A little later on found Harry laying on one of the couches in the now clean sitting room listening to the Wizarding Wireless. He had tried for half an hour to find something he liked but in the end put it back on its original station and considered it background noise to keep him from thinking too hard. He had given up trying to sleep and was now concentrating on his mental exercises. He was staring at a crack in the ceiling and trying to repair it with Wandless magic without much luck. It was probably a trick of the light but he told himself the crack was smaller than when he started.
He abandoned the attempt at that point and let his mind drift where it would, not surprisingly to a fifteen-year-old boy, he was thinking of girls. The first face that swam to his mind was Hermione. He had known her now for over five years and they had saved each other's lives and shared so much that he didn't think he would ever be able to tell another girl. The Yule ball had been an eye opener for both he and Ron. Since then he had not had three nights in a row that she didn't show up in his dreams. But she was his best friend and he wouldn't jinx that for anything, and besides Ron fancied her. Harry knew how hard it was for Ron being the friend of Harry Potter and the youngest son in the family; even Ginny got new things because she was a girl.
Ah Ginny, over the last year she had stopped stammering and sticking her elbow in the butter dish when she was around him. Once the awkward crush phase was over he found out he really liked her. And she went with him to the Department of Mysteries, which meant more to him that he could ever admit. She was athletic like him, even liking Quidditch. She was beautiful and funny, but he did not feel like he really fancied her so much as fantasized about her. He thought he could grow to love her if he gave it a chance, but for now he was just happy that she was his friend and not his number one fan girl.
He branched out then thinking about the other girls at school, even the Slytherins. He couldn't help it if his libido ignored house borders including the snakes. Aside from Bulstrode he knew on a primal level, that all the Slytherin girls, even Pansy Parkinson, were very attractive.
On to Hufflepuff he thought about Hannah Abbot, she had started first year a bit chubby but he noticed her in the DA last year, he was still full figured but in a nice way. Next was Susan Bones who all but disappeared from his radar except for DA meetings. He knew she was an orphan like him, but he was glad that her aunt offered her a loving home, unlike his own. Plus he knew it couldn't hurt that Amelia Bones was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
In Gryffindor he had already gone through Hermione and Ginny, he tried to think of any of the other girls in Ginny's year but could not picture them, so he moved on to his own year. Lavender Brown was a bit of an airhead as far as he knew, but she did know how to take care of herself. If each house had a centerfold then Lavender was it. Next was her best friend Parvati. He wondered briefly if she would forgive him for how he treated her at the Yule Ball, granted he had at least paid some attention to her, and had danced a few songs. But in general he sat around with Ron moping about Hermione all night. In Seventh year was Katie Bell. They had changed in the same locker room for five years so he knew just how beautiful she was, but he doubted he would ever have the courage to ask an older woman out. Cho didn't count; he had been under the influence of a crush at the time and not in his right mind.
He then moved on to Ravenclaw. Cho was the first one that appeared in his mind, but then she started crying and he dismissed her, next was Padma Patil, he quickly put aside anything to do with her, knowing she would never forgive him for how Ron treated her. Last was Luna Lovegood. She had helped him at the end of the year in dealing with his grief over Sirius. Ignoring what he knew about her personality and her beliefs he was able to see a very pretty blonde with beautiful silvery blue eyes. He decided that dating her might be fun but in the end they were too different for it to work.
Sighing he sat up and came to the conclusion that he could think about girls all he wanted, but he didn't think he would be dating until Voldemort was dead as it just wouldn't be fair to whoever it was. He could die in battle and leave the poor girl devastated.
He was interrupted from his musings by a knock on the front door. He jumped up to answer but Winky beat him to it. The door opened and in flew two blurs, one brown and one red, which attacked him again. Hermione was babbling on about how hard it must have been for him to see Sirius again, and Ginny was babbling about being worried about him. He disentangled himself just in time to see Ron looking at the three of them strangely. "Hey mate, sorry I ran out on you guys earlier but Dumbledore needed me to help him get us a new potions professor." Harry said with a grin. He had his real family here now; he barely noticed that both girls still had an arm around him as he spoke.
Ron nodded and was about to respond when he realized what Harry had told him. "Wait, don't tell me Snape is teaching Defense?" he cried.
Both Ginny and Hermione jumped away to look at him, just to make sure he wasn't having them on. Hermione turned to Ron. "That's Professor Snape," she turned back to Harry. "What do you mean he needed you to convince him?" She queried.
"Why don't you go into the sitting room and I will be along shortly, I need to welcome the rest of my guests." Harry said shooing them further into the house. He turned back around to greet the rest of the Weasley's, Fred and George got to him first.
"Many happy returns to…"
"our chief investor. We.."
