A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. Please continue. This is one of those foundation chapters to setup the story. I'm open to suggestions to the story so please R/R.
Disclaimer: I wish I could be as good as JK Rowling but I'm not. This is her stuff and not to mention the influence that this story took from various fanfics.
Chapter 4
Potter Mansion
Harry woke up the next morning not really remembering what happened just after he flew in the air. He sat up very confused wondering how it was that he got into bed. The room he was in was a large bedroom. It had a large bed sitting in the middle of the room with a dresser and mirror on the opposite side of a door that sat between two floor to ceiling windows. On the two adjacent walls, there were two doors facing each other and several art works along the walls. The room was decorated in midnight blue and white.
He got out of bed and opened the middle door which led out into a hallway. Harry followed the hallway to the staircase and proceeded down the stairs. He arrived in the middle of a large sitting room that was decorated in Gryffindor colors. There were three large sofas facing a fireplace. Above the fireplace was a banner with the Potter Family Crest upon it.
He continued to explore the house until he stumbled into the kitchen. Harry could smell the aroma of breakfast being prepared and started to feel hungry. He walked in and saw two house elves in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Harry said, "Uh… Hi."
The two house elves turned around to look at Harry. They rushed over to him. The two house elves were dressed in clean and nice looking clothing that fit them well. The one of the right was dressed in a red and white outfit while the one of the right dressed in a blue and white outfit. The one in red said, "Young master, you're awake. It's good to see you're up and about."
Harry still confused said, "Hi, why are you calling me master? Where am I?"
The house elf dressed in blue said, "We're really sorry. It's been so long since you've been here. You're at Potter Mansion. It's the ancestral home of the Potter Family. You are now the last remaining Potter and the master of the house."
"What do you mean I haven't been here for a long time?"
The house elf in red said, "You must not remember than. Shortly after you were born, the young master and your parents stayed here for about a week before you went into hiding."
"Where is this place and I'm sorry but who are the two of you?"
The house elf in blue said, "I'm Rain and this is my brother Ray. My family has been serving the Ancient and Noble House of Potter for hundreds of years. Your family is a good family and we are honored to serve the Potters."
"Where are we?"
"The Potter Mansion is located on the edge of Hogsmeade."
"Does anybody live here? Have the two of you been taking care of the house all this time?"
"Nobody else lives here. We've been waiting for you to come back. It's great that the young master has returned home. We've been taking care of the mansion since a few years before you were born. Nobody else lives here."
Harry stood there in silence thinking about the word 'home.' Than he looked at the two house elves and said, "Please don't call me master. I'm Harry. Just call me Harry. I don't care much for being anybody's master. I prefer being friends with you rather than being your master."
The two house elves nodded and said, "We're honored that you would consider us to be friends." They looked at each other and said, "Harry," as if they were trying to say it.
Harry seemed satisfied with that and said, "I would be happy if you continue to work here but I must insist that you all be treated as equals and if you need anything please come and let me know."
The two house elves smiled and jumped up and down. They ran over to Harry and hugged him and Rain said, "We'd be honored to have you as a friend."
The three of them pulled away and Ray said, "You should sit and have breakfast. We can get caught up over breakfast."
Harry nodded and the two house elves rushed over to the stove to get the eggs, sausages, bacon, and toast that they had prepared. The three of them sat down and ate while they continued their conversation.
Harry asked, "Are there any other house elves that work here?"
Rain said, "There are no other house elves that live or work here. We're the only two left. There used to be up to six house elves here but they died with old age."
Harry nodded, took bite from his toast and asked, "How did you know about me being who I am? How did you know that I was not an intruder?"
Ray said, "We were shocked when we saw you, Harry. Only a Potter can enter this house plus this house is under several charms and protection that makes it safer than Hogwarts itself."
"Than how do guests enter this house? Does anybody other than Potters enter this house?"
"Guests can enter and leave the house when they are either escorted in either by a Potter or one of the house elves. The house elves can only escort somebody in that has been approved by a Potter. There are other ways for them to enter later on after being escorted in the first time but they will have to be permitted to do so by a simple charm performed by the head of the Potter family, in this case it is you."
"Oh, who were some of the recent guests into this house?"
