Disclaimer – None of this belongs to me really. I am just playing for my own amusement and hopefully that of others. Credit for the characters goes to JK Rowling. Credit for the inspiration goes to countless others too – Jbern, zArkham, fake a smile, whydoyouneedtoknow, kb0, kassien, Landstradd, s'tarkan, Vulkan…honestly the list is huge if anything I write entertains people half as much as they have me I'll be happy.
About Story – I would like to thank everyone for their response to this new version as it has been universally positive (not that I don't appreciate critical reviews but still it was rather nice). A few notes about the following chapters. The nature of this story is that it will take years and frankly not a lot will happen thats worth putting in detail. The purpose of Feels Like Home – Diary when writing the original was to show the back story for those like me who like the extra details but mainly because I have huge issues with stories where Harry trains over a summer and is suddenly a match for all comers. The purpose of that story was to detail his life and to show the work he put into improving. I still like the diary concept as a means for documenting the passing of time but rather than be a separate story, the next few chapters after this one will be split between diary format and normal prose leaning more towards diary unless its really important. I only write this as a few people have asked whether I will rewrite Feels Like Home – Diary as well.
As for other questions the Harry/Rowena thing I have been umm-ing and arrh-ing about that but will probably keep my plans as they are. It really shouldn't take rocket science to work out who he'll end up with.
Finally I realise this probably isn't the kind of chapter people might have hoped for after such a long wait but consider this and the previous chapter a prologue. Once I have more of the story written down rather than in my head I will probably be modifying and fixing Chapters so if you see mistakes or glaring holes please let me know so I can sort it out. Cheers.
"Get to your feet boy" Harry bristled at the term from the harsh, masculine voice behind him.
As he slowly manoeuvred his way to his feet, Harry tried to reach for the wand he had put in his pocket during the ritual.
"Hand's where I can see them." A second, deeper male voice responded to his, he thought, subtle attempt was almost immediate.
"Head towards the smoke coming from just to the left, I'll be right behind you." Keeping his hands raised Harry turned left and was just able to see a few puffs of smoke rising some distance away through gaps in the trees. Their height suggested a chimney so maybe it was a cottage he was aiming for.
Still with his hands raised he tried to walk as slowly as he feasibly could to give himself time to think. He appeared to be in a small clearing of some sort though quite what the two men were doing there to respond to him so quickly he didn't know. He hadn't even been able to get a look at them before his neck was threatened.
What the hell had happened with the ritual? He was being held at the point of a sword by someone who was certainly not Rowena or her mother.
After a few minutes of silent walking and a number of not so gentle shoves the trees fell away to leave a much larger clearing housing a small stone cottage with a girl outside struggling valiantly with something in a basin of water. Further away was another hut, this one wooden and much more temporary looking. The smoke, rather than coming from the cottage, instead appeared to originate from an odd looking building, largely hidden behind the shelters.
"Rowena!" the initial voice cried and Harry sighed in relief as the young woman looked up to see them with a look of surprise "Uncle who is this?" her voice suggest disdain and a measure of haughtiness but also caution and a hint of fear.
"That's what we intend to find out" growled a second man. "Go inside and stay there until it's safe."
"And get your mother," the first man continued "we need to use that stone of hers."
Rowena nodded and strode away, holding herself proudly. More relaxed now he knew the ritual had worked Harry stumbled as an unexpected shove in the back forced him to move again this time towards a tree stump nearer the cottage
Fairly certain that he was in no immediate danger, Harry remained relaxed, possibly the calming draught Hogwarts had given him still lingered in his system "Is it alright if I sit down? I'll turn around slowly. I'd prefer to be stabbed in the front than the back."
A hastily covered snort from the second man gave Harry the confidence to move. Still with his hands in the air and with a speed akin to that of a sloth he turned to face his captors.
The man holding the sword at his neck was tall, much taller than Harry, though that was perhaps not the best comparison. Harry guessed he was slightly over six feet with dark straggly hair and piercing grey eyes. His tanned skin and well-used clothing suggested a life outdoors.
The second man was carrying Harry's trunk. He was completely bald and shorter but broader than his compatriot, he was also sleeveless with his arms displayed numerous burns. Possibly this was Gerhalt the squib smith, Rowena's uncle making the other man Hector. That would explain the wooden hunt, possibly the other stone building was a smithy.
Just as he was about to lower himself to sit, a woman appeared. Honey blonde hair was pulled back away from her face but other than the hair her resemblance to the manifestation of the older Rowena was uncanny, especially the eyes, the hard and intelligent eyes.
"Rowena suggested you need my truth stone?"
"We do Ms Ravenclaw. I'm not sure if you heard or saw that flash a few minutes ago but this lad just appeared from nowhere holding this trunk." The man he assumed was Hector pointed to Harry's luggage.
Leola moved over to investigate the trunk, drawing out her wand. Two minutes passed before she gasped before turning sharply to look at Harry, her wand focussed between his eyes.
"Where did you get this? How did you make it? Do you know how many laws it breaks?"
"It was a gift I didn't make it and what do you mean about laws?" Harry replied warily caught as he was between a sword and an irate enchantress.
"The laws boy! Five different things occupying the same dimensional space. Its unheard of! It could provide countless advances. How was it done?"
"Look I really don't know but you could study it if you like, I'm hoping to be here a while."