"apologize sincerely…"
"but seeing how…"
"we recently came…"
"into some money…"
"We won't be staying with you." They said in unison. Harry laughed before responding. "Well you always have a room in my home, off to search for premises I presume?"
They nodded and headed toward the kitchen. Harry turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who were waiting patiently for him. "Just what did they mean 'Chief Investor'?" Molly asked him. Suddenly his mouth got very dry and he thought of a dozen plans to get back at them for this slip up.
"Well you see, I sort of gave them my Tri-Wizard prize money, I knew they made people laugh, and I thought we could all use some happiness what with Voldemort back. And I really didn't deserve the money anyway." He tried looking contrite.
Mrs. Weasley thought for a moment before she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for thinking of my family, and thank you for lettings us stay here. I was worried out of my mind every day this summer staying at the Burrow." She said as she attempted to squeeze the air out of his body.
"It will never be a problem Mrs. Weasley; you took me in when I was in rags and have shown me nothing but kindness. I only hope I can start to repay you." He said.
She released him from the hug and returned to her husband's side. "Please call me Molly, you will be an adult next week and I need to learn to live with it. You certainly show more maturity than Fred or George."
"Thank you Mrs… Molly, you don't know how much it means to me to be treated like an adult, and you might be surprised by the Twins yet."
"And call me Arthur son, and I mean that, I consider you my seventh son after all you have done for this family. Thank you." He held out his hand, which Harry took proudly. There were tears in his eyes that he was fighting to hold back. Molly and Arthur both noticed but said nothing. They walked past and headed on to the kitchen as well. Harry nodded to the Headmaster and began to turn away before he saw a look of shock fall over the old man's face. "Harry I thought you removed the Anti-Apparation wards?" He questioned.
"Oh, sorry sir, but I modified the wards so that all Portkey traffic and Apparation is redirected to the back garden. I hope you don't mind terribly but I don't fancy having people popping in all over my home." He stated and watched for a reaction.
"That was very good thinking Harry, do you think it would be possible to allow outgoing Apparation but not incoming? I am not familiar with the intricacies of these wards and never thought to question Sirius about them."
Harry closed his eyes for a moment and found his connection to the house. He visualized what he wanted and felt the wards shift slightly in response. "There you are sir, you may now leave but you may only enter through Floo or the front or back door."
The Headmaster nodded his thanks and disappeared. Turning from the now empty spot he walked down the hall to the sitting room where his friends were waiting. He walked in and sat down in the comfiest looking armchair and was surprised that it allowed him to sink gracefully into the cushions. Ginny was the first to speak. "Harry the place looks wonderful, what have you been doing since you got here?"
Hermione spoke before he was able. "That wasn't Kreacher that answered the door Harry, what do you think you are doing?" Seeing an argument coming Harry tried to head it off.
"When I got here Dobby showed up instead of Kreacher and said that the elves had taken care of him according to house elf law. He betrayed his master and was punished." Harry didn't explain further. Hermione made as if to interrupt but Harry held up a hand to stall her. "Dobby wanted to work for me and I am paying him the same as he made at Hogwarts, Winky was not doing well around the other elves and was getting drunk on Butter Beer all the time. I took her on as well and she gets the same pay and benefits as Dobby. I do not own either one of them. Does that answer all of your questions?" He looked at her.
She nodded and sat back down deep in thought. "Well mate, it must be nice to have your own house and house elves." Ron said a bit sharply.
"Ron remember what Sirius said, please don't let a little bit of gold come between us. You know if I could I would trade every Knut to have Sirius and my Parents back." Ron had the good grace to look ashamed of himself before he responded. "Sorry Harry mate, it just takes a little getting used to you know. I don't mean to be a jealous git."
Ginny jumped in to the conversation, "It just comes naturally to him." And she giggled. He shot his sister a heated glare before turning back to Harry.
"So what have you been up to this summer?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Well," Harry began. "I spent the first two weeks feeling sorry for myself and guilty for the harm I caused to all of you." They all started to protest his statement but he cut them off. "No let me say this! Hermione convinced me in a letter that you all made your own choice. And she showed me that I tried my best to verify the situation. In the end I lead you into a trap and if I am the leader I need to take the responsibility for what happened to you. And you need to let me." He finished looking each of them in the eye. They all nodded and appeared speechless for a moment. Which suited him, he continued his story.
"Anyway, after I realized that I took a shower," The girls looked horrified. "Yes, I didn't shower for two weeks because of my pity party, but I'm better now see?" He lifted an arm and sniffed. Satisfied he lowered his arm and started up again.
"So I get back from my shower and I start reading the books Hermione sent me. On Occlumency and Wandless magic." Ron and Ginny looked stunned.
"But Wandless magic is a fairy tale Harry." Ginny said in surprise. He looked to Hermione but she nodded at him to continue.
