Learning Magic

"Freak! Clean the attic. I want it spotless by the time Vernon and I are back from the market. If you go anywhere else, you'll be in your cupboard for a month!"

"Yes Aunt Petunia," replied the boy who looked no more than 4.

The boy sighed as he walked up the stairs on his way to the attic. Today was his 6th birthday and he was going to spend it cleaning the attic whilst his cousin Dudley was at the market with his parents. He was lucky he knew it was his birthday at all- he had been asked to bring a copy of his birth certificate to school halfway through last year (his first) and he had snuck a look at it. His aunt would be furious if she found out that he knew.

The boy slowly climbed the ladder up to the attic thinking about how unfair his life was and wishing something would happen, anyone would come to show him that he didn't belong here. He knew he didn't, the Dursleys made sure that he knew he wasn't welcome in their house.

The small boy shut the trap door behind him and stood up. He pulled the cord to turn the light on and groaned at the sight of all the dust. The place was horrible. There were boxes of things stacked everywhere and dust coated everything, making the place look black. Even the light bulb was struggling to brighten the attic as it too, was covered in layers of thick dust. He groaned again and set to work. The duster was almost useless within three strokes and the cleaning materials didn't last too long either.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been in the attic, but he was sure it was more than a few hours from what his stomach was telling him when he spotted a trunk in the back corner of the attic. It was different from everything else in the room as it was clean- it looked as though it had only just been placed in the room, but that wasn't possible as it was in a position that was difficult to reach. The boy knew he had to investigate the trunk but he was worried. What if Aunt Petunia realised he had stopped working? But his curiosity was too strong. He made his way over to the trunk slowly, moving many cartes and boxes out of the way as he did so. Finally he made it and he stared at the trunk. It was beautiful. The trunk was a dark wooden one, with edging and clasps that looked suspiciously like gold- but his aunt and uncle couldn't afford that! It was about the size of his cot, but the sink would be a better size comparison. He ran his fingers gently over it, marvelling at the feel of the smooth, cool wood under his fingers when he froze- it had his name on it! Harry James Potter had been engraved on the edge. His heart sped up. This trunk was his? He knew it could be a trick, but he had to try it! Slowly he unlocked it and lifted the lid. The trunk was full! Harry couldn't believe it! But the thing that caught his attention was the letter on top with his name on it again. It wasn't paper, he was sure of that! The ink too was incredible. He knew that no one could write in that way with a normal pen. It looked like something on display in the museum he had been to with his class, but it wasn't that old and it was definitely addressed to him. He slowly undid the seal and opened the letter. He gasped.

To my son, Harry-

I am glad you have found this, as there is something we (your father and I) need you to know and we are sure Petunia won't tell you. Harry, there's no easy way of telling you- magic is real. Your father, James, and I were both magical (witches and wizards) and you, too, are a wizard. This isn't a bad thing, honey. When you are 11 a letter will come to you and invite you to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (we know it's a silly name!) There you will be taught magic and make lots of friends.

Harry smiled as the letter went on to describe Hogwarts. He was sure it was a joke, but the description sounded nice- surely he was allowed to imagine it was real!

