When Harry reached the bottom of the moving spiral stair case Dobby was waiting to show him to his room. "Master Harry Potter sir, Dobby is so pleased to see you, Dobby will show you to your room" he said in a high pitched squeaky voice.
Dobby led Harry down the corridor to a portrait depicting a man dressed in medieval clothing on Hogwarts grounds with a large griffin in the back ground; Harry could only assume that this was Godric Gryffindor.
"The password is 'Honor' Harry Potter sir, if there is anything you be needing, just call for Dobby sir and he will come" said Dobby.
"Thanks Dobby, Good night"
"Good night sir" Dobby replied with tears in his eyes, there were very few wizards that would wish a house elf good night.
"Honor" spoke Harry causing the portrait to swing open.
When Harry walked into the room he appeared to be standing in a smaller version of the Gryffindor common room, painted in Gryffindor red and gold with a small study containing a desk and large bookcase already filled with books on one side and a roaring fireplace on the other, of coarse the fireplace didn't actually give off any heat, it was the middle of summer after all but it left the floo connection open and gave off a more comfortable atmosphere.
There was a door on the wall directly opposite from Harry that he assumed led up to the bedroom. Heading for the door Harry walked into a large luxurious bedroom with a large double bed by the window that overlooked the school grounds and a door that led to a bathroom. Harry's trunk appeared to have already been placed at the bottom of his bed and Hedwig's cage hung on the hook that had been provided for exactly that use.
Entering the bathroom Harry stood gob smacked in the doorway, the bathroom was an exact replica of the prefects bathroom that he had used in his fourth year to solve the riddle inside the dragon egg, even the numerous taps on the large swimming pool sized bath were the same.
Deciding to have a bath and mull over all of the information Dumbledore had just given him he turned on as many of the taps as he could reach. The smell of lavender and jasmine met his nostrils along with many other fragrances that he couldn't name. Harry stripped out of his cloths and submerged himself into the hot water, he turned off the taps and lay back to relax against the edge of the bath.
If what Dumbledore had said was correct then that would make him, Harry, the most powerful wizard ever, but that wasn't possible, was it?, no… no, he didn't even know the Merlin had really existed, like most muggle raised wizards and witches he had believed that Merlin had simply been a myth, a story told to children to keep them entertained.
But Dumbledore wouldn't lie, would he?
Well, there was only one way to find out for sure, he would have to try a spell and see if it was more powerful. Carefully reaching over to his discarded clothing, trying not to spill water all over the floor, Harry pulled his wand out of his pants pocket to try a spell.
Thinking of the possibility of life after Voldermort's downfall, Harry yelled out 'expecto patronum' trying to force as much power and happiness as he could into the spell.
A stag so bright that Harry was forced to shield his eyes leapt out of the end of his wand, after his eyes had time to adjust he looked at the magnificent animal before him, it was bright gold in colour and appeared to be almost solid, after seeing that there was no danger present the stag bowed its head low and disappeared in a cloud leaving nothing behind.
Harry had never seen a gold patronus before, in fact he'd never even heard of one before. Usually a patronus was silver and appeared to be made of light. Maybe Dumbledore was right, he could certainly feel the power rippling away from the stag in waves.
This was too much to take in all in one day, after getting out of the bath and drying himself of, Harry slipped into a pair of clean pyjamas and slid into the large double bed.
He made a conscious effort to clear in mind before drifting off into a troubled sleep.
Harry woke the next morning to the sun streaming across his bed; he looked out of the window and saw that the sun had just come up.
Deciding to get up and head down to breakfast before he was scheduled to meet professor Dumbledore later that morning Harry headed out of his rooms and down the twisting corridors to the great hall.
When he walked through the doors to the great hall Harry noticed that the house tables and the staff table had been removed and in their place stood one single round table large enough to seat all of the teachers and Harry.
Nobody else was at breakfast yet so taking a seat at the table Harry helped himself to some food. In the time leading up to 9.00 Harry sat by himself eating breakfast, when it came time to meet Dumbledore nobody else had arrived, not that he had expected anyone of course, it was the summer holidays after all, the teachers were probably having a lie in.
Reaching the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office Harry realised he didn't know the password. Naming off every sweet he could think of Harry finally came across the password "Berty Bots Every Flavoured Beans" and he mounted the moving spiral staircase the would take him up to Dumbledore's office.
Harry knocked on the door. "Come in Harry". He opened the door and saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk. "I trust that your room was comfortable?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yes sir" replied Harry".