The trio looked at him suspiciously. The wand was held a little firmer, the sword a little straighter and now the trunk was on the floor Harry could see the man with the burnt arms was twirling a rather serious looking hammer. Despite his relaxed state and his previous thought that only Voldemort could kill him, Harry was starting to grow rather nervous.
"I-I've been sent here so that you can teach me." Harry blurted out. "I can pay."
The trio moved closer various weapons still raised.
"Where did you come from? You can't have money, you're dressed in rags, who sent you?" Leola's voice was threatening and if it weren't for his glasses Harry would be concerned about her taking his eye out with her wand. Thinking quickly and clutching at straws Harry had an idea.
"You said something about a truth stone? I'm guessing it lets you know if I'm lying. Can we use that, so you'll know I'm being honest. My story's a bit weird."
Seeing the logic behind it Leola lowered her wand though the sword and hammer maintained their threatening position, and brought out a fist size whitish stone covered in Runes handing it to Harry, her hand returning quickly to her wand. "Hold this and we'll ask you questions. It will compel you to speak. If you lie it will turn black." Harry nodded his understanding unhappy about the compulsion but seeing little alternative he waited.
"Where did you come from?"
"The future." Seeing the stone remain white the trio, and Leola in particular gasped.
A stunned silence lasted only for a few moments before a newly cautious Leola continued "How far?"
"A bit over a thousand years"
Leola was shocked into silence and Gerhalt didn't appear to be fairing much better so it was Hector who carried on with the questioning "How did you get here?"
"Some kind of ritual. I'm not sure exactly what but it took a lot of power."
"Why here then?"
"It was err…thought that I should learn as much magic as I could but concentrate on Runes and Charms. Leola Ravenclaw was thought to be the most suitable of any time period for me to learn from."
When nothing more seemed forthcoming, a now fully comprehensive Leola Ravenclaw interjected "That really doesn't explain much at all. It seems an awful lot of trouble to go to. Is there no one you can learn from without going back in time? Is there no one else capable of teaching you from some other time period? How are you planning to get back to your own era? Above all else why should I help you?"
The visibly more nervous Harry tried desperately to put his words together. "You see, well, err… before I was born there was a war going on. A Dark Lord was taking over everywhere and though people were trying to stop him, he and his followers were just too strong.
"Then there was a prophecy was made. It sort of suggests I was the only one who was going to be able to get rid of him. Somehow, when I was a baby I managed it for a while but he came back a year ago after getting stronger since I first got rid of him. Despite the prophecy being around since before I was born I only found out about it twenty-four hours ago, I panicked a bit and tried to get help since I've never been trained for anything like this. They sent me to you.
"As for why you there are a few reasons. My… sender advised me of my families historical affinities for the first time. Historically my dad's family has had a gift for Runes and Transfiguration while my mum was gifted in Charms and Potions. But because of the life I've had I was always forced to focus on Defence. My sender knew a lot about quite a few potential teachers but when I said I wanted to concentrate primarily on Charms and Runes Leola Ravenclaw was suggested.
"She, err…my sender, felt that given our respective histories we could benefit each other greatly." He finished rather lamely.
"That is all well and good but if your 'sender' truly knew me and us then they should know that I would never take an apprentice, particularly at a time such as this, so why did they try?"
"They said that because of your current situation and the fact that I can pay gold you may reconsider. They then suggested that I offer access to the two family libraries I brought back with me to study from. I'm also willing to do any work in the woods or forge Hector and Gerhalt here want, for free of course, and if you give me a bit of time to train myself up on my own I'd be more than happy to teach yourself and Rowena Transfiguration and some Defence techniques as well as all the Jinxes, Hexes and Curses I know."
"While a reasonable explanation there are some major holes. For a start as you offered to teach us you must know that it is not considered prudent for women to learn offensive magic."
"Yeah but that's based on a ludicrous idea and comes down from a government that wishes to suppress…I'd say a minority but its half the magical population, purely because they can. It's a ridiculous law and frankly I'd be happy to flout it. Defence is taught to everyone in my school and it's definitely the blokes I'm more worried about hexing me." Harry was somewhat shocked by his little rant but was still able to notice that for the first time Leola's eyes held surprise and curiosity rather than suspicion.
"Okay…you are speaking the truth there but surely in the past 1000 years there has been someone who would make a more effective teacher than myself or my daughter?"
Sighing Harry broke eye contact, he didn't really want to talk about this, despite being discouraged from any ideas about paradoxes it was still a concern just how much damaging the information could be to the future. Looking up and into Leola's eyes he tried to at least prevent the future founder from knowing. "I will tell you but do you know any privacy wards? It's pretty important?"
Leola was somewhat alarmed and Gerhalt and Hector looked confused at the abrupt change in direction the conversation had taken. Leola looked at Harry for a moment more before moving a few paces back. She looked up at the sun before moving her position slightly and bending down to the ground a few seconds later she moved and Harry saw what he assumed was a rune carved into the ground. She did this again three more times at what he guessed where the cardinal points before moving back to the centre of the newly formed square and bending down again. Harry saw what he had taken to be a rune was, at least this time a collection of runes laid out in a specific pattern. This seemed to take a few seconds longer than the other four had but when she was done Leola stood slightly and placed her wand at the centre of this array. Harry could feel the magic flow out connecting to the four points and enclosing them in what he assumed was the requested privacy ward. The setup of the ward had taken little more than a minute but Harry couldn't help but be shocked by the power he had observed from using runes, Hermione had never mentioned anything about that in her classes.
