Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, nor do I make any money playing with the characters. This is presented solely for the enjoyment of myself and any others who are unfortunate enough to stumble across my literary dribbling.

A/N: This chapter doesn't have much to say, other than describing Harry's current thought processes, as well as the general layout of the Figg Mansion. This just came to me as I was writing my notes on what was in the house, and instead of scrapping the whole thing, I figured I'd post it as a chapter, seeing as I'd written this in a few short days and it could be interesting to you readers. I've seen in reviews that people are thinking that he's acting much too mature for his age, but there's a reason for that which will become apparent in future chapters. Still, there's a bit of a surprise at the end… (Yes, I know… another cliffie…) Can you guess what has him so spooked? (Word Count: 4703)

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Chapter 17: Home Sweet Home?

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From The Life of Harry James Potter – Excerpt from Chapter 163: Essential Protections – Time Dilation and Intra-dimensional Phasing

This new iteration of Death Eaters had begun using Time Dilation against us to devastating effect. We had no defense against it until Hermione developed the phasing technique to offset the new spells they had developed. The Dilation spell was incredibly quick and easy to cast, and we were lucky enough to capture a very young DE who we 'persuaded' to share the spell with us. The simple incantation of 'Tempi,' a slight jab of the wand, and the imposition of the third degree of will was all it took. No shield could stop it, and the only thing that could end the effect is the willingness of the caster… or the death of him.

When we encountered the spell during the Siege of Bristol Abbey, Malfoy Sr. and a handful of DE's took out an entire squad of the Ministry's best Hit Wizards. Neville and Susan were lucky enough to escape with their lives after witnessing the spell's effectiveness from a distance. At first, they had no idea what was going on when the Hit Wizards first entered the Abbey. From Neville's point of view, the members of the squad just seemed to freeze in place. They then saw a barrage of spellfire burst from within the building, slaughtering the nearly immobile wizards with ease. Susan was the one who noticed that the spells would dramatically slow down the instant before impacting the victims.

They had managed to capture a DE when one apparated in directly in front of Neville. The young man had obviously just returned from a supply-gathering mission and had no idea that a battle was taking place, as he had his arms full of bags and packages. He had no chance at all of defending himself as Neville stunned, bound, and portkeyed the surprised young man to a holding cell. The spell's properties were discovered during the interrogation of the prisoner. Although Neville and Susan worked for the ministry, they were still members of my little band of vigilantes and reported everything they had learned to Hermione and me.

When Hermione heard about the spell during their debriefing to the gathering of my closest comrades, she jumped up, screamed out in rage and instantly cast a stun wave around the room, incapacitating everyone present, including myself.

When she brought me back to consciousness, she apologized and explained that what Neville and Susan had described was a spell that she, herself, had been recently developing and was very close to completing… a time-stop spell. I instantly recognized the implication… we had a mole in our midst.

The idea that one of us was a spy for the Death Eaters really shook us. It was horrible not knowing who could or could not be trusted. It took a few days, but we discovered the mole. It was really a mole… an unregistered animagus who took the form of a mole. He had somehow discovered our research facility and tunneled underneath the building where he had come up through the floor in a corner behind a large filing chest. He could hear everything that was discussed in Hermione's lab and reported everything back to Malfoy.

It was much later that Hermione confided in me that she had almost slapped her own forehead when she learned how simple it was to cast the Dilation spell… she was so sure that it was much more complex than it actually turned out to be.

Still, we had a major problem on our hands… both sides could now encase the other in a time-shifted bubble. The outcome of subsequent battles became dependent upon who had cast first… after that it became nothing more than wholesale slaughter.

Soon after, Hermione developed a way to counteract the Dilation… a simple rune-bind to an object worn on your person. The item would put the wearer slightly out-of-phase in the temporal dimension, or that's how Hermione described it to me… I still don't understand the mechanics of it, but it worked. It made the Time Dilation spell completely ineffective against anyone possessing a rune-bound item. It also has the power to cancel out the effects of Time-Turners, and really any other types of time manipulation… including the Impediment Jinx, the Feather-fall Charm, and the like.