"Think about it, when we are kids we all do Wandless magic except it's called accidental. Apparation doesn't use a wand, and I have seen the Headmaster put out and light candles without his wand before. So at the very least it is doable even if it turns out to be nearly useless. May I continue my story now?" he looked to the redhead who made the motions of zipping her lips.
"I have had no luck at all actually performing magic with the ideas in the book, but I feel like the theory behind it is sound. In any case there are mental exercises in that book that helped me learn Occlumency. I haven't had anyone test it yet but I am certain I learned more from the first few pages of that Occlumency book than I learned from Snape in all of my sessions combined. He never explained how to do it; he just told me to 'Clear your mind' and then proceeded to mind-rape me." Harry said with not a little venom.
Hermione looked horrified, Ron looked confused, and Ginny looked thoughtful. "Now I am going to ask the Headmaster to test my shields, and then I want all of you to learn to shield your minds as well. Because I have something you deserve to know, but I won't tell you until I know you can keep it and yourselves safe." He finished.
"Can you ask him to test my shields as well?" Hermione piped up. "I have been practicing longer than you have but I did not really get started until after I sent the book to you." He nodded in agreement and turned to the other female.
"You mean you want me to learn as well?" She asked, suddenly timid under his direct gaze. He nodded, "All of you went to the ministry with me because of that stupid prophecy, Dumbledore told me later that night, Trelawney apparently has made two true prophecies in her life. The second one was to me about Wormtail escaping in our third year."
Hermione gasped, "You mean what the Prophet has been saying is true?" He looked at her blankly. "Oh, you don't read the Prophet anymore. In any case they have started calling you the chosen one and speculate that there was a prophecy that we were after in the Department of Mysteries. They are right aren't they?"
He looked surprised, the Prophet never seemed to get any of the news right, and there was no way they could know the truth this time. "Funny that they get the true story only when they make it up isn't it." He said looking speculative.
Ginny piped up. "Well it all makes sense doesn't it? The prophecy must say something about Harry being able to defeat Tom. But that can't be all of it." She finished looking at him.
"No that isn't all of it; and I won't be giving you the details until you can protect it." He stated. Meanwhile Ron was lost in thought. He finally spoke up as silence fell upon the group. "You mean you want me to do extra schoolwork?" he asked. Harry was surprised by his lack of enthusiasm.
"Well not if you don't want to know what we went to the Department of Mysteries for." Harry said in an annoyed tone.
"Look mate it's not like that. I just, I am going to help you whether I know the whole thing or not. It's enough for me to know that you are the one that has to beat him. I'll be right there with you the whole way. I just don't fancy spending the rest of my summer learning." He stated.
All three of them looked at Ron, then at each other. Hermione spoke up. "If I don't already have it down, I will get it."
Ginny nodded and said, "I want to know, I'll do it. And you know I am with you till the end as well." Harry nodded to each of them then looked back at Ron.
"If you're sure mate?" Ron nodded.
"Well thank you for wanting to help me without knowing the reasons why I guess." Harry said trying to escape the slightly betrayed feeling he had. "Just don't complain about us keeping secrets from you. There might be other stuff happening that I won't be able to tell you. Which brings me back to what else happened since I got back." Ron looked thoughtful but nodded for him to continue.
"Professor Dumbledore had to recast the Fidelius over the house, I asked him to weave it so I could revoke the secret if need be. It seemed to take a lot out of him but he said it worked. I am my own secret keeper and although I gave him the parchment to show the Order members how to find this place. I don't want to be caught out if someone decides to betray us the way the Rat did my parents. Before I allowed him to cast it and agreed to let him continue using this place as headquarters I got him to agree to letting me revoke the secret, and making me a part of the Order." Simultaneous shouts were heard from all three of them.
Hermione started in on him, "Harry how could you blackmail the Headmaster like that? That was a very Slytherin thing to do."
He regarded her for a moment and then said. "You will understand after you learn the Prophecy." She seemed pensive for a moment but nodded in defeat. He looked at the other two. Ginny looked almost proud and Ron looked put out. "So this floor and the second floor I have granted to the Order. The third and top floors I reserved for my guests and myself. The top floor looks like it will be great for a training room and there are two massive bedrooms up there. I would like the four of us to use those if you don't mind?" He finished.
"What about my parents?" Ron asked.
"The top floor is the master suite, but both of the other floors have two suites apiece at the end of the hallway. After Dobby and Winky finish cleaning they should be perfectly fine. They have a bathroom inside so it's not like they are missing out much. We get more space and bigger bathrooms, but we are sharing them."
Ron just nodded as he continued to think everything through. "Well why don't we head up and see the rooms then?" Harry agreed and they all stood and trooped up the stairs.
