Witchkraft the Muggle way

Chapter 2

A/N:- My apologies for the delay in updates. My muse abandoned me due to real life issues. I hope that you still like the idea for this story and the way I write. If so, please don't hesitate to drop me a review. You can review if you don't like it as well, just try to let me know why you don't like it. No flames please, there's no need for them. If you don't like it enough to flame then go elsewhere and find something more enjoyable to read.

This is a massive AU, not in size but number of changes it will inflict on canon. Please don't read this and tell me how it contradicts something in canon, because you have been warned that it's AU. There is no ship set for this fic. He's only five at the moment.

With all that said, please enjoy.

/ ch2 begin \

Harry didn't know what to expect but Mrs Crump had taken him back to the small office behind the main desk so that they could talk privately. He wasn't really sure why they needed to do that and he looked sceptical enough that she'd also added she wouldn't mind a cuppa while they talked. Apparently not drinking tea in front of the libraries customers was a rule that couldn't be broken, not like the 'Being Quiet' rule.

So here he sat on an ancient office chair that'd probably been around as long as the library had been open, swinging his short legs in a rhythm all his own as he watched her bustle around the small kitchenette. A short time later the sound of a kettle whistling broke the silence and the old woman, by Harry's perspective where ten was positively ancient and he didn't have words to express how old Mrs Crump must be, was very shortly sitting across the small desk from him. He watched fascinated as she pursed her lips and slurped a small sip from the mug in her hands before sitting back and sighing in appreciation of one of the finer things created by civilization.

Harry waited for her to speak since he'd had manners literally beaten into him at a much younger age, though he was waiting for her words of wisdom with baited breath. She must know a lot of stuff working as she did with all these books. So there he sat in silence with his wide innocent green eyes watching her every move so that he wouldn't miss anything important.

"I don't know what to really tell you Harry. One thing I can tell you is that I don't believe in magic." Well that certainly wasn't what he was waiting to hear and his crestfallen look must have communicated as much she felt bad, like she'd just kicked a puppy. "Don't get me wrong Harry, just because I don't believe in something doesn't mean that it doesn't. It just means that I haven't seen anything that would convince me that magic does exist. Hmm, let me see if I can explain it so you understand…." Henrietta sat back in the chair opposite the little boy for a moment and thought about it.

"Harry? You believe there are elephants don't you?" It might seem like a silly question but what do you ask a small child that they'll understand. Philosophy is normally beyond most sane adults so how do you make a child understand it?

Harry might not understand why the question was being asked but he chose to nod his head anyway. Dudley had been full of stories about the times he'd been to the zoo and all the animals he'd seen. He'd been happy to shove the picture books in Harry's face with full colour pictures of everything he'd supposedly seen. The only two animals that Harry hadn't believed Dudley had seen were something Dudley had called an Aardvark, it just didn't look real to him. The other was a weird little creature called a Duck-billed Platypus, there was no way that was a real animal, it looked like someone had taken parts from lots of other creatures and sewn them together or something. For some reason the thought of a massive animal like the elephant hadn't raised any objections in the little boy when he'd been shown the picture, though that might have had more to do with the appearance of a zoo-keeper in the photo.

She was grateful that she wasn't going to have to go through a list of animals until she found one that he believed in but probably hadn't seen, "Have you ever seen a real elephant Harry?" violent shaking of his head, "But you believe they're real?" hesitant nodding, "Have you seen pictures of them?" the nodding became firmer as Harry felt himself back on firmer ground with his answers. He wasn't sure why she was asking them but he was sure she would get to the point soon. It turned out he was right when she continued.

"Would you have believed in elephants if you hadn't seen a picture of one. Would you have thought that there were these really big animals with wrinkly grey skin with huge flapping ears and a nose that they could wave in the air and pick things up with?"

Harry blinked for a moment as he thought, when you put it like that it didn't sound quite so sensible but…but he'd seen a picture. Hadn't he?