In the course of her research, Hermione discovered an odd side-effect of wearing the Phaser, as we had come to call it. If the wearer used the same movement technique as used in Shifting, it would make the wearer slightly out of phase with the physical dimension. To put it simply, it made the wearer incorporeal. Quite a handy thing, being able to phase through solid walls as if walking through a doorway. We also discovered that, with practice, we could phase through floors and ceilings, and actually float along much like a ghost. You wouldn't become invisible, but your person would take on a slightly pearly sheen.

The only problem was the duration… the phased state would only last a few seconds… something to do with the inherent limits of the rune-bind. You would have to be very careful not to 'rematerialize,' as it were, while inside of a foreign object… that would be a bad thing.

Still, having a Phase-Rune on your person wouldn't be a bad thing, and here's how to make one…

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Wednesday, July 7th, 1989 11:38 AM

Harry sat at the breakfast table as Jaana stood at the stove preparing their first meal of the day. He watched as she carried two plates to the table and set one down in front of him. He looked down at the small portion of scrambled eggs, one slice of bacon, and a piece of dry toast.

Jaana must have noticed his expression and said, "I'm sorry, but it's all we have… the larder is nearly empty. I'm going into Ventnor after breakfast to stock up. We'll have a big lunch this afternoon to make up for this snack."

Harry nodded as he began picking at the meager portions on his plate.

"When I get back, I'm going to work on getting the house in order. I'm not sure what Gran has stored around here, so if you go exploring I want you to be careful. I'm sure there's nothing dark here, but you never know what could be dangerous with so many old artifacts about."

Harry looked up from his plate and asked, "When will we be able to start practicing magic again? Did Mister Cooley say anything when he was here?"

"It appears that we can start practicing again any time we like, but I think getting this house in order should be our first priority. Hopefully, we'll be here a while… I'm not keen on moving again any time soon."

Harry nodded as he finished his last bite of toast. He picked up his plate and walked to the sink where he began washing it.

"Just leave that for me, Harry," said Jaana as she ate, "Why don't you go pick a bedroom for yourself and start unpacking."

"Okay," said Harry as he turned off the water and left the kitchen.

Harry picked out one of the smaller bedrooms in the east wing near the grand staircases that led down to the first floor. Even though the room was small compared to the other bedrooms on the floor, it was substantially larger than any room he had stayed in to date. There was a private loo through the door off to the right, a large, walk-in clothes cupboard through the door on the left, and a set of French-style double doors straight ahead that opened to a wide, sheltered balcony that overlooked the expansive back garden and the pristine looking beach beyond. He was surprised to find that the walls in the room were adorned with rich, brown and tan silk cloth instead of the paint or wallpaper he expected to find, and the mahogany wood trim around the walls, windows, and doors were left their natural dark hue instead of being painted or varnished. It was obvious that the room had been unoccupied for many years by the layer of dust that coated all of the furniture in the room. It was readily apparent that the Figg family had not owned a house elf in many a year, if ever at all.

Harry spent about an hour cleaning and unpacking all of his belongings and storing them in the many dressers and shelves around the room. Between his previous birthday and Christmas gifts, and the many shopping trips to Reykjavik where he had accompanied Jaana, the number of said belongings was substantial. His clothes cupboard was near capacity, and the rest of his personal clothing had easily filled the both of the dressers and the armoire. He almost didn't have enough room in his room for all of his toys and things, and the thought of using the room next door to his as a sort of 'play room' had briefly crossed his mind, but the image of his Cousin Dudley's 'second bedroom' flashed into his conscience and mercilessly drove that thought out of his head.

Still, after he had finished setting all of his stuff up, the room looked extremely cluttered. The desk in the corner of the room had numerous books stacked upon it, the overflow from the bookcase that was filled to capacity next to the desk. He had set his telescope up outside on the balcony where he had an unimpeded view of the southern sky. The town of Ventnor was quite a few miles to the north, so there was minimal light pollution from the homes, businesses and streetlamps to wash out the night sky. With the warmer, moister air of southern England, the viewing wouldn't be quite as good as it had been back in the crisp, clear air of Iceland, but it was certainly good enough, and he was anxious to be able to see some of the more southern constellations than he had been able to when he was up near the Arctic Circle.

