I had just emerged from the shower and placed a towel around my waist when the clock struck midnight and Dobby popped into the room.
"Harry, your friends are here, where would you like to meet them?"
"Take them to the library and tell them to wait a second as I get dressed."
"Right away sir," Dobby answered.
I shook my head as Dobby left, as enjoyable as the elf was I don't know how many times I told him to call me Harry and he still didn't listen.
After getting dressed I slowly walked to the library so I could order my thoughts and figure out what exactly I was going to say. As I walked into the media center I saw my friends talking quietly amongst themselves and took a minute to thank Merlin that I had friends who would love and support me.
Taking a deep breath I opened my mouth, "Hello everybody and welcome to my humble abode."
Everybody turned around and I saw all their eyes open wide in shock and Ginny's jaw drop. I had expected this reaction, after all the last time they saw me I had been short, scrawny, and depressed and sickly. Now I was tall, ripped and the epitome of healthy. It also could do with the fact that my hair was exceedingly long, my gauges, my tattoos, or the sleeveless V-neck t-shirt and skinny jeans I was wearing that showed off all my muscles, or any combination of the previous reasons listed.
Neville broke the silence when he started stuttering "Harry… what… how… why… I don't understand."
"Harry, what our friend Neville is trying to say with that useless stuttering," stated Fred.
"Is what the bloody Hell happened to you," finished George as Ginny stared at me with a blush on her cheeks.
"It is rater quite simple Gred and Forge, you see today I finally woke up to what was happening around me and threw away the grief that was threatening to suffocate me. I knew I needed to change things if I wanted my life to get better but the first thing I needed to do was take a shower. One month of just lying in your bed doing nothing can make you really stinky. So I got up and went to the bathroom and well imagine how disgusted I was when I looked into the mirror.
Staring back at me was someone who looked like they just survived the Holocaust. I was so thin you could see every one of my ribs, my eyes looked soulless and had heavy purple bags underneath them, my hair was dead looking and I had white spots. Well you can see how disgusting that would be so I sought to change at least my hair except there were no cutting materials in the bathroom. Then I remembered that I could control the hair on my body with magic. Once I fixed my hair to how I wanted it I thought that maybe I was a metamorphagus and decided to test that theory and well you can see that I was right. All though I still don't know how I was able to make the tattoos. My best guess is accidental magic but even that doesn't make a lot of sense, and I can't control my abilities that easily anymore, I think I was running on my emotions and my magic was answering to it."
"Well I just have to say I like the new look," Ginny said.
"Of course you would like it, you want him to be your boyfriend," Fred said.
"Thank you Ginny," I said, and then I grabbed her hand and took a seat on the sofa where she sat right next to me and cuddled into my side. Ginny was surprising me with how she was acting, although I said that I wanted to be her friend and maybe more later, she was acting like we were already together.
Alright enough of the fluff," George said.
"Yeah I want to know what you've been up to, why we can't trust Dumbledore, what the plan is for the future, and what's up with this library," Neville said.
"Oh you're one to talk Neville, I've seen you eyeing Susan," Ginny said.
"What… that's not, I'd never…"
"What's this about our favorite Hupplepuff?"
"Susan; Neville has been crushing on her for a while but doesn't want to do anything about it because he says his grandmother wouldn't approve."
"Neville I know you are scared of your grandma and that she wants you live up to your parents but you should be your own person and not let anyone control you, if you like her and she likes you go for it," Harry said.
"Yes but…"
"Does she like you?"
"I think so but…"
"Well then you have your answer, if she cares then you should go for it."
"I guess your right Harry."
"Of course I am, now would you say that we can trust her."
"Yes if we explain what is really going on, she's been on the fence all her life, but I'm pretty sure she'll be on our side now."
"Alright, we'll invite her to a neutral site tomorrow to explain everything; now moving on, why don't I explain what is going on as I give you a tour of the house?"
"Sounds good to me, how about you guys," George asked?
They all nodded in the affirmative and I stood up. Taking Ginny's hand again I started explaining what was going on.
ONE MONTH AGO
I had just finished eating my breakfast when Uncle Vernon drank his tea, glanced at his watch and then said "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."
My thoughts which had been on the chamber were brought back to the present and I simply stood up and went to my room. When I got there I sat on my bed and put my head in my hands. There was no way I would be able to survive with that bitch around and that was when I realized I needed to leave. There was nothing keeping here except an order from Dumbledore and since he isn't my guardian I don't have to listen to him. The only problem was I had nowhere to go to and no way of getting there. So I sat for a couple of minutes until the chamber of secrets popped into my mind. Sure the place was disgusting and needed major work but if I could find a way to get there it would be the perfect place. No one would be able to find me, I could practice magic, and I would never have to return to the Dursleys.
