Potions Classroom, Hogwarts Castle
10th May, 1993
To keep up with appearances, Harry ran back to Gryffindor Tower, showered and changed quickly, got his books and arrived for Potions class with a minute to spare. Harry was giddy with anticipation, hoping Snivellus would perform Legilimency on him.
Harry was still not sure where Snape's allegiance lay, so he was not sure what he would do to Snape yet. Oh well, he would find out soon, when he finished downloading every scrap of Snape's memories. Harry had an inkling that Snape only cared about Snape; in the meanwhile, he would suffer for intentionally driving the existing wedge between Slytherin and the rest of the school, weakening Magical Britain by being the worst Potions professor in history and allowing Slytherin girls to be raped in their common room when the Dark Lord had returned.
Once sat down, Harry had another problem; he had to use all his Occlumency training to not obliterate the red-headed weasel, as even his usually green-tinted HUD was flashing red. Quickly, he decided to send a Legilimency probe to direct the weasel to sit somewhere else far away from him, preferably next to the albino git.
The weasel did just that, drawing any lingering attention on Harry away from him. The anticipation of the upcoming stupidity posturing contest finally managed to calm the angry wizard down enough to allow him to plan what to do about the weasel. Ronald may not have killed Hermione yet, but he had hurt her, insulted her, not to mention knowingly set her up to die on his first year's Halloween; that satisfied Harry's new sense of justice, allowing him to plan the weasel's punishment.
Meanwhile, the rest of the class watched the weasel like he had grown two heads. Malfoy, the person who nearly started the Fourth Wizarding War in the future, if it were not for Astoria's warning, was seething and managed a sneer at Weasley. "What are you doing here, Weasel? Did Scarhead finally drop you like a piece of filth? I can't say I am surprised, but these seats are reserved for the elites, and you, weasel, are definitely not one of the elites."
Harry was quite impressed by the ferret for once; he actually managed to insult both of them. Weasley's face went as red as his hair, but more than anything, he was confused as to why he came to sit here in the first place, but he just knew he had to sit here.
Not knowing how to counter Malfoy's insults, Ronald took a swing at him. And that was when chaos broke out. Malfoy's two bookends immediately went to help their leader; Seamus and Dean, being the hormonal Gryffindor males they were, didn't need much more persuasion. Neville, seeing Harry didn't move to help Weasley, was surprised by Harry's lack of reaction, but stayed put.
Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, Theodore Nott joined the fight, not wanting to waste a chance to have a shot at the weasel badmouthing Slytherins at every turn; Blaise Zabini thought it might be fun and also joined the fight. Even Millicent Bulstrode was reveling in the opportunity to make some use of her bulkier build.
At the side, both Pansy and Lavender were cheering on their respective houses, while Parvati was watching everything with fascination so she could gossip to others. Most other girls just got as far away from the fight as possible, not wanting to get involved in the fight, especially in Snape's classroom.
Other than Neville and Harry, only Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass stayed put, not moving an inch. Tracey watched everything with unveiled interest, wondering how this would affect her and Daphne in the house of snakes; Daphne kept up her Ice Queen persona, but her icy blue eyes absorbed everything, especially the tiny smirk shining through Potter's emerald-green eyes.
It was this scene the dungeon bat had found in his classroom. He was very surprised Potter was not moving to help the red-headed weasel but masked his reaction. Five minutes later, with a few curses, Snape finally managed to break up the fight. Weasley was hurt the worst, while Malfoy wasn't much better off due to Weasley's size; both of them were sent to the Hospital Wing. The rest of the 'fighters' got away with a couple of bruises; Seamus and Dean both had muggle backgrounds and were fitter and quicker than the Slytherin pure-bloods, so weren't hurt much from being outnumbered.
Once the class had settled down, Snape, as always, jumped to the conclusion that everything was Potter's fault, and he would be right this time.
"POTTER!"
"Yes, Professor," replied Harry calmly.
Seeing Potter didn't react, only pissed Snape off more. "A hundred points for starting a fight!"
Potter just looked back at Snape in the eyes and said innocently. "But I was nowhere near the fight, Professor."
Snape was ecstatic inside when Potter looked him in the eye; he barely heard what Potter said, and immediately dived into the brat's mind. What he found was not what he expected, how did the brat develop a fully formed mindscape? Snape, in his infinite arrogance, decided the brat couldn't possibly build any adequate defenses to stop him. So he quickly got out of Hogsmeade train station and headed towards the castle, where he assumed all the brat's memories resided. He only realized his mistake when he crossed the invisible ward line; too little, too late.
Harry watched in fascination as Snape ran as fast as possible with a dozen Acromantulas chasing him; that was when his helicopters started to open fire. He made sure none of the bullets actually hit but landed close enough to make Snivellus wet himself, and in the real world, he did.
In that moment of panic, the master Occlumens planted his Trojan horse, obliviated him and roughly threw the intruder out of his Mind World. Harry didn't want to do too much to draw Dumbledore's attention yet, plus he needed Snape functional to brew the Restorative Draught to revive Hermione.
In the outside world, only seconds had passed; the class was startled when Snape fell back on the ground without warning. It was then someone noticed that the potions master had wet himself. Snape, seething with rage and embarrassment, yet, not sure what had happened, except that it was Potter's fault, immediately dismissed the class. The news of Snape wetting himself during Potions had spread throughout the castle before the end of lunch that day.
Now they were dismissed from Potions, Harry had two hours before lunch would start, he decided this would be a perfect time to head for the Room of Requirement. With his full Mind World up and running, Harry was more confident that he would be able to cover all his bases while getting there without being discovered.
Not long after walking out of Potions, Harry disappeared into an alcove, he took out his Invisibility Cloak. Harry knew MOB had put several charms on it to make it act more like a normal invisibility cloak, rather than Death's own Invisibility Cloak. Harry focused on his magic, it took a while compared to usual, but eventually, he activated his mage sight. Harry turned to his Cloak and saw the different colors as well as strings of Arithmantic formulas, indicating the multiple Charms on it, including a Tracking Charm as well as some modified Revealing Charms.
Having spent four decades training and working as a Curse-Breaker as well as Ward-Master with the Goblins in Egypt, Harry dispelled the Charms easily. Harry then proceeded to check the rest of the items on his person, he found several Locating Charms on his personal items: glasses, left shoe, belt, bag, and wand. Harry used his wand to get rid of all the Charms except for the one on his wand, which he again focused on his magic, remembering the principles of wandless-magic, pushing magic through his hand, and overcame the Charm on his wand.
