To say that Harry Potter was upset was an understatement. To say he hated Dumbledore for what had happened was being too kind on Bumbles. Harry wasn't upset he was furious, if they sent him back now he would kill the meddling old man. How could that idiotic meddling old man do this to him? He sent me to live in an abusive environment for "10 long and terrible years." He knew what I was going to face Harry thought. The meddling old bastard knew. He wanted me meek and pliable, ready to be the weapon against Voldemort regardless of the fact that he never even trained me. He knew I was going to have to face that stupid half blood hypocrite and yet Dumbledore did nothing
"He did nothing. . . He DID nothing. . . HE DID NOTHING!" Harry kept repeating until he was screaming it over and over until his voice was ragged. "The bastard knew and wouldn't be bothered to train me. He didn't want me to win, just take away the hypocrite's horcruxes. It's not fair."
Harry sat down in the corner of the room. As he sat there, he noticed the room's usual lighted walls had dimmed until they were almost gray in color. It still illuminated the room but it wasn't the clean pure white it had been. As Harry sat there wondering what could have caused that, the door opened and Sorer slowly walked in.
"Well, well, well, my little Gryffindor has finally realized how much bumbles did to hamstring him. The room changed because you are currently walking towards a path that isn't fully light but it's most certainly not dark." Sorer looked pleased as Harry looked up at him and he could see the fire in Harry's eyes subside. "I was going to wait until 'tomorrow' to start to help you learn real Occlumency, but we're going to start now. Come here and sit by me."
Harry did as he was told and sat on the floor next to Sorer. As he did Sorer sat onto the ground cross legged. Harry immediately copied him. Sorer then started his explanation of how to clear one's mind. Trying to think of nothing wouldn't work nor would trying to shove all thoughts out of your mind; if a thought came up, you acknowledged it and then let it go, it would release itself. Truly clearly your mind meant you could accept that thoughts will occur and acknowledge then release them. The next step was to just focus on your breathing. Combining these two things would allow you to clear your mind and begin to see how to best defend it. Everyone had their own way to defend their mind, but the main concept behind the whole of it was a vault like system and because the system of defending your mind was all based on one concept, legilimens could enter a mind because the basic defense was the same.
"Ok, so since we know that the basic concept is to make it like a vault, we change it. Vault like defenses are all well and good but if we change the basic building of the defenses we will greatly improve your Occlumency right away. So I want you to think of some muggle device that can store information." Sorer was smirking inside. He already knew what Harry would choose. It was a rather obvious choice. It would also reinforce Harry's shields immensely from the start since it would be such a foreign concept to a wizard.
"Stores information? I would also want to be able to protect it somehow, and be able to use legilimency easy with it." Harry thought for a moment before the obvious answer hit him. He would base the set up of his mind on a computer. He could build firewalls, which would be the first protection against intruders. Following that he would set up passwords into his mind, if you didn't know the password you couldn't get in. After the password protection to just achieve access to his mind, you would have to sort through folders full of meaningless memories, the everyday average ones, to even begin the search for the important information in hidden folders scattered about his mind. The hidden folders would even have a password on them that was different than the one to get access to his mind. Then he would put up what would be considered an anti-virus program. Its job would be to detect intruders and check all his memories to make sure they were his. He could encrypt his memories with some kind of signature as a secondary measure just in case the anti-virus couldn't catch it. It never hurt to have a back-up plan. Viruses would be a way to damage other's mental shields. Once they were damaged enough he could plant a Trojan to leave himself a back door into someone's mind.
"My mind will be a computer, Sorer." Harry was excited when he saw the smile spread across Sorer's face. Harry then explained the thoughts he had to Sorer who agreed that it was an ingenious way to do it.
After several hours of Harry meditating and beginning to construct his defenses, Harry had finished the base of his shields. He opened his eyes and felt drained. Sorer approached him before Harry could say anything and looked right into Harry's eyes. Harry could feel the pressure of the ex-Jedi testing his defenses. But it wasn't malicious, like Snape's attempts had been, it was gentle. Harry realized Sorer was just pushing on the defenses that had been built up without trying to break through them. He was testing their strength.
"Very good Harry, I think even Snivellous would be hard pressed to break into your mind in a quick legilimency attack. If he were to try I would definitely recommend the viruses first and then planting a Trojan." Sorer smiled as he cleared his mind wiping away the viruses that Harry had subconsciously planted and assumed it wasn't a premeditated event. "Although I do recommend not trying to plan a virus in my head again, it was enjoyable finding them though."
