Harry awoke the next morning and for a minute forgot where he was. When it all came back to him he checked the status of his shields and found them sound and secure. Working on his theory from the night before he dropped and erected them very swiftly, flinching in the moment they were down. He showered and pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before heading out of his room. He stopped to bang on Mark's door before heading down to breakfast.
A few minutes after he sat down with his food Mark came in looking daggers at him. Considering where they were, Harry wondered if he was actually going to get hurt. "Think you're funny Potter? It is entirely too early for anyone to be awake." Harry grinned and stabbed his eggs; "You are such a crybaby, worse than my mate Ron." Mark glared again and then looked to the buffet of food across the hall. Slowly he mentally sent his tray along the line, adding food to it occasionally before he hit the end and began bringing it toward them. Halfway across the hall a kind looking older woman intercepted his tray and said, "Marcus Smith, you know the rules, no telepathy at meals." Mark groaned and got up, retrieving his tray from the woman before sitting back down. The woman followed him to the table and turned to Harry, "So I hear you had to be…let in to the school store last night Mr. Potter." Harry looked down at his sweatpants and shirt sheepishly before saying, "Yes ma'am, I didn't have any of my things after my incident yesterday…" he stopped because she seemed to be stifling a laugh, "Its quite alright Mr. Potter, I know you would have waited until morning if Mr. Smith here hadn't opened the door for you. I'm glad you were able to find some clothes, I'll talk to Arthur about taking you shopping now that your shields are active."
Harry nodded eagerly and then thought back to the night before, "Were you the voice I heard ma'am?" She smiled down at him, "Yes, and you took to my instruction quite well. I'm Headmistress Elena Smith, this hooligan," she cuffed Mark on the head, "is my nephew and should know better. Your classes start in an hour in room five, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with different instructors each day. Tuesday mornings will be spent in room two with Mark here, and Tuesday afternoons will be spent in room one with Auror Tonks working on your spell work. Any questions?" Harry nodded, "Am I allowed to use my wand here? I don't want to get you guys in trouble with the ministry." Again she smiled at him, her gray eyes twinkling not unlike Dumbledore's, "We have many wards in place to keep such things from happening to our students, much like Hogwarts does so fear not." Harry smiled back and said thank you, then returned to his breakfast. She thwacked Mark again before heading to the head table, summoning a tray just as Mark had. "She is such a bloody hypocrite, but I love her so I can't blame her." Mark shook his head and then laughed as his aunt stuck her tongue out at him.
Harry got up after a filling breakfast and waved goodbye to Mark as he headed to room five to start his education. The room he found would have made Hermione's year, it was filled wall to wall with books. A young man sat at a desk with one chair opposite him, flipping through a book very quickly. Looking up as the door closed he smiled and said, "Ah, Mr. Potter is it? Welcome to the arsenal." Harry looked around questioningly, looking for a weapon rack. "You will not find any physical weapons here, for a psion you are only as deadly as your imagination. My job is to fill that brain of yours with as much information as possible so that when you're fighting, or simply doing chores, you find a creative way to be as efficient as possible." He motioned to the seat in front of him, "Elena tells me that your shields are more than adequate, do you mind if I take a look?" Harry took the proffered seat and gave his ascent. He fell back into his mind; looking over the vast walls he built to protect himself. Floating on the outside was the man, who seemed to be talking with the goblins guarding the gate. Floating over himself he heard the man trying to make the goblins smile with some off color jokes. Harry rolled his eyes and pushed out, expelling the man from his mindscape.
"Now that you've examined my walls, how about you tell me your name?" The man grinned and held his hand out, "Jacob Baker." Harry shook his hand and then said, "So how am I supposed to get all this information," he gestured to the books around him, "into here?" he pointed at his head. Baker reached for a tome from a shelf behind him and handed it to Harry, "Reach out to this tome with your mind. Imagine the people that have handled it before you, feel their presence on the pages, now feel how they interpreted the information and brought it into their consciousness." Harry concentrated on the pages and saw hundreds of ghostly hands opening the book and flipping the pages, the information almost tangible as a beam of energy coalescing toward his chest. Thinking quickly he tilted the book and adjusted the beam to hit his forehead. As the beam hit him just to the left of his scar he gained not only the information in the book but the way its previous readers used the information. "Woah, that was a crazy rush. Is it like that every time?" Harry looked at the spine of the book and saw that the book was on Kendo, the Japanese art of sword fighting, as he read it he realized he already knew that, and he felt that if he had a sword he could do some damage. "When you take in information like this you'll find it easier to recall at a later date. Tell me what page the book discusses hand positioning for a defensive stance." Without thought the answer was on his tongue, "Page 107, there are three different hand positions for the three defensive stances."