"Today I thought we would concentrate on your occlumency, please take a seat and we will begin".
Harry took his seat in front of the desk, "Yes sir, but I didn't do very well last year with professor Snape" replied Harry
"Not to worry, we will try a different technique, but first we must delve into the theory of occlumency. Now, occlumency is one of the most difficult branches to learn because it is different for every individual". Dumbledore hesitated for a moment. "At this point I would like to offer my deepest of apologies, you see in my haste for you to learn occlumency I attempted to force you to use a technique that did not suit you".
"That's ok sir; I suppose we were all a bit rushed last year, weren't we?" replied Harry.
"Yes, indeed we were" answered Dumbledore with a grateful twinkle in his eye. "Now whilst Professor Snape believes that emotions are a weakness he finds that clearing his mind of all emotions strengthens him. Occlumency is all about using your strengths and disregarding your weaknesses. For you, your emotion is a strength, so, I would like you to concentrate on a room that you are familiar with, in a place in which you feel safe".
Harry attempted to concentrate on the Gryffindor common room but no matter how hard he tried his mind kept wandering over the rest of the castle. The magnificent view of the castle from the boats in his first year, the welcoming feeling as he crossed the threshold into the entrance hall, the delicious feast served in the great hall.
"Go with your instinct Harry, if your mind wants to focus on a different place then let it" advised Professor Dumbledore.
"Ok, now what?" asked Harry.
"Now you concentrate on all of your happy memories, as you would when you produce a patronus charm, allow the place in your mind to soak up those memories. Remember this place is in your mind, the laws of physics do not impede you here. Now I will perform Legilimency on you and join you in your safe place. One… Two… Three… 'Ligilimens'", Dumbledore found himself Sitting behind his desk in his office, at first he thought that nothing had happened, that the spell hadn't worked, until he looked around and began to see some small differences, all of the portraits lining the walls were awake and chatting happily to one another and looking out of the window he saw that it was about noon, where as it was actually morning. Dumbledore took another look around his office and realised that Harry wasn't there so he set of down the spiral staircase and made his way to the great hall.
Along the way Dumbledore was looking at the portraits that lined the walls, where there were normally paintings of gossiping ladies and overenthusiastic knights there were now scenes playing out as though on a television screen, they appeared to be playing at random.
When Dumbledore reached the great hall he found Harry standing there looking at the ceiling, unlike the real ceiling in the great hall this one didn't reflect what the sky outside showed, this ceiling showed the view from Harry's eyes.
Dumbledore looked at the ceiling and saw his own face staring serenely back at him. "Very impressive Harry" said Dumbledore causing Harry to jump.
"Sir!" yelled Harry "You scared me."
"I do apologise" said Dumbledore, though you could easily see the amusement in his eyes indicating he was anything but sorry. "Lets take a walk shall we, and we can discuss this place in more depth?" asked the professor.
As they were walking around the lake Harry began to notice the lack of life around the place. "Sir, why is there nobody here?" asked Harry.
"Ah, now, I am glad you asked me that question, what we are on now is called a mental plane, every person has a mental plane but most do not use theirs. Whilst you and I can be here nobody else can unless they are performing Legilimency on you. Or in extreme cases if they are brought here by you".
"I'm not sure what you mean professor" replied Harry.
"If you concentrate hard enough and use all of the will power you have within you, it is possible to bring a person to your mental plane although it is much easier if that person is willing".
"Anybody?" asked Harry hopefully, thoughts of his parents and Sirius flooding his mind.
"Anybody" answered professor Dumbledore, "but remember it does not do to dwell in the past. You must remember to live."
"Now, you can create what are called avatars here, they are not actual people but they are very good copies, all you have to do is concentrate on the what you want and will it into existence" instructed Dumbledore.
Harry concentrated with all of his will power on wanting the giant squid to surface from the lake and to his immense surprise the next moment it did, sending up a jet of water with it.
"Congratulations Harry, now I believe it is time to return to my office, just concentrate on leaving your mental plane and you will".
The next moment both Harry and Dumbledore where back in his office. By now it was mid morning and the sun was shining brightly across the grounds. "Now, I think that that should do for today, please spend as much time in your mental plane as possible, tomorrow we will cover the theory of magic, it will make occlumency much easier".
"Good bye professor" said Harry.
"See you at lunch Harry"
With that Harry left the office and headed back to his room.