It was only after three and a half months that Harry returned to Little Whinging. Hogwarts was simply amazing and he just couldn't wait to tell it all to his sensei. Well he did exchange letters with his sensei every week, courtesy of the tawny owl which Harry had used to send his reply to the acceptance letter and his sensei had named Lee due to the two curious marks above its eyes which looked like bushy eyebrows (Harry didn't quite understand what bushy eyebrows like mark had to do with the name). Merely exchanging letters and meeting his sensei face to face just wasn't the one and the same.
One thing that his sensei had constantly reminded him during their letter exchange was to always practice clearing his thoughts and lying absolutely still every five minutes before going to the bed. And also, if he got time, tree climbing or even water walking. He had made so much progress to that front that he was much excited to show it to his sensei.
Due to his keeping up with the exercises, he had a much better handle at his chakra now and thus, his speed right now was twice than ever! With a long jump, he flew down the alley and landed with a cat's gracefulness.
"You've improved," came the words in the voice of the person that Harry had missed the most.
"Sensei," he bowed before the old man who had emerged from nowhere.
"So, how was your school?" Sensei asked… and then Harry talked, and then talked and then talked some more.
Harry said all about how he had made two friends, Ron and Hermoine. Ron was from a wizarding family whereas Hermoine was a muggleborn, that's what they called a magical person who was born from non-magical ones. He told Sensei about how he had been the youngest quidditch seeker of all the century and how much fun it was to fly! He also talked about the subjects like Transfiguration and the professor who taught it, Minerva McGonagall that is, could turn into a cat! And how there were some plants which could kill you if you weren't careful with it and how much potions sucked and that the professor who taught it, Severus Snape, was a greasy git who hated Harry's guts.
Then there was the three headed dog that had almost bitten his head off and ghosts and also how he fought a mountain troll.
"Wait, you mean to say that you fought a club wielder and survived?"
"You know what they are, sensei?" Harry asked.
"Of course I do! I have travelled all over the world, kid and I've seen them all… horned horses, dragons, club wielders and even the three headed monstrosity that you talked about."
Harry wasn't really surprised, his teacher seemed to know almost anything that he talked about.
"Yeah, we did fight it," Harry replied meekly.
"Tell me kid," said his sensei in a voice different from his naturally kind one, "What have I instructed you to do when you encounter an enemy too powerful for you?"
"To run… fast," Harry replied.
"Exactly. You are to run, very very fast which I am sure you could do with your chakra enhanced physique if I remember the speed of a club wiedler. Those beings aren't the deadliest for they are way too slow and dumb but for a beginner like you, to engage them is to court death. So why didn't you run? After all, you avoided the three headed dog, didn't you?"
Harry looked visibly embarrased but his sensei was still waiting for his reply so he just simply had to confess,
"The troll had cornered Hermoine, I had to fight or it would have killed her!" He said in a weak protest.
Sensei simply sighed… he couldn't really scold the kid for saving someone's life.
"Very well, you did a noble thing. Do avoid to do such situations in future, alright?"
Harry nodded.
"Now tell me about this encounter," sensei asked.
"It was the most dangerous thing ever! Ron had been mean to Hermoine earlier and she was quite upset about it. At the feast in the evening, we noticed that she wasn't back and then professor Quirrel, he teaches us Defense Against the Dark Arts, came running into the hall and then shouted that there was a troll in the dungeon and then fainted.
"Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster, instructed us to go to our dormitories and the students began to move but then we realised that Hermoine wasn't amongst us. A couple of girls were talking about how she has been crying at the bathroom. She didn't know about the troll so we had to inform her.
"When we reached the bathroom, we saw the troll moving inside it so we locked the bathroom but then we heard Hermoine screaming inside there! We ran as fast as we could, so I was a lot earlier in the room and Ron was just left behind. He did come within the minute though so there's that. Anyway, when I stepped inside the bathroom, the troll was about to smash Hermoine with its club. I kinda moved automatically and jumped at it and kneed it in the face! I swear sensei, it was the largest amount of chakra that I had ever drawn but it did the work and the troll promptly lost it's consciousness.
"Ron came a while later and was quite relieved to find the troll lying on the ground. Professors came inside the room a while later and were surprised too. Professor McGonagall asked me just how did I beat a mountain troll. I said that I simply kneed it on its face but I think she didn't quite believe me. She gave Ron and I twenty points for thinking about my friends in time of distress but also took fifty points off for running off on our own. Our housemates weren't too happy about that."
"You handled that quite… expertly. Apparently, my fear of the club weilder being too strong for you was unfounded. How much chakra did you use really?" asked Sensei incredulously.
A club weilder was insane strong. How could the kid even beat that creature with a simple kick? Well, not exactly a simple kick but even for a chakra enhanced physique it should have taken at least another year worth of training before the kid's story made sense.
"More than I have ever, sensei! It felt incredible, as if I were crazy strong!" Harry said while bouncing on his spot.
"Very well, you are safe and sound and that is what matters. Now then, let's get to training, shall we?" asked sensei.