The problem was how I was going to get there and then the house elf I freed entered into my mind and I was sure I had my answer. I called out the name Dobby and prayed it would work and before my eyes the elf appeared.
"Harry Potter sir has called Dobby how may I be of service?"
"Hello Dobby, listen I have a problem I want to leave this place forever and I have a place in mind I want to go but I have no way of getting there do you think you could take me?"
"It would be a pleasure to take the great Harry Potter anywhere he wants to go."
"Ok and when we get there the place is going to need to be turned into a flat with certain modifications, do you think you could do that?"
"Yes Harry Potter sir if the area is small or in an enclosed area then I can help."
"Very well, I want you to take me to moaning Myrtle's bathroom at Hogwarts."
The elf's eyes got big and he replied "you're turning the chamber into a living facility?"
"Yes Dobby I am, it's the perfect place for me."
"Alright Dobby will take you there but he isn't going to like it," and Dobby grabbed my arm and we were soon at Hogwarts.
Not even bothering to say hello to the ghost I strode right to the sink and said open and when the tunnel was revealed I slid down and walked to the doors of the chamber, said the password and walked in calling Dobby to me.
"Okay Dobby, here is what we are going to do first I want this place cleaned up and cleared of everything. If you find anything valuable place it in the center and will sort through it later, now let's get to work."
A couple hours later the actual chamber and antechamber were spotless, cleared of any basilisk skin and other dead animals, the rooms were shining with a golden hue. The basilisk itself was gone, all of the valuable items on it harvested and stored in vials and the rest of the body burned. The statue of Slytherin was gone, inside the statue we found Slytherin's personal library as well as potions, however the shelf life of the potions had long since expired so we destroyed those and then set the books in the pile of valuable items.
"Alright Dobby now that were done with that I want specific rooms in here and will start with the antechamber, I want that area split in two, the first room will be a dueling chamber and the other one will be a weight room. For the dueling room I want it to have reinforced walls so that any magic used in the room won't cause it to collapse. I also want the room to have training dummies that you can practice against. The dummies should have ten modes one for each year at Hogwarts starting with second year and then professional wizards and then Voldemort and Dumbledore level and they should be able to shoot the curses that they would know in real life. I also want the room to have a small library that has books on dueling, the dark arts, and defense against the dark arts.
The weight room should have up-to-date workout equipment and be protected from magic so that all the machines will work. In the left corner I want a treadmill with strength and conditioning machines and in the right corner there should be weight machines. In the middle of the room should be an Olympic style pool and around the perimeter of the pool should be an Olympic style track. By the pool there should be a rope course and military basic training equipment and finally there should be a small library based on the human body and the proper ways to diet and exercise." This also took a couple of hours and when we were done it was lunch time so we took about an hour to eat and then started up again.
"Alright Dobby for the actual chamber I want it split into four rooms, the first room should be a potions lab with all the amenities and there should be a library filled with everything we know about potions.
The second room should be a library however I want it to be inside a statue like Slytherin so make a statue of a lion and then put a hidden door inside the leg of the lion and put the library there. The library should have a directory sitting on a desk that shows all the books I have, what subject, how many books I had in that subject and in what aisle they are in. I want copies of the all the books in the Hogwarts library including the restricted section and I also want Slytherin's books to be placed with them. With the books there should also be five computers and this room should also be protected from magic.
The third room will be my bedroom, I want it painted red and covered in pictures of my parents and all of my friends, along with some quidditch posters and some posters of my favorite muggle bands like The Devil Wears Prada and Megadeth, and off to the side there should be a luxurious bathroom.
And the final room should be a recording studio, while building this room I want you to go out and buy me some guitars and a drum set. Once you have done this I want all of the instruments lined up in the corner.
This part of the house took until it was dinner and we took another hour long break to eat. When we were done we set to work on the final part to making the flat inhabitable. "Alright Dobby this is the final part of this project, I want you to get rid of the other entrances to the chamber, then I want you to get rid of the tunnel leading into the chamber and replace it with stairs and then I want you to redirect the pipes so they don't lead into the chamber and instead replace them with muggle style piping and have them go into a plant that filters the water and leads the waste into a sewer."
This part of the project took the longest since we were redirecting the whole piping system of Hogwarts and we weren't finished until dawn and by that time I was so tired I just dismissed Dobby and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning I woke up and set to learn what I could, I picked up my first year potions book and started relearning potions which took a couple of days, then I did the same thing with my second year potions book and then took about a week to learn the basics of my third year potions lessons. After that I did the same thing with my charms, transfiguration, and defense classes and when I was done with that I picked up random books and read them while practicing spells in them. It was around that time that I discovered the term metamorphic but I was sure that I wasn't one so I simply ignored it until the day I left. It was also during that time that I started to like the idea of piercings and tattoos, the problem was I have a slight germ problem and therefore scared of needles so I just started drawing what I thought would be cool tattoo designs.
