Okay, so I think this chapter may cause some controversy. I wasn't sure I should put this in the blurb or not. Please comment with your opinion if you would have rather knew this was where the story was going before you picked this to read. I am in favour of constructive criticism. If you've got questions about character motive or plot or something I want to know because that means I haven't been clear enough.

Also thanks to the guest who pointed out that Incarcerous was a conjuration and therefore probably too advanced for Malfoy on the first day. I did change it (because I agree) to a jelly leg hex but Malfoy does conjure that snake in second year.

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The days began to fly by after that. Nott stuck to his side, attending classes, eating their meals, studying and doing homework in the common room or library and exploring the castle and it's surroundings. Harry got gawked at alot but at least the Slytherins were more subtle about it. It was the other houses that doubled back on themselves on their way to class to get another look at him. Whispers followed him everywhere he went. Nott made sarcastic commentary while also telling Harry who particular people were in the upper years, which he appreciated.

People weren't sure how to take his sorting into Slytherin. They'd all thought he'd go to Gryffindor because he 'defeated' the Dark Lord or because his parents were Gryffindors. The Ravenclaws gave him speculative looks which was only slightly better than most of the Hufflepuffs shying away from him. Some of the Gryffindors looked at him mournfully while others had a more hostile edge to them. Slytherin seemed to have decided to wait and see, as a whole, but he had picked up on a few looks that were sure to develop into actions before too long.

Nott was a font of information on the Wizarding world, things you couldn't pick up from books. It seemed like the Purebloods did teach their children before sending them to Hogwarts. It was mostly history, herbology and potions basics and the like. Others went a bit further, and against the teachings of the Ministry, to teach their children some wand magic as well. Nott showed him a few of the jinxes his father had shown him in exchange for the alarm charm Harry knew to protect his own wardrobe and bed and a hex or two from one of the books Harry had picked up in the second hand shop that Nott had never read before.

He also didn't mind a comfortable silence of which there were many. Harry wasn't really much of a talker himself and neither was Nott. When they did talk it mostly spells they had read about or something they had done in a lesson. Nott did complain quite a bit about Binns, the ghost history teacher. Nott thought he as responsible for killing all interest in the subject in the last hundred years. Harry could believe it. He doubted many people bothered taking the class to Newt Level. And a society who didn't know their own history was doomed to repeat it.

The two of them spent most of their free time concentrating on teaching themselves Arithmancy, where their housemates mostly played chess or exploding snap. He'd been right about picking it up fast, he knew quite alot of the material already. It was about changing the context of the numbers in his head. Nott had a harder time of it as it was all completely new to him but Harry helped him out. He thought he might be ready to try his first ward by Christmas.

The two of them had finished their last class on Wednesday and had decided instead of going back to the common room, they would go for a walk around the lake. Harry had decided to put off his morning run until he was a bit more familiar with Hogwarts and it's grounds. He didn't want to get lost, no matter how unlikely he felt that was. The strange remembrance of the place still hung with him; as if he had always known Hogwart's many passages and corridors. He'd even found a secret passage on the way to History behind a tapestry of a red-haired woman holding a harp. He'd just known it was there and that it would get him where he was going quicker. Nott had given him a strange look but had shrugged and followed him anyway.

They discussed their first Charms class as they walked a short distance fro the waters edge. Professor Flitwick was a tiny man, half goblin according to Nott, and came across as a very cheerful but studious fellow. When he'd called Harry's name on the register he had been so shocked, he had fallen off his stack of books. The Slytherin's had sniggered but Harry had just rolled his eyes. The lesson had gotten better after that and after covering the theory and practising the wand movement half a dozen times, they had been given permission to try the colour change charm on a piece of parchment given to each of them. Harry had gotten it on his second try.

"It's good isn't it? Using magic." Nott said with a deep appreciative inhale as they sat down under a beech tree.

"Yeah." Harry agreed easily looking out across the lake towards the mountains in the distance.

"Reminds me of my Awakening ceremony." Nott closed his eyes.

Harry thought that was trusting of him. Or maybe he had noticed that Harry's head was on a swivel, eyeing the other students wandering the grounds. There wasn't anyone close by.

"Awakening ceremony?" He asked frowning, he hadn't heard of that before.