…once you get your wand from Diagon Alley, you won't be allowed to use magic outside of school because the Trace will alert the Ministry and it's illegal for underage witches and wizards to use wands outside of their school. Harry, there is a serious point to this letter, as well. When you were little, a seer made a prophecy- The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… Harry, my son, It is hard for me to tell you this, but the prophecy means you. You see, I am a seer as well. I have seen what is about to happen in a month. The Dark Lord the prophecy refers to is called Lord Voldemort (he's not a Lord, though, really- he just wants to be powerful!) will find us when we are in hiding. I know this has to happen; there is no getting around it so I haven't told James. He is going to kill your father and me but you will survive. The curse meant to kill you rebounds and he will be ripped from his body- but not truly yet. The rebounding curse leaves a scar on your forehead- it looks like a lightning bolt, doesn't it? Dumbledore is going to ignore our will and you will be sent to live with the Dursleys to remain ignorant of the magical world until you are invited to attend Hogwarts. The worst part is the old man has put blocks on your magic to make it harder for you. I don't know what he's playing at! Harry, this is why I have left this trunk for you. It is invisible to everyone that is not a Potter and you can shrink it to fit in your pocket when you close the lid by holding the clasp and saying 'shrink.' It has some books for you to study before you go to Hogwarts, and both your father's and my wands will appear in there once we die. Please, son, learn as much as you can and practice your magic whenever possible (not around the Dursleys) because one day you will face Voldemort in battle, and only you have the power to win. I know you can, Harry, because you are special. Study hard at school but don't be afraid to have fun. (Your father was the biggest prankster at school! He was part of a group that called themselves the marauders- James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, the traitor. Sirius Black was put in the wizarding prison for betraying us, but he was framed by Peter Pettigrew, the real traitor.) When you get to school, if you summon the Marauders Map it will help you find your way around. It's an impressive map, but you can't show anyone. To view the map, tap it and say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and you will see the map and its… special features. When you wipe it blank, you tap it and say 'mischief managed.' Blame your father for the passwords. Harry, keep the prophecy at the back of your mind, but don't let it take over you. You will have the power to defeat him, and killing that particular… creature… is not murder, it is doing the world an enormous favour. I would prefer it if you didn't murder every Dark person you come across, but that man, or in the heat of battle, you cannot blame yourself, okay? Son, I know you can so this and I don't want to see you in the afterlife until you have lived a respectable amount of time, so be careful. I know that if you are anything like your father trouble will find you wherever you are but you will get ridiculously lucky and escape thousands of times. Have fun, Harry, enjoy life and kick Voldemort's backside as payback from the two of us!

Your Mother,

Lily Potter

Harry smiled. The letter had said his parents loved him, and even better, they weren't drunks! They died bravely, not in a car crash like he had been told. Harry was upset that his parents were gone, but he had accepted it long ago and wasn't going to be upset by a letter they had written. They had accepted their fate, so he could to.

Harry was glad that his mum had reassured him that killing that Voldemort wasn't murder. Harry was angry at all the things that man had done and he wanted to be ready to fight him as soon as he could. He shrunk the trunk the way his mother had explained to him and put it in his pocket before going back to cleaning the attic.

A few hours later, Harry heard his uncle's car pull into the driveway and heaved a sigh of relief. He had finished the attic half an hour ago but knew that he wasn't allowed to leave it until they got home. Soon enough, his aunt banged on the trapdoor and told him to come out so that she could inspect it. Harry quickly opened the door and climbed down the ladder allowing his aunt to do the inspection. Once she had looked around, she called it acceptable and he was relieved. He was going to be allowed dinner tonight.

Harry was impatient the whole night. He wanted to inspect the trunk! He cooked dinner as quickly as he could without making a mess and ate his share quickly. He cleared the table, cleaned the dishes, wiped down the bench and mopped the floor in a daze, the letter his mum had written him going around in his head. He knew it sounded ridiculous. Magic! But he couldn't help but believe her. Lily Potter knew things that she shouldn't and her explanations were much better than his Aunts. Harry decided that he would have to just wait and try this magic before he decided.

