Chapter 8

Harry Potter woke up and stretched his whole body. It felt weird sleeping in a bed that felt like it was fit for a king. The silk blue sheets felt heavenly. Finally deciding to reach for his wand he casted a quick tempus charm, which flashed 10:15 AM. Amazed that he slept in so long, Harry pulled back the covers and ambled his way to the bathroom. Blinking a couple of times as the sun shown through the window pane he turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on his face. Then he decided to open the master bedroom closet and simply gaped at the sheer size.

The master bedroom closet, wait scratch that, the walk-in wardrobe was magically expanded. Harry thought it doubled the size of the master bedroom itself. The high ceiling was a light gray with a pretty chandelier that presented a nice soft glow throughout the closet. On the left side consisted of his father's robes along with muggle outfits and on the right side consisted of his mothers' robes and muggle outfits. Harry gravitated toward her robes for a bit, the soft fabric felt cool to touch. He gathered up the robe and smelled it. It smelled like fresh lilies from the garden. He looked to his left and noticed a shelf consisting of a few glass bottles of perfume. Deciding to pick out one of his Dad's pair of jeans and a dark green long sleeve top, he charmed them to shrink to his size.

Calling one of the house elves, shaking his head at the fact that he'd have to get used to owning not one, but several! He could almost imagine his friend Hermione throwing a book at him….his thoughts trailed off as he was interrupted by a soft pop.

"Good morning Lord Potter, how can Minnie assist you today?" The thin, but sturdy house elf asked as she bowed in greeting. Harry dragged his right hand through his messy locks and replied.

"Erm, yeah hi Minnie…no need to bow every time you meet me, not really necessary. Yeah, can you show me where Elfridge is this morning?" Minnie bobbed her head and motioned him to follow her.

The Potter manor had a nice soft glow as the morning sun gleamed in from across the hills. Harry was beginning to appreciate his mother's decorating tastes.

Harry met Elfridge in the dining room. The dining room consisted of a beautifully constructed oak wood table with matching chairs. It could easily seat at least ten people. Harry sat down awkwardly at the head of the table with Elfridge on his right. One of the other elves served them their breakfast which consisted of eggs over easy, toast, and bacon.

Elfridge let Harry enjoy his breakfast before jumping into their proposed time table. He wanted Harry prepared as much as possible. Lord and Lady Potter were the nicest family a house elf like himself could ask for and he wasn't about to let them down.

"Now Lord Potter, if I can make some suggestions…I think this timetable I wrote up will help schedule out the rest of your summer." Elfridge hesitantly placing it next to the young Lord. He knew that most young wizards his age would want to fill their summer holidays with Quidditch and friends. But, he could tell his young Lord Potter was brought up differently, and with that difference he faced maturity at very young age due to his terrible relatives.

Harry accepted Elfridge's timetable and smiled, it was actually a muggle notebook, probably thanks to his mother who know doubt did away with old parchment and ink stains as quickly as she could outside of school.

Summer Training Schedule: Month of July

Breakfast: 7 o'clock sharp

Morning Exercise: 7:30 – 8:30 AM

Mind Training: Occlumency

Memory Training: Eidetic Memory Practice

Shadow Training: Stealth, Transportation, and Tactics

Magical Core Training: Ancient Rune rituals for boosting core

Family Magic Training: Potter Spells, Shielding, and dueling

Advanced Training: Elemental & Metamorphic basics

Harry Potter had a horrible feeling that the rest of the summer was not going to be kind to him. He could very well kiss his dates with Daphne goodbye, they were after all still new to each other. Harry looked back up at Elfridge with a grimace, "No offense Elfridge, but do you really think we can get this all done in one month?" Elfridge grinned somewhat mischievously and replied,

"Oh yes Lord Potter, we will indeed, all though you may be a wee bit sore physically once September 1st rolls around!" Elfridge laughed. Harry grimaced and asked him where they should start.

"Well the gym of course!" Harry groaned slightly and got up from the table and followed Elfridge to the gym. The gym was located on the same floor, however it was tucked away on the right-side corner of the Potter Manor. Harry was impressed again once the door opened and revealed a full muggle gym equipped with heavy weight lifting bench press bars.