"The last few visitors that visited the house were some of your parent's friends from school. They can not enter the house again without you permitting them in because your father did not have the time to perform the charm for them to enter on their own."
"I see. Please tell me about the house."
Rain said, "The Potter Mansion sits on a property of approximately fifty acres of land. Thirty acres of the land is actually a forest with a small creek running through it. The main complex which is this house is three floors along with a basement. The main floor has a large library along with two sitting rooms, a music room, three guest bedrooms, along with the house elves living quarter, an exercise room, a thirty person dinning room, along with a training arena. The second floor has a large sitting area with a balcony along with four suites. Each suite has a common sitting room which is joined by six bedrooms. The third floor is usually reserved only for the Potter family. It has a large sitting area which is joined by the master bedroom and four bedrooms. The third floor also has a library dedicated to the Potter Family history and extremely rare books that the family kept aside so it wouldn't be destroyed, tampered with, or housed some of the Potter Family spells developed over the years. Every bedroom has their own private bathroom and the bedrooms change to accommodate the occupant."
Harry asked, "What's in the basement?"
"The basement houses a holding chamber for prisoners. If an intruder manages to sneak into the house by hiding in something that somebody brought in like a wizard with an animagus form of a bug manages to sneak into the house through a shopping bag than they will be instantly sent to the holding chamber."
"Is that like a torture chamber?"
"No, this is only a holding area for observation and interrogation."
"Is there anything else in the basement?"
"Yes, it houses the potions lab and infirmary that automatically refills on anything that it is not stocked full of. The potions lab is equipped to the equivalence of five Hogwarts potions stock. There is also a sitting room down there but it is the least comfortable sitting room out of the entire house."
"You mentioned that this is the main complex. What other building is there?"
"There is the barn that offers shelter to all the animals that live on the property. It is just behind the house and you can usually see animals running around the property. I'm sure they will also be happy to know that you've returned also. All the animals help to protect the borders of the property from other animals intruding on the property. Plus much of the animals are magical."
"I know that I arrived pretty beaten up, how is it that I'm healed now?"
Rain said, "When we saw you, you were barely conscious. We took you down to the infirmary and took care of all your wounds and gave you a blood replenishing potion. You seemed to heal fairly quickly."
"Oh, well, thank you."
The two house elves got up to clean up after dinner. While cleaning up, Harry asked them, "Can you two show me around the house? I really want to see the training area and the barn."
The three of them headed out to the barn first. They walked out of the back door in the main sitting room into the back yard. There was a covered porch that had small circular tables and a hammock for relaxing outdoor. The porch was surrounded by short bushes that were bordered by flowers. The grounds looked absolutely beautiful with the forest forming a box around the open area of the property. The barn was directly behind the house and was two stories tall. The walls went up about fifteen feet and than there were poles shooting up about five feet from there that supported the upside down 'V' style roof. The poles allowed for the birds to fly in and out and air to flow freely throughout the barn. The barn had two sets of twelve foot tall French style doors that were about teen feet wide to allow lots of room for entry and exiting. The barn was colored in a dark green and white which made it flow in with the surrounding greenery.
When they walked into the barn all the animals in there seemed to stop what they were doing and looked at Harry as he walked in with the two house elves. The middle of the barn looked like what could be an area to hold a large bonfire. It had what looked like wood wrapped around itself and it was so large that it didn't seem like it would have problem keeping the barn warm during the winter even with all the open areas of the barn. The barn seemed to mimic a forest. There was a large grassy area for just grazing and several trees that had nests in them for the birds to stay in. There is a large two level fountain with the top level for the birds to drink from and the bottom level for all the land animals to drink from.
Next to the fountain about thirty feet away was a large area for feeding. There were many different types of food there from bird seeds, to shrubs, and meat for the carnivores. Everything that the animals needed could be found inside of the barn. The barn looked absolutely massive from the inside. The inside of the barn looked like it was about five acres of land.
The animals slowly approached Harry as he looked around all the animals that were gathered there. Harry asked, "How many animals are there that stay here?"
Rain said, "There are many different types of animals here but you should know that a few of them are pets of the Potter Family."