Finally, he was sent to his cupboard for the night and Harry pulled the trunk out of his pocket and enlarged it. He opened it and looked inside. He had moved the letter out of the way but the books were all lined up by subject and labelled. They were in sections by subject and had the original owners on the label as well. Transfiguration 1st year- James Potter, 2nd year- James Potter, 3rd year- Sirius Black, 4th year- Remus Lupin, 5th year- James Potter and so on. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies textbooks were mostly owned by James Potter originally, with a few from Sirius and Remus. They all had notes scribbled in them about both the subject and more trivial things. The 1-7th year History of Magic, Potions, Charms, Astronomy, Divination, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes had all once belonged to his mother and had her notes written in neatly as well. There were also books on Occlumency and Legilimency with a note telling Harry that Dumbledore was a master Legilimens so he would need to study both subjects well before he started Hogwarts. Hogwarts: A History was in the trunk next to Quidditch Through the Ages- his mother had said that if James fond the trunk he wouldn't let it go until that book was included. Harry saw books on wandless magic and after reading the note saying that it couldn't be traced he knew it was going to be high on his priority list. Finally, there were books on how to behave like a pureblood, and other aspects of magical society and Harry was glad about that. He didn't want to alienate himself from the magical world because he didn't know of their customs. Harry then noticed a small area of the trunk not containing books and he looked at it. He smiled gently when he saw his parent's wands and read the note saying that he could use them until he turned 11- when the Trace would kick in and another warning about not using magic near muggles. Harry then saw the thing buried at the bottom and gasped- a huge stack of magical photographs and notes telling him who everyone was. At the bottom of the photos there was a note telling Harry about the second invisible compartment and how to open it. It was empty, though, and Harry shrunk the trunk and put it underneath the cot for the night wondering what he was going to put in the second compartment and thinking about tomorrow, when he would finally begin to learn magic. He was definitely convinced that it was real.

Harry knew he was smart, very smart, but he also knew that he had to hide his brains from the Dursleys as there would be consequences. Harry could remember everything he read, saw, heard, etcetera word for word and understood things very easily. He had spent lunchtimes during his first year of primary school in the library studying the older year's coursework and he was sure he could easily graduate from primary school if he wanted to. He could also read books extremely quickly and so he was unsurprised when it didn't take him long to grasp everything his magical textbooks were trying to explain, either. Harry learnt the Lumos charm within a week and was using it almost nightly to read for longer. He had held both of his parents' wands and they both felt foreign in his hand, but his mother's was slightly friendlier. He wondered if it was because Lily Potter had meant to give him the wand, but he shook that thought away quickly. It was true, but Harry didn't know that. Harry was disappointed that he couldn't brew potions as they sounded interesting, but it was dangerous and there was no room in his cupboard. He shuddered at the thought of Aunt Petunia coming into the cupboard in the middle of a potion.

Harry had been studying magic for a month at night, but he already loved it. Each subject was in his opinion brilliant for different reasons and he was good at every subject, although some stood out more than others for him. Charms and Transfiguration came naturally to him and he understood Potions without much effort. Defence Against the Dark Arts and Occlumency, however, were even better. They were… instinctual. The first time he had read about Occlumency, he couldn't wait to try it and began to build his mindscape. He built his dream castle- it was huge, with lots of large, opulent rooms. (including indoor swimming pools and a Quidditch pitch) His favourite room was the library as it contained a copy of every book he had ever read and was growing rapidly. It also helped him to remember facts, he was sure. In a small, insignificant cupboard, held the greatest treasure of his mind, though. The cupboard under the stairs contained himself- it held his thoughts, emotions, memories and feelings. The only part of the castle that Harry disliked was the attic- it contained an evil-feeling black, tar-like substance. Harry was unable to remove it from his mind no matter what he tried so he had carefully separated it from the rest of his mind and locked it in the attic hoping he would never have to go near it again. Harry placed many muggle traps in the castle designed to capture or explode unwanted visitors. Outside the castle had huge grounds and the edge of the grounds was where visitors would enter. The castle was surrounded by a large forest teeming with dangerous magical and non-magical creatures ready and trained to attack any visitors apart from Harry and muggle traps were placed everywhere outside as well. Harry's favourite defence, though, was little clones of himself armed with wands patrolling the perimeter of the castle. They were all very skilled in offensive magic considering they were all 6 years old. Harry was sure that people would have a hard time entering his mind, but he had no way of finding out until he got to Hogwarts.