"The ward is up. You have me intrigued boy." Harry winced "I hope the effort I went to is worth it."
"Can you please not call me boy? My name is Harry. I have some…bad experiences with being called boy."
Leola shook off her momentary confusion at his tone to nod her acquiescence.
"My school in the future was founded by two wizards and two witches, one of whom is your daughter." The assembled audience were startled by this. "Now I have been advised that various things such as time paradoxes are unlikely to occur but I cannot help but be wary." With an intrigued look Leola nodded again which Harry took to mean that she agreed with the necessity of the wards.
"I'm not sure exactly when the school is founded, certainly within the next sixty years as the school itself is over a thousand in my time. Whether it was built that way or whether 1000 years of being so close to magic has affected it the school is somewhat sentient. A particular room within the castle is especially powerful, giving the user whatever they require. Having just heard a prophecy which stated I have to kill the Dark Lord or he will kill me, right after seeing the closest thing I have to a father die, I was distraught and went to this room, unaware of my surroundings, and without thinking asked it for help fulfilling the prophecy and sorting my life out. The school, being sentient chose to come to me and discuss ways in which it may help and ultimately decided to send me back to train. While the school knows a lot about everyone who goes through its halls it obviously knows the most about its Founders and decided you and Rowena would be the best for me." Looking around Harry saw the looks of shock on the faces of the men and a look of some understanding on that of Leola.
"Well at least that explains the 'sender' comment."
Minutes of silence passed and Harry was getting concerned, though there sword had been lowered from right by his neck and Gerhalt was no longer fingering the hammer in quite the same way.
Eventually, after what felt like an age Leola broke the silence "I understand your plight and you have clearly spoken the truth. That said I do not like to be pressured, by anyone. It does not sit well with me that I have been forced into this position, both by your need and my necessity."
"I understand ma'am" Harry spoke slowly "There was one other thing I might be able to offer to smooth the situation."
Leola's arched eyebrow was the only response
"One of the libraries I've brought back, from my immediate family, specialises in Runes and Transfiguration magic, but my family also have an affinity for stoneworking. I only just found this out but there are books in the library which I am told will explain how to work stone. I was led to believe that after much practice, and with the benefit of some Runes and Charms work I might be able to build you and your daughter a new home."
There was a sharp intake of breath from all three listeners. "Why would you do this?" whispered an again suspicious, but now somewhat awed Leola.
"A couple of reasons. One because, while I'm back in this time period I'm going to need somewhere to live myself, while I'm studying under you it'll probably be here so I would like to be comfortable." The trio indicated they could see the logic in that. "Secondly, if and when I leave I'll have had practice building a house so I'll be able to build my own, and thirdly because I work and learn most effectively with a given goal, when I can see the purpose of something. I would prefer to improve my magical skill by studying the concepts required for building a house or for some other practical purpose, rather than say learning a charm to plait nasal hair."
The trio sat, astounded by the young man in front of them and struggling to come to terms with the manner in which particularly Leola and Rowena's lives may have changed in less than an hour.
To give herself more time to understand the consequences of what was about to happen, Leola asked what she thought was a fairly innocuous question. "You have access to family libraries which I assume are quite large so you're clearly not muggleborn yet you do not know much about them?"
"My mother was a muggleborn, my father was a … actually I'm not quite sure how pure my father's blood is or how old the family is but he was a pureblood. The dark lord I was prophesized to kill heard part of this prophecy and decided to try and kill me as a baby. My family were betrayed to the dark lord by a supposed friend and he came to the house when I was just over a year old, killed my father then my mum but when he tried to kill me his curse backfired and hit him and he was…I suppose knocked out of his body is the best way to describe it. Due to the prophecy I was left in the care of my magic hating muggle relatives and left ignorant of my family history.
"Finally when I was eleven I was invited to learn magic at a school and began to learn a little of my past but between fighting the same dark lord in both wraith and physical form, killing a basilisk and fighting off hundreds of Dementors my years have been rather busy. When I stumbled into the Room of Requirement, I guess about ten hours or so ago I was suddenly informed all about the Potter and Black libraries. To be honest before that thoughts about family history and what I might actually have haven't been high on my agenda."
The casual way he spoke about Dementors and a Basilisk alarmed Leola and cut through her current stupefaction as too did something else. "Did you say the Black library? As in the Black Knight? From the line of Tom a'Lincoln, the bastard son of Arthur?" asked an excited Leola.
Alarmed at the thought and unnerved by the excitement of Lady Ravenclaw Harry spoke hurriedly. "I have no idea. I know it's called the Ancient and Noble House of Black so it's possible but as with the Potter books I haven't looked through them I only knew my Godfather briefly."
Harry could actually see Leola processing the information he had given in a matter of seconds. "Look, if I could open the trunk you'd be welcome to have a look, I'm interested to know myself."
Though she clearly considered the proposition for a moment Leola turned back to face him instead. "Perhaps later when we've established just what is to be done with you.
"If, and trust me until I've seen proof of your claims and your gold it's still a very big if, I am to take you on as an apprentice I need to know more about you, your history, ambitions, intellect and so forth.