Baker smiled and handed Harry another book, "Most adepts run out of room after storing about 20 books like this. We give them to you in a specific order so that you learn things that you absolutely need to know. You won't be proficient in the skills you're learning about because you haven't built muscle memory yet, but you will be able to build that with practice." Harry eyed the pile of books that Baker was stacking onto the desk in front of him, "Why do I get the feeling you don't think I'm going to have a problem with the number of books I can maintain?" The man grinned, "I was told to push you, so get through the basics and we can start picking fun books to shove into your head." Harry rolled his eyes and worked through the pile in front of him, he learned the history of psionics and the history of the school. He continued to learn about famous people who happened to be psionic and how they used their powers for the greater good. He saw a trend in the stories about praising those that did well and shunning those that blundered or used their unique power for evil purposes. "A bit one sided isn't this stuff?" Baker winced, "A bit, but there really weren't many of us to go evil and those that did were hunted down and disposed of by one of the council. Okay we're at 15/20. I'm going to have you take in some books on muggle weaponry and other non-magical solutions that could help you in a pinch." Harry, being a teenager and thinking swords are cool, took in another book on kendo as well as a few scrolls on ninjutstu. With his last book he searched the tomes until he found the one he was looking for. He found a book on pureblood ancestry and traditons and decided to add that to his reference knowledge.
Feeling like his head was exploding he massaged his temples and looked at Baker who was grinning, "You have plenty of room in there, any knowledge past this that you add may react like the information you just stored, or like photographic memory, or like your old memory, repetition creating neural pathways the old fashion way. Try falling into your mindscape and organizing the information into a library, time moves quicker there so take your time. If it gets to lunch time I'll pull you out and feed you." Harry nodded, and sat back in the comfortable chair, letting his mind relax he found himself in Hogwarts' library, though the shelves were empty he found the books that he had absorbed laying in piles on a nearby table. Deciding to sort his knowledge by subjects he re-imagined the library and began to sort his books. Near the bottom of the pile he found books containing his knowledge from before the summer, everything he knew compiled into different books. Some not as big as others, some he wished were bigger; he was determined to make some changes.
He came to his senses just as Baker came back with a tray of food. "All done then?" he asked, handing the tray to Harry. He nodded and dug into the food, somehow starving.
After finishing his lunch he said goodbye to his 'weapons' instructor and headed back to his room. Changing his mind halfway he wandered around the administrative wing of the school until he found the Headmistress' office. Knocking quietly he was beckoned with a polite, "Come in Harry." He opened the door to find an office more akin to a muggle headmistress, full of dark wood and leather. She gestured to a chair across from her and he took a seat. "How was your first lesson?" She asked as she offered him a tin of biscuits. He took one and leaned back in his chair, "Interesting, I think I can hold a lot more knowledge than I went through today. I was wondering if Mr. Weasley and I could go shopping for a few things? While I'm used to baggy clothes, I'd much rather have some color in my life." He picked at the white t-shirt he was wearing to amplify his point. She grinned before narrowing her eyes at him, "How are your shields? Do you think you'd be up to facing downtown London? That's a lot of thoughts to be banging at the gates." Harry thought for a moment before reaching out with his mind and probing a muggle outside to determine where they actually were. Without being too invasive he constructed a map of the area based on his experiences. "Trick question," he began, "we are already in central London, unless that bloke outside is terribly confused." The grin reappeared on the Headmistress' face, "Good, I just wanted to see if you had actually learned anything this morning. Did you learn how to mentally 'tap' people and how to construct a link?