The next morning Harry was woken up when his bed was lifted from one side and he was unceremoniously dumped on the floor. Before his brain engaged itself he had summoned his wand to his hand and was pointing it at his attacker. A spell was on his lips, but he recognized Simon and Coggy before he finished casting. "What the hell guys? What time is it?" he asked, glancing at the near darkness outside his window. "6:30" said Simon, cheekily. Harry groaned and fell backwards, "Why the hell did you wake me up? Is this Mark's way of getting back at me for waking him up at 8 every morning?" Coggy laughed and offered Harry his hand and helped him up, "Nope, Headmistress said you're ours every Wednesday and each morning before breakfast. Apparently Tonks wants you in better shape than you're in, also we're going to give you some non-magical combat training on Wednesdays." Harry sighed and pushed them out of his room so he could change. Once he was in exercise clothes they made their way down to the gym.
"Alright Potter, I know you're going to hate this but the best way to build endurance is running, so we're going to do laps of the gym, six is a mile, I want you to do two miles." Harry nodded and set off, determined to better himself. When he was on the far side of the gym Coggy turned to Simon, "He's really determined, he hasn't complained once." Simon nodded, "Yeah, but you remember our briefing, he's got a lot of people after him and he has got to be at the top of his game if he is going to survive. Also he is getting over his godfather's death, he is driving himself to be able to protect those that he holds dear." Coggy nodded and waited while Harry finished his laps. When he was 'standing' next to them gasping for breath Coggy handed him a bottle of water and said, "Small sips." Harry nodded and followed instructions. "Simon is going to have you start on weights while I go and collect some weapons for you to learn on." Harry nodded and followed Simon to the weight room.
Thirty minutes later a groaning Harry followed a smiling Simon back to the open area in the gym where Coggy had set up a table with many different muggle weapons. "Alright there Harry?" asked Coggy, grinning. Harry flashed a rude hand gesture before finally recomposing himself and looking along the table. There was an assortment of muggle firearms as well as throwing knives and a variety of combat knives. "While there may be a wide range of spells you could cast, or manipulations you could do psychically, there are only so many different types of weapons used today by non-wizards. The basics groups are," he pointed down the line as he spoke, "Assault rifles, sub-machine guns or SMG's, handguns, and knives. Now we don't expect you to walk around Hogwarts with an AK-47 and police the hallways, but having a sidearm isn't out of the question." Harry ran his hands along the metal, "You're going to show me how to shoot someone?" The two older teens nodded, then Simon said, "From what we gather you're going to need to develop your killer instinct but quick, so we'll start you on the handgun and work with you on it most of the time, but you will get crash courses in the rest in case you come across a situation where you deem the use of a bigger weapon necessary. Honestly you'll probably get by just fine with your magic and telepathy but sometimes there is nothing like the feel of a gun in your hand to help you with your confidence."
Harry let out a resigned sigh and let the boys show him how to use the weapons. They took their lunch in the shooting range, and by the end of the day Harry was versed in the usage and cleaning of all the weapons, and was given permission by his instructors to come to the range whenever he wanted to practice his aiming, despite the fact that he seemed to be correcting his bullet's trajectory like he did with his spells. Harry was torn about learning to use the weapons, they were all lethal weapons and he wasn't sure if he was ready for the responsibility of using a weapon that only caused maiming and death. With his wand he was able to choose to deal non-lethal damage, he could knock people out, he could disable them without permanently giving them a limp or making them living-impaired. He was still thinking about this when he returned to his room after dinner, so he decided that he would write a few letters.
He wrote to not only Hermione and the Weasleys, but to Neville and Luna as well. He had been worried about how they were all doing after the fight at the Ministry, but after his initial contact with Hermione and Ron he felt a lot better about the whole situation. They had talked him out of feeling responsible for their injuries, and they were planning to get everyone together for his and Neville's birthday. Now he told them that he was keeping up with his training, suggesting to Neville to hire some tutors of his own so that he could catch up now that he had his own wand.