Ray continued on by saying, "There are several breeds of horses, wolves, dogs, cats, hawks, eagles, ravens, deer, tigers, and panthers. They are not your pets but they do live on the land and protect the borders of the property. In fact, most of them don't mind being looked as pets but they like their sense of freedom but if you ever need or want them, they will come to you."
Rain said, "The pets of the Potter Family in most case are extremely rare. The only reason why they are pets because they have either been in the family for a long time or asked to be a pet and guardian of the family and watch over its members. The pets are the only ones that leave the property and can be summoned outside of the property."
Harry was petting the various animals affectionately and all of the animals seemed to pick up on his sincerity. They allowed him to pet them and then ran off and played with each other. Harry turned around and asked, "Who are the pets of the Potter Family?"
Rain held up her hand and yelled, "Summon!"
Three birds flew down to Harry from the four corners of the barn along with a land animal came rushing forward as fast as they could. The land animal that reached Harry jumped up into his arms. It was a baby white tiger.
Rain said, "This white tiger is Blaze. He has two magical abilities. He can change to the size of an adult white tiger and ability to disappear to another place similar to using a portkey with the ability of taking somebody with him."
Harry stroked it behind its neck and said, "It's nice to meet you Blaze." Blaze jumped down from Harry and turned into an adult white tiger that was about four feet tall. Harry jumped back from the shock and walked back up to stroke Blaze.
Blaze rubbed against Harry's leg affectionately. Harry continued to stroke Blaze while the two of the birds landed on Blaze and the third bird landed on Harry's left shoulder. They were three phoenixes that were of different color. Harry turned to the three birds and stroked each one of them.
The first phoenix looked like Fawkes with his gold and red feathers. The second phoenix has red feathers with white feather ends. The last phoenix, the one that is on Harry's shoulder has light blue feathers that looked like the sky along with white feather ends. Ray said, "The gold and red phoenix's name is Sunrise, the red and white phoenix's name is Sunset, the blue and white phoenix's name is Nightlight."
Harry said, "Hi, Sunrise, Sunset, and Nightlight. How are you?"
Sunrise and Sunset nodded their head and gave a peaceful trill than flew off to their respective nests. Nightlight stayed on Harry's shoulder while Blaze shrank back down and followed Harry around.
Rain said, "Don't worry about Sunrise and Sunset, they like to stay hidden and will show up instantly if they sense you're in danger or if you want them."
Ray said, "Nightlight and Blaze are probably going to follow you around everywhere. Nightlight will probably follow you to Hogwarts and stay out of sight when there but Blaze is more than likely going to follow you everywhere. The two of them are really protective of the Potter family."
Harry said, "I see. Well, let's get back to the house and you can show me the training room."
On their way back to the mansion, Harry saw what looked absolutely beautiful. The house was colored red and gold. He could see part of the front yard of the house from the side of the house and the forest wrapped around the edge of the front yard also. The house stood tall and looked magnificent because of the way the light bounced off the house and the way the windows seemed to sparkle.
They walked into the training room, which had two rooms to it. The first room was similar to the room at the reading of Sirius' Will at Gringott's. The room had several comfortable looking sofas that faced the window facing the training room. There were tables behind the sofas.
Harry proceeded through the next door and looked around the room. It turned out that the window that the other room used to look into this room is a mirror that they couldn't see through. Harry was able to see through the mirror though with the use of his new glasses. The room had several different types of hand held weapons along the wall like swords, staffs, and kendo sticks among other weapons. Harry saw there were several life size dummies that lined the wall.
Rain said, "This room has been charmed to accommodate the fighter's abilities so that they are not completely overwhelmed but don't have such an easy time. The dummies along the wall will be the training partners and the books in the libraries will help teach you new skills. If there is any difficulty, then the dummies can show you how to perform something. This is mainly for hand to hand combat. They can not show you how to perform a spell."
Harry said, "That's good. Oh before I forget. I better get a letter to everybody so they know that I'm fine. They're probably worried out of their mind."
Ray said, "Write your letter and Nightlight will be able to deliver the letter for you. We'll go and prepare lunch."
