A/N: Well I'm just astounded at the response. I assure you that I will try my best not to abandon this story. Then again with these reviews coming the way they are I don't think inspiration will be a problem. I hope you like this chapter.
Harry Potter and
the Paradox of Time
Chapter 4: Summer's End
Earlier when he had been reading through the personal library in the master suite, he had come across a book that detailed all the features of the house from the wards that had been cast to the underground training area that made up the house. He thought that it would be the perfect place to train for the summer.
Harry made his way down to the den and opened the hidden trap door and descended into the stone room.
Harry was practicing the Emerald Lightening spell when Larry popped down to inform him that breakfast was ready. Harry thanked the elf before he put up the target dummies he had been using. Harry then made his way up to the dining room.
"Where have you been?" Lily asked tapping her finger on the table impatiently, but Harry could tell she had just been worried. "I couldn't find you in the entire house."
"Sorry. I couldn't sleep so I have been training. There is a training area and potions lab in the basement." Harry told her.
Again the two ate in silence, though Harry had a reason because he was busy stuffing his face. Harry hadn't been able to eat much this summer. He had thought that if he took too much the Dursleys wouldn't have been so understanding.
"So…when will we start Occlumency training?" Harry asked breaking the silence that had befallen the room.
"Anytime you are ready. I don't really have much to do. I finished all my homework the first week back, so I'm just doing whatever till the fourth when I can go get my apparition license. Then I'm just waiting till school starts. I really don't know much else what to do." Lily said.
"Well let me go take a shower and then we can begin Occlumency. If it will help the nightmares, I'll do anything. I've been having them since the end of my first year, and they make it hard to sleep sometimes." Harry didn't wait for a response and left the dining room.
When Harry finished his shower he had a thought, "Larry!"
The little house-elf appeared and bowed to him, "How can Larry help, Master Harry?"
"I was wondering if you could check all the houses if any post has arrived for James. He asked me to forward everything to him. Check all the houses if you would, and if you would check everyday I'll make sure to get it all to him like he wanted me to. Just leave it on my bed." Harry told the elf.
"Larry will, Master Harry." The house-elf bowed low again and with a crack disappeared.
Harry finished getting ready and then walked downstairs. He found Lily in the den reading again. Harry chuckled.
"What?" Lily asked looking up from the book.
"It's just that every time I find you, you are reading a book. It reminds me of one of my old friends. She tends to read a lot too." Harry said as his eyes glazed over and he remembered his old friends.
"Well I see that we really should start those exercises." Lily said giggling.
Harry broke out of his daze and gave her a mock glare. "Then let's get started already."
Lily was a much better teacher than Snape had been. She explained to him how to meditate, which is harder to explain than to do. It took Harry the majority of the morning to finally succeed. Stray thoughts would always pop into his head right as he thought he had succeed, which in itself was a stray thought. Lily then explained that once your mind was completely blank that you had to visualize some sort of representation of your mind. Once that was done he had to build a wall around his memories. To block just passive, non-aggressive Legilimency that was sufficient, but if someone decided to forcibly probe your mind the wall would crumble.
That had been all Lily had done, since that was all she needed to do for the exercises to control her dreams. From there all he had to do was sort all the things he didn't want to be in a dream into another inner section that had also been walled off. Once there Harry would have to consciously access them or they wouldn't be able to affect him in any way. That, and the meditation tended to block dreams all together.
Lily did go along to describe how to block out aggressive attempts but didn't go further than describing the theory. Harry vowed that he would start that night on building the stronger wall and organizing his thoughts. Harry did this more to block Voldemort than to block Dumbledore. Because, if it came down to how Harry wanted things to happen, Harry would need any advantage he could possibly have once he had to face Voldemort.
Once they had finished, it was time for Lunch. This time while they ate, they talked. Lily told Harry about Remus, who she thought was actually a nice guy despite the people he hung out with, Sirius, who was as bad as "Potter", and then Peter, who seemed like he was just a tag-along. They also talked about the teachers. Harry heard a few more stories about Slughorn. Harry was glad to hear that Lily didn't like much being part of his Slug Club. He also heard about Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures professor, and Professor Hennessey, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
As they were finishing up with the food when an eagle owl flew in the open window and landed on Lily's now empty plate. It stuck its leg out and waited for Lily to take the bulging envelope. Lily reached over and detached the letter. The owl let out an indignant hoot and took off through the window.