Harry studied magic whenever he could and his accidental magic was giving him a lot of time. He was constantly hungry but magic certainly made up for it. 2 months after finding the trunk, Harry came across a passage in one of the books he was reading, and was shocked. It said that the healthier a body was, the healthier the magic. He knew he wasn't healthy! It also said that being fit helped your magic develop and he knew that he needed to do everything he could to encourage his magic to develop as he had extensive blocks trying to do the opposite. Harry then realised that if he was going to have to battle one of the strongest wizards in the world, he wanted to be able to dodge curses. He might only be 6, but he could already tell that the shield charm he was trying to learn definitely wouldn't be able to block everything. He shuddered.

The next morning, Harry began his exercise. The Dursleys gave him chores to do and had always told him to finish them quickly and get out of the house. So he did. When his aunt wasn't looking, he used his wandless magic to speed up the process and ran out the door. He ran around the streets until he was exhausted before going to the park where he did push ups and sit ups. Once he was done he caught his breath and ran to school. He was bored at school for the day, making sure everything he did was at a low standard so that he didn't outperform Dudley- except in Latin. He didn't care what the Dursleys said; he was going to do well in that class as it was important. When school was finished he went for another run, exercised at the park and ran back to the Dursleys, still beating Dudley to the door. He laughed to himself. He had just gone on a large run, pushing his body to the limit, went to the park, came home and still beat his cousin who had come straight away. It really said something about the older boys' weight and fitness. Harry went inside and completed his chores as quickly as he could without making his Aunt suspicious and headed out the door again. He did the same routine but was noticeably slower by the end and he blamed his earlier runs.

That routine went on for a week when he was finally spotted by the owner of the martial arts studio. The man asked Harry what he was doing and Harry told him that he needed to get fit. His dad was a 'soldier' that was killed in war, as was his mother. He now lived with his Aunt and Uncle but he knew that one day he too, would be sent off toy war and he wanted to be fit enough and have the stamina required to stay alive. The man bought his story.

"Why don't you attend classes at my studio? Martial Arts would do you good," said the man musingly.

"Yes, sir, I can't afford it, though. My aunt and uncle want me to learn to be independent so they won't pay for things like this, they say I need to earn the money," said Harry nervously.

"Hmmm… can't afford it. Normally I offer jobs to people who cannot afford lessons, but you might be a little young for that," said the man.

"Sir, I am young in body, but I can handle having a job if it means being allowed lessons here!" said Harry excitedly. This was exactly what he needed.

"How much pocket money do you get, kid?"

"None, sir."

"Hmmm… I can give you a job, I'll pay you $10 an hour but you will also get lessons. You'll be cleaning the studios, collecting mail and doing anything else I ask you to do, unless you aren't capable of doing that. Do you want it?"

"Yes, sir, it sounds brilliant!" said Harry happily.

"Okay, how about you do an hour before school, go home for an hour then come back and spend another 4 at the studio every day, can you do that? We can add an hour of lessons in that time, but call it a job. Can you do that?"

"Sir, it sounds perfect."

"Will your Aunt and Uncle be alright with that?"

"Sir, I am sure they will be fine."

"Okay, kid, come to the studio the morning that you want to start." With that, the man walked away and Harry restarted his run thinking about how well that had turned out. He was going to get lessons in Martial Arts which would be perfect and he was going to be paid a ridiculously good amount of money. $50 a day! The man was crazy! But Harry knew what he was going to do with the money. He had recently discovered a spell called Stasis and had placed it in the second compartment of his trunk. He had been sneaking food and storing it in there, where it stayed fresh but this would mean he could buy food and soon would be eating enough. He could always tell Aunt Petunia he was being paid $10 every day. She would take that amount off him but at least it would mean she would let him out of the cupboard every day so the man didn't suspect her of anything.