Now all the Tracking Charms are gone, Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak – Death's own Cloak in its full glory, it blocked all senses from others, Harry no longer needed to cast additional Charms such as Silencing Charms, Odourless Charms, etc. No magic could detect Harry now as long as he had the Cloak on.
Harry again focused on his magic, remembered the intent and magic needed to Pop, when he felt he was ready, Harry willed himself to where he needed to be. Pop was what Harry named Elf Apparition, which was much more pleasant than normal Apparition, with the additional benefit of not being warded against in many places, including Hogwarts. Harry knew many other methods of teleportation, but he knew his body wasn't ready for those yet.
Moments later, Harry was walking back and forth in front of where the door of the Room of Requirement should be, asking to talk to Hogwarts. Once inside, Harry found an exhausted girl standing in front of him, her eyes looked sad, but determined despite the exhaustion. Harry was immediately by her side, enveloped her in a warm hug.
"Oh Cassie, what had he done to you?" Harry whispered tenderly.
The girl recognized who was holding her, the sadness in her eyes was immediately replaced by hope. "My Lord, you finally came."
"I did, Cassie, I did. Let's get rid of this 'My Lord' none sense, call me Harry. Treat me as your big brother, I don't think my twelve-year-old fragile self can handle you calling me 'Daddy' at the moment." Harry chuckled.
Flashback
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
28th June 2025
Lord Harry James Potter-Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter and Peverell, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Black and Gaunt, Head of the Most Ancient Clan of Therion, Order of Merlin, First Class, Victoria Cross, Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, Director (Retired) of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Warrior of Light, Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Won, and many other bloody titles, had just added another title to the list, Professor of Defence. He was lucky enough to be able to hide his true magical power from the public, as well as all the things he did using his many aliases, Harry was sure he would otherwise have many other titles forced onto him, Grand Battle Mage would be one of many.
This was the first time he had come anywhere near the Castle since the Third Wizarding War had begun, it held too many memories of his Hermione, he wasn't ready to face the pain until now. It took him more than a hundred fifty years by his timeline to come back to see the beautiful Castle again.
Harry had kept his job with the Aurors after being recruited to the Department of Mysteries, using his time turner liberally to stay on top of both of his jobs, he eventually became the Head of the DMLE. He held that title for eight years, and revolutionized the department, before handing over the job to Susan Bones, whom, he trusted completely.
Headmistress McGonagall heard of his retirement and immediately cornered him to take the job of teaching Defence. Knowing Hogwarts would be the best place to influence the future generations, teaching them how to defend themselves while preventing another Dark Lord from rising, Harry didn't put up much of a protest.
The moment he stepped through the Hogwarts' ward line, he heard a weak feminine voice from the direction of the Castle.
"Help me! My Lord!"
Harry was startled by the voice, and immediately went into his battle stance, and sent out his magical sonar to find wherever that voice came from. The pulse swept across Hogwarts, instantly, he became aware of the locations, the states of magical core and health of every living being in the Castle. He didn't find anything out of place, as he continued receiving information from his magical sonar, he felt an emotion projected towards him, a sense of longing.
Harry tracked the source of the emotion to its origin, and what he sensed confused him further. It felt young yet ancient, it had strength yet there was weakness. Harry wasn't sure what to make of it, so he tentatively asked. "Who are you?"
Harry immediately felt it becoming excited. The same feminine voice was heard again, Harry then decided whatever it was, it was a she, and she sounded happy this time. "You heard me! My Lord! Finally, I will be free. I am the Castle itself, Lady Hogwarts, the Founders liked to call me Cassandra, but you can call me Cassie, My Lord!"
Hearing the explanation, Harry relaxed somewhat. "It's nice to meet you, Cassie, you can call me Harry. What did you mean by, finally you will be free?"
"Come to the Room of Requirement, ask to talk to Lady Hogwarts, it would make it easier for me to talk to you that way," Cassie told him excitedly.
Harry told her he would be there right after meeting the Headmistress.
Harry kept his promise, half an hour later, he entered the Room of Requirement. Once inside, Harry found a cute and beautiful girl about 17 years of age, with long raven hair, and green eyes with a different shade to his own, the girl looked happy but fragile for her age, reminding Harry of himself when he was in Hogwarts.
The girl saw him and immediately enveloped him in a hug.
"Cassie?" Harry made an educated guess.
"Yep, it's me, Harry. I am glad you finally heard me, I have been calling out for you ever since when you were eleven, I guess I was even weaker than I am now, so you couldn't hear me." The girl looked downcast.
For some reason, Harry had immediately become very protective of her, and couldn't stand her being sad, he returned the hug and tried to soothe her. "Sorry, Cassie, I didn't hear you then. It definitely wasn't your fault, Dumbledore had done a number of things to my core and my mental capacity, and I suspect that was why I couldn't hear you."
"That stupid old goat, he was the reason I was so weak. He had been lowering the standard of education in Hogwarts for years, there wasn't much I could do, with only two true heirs of the Founders being found, your father and your mother, they couldn't overturn the Board of Governors and Dumbledore's decisions."
"However, when I tried to keep that Death Eater Snape from teaching here, the old goat altered my ward, and cut off the magic supply from the ley lines, my magical core was only sustained by the ambient magic from the students. As if that wasn't enough, the bastard disabled lots of wards designed to protect the students, and redirected most of what magic was available to spy on the students' private matters, even their thoughts, but never to interfere. There was so much bullying I could have prevented, there was so many girls' innocence I could have saved, but without a single Founders' heir in school, all I could do was to send the ghosts, and have them to try to interfere as much as they could." By now Cassie was heavily sobbing.
Harry was trying to sooth the crying girl, but inside, he was seething. That manipulative old evil bastard obviously had a lot more to answer for than he had ever imagined. "Shh, Cassie, it wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault. What about the other professors?"
"The bastard used memory charms, potions to control all of the professors other than Snape, but I wouldn't be surprised he used something more subtle there either."
Harry silently seethed, there wasn't much he could do to change the past, but at least he could help Cassie from now on. "Shh, Cassie. That is all in the past, I am here to help you, what can I do?"
"Headmistress Minnie altered what she could to strengthen the protective wards, getting rid of the spying ones, which is why I am feeling much better than thirty years ago. Nobody knew the old goat had cut off my access to the ley lines, I tried to communicate with Headmistress Minnie, although she could feel my wards, she couldn't understand me, nobody could since your parents left the Castle, that is until you came back." Cassie explained.