"You've never had one?" Nott asked sounding surprised as he opened his eyes to give Harry a searching look, then he nodded as though it made sense. "Suppose it's only the most traditional families that preform them nowadays."

"What's it do?" He turned to Nott and watched the other Slytherin.

"It's supposed to put you in touch with your magical core. You usually do it in your seventh year, it's the first step in a child beginning to control their magic and emotions." Nott informed him.

Harry found himself nodding, thinking about the time he had apparated on to the school roof. "I did start having more accidental bursts after I was seven."

Nott nodded and Harry assumed that was a normal part of magical core growth. Which was kind of reassuring, he couldn't remember the last time something about him was normal.

"We could do one now you know, if you've never done it. And after seven, eleven is the next most powerful number, we read that yesterday. I could guide you through it like my father did for me. It's usually parents or guardians that take their children through it but I don't think that's necessary."

"What if I'm already in touch with my magical core? How would I tell?" He asked thinking on all the wandless magic he had done in the past that the other children didn't seem capable.

Nott paused for a minute and Harry could tell he was remembering and trying to find the best way to explain.

"It's like a ball of warmth in your chest. Not like an organ or something, it's deeper than that, down to your very soul. But it moves around your body aswell. You can feel it running to your wand when you're doing a spell."

Harry could only feel his magic when he called it to do something, but not like Nott was describing. Sometimes he felt like maybe he was touching that place Nott was talking about. It seemed like it would be worth a try.

"And it gives you better control of your magic?" Better control was something he was very interested in.

He hadn't had a burst of accidental magic since the incident at the zoo but he'd felt it rush forth and hover around him a few times as though it was getting ready to strike. Surely it would help him with his wandless magic aswell. He'd probably be able to start to do something slightly bigger with it. He tried to do a wandless tripping jinx but it was a slow start. He thought it was probably because it was a real spell with arithmetic equations made up in wand movements and the syllables in the incantation. That was what Notts book on spell crafting said every spell was made up of. The wandless magic he'd done before was all sheer force of will and application of unformed magic. His mattress had tried to convert itself back by the time Harry had got back the following night but it was sort of misshapen now and slightly bumpy. It wasn't nearly as soft so Harry had sighed and accepted it.

"Sure. Once you can feel your core and become more aware of your magic, you can start controlling it. Like I said it's only the first step. You have to follow it up with meditation but once you can feel it, it's much easier to feel how to move it how you want, stop it reacting to strong emotions in unpredictable ways. Most children start using their accidental magic more consciously after that. A bit like wandless magic but not because you can't just do it whenever. " Nott shrugged at the last but he had shifted so he was sitting on his knees, eager for Harry to agree.

"And the risks?" Because he was a Slytherin and he wasn't walking in blind to anything if he could help.

Nott paused a sufficient amount of time to assure Harry he had thought about it.

"Like I said, it's the first step to control so at first you'll get this rush as you feel everything for the first time. You're bringing it forward and making yourself aware of it at the same time. You'll probably have more accidental magic until you get it under control. That's why it's a good idea if we do this soon, then you have plenty of time to get it in control for exams."

"It could take that long?" He asked wearily, he didn't want to seem completely inept.

But Nott shook his head.

"Doubt it. It took me maybe two or three months to have enough control. But you're older. You have more magic now than I did at seven so it might be more difficult. But you're also older and have better mental capacities so it could be easier." Nott shrugged again.

In the end Harry thought he had already made up his mind. The gain out-weighted the risks. He found himself nodding as he looked out over the calm grey waters or the lake and the mountains behind them.

"When should we do this?" He asked looking up at Nott again. "And do we need anything?"

"We can slip out an hour before astronomy tonight and use one of the empty classroom." Nott smirked at him and Harry could read the anticipation behind his eyes and felt it spread to himself.

He'd always had an organised mind. It had been a necessity at the Dursley's. Every night he had been thrown into his cupboard hours before he'd gotten tired enough to sleep. He'd known every crack, chip and shadow of his cupboard by the time he was five. To stave off bone deep boredom he had strained his ears to hear the television and visualise what would be shown on the screen.

Once primary school had begun and Petunia was forced to let him attend, he'd had things to think about that wasn't chores or the Dursley's. Not that he'd been allowed to enjoy school with Dudley and his friends isolating him from everyone there aswell. So he'd gone over lessons the teacher had told the class and Harry had absorbed. He'd begun to build a library in his mind to store his knowledge in the hopes of remembering it better. It had looked a lot like the library at his school at first but he'd decorated it differently with object and pictures on the shelves to help him remember what everything was and where he kept it.

