Disclaimer: As everyone knows, most of the characters in this fic are not mine, and harry potter world belongs to J.K.R

A/N: sorry for the late upload, real life has been hectic for a while now, hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 10: Training and Confessions

Another year had passed. He had turned 5 a few days ago. Currently he was trying to learn occlumency from Galvan.

"I don't understand it! Why can't I imagine my mindscape? Why can't I see anything?" said a frustrated Harry. He was sitting on the library floor. His legs folded and hands resting over his knees making a lotus position of meditation. It's been 15 days since he had been trying to find his mindscape but was failing. He couldn't understand what was stooping him. He was in the perfect state that he was supposed to be. His mind would easily calm down and he would reach the position where he could feel his surroundings with eyes closed. He could reach this state without closing his eyes. It gave him a calm state of mind. He could think with perfect rationality. He could easily recall anything that he had ever seen or the emotions he felt with the particular memory. Now he could discern what he had heard since during his childhood.

They had even asked Mysti to look into his mind. And she had with a brief look in his eyes said that there was a some thing visual but told that he would need to find what it was on his own. He had felt terrible pain in that single moment in his head.

Apart from his agonisingly slow improvement in occlumency he had not had such a hard luck in anything else. Galvan had taught him a lot of basic spells and he was very good at them. He would pick them up in his first three or four trials. Galvan had once said that it was due to his still undeveloped body of a four year old that he very easily tired out due to physical exhaustion. He had said that, "As your body grows, so would your blood. Your blood is what carries your magic. It is like a pathway through which our blood flows. The older the blood, more the amount of magic can flow through it. Thus blood is so much important. Your body is still undeveloped thus very less blood. But your magical pathways are far more developed than most grownups. Your blood carries a part of magic of your ancestors. Magic keeps getting stronger as you grow old. But magic is sentient. It knows that if it keeps coming only in old families, then those families would soon die out. And even we purebloods marry only in pureblood families, to make our blood even stronger. Thus magic keeps popping in some random muggles. But these muggles have their own ideology a set of right and wrong. For example, they would consider house elves slaves. They would either abuse them or out – right protest against it. But they would not try to find why they are as they are. It took your mother some time to process that fact as she was one of those who protested this. Luckily your father was able to convince her or we might have lost all our elves. If he had been the Lord." Galvan had sneered at that. "They need to understand our society. Instead of trying to learn it and adapt to it, they want to change it. Applying logic and beliefs of what they learned in the muggle world. Your mother was one of those who adapted some – what to our world. But most of these don't accept our world as it is. That's why most purebloods hate muggleborns. 'Muddbloods' that is what they are termed as. It shows disgrace towards which it is directed. They are born weak. Even if by any chance they turn to have enough mind they don't have power thus they are kept from positions of power. If our blood is mixed with these first generations then the children born will be weaker. That is why today's most so called light families have produced squibs, children who don't have magic compared to the dark families who keep to themselves and mostly marry either halfbloods or purebloods." He had added.

"Then why are we stronger?" harry had asked. He already knew that he was a halfblood. And Mysti had said that he was stronger than most and would soon become strongest of all.

"That Harry is because we had once earned a boon from god Lord Thanatos, one who takes life away, he is the ruler of Land of the dead. A place where souls are judged. Where their judgement is delivered. You must have read the story of beetle and the bard?" here Harry nodded affirmative. He had read that story many times out of pure boredom. "What is not mentioned in there is that, they were actually four brothers. Rohan Rovan was the fourth although he wasn't a blood brother to other three, but they had considered each other as brothers. He asked for a boon, that when his family would be actually having non – magical children, they should be bestowed with magic. It was granted. After the death of the first to brothers, they came together, and bound their will in their magic and through it their family under an order that first time when both families would have a male and a female heir, they would marry. They wrote the first book with their stories, but later the forth , Rohan decided that they should omit him as his family might come in danger from those who would sought out to simply destroy their family, and the boon would be a waste as it would never be called. So the story had only three brothers. Ignotus the youngest one and Rohan travelled through the world, they both had either male heirs or female heirs at a time. And their names kept changing due to changes in families, but the families remained close always knowing that one – day they would need to respect the pact made by their many times ancestors. The head of the family always knew of the true story. They would always stay in contact. That day came; I married the woman that was destined for me. Agatha Black, she had inherited the cloak of invisibility from her ancestor and I was a born sorcerer. Our marriage was not just in respect of the pact but we were actually brought close by our magic, fallen in love with each other. That cloak came in our family with her. Only the worthy chosen by Ignotus's family magic could actually use the cloak to its fullest. It is indestructible. Not even death magic could penetrate it and harm the user. But if someone unworthy uses it, it will act like a usual cloak of invisibility. A death curse or any for that matter would simply pass through it. I to protect the same legacy kept the old names hidden and created a new house, house Potter. My castle provides me with all the knowledge of my family that I need to know, like who is born or when how many heirs I have now, who died when, who married whom, their true blood status. And many things like that. I am here to help in any way I can, but I reserve the decision to help or not. " Galvan had said.