"For me magic is like that. Lots of people say it's real, but I haven't seen anything that would make me believe in it. Having said that, I also might point out that I don't totally disbelieve that magic might exist. If someone came to me and showed me some magic that I couldn't prove wasn't magic then I'd believe in it just like you believe in elephants," she finished. Harry sat quietly as he pondered what she'd just said. It was hard for his young mind to follow the librarians logic train, and besides now that she'd described an elephant like that he wasn't sure he believed in them anymore. On the other hand she said that if someone showed her magic then she'd believe in it….

"Mrs Crump, can I show you some magic?" Harry ventured hesitantly.

Henrietta Crump smiled at Harry, "Of course you can Harry," she prepared herself to be obviously impressed at what ever 'magic' trick he'd learned. Even if he flubbed it with the normal dexterity of a five year old child she'd be happy to make a fuss over the serious little boy who came into her library and sat far too quietly in the corner when he was looking in the picture books. She'd worried about him for a while now but not really known what to do about her concerns. It worried her that he came to the library by himself.

At first she'd thought he lived very close when he popped in almost everyday. Then one day out of curiosity she'd followed him home and found he lived a long way away for a five year old, cripes, most ten year olds wouldn't walk that far to come to a library. The fact that he looked like he didn't want to go home made her question his home-life but with no real visual cue other than a suspicious mind there was nothing she could really take to the police or anyone in authority. So she'd done what she could for him, made him feel welcome in the library and provided some biscuits and a sandwich for him occasionally.

So it was with very wide eyes that she watched one of the books on the table lift upwards and float suspended a good foot above the flat surface. Leaning closer she held her breath as she examined it, even going as far as waving her hands over it to make sure that it wasn't hanging from wires or something. Not that Harry would have had a chance to set something like that up in the first place.

"Can I touch it?" she asked hesitantly, not knowing what would interrupt the magic. Yes magic, that was the only possibility that made sense, and suddenly Harry wanting to know about it made much more sense than it had before. At his nod she reached out a tentative hand and gave the book, volume 23 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a nudge. She shouldn't really have been surprised when the book didn't move but she was. She'd thought that his question about magic had been a normal child's inquisitiveness but now she knew better, he had a real need to know what he could do, even she could see that. From what little she recalled this was much like telekinesis

One of the things she knew was that she didn't know enough to help him, and didn't know anyone who did. That wouldn't stop her trying though, either to help him herself or find people who could help him.

"That's incredible Harry! How are you making it do that?" Harry shrugged, as he couldn't explain it, he really didn't know himself as far as he could tell it was because he wanted it to happen. Henrietta watched the boy as he frowned, the book might not be that heavy but it was obvious that he was using energy of some kind to get it to do what he wanted, that and he was beginning to perspire a little as he glowered at the book.

"You can let it down now Harry," she said softly. Harry sighed in relief as he released the book and it fell to the table with a muffled thump. "Well I think that was enough to convince me that magic does exist. How long have you been able to do things like that?" Again Harry shrugged, he'd been doing things like that for as long as he could remember, which admittedly wasn't all that long since he hadn't been alive that long.

"Hmm, well let me think about this. Like I said, I didn't believe in magic so I never really paid much attention to that section of the library before," of course she'd replaced books on the shelves and re-ordered books from the catalogue when she'd decided that she'd had her current selection long enough. The fact that the Little Whinging library had a selection of twenty or thirty books on the field in total was only a minor iota of information at the moment since she'd be looking through what she had very shortly and gleaning whatever she could. Another thought cropped up as she took another sip while watching the serious young child. "Uh, Harry?" she waited for him to look up from the biscuit he'd hesitantly taken from the plate.

"Yes Mrs Crump?"

"Do you know how to read?"

Harry shook his head, he didn't know what he was being asked but it was a good guess that if he didn't know the word then he didn't know how to do it.

"Well that's no good," she murmured as she looked at the young boy. It really wasn't surprising he didn't know how to read since he wasn't going to school yet and apparently no one had taken an interest in him learning how. The problem was that he'd need the skill if he really wanted to learn anything about magic since she couldn't be around to teach him everything and there were lots of things he could learn for himself with the right motivation. Something she could tell about the lad was that he was plenty motivated so she knew he would push himself harder than she'd probably want him to. It would mean more work in the near future, but if she could instil a love of reading in him at a young age then she'd have done her job as a librarian and helped him at the same time.

