Grief, Deceptions, and Hope for Freedom

AN: Read the book. Wish it was a fanfic. Ms. Rowling must not have known any smart 15 year olds. HBP never happened.

From last time:

Unprepared for the extra complications, Harry chose to slow time only for the duration of a night's reading, starting with the letter from the attorney who had been in charge of the Potter Trust before 1981, the one who kept his distant French cousins from taking his inheritance.

oOOo

Part 12

Ehrmann's letter was short.

Mr. Harry Potter,

It would be my honor to resume my post as the Potter family barrister, if you so chose. I must inform you that the letter you sent was damaged, apparently by a mail screening ward of some kind. Previous advisories from my office to you have gone unanswered, and as such I am wondering if this is due to involuntary mail wards. It is a violation of Ministry and International Law to obstruct or impede legal correspondence.

There was no signature, the paper was short enough that Harry didn't think there was too much more on the original letter but he was fairly certain there had been at least another sentence. Hedwig hadn't grabbed it before it was done, it was obviously put in an envelope, and she'd never do something like that. And Harry didn't know anyone who ended a letter without a signature or mark of some kind. Harry added mail wards to his mental list of things to do before he left the room.

Harry then concentrated on his need for tea and books on the Mental Arts. A full tea service with pastries appeared along with two stacks of books. Harry poured himself a cup of tea and grabbed a scone and the first book off the stack.

Shielding your Mind: A Thorough Guide to Mental Protection was as it's title suggested very thorough. Overly thorough and dull as could be in fact. To Harry it seemed to be for people who taught Mental Arts as it compared every method of instruction with efficacy rates and the like. The only thing he was really able to glean from the book, as the methods of teaching were described in brief, was that Snape's method of teaching him was supposed to be the most effective for who Snape kept saying Harry was, a spoiled brat who enjoyed getting into mischief. However, since Harry was a half-starved servant to his relatives, and his adventures around the school weren't for fun, it was the exact wrong method by which to teach Harry. No matter how many times Snape invaded Harry's mind there was no hope for the method to work.

Harry decided he need to go to sleep. The lights in the room dimmed and a large four poster bed, like his in Gryffindor Tower appeared, as did a door by the foot of it. Harry went over and prodded open the door with his foot. His face lit up when he saw it was a bathroom with a regular sized tub.

Harry went to sleep an hour later, his muscles relaxed the way only a hot soak could get them.

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When Harry woke he felt more rested than he had in ages. He had no Volde visions, and happily couldn't remember any of his dreams. Not to mention the lack of snoring, farting, and assorted other noises that come with sleeping in a dorm with four other boys. Despite what Hermione and Ron thought, the silencing spells on his bed curtains weren't only for his roommates' benefit. Harry stretched and as his hands stretched wide over his head, his right hand hit something. Harry tugged the bed curtain open for light and turned around and looked, it was a dream-catcher. On it's web there were shining drops like dew only black, Harry reached to touch one and…

Sirius falling towards the veil, Remus holding him back, "You killed him.", "Crucio!", poor little…

Harry jerked his hand back. He really needed to learn to control his impulsive behavior. Holding his hand out Harry slipped from the bed into the bathroom and washed the inky residue from his hand. Seeing his clothes from before cleaned and pressed hanging on a hanger on the back of the door, Harry washed up and got dressed.

At the table, the tea from before was gone, replaced with breakfast. He smiled, grabbed another Mental Arts book and sat down to eat. Building up your Brain was aimed at the self-help crowd, and as such, it had tons of pictures and charts and little depth to the text. Which did make it a decent introduction to Occlumency, Legilimency, and many forms of mediation, but its lack of further suggestions on sources to learn more reduced it's value. Harry set it aside, it would be good to show to Neville, Harry could no longer assume Dumbles or Snape wouldn't try to peek in his friends' heads if Harry managed to block them out.

Harry spent the next few hours looking through the Mental Arts books the room had provided. He continued sorting them into Interesting and Useless piles, but after the fifth book he had given up hope of finding a good source among them. The books on Sirius' suggested booklist were not among those on the table - so after taking briefer and briefer looks at the books, Harry decided to break for lunch.

One complication Harry had was that he hadn't brought parchment or paper with him into the room. Since the RoR wouldn't let him remove any of the materials the book provided, he needed to find a way around it. Harry was very conscious of the fact Dumbledore was watching him, and Harry didn't want to risk being prevented from returning to the room with Neville tomorrow outside time. As Harry pondered his problems, the round table doubled in size, the Useless books disappeared and the remaining Mental Arts books moved to the far side of the table. As thoughts ran through Harry's mind stacks of books would appear on the table, a shelf's worth at a time. When Harry's mind moved to a different subject a single book from each stack remained, all without the preoccupied wizard's notice.

As Harry finished his lasagna and wiped his fingers clean with his napkin, he finally noticed there were 29 new books on the table. Harry concentrated, asking the RoR to give him the books he needed to read most. The books he had brought with him into the room moved right in front of him, as the dishes disappeared. Looking down the stack, Harry saw the room had reordered the books. On top was Families of Wizarding Britain volume P, Harry pulled the book down from the stack and opened it, his heart in his throat...

Working on more.. :)