He yawned as he put the letters in his 'out' box, then stretched as he stood. He padded his way slowly to dinner, not talking very much to his friends as he was doing his best just to stay conscious. Simon and Coggy had run him ragged and his trigger finger was sore. He waved goodbye to the three teens and half stumbled, half walked back to his room where he barely made it under his covers before he passed out.
Thursday brought another recitation with Mark after a morning of exercise with Simon. Mark decided that Harry needed to learn to write using his psionics so he set Harry to the task of transcribing one of the books he had absorbed. By lunch time he was able to write in a straight line, by dinner his scrawl was neat and tight, similar to his own handwriting, but with a more fluid feel. While he wasn't learning to fight from the things Mark was showing him, he appreciated the boys interest in teaching Harry the things that he found most interesting about being a psion. Being a less physically exhausting day he made it to the common room after dinner for a few rounds of Mario Kart before he bid his friends good night and made his way to bed.
Friday he made his way to room five after breakfast to find Elena waiting for him. "What are we going to be working on Professor Smith?" He took the seat she gestured to and smiled warmly at her.
"Please Harry, Elena is fine. We're going to be working on your Occlumency each Friday. While your shields are good for keeping out the many non-magical folk around us, we need to work on your ability to repel intruders. Tell me what do you know about resisting a legillemency attack?" She saw Harry's face darken for a moment before his shining green eyes were back and he forced himself to have a neutral expression.
"Professor Snape would cast the spell on me while 'teaching' Occlumency. He would sift through my most personal memories and I would do whatever I could to think about anything else. I felt powerless as he made me relive my most embarrassing moments." Harry was looking at his feet, feeling defeated as he was reminded of the memory. Shaking his head clear of the thoughts he looked up and met the eyes that watched him.
"I'm going to show you ways of controlling which memories are shown, how to build traps in your mind, how to defend your most closely guarded secret from any intrusion. Are you ready? I want you to focus on me while at the same time keeping track of your shields." Harry nodded and sat up a little straighter. It was an odd feeling, but eventually he was able to keep his attention in the real world while having constant updates from the shields that guarded his mind. Giving Elena a slight nod he caught the causal flick of her wand and suddenly felt a pressure at the back of his shields, before he could stop her, Elena was inside, bringing up the memory of he and Mark entering the school store.
"Now what I want you to do is to find a less incriminating memory and sort of slide it into place in front of this one, do what you can do lead the one into the other so that I can't tell what actually happened." Harry focused and as he and Mark opened the door in his memory he slid in the memory of he and Mark entering room five to start their recitation on Thursday. It wasn't as flawless as he would have liked, as the lighting changed dramatically and it was a bit choppy, but for a first try he was rather proud of himself. "Good, we're going to try this again, Dumbledore told me about your proclivity for sneaking out of your dorm at night, lets try something along those lines."
Again, he focused on the real world and he must have missed the swish of her wand because he was unprepared for her assault. She brought up the memory from first year where he snuck out of Gryffindor tower to visit the Mirror of Erised. Smirking to himself he flawlessly substituted a memory from the next year where he was sneaking to the library under his cloak to avoid people accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin. As the memory got to the point where he was entering the library he finally located her presence and gently pushed her out beyond his shields.
"Good, its almost lunch time and I think we've done enough for today. I don't want to stress your shields any more today or you might have some problems tonight. Relax this afternoon and weekend, you're going to have to start all of this over on Monday." Harry smiled and shook her hand before bounding out of the room. Learning Occlumency like this was much easier than learning with Snape, without the snide comments and pressure along with proper instruction he was making more progress in one day than he had the entire year with Snape. He found Mark, Coggy, and Simon at their usual table in the cafeteria and they all stayed into the early afternoon talking and laughing.
