Chapter XIII - Research, Exploration, and Discovery

Harry woke up the next morning to the feel of someone shaking him awake. He opened his eyes and glared up at Ron as the sunlight poured into his bedroom. "I'm awake! Now go away so I can be unawake."

Ron laughed. "I don't think so, mate. Its noon, time to get your arse up out of bed!" He watched Harry sit up and rub his eyes, before reaching over to the nightstand to retrieve his glasses, and was surprised to see that his friend was obviously naked beneath the blankets. "Blimey Harry, how tired were you last night? It's very unlike you to go to bed naked, that's more Seamus' territory, if you know what I mean?"

Harry laughed and rubbed his eyes, putting his glasses on so that Ron was clearer. "I was exhausted. I showered and barely managed to dry off before I crashed. I never got to bed until around four thirty."

"What on earth were you doing up until four thirty?" Ron asked as he turned around to look out the window, allowing his friend to get up and pull on a pair of pants. They may have shared a dormitory together for six years, but he figured Harry still probably might appreciate some privacy.

Harry stood up and grabbed a pair of jeans from his dresser, pulling them up, but not bothering with the snap. "I was talking with my parents and er …" He hesitated before answering. He didn't really want to tell Ron or Hermione about the secret training room. He wanted to keep it to himself as the one place where he could go to be alone and to find peace. "I was just practicing my training; you know the stuff I was learning from Kingsley. I haven't had a chance to practice in a while, and I honestly haven't done anything since I left Grimmauld Place. So I had to practice for a long time." Harry replied as he dropped down to the floor to begin his push-ups. "I was tired afterwards and I just crashed. I didn't mean to sleep so late."

Ron turned back around and grinned when he saw Harry doing push-ups. "No problem, mate. I wondered what you were doing to get so strong lately. When did this start?" Ron asked, gesturing to the push-ups as he took a seat on Harry's bed to watch him.

"Since my training with Kingsley began. He told me that he's glad of my talent with magic but that if I really want to defeat Voldemort in the end, it would probably be a good idea to build up my physical strength as well. Kingsley wants me to do two fifty push-ups and fifty sit-ups every morning and every night until I get stronger, then I think he's going to make me do more." Harry explained as he silently counted how many he had completed so far in his head. "Let me tell you, those first two weeks, I thought I was going to die from the push-ups and sit-ups, I mean I was so skinny, still am actually, but I had no strength. Besides my Quidditch training I never really did any kind of physical exercise, you know?" Harry said as he reached fifty and began to work on the sit-ups.

Ron grinned. "Yeah, Kingsley's smart, physical strength will probably be really helpful. I should probably try to build up some muscle myself, but I do pretty well in Quidditch because as keeper I'm constantly using my arms. Maybe I should try to work out more though."

Harry laughed. "Get your lazy ass down here then, and start doing some push-ups!"

Ron shrugged. "Naw, too much effort." He yawned. "Hermione dragged me down into the library this morning bright and early. She's still down there, pulling random books off the shelves trying to find some information."

"Oh, yeah," Harry said, as he continued to do his sit-ups. "I forgot to mention it. Yesterday, after you two went to bed, my dad said something about a magical catalogue system. That huge volume on the pedestal has a list of every single book in that library."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, we found it. We also found a bunch of spells written on a piece of parchment on the back of the door that helps you to read and understand the books that aren't in English. But that catalogue system isn't very helpful, unless of course you know the title of the book you're looking for."

Harry shook his head. "No, my dad said that the catalogue was made to be helpful. If you open it up and say the subject that you're looking for then all the books on that particular subject will glow so that you know which ones to read."

"Really?" Ron said, grinning. "Neat trick, Hermione will love it. I guess I should probably head down there and tell her about it. It would save her a lot of time. Are you coming down?"

Harry stood up and stretched. "Yeah, I'm just going to take a shower and get dressed. I'll meet you guys in the library."

Ron grinned. "Great! Oh and Harry, I think it's really cool that your parents had portraits made, I noticed that everyone in your family has them. It's nice because it allows you to talk with them."

Harry grinned back. "Yeah, it is cool. It's nice to be able to talk to them, even if they are just portraits with memories. It's close as I'll ever get to the real them."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, well see you. Oh! Harry, when you come down, bring some food will you, I'm starving!"

Harry laughed as he watched Ron leave the room. He headed into the bathroom to shower and just grinned, when wasn't Ron starving?

Harry stepped into the library twenty minutes later and grinned at all of the glowing books around the room. Hermione was sitting in one of the large chairs in the middle of the room, her nose buried behind a large red volume titled Important Keys to Know When it comes to Defence. Ron was sitting in the chair next to her, slowly turning the pages of a book on Quidditch. Harry leaned against the door frame and just grinned at his friends.

"I see you two have been busy."