"Who's from?" Harry asked.
Lily turned it over and looked at the seal, "It's from Hogwarts, but I've already gotten my school letter. I wonder what it is." She said as she opened it.
She unfolded the letter and a small badge fell out. She read the first few lines of the letter and squealed, "They made me Head-Girl!" She said it over and over again. She flung the letter on the table not even bothering to read the rest and picked up the shiny badge.
Harry grabbed the letter and read it through. When he got to the end he groaned.
Lily stopped her celebrating and looked at him. "What's wrong, Harry? This is a good thing."
"Just read the letter the rest of the way through." Harry told her mysteriously.
Lily curiously picked up the letter and started to read. She got to the end and squealed again. "This is so cool! You're the Head-Boy! This is going to be so cool!" She said going back to her celebrations.
Harry groaned and shook his head. While Lily was still celebrating, Harry called Larry.
"Yes, Master Harry. What can I be's doing for you now?" The elf said with the customary bow.
"Could you bring any letters from Hogwarts that James received down from my room, please?" Harry asked quietly.
The elf disappeared and then reappeared with a crack each time. He handed the letters to Harry and disappeared presumably going back to whatever he had been doing before.
Lily heard the final crack and looked up. "What did Larry want?"
"I asked him to collect all of James' letters. Since there are no more living Potters their properties are freely accessible to anyone, so I thought it would be wise to get James' letters." Harry hated lying to her even if it was only a small lie, but it had to be done.
Harry opened the first Hogwarts envelope. It was just the standard letter, though Harry was relieved to learn that James was taking all the subjects he himself would have been taking.
The second letter turned out to be the letter informing him that James had been made Head-Boy. Harry really didn't know what he would have to do being Head-Boy. He hadn't even been a prefect, but when he tried to point this out though, she pointed out that James hadn't been a prefect either.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to figure it out then. But, now it's time for me to get back to my training," Harry told her as he stood up.
"Wait. Can I watch you? Even though I love reading, it can get awfully boring." Lily put on the best puppy dog eyes she could and stared at him her lips trembling like she would cry if he said 'no.'
Harry laughed. "You don't have to beg. I would have said yes even without that."
Lily giggled. "I know, but I just couldn't resist."
Harry led her to the trap door and opened it. He gestured for her to go down first, and she did.
When they were both down there, Harry waved his wand conjuring a chair for her. "You stay there. I'll be firing curses that way. Some of them are rather nasty so I wouldn't go anywhere near my line of fire, just in case."
Lily gave him an inquiring look but sat down in the comfortable chair and started reading the book she had brought done.
Harry had finished up the Emerald Lightening spell when he had been called up for breakfast, so he next started on the shield charm he had used at Diagon Ally when he had run through the crowd of Deatheaters.
The charm had no name. The incantation was 'Incurxitialus.' The book he had found it in didn't say much about it though. It just said the effects could vary from caster to caster, but with the right person casting it, it could be one of the safest shielding charms. It did note that you should know this spell was at least as strong as a normal Protego Shield as long as it only gave of a brief white light or none at all. The shield was meant to be used as a surprise.
The first few times he tried to use it, it gave off a brief blue flashes and then faded. Harry however wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be able to cast the shield charm like his body had done at Diagon Alley, it hadn't flashed at all. He tried a few more times and started to get frustrated when it finally turned into a white flash instead. But, Harry still wasn't satisfied. The white light just seemed to frustrate him even further. He decided to give it one final go and cast the spell.
He smiled when it finally didn't flash at all, immediately forgetting his frustration.
"What are you smiling for? It didn't work that time." Lily said who had watching him for a little while.
"Fire a spell at me then." Harry said throwing her his wand. Harry immediately felt fatigued when his wand left his hand, but he could tell that the shield was still active. It was just drawing more power since the wand there to channel it directly into the shield.