"You stated you have been forced to concentrate on Defence. This is a concern as it implies you do not organise your time well, or at the very least aren't especially disciplined. You then stated you needed more time to 'train yourself up a bit' in Transfiguration. Given your age you have presumably been studying for some time, the fact that you deem yourself incapable of teaching a subject to two novices after studying it for some length of time is worrying.
"Then there is your bearing, just from the little I have seen, you are hunched, almost crippled looking, while that may be understandable at the moment due to the discovery of this prophecy, it does not make a good impression. As for your clothes, while they maybe the fashion a thousand years from now, their current state, they are patched, frayed and faded and put on without any apparent regard for coordination or fit. This indicates a lack of pride in ones appearance which in turn indicates a lack of pride in ones self. This is a trademark of the lazy and incompetent, those who drift through life and again does not speak well of you. None of this is to say that I won't take you on, given our circumstances, if your gold is real I have little choice, just that you have much to overcome and you have not made an overly favourable first impression."
Looking between the three faces he saw that Gerhalt was wearing a look of slight disbelief and Hector still appeared to think him dangerous given his hold on his sword. Leola on the other hand was looking at him with an imperious look similar to the regal air the older image of her daughter had worn judging him sternly. It reminded him of McGonagall, though he was pleased to note not quite as scary, he thought perhaps that was because he was older and had been through so much before meeting her.
"I know I haven't made a great impression and parts of it are my fault but parts of it aren't. I only really know the basics of your situation at the moment but I can understand your caution. The manifestation of your daughter advised me to do anything I can to get you on my side so I think you need to hear my whole story. Now this isn't easy for me to talk about so please forgive me if it takes a while some parts are very fresh and some I've never spoken about.
"I was born to James and Lily Potter on the 31st July 1980 and as far as I can tell for the first fifteen months of my childhood I was an incredibly happy child even in the midst of a war. Whether my parents knew of the prophecy or that it could apply to me not I do not know anyway it states;
"The one with the power to vanquish the- Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."
"There were actually two of us this could apply to and this dark lord, who called himself Lord Voldemort, having heard only the first part of the prophecy, up to as the seventh month dies, decided to eliminate us. One of my parents friends betrayed them and on Halloween 1981 led Voldemort to their location. Voldemort killed my father and then my mother but when he cast the killing curse at me it somehow rebounded, hitting him instead. It is believed that due to some form of blood protection my mother was able to invoke I survived, I really don't have any idea how Voldemort did though.
"Due to my fame in the magical world for effectively ending the war, and more importantly, due to the alleged blood protection of my mother, I was sent to live with my mother's sister and her family in the muggle world. This had the added advantage of keeping me in relative obscurity, as in 1692 the magical and muggle worlds were separated and the magical kept secret, until I would return to the wizarding world to begin my schooling in magic."
Seeing the trio were following him, Harry continued "Now that is just things I have found out since I was eleven and returned to the magical world. As I said I was left to be raised by my mother's sister. It was not a pleasant childhood. I was four when I stopped asking for seconds of the food. I was five when I stopped asking for more on my plate for the one or two meals a day I was reluctantly given. I lived in a cupboard smaller than a standard bed until my eleventh birthday. Their son, who was my age, and who's hand-me-down clothes I am currently wearing, was allowed to beat me in sight of my uncle, my aunt only stepped in twice. Though I was never properly checked, I think beatings from Dudley, their son, were responsible for at least four broken ribs, a cracked skull, a broken wrist and a dislocated jaw. My aunt rarely hit me but when she did it was with a thick wooden rolling pin or a cast iron frying pan. She herself was responsible for three broken arms, another cracked skull and something that was horribly wrong with my spine. My uncle was the worst. He preferred his fists or a cricket bat, six broken legs, a shattered knee, a dislocated shoulder and sever blunt force trauma to more or less every muscle in my body. The beatings from my aunt and uncle were actually not that regular, just hurt a lot more and tended to be reserved for special occasions.
"From the age of six I did all the cooking, looking back for the first three months my aunt actually gave me some leeway to learn what I was doing and wasn't so brutal when things went wrong. One time when I was seven though I had been weeding the garden while the roast pork was on, Dudley kicked me breaking a rib I passed out outside and the pork burnt. I woke up two days later in my cupboard with a unusual pains in my arms and burn scars all over my hands."
"I'm making it sound like my childhood was one long physical torture session, it wasn't really like that, months went by at a time between my aunts and uncles beatings but the threat was always there.
"Looking back the most disgraceful, and actually damaging thing they did was stop me learning. From the age of four, all children in Britain, in my time, are required to go to school. At school they learn to read and write, and gradually begin to learn the sciences as well as history and geography, possibly music and art, or another language. From what I can gather, I don't remember everything, it was a long time ago, I was very good in school to begin with, first or second in the class, at that age I still thought if I was a better boy I could get them to love me. After the first few beatings for scoring higher marks than Dudley I tried to hide my intelligence but continue to study. Even then the occasional mark would slip through. Little by little I stopped trying so hard to stay on top of the work. Not that I couldn't do it but gradually I lost motivation, it was just too demoralizing.
"My eleventh birthday everything changed. I found out about magic and I was going to be whisked away to live in a castle and learn to make things float and make animals out of chairs. I was going to get a chance to have friends, Dudley wouldn't be beating up everyone who tried to talk to me, I could be normal."
