Part 17 - Fast Forward

Harry laughed as the room put a potions lab off to one side, and a book in front of each of them.

Neville laughed as well, "Guess it's no secret what our biggest weakness is."

Harry smiled and shook his head, pulling out a notebook and ballpoint pen from his stuff. "Remember to use your things, otherwise when we leave your notes will be gone."

Neville nodded, "I'm thinking of just erasing all the parchment I wasted taking notes in Snape's classes."

"How can he set the mark for NEWT Potions as an O anyhow? Has it always been that high? It seems odd that a class that seems to be required for so many careers would be so hard to get into."

"Wizarding society is pretty small, and for the muggleborns can be fairly dull as well. Most muggle-raised wizards tend to live like muggles, and get muggle jobs. One of the few taxes in Wizarding Society is taken every time someone converts pounds for galleons."

Harry shook his head, "Why would wizards working as muggles allow such a tax?"

Neville shrugged, "It's pretty hard to get the right to vote, and how to apply isn't even mentioned here at school really. The right to vote is maintained by magical descendents, so purebloods never have to subject themselves to the paperwork. And it takes so long, that by the time an election is announced, it's too late to have a chance at voting."

"In muggle schools there are required classes in government. Everyone is taught the basics of how things work, " Harry shook his head. "There's so much to learn."

"Well, I'm just wondering if the room will let my cauldrons blow up if I make a mistake."

They both laughed as they got down to work.

Some time later the ghosts wandered over to them.

"Mr. Potter," Professor Binns had an excited gleam in his eye that Harry was surprised to recognize – it was the same as Hermione's before she entered a bookstore. The ghost had several open books arrayed on the floor, but had floated up to the table. "Did you, on your journey to the Chamber, happen to enter Slytherin's office?"

"Uh, no."

The ghost eagerly clapped his hands, which actually made noise now. "Is there any chance we might go there now?"

"Go to the Chamber of Secrets?" Neville paled.

The Baron joined them, "It is Professor Binns' last wish to complete a revised uncensored history of Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "And exploring what Tom Riddle might have left in the Chamber, as well as Slytherin would be a good idea. But with Dumbledore... I don't want to risk being found out, especially without getting the time we need to train."

"But you are willing to bring me down there?"

"You can't go through the sink to the Chamber?"

The Baron answered this time, "I and the other House ghosts attempted to your second year, and Professor Binns attempted today. Before we could get to the bottom of the chute. I believe the Headmaster has placed additional wards, as the Professor couldn't get past the sinks today."

"Well, when we leave the room, we can go to the Chamber if you wish."

"Yes!" Binns spun around in a circle, "Finally a way to see if the accounts are true!"

The Baron explained, "Nearly all of Slytherin's books disappeared from the library when he left the school. Some accounts say he went to live out his life as a muggle since he feared the changes the Dark Arts had wrought in him."

Neville said, "That's different than the stories I've heard..."

Binns waved his hand in dismissal, "None of that tripe was talked about until the war with Grindelwald."

After a bit more discussion, the Baron was leaving to join Sir Nicholas in attempting to control the other ghosts and portraits. Apparently the time Harry spent in the room was a bit like a high to Hogwarts, a surge of power. Professor Binns would be staying to teach the boys history and government, and work on his book.

They studied, sparred, and made Pals. Neville almost blew up a cauldron, but as they dived to take cover, the room removed his cauldron, and put his book back in front of him. At the end of the first week, after looking into the mirrors the room provided, Harry and Neville added disguise charms to their "to do" list. They downed the age prevention potion, only half of the year supply the room offered. The room then set up a calendar, which it would mark off the days for them. They each chose different tasks for their evening lessons. Harry was experimenting with his enchantment kits, while Neville dove into the rare herbology and the muggle botany books the room provided.