Lily caught the wand and thought for a second. Harry just hoped she would hurry or he might black out from trying to use so much power. She then decided what she was thinking about. "Potentio Mutiplo Stupefy!" Thirty red beams shot out of the wand and every single one was aimed at Harry.
The beams sailed, and even thought that they would surely tear through his shield, but he was surprised when they didn't.
All thirty hit at once and he thought he was going to pass out, but he didn't. Every single was absorbed into the shield and then a gigantic beam exited from where Harry's belly button was located. When the beam had exited, Harry actually blacked out for a few seconds, but was awakened when he fell to the floor. Harry saw the beam collide with Lily, and she was shoved back a bit and fell to the floor unconscious. Harry crawled over and grabbed his wand. He immediately felt a little better, and then he released the shield.
He took a second to catch his breath. He hadn't been expecting the fatigue from the shield. Evidently he had put so much power into it that it combined all the stunners into one super stunner and fired it back. He thought that it would definitely be a powerful shield to use even against Voldemort especially if he could become more adept at channeling his magic at will (the more power channeled into the shield the better it is.)
Once he was able to walk around the room without getting dizzy he tried to revive Lily. It didn't work at first, but then he remembered that when a person got hit with multiple stunners that it took an equal amount of power to revive the person.
He pointed the wand at Lily and yelled, "Potentio Mutiplo Ennervate!" Thirty blue beams left his wand and all hit Lily in the chest.
Lily sat bolt up right, "What happened?" She asked confused.
"That shield you thought wasn't working reflected all thirty stunners back at you." Harry told her holding back his laughter.
"Go ahead and laugh! I'd like to see you get hit with thirty stunners and not get disoriented." She said angrily seeing Harry holding back his laughter.
Harry burst out laughing, "Sorry. It's just when you woke up that you had the most shocked expression I've ever seen on your face."
Lily just swatted his arm. "What do you need such a powerful shield for? It seems like over kill when fighting a Deatheater."
"Whoever said I would be fighting a single Deatheater or even someone more powerful?" Harry asked looking at her.
"Why would you fight more than one Deatheater or… Wait, you don't mean to say that you would fight Voldemort, do you?" Lily said with a frightened look on her face.
"That is exactly what I mean." Harry told her.
"But, why? Leave him to Dumbledore. He can take him out, I'm sure. He has after all beaten a Dark Lord before." Lily said, but she didn't continue when she saw Harry shaking his head.
"This fight isn't one that Albus Dumbledore can win. I have to fight this fight." Harry said with a solemn look on his face.
"But, why, Harry?" Lily asked now concerned.
"That is something I can't tell you, not yet at least." Harry said looking away.
"Why? Can't you trust me, Harry?" Lily asked hurt.
"It's not that I can't trust you. It's just not safe for anyone else to know. If I told you someone else could find out. Before you say you would never tell a soul, I must say I know that, but someone doesn't have to just ask to find out. They could tear through your mental shields, as you have already admitted was possible, and take the information directly from your brain. That is just a risk I can't take." Harry said looking back into her face. It was a little better than had been when she thought he didn't trust him.
"So, if I strengthen my shield you'll tell me?" Lily asked hopefully.
Harry thought about. "Yes, I'll tell you, but I must warn you it won't be everything about me. There are some things I am not ready to share yet."
"I understand. I'm feeling a little dizzy though. I think I will go up to my room and lay down for a little bit.
"Would you like any help up? That was a powerful stunner you took." Harry asked the one now concerned.
"No. I should be fine." Lily said starting up the ladder.
But, Lily was only half way up when her right foot slipped off the rung of the ladder. She managed to catch herself, but Harry still spoke up, "I think I will help you up. You must be a little dizzier than you thought."
Lily just nodded and Harry floated the ladder up so she didn't have to climb anymore. She got off and Harry brought the ladder back to the floor and climbed up himself. Harry followed her to the stairs. She stumbled a bit on the first stair and Harry walked up and put her over his shoulder. He was just short enough to get his shoulder under her arm comfortably, it was a wonder how much neglect could stunt your growth.
They continued up the stairs without much trouble.
When they reached her bedroom door, she took her arm off his shoulder. She mumbled a 'thank you' and with a blush gave him a quick peck on the check and went into her room.