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, but I wasn't sure about the etiquette for it among psions and wizards. Most wizards are a bit possessive of their thoughts, so I'm not sure how to go about it." Arching her fingers much like Dumbledore, Elena sat back in her chair, "Among psions, as long as you've met before, they can identify you from your mental signature and will generally allow the link if you knock nicely. Here let me show you." First Harry felt the gentle stroking from the night before, recognizing it as Elena he shaped his shields to allow her mild access, just enough for her voice to enter his mind, "As you can see, you recognized me from our earlier encounter, I'm going to tap Mark and have him give it a shot." A minute later Harry felt a separate but distinct presence knocking, without much thought he identified the presence as Mark and allowed him similar access, and then with a twist of his shields he connected the boy with his aunt in a three way conversation. "Hey Mark, thanks for helping me with this. This whole mind-speech thing is so cool!" Looking up at Elena he saw a look of surprise on her face, focusing on the link he created he asked "Did I do something wrong? You look surprised." She shook her head and regained her composure, "Nothing Harry, you just showed initiative by combining our links, nobody showed you how to do it, or that it was even possible, and yet you figured it out on your own. You have a lot of potential for this I'm very excited to see where you are at the end of the summer." At this Mark broke in, "Yeah, the next thing we usually try to determine the distance you can hold the link at, once you get Translocation down we'll test that out." Mark broke the link and a few seconds later Elena did as well.
"Yes, as Mark mentioned we'll test your distance once you can travel on your own. Before you ask, Translocation is much like apparition except you can go to places you've never been before and, if you can link with someone that is there already, build a detailed mental image from their memories and transport yourself more accurately. Doing this with another psion is a slightly different type of knock that asks for that information specifically, for our combat destined students it is an invaluable skill." Harry nodded, "Sounds exciting, well I'll go ask Mr. Weasley if he has time to take me." Elena motioned him out, following him to the door and closing it behind him. Shaking her head at Harry's apparent aptitude for the mind arts she returned to her desk where she was writing reports for the Wizengamot.
Going down a few doors and sensing Mr. Weasley behind a mostly closed door he knocked as he pushed it open, calling into the room "Mr. Weasley?" The red-haired older man looked up from a pile of parchment he was working his way through. "Harry! How are you coping at the Institute? Everyone treating you okay?" Harry nodded and decided to push straight to his point of being there, " I was wondering if you'd arrange for me to get into Diagon Ally and maybe muggle London this afternoon and evening, I've already cleared it with the Headmistress, but I thought I'd ask you since you'd be in charge of my security detail." He said it seemingly all in one breath, causing his best mate's dad to burst into laughter. "We aren't really authority figures for you Harry, you don't need my permission to go, but I will contact some members of the Order to see if they can spare the time to happen to be in the Ally starting in say, an hour?" Harry nodded and thanked him profusely, "Harry its fine, meet me here in an hour and we'll floo into the Leaky cauldron." Harry nodded and left the room, excited to replace the gym clothes he was living in.
An hour later Harry came barreling down the stairs, nearly knocking Simon and Coggy down in the process. "Sheesh Harry, in a rush are we?" Harry paused long enough to call back, "Going shopping, and no quips about me being a girl, all my stuff got destroyed." Both boys put their hands up defensively, "Easy there Potter, we're really not THAT interested in your life." They both winked and then waved before continuing their trip up the stairs. In Arthur's office Harry found Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt waiting for him by the fireplace. "Potter! Get your wand out of your pocket, you'll blow…" Harry interrupted him by pulling his wand and, flicking it carelessly at his left wrist, cast a light sticking charm and affixed it to his forearm. "Er, good thinking, right then we don't expect anyone is out to get you right now, the Deaters took a pretty hard hit last week at the ministry, just don't dawdle if you can help it." Harry rolled his eyes and, following Kingsley, took the floo out of the Institute and into the Leaky Cauldron.