Once he started the story Harry had barely taken notice off his surroundings. It was odd from what he had been told it was cathartic to open yourself up like that, frankly at the moment he just felt worse, everything he had tried to repress from his early childhood had been brought back up. Hector he saw was no longer openly fingering his sword, instead he had a melancholy look about him as if remembering his own upbringing, so too did Gerhalt. Harry supposed the life of a squib born to an important magical family might not be too dissimilar to his own. Leola looked upset, it was an odd look on her regal features but she looked no less lovely for it.
"It was a sad day when I finally realised I could never be normal in the magical world either. I knew I was famous yes but in second year I found the downside that comes with fame. The school found out I was a parselmouth" seeing their confusion he clarified "I can speak to snakes. In my time this has unpleasant connotations and given that at that time it came out during my second year, students were being attacked by a basilisk, which could only be controlled by a parselmouth it only made things worse. The school's reaction was…unpleasant and bore startling similarities to my treatment by my relatives, though without the violence.
"During my five years in the school I have been lauded as a hero and ostracised as a dangerous attention seeking menace, in the background of all this has been my continued attempts to fit in, to not stand out from the crowd, values ingrained in me by my upbringing. The only subject to have broken through this resolve was Defence against the Dark Arts, and only then because I have found myself in life threatening situations every year, mountain trolls, dementors, a basilisk, a werewolf, possessed professors, incompetent professors, vindictive professors all with the shadow of Voldemort hanging over me made Defence a necessity. I want you to know that none of this is an excuse for the lack of dedication to my studies so far but I hope it at least puts it into context, as well as explaining my physique, in my time five foot three makes me the smallest boy in my year. As for my clothes, hopefully that will change while I'm here but despite having money I was unable to buy things without my relatives finding out and taking them as well as any money I may have."
Leola grimaced at the suffering of the young man in front of her. Life growing up in the tenth century was hard but it was seldom as hard as Harry's upbringing had been. She knew Hector and Gerhalt had not had the best childhood's either but they had managed to run away. Looking at the pair of them she could see their faces were filled with a measure of pity and understanding and no small amount of respect. The fact that Harry was still holding the truth stone during his explanation only emphasised the boys courage. In spite of herself she felt a little disappointed in herself for her harsh words to him earlier, they were necessary though, even if this boy could be the answer to all of their problems she would never be taken in so easily again, especially by a wizard.
"In light of your history, both your appearance and your stated level of knowledge are…understandable Harry. I am willing to help train you in your use of magic and I can understand from your previous statements how it came to be me chosen if you were to concentrate on Charms and Runes but I don't understand why you felt the need to concentrate on them in the first place. The family affinities aspect I can understand, but you said your fathers family affinities are for Transfiguration as well as Runes and your mother also had a gift at Potions, why not concentrate on them? Or better yet given the time aspect, why not go to school just in a different time period?"
"Well I suppose the Charms aspect is easy to explain, if you think about it there are a pretty wide range of hexes jinxes and curses and things but in reality despite the number of them they are rather limited in their everyday use. Their real purpose is to hurt, injure or humiliate and there are only so many situations where that is useful. As for transfiguration it can be incredibly complex but that is largely due to the intricacies of changing one thing into another thing. There is actually a rather limited variety of spells. There is a certain finesse to the different spells due to the discoveries have how changing a wooden chair into a dog, varies from doing the same spell but with a metal chair but the overriding magic is still the same. Charms make up over ninety percent of the useful everyday magic done with a wand I would think so if I'm going to concentrate on one wanded form of magic that's the obvious one to go for. Plus that was what attracted me to magic in the first plays, making things fly and move around and other such things.
"The Runes bit is a little bit different, our education starts off in first year with seven different subjects, after our second year we can choose from an extra five as well, one of which is Ancient Runes. I actually chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, mostly because my best friend did, I was trying to be normal. From about three months in I knew for a fact Divination was a massive mistake but it was too late to change and I should have taken Ancient Runes or Arithmancy, or perhaps both."
"Arithmancy?" interjected a confused Gerhalt
"It's the study of the magic of numbers. Sounds dull but its more or less the Maths and Science behind magic and eventually it leads to spell and potion creation as well as new rituals and warding schemes. Pretty much every major magical innovation has its root somewhere in Arithmancy.
"When I was given this opportunity, and finally found out about my family affinities I grabbed the opportunity to study Runes with both hands."
"And the reason for not going to school and concentrating on all of the possible subjects?" questioned Leola.
"Actually a couple of reasons, firstly you can learn more with individual tuition and secondly, there is much more flexibility in what you can learn. Plus the school has records and there is an outside chance if I went to school in the past it might be discovered."
At this point it was Hector surprisingly, who jumped in. "You've said a lot about what you can do for Leola and Rowena but you also mentioned working with me and Gerhalt. What exactly are you expecting to do?"
"Err…honestly I don't really know. I really need some sort of physical exercise so working in the forge or the woods will be good for me. As for the forge, smithy work is not really a popular profession in my time so I'm a complete novice but I'd really like to learn. As for the woods I don't know any woodcraft, but I was good in Herbology class and was very good at Care of Magical Creatures so hopefully there might be some sort of crossover. Really if you just want me as a dogsbody I'll do it. I was told you might be able to help me with some form of weapons training and I would very much appreciate it if you did. I'd be a complete novice in that as well though."
After a moments silence Leola looked at the two other men before turning back to Harry "Very well, we have heard your story and as you are no doubt aware it is compelling. We will discuss this outside the privacy ward and decide what is to be done, you have a wand?"