"Before I can teach you anything about magic I'll have to teach you to read," she explained. It would also give her a chance to go through the order books and see if there were any books that she might be able to get for him. It would be a long time before he'd be able to understand a lot of what was written but she'd help him as much as she could. She was also aware there were many supposedly occult bookstores around, that might be more genuine than she'd first thought and she might be able to talk to some of the proprietors and get further more accurate book lists of suggested reading. In fact there was a possibility that she could find out something this very afternoon, there was a small bookshop in Little Whingings shopping district that boasted an extensive section labelled 'Esoterica' though for some reason she'd never really been interested in venturing in to see what was there.

"Now, I want you to return here tomorrow as early as you can, we can make a start and see what happens from there. Can you do that Harry?" she smiled as reassuringly as she could at the little boy. He didn't look too happy at the moment but she could see a gleam in his eyes. If he needed to learn to do this reading thing, she could tell that no force on earth was going to stop him. She briefly wondered about what kind of life could lead to that amount of willpower in a boy so young. She'd seen many children over the years come into this library, she'd seen quiet children, noisy children and she'd seen wilfully disobedient children but in all that time she'd never seen a child driven. She smiled even wider at his resolute nod.

"Go on with you then lad and I'll see you tomorrow. Oh before you go, it might be an idea to practice all the magic that you already know."

Harry just shook his head, there was no way he could practice this at home.

"Why not Harry?"

"Cause then the bad man will come."

"Bad man?"

"Yeah."

"What does this bad man do Harry?"

"He makes everyone forget," Harry admitted forlornly

"And how does he do that Harry?" Henrietta Crump thought this might be another of those mental arts, but instead of moving objects it sounded more like telepathy or maybe mind control. Not exactly something she wanted a five year old playing around with. If she could she'd need to learn something about it so that she could maybe think of a way to defeat it. At the very least she'd tell him that it was a bad thing to do ethically and explain why, not that he seemed to think it was a good thing in any case.

"Pardon Harry? I thought you said something." Henrietta paused for a moment feeling strange. It felt like she should remember something but couldn't, like it was right on the tip of her tongue.

"Did you say something? I do wish you'd speak up," she said just a little exasperated with the young boy. Then a thought crossed her mind, no, surely she wasn't that old?

Harry just stared at her a moment in confusion, he'd told her twice now what the bad man said to make people forget……'Oh!' Harry had his first ever epiphany at that point, the next time he said it he didn't wave his hand mimicking the stick movements and found that it didn't help as that blank look entered her eyes once more. Waiting for that look to leave her he glared into her slightly dilated pupils and suddenly she was back and he was falling in a piece of accidental magic that would help to shape him for years to come. The connection only lasted a few seconds but by the time it was over he had copied every memory the woman across from him had up until the age of ten or so. The shocked expression on his face must have mirrored her own as he'd left copies of his own memories in her mind and since she was better at sorting and organizing her thoughts it didn't take her very long to realize what had happened.

Now instead of sitting there and being obliviated she found that she could remember the incidents he'd been trying to tell her about as if she'd experienced them herself. Not only that but the things that had led up to the 'Bad man' appearing. The rifling of scenes from Harry's young life accelerated even faster and tears began to fall from her eyes as she experienced his early life. Then as if she'd come to the end of the memories they stopped, but there was a feeling there was something else that should be there. She knew Harry was at least five, he'd told her so quite proudly a couple of months ago when he'd explained that she didn't have to worry about him since he was a big boy.

Around the age of two, maybe a little earlier the memories stopped, a little like running into a wall. Looking at it she felt that there were weak points in that wall and wondered what it meant. Thinking about it logically she drew the conclusion that someone had done a major obliviation on the child. The wall blocked everything, just like the obliviation spell had blocked certain memories. It had to be a major obliviation because the ones she'd uncovered so far were weak in comparison and had crumpled easily to her scrutiny. The question was, 'why?' Why go to so much trouble to erase the memories before his second birthday?

