The next morning, a Saturday luckily, Harry woke up early and escaped to the library. He was worried that his presence would spark Ron into remembering the conversation they had had the night before.
Harry had no interest in letting Ron find out about his home life. He hadn't been in the Wizarding World for very long, but he could tell that the idea of abuse was very foreign to his pureblood friend.
He was hoping to find a solution to his problem in the library … He needed a way for them to switch without anyone noticing. He had found that the books in the library tended to have the information you needed if you spent long enough looking. He did wish that the Hogwarts Library had a better system though.
Harry thought longingly of the libraries at home, all of the information at the touch of your fingers on the catalogue computers. How he wished Hogwarts had a better catalogue system. Madam Pince wasn't any help, and the books were filed by subject… by magic. And though the library was full of magical books, he wished he could find some muggle books as well. He felt that the muggle-born students should have the option of continuing the muggle subjects they had taken before coming to Hogwarts. How would they be able to function in the Muggle world if they were ignorant?
Magic was a wonderful thing, but it was not the save all – end all. Harry knew he would need to be able to function in both worlds if he were to survive. His encounter with Quirrel and the spirit had scared him. He couldn't believe that the event had actually happened, it felt like a surreal dream.
And the Headmaster, how could he have not known Voldemort was in the castle? Didn't he have wards or something to let him know if evil was around? Wasn't Hogwarts supposed to be the safest place in the world?
All of a sudden, Harry was jolted out of his musings by a voice in the next stack. He looked down at the books surrounding him and realized that he wasn't getting anywhere fast, and maybe he should try working instead of daydreaming.
Where to find a spell to switch… he had looked in charms, he had looked in transfiguration (though he knew it would be too advanced for a first year). The only place left to look was the potions books.
He knew he was good at potions. He had been cooking for the Dursley's for years, and that was the one thing they did not complain about. Snape however, graded him so poorly he was at the bottom of the class. He knew also that the Slytherins tended to throw things and sabotage his potions while he was busy preparing ingredients.
Harry had been practicing on his own for months now, and could brew any potion up through third year perfectly. He was still struggling with some of the fourth year potions because he wasn't sure about the reactions the ingredients were supposed to have. He would need to do more research on the subject… he only hoped that he would be allowed to have his books and do his homework over the summer.
Potions, potions, potions… ah! Here was a maybe… he looked at the title of the book. Prank Potions for Beginners by Leila P. skimming the contents he found a winner. The Personality Switching Potion. It was designed to switch the pranked people for three days. Once ingested, the two (or more) effected would find themselves in each others bodies until the effects wore off and they automatically switched back.
With this potion, they could switch the day before the train would take them home. This way, he would be able to lessen the time Ron spent with his relatives. He would tell Ron that they would need the day to learn their counterparts habits and the like. Then they would have the train ride to trick the other students into believing they were each other, and then Ron would have one day with the Dursleys.
Harry knew how that would go. They would be met at the station, glared at, yelled at in the car, belittled, yelled at again, and then "he" would be stuffed back into the cupboard for the summer, only to be let out for chores. He didn't think he would still be allowed Dudley's Second Bedroom.
Harry honestly didn't want Ron to switch with him. He felt that his life was something that should be hidden, but he did not know how to get out of the situation in which he found himself. Ron could be amazingly stubborn at times, and this had become one of them. All evening the boy had been tenaciously pestering Harry, and he hadn't known how to say no. He had finally escaped by claiming tiredness and retiring to bed.
He knew that if they didn't go through with this stupid scheme, Ron would be unbearable and might even stop wanting to be Harry's friend. Though of course, when he found out what his friends life was truly like he might stop wanting to be his friend anyways.
Harry sighed and copied down the potion. He had all of the ingredients needed, and it only took an hour to brew. He may as well get started now… they only had a few more days before the Hogwarts express would be taking them back to London.
Why did life have to be so complicated?