"Ok, how do I reconnect the ley lines to your core?" Harry asked, wanting to help the girl. Cassie just smiled brightly at him, and the room around him changed in front of his eyes.
Harry was now standing on a platform with Cassie, what he saw was remarkably familiar. Harry was looking literally at Castle's magical core, the capabilities of the Castle never ceased to amaze him.
Cassie explained, "The Room of Requirement was designed by Rowena Ravenclaw, in effect, it became the heart of the Castle. It was in this particular room, the Founders hooked up the ley lines running across underneath this Castle to my primary ward stone. In addition, all of the Founders pushed their own magic into that ward stone and added a copy of their essence into it. I am not sure it was intentional, but they managed to create a new soul which became a part of the Castle. The Castle's soul was fed with the magic of the ley lines, and the children, as well as all the wild emotions of all the emotional teenagers that had gone through this Castle, it wasn't long before the Castle became sentient, and I was born."
Harry was made speechless by Cassie's story, after more than a century of traveling around the world to learn different forms of magic, he thought he was done being surprised. Now he understood what he felt earlier. Cassie was ancient as she was born centuries ago, but also young because most of her emotions came from the students of Hogwarts. She had strength as Harry could tell her magical core was nearly as big as his, and the weakness he felt came from the magical core being exhausted.
Having dived into his own magical core many times, Harry understood everything in front of him. The size of Cassie's magical core was the biggest he had ever seen, other than his own. However, unlike his own magical core, which was thick and opaque, Cassie's was almost translucent, showing the symptoms of magical exhaustion.
Harry then saw the branches giving off from Cassie's magical core, feeding into different ward stones. Looking down the platform, Harry saw the multitude of ley lines running across, they all gave off a branch to converge into a focal point, which was then connected to Cassie's magical core.
However, the connection has some sort of binding around it, restricting any magic flowing through the connection, Harry had immediately recognized Dumbledore's magical signature on the binding.
Knowing precisely what to do, Harry used his holly and phoenix wand to dissolve the bindings. Harry could feel the difficulty in trying to overcome the spells cast by the Elder Wand, it was then, Harry decided to retrieve the Elder Wand from the manipulative old bastard's grave, and banish his body from the Castle's holy ground, then maybe he would spend a few decades studying wand-lore.
Once he overcame the binding, Harry then manipulated the ley lines, so three more similar connections were fed into Cassie's magical core. Harry added different protections around each of the four connections, preventing any future Headmasters from abusing the Castle.
He could tell her core was recharging steadily, and the physical body of Cassie standing next to him was looking stronger by the minute. However, given the size of Cassie's magical core, Harry could tell it would take years to get her magic core fully recharged. As unlike him, Cassie couldn't produce magic herself. So Harry decided to help her some more. Harry holstered his wand, as he knew it couldn't handle what he was about to do.
Harry raised both of his hands, pushed raw magic out from within himself, and fed it into Cassie's core, he needed to get rid of some of his excess magic that was contained by his Occlumency anyway. In the process, Harry had unknowingly pushed some of his caring and protectiveness into her soul as well.
Cassie had closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of being connected to the ley lines again, and better than ever, she knew Harry had done something to increase the connection, and smiled at his thoughtfulness. That was when Cassie suddenly felt the raw magic being fed into her, much faster than the ley lines could, she felt the care and protectiveness Harry already developed for her, just like a father would. When Harry had fully recharged her core, becoming a little exhausted himself, Cassie couldn't help but to envelope him in a bear hug, and gushed, "Thank you, Daddy!"
From that day on, Cassie became strong enough the roam around the rest of the Castle, she was often seen playing with the Defence professor and had her 'Daddy' wrapped around her little fingers. Even with a mental link he shared with Cassie, Harry never did manage to find out why she called him 'Daddy', nor did he ever manage to get her to call him anything else.
Flashback Ends
The girl in front of him looked even younger and more fragile than the one Harry first met in 2025, and Harry knew he would have to help her. Despite what he said, he would always care for Cassie like a father would, with his new soul, he may even be capable of loving her as a daughter.
But, with his own magical core being bound, he knew he wouldn't be able to overcome Dumbledore's binding, and his body wasn't ready for his whole magical core yet, even with his Occlumency back online. But, that didn't mean he couldn't remove a couple layers of the bindings around his magical core, and the magical backlash from the removal would be more than enough to recharge her magical core and all the ward stones.
"Listen, Cassie, look me in the eyes." Cassie did as he requested. She was surprised by the emotions directed towards her, and for the first time in a long time, perhaps since the Founders' passing, she felt loved.
"I know about the binding around your connection to the ley lines placed by Dumbledore, but I am not strong enough yet to overcome the spells cast by him using full power, with the Elder Wand to boot. What I will do is to use a ritual to remove two layers of bindings around my magical core, and I want you to use the magical backlash to recharge your core and the ward stones. Does that sound like a plan?"
Cassie smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
"Now I am going to project to you the room I need, as well as the ritual circle needed to remove two layers of the bindings. I will charge and activate the runes myself, you just get ready for the magical backlash. Ok?"
Cassie smiled and nodded, the Room immediately changed around them as soon as she saw what Harry wanted. It was the same room the future Cassie had shown him, except with rune circles drawn on the platform.
The Ritual was actually quite painful for Harry, but once finished, he felt a lot better. When he opened his eyes again, he could see Cassie beaming at him brightly, looking much healthier, but retained her eleven-year-old girl look.
Seeing his eyes reopening, Cassie jumped straight into Harry's arms, and exclaimed in joy, "Daddy! You did it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" If it wasn't for his Occlumency, Harry would have face-palmed, didn't he just tell her earlier to treat him as a big brother, clearly it didn't sink in. Harry didn't know if he wanted to sigh in exasperation or laugh with joy for getting his daughter back, she was all he had for years before he went to meet Death. However, this wasn't the right time to think about any of that, as the now much healthier, and stronger Cassie was hugging the life out of his much more fragile body.
"Cassie, can't breathe." Harry managed to squeak out.
Cassie immediately pulled back, and gave him an innocent childish look, "Sorry, Daddy."
Harry knew then, he was in trouble, again. If the innocent look of her seventeen-year-old self was able to get whatever she wanted from him, what chance he stood against the eleven-year-old version.