"It took your father some convincing to put this beauty in the manor. But once he began using it he liked the physical changes immensely. Now, I don't have a set schedule for your workout routine yet, but even with the healing work the goblins did back at Gringotts, you're still a bit underfed and need some extra physical strength and endurance." Harry silently agreed with Elfridge even though he was not looking forward to the muscle pain that he knew would come later.

Harry Potter exercised for three hours before Elfridge called it quits. Drenched in sweat he guzzled his water while Elfridge made a Talley of what he accomplished today.

"So, you've achieved an hour long run on the treadmill, you started bench-pressing at 100 pounds, and you can lift 40 pound free weights in both arms. Not bad at all for starters Lord Potter!" Harry winced as he felt a cramp in his arms and continue to glare at Elfridge whom he now thought of as a slave driver. Elfridge just chuckled at his misery and told him to shower and meet him in the library in thirty minutes.

Harry dragged his sweaty ass out of the gym and made his way to the master suite. He took his sweet time in the shower and magically dried himself and picked out a casual set of clothes for the rest of the day. On his bedside table lay the journal Daphne snuck in his bag at Kings Cross. He grabbed it and noticed an entry he would have to read later in the library. Feeling a little guilty since he hadn't updated her in a while Harry would start writing to her tonight.

Elfridge was already waiting for him in the beautiful library that made Harry feel like he was truly home. He could just feel his mother's touch throughout the room. It was magically expanded as well, as much as she desired.

"Follow me Lord Potter, I will show you your knew study room where you'll be doing all of your additional academic and extra curricular training from here on out." Harry nodded and followed him through the library. They stopped on the back right hand side where they approached a medium sized study room.

Harry noticed a photo on the beautiful red oak desk. It was a magical photo of his mother and what he assumed were her close friends at Hogwarts. Lily was smiling and waving with her three friends.

Elfridge smiled, "Ah, yes, Lily's dorm mates at Hogwarts, from left to right, Marlene McKinnon, Andromeda Black, and Alice Longbottom." Harry smiled at picked up the photo, his mother looked so happy, young, and carefree. He put it down and was directed by Elfridge by the large stack of books on the table next to the study desk.

Elfridge handed Lord Potter the list of books he had picked out personally for him to start studying. He had purposefully chosen most of the texts having to do with magical theory, magical intent, core training, and occlumency. These would put him on the path for the later advanced material.

Harry picked up one from the top and skimmed through the table of contents, "So you do enjoy being my slave driver eh?" Elfridge grinned and replied,

"Oh, you'll thank me later Lord Potter, I believe you can read through this entire stack of material and begin to apply it by the end of the day." Harry replied that it was impossible.

"Do you remember what the goblins said after your healing session? You have an exceedingly rare gift Lord Potter. A gift of near-perfect memory, Editec memory really. I would like you to practice it today and then I will test it later this evening. If you get hungry, call Pippy who will make you dinner." Harry nodded and accepted his new challenge from Elfridge. "Oh and the washroom is out this door to the left."

Elfridge closed the door quietly behind him and Harry plopped himself down on the overstuffed leather chair and grabbed one from the top. It was a rather dry book called the Fundamentals of Magical Intent. Harry read through it rather fast a couple of times he grabbed a muggle notebook and took some notes on the best way to cast spells, charms, and transfiguration. He really should have paid attention more in his first year at Hogwarts.

After just four hours Harry realized that he really did have near-perfect memory recall. He wasn't sure exactly why, maybe it was his traumatic past when he was a year old, or his previous abuse living with the Dursleys. If he concentrated enough he speeded up his reading ability and got through most of the textbooks on the table that Elfridge set out for him, which were about twenty in all. After finishing those he wanted to start clearing his mental landscape and started to meditate on all the information he just processed. The Fundamentals of Occlumency helped him in this case.

Harry thought hard for a moment and learned to relax his previously emotional mental scape. Now after concentrating he had a clear head and he allowed all the knowledge he acquired to flow through like water. He decided that an interesting landscape would be a rocky beach overlooking the ocean. Harry thought about where he would store his most vulnerable and precious memories that Voldemort could use against him. The rocks and pebbles would be a distraction and the ocean would be his protection. Feeling a connection with the Earth Harry felt his magical core strengthen and pull towards deep within the ground.