That night, when harry was sent to his cupboard, he was so happy that he knew it was time to try out the charm he had been itching to do ever since he had read about it the week before. He gathered up all of the happiness and excitement he felt and picked up the wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" he said quietly but forcefully as he couldn't let the Dursleys hear him. He watched as a bright light galloped out of his wand. Harry was shocked. Adult wizards supposedly had trouble with that charm, and yet he, a 6 year old, was standing in a cramped cupboard with a bright stag. He grinned. He knew that there was no way he should be able to do anything that he did- he'd been training in magic for 2 months! But he was so determined to learn quickly and was older than 6 in his mind thanks to both his treatment at the Dursleys and learning the prophecy.

The next morning, Harry was outside the martial arts studio at 7am, breathing heavily having just gone for his run. The man let him in and told him what was happening. Harry was shocked. The owner was a squib and had learned about Harry and wanted to help him however he could. He could see that Harry needed the money badly and that he was not being treated well by his relatives but wasn't going to interfere unless Harry asked him to. Harry would be working at the studio in the mornings for an hour, doing what Harry had come in expecting to do- clean, collect the mail and so on. When Harry returned in the afternoon, he would join the Karate, Judo, Kung-Fu, Tai-Kwon-Do and other martial arts classes depending on what was on that day for his age group. Those classes went for an hour each day. He would then spend the remaining 3 hours having private lessons with the instructors that were free. Harry was shocked. These people were going to do so much for him! His mother's letter hadn't mentioned that he would be famous, either, which came as a bit of a shock to Harry who wasn't sure he wanted that. Harry had also learnt that on Saturdays they ran gymnastics classes which he would be attending and Sundays were for dance classes. He then learned that he would be attending the dance classes no matter what- dancing was important for all purebloods to learn and would help his martial arts by giving him better footwork and helping him to make the movements flow. His two arguments of not being a pureblood and gymnastics doing the same thing were ignored. Harry was then put to work for the next half an hour before he left to go to school.

It was Friday, so when he came back, Kung Fu was offered for his age group. Harry was given his uniform and a white belt before he joined in on learning the form. To his delight it was fun but hard and the private lessons were even harder- but even more enjoyable as well. He was extremely disappointed when he had to leave. His Aunt had not noticed his absence and Harry was able to sneak his uniform into his cupboard without much notice.

Saturday, Harry did his chores as quickly as possible and was kicked out of the house. He raced to the studio as soon as that happened. Harry was given a gymnastics uniform and once again joined his age classes before beginning the private ones. Harry found that this was slightly easier than Martial Arts and within the hour was allowed to join the Level 1 class instead of the Rec class most people his age went to. The private lessons were much harder but Harry knew he was really going to enjoy his Saturdays from now on. The vault in particular was enjoyed.

Sunday came, and Harry had been dreading it. However, he realised very quickly that it was actually enjoyable. He was the only boy in a classroom full of girls but that didn't bother him. He wore his gymnastics leotard (which did bother him- he thought they were girls wear.) and joined in quickly. He realised very quickly that dance was one of the few things that he wasn't a natural at, but enjoyed it all the same. The next week went quickly and Harry was soon acquainted with his new classes and found them all different but enjoyable. The next Sunday came and Harry was ready to make his first move. He had been carrying his shrunken trunk around in his pocket every day to avoid carrying or wearing his uniforms to his Aunt's house- he knew they would not be accepted. So Harry excused himself from Dance an hour early knowing that his Aunt would not be happy if he came home any later than he had the week before. He ran to the shopping centre and flew around. He picked a huge amount of fruit and vegetables, bread, cheese, butter and spreads. Muesli, snack bars, milk and other packaged foods made it into his trolley. He knew it wasn't all healthy food, but he couldn't cook in his cupboard unless he used magic which was why a small about of meats also went in. He didn't plan on eating it much, but he wanted to know it was there. The deli supplied him with cold meats and olives. Once he had bought the food that he hoped would last him a few months, he went into an empty alleyway and put it all quickly into the second compartment of his trunk hoping that no one had noticed. They hadn't. He then ran back to the Dursleys hoping that he wasn't late.