Harry beamed positively, "Are we finally going to start jutsus sensei? Will you teach me the Rasengan? Or the Shunshin!? Is it true that you can truly appear and disappear at will with Shunshin?" Harry asked.
"No kid. Shunshin is just a super fast movement and that's it and no, I am not teaching you the Rasengan. Oh don't give me that look, I will be teaching you a jutsu after all, just not the Rasengan."
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Is it the Fireball jutsu that you talked about or the great earth wall! Or wind blade!"
"Whoa kid, hold your horses, you are too small for elemental jutsus. No, we will be starting with something small but waaay too important."
Sensei then did a hand seal and then promptly changed into a carbon copy of… Harry Potter!
"The copycat jutsu!" Harry replied in awe!
"Yes," spoke the sensei-harry, "This justu is one of the most elementary one but many people underestimate just how important it really is. You have got, what two weeks?"
Harry nodded.
"I think that it would be enough time to teach you this technique. Have you memorized the seal diagrams that I gave you?" Sensei asked.
Harry nodded his head again.
"Good! So the hand-seals for this jutsu is, Dog-Boar-Ram. You think about the image of the person that you wish to change to. Remember that thought clearing exercise I taught you? That technique helps in visualization."
With his sensei's instruction, Harry did the hand seals Dog-Boar-Ram and channel his chakra as the seals dictated all the while thinking about Ron. With a loud puff, he changed into a red-headed weasley that we all love to hate.
"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed out loud. That was a weird feeling that he went through. It appeared as if somebody forced a new cloth on top of his old one.
His sensei procured a mirror from nowhere (seriously, how does he do that?). Harry looked at the mirror and jumped in surprise. Standing there, in all his glory was Ronald Weasley; Chudley Cannons' fan extraordinaire!
"Sensei! This is amazing!" Harry said in Ron's voice.
"Yes… Yes, it does," Sensei said with speculative tone.
"Does that mean I mastered the jutsu? Can we move to the fireballs now?" Harry asked with a little cheek.
His sensei smiled at him (which surely couldn't mean anything good?), "No my disciple. What this means is that you will walk all around the Little Whinging in your friend's Ron body and memorize every face that you encounter and then you will come here at evening and then change into those persons."
Harry gulped. It appeared that he was going to get a lot of motivations over his holidays. He pitied his bum.
Over the course of his holiday, Harry did as his sensei had asked. He transformed as Ron and ran all over the neighborhood while doing his hardest to memorize every face that he came across. At evening, he would meet up with his sensei and then go through the faces one by one and transform into them. His sensei would correct his discrepancies ("your hair is too light", "she is left-handed, not right!", "She doesn't wear that clothes"). It begged the question that just how did his sensei even know about all of these people but then Harry reminded himself that it was his sensei that he was talking about and suddenly it didn't seem so impossible at all.
On Christmas, his sensei gave him a scroll, inside which there was a special variation of the transformation technique that one could use to change into inanimate objects. Harry didn't think that it was terribly interesting. After all, what could be more interesting? Changing into people vs changing into stone? Duh! But he would be sure to memorize the contents of the scroll though, lest his sensei decide to quiz him and hand out his motivations afterwards.
Also, he had received a special package on top of his other holiday presents. A cloak, specifically, that apparently belonged to his father and the giver wanted him to use it wisely. Harry promptly put on the cloak and a secure feeling washed over him. As if no one could ever find him under it. He didn't really think much about it until he looked at himself on the mirror. He ended up giving a loud yelp because what he found there was his head, floating!
Fortunately for him, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were busy handing gifts to Dudley and couldn't hear him or they would have got the shock of their lives. Anyawys, after calming down significantly, he realised that it was not his head that was floating, rather, it was the rest of his body that was invisible. Sure enough, once he wore the cloak over his head, he completely disappeared from the mirror! He just simply had to show this to his sensei! With this thought in his mind, he approached the window, looked left and right, and then jumped right out of it and then ran towards the alley where his sensei would be.
When he stepped inside the alley, still wearing the cloak on his body, he was startled by a presence behind him.
"Curious," said his sensei.
Harry took his clothes off and became visible again.
"How did you know it was me sensei?" Harry asked.
"Your footsteps are too loud, something that I want you to remedy. Always remember kid, eyes are not the only organs that you have. And while this cloak also somehow hides your smell, most fascinating really, it is nigh impossible to hide from me."
Harry believed it, of course, there was no way a cloak could fool his sensei.
"Did you get my present?" Harry asked his sensei.
"Yes, Lee brought it to me," (Lee was the owl) his sensei replied.
"Did you like it?" Harry asked with anticipation. He had debated much with himself on what he should give to his sensei. With what he knew by now, despite his sensei looking like a hobo, he wasn't exactly one. And while Harry didn't know what he really was, he certainly knew that his sensei didn't want any part of his new-found fortune. Thus, Harry had settled with giving him Chocolate-frogs and some botty bott's every flavor sweets.
"I quite liked it. Thanks, kid," his sensei said with smile. A smile that was reflected ten times on Harry's face.