As a young Elemental, Harry began gathering these new magical cords that began to wrap themselves around his core as he used his wand to make a hole deep below the surface but not quite close to the Earth's large hot core. This new task was difficult and exhausting but after another two hours he succeeded and pushed all of his vulnerable and important memories there before closing the hole he created.

After that task, Harry called the head-chef house elf who made him some dinner. He ate his dinner quickly and then focused on where he would store all of his knowledge from the other textbooks.

Since the ocean would be his main protection, and the rocks and pebbles would cause distractions, Harry decided that he would make a path only known to himself and expand his mental landscape. He wanted to build a forest containing a couple of acres, large enough to contain a unique library in the center of the forest. Harry cleared enough space to build his library. The outside appeared to be a nice oak shade, but it was reinforced with metal steel on the inside in case someone had the brilliant idea to burn it down. Within this steel casing held multiple expandable stacks of shelving units all properly aligned and labelled. Harry placed each text that he read in its proper place. From then Harry quizzed himself on individual page numbers from a couple of different texts and after some practice he was able to recall the terms or theory from those pages.

Harry Potter called Elfridge, he felt he completed his most of the challenge Elfridge gave him enough to where he could call it quits for tonight. He was after all, incredibly drained of his magical core after his first encounter with the Earth Elements and building his Occlumency skills. Elfridge popped in and asked him if he was ready for his test.

"Okay, Lord Potter, let's see, how about the text on Occlumency, page 325?" Harry Potter took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he jogged to his library in the forest in his mind and pulled out the book in question. He then recited that page word for word. He opened his eyes and saw Elfridge laughing and smiling at him.

"Congrats, Lord Potter, I believe you are a natural Occlumens along with your ability of near-perfect memory. Don't worry it isn't my place to ask how you did it, just the fact that you did is impressive enough!" Elfridge replied, still smiling.

Harry grinned in relief grateful that he passed his first challenge. Elfridge then checked the time, it was now 8:00 PM. He freed Harry up for the next couple of hours giving a chance to write his note to Daphne.

Dear My darling Daphne,

I cannot believe that it has already been two months since we left Hogwarts. A lot has changed for me and I hope you'll forgive me for this long over-due letter. To say the least I'll write in detail so you won't give me a cold shoulder for the rest of the summer!

So for starters, I am free of the Dursleys! I no longer their house servant and subjegated to unnecessary abuse. Soon after I left, I ran into Dobby and he led me to Bellman's Hideaway, a neat district in magical London, England. I found two cool familiars, a cub wolf named Theia, and get this, an actual Phoenix named Vale! They are both amazing and get along great.

After that I met with my Gringotts account manager and I am now in charge of the Potter Family account. This means I am spending the rest of the summer in my family home! I hope you are able to come visit me sometime. I currently only have some slightly crazy house elves to chat with.

The head-elf, named Elfridge, set up a rigorous training schedule for me. He's making me work out and test my new found abilities. Anyway I hope this finds you well.

How is your summer going? I hope your family isn't driving you too crazy! What's your schedule like, do you have any time off in August?

Love, Harry P.

Harry was pleased with his letter put the notebook away in his bag. Then he grabbed it and left the study area, relieved himself in the washroom and toured the library some more. The library was indeed quite large, he almost felt selfish for not writing Hermione about it. He noticed an old book on a pedestal in the center aisle of the library. Harry walked up to it and read the cover, it was a beautiful black leather bound text with green Celtic engravings on it with the Potter Crest in the middle. The title read the Potter Family Trust. Curiosity got the best of him and Harry carefully picked it up and placed it his bag.

A very exhausted, both physically and mentally Harry Potter trudged up to the master bedroom to change into some pajamas and get some sleep. He set his bag on the desk and resized a pair of his father's old PJs. He smiled not really looking at them before he put them on, they had tiny red and gold snitches on the pant legs. Harry crawled into the large bed and fell asleep fast.

Author's Note: Thank you again dear readers for your patience! Now that it is August, I will most likely be posting twice a month. I plan on dragging this story out, so don't get too impatient with me. Yes, I read my previous chapters and laughed a bit, I promise to edit more before publishing! This was Harry's transition into the Potter Manor and onto his new training regimen.