Harry stood there dumbly and touched his check that had turned a shade of red that would rival anything a Weasley could have produced. Still a little struck at the little action, Harry went into his room.
Harry himself was tired also from the event earlier. He had decided on the way up that he would start on the sorting of his thoughts and the building of the dividers and the other various things he had to do to strengthen the mental wall he had put up earlier. The building and strengthening was the quickest part, and he could probably finish that tonight. It was just the sorting of fourteen years worth of memories that would take awhile (he doesn't remember much of anything before he was three, besides that one night).
So Harry began on his mental construction. The first bit was to think of all the categories he would need. He could always add more later, if he needed to, but it was easier to do it all at first. As he was finding places to place all the different areas in his brain, he stumbled across a wall that was as impenetrable as a two foot thick steel wall. Harry just figured it was his subconscious. He was closer than he could ever guess.
Harry just built around it. He was just finishing up when a loud crack brought him out of his own thoughts.
"Dinner is ready, Master Harry." The house-elf said in its squeaky voice and its customary bow. It then disappeared with another crack.
Harry got off his bed where he had been sitting Indian style while he had meditated. He walked out of his room and shut the door. Harry looked up and Lily had just done the same. Their eyes met for a second, but they both quickly diverted them, blushes on each of their faces.
They walked down the stairs into the dining room. It was the most awkward dinner either of them had shared thus far. They kept their eyes diverted, but they couldn't resist the urge to look up, which tended to be at the same exact moment. They would then quickly divert their eyes again. It continued like that till they both excused themselves and walked back up to their rooms.
Harry decided to start sorting his thoughts. He managed to get through the past two days, but when he got to the letter that he had gotten from his parents he couldn't move on. The thought kept breaking his concentration was, If I'm my own father than that means…I have to do THAT with her. I can't do THAT with my own mum.
Harry couldn't move past that thought. After about two hours of trying he called it an early night and went to sleep. That night Harry had nightmares about Voldemort doing the most horrendous things to Lily. The worst part was that he had to watch as though it was vision, through Voldemort's eyes.
Harry didn't scream that night though. He had to watch the terrible things over and over again till he finally woke up at four in the morning his pajamas soaked in cold sweat.
Harry took a shower, but instead of going down and training he started to sort his thoughts again. This time he managed to sort that thought and he moved on. By the time he got done he could estimate that he could have his thoughts all sorted and the final strengthening of his walls in another week. Then all he had to do was to maintain the walls and sort his recent thoughts to keep his shields strong. Harry trained that day, but the training session ended early in the afternoon, and Harry disappeared for about an hour.
At dinner that night everything went back to normal and they talked some more. They both went into their rooms early that night, and they both worked on their Occlumency. Lily would be done by tomorrow night, she had been doing a watered down version of this for almost two years now after all.
After three hours of the exercises the two of them fell asleep. This time Harry didn't suffer from nightmares, but instead basked in the warmth of nothingness.
Harry woke up that morning and felt truly rested for the first time in months. He got ready for the day and was just finishing up when Larry popped in to tell him breakfast was ready and to deliver James' mail. It was just more letter from Sirius, Remus, and Peter like the rest of them had been. He burned Peter's, but decided to keep Sirius' and Remus' letters to read later.
Harry went down stairs and saw an anxious Lily that was eating as quickly as she possibly could. Harry ate a light breakfast not really being hungry, and waited for Lily to finish.
Once she had he started, "Well today is the big day. I hope you are ready. I'll take you over to Ministry so you can take your test. I can't stay though. I have some stuff that I need to take care of. I'm sure you can apparate back, and if you can't just floo to 'Godric's Hollow.'" Harry said with a smile on his face.
He apparated the two of them to the atrium of the Ministry and pointed her towards the check-in booth. He waved bye and then apparated back to the house. He got busy decorating the house and made sure that his present was ready and that Larry had the cake all set to go.
Once everything was ready Harry sat down in a chair to wait. She shouldn't be too long he didn't think. After about thirty minutes Harry heard door open. Lily called his name and walked down the hall poking her head into each room till she came to the dining room.