Harry went back up to his room to write his letter while Ray and Rain disappeared with a snap of their fingers. Harry searched his room and went to the door on the right which led to a private office. There is a large luxurious desk along with several bookcases that line the wall. There was a sofa and two plush chairs that sat facing a wizards chess set. The desk faced the sofa. Harry noticed that all of his stuff was unpacked and a few of his things were used to decorate the office like the picture of his parents dancing was on his desk. Harry sat for a moment before he wrote his letter.
Everybody,
I'm sorry for causing everybody trouble but I wanted to let everyone know that I'm safe. I'm currently hiding in a place that nobody will guess and should be safe for the time being. There are a few things that I must do before I return but don't worry. You won't be able to contact me though so don't worry about me. I hope that everybody is safe and well. Until next time, I hope that everybody stays safe.
Harry
P.S. The mirror
Harry gave the letter to Nightlight and said, "Here girl, take this to 12 Grimmauld Place where the rest of the order is at. It's our headquarters against evil so try not to be seen. Now off you go."
The phoenix flew into the air and disappeared in a ball of flames. Harry went down to the kitchen to join Rain and Ray for lunch with Blaze following Harry around. They sat down with Blaze eating out from a small dish on the ground next to Harry.
Meanwhile back at headquarters, the Weasleys, the Grangers, and Remus were eating lunch in the kitchen when the blue and white phoenix interrupted their meal. Everybody jumped back for awhile with a few wands drawn. Hermione and Ginny had screamed which caused Tonks and Professor Dumbledore to rush into the room.
The phoenix flew over to the nearest person and landed on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny took the letter from the phoenix and it flew into the air. Nightlight took to the air and disappeared before Ginny had time to unroll the letter.
Once she finished reading the letter to everyone, the relief on everybody's face was showing. Everybody was confused about the mirror message except for Ginny. She didn't want to make it obvious that she knew what was going on so she stayed with everybody for the time being and finishing lunch while the discussion about Harry started again.
The conversation went from where could Harry be to is he really safe and to why didn't he want to show up yet. An Order meeting was called and the children were pushed out the door. Ginny decided that it wasn't safe yet to try to get in contact with Harry. She was going to wait until it was night and sneak into Sirius' room to talk to Harry.
Back with Harry, he had a nice lunch talking with Ray and Rain about the last few years. They worked out a schedule how things will be done for the rest of the summer so everybody will be able to get into a rhythm and not disrupt anybody too much.
After lunch, Harry went to muggle London to get some shopping done. He decided to get clothes that actually fit him. Blaze was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to follow Harry at the moment but seemed to understand that walking around town with a tiger is not very common and could draw too much attention. The two of them appear to be able to communicate to one another even though Harry didn't know how to speak to a tiger.
Clothes shopping started out slow because Harry didn't know what to get and what size clothes he wore. After a few sales ladies managed to get his clothes size and recommend different outfits from sleeping clothes to some dress clothes. In the end after approximately four hours of shopping in muggle London and a quick stop at Gringott's to pick up money for his shopping spree, he ended up buying five sets of sleep clothing, twenty sets of casual clothing, and five sets of dress clothing.
Harry arrived back home and placed his stuff away and explored the house further. By the end of the night, Harry had burned all of Dudley's old clothing and dressed in his new clothing. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought that clothes that actually fit him made a big difference to his appearance. While exploring the mansion with Nightlight and Blaze, Harry heard his name being called.
Harry pulled out the mirror that he shrunk into his pocket and with a tap of his wand, the mirror changed back to its regular size. Harry was in the library at the moment looking through the defense section of the library. He said, "Ginny Weasley," and Ginny's face showed up in the mirror.
Ginny's face lit up and said, "Harry! Are you ok?"
Harry smiled because of the concern that Ginny was giving and said, "I'm great Ginny. Everything started out rocky but it's good now. How are you? How is everything over there?"
"It's been going fine over here. Everybody was worried sick about you that night that you were attacked. The tension died down a bit after we received your letter but there is some skepticism that you are really fine and safe. Remus has been more worried than most and Professor Dumbledore even seemed to have lost the twinkle in his eyes that we seem to be used to."
"I'm really sorry for causing all of the worry."
"I know Harry, but how come you're not returning?"
"I have something real important that I need to do that I think that Sirius would want me to do. It's a secret for now but I will let everybody in on it soon."
