Falling Through: Hogwarts

The fluffiness of the mattress was a blissful thing to wake up too. Waking up fully rested instead of exhausted or in pain like the other mornings was relaxing. Since I had nothing to do outside today I stayed in my pajamas. Breakfast was a simple stack of apple cinnamon pancakes and I ate it on the couch. Pancakes were filling and I'd need the energy for the task I was about to embark on. Not to mention sugar was supposed to help your brain think. Savoring the last forkful I leaned back on the couch. Adjusting my muscles to relax I closed my eyes. It was time to finish what I had started. I closed my eyes and fell into myself.

Entering my mind I saw things were a little jumbled. Since I stopped construction halfway yesterday it made sense. Bits and Bobs of thoughts feelings and memories floated about the place. I had failed to properly moor some of the more flighty ideas. The kind that breeze in and out of your mind. They may only occupy your attention for a second but boy are they colorful. I needed to start with a way to reign them properly in.

Imagining a towering castle gate as my entrance I started. It was made of a mixture of iron and wood intertwined together. They formed beautiful ever-changing landscapes. No gaps could be seen where the two met. Fluidity of the pictures masked it as a gate. From the outside, it would look like a mesmerizing morphing mural. I set it only to open when pushed with an incredible amount of force in the right direction and sequence. Surrounding the rest of the grounds I placed tall stone walls that couldn't be climbed. They were made of smooth obsidian. No footholds could be found. Trenches were dug outside and filled with flowing water to create a moat.

Entrance to the rest was possible only through the sole gate. A bridge would need to be crafted to reach it if you weren't invited in. With the outer defenses done I moved to inside the wall. Surrounded the inside of the wall was a small tulip garden. A joyful memory to remind me that inside was safe. Each daydream had become a flower from my memories of the festival.

The main structure was styled after a simple inner maze where you had to pass through one room before entering another. Each room had branched to choose to progress in. The complicated set of directions to get into the inner rooms might deter most people but I'd still need simple mind protections for now. Every key needs a lock. I needed ones that I and no one else would be able to sort through. Designing each of the rooms in my mind I choose different animes to set the traps. Since some of them didn't exist yet or wouldn't in this world the logic would be hard to follow. They ranged from logic puzzles to an all-out battle royale. There were even random cooking challenges. Anyone who found their way in might be frustrated to death. Simplicity could kill you if you didn't understand it. I placed the computer room at the back of the house where the only entrance was a trap door. From the trapdoor a hallway that branched off into a series of small crawl spaces. They only connected to one other room which was a dead end. I placed the main headquarters in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the house with no other entrances to prevent anyone from ever taking control of the traps.

All of this might have been seen as overkill. But it was my mind and memories and I needed to protect them. I knew I would run into people with the power to look inside. Some of those people may prove to be harmless but others might not. I would be damned if they could screw around in there. Each detail of those traps and rooms was crafted carefully and secured. This was just a slowing tactic for before I could have proper shields but it helped me root my mind properly.

Connecting the monitors to all the traps I set up a pin password to access the mainframe. In case someone brute-forced their way in. Putting on the finishing touches was fun. Motion sensors to keep track of any invaders and furnishings for my use. Filling the house with beds, couches, and food in the kitchen. Unnecessary they maybe, but it made the place feel more real. The more realistic and detailed this place was the better anchored it would be. Besides I could turn any of these into safes.

Laying down on a plush sofa in the HQ I relaxed. Everything was settling into place. Testing for any cracks in the finished product, I cemented my work. Superficial work was done, now for the hard part. Reaching further into myself, I started on the last and possibly the most dangerous step of all. Connecting my magic to this place. I pulled out a single strand to connect from my pool of magic to here. Once it was secure I could start with the heavy lifting. Slowly and carefully I tried to widen the connection. With this, my magic would have an instinctual reaction to any connection. I had to be very careful with my container. Adding too much magic into the network of my mind might drive me insane. This whole process could result in cracks or destruction if I lacked willpower. This was the reason against underage wizardry. One little screwup and poof goes your kid. The only reason I was doing this now so I could grow and become proficient before someone came along and rifled through my brain.

Delicately I spun more strands of magic. Branching them out to encompass my whole creation. I rooted them into the mainframe so that it would distribute the magic. Magic was slowly entering into everything. Waiting a few seconds I held my breath for fear. This could go wrong in so many different ways. When nothing explosive happened, I called it a success. Exiting my mind I sat on the couch decompressing from stress. One of the many things on my to-do list was complete. Sighing I decided it was time for me to take a nap. Hard work could be done another day.