Mark and Harry had a lot of fun talking Quiddich while Simon and Coggy looked at them like they were crazy. Harry cast a rather complicated illusion that showed Harry's first Quiddich match play out in the space of their lunch table. After watching the game to completion, cheering at the right moments and gasping when Harry dove for the snitch. He cancelled the illusion and glanced toward the door where he had seen some movement during the end of the replay. He was surprised to see Dumbledore leaning against the wall near the door, clapping his hands silently.
Excusing himself from his friends he made his way over to the door and put his hand out, "Afternoon professor, what brings you here?" Professor Dumbledore gestured to the hallway and preceded Harry out, walking slowly with his hands clasped behind him.
"Elena tapped me when she happened across your little display back there. Did you know what spell you were casting or did you just go with it without thinking too much?" Harry looked sheepish for a moment before he realized that his mentor was truly curious and he wasn't in trouble. Harry's brow furrowed as he thought about the events leading up to his casting of the illusion.
"Sir I just wanted to show the guys Quiddich. I didn't think much about what I was doing but I knew how viewing a pensieve feels and I did my best to recreate the magic involved and then used my Occlumency to fuel the illusion. Why do you ask?" Dumbledore nodded to himself as if confirming a suspicion.
"Harry I am a firm believer that with a proper connection to magic and an understanding of how it works on, not the highest level, but the most basic, can a wizard do anything he wants with magic. For example, what is a banishing charm but a levitation charm with direction and velocity?" Harry nodded to himself, breaking down many of the charms and spells he knew into their basic components. "I want you to consider taking some arithmancy classes with me when we both have time. I think that you have a lot of potential to bend magic to your will and by creating your own spells you'll have a step up in any battle you get into."
They had reached the end of the hallways and Harry was thinking to himself, looking out a window that overlooked a garden. "The less I think about what I'm doing, the better my spellcasting becomes. I've never really been one to follow the rules, so why should I start now? I'll keep this in mind while I'm learning spells from Tonks. I will try to feel how my magic reacts to the spells I'm casting and see if I can't break them down on my own." Dumbledore smiled down at him, before gripping his shoulder.
"Do that Harry, and do let me know what you come up with. Mrs. Weasley has shown interest in hosting a birthday party for you and Mr. Longbottom. If that is okay with you…" he trailed off, chuckling with mirth as Harry nodded eagerly.
"Ron mentioned that in his last letter, I was hoping to ask you about that but it completely escaped me when we started talking about spells. Can we invite Luna as well? She lives nearby the Weasleys and I'd like to see her before school starts." Dumbledore nodded before turning and walking with Harry back towards the commissary. They shook hands as they parted and Harry headed back to meet with his friends.
As soon as Harry was out of sight from Dumbledore he felt his headmaster's familiar presence outside of his shields. Letting him in he heard the old man's voice fill his head, "If you're ever in need just tap me and I'll get back to you in an instant. This is a much better way of communicating, I'm sad that more wizards can't use it." Harry sent back his agreement and joined his friends at the table, where he was bombarded by requests for another match replay. Laughing he drew his wand and repeated his earlier wand movements and muttered a few words and the championship game from his third year where they trounced Slytherin.
It was mid-afternoon when Tonks showed up with her mother, introducing her to Harry and pulling him away from his stories. "I've managed to get a portkey to Diagon Ally and then from there to the Ministry. Less chance of someone seeing you out and about that way Harry." Harry groaned, he hated traveling by portkey, it always left him stumbling and queasy.
"I, dear cousin, have a much better plan. If you ladies will escort me to the entrance?" He held a crooked elbow to each Tonks and strode confidently to the arrival and departure point set up in a spacious room to the side of the front door to the institute. Without warning he translocated the three of them to Diagon Ally, continuing his stride from the institute almost seamlessly up the steps of Gringotts Bank.
Once inside he requested the Black family accounts manager as well as their on site solicitor and the three were escorted into an office off of a long hallway that lead from the teller area. Once inside Harry greeted the grim looking goblin in respectful gobbldygook before taking a seat facing him. "What can Gringotts do today for you Lord Potter-Black?" asked the goblin, flashing a grin full of sharp teeth.