"It's ok, Cassie, once I get my body fixed over the summer, you can hug me however much you want."
Cassie beamed brightly in joy, and to Harry, that was worth all the trouble in the world.
Harry took a look at Cassie's core again, it was fully recharged, including all her reserves and the various ward stones. It was then, Harry noticed the binding around the connection to the ley lines was dissolved as well, he wondered how that happened, and asked Cassie about it.
"There was still a lot of magic available after my reserve was fully recharged, so I directed the excess to dissolve the old goat's magic," Cassie explained with pride.
Harry smiled, "Well done, Cassie. I won't be able to add good enough protections around your connection to the ley lines yet, but I could add three more connections, I doubt the old goat has the power to bind all four connections." Harry then added the connections like he did the last time, he would upgrade Cassie's primary ward stone with his own impenetrable ward scheme once he gets the Founders' blessings.
"Thanks, Daddy."
"Anything for you, my princess." Just like the last timeline, Cassie seemed to love his nickname for her.
Remembering he still had not got a plan in place yet, and he didn't have a lot of time before the old goat comes back to the Castle, so he decided to get started. Besides, having Cassie with him meant he would have a soundboard to bounce ideas with, an extremely smart one at that.
Time, that was what he needed, after losing Hermione, he always felt there was too much time on his hand, it was one of the reasons he kept himself busy traveling around the world to learn everything he could, besides, it would please Hermione once he saw her again in the afterlife.
The only reason he used time turners was so he could be ready for the next Dark Lord Wannabes, also there were just too many evils around the world that Harry's aliases were kept quite busy. And, he needed to keep up with his job in the DMLE, so people wouldn't find out about his job in the Department of Mysteries.
That reminded him about the time compression chamber in the Department of Mysteries, Harry had studied the chamber extensively after he won the Third Wizarding War, most of its capabilities came from the use of runes, and Harry still kicked himself for not taking Ancient Runes for his electives, he would make sure to not make the same mistake this time around. Harry wondered if Cassie was able to add the time compression function to the Room of Requirement, this was one aspect he didn't explore the last time around. If she could, that would solve a lot of his problems.
"Cassie," seeing her giving him her undivided attention, Harry asked, "if I project the schematics of a time compression chamber, do you think you can replicate it in this room?"
Cassie nodded excitedly, with a part of her coming from Rowena, she was eager to learn something new, especially something as exciting as time compression chamber.
"Great, give me a minute, I need to pull it out from somewhere very secure in my mind." With that said, Harry dropped into his control center.
Like the schematics of his Mind World, the schematics of the time compression chamber had the similar level of security. He pulled the information out, decrypted it, and took the schematics to his study room.
Harry had added some significant improvements to the chamber since he first used it, one improvement was increased efficiency with its use of magic. After he upgraded the time compression chamber in Department of Mysteries, the research group of the Department couldn't decide whether to be angry that someone outside the research group had done something they couldn't or to be happy that their allowance for the chamber had been increased.
In his Mind World, Harry looked at the hologram projection of the latest version of the time chamber, and wanted to see if there were anything else he could improve before handing it to Cassie, Harry wanted it to be at least draining as possible for her. Harry knew Cassie only needed the sections for time compression, Cassie could do the rest of the interior designing herself, and so he spent the next ten Mind World hours tweaking the Rune arrays allowing time compression.
When Harry finished it, the chamber could compress time at 1000 to 1 ratio, using only a quarter of the magic compared to the chamber he first used. Harry took a copy of the new design to store it in a vault, before coming out of his Mind World. In the real world, only a minute had passed.
Even though it was only a minute, Cassie was bouncing with excitement by the time Harry opened his eyes again and was looking at him expectantly. Cassie knew not to look in Harry's mind without permission, she had sensed his Occlumency defense being built rapidly throughout the day, she didn't know how it was possible, but knew Harry would explain to her soon. Once the Founders gave him control of the Castle like she knew they would, Cassie was sure Harry would allow her to roam in his mind using their mind link.
For now, Cassie would be patient, and it wasn't long before she received the schematics, as well as all the relevant tomes Harry had studied for the time compression chamber. Cassie smiled brightly as she processed all the information, she didn't know how, but Harry seemed to suddenly know her better than anyone had. How else could he possibly guess that she would want to learn all she could about time, and power runes, so she could make her own improvement?
One of the many things Harry differs greatly from Dumbledore: despite knowing he was the most powerful and one of the most knowledgeable magical users, he never assumed he knew best. Even without considering the centuries the Flamels had on him, Harry accepted those younger than he was could and most likely would know something he didn't, which was one of the many mistakes Dumbledore, Voldemort or any other self-centered man-made.
Harry also knew different people have different perspectives, and those different perspectives could lead to some of the most useful insights. From his future experience, Harry knew Cassie was both knowledgeable and could always offer him insights he would never dream of. So he wasn't surprised about what Cassie said after a new room formed around him.
"Thank you for the new tomes, Daddy. I made some changes to your design, I now could adjust the ratio of time compression in this room at will. It could now go from time passing normally to 2000 to 1 compression ratio with ease; any more would start to drain more magic from my core than the ley lines could refill. I could even freeze time in here compare to the outside, but only for a short time, as it put a serious drain on my magic. At the moment, the room is set at 2000 to 1 compression ratio" Cassie explained all this in one breath, it was clear that she was excited.
Harry smiled proudly at his daughter, oh well, he better get used to the term. Plus, this time around, Harry wanted to have children of his own. "Well done, princess, you never cease to amaze me. But," Harry suddenly turned serious. "Promise me to never make any room that would put a drain like that on you, no matter who asked."
Cassie loved it when Harry called her 'princess', she loved the look of pride in his eyes, especially when she was the one who caused it, and she would never want to disappoint her 'Daddy'. However, there were things she couldn't do, at least not yet.
Cassie said in a timid little girl's voice. "I can't, Daddy. The room was designed to become anything I could make, as long as someone made the correct request. Unless you took complete control of the Castle."
Harry sighed, he should have realized that was the reason Cassie had obeyed all of his orders in the last timeline, she was bound by the will of the Founders and thus, their heirs.
Before he did that though, he would make sure Cassie wanted him to take control. "Cassie, do you want me to take complete control of you?"
Cassie nodded rapidly. "Yes, please, Daddy. I know you won't abuse this power, this way, you could protect me against any more of the old goat's attempts to control me."
Harry pulled Cassie into a protective hug, who nuzzled into his chest. "Ok, princess, I could never say no to you. Let's say hi to the Founders."