Harry nodded. "Very well, hand it over." Harry complied, unhappy but seeing the necessity.
The trio stepped outside of the rune based ward and Harry discovered the privacy ward was actually two-way. Unsure of what to do Harry spent the next few minutes studying the runes Leola had drawn more closely though truthfully he could discern little from them.
It didn't seem that long until the trio made their way back inside the ward. When they did it was Leola who took the lead.
"Contingent on seeing your gold the three of us have agreed to help you. I will oversee your complete magical education, though by agreement this will largely focus on Charms and Runes. It would do Rowena some good, if she agrees, to teach you magical theory and what you appear to call Arithmancy. You can teach yourself both Defence and Transfiguration before teaching the pair of us. The three of us will look through your library and the few books we managed to keep hold of to put together some form of syllabus. At the same time Gerhalt will use your help in the forge for three hours a day, six days a week. It will be hard work but you are correct about the need for exercise. Hector will teach you some woodcraft as well as some herb lore and how to deal with creatures some magical some not. He has also agreed to be your primary weapons instructor. Your weapons and woodcraft instruction, will also require three hours per day six days per week."
Harry gulped. He knew he needed exercise but wasn't entirely sure he was ready to start off with six hours of it a day.
"But before your physical training regime begins, we would do well to see if we cannot fix some of your physical problems and underlying medical conditions."
Harry was surprised by this, he had long since resigned himself to having a small and relatively weak but quick and agile physique, it was only when he had reached ten and his primary school classes on nutrition that he realised that he might not have had to be so short.
"I have some medical training." Leola continued, "based on what I find I may have to call in a more skilled healer but whatever the results I would imagine you will need some sort of recovery time. This will give us time to work out your schedule for lessons as well as your current level."
Seeing little option but to go along with the plan, he certainly couldn't think of a better one, Harry quickly agreed.
"I guess I should open the trunk and find the gold then." Seeing their agreement Harry, still somewhat wary, got up and after receiving his wand and returning the truth stone to Leola, moved over to the trunk. Pressing his thumb against the first lock and despite his belief in the manifestation of Rowena and the power of Hogwarts he was still relieved when he heard the lock click open.
As he was told, the first compartment was his clothes. Given that it had a three times expansion charm on it and he had a distinct lack of even hand-me-down clothing, the cavernous space was rather bare at present. Embarrassed despite himself Harry quickly shut the lid and moved onto the next lock. This compartment was rather empty too, his broom and his own books and photos looking a little lost in the space.
"Is that part of your libraries? There's not much there." Harry turned to find a disappointed looking Leola Ravenclaw.
"No these are just the ones I used in my first years at school." Pointing his wand into the trunk Harry incanted "Accio books."
He struggled under the pile of books having failed to understand just how many books he had gone through in five years of school, and barely managed to lower them all to the ground without doing himself a mischief.
Turning round and panting slightly Harry was surprised to see a disapproving glare from Leola.
"Please tell me, future apprentice, that you only had to say an incantation for a simple summoning charm because the time travel took more out of you than you thought." The stern older woman questioned.
"What do you mean? Is there another way to do it?" asked a perplexed Harry
"We must discuss this more thoroughly Harry, it is a setback I hadn't envisaged."
A little taken aback by the brief interruption it was a couple of moments before Harry returned to opening the various compartments of his trunk. As expected the third compartment was the Potter library. It reminded Harry of that think he'd seen once when he was dragged to his uncle's office, a rolodex, with the books apparently on some sort of central spindle he could rotate to come upon the next topic. The surprised gasp from behind him let him know that Leola was significantly more impressed this time. He spent a few minutes scrolling through the books, trying to get back to the start point, honestly shocked at the number of books he appeared to have.
He stopped the rolling library as he came across a shelf devoid of books. Instead all he found were five amulets like his own made of the same thin strands of rune-inscribed silver metal caging a black pearl, itself covered in thin metallic runes. Remembering the castles explanation he quickly grabbed two and turned to Leola, who, as he suspected she might, was trying to look through the books he had brought up from the previous compartment.
"If you're going to try and read them you'll need one of these" he interjected quickly as he noticed a frown appearing on her face.
At her questioning look he continued. "Apparently one of my ancestors was a gifted enchanter. Anyway he made these communication amulets. Apparently they read the intent behind any form of communication by any sentient being so languages don't matter." He pulled out his own necklace. "It's how I've been able to speak to you despite the language changing in 1000 years." He held out the two amulets he had picked up "One's for you and one for Rowena. There are more for other people, I'm not sure if Hector or Gerhalt will need one."
Putting down the books she was attempting to read, Leola stepped forward to look at the amulet, though she didn't yet appear likely to take hold of it directly. Instead she pulled out her wand and cast a series of what Harry guessed were diagnostic Charms. With each successive cast her expression changed from suspicion to intrigue and finally to awe. Nervously she looked at Harry who just smiled encouragingly as she held out her hand and grasped the powerful objects. She briefly studied them more closely before lowering one of them over her head. Turning back to the book she had previously been attempting to decipher another gasp let Harry know the amulet worked.