After greeting Tom behind the bar, the trio made their way through the back and into the Ally proper. Not waiting for his escort Harry bee lined for Gringott's, intending to withdraw as much as his trust account would allow in order to replace his lost possessions. Used to guarding politicians neither auror reacted to being treated as if they weren't there, they understood that Harry was sick of being guarded like a golden Buddha and kept a discreet distance. Walking up to the teller he greeted the goblin, reading his nameplate he said, "Good afternoon Rustknot, I'm interested in withdrawing some funds from my trust account, however due to a recent mishap, most of my belongings, including my Gringott's key were destroyed, is there anything I can do about that?" The goblin eyed him suspiciously before pulling out a stone block the size of a textbook and placing it in front of Harry. On top was an indent that was clearly for his hand, and in the center of the palm was a sharp stone spike. Getting the idea Harry placed his hand down, fingertips first, and then pushed down on the spike until he felt it pierce his skin before pulling his hand away, sucking at the wound.
A scratching sound came from the stone and "Lord Harry Potter-Black" appeared across the top of the block. "What does that mean, Potter-Black? I'm not a Black, at least not last time I checked." The goblin held up a knobby finger and hit a bell that sat beside his teller station. Almost immediately a goblin approached form behind, Rustknot spoke to him in Gobbledygook and he ran off. Turning to Harry Rustknot said, "Last week the will of the head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black came into effect, from what I can tell you inherited at least his title. I sent for a copy of the will to be sure. Usually we wait a month before reading the will to investigate all parties, but if I remember correctly, you're the only one named." Harry nodded, "Yeah, I got notification of the reading yesterday." Thinking about Sirius brought up all sorts of emotions he didn't want to be having, but since he had a decent control over his mind, he was able to push them aside for now, though he knew from his "reading" that he'd have to deal with them sooner rather than later.
A few minutes later the goblin runner returned with a sheaf of parchment and handed it to Rustknot. Shuffling through the papers he made several indistinct noises to himself before looking up at the teenager. "It seems that he left you a majority of his estate, including the title of Head of House Black. Also, since he was your intended legal guardian according to the will of your parents, he emancipated you upon his death if it occurred before your seventeenth birthday. This in turn gives you access to the Potter family vault as well as the Black family vault. The numbers aren't important right now, one wizard couldn't possibly spend the money in a lifetime the way a good portion of it is invested." Reaching below the counter the goblin pulled out a hefty sack of galleons and pushed it across the desk, "This should help you replace some of your missing items Lord Potter-Black, and I'll withdraw the amount from your vault for you. Since control of your vaults has come out of trust, a full inventory must be done before you have access to them. Is there anything else Gringott's can do for you today sir?"
Harry's mouth hung open and he stuttered trying to compose himself. Shaking his head he said, "Sorry Rustknot, this is a lot to comprehend at once. Could I also have some muggle currency? I have a few things that I need to get from muggle London." Nodding the goblin pushed a stack of currency across the counter towards Harry. Dropping his money into his pockets Harry thanked the goblin and asked for a balance of his accounts and an inventory of his vaults sent to him as soon as was convenient and turned to leave the bank. He barely made it out of the doors before his emotions came flooding over him, rushing from the corner of his mind where he had thrust them minutes before. He walked quickly to an unoccupied space along the front wall of Gringott's, attempting to desperately choke back tears. Catching up with him Moody put a hand on his shoulder, "All right there Harry?" The teen shook his head, lifting it to meet the grizzled man's gaze, tears amplifying his green eyes.
"Its okay lad, I'm surprised it hadn't hit you before now. What happened in there?" Harry recounted his conversation with Rustknot and when he got to the part where Sirius had left him mostly everything he burst into tears again, "I don't want his money Moody! I want him back!" Moody nodded and patted him on the back, helping him compose himself. "Well, you do know what he would want you to do with that money right?" Asked Moody slyly, a grin contorting his grim face. Harry shook his head; sniffing back the last of his tears, "Go buy things that would make Molly ab-so-lute-ly freak out." Harry let out a guffaw, much like the barking laughter Sirius was known for. Nodding to himself he thanked Moody for the cheering up and made his way to Olivanders and purchased a wand holster, which he strapped to his arm, much to the approval of both Aurors. Next he went to Madame Malkins and replaced his school and dress robes. After that he purchased a new trunk, as his was in multiple pieces and partially smashed due to his outburst. He asked the counterman at Flourish and Blotts for a full set of Hogwarts books from every year and course, setting the haul in his trunk before having Kingsley shrink it so he could drop it into his pocket.
