glass, each one offering a different view. He could see the people walking by, their faces and movements clear, but they couldn’t see him. He was there, yet he wasn’t. He was a shadow, a ghost, a denizen of the Gap.

  Curiosity drove him further. He thought of the Ministry of Magic, and in an instant, he was there. The grand atrium stretched before him, its towering pillars and gleaming floors familiar yet alien from this new perspective. He moved through the space effortlessly, his presence undetected by the witches and wizards who passed by. He could observe them from every angle, their conversations and actions laid bare before him. It was as if he had become a part of the fabric of reality itself, yet separate from it.

  Harry marveled at the power he now wielded. The ability to traverse great distances with a thought, to observe without being observed, to exist in a realm where imagination and thought shaped reality—it was beyond anything he had ever imagined. The frustration he had felt earlier melted away, replaced by a sense of awe and possibility.

  But even as he explored this new ability, a part of him remained focused on the task at hand. The Horcruxes were still out there, hidden and protected, and now he had the means to find them. He could bypass any ward, any barrier, and move unseen through the world. The thought filled him with determination.

  Harry returned to Hogwarts, the fragmented world of the Gap folding around him as he stepped back into the Room of Requirement. The diamond-like shards of reality settled into place, and he was once again standing in the familiar space. But he was changed. The world was no longer the same to him. He had glimpsed the infinite, and it had reshaped him.

  As he sat down, his mind already racing with plans, he had the tools he needed. The Horcruxes were no longer out of reach. And with this new ability, he was ready.