Seeing that Leola was occupied for the moment, Harry turned back again to the trunk, this time opening the fourth compartment. This one was much the same as the Potter library compartment, though by the length of time it took Harry to scroll through them there appeared to be considerably more books. This time, as he came to the end of the Black library it was he who gasped. In the place of the Potter library's amulets were a series of gold bullion style bricks. About forty of them. His gasp drew the attention of Leola who managed to drag herself away from Harry's schoolbooks long enough for her eyes to widen at the gleam from the trunk.
Quickly discarding the books, Leola moved toward the trunk and after briefly looking at Harry and seeing his nod she cast a series of different diagnostic charms on the gold. As soon as she was satisfied they were genuine she turned back to Harry and with great dignity responded to his unasked question.
"The gold is real. It is also a greater fortune than I have ever observed in one place before. I believe that in light of this the price for our assistance will have to be a single brick each for Heactor, Gerhalt and Rowena and two for myself as your primary tutor, plus an extra brick to be held as collateral against the new home you have promised."
Harry opened his mouth to accept but Leola continued.
"I realise that the amount is excessive especially considering that you are planning on building us a house but we have...debts. Depending on how well your apprenticeship goes I may also be willing to carry out some custom enchanting work for you, free of charge of course." Harry was thrown by the rambling of the highborn woman until he caught the hint of desperation in her tone.
"I agree to your terms Madam Ravenclaw, in fact I think I'm getting off rather lightly, besides, it won't really just be me building the house will it? I think to make it both as comfortable and as protected as we both would like, it will need high quality wards and enchantments. I can only imagine that they would be much more effective if layered throughout the building from its very beginning."
The relief pouring from the witch was palpable, even to someone as emotionally stunted as Harry and he himself found he had some sympathy for her situation, forced as she was to rely on the kindness of others having previously been mistress of her own fate. The tension he could feel as she was forced to beg him for more than she thought her help was worth touched a very real nerve and resonated with the thoughts he had always had about the situation between Sirius and his parents. It felt good for him to be able to continue, or given the time in history, start, a tradition of Potters helping those in need.
Having agreed to the arrangement, both Harry and Leola were clearly much more comfortable and the pair hesistantly made their way back over to the tree stumps where they sat.
"As it is rather late I think it best to wait for tomorrow to carry out your full medical evaluation. Today I feel it would be a better use of our time to more accurately codify what you are to learn."
"Now first things first, we believe it best for you to stay with Hector for the duration of your stay. He stays in the wooden shelter over there while Gerhalt sleeps in the smithy. This is due to your initial hours with Hector being the first three hours after breakfast and for the sake of Rowena she is both uncomfortable around strangers and it would be improper for her to stay under the same, small roof as an unrelated single man."
The attitude more than anything gave Harry pause as he was going to have to get used to a new culture and that the whole situation maybe more difficult, confusing and downright scary than he had thought. Then again, Rowena had apparently just been involved in an attempted rape, this may well have been a subtle way of the family protecting her. Even so there was going to be a culture shock.
"Now I suppose its best if you start from the beginning. You said you were introduced to magic at eleven? Is this standard or were you a late developer? What lessons were you given?"
Slightly alarmed by the 'late developer' comment Harry quickly began to explain the schooling, house and examination systems to an increasingly confused and annoyed Leola.
"So you start learning just seven subjects and NONE of them are Runes or Arithmancy?" she asked incredulously. "You learn about magical plants from year one but not magical creatures? The only chance of an introduction to culture is through badly managed History classes or a joke class called Muggle Studies?"
"Err...yes I suppose so. Though whether it has always been like that I don't know. Actually wait a second, it was recommended I look up an old school prospectus from the 1300's that's in one of the libraries give me a moment."
Moving back to the trunk and opening it onto the Black library, he spent a few silent minutes scrolling through the books looking for the prospectus before giving up and flourishing his wand.
"Accio School Prospectus"
Harry winced at the huff behind as the library rapidly rotated and an ancient manuscript flew to his outstretched hand.
Quickly skimming through the ancient book he came across the class descriptions.
APPRENTICE LEVEL
Active Magic Subjects
Charms
Uses the study of active magical interaction with the environment, e.g. the 'Lumos' spell, to teach the understanding of the nature of magic.
Defence
Teaches various Offensive hexes, curses and jinxes, along with various shields and defensive techniques, to better understand the discipline required in dealing with magic
Potions
Teaches the combining of various ingredients within a magical framework to produce a substance that has a magical effect on its environment.
Runes
Runes studies the 'language' of magic with each runic symbol, when imbued with magic, having a magical effect. Runes form the basis for a variety of alternative magics, including, but not limited to, rituals, enchantments and wards.
Transfiguration
Uses passive magical interaction with the environment, e.g. turning something into a candle, to teach fine control of magical power
Supporting Subjects
Animal Husbandry
This course teaches care of the various creatures with which we share our environment, most notably magical creatures. The course promotes positive interaction with other creatures due to the sentient nature of many creatures and in no small part the properties of many such creatures. Essential for the understanding of Potions and potion ingredients
Arithmancy
Investigates the nature of magic and how the various parts of magical processes fit together through study of the numerical patterns involved in wand movements and/or Ritual or Potion based magic
Astronomy
Analyses the effect of extraterrestrial bodies on active magic. Important precursor to Rituals and fundamental to the study of Potions, Herbology, Magical Creatures and Magical Culture.
Herbology
Investigates the nature of plants, both magical and non-magical teaching the proper care for such flora. In particular care of magical plants is promoted due to the involvement of such plants in alternative magics. Fundamental to the study of Potions and potion ingredients.