END FLASHBACK
"Finally the day came where I had to leave, I had been discovered and could no longer stay but I didn't leave without a fight. I made it clear to Dumbledore where I stood and made sure that Snape will no longer bother us permanently. I didn't kill him but he definitely will no longer be able to teach or do anything really."
"Wow Harry that's pretty amazing, I was going to say you were acting pretty smart from what I knew of you but now I realize that you aren't significantly smarter than the rest of us you just have random pieces of information floating in your mind that you're using to make it seem like it," Fred said.
"Indeed Fred, now Neville I believe you wanted to know about this library. It's really not that difficult, all the books are from the Potter vaults, Gryffindor's personal library, and Slytherin's personal library. Believe me I was surprised when he said Gryffindor and Slytherin but it turns out that I'm Gryffindor's heir from my dad's side and Slytherin's heir by right of conquest. There is a directory sitting on a desk that shows all the books I have, what subject, how many books I have in that subject and in what aisle they are in and there are five computers for further research."
"I'm sure dad would love that," Ginny, Fred and George said spitefully.
"Guys, I know you feel betrayed by your dad but don't let that cloud your judgment, computers are an amazing piece of technology."
"Your right Harry, sorry."
"That's alright," I said as we arrived at Ginny's room.
"Ah, yes this is your room Ginny, I hope you like it."
"Oh, Harry I love it, you basically done an exact replica of my room at the Burrow," Ginny said and then pulled me into a hug.
"Anyway, then I changed my clothes. I figured why have a new intimidating body if it was hidden? I changed my clothes to reflect me and my personal style so I ended up having a lot of red and black shirts and pants and shirts that had my favorite band logos on them like Austrian Death Machine and Whitechapel."
"Austrian Death Machine and Whitechapel?" Neville asked.
"Muggle bands in the metal genre, I'll let you all listen to them later, but anyway after I changed my clothes I was going to call Dobby to see who I could really trust because he was bound to know and I had my suspicions. But before I did that Myrtle called me and told me I had been found out so while planning how I was going to leave I walked into the great hall needless to say when I got down there the teachers weren't pleased to see me especially Snape. When he asked what happened I fed him some bullshit about magical puberty. After which he continued to antagonize me so I challenged him to a duel in which he tried to kill me so I permanently injured him. After that I left and called Dobby to me and that was when I learned the truth."
"It's a conspiracy, a conspiracy; o' Lord help me it's a conspiracy," said Fred and George at the same time as we arrived at Neville's room.
"Is this my room?" Neville asked.
"Yes it is."
"Harry how is it that you can get everyone's personality so down that you know what their ideal room would be?"
"I'm just observant."
"And Fred and George it actually it is a conspiracy, a conspiracy of epic proportions," I said.
"Oh…"
"Going on, the first question I asked him was about my first year. I feared that whole year was a set up and I was right. All the tasks were tasks that were designed to attributes in me, Ron, and Hermione."
"You know that does make sense. I mean Dumbledore told us that we would suffer a horrible death if we went anywhere close to that floor and yet a trio of first years was able to get past the traps without permanent damage," Fred said.
"Right you are my handsome twin," George said just as we passed there room.
"This is your room Fred and George."
"It's wonderful; it's kind of creepy how well Harry knows us."
"Now my second year was also a plot by Dumbledore. I'm sorry Ginny for what's about to be said and I promise you'll get the first shot at him."
"Ok Harry."
"Alright it wasn't Malfoy that had the diary at first that was Dumbledore. He gave it to Malfoy and told him to give it to Ginny and then memory charmed him to think it was his idea."
"I'm going to kill that bastard," Ginny said.
"I promise I'll give you that chance but just know that at the end of my story a lot of people are going to be gunning for him.
"Okay on with the story, the next question I asked was about next year and he plans to hire a former friend of my parents to further manipulate me but Remus doesn't trust him so his plan is for naught."
"I still want to kill him," said Ginny.
"Now guys I know how you feel but we can't jump the gun with this, we need to be trained properly."
"You're right once again Harry, sorry," Ginny said as we reached my room.
"This is the last room of the first floor that is currently in use and is mine, and this is an elevator that will take us to the other floors," I said as we went in. The elevator doors opened letting us out onto the second floor and I continued on with the tour.
"This whole floor is a gym; it is equipped with up-to-date work out equipment and is protected from magic so it all works." Everyone looked on with awe at the room.
"Harry if this isn't the best room in your house then I'll eat my robes," Fred said.
"That would be fun to see. Anyway my final question to Dobby was who I could and couldn't trust and he told me you were the only people he knew I could fully trust so I sent out those letters and here we are."