He also had once asked why Mysti looked different than other elves. He had been shocked to find that she was not just any elf but a high elf. Rohan who was there at the time of high elves and Fae roaming this world freely before they left had made a pact with a family of high elves or 'eldar' as they were called then. He had once saved this family's youngling while losing his own eldest son, he had fought bravely. But for someone like a fae he was no match. By the time the parent elves had arrived and he had the young girl secured, he had lost his eldest son. Fae then fled seeing the two older elves. That family of eldar Margre looked at the loss Rohan had taken while trying to save their child. Rohan had cried all night bending on his knees in front of his son's burning body in the pile of woods. Eldar Orpheus Margre bound his family magic to Rohan's. Every Lord of house of Rohan would have one of the youngest of House Margre as a sibling. They would grow together. But later on when the eldars left, they along with the current Lord of house Rovan, Lord Ashok Rovan decided that they even though can't nullify the terms of what was set by Rohan and Orpheus, they decided to hide the fact that they were still in contact with the higher beings and let it become a rumour thus no high elf was ever seen by the general populace. Never. Not even the heirs who failed to be qualified as scions were told of it.

He had confronted Mysti to know if she genuinely cared for him or not. For the first time since he could remember of his life he had seen a genuine and loving smile on her face, it was not the usual one that she had, of mystery. "I consider you my little brother Harry; we don't just honour our oaths with our action, but with our hearts as well." For the first time he had seen a tear trickle down her eye. He had given her a tight hug and had almost cried in relief that she really cared for him, and didn't do it just to oblige with the oath. His heart had been filled with joy. He couldn't stop himself from smiling for next few days. He had thought 'if only I had a mother.' He had already stopped referring James and Lily as his parents. On his fifth birthday he had slept with that thought in mind.

Somewhere in a land completely made of ice, a majestic castle of ice stood tall and proud. In one of its many spacious rooms lay an eternally beautiful woman. Her frame beautiful and perfect than what a mortal could describe. Her skin creamy soft flawless, a mixture of faint yellow and snowy white, emitting an eternal glow. Her purple hair matching with her purple gown. Her lips a natural shade of light purple having turned into a beautiful but small smile on her face. She suddenly woke with a gasp. Revealing her startlingly bright yellow eyes that slowly changed into a dark shade of purple with tints of yellow still visible in them. She first furrowed her eyebrows in apparent confusion. But then she lifted her left eyebrow delicately in the direction of the balcony in her room. Her confusion apparently had vanished as she again had a serene smile gracing her lips. She stood out of her bed of – apparently ice, and walked towards the balcony humming some obscure tone to herself. She soon reached the balcony. She looked in some general direction, her eyes this time showed the knowledge and intelligence she held; the knowledge that came with age and also exuded power. She lightly gripped the edge of the balcony. Her night gown hugging her tightly and the chill in the air not bothering her in the least. She let out a small chuckle which slowly turned into a full blown laughter, revealing a series of pure white teeth sparkling like diamonds. Whiter than snow falling down the sky if possible. Her head thrown backwards while an invisible wind played with her long flowing hair.

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

Harry had also mastered more than one language. He was already proficient in Sanskrit, French, Spanish and German. It was good that Mysti had started it since he was just 2 years old. Even with his amazing memory he needed to understand things. But it seemed that his mind was far more advanced than most and was able to process anything at a very fast pace. But he still had difficulties with something or the other like when he was speaking with Galvan. There was usually a hidden message in whatever he spoke. It sometimes drove him crazy.

Once again harry was trying to find his mindscape but was unable to.

"Tell me harry, where are you most comfortable?" Galvan's voice rang in his ears.