The only important thing Harry had left to set up was his potions lab. He looked critically at the stack of boxes that held his potion supplies, and then scanned the room in a vain attempt to find space to set it up. He sighed to himself as he came to the conclusion that he just might have to use a second bedroom to set up his lab.

Just then, Harry heard Jaana's voice wafting up the stairs from the receiving hall, "Harry, I'm heading into town to do some shopping, do you want to come along?"

Harry stuck his head out of the doorway and called down, "No, I still have some setting up to do… maybe next time."

"Is there anything that you want me to pick up for you?"

Harry thought for a moment before answering, "I don't think so… I can't think of anything off-hand."

"Alright, then, I'll be back in a few hours, at the most. Remember what I said before, be careful."

"I will," Harry answered as he waved down the stairs and watched Jaana wave back at him before she disappeared with a slight snap.

Harry turned back around and looked critically at his still packed up potions supplies and came to the conclusion that his bedroom perhaps wasn't the best place to set up a lab, something his nine-year-old mind thought was perfectly reasonable a few minutes before. It would be smelly and noisy, and if an accident were to happen… well, an empty room far away would certainly be a wiser choice.

He stepped out into the hallway and looked around, trying to decide where the best place to set up the lab. He still hadn't even seen what was in most of the rooms of this gigantic house, and he thought that perhaps there was already some sort of area set aside for potion making somewhere… it was a magical home, after all. Harry's eyes drifted upwards as he thought about where to start looking.

'Start at the top and work my way down,' he thought to himself as he walked to the far end of the east-wing hall where another staircase led up to the third floor, an area of the house he had not yet visited.

As he reached the top of the stairs, he was surprised to find that the long hallway there spanned the entire length of the house, stretching all the way to the end of the west wing. On his right there was a long line of equally spaced doors, and on his left there was a long line of large, equally spaced, white-framed windows that brightly lit the length of the hallway.

He looked out through the first window that he came to and saw the expanse of flat roof that overlooked the southern area of the estate. The outside floor was paved with large, black tiles that had a glassy look to them, and he thought that they could be made of either obsidian, or perhaps a polished black marble. The roof had a series of large pots that held a variety of exotic plants and trees, all in varying states of neglect. He thought that this place could have really used a house elf while Jaana's grandmother was alive. Even with magic, an elderly lady would be hard pressed to keep this massive estate in order by herself.

Further down the hall, he noticed a set of large glass doors that provided access to that area of the roof. He stepped out into the early afternoon sunshine and walked to the white, wooden railing that edged the roof, taking in the breathtaking view before him.

Harry looked down over the ill-kept gardens just below him, and saw that the massive fountain in the middle was only trickling weakly. Moss and mildew seemed to line the intricately carved marble basins, showing more than a few years of neglect. He briefly wondered if the water in the fountain was provided by magic or an underground piping system. He thought that it would look magnificent if it was cleaned up and the water had been flowing properly.

His eyes then drifted up over the wide, green lawn that began at the wall that lined the property to the left and stretched to the thick, wooded area on his right. Beyond the green, but somewhat overgrown lawn was the estate's private beach, complete with a lifeguard tower, a massive gazebo that looked as if it could hold well over fifty people, and a long dock that reached out about a hundred feet into the ocean, all painted a brilliant white. Bobbing in the water about twenty yards from the shore was a large floating platform that had a tall diving tower erected with three boards at differing heights that extended over the water.

A short distance away from the sandy shoreline was a small beach house that had outdoor shower stalls and a set of private loos that were there for the comfort of the beach-goers. Jaana had mentioned that the inside of that house held a small living area, a kitchenette, and a pair of small bedrooms that was used to house the groundskeepers, when there were groundskeepers employed here, that is.

He remained looking out over the Atlantic Ocean for a few minutes, watching a few ships in the distance churning by and wondered if the people on those ships could even see the property or if it was somehow magically hidden from view.

Harry turned and looked at the upper area of the house. There appeared to be another smaller floor above the north set of rooms inside, and in the middle of the roof above the glass doors was a Widow's Watch, a small, circular room surrounded by windows that would normally overlook a harbor. He thought that maybe a harbor further down the shore would be visible from that vantage point. He made a mental note to check it out.