Cassie wondered how Harry knew they needed the Founders, but then again, Harry seemed to suddenly know a lot of things, as well as to become suddenly so much more powerful magically.
Moments later, the room changed into what looked like a formal greeting room, and the four Founders appeared. Harry stood as tall as he could with his malnourished body and approached the Founders.
Having been drilled in Pureblood politics by Daphne Greengrass, Harry knew just how to greet the Founders.
Harry gave the four Founders a respective bow, and said, "It's a privilege to meet you, Founders of Hogwarts." Harry then stepped forward and shook hand with first Godric Gryffindor, "My Lord Gryffindor." Then Salazar Slytherin, "My Lord Slytherin." Moving on to the ladies, Harry took Helga's offered hand and brushed his lips against the knuckle of her middle finger, "My Lady Hufflepuff." Then did the same with Rowena, "My Lady Ravenclaw."
Godric couldn't wait for his turn to speak up and greeted back cheerfully. "It's good to finally meet you too, Harry. I had been impatient to meet you since the stone incident, I commend you for your bravery."
Having gone through this before, Harry smiled back and replied. "Thank you, my Lord."
Godric waved him off, "Oh stop this 'my Lord' non-sense. Call me Godric. Besides, you are my great-many-times-grandson, no need for formality between families." Harry just smiled back and nodded.
Slytherin went next, "I, however, must scold you for your foolishness. But, you carried yourself with dignity during our greetings, Harry James Potter, much more than Godric ever did. Where have you been hiding this side of yourself, for the last two years, I was given the impression that you do not know about our traditions at all."
Harry had the decency to blush somewhat, but his Occlumency kicked in immediately, and the blush faded away before anyone other than Salazar noticed, who was quite impressed with Harry's control. "Thank you, my Lord. I will explain in due time." Salazar nodded in acceptance, the boy was much different than he expected, a good kind of different. He didn't seem to despise him as he was expecting due to his house's current reputation. "Call me Sal, now that the formalities are over with."
Helga jumped in, "Ignore those posturing fools, Harry, thank you so much for taking care of Cassandra, she was so sad and in so much pain just an hour ago. Thank you for protecting our child. And don't you dare 'my Lady' me, call me Helga. Although I am not related to you by blood, we are all family here." She finished warmly.
Harry smiled back warmly, "There is no need to thank me, Helga. The Castle was the first place I had called home until my Occlumency became advanced enough for me to remember things before Riddle attacked my family, all my happy memories came from the Castle. I would do anything for her. I already see Cassie as my daughter, I will explain how in due time."
That was another surprise for Sal, how did this boy know Voldemort's real name, maybe he was worthy of Slytherin after all, Sal kept silent for now.
There was only Rowena left, as the Founder of the House of Intelligence, naturally, her first comment was regarding Harry's knowledge. "Those are some impressive runes, Mister Potter. No offense, but you weren't known for your impressive grades. Would your explanation includes how you came to know these runes, and have such strong defenses in your mind, even Cassie is afraid to venture into your mind now? And please, call me Rowena."
"You'll have to call me Harry then, Rowena." Harry smiled back, "and no offense taken. Yes, I will explain everything before I leave this room today. But, whatever I reveal today cannot leave this room. One, it would have dire consequences; and two, the Creator and Death themselves insisted upon it."
That was a surprise for all four of the Founders as well as Cassie, they all knew the Harry before they had changed drastically, but one thing they knew about Harry that would never change, he wouldn't deliberately put the school in danger. So they all agreed to secrecy.
"In an extremely short version, with the Creator's blessing, I was sent back from 2098 by Death, as he wasn't happy with everything that had happened." Harry wasn't sure how they were going to react, they might suddenly decide he was around the bend.
While the Founders were contemplating that one short sentence, Cassie squealed and jumped into his arms, knocking him over, damn this malnourished body. Cassie gushed on top of him, "That explained so much, I could literally feel the fatherly love you have for me in your magic during the unbinding ritual, the care, and love you had for me, literally soaked into my soul, it was why I instantly wanted to call you Daddy. Nobody loved me that much before, not even the Founders when they were alive."
Harry just held her to his chest, tears would have dropped if not for his mastery of his mind. "How could I not, Cassie? I had spent seven decades with you in my last timeline, for the last half a century of my life, not including all my travels back in time, you are all I had to keep me in this world. Only when I found a Headmaster who cared for you almost as much as I did, I went to meet Death. Coming back, you had no idea how happy I am to see you again." Harry finished, hugging her even tighter.
The Founders couldn't help but feel for the boy, no, this man. They all understood the pain of solitude, they all experienced it. They lasted for a millennium because their souls had passed on, leaving only their essence behind. Besides, they still had each other. It was only Rowena who picked up the bit on 'time travels'.
Rowena asked tenderly, breaking her often 'Ice Queen' persona. "How old were you really, before you came back."
Harry picked both himself and Cassie back up and told her. "Between the times I spent in the time compression chamber and went back in time using time turners to train and be ready for the next Dark Lord Wannabe. 415 years, give or take a year.
That drew a gasp out of everyone. "How?" Godric blurted out. Slytherin was a lot more eloquent. "I can tell you are magically powerful, but even then, no one lives that long."
Harry nodded in understanding. "People age in real time during the time spent under time compression chamber, however, I only spent twelve years in there, it didn't matter that much in the scheme of things. But, if I showed you my encounter with Death, it would answer a lot of your questions, including how I managed to survive that long."
The Founders accepted. From the last timeline, Harry knew the Founders were only physical manifestations created by Cassie from what was left behind of the Founders, so despite how real they look, they are more like 3D magical portraits, so they won't be able to enter his mind. So Harry turned to Cassie and projected what he wanted. "Cassie, if you could?"
Seeing what Harry wanted, immediately, a modified Pensieve appeared, and the room morphed into a more comfortable sitting room. Harry then invited the somewhat confused Founders to sit, before withdrawing his last memory of the past timeline from his temple. Harry could have projected his memories straight out of his mind, but this way would be a lot more relaxing for him.
The Founders watched the almost solid hologram movie with the utmost attention, when it was finished, nobody spoke for quite some time, they all needed time to process all that.