At the end of the first month, Harry and Neville's potion skills had improved to the point the room had placed the Animagus Potion on their schedule. The room had created interactive workbooks that helped pinpoint the weaknesses in their education, and allowed them to see the connections they had missed. As they caught up in potions, the room added runes and arithmancy to their schedules. The boys' schedule and workbooks the room provided changed to meet their needs and some of their wants. Time apart, time together, special projects to meet each of their interests – the boys had the benefits of a highly individualized education. Binns turned out to be a great story-teller, and after dinner they would hear the history and legends of the Wizarding world.

Harry thought after the first lesson from Binns, that the Baron must have known how damaged the Professor had been by being forced for half a century to be one of the worst professors. The boys had learned quickly to throw out everything they had learned in class, not that it had been much. Being forced to teach the half-truths and outright lies that Binns had fought against for years were probably hellish for the ghost, if he had been aware enough of it. Harry wasn't sure, especially since the knowledge that an old colleague had put him in that state would be hellish enough, and he wasn't about to pry into the ghost's pain.

After six months of constant work, the room gave them practice OWLs, the written portions. They did rather well, mostly Es and Os, except for history, where Harry's answers though true to the actual facts, didn't subscribe enough to the curriculum created by the Ministry to earn him above an A. Neville, having been raised with Ministry versions most of his life, had gotten an E. Binns had not been pleased, and grabbed their tests, vowing to help them learn the citations they would need to prove their answers were true. Not surprisingly, their new subjects of runes and arithmancy had earned them low marks, but so did care of magical creatures and divination – which the room hadn't placed much time for on their schedules.

While the mixed results on the OWLs, showed the boys they needed to do far more work, they were tiring of the constant studying and training. So they decided to have a week of 'vacation' before resuming their studies. Harry found himself opening a door to a new destination everyday. The RoR couldn't mimic people so Harry got the least crowded tour of Europe ever.

Harry marveled at the Louvre not realizing he was missing half of the experience by not looking up at the elaborately detailed ceilings, until he tripped over the casement of a doorway passing from one chamber to the next. When Harry had finished the circuit of the museum, he sat, and using the guide and book the RoR was able to create in the bookstore began writing down his impressions of the place. With no one to complain, he'd removed his shoes, and rested his aching feet on the cool marble floor, as he wrote his impressions onto parchment, using copying charms to copy images from the book and map to illustrate his comments. As he was finishing, he noticed a note that through the wall behind the statue of Winged Victory on the staircases there was a Wizarding Section.

Harry felt his energy returning – he'd felt exhausted after slogging through all the religious paintings. Harry thought he'd have to been a art major or vicar to appreciate room after room of essentially the same scenes of the Bible and multiple depictions of the Madonna. He probably should have swiped one of the audio tours, but he didn't think they would have worked. Refreshed by his curiosity, Harry went to the Wizarding Section barefoot holding onto his shoes with his left hand. However, his enthusiasm for the Wizarding Section faded quickly, though the cool marble was cool on his feet. The majority of the collection seemed to be reparoed copies of the statues, monuments, and other damaged works. The complete Winged Victory was not as beautiful as the remnants of the statue in the muggle section had led Harry to imagine. There were many moving portraits, but none of names he recognized, and the limits of the RoR meant to converse with them Harry would need to go to Paris, and use a translation charm or two. Harry was disappointed. There were no battle scene with magical creatures, no wizarding world treasures of Egypt or Asia. He couldn't believe there wasn't anything on veela, especially here on the continent, and wondered if the pure-blood craze was responsible.

The next day Harry greatly enjoyed Paris as no wizard could without getting in serious trouble with the Ministry, having the RoR give him a broom and launching off the top of the Eiffel Tower. After that, Harry's feet never got too tired before Harry took advantage of really being in the RoR, and would fly. He saw castles from their parapets to their dungeons, and the grayed out rooms that the room had no information about, when he wandered from the ones on the tour.