History of Magic
This subject teaches students about magical culture and traditions, aiming to explain various wizarding traditions, as well as encouraging critical assessment of historical events and source material.
Muggle Studies
Teaches students how to fit in with the non-magical world as well as keeping students abreast of pertinent progress among muggle, including advances in art, literature and music as well as scientific and technological advancement.
"Why didn't they teach us like this!" exclaimed an exasperated Harry.
"I do not know. That seems much closer to my own understanding of the subjects and seems to me at least, to be a reasonable starting point for what we are to learn.
"Now that gives us a basic starting point of ten subjects to learn. Muggle studies is rather unnecessary, you can learn that by being here, and I assume you are competent enough with it in your own time." Seeing him agree she continued.
"History of magic should be based largely around magical culture, since the history you're more likely to know is in our future and that can be picked up rather easily in chats with any of us perhaps if we make time once a week."
"Okay so is that on the day off I have? I know I'm with Gerhalt and Hector six days a week."
"Hmm...actually it might be better if that was five days a week as we all take turns to have a day off so there will be days were they aren't around. I that's the case then maybe Gerhalt or Hectors day off we should talk about culture.
"We should probably define the hours with them as well. Two hours with Gerhalt in the forge, two hours with Hector, he would be best to teach you Herbology and Animal Husbandry as well as some aspects of Astronomy. He also has significant knowledge of Potions so those lessons may well be split between us. Then two hours weapons training with Gerhalt and/or Hector. Physical fitness is highly important to magical development and that would be the most effective route to it.
"As for the rest, three hours a day split between Defence and Transfiguration, maybe two hours researching for yourself and forming a lesson plan for one subject, followed by a lesson for Rowena and I in the other. Finally of course would be your own Runes and Charms lessons. I believe no less than a combined three hours per day for those two as well, especially if you are as yet unable to carry out any wordless magic."
"Uh...okay" responded a bewildered Harry "but what about Arithmancy? And I don't quite understand why wordless magic is so important. I mean it would be nice to do but as long as you know the spells that's what really matters isn't it?"
A visibly irritated Leola resplied distractedly "You aren't yet ready for Arithmancy, it will build on some Charms principles then I will introduce the basics and later on perhaps Rowena will take over." after a moments pause she continued "You mean to tell me that no one uses wordless magic at all in your time? Student's are allowed to learn more without having mastered what they have already been taught?" a curious and somewhat pitying tone in her voice.
Not knowing quite how to respond Harry answered "I suppose I've seen teacher's and some of the older students use wordless magic, maybe they start lessons in that later?"
His tentative reply seemed to take some of the edge off the woman but she was still noticeably unhappy.
The stately woman composed herself for a few moments. "I apologise Harry, I am…disappointed. I understood from your explanation that I would need to start from the beginning with your Runes education, but it appears the future education philosophies for wanded magic differ significantly from my own. As a result I will need to start your Charms education from the very beginning as well."
Unsure of quite what was wrong he asked hesitantly "Ma'am I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I know the spells, I've mastered spells from the first five years of schooling I don't think you need to start from the beginning."
The harsh glower he received shamed him slightly and he looked away, unable to meet his new mentor's eyes. "For obvious reasons Harry, I am unacquainted with the customs of your time, however, I am not accustomed to having my judgement questioned by an apprentice." In spite of the fire in her words, Leola's tone was more one of gentle reproach.
"I am sorry ma'am, I don't mean to question your judgement but I'm confused by what you mean about the difference in philosophy."
Taking a long look at the earnest expression on Harry's face she breathed out a sigh and her face took on a slightly resigned appearance as she gestured for him to sit back down on the tree stump as she settled herself.
"The problem Harry, comes from the dichotomy between magical knowledge and magical skill. Is it better to learn as many different spells as possible, or to be able to perform the ones you do know as efficiently as possible. The ultimate aim is of course to combine the two and to know as much as possible and to be able to perform it as effectively as it can be done. The difference in philosophies is a difference in the route we take to this ultimate goal, the path of knowledge, the path of skill or to straddle a fine line between the two.
"What you seem to be taught, and regardless of how I feel about it it's a valid interpretation, is that as long as you know the wand movement and the incantation and understand what a spell is supposed to do, to the extent that you can recall and carry out the spell at will, you have mastered it. This is the path to gaining a lot of knowledge very quickly but without careful and diligent study and practice will never lead to full understanding of magic. If you are correct in your assessment that students only begin learning to cast spells wordlessly late in their education then there is also a very good chance that they may never truly grow skilful in the shaping and manipulation of magic. While for the average magic user this may well be adequate, needing to know just as much as required for whatever work they may undertake or to run a household there are but few spells they need to have an innate understanding of.
"You on the other hand, are to compete with a Dark Lord. One whom I would imagine has had many years to hone his skills. You need every bit of help, advice and advantage you can get. In your case, mastering a spell is not about knowing the words and wand movements, it's about being able to perform it silently, to be able to shape magic without always resorting to the full complement of wand movements, to perform the required magic reflexively with barely a thought. Such skills are imperative to any fully qualified magic user in this day and age and I imagine it is not truly different in your time."
Silence overtook the pair as Harry contemplated her words. He knew she was right depressing as it was, it appeared his work here was cut out for him.