Hermione jumped up, her grin so huge that she looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary. "Oh, hi Harry. This room is amazing, I love it. There are so many different books in here. Books on charms, defence, potions, divination, care of magical creatures, the dark arts, ancient runes, muggle books, and stories; it's incredible! Do you have any idea how much you could learn from this room? Harry, there are even books in here on learning how to control the natural elements! You should take a closer look at those."

Ron groaned, tossing his book aside. "Don't get her started, Harry; she's been like this all bloody day! Though I admit, there are a lot of interesting books in here. We haven't found anything on R.A.B. yet, but we haven't really been searching."

Harry grinned. "Don't worry about it. I need to talk to Dumbledore about who R.A.B. is anyway. He never saw the note he left because of his death, but maybe he might know who he is. Lupin also told me that I inherited Dumbledore's pensive so I'm hoping that all of the memories he showed me are still here because I think it would be helpful to see them all again." Harry explained as Dobby came into the room with a cart full of food.

"Here is your dinner, Harry Potter, sir! And dinner for your Wheezy and Miss. Granger." Dobby replied as he placed the cart in front of them.

"Thanks Dobby," Harry said as the elf left the room and they all began to eat.

Hermione spoke up. "Harry, about Dumbledore … how can you talk to him? He's dead."

Harry grinned. "Same way that I talk to my parents, Hermione, the portrait. Every headmaster and headmistress at Hogwarts is required to keep an up-to-date portrait. When I get back to Hogwarts I'm going to ask McGonagall if I can speak with him."

Hermione nodded. "Oh, I forgot about that."

"What?" Ron demanded, sounding shocked. He stood up to place a hand on Hermione's forehead. "Harry, do you think she's sick? Hermione, forget something as important as this about Hogwarts. I think something's wrong."

Harry laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny Ronald, honestly, really witty." She turned back to Harry. "I think it's a good idea to talk to Dumbledore, I'm sure he'll have some idea who R.A.B. is. I just can't get over the feeling that I've heard those initials somewhere before."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know." He ate quietly for a moment, thinking back to everything that he had discussed with James last night. Then he remembered the other secret room that his father had told him about. It was supposed to be filled with historical stuff and some of his parents' research. He figured he might as well check it out while he was thinking about it. "Hey, I just remembered, last night my dad mentioned something to me about a secret room that was filled with historical stuff and some research that my parents' had done. Do you guys want to go check it out?"

"Harry! This is hardly the time to go exploring. We need to research about who R.A.B. is and about possible horcruxes! You don't have time to go wandering off!" Hermione insisted.

Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm in, mate, let's get out of here."

Harry laughed. "Alright, let's go. Hermione, you can just stay here then if you don't want to come. I'm sure you can manage to keep yourself occupied in a room full of books." When she merely glared at him, he shrugged. "We won't be long. Come on, Ron."

Ron followed Harry down the corridor. "So where's this secret room?"

Harry grinned. "It's supposed to be behind a portrait of a Gryffindor lion. Oh here it is." He spotted the picture on the far wall and motioned for Ron to stand back a little. Then he began to walk back and forth in front of it, thinking the word 'information' and soon a large wooden door appeared in the wall. He gestured for Ron to go inside ahead of him before he stepped into the room.

"Blimey Harry, this is neat." Ron exclaimed as he looked around.

Harry grinned. The room was filled with trophies, medals, books about the Potters, books of the Potter family tree, books on the history of the Potters, artifacts belonging to the Potter family and much more. "Wow, this is cool. It has my entire family history here." He opened the book titled Potter Family Tree: Volume One and began to read. "Bloody hell Ron, listen to this:

The first Potter ever recorded was William Julius Potter I born in, blimey, 1308 B.C.E. Wow, I didn't realize my family was that old."

Ron grinned and took a seat next to Harry so that he could read the book as well. "Cool and look at this. He was married to Rhiannon Mustafa Potter; she was a pureblood witch as well as an Egyptian princess. That's cool! You had royalty in your family." He picked up the second volume and flipped to the middle. "Listen to this Harry: Aiden William Potter III born in 500 C.E., married to Morgana Smith Potter. Aiden was Minister of Magic at the time."

Harry grinned. "This is neat." He grabbed the tenth and last volume and opened up to the last page. "Here's the last page ever recorded: Arthur Kingsley Potter, born in 1845, married to Natalie Matthews Potter in 1863; children Samuel Arthur Potter, 1865, Douglas Kingsley Potter, 1867, Quinton Nelson Potter, 1869, and Diana Natalie Potter, 1871. Samuel Potter died in the Franco-Prussian War along with Douglas Potter. Diana Potter married Roberto Gregorio, a muggle and had one child, Mario Roberto Gregorio, 1902, who was killed in the First World War. Quinton Potter married Elizabeth Tyler Potter in 1888 and had three children, Amelia Elizabeth Potter, 1889, Nelson Andrew Potter, 1891, and Mary Rose Potter, 1894. Amelia Potter married William Thornton and had one child, Christopher Thornton, 1911, who died childless. Mary Potter never married. Nelson Andrew Potter married Daisy-Lynn Williams Potter in 1911 and had one child, Andrew Quinton Potter I, 1912. Andrew Quinton Potter I married Erica Thompson Potter in 1930 and had one child, Andrew Quinton Potter II, 1932. Andrew Quinton Potter II married Gwendolynn Erickson Potter in 1957 and had one child, James Andrew Potter, 1959. James Andrew Potter married Lily Evans Potter in 1978 and had one child, Harry James Potter, 1980." Harry stopped reading to look up at Ron. "I wonder why so many of my relatives fought in muggle wars."

