Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do not, nor do I ever forsee myself, owning Harry Potter. It is the properties of it's owners. I am just borrowing it to entertain myself.
Chapter 12
The rest of the trip, in comparison, was boring. They bought his school books, paper and pencils (No more quills and ink! No more random drips on paper that forced him to re-write it all over again!), binders, a new trunk(with a lot more space) and uniforms, along with everything else he might need for school. He also went the music store and bought new sheet music, an extra bow, and more rosin. He had signed up to take all of the classes he had back in Hogwarts, except Divination, which CSM didn't have. He instead replaced it with orchestra. It was a decision he was happy that he made. He didn't think he would be able to put up with another year of Divination, even with a better teacher. In America, it was recognized that true Seers were extremely rare, and if you wanted to learn it, you had to a) have the Sight, and b) find someone else with Sight to teach you. It was apparently pointless to teach someone who didn't have the Sight, as they might occasionally get glimpses of the future, but would never be able to truly see the future. Harry was left wondering if Trelawney was one of the people who only got glimpses, and instead relied on her ancestor's reputation, and the sherry she was so fond of (he had once seen a bottle hiding behind a leg of her desk, and another in her desk drawer. And lets not forget his 3rd year final, when she was so drunk that she didn't even notice his lie.) Other then his joy at not taking Divination, his shopping trip was very boring.
When they got home, Sirius gave him the book on Occlumency, and told him to start studying it. The book instructed him to construct a form of shield of his choice around his mind, but to not go any further until he had mastered that part. It, however, did specify that if he was attacked while at this stage, to clear his mind of all emotions and memories, and try to completely focus on maintaining his shield for as long as he could.
Harry spent all of the time from getting home from shopping to dinner practicing Occlumency and packing the things he wouldn't need until the first day of school in his trunk. He left a binder out to put all of his music that he had already bought in, however. After dinner, Harry followed Sirius and Amber into the family room, where Amber gently tested what he had already done. He somehow could sense her, a light presence fluttering around the edges of his defenses, never touching it, but finding the weak spots. He saw the weak spots as well, and reminded himself to work on fixing them later. After about a half an hour, he felt her pull away. He kept concentrating on his defenses until she taped his shoulder.
"Very good, Harry! Much better then most others after the amount of time that you've had to practice, with no formal instruction, only the book. You had no obvious large holes, yes you had a few small ones, and a few spots that it I had hit them, would have crumbled, but you had no huge holes. That is far beyond what others would of gotten."
"When I'm told 'this could save your life' I tend to pay attention." he said dryly.
"Point." Sirius said just as dryly.
"That might just be a good idea." Amber deadpanned, and they all laughed. "Harry- I want you to practice, but not too much tonight. Even if it doesn't feel like it, you are still using magic. If you do it too much at once, you will get what's called a reaction headache. It's worse then most other headaches. If you every get one while practicing, I want you to come to me immediately. I'll give you the potion that will make it hurt less, but it won't completely block it. That is, if you aren't trying to keep a Dark Lord out of your head. Then, just try to fight through the pain as much as possible, and hope that backup gets there soon." she said grimly.
Harry nodded, and hoped he would never have to deal with the last part. He had hoped that when he had left Britain, he had left all of Volde's problems, forever. But apparently not.
Harry spent the next month practicing Occlumency, getting to the point he could repel full on attacks. He knew that he couldn't hold off someone really powerful, though. That would only come with time and practice. When not practicing Occlumency and studying his school books, Harry spent time in the ocean, and exploring the forest, along with playing Quidditch in the field. The week before school quickly hit them, the euphoria of summer not lasting forever as it had seemed in the middle of the summer. Harry was, rather uncharacteristically, nervous, which annoyed him as he had faced Moldy-pants three times without blinking an eye, but was nervous going to a new school. Amber just pointed out that before he fought Volde, he never had enough time to get really nervous, but now he had way to much time. Harry just tried to distract himself with playing Quidditch and his cello. It didn't work all that well. But the end of summer still arrived.
Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. Real Life has developed a nasty habit of getting in the way! I'm just surprised I managed to get three chapters up in two days ( though one of them is only about 200 words... It still counts! ..right?) Please review!