"Well that certainly clears things up," George said.
"Wait that couldn't be all you did, I mean there would still be a couple of hours until midnight," Ginny said.
"You're right, when Dobby came back from delivering the letters I had some things I wanted him to do. The first thing I had him do was go to Gringotts and remove everything that I own from there, then I had him transfer half of it to muggle money and place it a safety deposit vault, then place the rest of my money in a separate vault in America. After that I pretty much just fooled around in my new house.
"This floor is a dueling room," I said when we arrived at the third level. "It has a separate fidilis charm on it that way the ministry can't detect magic being used. The room has training dummies that you can train yourself against; each level can shoot a wide range of curses.
"That is," Fred said
"Epic," finished George.
"I know that before I face Voldemort again, as I inevitably will, I will have to take care of Dumbledore first. In my mind they are equal except one of them uses the excuse of the greater good to explain away his questionable actions. So the idea behind the dummies is that when it is time for me to face them next I will be able to hit them blow for blow.
This floor has a potions lab, this room is here for no other reason except spite. I know at the end of the summer I will have to return to Hogwarts and I am determined to show up anyone that ever doubted me and that includes Snape, he might not be able to teach anything anymore but I'm sure Dumbledore will find a way to keep him around. By the end of the summer I am going to become really good at potions and with the books I now have that go all the way back to the founder's days I am sure to know potions that Snivellus has never heard of. There is no way that Snape will ever be able to criticize me ever again. Sure he can continue to insult me but it just won't faze me anymore because I know I'm better than him. And the final floor is a recording studio."
"Why do you need a recording studio?" Neville asked me.
"I can play the guitars, drums, and sing, and I write my own lyrics so I thought why not make an album, in fact would you guys like to hear a song I've been working on."
"Why not," they all said.
I grabbed my mike and guitar and then conjured up a dummy and programmed him to play the drums and started playing.
Becoming the Bull
Come on!
Grab the bull by the horns the old adage goes.
Nobody tells you where to go from here.
Seems like fate's pulling you.
Decisions have to be made.
The best path is the hardest earned.
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all.
Trying to keep a level head.
In the most unsettling of times.
Today I become the bull.
There is so much at stake.
I stumble, I lose my place.
Pride and arrogance surrounded by sin.
Destiny takes its hold.
Fight it or let it go.
But I choose how today will end.
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all.
Trying to keep a level head.
In the most unsettling of times.
Today I become the bull. [X2]
This walk can get lonely.
I lose myself inside my head.
No one can touch you when you're outside staring in.
Remove myself from this rat race.
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all.
Trying to keep a level head.
In the most unsettling of times.
Today I become the bull. [X5]
"Harry that was really good," Ginny said.
"Thank you, so now you know what we must do, we have to train until we are ready to face Voldemort. I'm working on a way where we won't have to go back to school at all but if we have to then during our free time we will use the chamber to train, does everyone understand what is going on?"
They all nodded their heads. "Good well it's late and we all are going to get up early to train, so why don't we call it a night and continue tomorrow? Oh and if you guys think of anybody else that we can trust give me a list so I can get in contact with them," and with that said I left and went to bed.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off at five in the morning and prepared for the day. Because of my late night I only got a couple of hours of sleep and was slightly cranky but knew that if I wanted to get in a proper workout that I would have to get up this early from now on. Changing into a pair of gym shorts and tying my hair back I set off on a jog around the track. A couple hours later I stopped and left to take a shower glad about my progress. I was able to run for two miles before I developed cramps and swim for two miles as well and wasn't a pushover with the weights either. I had just finished in the shower when I realized that even though we might be training a lot we would still want to have some free time so I called Dobby to me.
"Harry called Dobby?"
"Yes I did, listen Dobby is it possible to add another level to this house?"
"Yes, I'll contact the builders immediately."
"Excellent, alright so I want you to place a game room above the recording studio and stock it with the more famous muggle videogames and magic games as well and then make a small dining room off to the side."
"Yes sir, will there be anything else?"
"Yes, could you bring me a banana and a cup of coffee?"
"Right away sir," and he came back five minutes later and I sat drinking my coffee. As soon as he popped away I heard a gasp and quickly turned around and saw that it was Ginny and she was looking at my muscles.
"Hello Ginny like what you see?"
"Harry, I didn't, I mean, I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry for Ginny, however I see you're looking at my tattoos."
"Yes, but you're standing at an angle where I can't see what it is."
"It's a tattoo of a battle scene."
"Really?"
"Yes Ginny, the truth is I'm a very morbid person and this just emphasizes it."
"That's okay; I'm pretty morbid as well."
"Indeed, so you ready to train."
"Yes let's go."
"Alright let's get the others, eat breakfast and then we can start."