Harry walked back into the hallway and began checking the rooms beyond the score of doors. The first few rooms were relatively empty, apparently used for storage of unused furniture and the like.

The third door that he came to opened into a large conservatory. In the dim light from the doorway, he could see that there was an array of musical instruments set up on stands along the far wall, and a grand piano set up in the middle of a raised platform. Several rows of seating rested between the platform and the door, and there was an old wet bar along the left hand wall, complete with comfortable looking stools. Along the right wall were two doors that he presumed led to a pair of bathrooms.

As soon as Harry stepped through the doorway, the chandelier in the middle of the room ignited, casting a yellowish-red glow throughout the room. Sconces along the walls also lit up, as well as the candelabra that sat upon the piano.

Suddenly, all of the various instruments rose from their stands and began playing some sort of tune. It probably would have been a beautiful melody if it weren't for the fact that nearly all of the stringed instruments were either out of tune, or had strings missing altogether. Even the piano sounded as if a cat was walking along the keys. When Harry turned and stepped out of the room, the music abruptly stopped and the instruments settled back into their respective stands.

He sighed in relief as he shut the door and made his way to the next room. There he found a comfortable looking study, two of its walls lined with bookshelves, along with a large reading desk that sat to his right. Straight ahead was a bay window that looked out over the front of the property. The recessed area in front of the window was lined with comfortable silk cushions that made a nice little reading nook for anyone who was so inclined.

He noticed a door on the right wall, beyond which he found a small private loo with just a toilet and a sink. Along the left wall, separating the set of bookcases was another door. Harry thought that it must have led to some sort of a storage cupboard, but when he opened it, his mouth dropped open in awe. In the room beyond was an expansive library whose shelves were teeming with an incredibly vast variety of books. From what he could tell, it easily encompassed the middle third of that floor of the mansion. The shelves that spanned every wall ran from the floor to the ceiling, and tall ladders on runners provided access to the upper shelves. Throughout the room more free-standing shelves that created aisles from wall to wall, and in the very center of the room were a set of four long tables, each with piles of books stacked upon them.

Now, Harry wasn't a huge recreational reader, but the sheer volume of tomes stored in this room told him that he would never be lacking for reading material… probably for as long as he lived.

Harry made his way to the tables in the middle of the room and lazily scanned the books that were laid out there, assuming that they were put there in the first place because they were interesting to the last person there. After a brief inspection, he found that most of them were history books, and very old history books at that, as most of them were handwritten, and their yellowed pages were very dry and fragile.

One particular book caught his eye. It seemed newer than the rest of the dusty tomes, but when he opened it, he discovered that it was a hand written journal of one of Jaana's great ancestors that appeared to have been penned well over two hundred years before, judging by the dates on the entries.

He leafed through the journal, stopping at a few entries that gave him unique insights of what wizarding life was like centuries before. He was about to close the book and drop it back onto the dusty tabletop when a particular entry caught his eye. As he read, he found that the author had a secret study set up off of the wine cellar in the basement that he used to get away from his wife during her 'particularly naggy times of the month.' The author's private hideaway was discovered by said wife during one of those 'naggy times,' whatever that meant, and he lamented how he thought his secret den was a particularly clever bit of spellwork, how it was cleverly hidden behind a large, old cask of decidedly foul tasting wine, and wondered how she knew to tap her wand against the off-coloured stone in the wall behind it to open the door.

Harry nodded to himself… perhaps he had discovered the perfect place to set up his lab.

He placed the book back onto the table and walked through the library's main door and into the hallway. The next door he came to was locked. He stooped to look through the keyhole below the knob and saw with the small amount of daylight from the crack under the door that there was a stairway leading up to what he assumed was the attic, or possibly the entrance to the widow's watch he had seen earlier. He rattled the doorknob again, then shrugged and moved on… he'd have Jaana open it up for him later.