Ron shrugged. "I don't know, mate, a lot of mine did too. It's kind of sad though that you're the only Potter left. I mean, you might have some distant cousins, but it's just you."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I know. But really the Franco-Prussian War? Why the hell would someone from Scotland fight and die in a war involving Germany and France? How does that make sense?"

Ron shrugged and grinned at Harry with a mischievous smile usually only seen on Fred or George. "Beats me. I guess that's all that's here is cool stuff about your family history."

Harry nodded. "Well, my dad said that he and my mum had done some research on defences and had come up with new spells and stuff. He said that was in here." Harry searched around for a bit and then he found what looked like a journal. He pulled it out and opened it up. "Which I found. Looks like my mum and dad came up with some protection spells for me and for those they loved. Hmm, I'll have to read this when I get a chance." He tucked it into his pocket. "Yeah, so this is just Potter stuff. Neat though, because it's all here, the answer to any question I might have about the Potters."

Ron grinned. "Cool, so this is more of something that you should probably explore on your own."

Harry shrugged as he placed the family tree book back where he found it. "I guess so, why?"

Ron grinned. "Well … since Hermione thinks were exploring some secret room … fancy a game of Quidditch?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, just let me go grab my broom!"

The week at Potter Manor flew by. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent their days in the library searching through the stacks and Harry spent his nights training in the secret room with Joe. Harry also managed to somehow find the time to study the theory of animagus before he went back to school. Now it was their last night in Potter Manor, Ron and Hermione had gone upstairs to bed and Harry was downstairs in the secret room with Joe, once again under the influence of the mist.

"Well done, Harry, your skills are improving wonderfully!" Joe replied as he watched Harry master the new and final fighting techniques.

They had progressed to weapons quickly, and now Harry was learning the art of the sword. He had already mastered the axe, the javelin, and the pike. He swiftly pivoted away from Joe as he was instructed to. Within a couple of hours, he had the sword down packed, and Joe told him to come out of the mist for a fight.

As Harry managed to stab Joe in a perfect move, Joe smiled. "Wonderful."

He pulled the sword out and told Harry to sit cross legged in the middle of the circle again. "Well, how am I doing?" Harry asked.

Joe grinned. "Better then I ever could have imagined. Though it's a good thing that I'm dead and a sort of illusion otherwise that sword wound would have hurt like hell!" He chuckled to himself for a moment before turning back to Harry with a more serious look. "There's almost nothing left for me to teach you. You've mastered the techniques as well as the weapons. There's nothing else for you to learn from me, Harry."

Harry grinned. "Good, because I go back to school tomorrow."

Joe nodded. "You told me that you're learning Legilimency and Occlumency or you will be soon. This is what I'm thinking. I understand the many lessons you are struggling with as well as school. So on the last day of every month, come see me in the evenings and we will test your skills, mixing in new things that you have learned. Understood?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah, understood."

Joe smiled. "We must keep your strength up, though, I want you to run every morning and continue with your push-ups and sit-ups as well as any other type of exercise that they want you to complete. For now, just do your laps and you are free until the end of the September, where we shall meet again." He bowed and walked back into the portrait.

Harry stood up and stretched his muscles a bit before he began to run the ten laps around the track. He couldn't believe how fast he had mastered all the techniques. It had been eight days of five to eight hours of training. But then again, the mist was supposed to make you learn things ten times faster then normal, which it had. Harry was a professional fighter now.

After two full months of working out, he had gained some muscle. He was no longer that skinny little boy and he was proud of it. He realized that he would never be as tall as Ron, who stood six foot three, but he was tall. Harry now stood exactly six feet tall and he had lean muscles and the beginning of a nice six pack. The thought made him grin; he wondered what Ginny would think of his new body. He missed her terribly. He had thought about writing her a letter but then he had remembered that he had left both Fawkes and Hedwig at the Burrow. He had simply written the letters and just held onto them, he would give them to her when he saw her. He finished his final lap and waved goodbye to Joe before heading back up the stairs. He did his push-ups and sit-ups, and then he showered. He glanced at his watch, it read four thirty. He sighed and climbed into bed, letting sleep envelop him with dreams of Ginny.