Harry thought over it and realized that he was most comfortable among shadows or the darkness itself. And then it hit him, 'a person's mindscape represents the place they find most comfortable.' "Oh" was all he said and he again dipped himself in his center. When he opened his eyes he was again surrounded by pure darkness. He was only able to see himself. He called for the darkness surrounding him, it slowly started to latch onto his hand and slither up. He willed it to correct his vision in the dark as any light spell cast simply didn't work last time. Slowly he could feel tingles running in his eyes though it wasn't uncomfortable. After a while he could see shapes starting to form in the distance. He could see a hauntingly beautiful manor standing ahead of him. He slowly crept forward. When he reached near the gates, they opened themselves. It took him a while to reach there as the manor itself was surrounded by what he could tell were widely spread woods. With only a single passage leading to it. The manor looked a lot like potter manor. 5 floors high and spread out through the fields. He opened the door by pushing it inwards. It opened without making any sound. After looking at the ground floor he was sure that it was potter manor itself. But when he got on the second floor…..well it was just huge. It seemed that it was some kind of library. Or more like a muggle laboratory that his mother often spoke while looking over the potions magazines. Silvery substances floated all around the place. But it seemed that they were in clusters. Whenever he reached a particular group he would feel a particular emotion. He touched one of the strands of the silvery substance and felt like being pulled somewhere. Then suddenly he was facing Mysti and relieved the time when he had confronted her. He was then again standing where he stood touching the substance as it slowly slithered out of his grasp. He understood that these were his memories. It seemed that his memories were already differentiated. He went on the next floor it was an actual library. Just as huge as the 1st floor, lined with shelves full of books. Although it seemed that it was not so full. There was too much space unfilled. He lifted one of the books, it was the current edition of Hogwarts defence against the dark arts text book grade 3. Galvan had told him that the standards of Hogwarts have gone down since the last of founders heir's disappeared in the sands of time. He had spoken with many of the lord potters till now and that information was enough to see just how much blood has been diluted till now. And apparently it was a lot. After all at the beginning of Hogwarts, there were two different groups taught, advanced and normal. Normal group comprised of most muddbloods and a few halfbloods. While the advanced one comprised of all the purebloods and halfbloods. What the advanced students learned by the end of their 1st year then is equivalent of what today's students learn by the end of 3rd year and that was excluding the exceptional students – young sorcerers. Most of these students were capable of some amount of focus - less magic – wandless as it is referred now. Although it never was at the level he could do…. Harry turned from his musings and climbed stairs for the 3rd floor. It was different. It had many rooms. He opened the first. It was identical to his room in potter manor. He looked around and the closed the door after stepping out. Then he opened the next-same. He opened every door and it turned that all rooms were identical. It seemed like a perfect place to hide his memories – the ones he wouldn't want anyone to find. At all. He rounded back and climbed on the stairs and reached the 4th floor. It seemed that it had some kind of thick door. He couldn't enter it. He tried to open it with hands and it failed. He cast most lock opening charms that he knew, but they didn't work. The blasted door won't even budge and every spell he cast felt like a stab on him. So he let it go for now. He turned up and reached the last floor. It was bare except a replica of himself sat in the meditative stance at the middle of it. He touched his mirror and he found his eyes closed. When he opened them, he was again in the potter library. Galvan (the index book) in front of him.

He asked, "so?"

"I found it! It was like potter manor itself is surrounded by woods, but the manor is a lot different outside bar the ground floor…." And he told Galvan about what all he had seen.

Galvan frowned a bit at the non-budging door part of his little speech but didn't interrupt. Once harry was finished Galvan told him in a far off voice that this door might be a way towards his magical core. But it is impossible to be sure as such things are reached by very few even among sorcerers. I was one of them but it is different for every sorcerer. For me it was like a falling through a series of tubes and painfully landing. It might kill one to reach his core or just their brain but it's as good as dead. So don't be hasty to reach it.

Harry nodded when Galvan's focus seemed to return.

Another month had passed it was nearing mid-September. Harry had started to sort his memories and go through them again. It wasn't a good experience. He had to live through the misery again. One of the memories was of his and Voldemort's first confrontation. One was when he had asked his mother why he didn't toys like Nat got. His mother had told him that Nat has defeated you – know – who. He had been confused. He had said he didn't know who. She had stiffly told him, "V – Vol – Voldemort, that's who." And left at that. After that and reading so many times in newspaper he had concluded that Nat had defeated Voldemort. But he knew the truth as he remembered that night. He didn't tell her anything as she had previously told him that he shouldn't be jealous of Nat for getting so many gifts. She had said, "You shouldn't be jealous of Nat, Harry. People love him for being a great wizard and you are a squib." He already knew what it meant but it wasn't pleasant to hear it from his mother saying this and be looked down by. It still angered him but he had decided that he would show them just how big a mistake they had made. He would make them feel the pain of loss that he had felt. He had shut most of his miserable memories in one of the rooms on third floor. He had stored them in the form of his family members and their friends. His room looked like it had expanded according to his need for the space but everything looked same. He had entered another room to find the exact change that he did in the previous room. There were replicas of his family and their friends. But they were blank. He could just feel it. He had changed the construction a bit. Instead of all the rooms in a square pattern, they were now in circular pattern. They would open any room he particularly wished for. But that needed his command and only his would work, though he had been very exhausted afterwards and just collapsed on the library floor for a while. He had similarly sorted his memories based on different emotions like happiness, curiosity, anger etc. he had then proceeded to separate his emotions from his memories; it made those silvery substances blackish. And another substance, white in color separated out of it. He stored these emotions in another set of rooms. Now he can call forth any emotion for any particular spell as it would require. All these activities had taken most of this month and he had very little time to do any thin else. But unfortunately his quota of happiness was far low to cast a patronus. While on the other hand he was sure that he could cast a crucio – the pain curse correctly if needed. He had used imperious on his brother to break a few of his toys, it had worked quiet well. His brother had been confused why he did it. But he had oblivated him and repaired the toys with a simple 'reparo'. His other training had been temporarily stopped. But he was now going to start them again. His language training had been going well. He was pretty good in reading between the lines. Although he would fail to win verbal bickering with both Galvan and Mysti. He had once asked Mysti about her birthday, she had said that she was so old that she didn't bother to keep track. Although he knew that she knew exactly when her birthday was. He had asked Galvan about this. He had laughingly told him that one never asks a girl her birth date. And had left Harry more confused than ever. Galvan had said that he would understand once he got older.