"Guess what, Harry? I passed." She squealed when she saw him. Then she noticed the decorations and the cake. "You didn't have to, Harry. This is great." Her face lit up even more, which Harry didn't think was actually possible.
They talked longer than they ever had up to that moment. Harry could tell that Lily was having a good time for the first time since her parents had died. He made him happy to know that he was the one that had caused this.
He had given her an advanced charms book he had taken from the Potter Family vault. She had absolutely loved it and demanded to know where he had gotten such a rare book, but Harry just smiled and refused to answer her.
She surprised him also by informing him that she would be done reinforcing her mental shield that night. Harry promised her that he would tell her what he wanted to know the next day, because he didn't want to spoil the mood.
Harry had also informed her about the section of his mind that he couldn't get into. He told her his theory, but she dismissed. Then she started rambling on about how it might be possible if his unconscious mind was blocking something from himself, but he didn't understand much past that.
For the rest of the day they played games and talked about happier times. They both had a late night, that night. So late that neither of them even bothered to practice their Occlumency exercises, though Lily did take the time to sort her remaining memories, falling asleep when she had finished.
Neither of them had nightmares that night. They only had good dreams.
The next when they awoke though, Harry was unusually gloomy. Lily just attributed this to the fact of what he was going to be telling her.
After breakfast Harry barricaded the two of them in the den and told Larry that they would be eating lunch in their today. Harry started his tale at the beginning of his life, leaving out the names of his parents and relatives of course, and went from there. Harry was into his third year when Larry served their lunch, leaving the Remus', Sirius', and Peter's name out of course. Harry then continued his tail.
Lily was amazed when he told her the tail of how he had been forced to resurrect Voldemort and the battle at the Ministry. He even told her about the prophecy. Then when he came to his sixth year he explained how Professor Dumbledore had taught him about Tom and about the Horcruxes. She had been horrified by the fact that Voldemort had created such a horrible artifact, let alone six (soul in seven parts), though at the moment it was only at four maybe five.
Lily had been even more horrified when she had found out that Snape was the one that had murdered Professor Dumbledore. She went as far as to give him permission to kill 'Snivellus' on the spot, if he liked. She had been really pissed at the man, even though she had defended him all those years from James.
When Harry finished he thought she might cry, but instead she looked up with a defiant look. "I'm going to help you." It was a simply statement. Harry couldn't find a way to argue with that. He had known enough about his mother that there was no way he could change her mind.
"Fine, I'll let you but, there is one condition." Harry told her.
"What?" She asked.
"You must train with me everyday, just as hard if not harder than I do. I, unlike you, have experience fighting Deatheaters and Voldemort. You must be ready for anything. We can't go to Dumbledore about this. It will only be the two of us against him, and if we fail there could be some serious consequences. So do you still want to help?" Harry asked her.
Harry wasn't surprised when she nodded her head vigorously. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She said.
For the rest of the month before September 1st they trained without rest, especially once Harry had erected his mental shields fully.
Lily caught up to him really quickly. She learned amazingly fast. She even tutored him in Transfiguration, which James had done very well in. He had been lacking in this area.
Harry had also remembered that he would be expected to join the rest of the Marauders on the nights of the full-moon when they would accompany Remus while he dealt with his "furry little problem."
At first she wanted to know that James and the rest of the Marauders were illegal animagi, but she gave up after a little protest.
It stumped him, but she suggested that he use prefect meetings and head-boy duties as an excuse not to join them. She thought Sirius would probably be able to handle Remus, if he happened to get out of hand.
Harry wasn't sure that it would work, but he could at least use it until he came up with a better excuse.
After that, they trained until they were so tired, that they could barely make it to their bedrooms. They continued like this right up till August 31, which they decided to take off as a break to celebrate the end of the holidays.
A/N: Well there is the fourth chapter. I hope you liked it. I found a beta so this will get up whenever she finishes with it, hopefully later today (Monday). On another note I have reopened my Yahoo! Group. It is mostly to get notices when a chapter is put up though. Other than that you can go there to discuss the story and from time to time I will answer questions and put up polls that will help me with the story by giving me inspiration or just entertaining me. Well I don't have much else left to say so R&R!