Harry grinned sheepishly. It had been a test of his abilities rather than an accident. He knew he had to think of something more sophisticated than what he had, but for a rudimentary ability, he thought he wasn't half bad. "Sorer, it was a test of my own abilities in planting the viruses. I wanted to see if you found them like I assumed you would. If you didn't it would mean I designed something elegant enough to avoid detection and would have told you how to find them. Since you found them, I know I need to refine the 'viruses' that I plant. Thanks for being a help without realizing it."
Sorer was shocked and it showed. The man in front of him could be Slytherin when he wanted to and it was coming easier. He shook his head before looking at Harry and posing the question of what Harry felt. The answer he received wasn't reassuring. Harry was pissed. He felt betrayed and wanted to destroy the people who did it to him. Teenage anger and emotional fluctuation at its finest Sorer thought. Sorer told to Harry sit back down on the floor and told him to return to meditating. This time however, the goal was to find the representation of his magical core in him. It was more visualization than actual presence but it would help. Once Harry had found it, Sorer told him to tell what he saw.
"It's like an ocean of green with small rivers running out of it to all over my body. It's rather beautiful and dangerous feeling all at the same time." Harry thought about whether it would be possible to widen the small rivers he saw and the channels and streams further along to allow more flow. As he was pondering this, Sorer looked straight at him and spoke.
"We are indeed going to widen those same channels your magic flows through. All you need to do is visualize a much larger river cutting through the smaller ones. If you do it right, it's going to hurt. A lot." Sorer grimaced, knowing that this would be one of the most excruciating things that people will do.
Harry closed his eyes again. He found himself back in the ocean of green and proceeded to visualize the rivers getting flooded and larger channels being cut. As he was doing this, he was vaguely aware of a scream in the room but couldn't place it. The larger channels were being cut. The ocean of green was slowing losing depth as his own magic was being forced to channel through his body more. Harry was vaguely aware of the screaming stopping and the channels no longer widening as the ocean slowly was raising to its previous level. He opened his eyes and looked at Sorer.
"What?" Harry asked, wondering why Sorer looked like he had seen something incredulous happen.
"You were screaming for the last 45 minutes. You didn't move, just screamed. Do you even feel pain?" Sorer was astonished. This young man had widened his magical channels to full potential within a day and his core was already seventy-five percent recovered. If he had been trained right, he never would have died was the only thought floating around Sorer's head.
"That was me? I just heard screaming and I didn't think anything of it. Now what were . . . Oh shit." Harry mumbled before collapsing to the ground.
Ok he's human Sorer thought. At least he isn't some kind of invincible Jim we would have to train. Exhausted himself and never realized it and I know what he's been through and yet it seems crazy to even me that he could do that. His magic will come easier. His spells will be more powerful. If he can do it, wand-less magic will be child's play. Most importantly he'll be able to fight longer without getting fatigued so soon. Grigori is going to have his hands full. Sorer was full of glee as he picked Harry up and took him to the cot in Harry's room. After laying Harry onto the cot Sorer went and sat back at his desk and clicked his fingers to turn some music on. He smiled like a kid in a candy store as he thought about what Harry would be able to accomplish after this.
~TBTFTON~
The next time Harry woke up, he immediately sat up and began meditating again. By the time he was done, Harry had finally finished building his first set of mental shields. He would continue to strengthen them and add other defenses he could think of that might be needed later. As he opened his eyes he saw the coin start to glow. He picked it up and excused himself from Sorer's office. Harry started to walk down the hallway back to where he first arrived. Kim looked up and smiled at him before she spoke.
"First time training with Grigori, huh" she asked already knowing the answer. "Good luck. Follow that hallway until you hit his door. You'll know it."
Kim had pointed to a door that had just appeared and Harry smiled and thanked her before heading through it. As he was walking, the coin started glowing brighter and Harry picked up his pace thinking Grigori was already upset with him. His hand started to burn and he reflexively opened it but the burning didn't stop. Harry looked down just in time to witness the coin seeming to melt right into his hand. He grabbed his right wrist as the back of his hand screamed in agony from every nerve ending and his eyes clenched shut and his teeth ground together in an attempt to block out the pain. When the pain subsided he opened his eyes and saw on the back of his hand Grigori's symbol and the only thing he could think of was "Oh Shit." Harry immediately ran down the corridor until he found Grigori's door. The only reason he knew was because of the marking on the door matched his new tattoo. He didn't even bother knocking and just rushed right in.