"Sire?" harry said.

"Yes harry?"

"I – I want to tell you something."

"Call me Galvan harry, and what is bothering you."

"I had hidden something from you and it is a natural skill I had since I was born. I can control shadows and the darkness around us."

"Huh" Galvan said with a raised eyebrow.

Harry sighed and darkness started to creep closer to him it lifted him up and a hand of pure darkness fading behind him reached up and caressed his cheek lovingly. But as soon as it had started it stopped. Shadows going back to their place and darkness once more settling where it was supposed to be. Galvan watched all this with wide eyes. Harry then told Galvan about the actual incident that took place on the fateful night of Halloween...

After a long silence past Harry's confession finally he said, "Its OK harry that you kept it to yourself. But good that you told me."

"You aren't angry?"

"Of course not, it is personal to you and you don't need to tell anyone if you don't want to."

Harry sighed; relieved that Galvan wasn't angry and wont ban him from the library. He had anyway grown closer to him.

"Well then Harry I want you to take animagus revealing potion when you are 7. Potion can be bought from Knockturn alley. You'll need to learn legillmency to get the information about the alley out of someone. You can easily find those to be hags. They wouldn't have any protection of mind but would have the necessary information. " Galvan said.

Harry frowned. "How am I supposed to get there? And I think Mysti can do that for us with ease." He said.

"Yes but we have a way to let the darker side of our community know that there is a true dark lord out, with powers that no mortal could really comprehend. We could try to unite them under you and it won't be that difficult, I think. But would also serve a purpose of alerting Voldemort of you coming out. If I am not mistaken, then he simply wanted to test something out and already expected you to survive. But your powers shocked him so much that he simply failed to act in time but he must have already prepared for it. He obviously didn't die; he might as well have gained himself a new body by now. Maybe we can take out a death - eater and try to find about his current location. But you have still got around 2 years to prepare before you go there." Harry nodded in understanding. And if by any chance something goes wrong Mysti could take him away with ease. She could stay with him for that time.

Galvan again spoke, "But unfortunately harry there is not much documented about your powers in here. But I am certain that there would be something about it in black library. They do have vampire blood in them and by extension so do you. It's possible that the suppressed vampire magic had surfaced. But even then it is known that most vampires can only travel through shadows. But you can obviously use them for other purposes. You should someday get inside the black library. You have black blood so it will give you access. There was no current lord black so you should also check if you are lord black as well. Lord of house black is chosen by magic not just blood. But I think you'd qualify."

Harry frowned but then got a bit angry. He didn't know where black manor was or for that matter if it was even a manor or castle. He knew that his godfather lived in 'Grimmauld Place' but he was sure it was not the black ancestral home. But then his eyes widened. He looked up at Galvan.

"Where is Black ancestral home, Galvan?"

"It is in Italy. But you'll first have to take your inheritance test before you go. Their protections are far nastier than ours here."

After another while of discussion over his physical fitness they decided that harry would do physical exercises which Harry groaned at.

"Galvan, is it possible to imbue our body with magic to make it stronger?"

"It might be Harry, I had never tried it, and I don't know anyone from my time or have never heard from any other descendant of mine."

Harry then called Mysti and told her as well about his power. But she in her usual way gave him a mysterious smile and vanished in the evening breeze coming inside of the library through the open windows.

That night harry had a dream, a dream of a purple haired woman with pale yellowish skin….