The next room down was an art studio, of sorts. There were rolls of raw canvas, stacks of canvas frames, several empty easels, and a set of shelves that held a wide variety of paints and brushes. In one corner was a stack of heavy marble blocks and a sturdy looking oaken table laden with an assortment of chisels and mallets, and in another corner stood a potter's wheel along with all the supplies needed to mold clay. Everything seemed to be coated in a thick film of dust, suggesting that the room hadn't been used in many years. There were two other doors in the room, one led to another small loo, and the other was a storage room that held a sizable quantity of art supplies.

The rest of the rooms on that floor held nothing of interest to him… one appeared to be a sewing room, and the rest were just dry storage. At the end of the long hallway was another set of stairs leading down to the end of the west wing on the second floor. He knew that in this wing there was nothing but bedrooms. The rooms were somewhat smaller than the rooms in the east wing, telling him that they were either children's rooms or guest bedrooms.

Harry climbed down the left stairway to the main hall on the first floor. The wide area seemed to double as a receiving hall, as there was a long wet bar running along the west wall, many loveseat-sized sofas with matching coffee tables that clustered before a very large fireplace, and a sizable cloakroom next to the huge, oaken double-doors that he knew led to the grand ballroom. On the north side of the room were a set of large glass doors, beyond which he could see the expansive entrance hall and the main doors. The archway on the right side led to the kitchens and the dining halls, and the archway on the left provided access to the indoor pool and the gaming hall.

When they first arrived there, Harry was very excited to learn about the presence of a pool, but he was quite disappointed when it turned out to be in much the same condition as the fountain outside. It would take a lot of cleaning for it to be usable. Still, there was a private beach just outside, but the idea of being in the unconfined space of the ocean slightly troubled him… he thought it would be much safer to learn to swim in the pool.

Harry walked along the base of the stairway to a small alcove beneath that housed a narrow door. The set of stairs beyond the door were steep and the area below was poorly illuminated by the daylight from the room above.

"Lumos," said Harry, igniting the tip of his wand. He held his wand high above his head to keep his night-sight from being washed out by the bright light.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the rows of diamond-shaped shelving that held innumerable dusty, old bottles. Another rack along the rear wall held a vast assortment of oddly shaped bottles in differing sizes from very small to as large as he was tall. The cellar smelled of some sickly-sweet odor that slightly turned his stomach.

Along the furthest wall he could make out a set of huge casks that looked to be about eight feet tall, even as they lay on their sides. As he approached them, he could see that each of the casks had wooden spigots protruding from the barrelheads. He blew the dust from the first spigot and managed to turn the tap a few degrees. He put his finger under the small trickle that had begun to leak from the spout and tasted it. Although he had never tasted wine before, he found that, while it was not a particularly pleasant taste, it certainly couldn't be considered foul.

He closed off the first tap, moved to the next one, and cracked that one open. Again, he tasted the liquid and found it surprisingly sweet. The third one had an odd, fruity taste that reminded him of apple juice.

When he tasted the fourth, he nearly gagged and spit out the few drops that hit his tongue. The wine in that cask tasted more like vinegar. That had to be the one.

Harry examined the framework that supported the huge cask as well as the floor beneath it. He smiled to himself as he discovered how the room was discovered by the man's wife. Although there was a layer of dust on the floor, he could easily see the scratches and indentations in the stone floor that suggested that the cask could be, and often was, swung away from the wall.

With surprisingly little effort on Harry's part, the cask pulled out and swung away to the left, revealing the stone wall behind. It was easy to spot the off-coloured stone, as it had a slightly pinkish hue compared to the rest of the gray stones in the wall.

Harry smiled as he drew his wand. He was anxious to see what was stored in this secret den that presumably hadn't been visited in centuries. Harry lightly tapped the pinkish stone, and almost immediately a narrow, open doorway appeared.

As the light from Harry's wand bathed the interior of the secret room, his eyes widened. The air in his lungs felt as though it turned to stone and weighed down on his diaphragm painfully. He felt as though he was being electrocuted, as his muscles seemed to seize in place. He stared in shock for only an instant before the air in his lungs started moving again, which resulted in a terrible, anguished scream escaping from his lips.

Harry stumbled back in terror, and then sprinted back across the cellar and up the stairs, never seeing that the wall had reappeared and the cask had silently slid back into place.