She had no ideas as to what could be that important, but felt that she should find out if she could. She'd already beaten the spells that had been used on Harry after that, so this much larger spell must be breakable too. If she could do it…she wondered if this was an accurate depiction of Harry's mind and if so if she could teach him to defeat the obliviation spell. There was the fact that he was able to stop himself from being obliviated now so it seemed logical that it should be possible for the child to break down the barriers that already existed in his head.

Henrietta opened her eyes and regarded the silently solemn little boy as he sat there staring into space.

Harry immediately upon finding that he had more memories than he'd ever had before gravitated towards the ones that felt most comfortable. Those turned out to be the ones of a little girl near his own age, a girl whose life was nothing like his own. She'd grown up knowing that her parents loved her and she'd been well cared for in a stark contrast to his own life. A boy who couldn't even remember the sound of his mothers voice. Fortunately for his sanity he wasn't able to process Henrietta's memories anywhere near as fast as she had assimilated his own he'd only just learned that she was taught to read at the age of three and as a bonus he could remember how to do it now as well. He was just getting to the point where she'd learned the difference between girls pee-pee's and boy pee-pee's when he was interrupted by a crushing hug.

"Oh you poor boy!" Harry would never know just how close he'd come to being scarred for life when she'd interrupted the stream of memories like that. There were certain things that boys just aren't supposed to know and one of those things is how the female mind works when going through puberty. Of course that works the opposite way as well but to be honest Harry wasn't even at the stage where he knew there was a difference between the sexes and he hadn't ever had any friends that would make him think that girls were worst than he was. Having memories of a young woman's wants and needs might have really messed up his sexual preferences later on

Luckily he only got up to the age of ten before the connection broke, which meant that he had access to all of Mrs Crumps early schooling, so it wouldn't matter how much extra schooling Dudley got, not that it would have in any case since the fat lump was useless at studying. Amazingly enough Harry even picked up a smattering of latin from the Catholic school the young Henrietta had attended. Mathematics weren't the girls strong point but he'd have to admit that she was better than he was and he'd be better than anyone else starting school in four months time.

Harry wasn't sure what had just happened and certainly wouldn't try it again if he had any choice in the matter but it would later prove invaluable to his learning ability. The girl hadn't just been taught to read, she'd been taught how to study effectively. Harry realized that the thoughts in his head weren't his own and while he was attempting to sort them into some semblance of order so that he could use them, he found he could do the same with his own thoughts and memories. It was a much slower process to go through his own thought since Henrietta 'Henie' Crump only had pleasant memories of her childhood while he knew he had lots of rather nasty ones that he didn't want to relive like he had hers.

Mrs Crump stared at Harry completely unsure what had just happened or why. She wondered if it was anything like the 'Bad Man' did to him on a regular basis but dismissed that as Harry had told her that he made him and other people forget the magic that he'd done. From that she drew a natural conclusion that the old man had some way to detect when magic was done by the boy and since he hadn't turned up here that it must have a set range. She wondered if Harry knew about it and what it meant. Oh well she'd find out another time, for now she knew that the young child should return to his guardians, not that she wanted him to. If she had her way the boy would never go near those animals again. Unfortunately she couldn't answer any official questions about how she knew Harry was being mistreated. Saying that she read his mind wouldn't do anything for her credibility or the boys safety. Giving Harry another heart felt hug which broke him out of that glaze eyed stare that had been unnerving her for the last few seconds.

"Now, I'm sure you can find somewhere to practice your magic," she smiled at him reassuringly, "and if not you're always welcome here Harry. Now it's probably best if you get along. I know your guardians probably wont care if you don't return but from what I've seen that old man will." The manner of fact way she mentioned the old man, Dumbledore, sent a small shiver down Harrys' spine.