Engaging the disillusionment charm on his wand holster, Harry pushed out the front door of the Leaky Cauldron and raised his hand to shade his eyes from the setting sun. Getting his bearings he headed east, towards King's Cross station but more importantly, toward Harrod's Department Store. Somewhere along the way his guards had transfigured their robes and were walking a step behind him, watching for shady characters as Harry trudged solemnly on. Arriving at the store he checked the directory before nodding to himself and making his way to men's wear. The girl who came to help him was in her late teens and gave him an odd look as she showed him around. Noticing the incredulous looks she was shooting him he said, "Thank you for all of this help," he read her name tag "Tiffany, my bags were stolen at the Airport and I just spent a month on the continent traveling around, I'll probably need to replace my whole wardrobe." Realizing that she was most likely up for a huge commission on such a large order, her demeanor instantly changed to one of eager helpfulness and Harry smirked to himself. Catching Kingsley's eye he winked as the girl began loading herself with different sizes of casual wear for him to try on.
Deciding to tease her further, he summoned her to the dressing room while he was in between trying on trousers and asked her for a different size. He had left the door ajar and the look on her face in the mirror as she eyed his lean muscles was priceless. The surface thoughts that she practically projected at him almost caused him to blush but he kept his composure until she left, laughing to himself when she was out of earshot. "That was not nice Potter, you shouldn't mess with the nice muggle girl." Growled Moody from his post in the hallway, though Harry was certain he heard a note of humor in it. Once Harry had two weeks of casual clothes sorted out and waiting for him behind the counter, Tiffany eagerly took a tape measure in hand and led him to the formal wear and took his measurements. Explaining that he was returning to boarding school in the fall and that he would need dress pants and shirts for his uniform, he was rewarded with quite a few shades of gray and black slacks as well as dress shirts that ran the Gryffindor color spectrum.
In the end Harry was loaded down with nine bags of assorted clothes, including the jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt he had switched for his sweats. Tiffany graciously rung him up and, on top of paying the large total for his clothes, he tipped her an extra fifty pounds, winking at her and thanking her for her time. For this he was rewarded with her phone number scribbled on the back of his receipt, which he slid into his new wallet and waved to the girl before he gathered his bags and headed out of the store. Finding a secluded alley, Mad-Eye kept a look out while Kingsley shrunk the purchases and Harry slid them into a pocket before they made their way back toward Diagon Ally. "Sometimes I feel like you have more of Sirius in you than your parents, kid." Said Moody, grinning as they walked. "He was the closest thing I had to a dad, thanks to Moldy old Voldy. I may get my dashing looks from my dad, and my inherent sense of right and wrong from mum, but Sirius had an impact on me too. You were right; he wouldn't want me cooped up and sulking, when I could be out having fun. I have a unique power now and I haven't felt any scar pain since that night you guys came to save us. I'll deal with Tom when he comes calling, but right now I need to be a teenager and I'm not going to let anything stop me."
Kingsley thumped him on the back, "That's the attitude Harry, if you don't let Voldemort affect you then he doesn't win." They made it back to the Leaky Cauldron just as the last hint of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. Inside Mr. Weasley was waiting for them; he beamed as she saw a cheery Harry wearing clothes that fit him. "Looks like you made out okay Harry, have a good shopping trip?" Harry nodded, filling Mr. Weasley in on his new title and inheritance. The red-haired man looked at him wide-eyed and said, "I'm glad you're taking this so well Harry, you know how bad it is for people like you to bottle up emotions right?" Harry nodded and said, "I had a cry earlier, but then I decided that Sirius wouldn't want me to be sad, he'd want me to go out and actually live my life. So I took myself shopping and got a pretty girl's phone number." His best mate's dad grinned widely, "Glad to hear that you're taking everything in stride and not bottling it up. Still I'd like you to talk to Elena when you get back, make sure you aren't doing something like that subconsciously." Harry nodded and Mr. Weasley offered a simple pen to Harry who took it and, with a tap of his wand, was pulled back to the Institute.