As he got older, his punishments had gotten worse. He was locked in the cupboard for longer periods or time in the cramped half-darkness. His Uncle's heavy hand had gotten heavier until it grasped for his belt. As the pain he was subjected to got worse he combined his efforts or visualisation and his memory technique. He'd pictured his field.

When he'd seen the image on the television it had stuck him as a place or peace and beauty; things he was sorely lacking. It had become his happy place almost immediately and used it to calm himself down after a beating. The first time he tried to use it during a beating it had only been marginally successful. With practise he got better and unfortunately he had had plenty of cause to practise.

It had become substantially easier when he added a side door to his library and made his field a permeant feature in his mind and not something he had to call up but rather a place he had to go.

Eventually, the library had grown a bit cramped and he'd made it bigger. It changed again to look a bit more like the public library without the computers. He also added a comfy chair and a lamp so he could go back and read what he'd read before, or review a memory.

After recovering more of the memory of his parents death on the first night at Hogwarts, he had spent the time to go in and find the memory. It was sitting on top of one of the low half shelves he used to store the memories of when he was really small before he started school. Mostly it contained a lot of tears he no longer shed and a yearning for someone, anyone to rescue him that he had stopped feeling once all his teachers had believed Petunia that he was a trouble maker, a freak. He didn't have much use for them except to remember why and how he had gown hard and strong.

He'd taken the memory off the shelf. It wasn't like the other memories stored there. It was death and grief and precious to him in ways he didn't understand and didn't feel like dwelling on. In the end he'd decided to turn it into paint and splashed it across the wall next to his earliest memories. A sweeping wash of the red of his mothers hair painted itself across the wall with two big dots of bright green for the eyes they shared. Surrounding it was crystalline golden bubbles, bold white lilies and luminous green lightening bolts.

He walked past it to reach the door to his field. Nott had told him to meditate and sink into a half-conscious state similar to when he was under his uncles belt. He couldn't let go of his awareness of his surroundings and block everything out entirely for fear of what his uncle may do when he was insensate. At the moment he was concentrating on the sound and feel of Nott sitting across from him as he closed his eyes and tried to calm every corner of his mind.

His breathing slowed and felt the echo of grass tickling his skin aswell as the paradoxical feeling of the hard stone floor beneath him.

"Well done." Nott spoke in a low slow voice that drifted through the empty room and barely echoed off the cold stone walls. "Now reach down, down into your chest. Feel for your magic. Look for it. It could feel like a small sun or a fire. Maybe it's cold or wet, everyone is different."

Harry reached out with his senses for his magic like he did when trying to cast wandlessly. But this time he wasn't trying to get his magic to do anything. He just wanted to feel it. It took a moment before he felt the familiar warmth and tingle. Following it deeper he found what he was looking for.

A wave of trepidation rang through his spine as he began to sense his magic more closely. It was like a storm, rushing round on itself in a loose ball. Static energy seemed to arch out of one side to strike down on another in short familiar green bursts. Wind that was not wind but magic whirled round at speed and as he hesitantly reached for it reacted by bulging out in places in greeting.

He made the conscious effort to nod his head at Nott.

"Now reach out pull it up, closer to you. Let it settle into your body and flow. Stay as calm as you can. In virtute dei excitare, penitusque a somno exsuscitem." Nott intoned, his voice seeming to come from further away than it had before.

He reached out and pulled it into himself. Power rushed up through his body and he felt himself getting shunted from his field into his Library. It was like electricity running through his body and he felt himself tense. With the magic came more.

Information and memories flooded through his brain and he didn't know where they came from. He was another boy in another sad little room that looked a bit like his room at the Dursley's. Then he was standing on a hill watching people in dark cloaks and masks gather around him. In Hogwarts but Dumbledore was teaching transfiguration, looking down at him with suspicion in his eyes. Then was no time to understand what happening as another life flashed before his eyes and they flew through his library knocking over his own shelves in a wave of destruction.

It was too much and he'd barely focused on one memory and it was already being pushed aside for another. A panicked thought ran across his brain "I'm going to go mad!" and it took a moment to realise it was his own.