Cassie went to hug Harry tightly, knowing he was ready to die did not sit well with her, she didn't want to be alone again. Cassie started sobbing in Harry's chest, "Please don't leave me, Daddy. You can't die, who is going to protect me from the old goat." Then she looked up and looked at him with her teary eyes, Harry's heart immediately melted. Last time, it was hard to leave Cassie, only the chance of seeing his Hermione and parents again allowed him to make that final decision. This time, he knew he couldn't do that again, not with Cassie looking at him like that. "I promise not to leave you again."
Harry pulled her closer to him, with a faraway look, elaborated. "When I first met you last time, I had already lost my parents, Hermione and Luna, I was only hanging by the threads with Susan, Tracey, Daphne and Astoria keeping me sane. I knew they loved me, but I was too hurt and too afraid to ever love again. Eventually, they were all gone before their supposed time, it was just you and me. Even with all the care, I had for you, I wasn't able to love you as I should. I had looked into my soul, it literally wasn't capable to make any new connections, there was just too much hurt and regret to do so. I am sorry I didn't stay for you, my princess, I just missed them too much, and I wasn't strong enough to stay with you."
By now, both father and daughter were crying, all the Founders had tears in their eyes, it was a long time since Harry unloaded, not since Hermione's funeral. "It's ok, Daddy. You stayed just for me for fifty years, I know that version of me would appreciate you for that, and I am sure you left that me in good hands." Cassie tried to comfort her Daddy. "You have a second chance now at life, I can detect your parents and sisters' souls in you, and Hermione would awake soon enough. I don't know who Astoria is, but Daphne, Susan, Padma, and Tracey are all still here. Don't make the mistake like you did last time, make the most of this new life."
Harry nodded and just hugged her tighter. Eventually, Harry got his emotion under control, and he could feel some of the sorrow and regret melting away from his soul. "I have such a smart daughter, what am I going to do with you, my princess," Harry mumbled into Cassie's raven colored hair.
The Founders all watched this with a teary smile, they knew without a doubt Harry would take care of Cassandra, and he definitely was a worthy heir even if the Creator and Death didn't tell them so.
Eventually, Harry set Cassie beside him and extracted some more memories to show the Founders. "As you have seen, I was sent back for a purpose. Clearly, the Creator has some big goals for me, but before I could achieve any of those goals, Riddle and Dumbledore needed to be dealt with. Between Riddle's mindless killings and Dumbledore's machinations for his so-called 'Greater Good', we won't be able to achieve anything. So I need a plan to get rid of both of them, and I am not afraid to ask all of you for help. These are some memories relevant to Riddle and Dumbledore, they would help you understand both of them better."
All four Founders were pleased with the way Harry carried himself, clearly a leader, who was both powerful, intelligent and most of all, humble, the Founders looked forward to working with this young man.
The memories showed the important events from Harry's second year till the Battle of Hogwarts, some of the Third Wizarding War, and finally Harry's recruitment to the Unspeakable Battle Unit (upon checking his magical core, Harry had found, none of the Oaths he swore in the future were in effect).
Again, the Founders watched the memories with the utmost attention, they were all fascinated with Harry's creative use of the Pensieve combined with the Room, but they hadn't had a chance to comment on it. Sal was not happy Melissa died in the last timeline but understood why Harry did it and was impressed with Harry's action. He also immediately recognized the diary being a Horcrux, but Cassandra had already informed him of it. Even being quite proficient with so-called Dark Arts, Sal was disgusted by the creation of such foul item by his descendant, he was glad that he had deemed Riddle unworthy.
They were all appalled by Dementors' presence at the School but were impressed with Harry's Patronus. None of them liked the idea of Sirius Black being falsely imprisoned either, Sal had detected Too-Many-Names Dumbles' hand in it immediately, but they were all too familiar with false imprisonment from their time.
The Founders absolutely hated the tournament, they all resigned to the fact that wheels were already in motion, and they would have to accept the tournament would come to Hogwarts in just over a year's time. The Founders all sympathized with young Harry after watching Riddles resurrection and knew he wouldn't let Cedric die again.
Sal was literally seething with Snape's mind raping Harry during his fifth year, and that was not to mention the pink toad. They smiled proudly at Harry teaching the DA members and hoped Harry would start something similar soon. But they were appalled at Dumbledore's machination, they all saw Dumbledore set Harry up, and had planned for someone to die and put it on Harry's conscious.
The Founders wondered if the curse on the old goat's hand made him senile as well, he seemed to have completely lost the plot. That was until they saw Snape giving Harry the memory that led him to commit suicide, and knew the bastard planned it all along.
They had just seen how much damage the Second Wizarding War had done to Britain and wondered if the sheep in Wizarding Britain would ever learn as they watched the war raged on again after just five years of peace.
What they learned during Harry's medical check-up brought both anger and tears to the Founders. They all had a new respect for the young man who was put through all this.
The silence lasted even longer this time, after the 3D movies had ended, no one knew where to start. Until Cassie broke the silence, "Let's give Harry the rings first, regardless what we are going to do with the old goat, I won't feel safe unless Harry has complete control of my wards."
The Founders nodded, and Harry resigned himself to his fate.
The room changed into a more regal looking one, everyone stood, with Harry on one side, the four Founders and Cassie on the other. Gryffindor was the first one, as Harry was the direct descendant of the Gryffindor line. Harry knelt on one knee in front of Godric, and Godric started the ritual. "Do you, Harry James Potter, swear on your magic, to uphold the traditions and responsibilities of the Noble House of Gryffindor to the best of your abilities?"
"I swear," Harry answered with determination.
"I, Godric Gryffindor, Founder of the Noble House of Gryffindor, deemed you a worthy heir and declare you Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, so I say, so mote it be."
"So mote it be."
Harry watched as just like last time, with a flash of light between Godric and Harry, a ring with two animated griffins holding up a ruby appeared on his right ring finger.
Harry stood up, and faced Sal next and knelt in front of him on one knee. Sal started his chant. "Do you, Harry James Potter, swear on your magic, to uphold the traditions and responsibilities of the Noble House of Slytherin to the best of your abilities?"
"I swear."
"I, Salazar Slytherin, Founder of the Noble House of Slytherin, deemed you a worthy heir and declare you Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, so I say, so mote it be."
"So mote it be."
This time, after another flash of light, a ring with two animated and hissing snakes wrapped around an emerald appeared on his right index finger.
He then approached Rowena, who smiled. "As you probably know from the future, Ravenclaw is a Matriarch line, so I cannot declare you Head of House, with both your mother and Miss Granger incapacitated for now, and the time being a factor, I will declare you an heir so you would have majority claim of Hogwarts. Now, please kneel."