Harry received the second hug he could remember, and with the fact that he was sorting through his memories it was an accurate account as far as he'd gotten, which was about eight months so far. Taking in what Henrietta said, it was very hard to think of her as an old lady with her young memories so fresh in his mind he shivered slightly scared that the man would figure out what was going on and he'd come back. Though he had to admit she was probably right, practicing his magic could only help. He'd seen the fact through the memories that he'd been given. Not that he was going to tell her that he knew all about her young life, he didn't want to get into anymore trouble than he already seemed to be in, and especially not with someone who'd been so nice to him.

Harry slid down from the chair and after giving her a small smile headed for the open door to the library and quickly made his way home leaving behind a thoughtful librarian.

Glancing down at her watch she jumped, she hadn't thought that much time had passed and was shocked. Bustling out of the back room she went about joining Flo in the close down of the library for the day. An hour later she'd caught up with her work and was pleased to note they'd close at half four just as normal.

"I think that's the last of it Mrs Crump, would it be alright if I left a little early?" Flo asked hopefully, she had a date tonight and was hoping to be able to spend a few hours relaxing and getting ready. She wasn't sure but tonight might be important to her relationship with her long-time boyfriend.

"Of course dearie, you go right ahead and I'll see you on Thursday. I think we might as well close now, I don't think we're going to have any more customers this afternoon," she watched for a moment as the young woman left quickly lest the head librarian changed her mind. Looking towards the computer that had become the bane of her life since it'd been installed she booted the monster up. Honestly it'd be faster to phone the London stacks and request they post her a list of books, but this was the new procedure so she'd have to follow it. Now, to remember what she had to do…

The monotonous clicking of the keyboard stalled for a moment as her brain paused to process some of the things that had happened today. Harry had always been an unusual child as far as she was concerned, a little too quiet, too well behaved. Now she knew why, and it wasn't just because the child had told her, but because she had every one of his memories in her head. She knew every time he'd been abused by his relatives. Not that she could do anything about it, no one would believe her if she told them how she knew the things she knew. In fact they'd commit her to an asylum.

There was also no easy way to get evidence either as Vernon Dursley was an extremely careful abuser. No one was likely to believe bad of the man either, he contributed to too many good works, financially. Never got his hands dirty but there was always a cheque…come to think of it…there was always a cheque. Which if you thought about the fact he was only a middle management type you'd have to question where exactly the money came from. The man didn't live the life, he lived in a middle income town, drove a middle income car…

All of that was beside the point though, it wouldn't be possible to pin anything to him without substantial evidence. Harry was the main concern right now. He'd changed her view of the world in one afternoon. It was something to think that the world could be magical to the fact that there was real magic in the world and she'd just witnessed some of it… Thinking about it took a fair bit of time and she needed to turn on the lights to make her way out of the library when she finished her search. She'd print it out in the morning and figure where to go from there.

/ To be continued \

A/N:- I know, it's been a long time between updates but I hope you enjoy this anyway. It's mainly set up still as this is a major AU and I'm going to be doing things much differently than cannon. I won't go into too much detail since that would defeat the purpose of writing the story as you'd already know the twists and turns I'm thinking of. One thing to note is that this won't be a super-godlike Harry fic. It will portray him as more intelligent than cannon though, which if I'm honest won't be that hard.

Now before anyone jumps down my throat and tells me Harry is smart, and Harry is creative and…Whatever else you want to tell me. Lets just look at some evidence. When he's in school with Dudley he's punished whenever he does better than his bulbous cousin, therefore he never exerts himself. Hermione is the knowledge broker in their trio, Harry is the big guns magically and Ron is….erm, not really sure. The loyal sidekick? Anyway, with 'LUCK' on his side he's protected once more by his mothers sacrifice and lives to see second year. Dumbledore announces that Voldemort isn't as dead as everyone thought and that Harry was going to be a major target for the psychopath. Does Harry sit up and take notice? Does he hit the books to learn as much as he can? No! He goes on as if nothing has changed.

Oh don't get me wrong, there was all the crap that happened in second year going on to distract him, but if you take the actual time involved in each scene that still leaves him with significant time to train and learn, and even if not he could ask for Hermione's help like he did in fifth year to run the DA.