"You're not going to tell me either?"
"Not yet, Ms. Weasley, you'll just have to wait and find out with everybody else. If everything turns out the way I think it will than you will be pleasantly surprised."
Ginny conceded that she wouldn't be able to get anything out of him about it. The two of them talked about various things that have been going on. They decided to call it a night when Ginny gave a yawn. Harry told her that he won't be able to talk to her through the mirror anytime soon and that she should call him when the Hogwarts letters and O.W.L. results arrived. Ginny promised to let him know and reluctantly said good bye to each other until the letters arrived.
Harry ended up spending the rest of June working on a few major areas of improving himself to help him defeat Voldemort if they should fight anytime soon. Harry started the morning off with a three hour workout that started at five in the morning with intensive training in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Occlumency and Leglimency, Animagus, Apparating, and Stealth Movements and Fighting. To compliment his everyday schedule, he also included a rotating schedule of Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and Potions. By the end of the month, he had mastered Apparating, became very proficient in Stealth Movements and Fighting, and felt like he had mastered Occlumency but needed to be tested in it. He had made lots of progress and becoming an Animagus and Leglimency which he was practicing on people in Hogsmeade that randomly walked by. In all of his other work, he had the equivalent knowledge of seventh year graduates but his Defense work seemed to be moving the quickest due to his physical training in the morning.
In July, Harry decided to drop Occlumency training but used it to practice prior to sleeping and after awhile became second nature to him. Harry decided to replace the Occlumency and Apparating part of his schedule with Healing. He was extremely thankful for the extensive library which showed him how to do things with the assistance of the dummies in the training room. Rain and Ray even managed to help him with things concerning non-magical training. July proved to be a month full of excitement and break through in Harry's training. At mid-month while in the training arena, Harry managed to successfully turn into his animagus form for the first time and see what he was. Harry became a gold and red phoenix. This didn't surprise him very much though because his family is tied so closely with a phoenix. There was only one other recording of a phoenix animagus which was Godric Gryffindor.
Shortly before Harry realized his animagus form, he mastered Leglimency and only needed to truly test it against a master along with his Occlumency which he made a note of to test his abilities when he shows up at headquarters. Harry decided to increase his Healing training in replacement of Leglimency and switched his Animagus training to controlling and enhancing his Animagus abilities. By the end of July, Harry was extremely proficient in his animagus transformations and abilities along with having the ability of a field medic in healing. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry had the abilities equivalent to somebody who just graduated from Auror training. His training in this field now included martial arts, wandless, wordless, and wandless/wordless magic. In the other fields of study, Harry was proficient enough that if needed to, he would have enough experience and knowledge to become a professor at Hogwarts.
At the start of training in August, all of his training became so intense that if somebody wasn't careful than there would've been a major explosion in potions or lost a few limbs in Defense training. By mid-August Harry was extremely fit and proficient in everything that he was doing. With the assistance of the necklace, ring, and glasses which helped him accelerate at such a fast pace that his professors would now have problems keeping up with him. Harry was by no means invincible but he became confident in what he did. This added with him eating properly and exercising gave him an aura that he was not a person to be taken lightly and demanded attention although he didn't want attention. His thirst for knowledge decided to spread into pleasant reading in philosophy and social theories.
A/N: Here's to all of my reviewers.
Mysticah: I'm glad that I might convert you. I usually only ready H/G and H/Hr stories so maybe it'll be a nice change.
Dancerrdw: I hope that his was quick enough update.
Gopha-gurl: Don't worry; Harry's going to be pulling some tricks later on with the toys.
Hrtbreaker: Sorry, I wasn't intentionally leaving a cliffhanger and didn't realize it until you said so.
Sillypaulie: I'm glad to please you.
Rubber-duckiesofdoom: Hope you liked this chapter just as much.
Lady Jillyan Malfoy-Potter: I'll try to keep you happy.
Bobboky: Thank you, I'll try to keep it up.
Nutty Al: I hope that this chapter answered your questions. Yes, I think Ginny fell for him but will he return it?
Tanydwr: I love crazy reviewers, j/k. Yup, Harry has been taken back to the mansion and don't forget to keep up with the crazy reviews.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews and please keep up it up.