"Grigori we have a problem." Harry said, almost too fast for the man to catch it. "The coin is gone."
"How did you manage to lose it already, you stupid Gryffindor, I gave it to you yesterday." Rasputin was not happy. He had reluctantly agreed to train this buffoon and he already lost the only means of summoning him to training. It was then that Grigori noticed his mark on the back of Harry's hand. "Well now, this is unexpected. I'll have to talk to Karen about this and maybe Merlin may know something. This doesn't change anything. Your training will continue."
Rasputin conjured four dueling dummies and paced slowly in front of them. "You will be learning four curses today. You will also be learning a better stunner. Something a simple counter curse cannot fix. The spells are as such: Pulmo Punctum, Mortalitas Caliga, Attero Telum, Chalybs Funis, and Victus Nex. We will start with Victus Nex, the stunner, and work our way towards the lethal end of these spells."
Harry sighed. He knew he needed to learn to fight and be able to defend himself better than the Hogwarts' curriculum taught, but he was reluctant to have to resort to killing someone. In his mind it was far better to risk dying by not wounding someone than to have to kill them.
"Foolish Gryffindor, I already know why you're sighing. To take a life, yes it is a sad thing to do. However in the grand tapestry of life, will ending one Death Eater's life not change things? Even if the changes are small to you, they may be enormous to someone who was, say, going to be a victim of that same Death Eater down the road."
Harry pondered for a moment while Grigori seemed to smirk thinking he had won. After a few moments Harry spoke up, "but sir, wouldn't taking the Death Eater's life be just as bad as the torture and killing that the Death Eater has already done and will do? Just because someone committed a crime doesn't mean they will again."
Grigori frowned for a moment, caught between annoyance at the Gryffindor's foolish thoughts of second chance and the respect that was showed in the title he was addressed with. Regardless of the respect he was shown, Harry must be broke of the foolish notion that everyone deserves a second chance. "Harry, the Death Eaters make a show of hiding behind their masks. They have anonymity that way. Unless you remove their mask, they can claim innocence or they can claim imperious. Lucius Malfoy could walk into Hermione Granger's home, wearing full Death Eater robes, and torture and kill her entire family. If no one sees his face, he goes home and takes off the robes. Then it's "it wasn't me" or "I was under someone else's control." He gets no punishment for what he does."
Grigori paused before continuing, letting Harry mull over a bit of what was said and then continued in an attempt to keep the young man of balance. "Let's take an example of someone you know rather well, Severus Snape. This man was tormented at the hands of your father and his friends, and in all likelihood, he provoked them to action and then claimed innocence. If I can get your father to free up some time we'll ask him, otherwise he's still in the final processes of becoming a candidate for a Death Angel. You can ask Sorer about that later. That is neither here nor there because it's speculation about Snape's actions. He has a Dark Mark. Do you know what you have to do to get one?"
Harry just shook his head, he had never asked and no one had ever told him. Grigori continued. "You must murder an innocent. That was the only way he-who-is-stupidly-feared would give you one. Snape has committed at least one murder, has the murder of your parents on his hands, and most likely committed many more before becoming the spy for Dumbledore. Yet he still tormented you and allowed blatant propaganda to be spewed by the members of his house. He may feel sorry for your mother being killed but not for the rest. The other Death Eaters? They have no such reservations. They will kill, torture, and rape without pause. They don't care as long as their idea of the future is being met."
Harry spoke up "But that proves that someone can change. Even if it's only one it's still one less death. Just because the others do it does not give me carte blanche to kill as I see fit. If I have to kill it will be in self defense. I'm never going to enjoy it; I'm never going to actively seek that as an option. It will be a last resort, to indiscriminately kill like the Death Eaters makes me no better than them."
A smirk spread across Grigori's face. A few minutes ago this foolish Gryffindor was ready to give everyone a second chance like his idiot mentor Dumbledore, now he was at least prepared to take a life to defend his own, even if right now it was only in word and not action. "You learn well foolish Gryffindor. Before you were thinking it would have been better to die because of a risky situation than take a life yes? Now you are willing to take a life in self defense. I was never telling you to kill randomly like they do. It may have seemed that way only because it had to. If I had not gone to the extreme opposite of your position, you would not have made the progress that you did. You are willing to defend your life fatally if necessary. To use the mindset of muggle law enforcement, you don't want to take a life, it is a last resort, but at the end of the day, you are going home alive. Now we learn spells."
