Chapter 2:

An empty school is a funny place. He'd had to go back to their primary school once over the summer when Dudley had left his favorite toy in his draw. Uncle Vernon had forced open one of the older, smaller windows, and made Harry climb in and get it back.

That was only two years ago, but Hogwarts was quite a bit different. Firstly the size, he could wonder for hours on end and visit places he never even been before. Then there were the paintings, muttering to each other and watching his every last movement. Although uncomfortable, this did make the castle a more lived in feel, and without the paintings Harry was sure he'd get lonely very quickly. Having nothing better to do with their time, most of the inhabitance of the paintings were overjoyed to talk to Harry; recounting tales of their adventures and offering him advice.

From the paintings, and just spending time wondering the empty corridors in the daylight rather than the night as he tended to do in term time, he began to learn more about the castle. He learnt of good hiding places, shortcuts and secret passages. It was only one week into the summer when an eager to please pair of young witches told him about the room of requirement.

He spent the most part of a day, spending time as a normal eleven year old should messing around and having fun. The room never ceased to amaze him. First a dueling arena, a luxury five star hotel suite, then he moved onto outside environments and found the room's ability wasn't limitless, but it did a very good job of simulating what it couldn't complete. Harry's favorite by far was a desert; The heat didn't come from the sunlight, the fruit wasn't edible, and boundaries stretched for about fifty meters in each direction, but for what Harry needed, a place to relax and enjoy life, it was perfect.


"Professor, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yes Harry." McGonagall put down her Quill making sure not to run the ink, and looked up at the young boy.

"Well, you know Voldemort tried to get the stone and kill me?"

"Yes Harry, it's quite a difficult thing to forget."

"Well, won't he try and do the same again, I mean he tried to kill me as a baby, so what's stopping him from trying a third and a forth. The next time he would probably succeed, I mean I've only know magic existed for a year, and he's the most powerful wizard there's ever been."

"Well, he might but we're here to protect you."

"But if he's the most powerful wizard there's ever been, then couldn't he kill you as well."

"I'm sure Dumbledore is more than capable..." McGonagall interjected quickly rather taken aback at his abrupt approach.

"But Dumbledore's the headmaster; he can't look after me all the time. Just like when he was 'called' away to the ministry, and you know what happened then."

"So anyway, I've been thinking, and can you train me so next time when Voldemort attacks me I can defeat him, or at least hold him off till other people arrive. If I train really hard all the time then I can get as good as him. He'll be really complacent being the best, so he won't be training as hard as me, so I can catch him up without having to be really old like him."

"Well I wouldn't put it quite like that." Professor McGonagall replied rather impressed at his reasoning even if it was a bit childish.

"But I'm right aren't I. If I start now I'll have a better chance next time I meet him."

"I suppose I could help you with a little extra curricular study if you're that enthusiastic about learning. I must admit I get a bit frustrated with some of the attitudes of the students at Hogwarts nowadays. This is a school after all."

McGonagall looked over the desk at the excited young boy, twice the savior of the wizarding world. The boy didn't know how right he was. Dumbledore had always hinted there was something extra-special about this boy, and Professor McGonagall had been able to connect Dumbledore's insistence that Voldemort was still alive, with his special attention to Harry. She didn't know what that something was, but giving Harry a head start in his education would certainly help Harry's chances against the dark wizard in the future.

Harry was waiting for her to continue patiently. "Are there any particular areas you want to focus on?"

"Well, I've been doing a bit of research in the library, and I think knowing how to animate large objects would be useful, because you could get them to block spells without having to think about it, and becoming an animagus would be really cool and useful."

The Transfiguration Professor smiled affectionatly. At least he hadn't insulted her subject by demanding her to teach him dueling and 'cool' spells, but he had picked two of the most difficult and flashy things you could do with Transfiguration.

"I'm afraid we only teach sixth and seventh year students how to animate large objects with the ability to understand instructions, and we only cover the theory behind Animagus in your final year at Hogwarts. Maybe we should work on holding together your shape and the internal structure of objects you transform, and then perhaps we can move onto controlling the movements of small transformations with a combination of charms and Transfiguration. I'm sure Professor Flitwick would be keen to help you with this, as it's something you'll start to look at next year."

"But that's just like normal school, and I'll learn all of that soon anyway. I want to learn spells and skills that I can use in a real fight. I promise I'll read up on the theory the rest of the time when I'm not being taught."

She fell silent for a few minutes, mulling it over in her head, before throwing her arms in the air in despair. "You really are impossible to reason with. I'll talk to Professor Flitwick and we'll try some more advanced battle techniques for a week, and if it isn't working we'll go back to the basics. If you want to become a powerful wizard, then you're going to have to work for it."