Harry nodded and repeated his previous actions.
"Do you, Harry James Potter, swear on your magic, to uphold the traditions and responsibilities of the Noble House of Ravenclaw to the best of your abilities?"
"I swear."
"I, Rowena Ravenclaw, Founder of the Noble House of Ravenclaw, deemed you a worthy heir and declare you heir and Lord Regent of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw, so I say, so mote it be."
"So mote it be."
Again, a flash of light later, a smaller ring with an animated Eagle on top of a Sapphire appeared on his left little finger.
Harry stood up. "Thank you, all of you, I won't let you down. You already know I would do anything for Cassie."
All four Founder smiled and the room changed back to the comfortable sitting room they were in before. They said in unison, "We know."
Sal continued. "Harry, I assume you have gone through that in your last timeline?" Seeing Harry's nod, Sal continued. "Did you go through the blood adoption ritual?" Again, Harry nodded. "I don't want to risk your family, but after you revive your parents, would you like to go through it again?"
Harry smiled warmly at Sal, "Yes if that is your wish, I don't mind to have another Great-Grandfather." Sal's eyes became suspiciously shiny at Harry's words.
Again, Cassie's voice broke through, which Sal was grateful for, he still had a reputation to uphold. "Congratulations, Daddy! No, the old goat won't be able to control me again, can you kick him out permanently, please?" Cassie finished her sentence with a pout, complete with a tremoring bottom lip.
Harry wondered what had he got himself into, this Cassie seemed to be even better at playing him. "My princess, put those eyes and lips away, please! I am begging you, you are going to be the death of me one day." Cassie giggled, and the Founders just laughed at him. "You know it's best if he remains in the Castle, so we can monitor him." Seeing her downcast look, Harry immediately added, damn this new soul, "But," immediately, Cassie looked up at him expectantly, and Harry sighed inwardly, I hope my twin sisters won't be this much trouble, knowing my luck, doubtful. "I will upgrade your ward stones completely with my own ward schemes. And," Seeing Cassie not satisfied, Harry continued. "I will lock him out of your wardroom completely."
Cassie nodded thoughtfully, Harry was about to release a breath of relief when Cassie suddenly asked, in the sweetest, most innocent voice she could manage. "Anything else?"
Harry wanted to pull his hair out at that moment, how could his daughter do this to him. "Yes, but this is the last thing, deal?" Cassie just nodded slowly with a small pout. "You can prank both the old goat and the dungeon bat however much you want."
Harry was literally at his wit's end and finally sighed in relief when Cassie jumped onto him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Daddy." What was he supposed to do to counter that?
The Founders just watched the antics of the duo with amusement. Godric scolded him. "Harry, you are going to spoil her." Cassie just blew him a raspberry.
Harry sighed with resignation. "I know, I know, what do I suppose to do?"
Helga suggested, "How about you bring in Susan and Hermione, if you didn't know already, they are true heirs of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively."
"I will do that as soon as they both of adequate enough Occlumency to counter Dumbledore, I have already started Hermione on Occlumency, so she won't get bored staying in bed all day. I better get Susan started on it as well, she should know some already."
Harry then turned to Cassie, "I will take control of the main ward stone by the end of this week, I should be strong enough both physically and magically by then to put in my own ward scheme."
Cassie nodded happily and said in her little girl's voice, "Thank you, Daddy."
"Anything for you, my princess." Harry just repeated his early sentiments.
Eventually, the six people in the room got on to the planning, Harry started off. "I figured out I was sent back this far to save your Basilisk, Melissa, I was going to anyway even Death hadn't hinted at it. I knew how much pain it caused you from Melissa's death in the last timeline, Sal. For that I am sorry, and I will do everything I can to ensure she lives this time."
Sal brightened at this, he had nursed Melissa from a chicken egg, and he would hate seeing her die again. "Thank you, Harry. That meant a lot to me. I am sorry she had harmed Hermione, I know that was the real reason you went down to my Chamber. Given the girl would be taken to the Chamber in less than twenty days, shall we plan for this first?"
Everyone agreed, Sal asked the first key question. "I know the girl was one of those who betrayed you, do you still plan to save her."
Harry had contemplated for a long time before this, during his revenge rampage after Hermione's death, he had scanned Ginevra's memories. Harry realized Ginevra had been brainwashed to marry the Boy-Who-Lived by any means necessary, therefore stole his chance to be with Hermione by feeding him love potions.
Was she guilty? Definitely. Did she deserve to die? Maybe not. Even during his rampage, he had shown her some mercy by leaving her in Azkaban, with all the Dementors gone, she didn't suffer that much. So no, he couldn't leave her to die at eleven either. Harry wished he could plant something to take away her obsession, but the programming by Molly the Harpy was too deep for a simple Trojan horse to deal with. He probably needed to spend hours personally to dive into her mind to undo all the damage, he might just do that one day.
"Yes, it wasn't her fault to have Molly Weasley as her mother. I had discovered in the future, Ginevra was literally brainwashed by her to believe she was fated to marry Boy-Who-Lived, what she needs is a mind healer to start the initial step, maybe one day, when Dumbledore and Riddle are both dealt with, I would personally dive into her mind to undo all the programming. For now, I have to hide my Legilimency abilities. Besides, saving her was the key to stop Riddle. The question is, do I wait until the last minute so she can own me a life debt or not."
The Founders were quite happy with the direction they were heading, so all six put their heads together and discussed their options. One thing Harry asked was if Riddle had bind Melissa to him somehow.
Sal answered that question, "Luckily, no. All snakes will obey commands from any speakers, unless they become someone's familiar, only then, would they only obey the command of their master. Melissa was bonded to me, however, as I am no longer alive, and I couldn't come out of my portrait at the time to countermand Riddle's commands, I couldn't stop the attacks." Sal then brightened. "Harry, although I can come out of my portrait now, due to how much stronger Cassie is, I think it would still be the best to ask her to bond to you as familiar, she might be of help to you that way if a battle comes to Hogwarts again."
Harry nodded, "We should do that, as there won't be any more attacks, other than Ginevra being kidnapped, we will wait until the last minute. If a life debt was created, then it would be a bonus, as I could then force her to see a mind healer, if not, we will think of something else. But I should bond with Melissa before that happens, I sure will enjoy the look on Riddle's face, when he realizes Melissa listens to my command over his."
The Founders chuckled at that thought.