Suddenly his brain grasped something. A piece of information. Memories connected by a loose thread. Occlumency. He knew what he had to do. And his magic helped him do it.

It was like a magical bubble appeared absorbing most of the foreign thoughts, holding them in the air. His library righted itself, enlarging and making space for the bubble of swirling disorganised thought.

He opened his eyes with a fierce gasp and began panting and leaning forwards on to his crossed legs. Nott was watching him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. His own magic hummed around him thicker than it ever had before but that wasn't the most shocking. What was shocking was that he could see Nott's magic aswell, like he could see the school's wards but much stronger. It was ocean blue and ruby red and leaf green moving fractionally across his skin, looking reminiscent of silk scarves.

"You're more powerful than I thought." Nott whispered as though he couldn't believe it himself.

Harry raised an eyebrow in question.

"I could feel it. As the ceremony was complete it came out of you like a wave." He paused looking thoughtful. "It might be because your older than usual but, honestly, that was like nothing I've ever felt before. I can still feel it now, brushing against me."

Nott seemed to repress a shiver but his magic did it for him, shimmering like a heat haze. Harry watched it, fascinated.

"What?" Nott asked sharply. "You're looking at me like I am a particularly interesting insect."

Harry snorted but did pull himself away from observing the colours roll across his roommates skin. He could feel his own magic rather than see it but he could tell it hung around them. Not thick and full of electricity it did when he was under threat but in a much calmer and passive way. And in his chest but not, he could feel the swirling ball of magic like he hadn't before. Nott was right, there was a lot of it.

He tried to pull it closer towards him so he wasn't filling the room with it. After a few minute he managed it and noticed the tension leave Nott's body.

"Do you reckon the teacher will notice?" He asked.

He sure felt different in himself but he didn't know if other people would be able to tell. Nott shook his head still looking at Harry a little strangely.

"No, if you keep it contained like this you're like any other first year. Noticeable more powerful than the average but you'd have to really concentrate to pick you apart from everyone else walking round." Nott hesitated. "How do you feel?"

Harry ponder that for a moment. He felt tired and wired at the same time. He would have loved to go lay down in his bed in the dark but he also couldn't imagine he would be able to fall asleep any time soon. His magic ran through his body sending tingles and goose bumps in their wake. He also had to sort out the foreign memories currently being held by a bubble of subtly magic. He could feel them straining and pushing at it, trying to escape and wreck destruction on his mind. He didn't say any of that.

"I can see you're magic now, too." It was another thing no one had mentioned but he could tell if seeing magic was so common knowledge it was hardly worth saying or another odd thing about him.

"What!?" Nott spluttered in a very un-Nott-like way. "Wait. Too? What could you see before?"

Harry allowed a frown to sit on his face. Another odd thing about him then.

"I can see the wards of the school. Not well. It just sort of shimmers abit but when we went through it on the boat here, it felt like I passed through a wall of magic. No one else seemed to notice." He decided to reveal this bit of information, as a test to see what Nott would do with it.

Nott made a huff sound that might have been a laugh if it didn't lack all humour.

"They wouldn't. Being able to even sense magic, let along see it is very, very rare. They say only the most powerful can do it but I think that's just because it doesn't run in families and so they don't really know why." Nott looked him up and down cautiously. "What's my magic look like?"

Harry focused on it again.

"Sort of like thin wispy scarves. It's mostly blue and green but you've got some red in there aswell." Harry answered trying to find the appropriate words.

Nott shook his head as he assimilated the information.

"Right. Now everything's up to you. Meditation and emotional control are key. If you've got questions ask. I said I'd help you with this so I will." He shook his head again as if he couldn't quite believe what had happened and cast a tempus. "Come on, we've got to head up to the astronomy tower."

Harry was shocked that their hour had passed so quickly. But he nodded and got up, brushing the bottom of his robes to get rid of the dust that had been missed with the cleaning charms they had used before they sat down. Once astronomy was over he was going to explore the foreign memories in his head and the knowledge of Occlumency he had suddenly procured.

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This was one of the first chapters I had envisioned when I came up with this story. I've already wrote out some scenes set much later like 1st year Halloween, The Chamber of secrets and Harry's first encounter with the Boggart third year but this is the first one to slot in. Please review. =)