Neville, unlike Harry, wasn't spending his time touring the highlights of Europe. Instead, Neville was enjoying a week of gardening. Though he had taught Harry herbology and continued his own experiments and research, Neville was missing the feel of soil under his fingernails. Though he appreciated the hydro- and soil-less cultures the room provided, it wasn't the same. So Neville experienced a year of seasons and the ability to see what the gardens at his Gran's would do over time. Neville took a notebook full of notes and plans on how to change his flowerbeds to achieve near continuous secession of blooms among his perennials. He couldn't believe his Gran hadn't mentioned the early Mary and late June gaps!

Only on their last night of their 'vacation' did Harry and Neville get together and talk about their experiences. Only when Harry talked about the gardens of the castles did Neville even have a hint of a wish that he hadn't spent the week gardening. Neville had flexed his fingers and proudly shown off the redness along the calluses of his hands like battle scars.

"There's only so much the room can do, Nev. The gaps might be smaller than you think."

Neville shook his head, "Only if I have some volunteers from other beds, or I'm wrong about the latitude."

"Latitude?"

"The manor is unplottable, and I think Gran was also going to add the Fidelius to the family wing. So I had to give the room my best estimate. So maybe there is a little more daylight or shadow, but the room's right if my delphiniums are still going strong that would be a miracle. I'll just need to charm some cameras to check."

"When you get to show me the pictures of your tulips you should check to see if the delph foliage is there."

Neville nodded and pulled out his notes to add a reminder to do that. "That's a good idea, though the picture might be too far from the bed to tell."

"I do think you're lucky to be able to plan out your garden on your own. I hope I can this summer."

Neville smiled reassuringly, "There's bound to be foundation stones around Godric Hallow. During the last two wars it became unthinkable to not have a wall around the edges of the property. There was a short push in the fifties for fenceless vistas, but when they came up with training brooms most families put in a pitch. And the hiding charms needed are far stronger with a good wall to ground them."

"I know you think it is perverse to want a lawn with dandelions…"

"I never said that."

"And with crab grass…"

"That is perverse, you'll always be pulling it out of your beds."

Harry shrugged, "I want a riot in my front garden. Clashing colors, annuals mixed with perennials, with no worrying about bare spots or putting the tall plants in the back. I want multiple kinds and colors of grass in my yard, and to let mushroom rings form. I want tacky lawn ornaments and wind chimes that look like they were made by a grade-schooler. And no blasted petunias to deadhead and trim." Harry's voice grew more and more strident as he described his dream garden.

Neville clapped, and laughed.

"Ok, maybe I got a bit theatrical, and we both got some rotten deals, but I do think you're lucky to have space that is yours."

"I know, Harry. It's just that you started to sound like you were giving a campaign speech – free the lawn weeds! And if you do have foundation stones, and they have been in place for seven years like the Fidelius needs, I'll send you all the splits from my perennials that I can."

"If it works out, you can come take a look, help me find the perennials that would be too exotic for the Durselys."

The boys decided to change their training schedule for the remainder of their stay in the Room of Requirement. They reflected that taking off 'Wednesdays' and 'Sundays' were the best way of allowing themselves more time to process all they are learning and to keep from burning out. Their lessons would be changing too. The room and Binns had taught them the facts and how to analyze a situation to come up with a solution. The room's potion workbooks had become ingenious.

Unlike Snape's class they weren't presented with the steps and ingredients of the potion, making the precise following of directions the task. No, instead the room taught them about the ingredients, and the reasons for the methods that had to be used with them. In the second month they were given incomplete instructions, at first with blank lines, then without a hint to where the potion was missing a step. The room would hide any pages of the other texts that mentioned the potion they were working on. Soon, they progressed and the room gave them incorrect instructions that they would have to change and justify. They knew why after adding a bile to a potion you had to stir counterclockwise, and how to add it to amplify or diminish other ingredients. They know knew the Table of Reactivity, and how to use it to gauge a potion.