Not one to be intimidated, Harry forged ahead, speaking of his plans to reinstate Andromeda Tonks nee Black and thus Nymphadora Tonks into the Black family. As Patriarch of the Black family he had the ability to override any previous declarations made by deceased family Matriarchs and Patriarchs, however he wanted to be sure to be official about it because he wanted no problem for his kin in future. "This is why I come to Gringotts today, I believe there is paperwork that needs signing and I wish to establish a trust vault for Andromeda, and a dowry for young Nymphadora." He winked at Tonks who stopped mid swing when she realized what he was proposing.
The goblin nodded slightly and snapped his fingers, causing a pile of parchment to appear before Harry on his desk. "These all need to be signed, the ones marked with a blue axe are for Andromeda, the one with a red axe for Nymphadora. You are to sign all of them, in blood if you please, and we shall all be out of here by dinner time." Harry sat forward and, gripping an unmodified blood quill (this one didn't cause pain and used very little of his life-source) began signing documents. Half an hour later everything was signed and sealed with both the Gringotts seal and the Black family seal. "I will report this to your Ministry and make copies available to its employees should there be any issues. The vaults will be set up by end of business today," he handed two keys to Andromeda, "Vault 1987 is yours, vault 1988 is the dowry vault." She nodded and tucked them safely away. "If there is nothing else Lord Potter-Black, I must get back to making you and I lots of gold." He flashed his sharp grin again and Harry laughed, shook his hand, and left with his newly reinstated family members trailing behind him.
As they were walking across the lobby Andromeda stopped him and pulled him into a hug, "Harry you didn't need to set up the trust vault, Ted and I are more than able to care for ourselves. Thanks again for giving me my family back, even if its just the three of us." Harry noted her refusal to speak of her sisters. Not wanting to press the matter he took each woman by the arm and strode out of the bank.
Striding through space he returned them all to the institute, speaking to Andromeda as they went, "Andy…can I call you Andy?" she nodded and he continued, "Andy if you have no use for the money then hang onto it until you do. Who knows maybe this troublemaker will pop out a kid and you can transfer it to them." Tonks did slap him this time and he winced, rubbing his arm where she made contact, "Sheesh woman, you're an auror! I'll have you for police brutality I will." This caused both women to burst into giggles before each took a cheek and pressed a kiss to it. Leaving him blushing and blustering the two women turned on the spot and apparated out of the institute.
After a minute he regained his composure and shook his head, grinning to himself. He made his way down the hall and into the cafeteria where the dinner hour was half gone. Winking at Elena he sent his tray down the line and filled it with food before summoning it to himself and joining her at a small table in the corner. "Take care of all your family business then Harry?" asked the master occlumens. Harry nodded, his mouth full of mashed potatoes. "Good, the boys are upstairs playing on that contraption that Simon's mother sent with him. They asked that I send you up so that they could 'Have a proper tournament' or something." She stood and took her empty tray with her, "Have a good evening Harry, and do try to relax this weekend, it wouldn't do to have you collapse from overwork during your first week."
Harry gave her a closed mouth grin, his mouth full of sausage this time, and waved as she made her way out of the room. When he was finished eating he bounded up the two flights of stairs to the common room and threw himself into his favorite chair in front of the TV. "Took you long enough mate," said Coggy, throwing him a controller, "Okay here are the rules…" he went into an explanation of how they were going to run their little tournament and soon they were all cheering and yelling profanities at one another.
Eventually they were all finding it hard to stay on the road so they called it a night, each heading to their own rooms, Simon and Mark still yelling profanities at each other. In his room, Harry found a few letters in his inbox and took them to bed with him. He got halfway through his letter from Ron about his birthday before sleep overtook him. His dreams that night were filled with the joy and freedom of flying. Anyone looking in on him in his sleep would see a now common smile gracing his face. In her office Elena also smiled, happy that her newest protégé was making such amazing progress.