To say Harry was shocked and speechless was an understatement. He had just been manipulated, albeit it in the way that was necessary to his survival upon his return, and he didn't realize it. Moreover, he knew Rasputin was right and appreciated the help. It would never be easy for him to take a life, but if he had no choice he would. To bring flowers and love to a duel in an attempt to win would be useless. You had to be prepared to win and you had to accept beforehand that someone may not walk away from the duel.
"The first spell, Victus Nex, is basically the draught of living death, in a spell form. Like all spells it can be dodged. Shields can block it. But unlike a stunner, which a simple ennervate can undo, this spell cannot be undone and must run its course. The amount of time a person is under it will come from the spell caster thinking how long they want it to last as the cast the spell. The next spell you'll learn is Chalybs Funis. It will wrap the recipient in steel ropes. If left on long enough, the ropes will start to slowly tighten. Nothing to worry about for short term bindings however longer than 24 hours may cause motor damage. Attero Telum is the start of the more lethal curses. It will destroy the bones and muscles in the victim's arms. However as you know muscles and bones can be re-grown. But it will stop a fight." Grigori paused, happy with the look of dazed fear slowly appearing on Harry's face. 'I'll send him to Sorer after I teach him the spells and he practices them a bit. Get him out of my hair so I can talk to Karen and Merlin about the coin incident.' Grigori thought before continuing.
"The next spell will puncture the victim's lungs causing them to bleed internally and begin to suffocate. It is a slow moving spell and thus very easy to dodge however shields will not stop it, useful but not the end all to curses. The final spell is Mortalitas Caliga. I have used this spell on several occasions and I assure you it is a most gruesome manner in which to watch someone die. It has no known counter curse however unlike Avada Kedavra, a simple shield will stop it. It will in essence conjure a highly acidic mist that will eat away victim's entire body. It is indeed most gruesome." Grigori shuddered as the memory of what the spell had done to those attackers surfaced. It was their own fault for attacking him in the dead of night in his own home in an assassination attempt but watching another human melt before your very eyes would not sit well with most people regardless of the circumstances. "I am requiring you to learn the last one even if you never use it. It is always better to know too much than too little."
Harry had gone from dazed fear to complete shock. He was slowly starting to learn a deep respect and mild fear for the man in front of him. Harry took up his wand and faced the first dummy. He was eager to get this lesson over with. He focused on the target and said "Victus Nex." He forced the thought of 6 hours into the spell. It shot out of his wand in a deep crimson color and struck the dummy. It crumpled to the floor and Harry was ecstatic he got in on the first try.
"Good job Gryffindor, you might be able to learn things quicker than I thought. Next spell." Grigori thought to himself, I may come off as grating to him, but the fact he got that spell in the first try is a very good start. However I will not praise him like a puppy all the time.
With slightly more confidence than he should have had Harry faced the second dummy. "Chalybs Funis" Harry said. As the spell left his wand it did a curious thing. Harry had said the spell and then took his focus off his target. In doing so the spell lost its target and just wrapped itself around the nearest animate object. Harry fell to the floor and when he hit the ground the wind was knocked out of him. He heard Grigori come over and mutter "stupid Gryffindor, you need to stay focused on your target while you cast it. Solvo Funis."
Harry got up and dusted himself off then thought how curious it was that this place even had dust. He picked his wand back up and tried again. He got it this time. All he heard from his trainer was "next spell." Harry figured that the same lesson from before would apply here but instead of just the target you would need to also focus on the arms more intently than the rest. His guess paid off as he watched the arms of the dummy go limp and then fall off. Harry however was not lucky on the last two spells. Each of them required many starts to even begin to cast right. He was lacking any kind of intent behind them. He needed have the intent to do the harm to save his own life. In the end Grigori had to start the dummies firing curses and hexes to get Harry to cast Pulmo and Mortalitas.
At least he learned them all without complaint was the only thought Grigori had before he sent Harry back to Sorer. He had to go find Karen, and if Rasputin was correct she would be in her little "power room" she had created for herself. It was a pocket in space and time that stood still. The only reason it did so was because fate herself had told it to. Now the question remains, if she hadn't told it to, but it was still fated to be that way, would it still have the properties it did. It was an interesting intellectual exercise but would do nothing but frustrate you when thinking about it. Rasputin came to the door and before he even knocked it opened. Karen looked straight at him and said plainly "I know why you're here, considering I wrote what happened. Come in."