Which all would have been for the good if they were post-NEWTs working on research. However, the standardized tests that the British Ministry required didn't only judge competence or comprehension. The tests required the taker to know the British Assigned Names. Whereas the room had been using a multitude of sources, preferably the write up of the potion developer, the Ministry of Magic in England would be using the name given by the office of English Standards. It had taken their history OWLs to bring up how isolationist the MoM was.

In contrast to the muggles, the wizards of Britain never tried to build an empire. After extricating themselves from muggle society, they were happy enough as they were, ignoring the outside world, be it muggle or foreign. Even when wizards from lands conquered by the muggle empire would come calling, they'd receive a request for a small tribute or a 'you care what the muggles do?' depending on who they first approached. The only reason the International Confederation of Wizards was formed was the muggle wars had led to wizards being found among the enemies of the muggle Britons. Discovery and documentation of German wizards risked exposure in England, as the muggles asked the inevitable question: if people with those talents are there, mustn't they also be here?

Even after the ICW's formation, the MoM maintained its office of British Standards. The sole purpose of which was to remake foreign achievements to 'British Standards'. In other words, the incantation should preferably be in English or Latin, and the name of the spell should be as well. This meant whichever English wizard submitted a foreign spell to the Ministry could easily receive credit, even if the only effort expended was to buy a foreign journal and write an owl. This meant too, that direct sales of potion and spellcrafting journals to England were prohibited by most other countries, creating a vibrant black market for those smart enough never to submit foreign work to the MoM.

For the boys, this all meant they would need to spend a lot of time on memorization. The British name and incantation or ingredients, or the whitewash given to history. Binns had begun to teach to the test, in a critical manner that analyzed why the spin was given by the MoM to each story, and how that added up in society. Though he'd only taught them once since the test, they were impressed that it still kept it interesting. Potions they had to memorize through flashcards.

When the Room of Requirement deemed them both free of any of the six months' worth of age inhibiting potion Harry and Neville had taken, they began to finish their work on two projects: the Animagus Revealer Potion and the Oblivation Revelation and Restoration Potions. Harry and Neville had been working on occulmency and legilimency from the start, and had learned the too smooth, too blank portions of their memories were signs of memory charms. Harry had expected to find something in his own mind, and had thought Neville might have been charmed after his parents were attacked. After allthe suggestions and hints by the Bloody Baron and Professor Binnsthat a potential reason Riddle had become a sociopath was Dumbledore's frequent memory charms the boys had looked for a solution. There were two, the set of potions they were going to try or mediation and time.

The reason St. Mungo's didn't fix Lockhart with the potion was that being dosed with the potion left a toxic residue in the patient's system. A third dose, even administered twenty years later in one case, was fatal. With a patient like Lockhart, there would be no way to know he hadn't been dosed before. However, where the room couldn't help them with the supplies for the Animagus potion, here the room's supplies would make it so they would not need to worry about the residue. Since the potion removed, rather than added to their systems, there would be no backlash when leaving the room. Unlike the Animagus potion, which added to every cell of the body, and could even kill them when they left if they attempted it with the room's supplies.

After some consideration, the boys took the Revealer potion first. They were not surprised when Neville glowed violet, and Harry dark purple. They downed a glass of water, after toasting to "No more lies." After a quick bathroom break, they took the Restoration potion. It was a clumpy jelly-like concoction, that still managed to feel like they were swallowing broken glass, with hot sauce and tar. After drinking the last of the vials, Harry tried to cling to the desk, while Neville tried to sit on the floor. Before either could succeed, they had passed out.

oOOo

Table of Reactivity-I see this as being sort of a chart with a series of ingredients along the top and a single one along the side. Of course since there aren't only two ingredients in most potions they would have to learn how to use the table's information given the other ingredients in the potion. Like with the Chemistry and Physics handbook, learning how to use such a tool can be hard without a guide.

Sorry for the long delay, computer problems. I do have the next section handwritten as well, and will endeavor to post sooner. :-)