Sal then questioned about Ronald's ability to enter the Chamber in the last timeline, as Parseltongue can't be mimicked. Harry had a scowl then explained. "He didn't, Hermione found a spell to project memories, and used it on the weasel, but she was so doped up on love and loyalty potions, she didn't correct the weasel's claim afterward."
Sal was satisfied with this but still asked if Harry could work with Cassie sometimes to upgrade the wards around the entrance of the Chamber.
Eventually, they moved on to other problems, they talked about Dumbledore and Riddle, Fawkes and Hedwig; Harry's monitors and the blood ward in 4 Privet Drive; Harry's parents and godparents; Gringotts; alliances in the Wizengamot and the Ministry; the Hogwarts' staffs; Harry's medical treatments and lastly, Harry's allies in the student population, including his girls, which made Harry blush when the Founders referred to them as such.
So, there were quite a lot of things to plan for, and they decided to plan for individual problems one at a time first, then group the plans together see if any plan clashes with another. After ten hours of planning, they finally came up with a working plan. Luckily the house-elves were now loyal to Harry and at Harry's disposal, they brought plenty of refreshment for him, Harry wasn't starved to death.
Then Harry showed them the memory of their first meeting in the last timeline, at the Founders' request.
Flashback
It wasn't long after Harry's first meeting with Cassie, had she introduced him to the Founders. The greetings were remarkably similar, except for Sal's rants about killing Melissa.
Harry was surprised when the Godric and Sal passed him the Head of House rings, and Rowena the heir ring. He already knew he was descendant of both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and magical heir to Slytherin, after he finally resolved the problems with Gringotts from the break-in, and went for an inheritance test. Despite not having any assets in Gringotts, as the bank was formed after the Founders' time, Goblin magic was still able to trace his lineage back to the Founders. But Harry was also told by the Goblins, the passage of Headships of the Houses of the Founders was lost in time. Thus, Harry was surprised at becoming Head of two of the Founders' Houses and heir of another.
During the rest of their first meeting, they mainly talked about how to make the school better, and undo the damages done by the old goat.
Eventually, Harry decided to check on Cassie's ward stones, Harry couldn't say he was an expert with ward then, nor was he proficient at runes. That was when he decided to spend some time using his time turner to study Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and maybe spend a few decades with Gringotts as Curse-Breaker and Ward-Master.
Flashback Ends
Eventually, Harry came out of the Room of Requirement with his new rings disillusioned, it wouldn't do to let everyone know he now controls Hogwarts yet. He had spent just over 24 hours in the Room, of four hours he used to meditate to rest his mind, which was all he needed instead of sleeping for eight hours due to his Mastery of Mind Arts. Back in real time, it was still the same day, and Lunch had not started yet, Harry decided to visit Hermione in the Hospital Wing.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful for Harry, having remembered every detail of his life, it was quite easy for Harry to fall back into the character of a student. That was only on the surface though, Harry Potter had been carefully observing everyone's actions, determining who was trustworthy and who was not.
As planned, Harry would start a new study group next year, where everyone who was willing to work could join, this would hopefully slowly shift their loyalty towards him. Of those he determined trustworthy, he would invite them to a secret group within the study group, teach them advanced Occlumency, and eventually reveal his plans when their Occlumency defenses are up to standard.
Harry had a small list of people to join his secret group, his girls, of course: Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, Luna Lovegood, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Astoria Greengrass and Padma Patil. Padma was a very different story compared to others, therefore required a different approach. Astoria had not started at Hogwarts yet, but Daphne should bring her up to speed during this summer, maybe a personal visit to an allied House could be scheduled.
Outside his girls, there was Su Li and Hannah Abbott who needed to be cured of sheeple syndrome, Parvati Patil who needed an attitude adjustment, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet among few others.
Then there was Penelope Clearwater, Harry decided to warn her about Percival Weasley the next chance he got, he knew they had just started dating, such a shame that big headed ass kisser would get dumped before their relationship really got started.
Among the boys, Harry only trusted Neville Longbottom who needed to see a healer as soon as possible and get a new wand, for Merlin's sake.
Harry wasn't sure what to do about Fred and George Weasley, he had found out they were never part of the conspiracy. They had their suspicions regarding love potions but thought those were for pranks, so they never acted upon it. Harry decided to leave George be in his last timeline, he had suffered enough losing his twin. For now, Harry decided to have them and Lee Jordan in the general group, they needed an attitude adjustment to regain his trust.
During their planning, the Founders, Cassie and Harry all agreed that he needed to regain his Royal Phoenix form as soon as possible, so the MOB wouldn't be able to use Fawkes to paint himself as the Leader of Light. In addition, having a White Phoenix, Harry could dispute any comment from the MOB that he was going dark.
Besides, Harry also needed to heal his malnourished body as soon as possible, so he could get rid of the bindings on his magical core as well as his glasses. Hence his first stop after the day's classes would be the Hospital Wing to see Poppy Pomfrey, Harry would hit two birds with one stone with this move, as this could start the chain process of removing the MOB's support from Hogwarts' staffs.
Mind Arts, it all came back to Occlumency again. To ensure the allies he recruited to not fell under the MOB's thumbs again, Harry needed all his allies to be at least somewhat proficient at Occlumency, so any mind-altering magic would be fruitless against them.
It took Harry centuries to build all the defenses he had now in his Mind World. Although his allies, and to be honest, even himself, didn't need the level of Occlumency he had, but he still needed some way to effectively teach all his allies to be proficient enough with Occlumency to at least be aware of any mind-altering magic being performed on them, so they could seek help from the Healers before doing anything they didn't want to do.
Only for his most trusted allies, Harry would teach them all he knew about Mind Arts, however, he would keep the method of planting Trojan horses to himself for now. Maybe one day, he would teach it to his girls. For now, that technique was too dangerous to be known by anyone.
During the next two classes, Harry acted his part as a student, keenly observed the people around him, and in his Mind World, he furiously worked to find a way to teach Occlumency to his allies.
Linked books, Harry decided in the end. Each of his allies would have a book that was keyed to them by blood and magic signature, only the person keyed to the book could read it. Harry would have a master book, in which he would be able to add and delete the content of each of the linked books. The linked books would also act as a communication device until he could make upgraded versions of the two-way mirrors.
During DADA with Flophart, Harry used Legilimency on the fraud to force him to head to the DMLE, and confess to all of his crimes. Harry then headed straight to the Hospital Wing after the class was dismissed early.