When they reached the top Harry was amazed at the transformation. Dobby and Winky had cleaned the floors and the furniture, and somehow whitened all of the walls. He led them through the room and over to his door. "This is the Masters suite, and that is the Ladies suite as far as I can tell. I will show you our room girls, and then we can hope that Dobby and Winky cleaned your room nearly as well as they did the rest of the house." He opened the door and ushered them in. They were all in awe of the room and the girls especially loved the bathroom. Harry noticed Ginny shrink away quickly, before forcing herself to run a hand over the handles on the sink. As they walked through the closet, which the girls were practically drooling over, he noticed that his clothes had been put away neatly and his trunk sat in the corner. He wondered if Winky had finished taking in his old clothing yet, but figured he would find out in the morning.
Entering the room once again he led them over to the wall where he knew the door was hidden. "There is a secret passageway between our rooms. I'm telling you up front so you don't think I was trying any funny business." He looked at Ron who had turned red and Ginny and Hermione who held thoughtful looks. "I figure I can find a way to seal it shut next week when I come of age and can use magic. Until then I guess we will be on our best behavior." He pushed on the door like he had earlier for the servant's stairs and with a click it opened toward him. There was a short passageway that held not a few cobwebs and another door on the far side. Praying silently he turned. "You might want to take a deep breath, just in case they haven't cleaned in here yet. This is where Sirius kept Buckbeak. Understanding dawned in their eyes but they nodded as they took a breath.
Opening the door Harry was glad to see the mess gone. Tentatively he took a sniff and nodded to the others who let out their breath. It was now a near exact copy of the other room. The girls immediately set upon the bathroom looking around. Rather than black marble the entire room including the bathroom was done in pink granite. And the wood was all lighter colors. "Did you bring your things up with you?" Harry asked.
Ron and the girls brought out shrunken trunks but suddenly remembered that none of them could use magic yet. "I suppose we will have to go ask your mum if she will enlarge these for us." Hermione turned towards the door and began heading that way. Harry had other ideas. "Winky?" He called. She arrived with a small pop and Hermione turned at the sound looking ready to rant at Harry, but stopped herself when she saw the pretty yellow dress Winky was wearing. It was clean and pressed and the overall effect made it clear she was not a slave.
"Harry calls for Winky?" She asked timidly looking at Hermione from the corner of her eye. Harry had to stop himself from laughing.
"Winky, this is going to be the Girls' room; Ron will be in the room next door with me." But Harry was interrupted. "Actually mate," Ron started. "At the burrow I don't mind sharing a room with you, but you have enough extra I thought I might get the room to myself for the summer. That is if it's ok with you." He said, as his ears turned red.
Harry was surprised once again by Ron, but thought he understood where he was coming from. "No that's fine Ron, I'm sorry I assumed, guess I am just so used to rooming with you I never thought how you would feel about it. Remember sharing a room with you was an escape from the Dursley's." He patted Ron on the shoulder. "And if you girls would rather have separate rooms I will let you fight over this one." He said cheekily. Both girls vociferously disagreed and chose different sides of the bed. That decided Harry returned to his earlier purpose.
"Sorry about that Winky. This is Ron Weasley, please use his first name if that's ok with you mate?" He said not wanting to assume anything again. Ron nodded. "Winky have you and Dobby finished cleaning the suites on the third floor yet?" She nodded shyly.
"Ron you can have the one across from your parents if you want, or you can choose any of the other rooms. Just let Winky know and she will enlarge your things, and this goes for you girls also. Winky will fight you tooth and nail if you try to put your things away yourselves so you better get used to those two helping out around here." He turned and winked at the elf. Hermione looked put out but saw the conspiratorial look between Harry and his employee and thought better of it. It was clear Harry cared for them and treated them well. If they wanted to help she would let them. They were already free after all.
"Ladies if you will give your things to Winky she will organize them in the closet for you. Is that ok with you Winky?" He asked.
"Oh yes mas… Harry sir, Winky is so happy to have so much work to do, maste… Harry is too kind; asking Winky if it's is okay." She sniffed a bit and looked close to tears.
"Hermione and Ginny is it ok if Winky calls you by your first name or would you prefer to be Ms. Granger and Ms. Weasley?" Both girls agreed that first names would be fine. "Alright then, Ron why don't you go picks out your room and we will meet back up here in a little while. Among other things I want to redecorate that room out there and will need your input. Girls do you mind working on Occlumency a bit before we work on that? I want to be able to have Dumbledore test our shields when he arrives later with some of the other Order members." The girls nodded and Ron waved and walked out the door.
Harry excused himself and retrieved "Occlumency for the Occluded" from his room. He noted that somewhere during the conversation Winky had spotted the cobwebs and cleaned out the secret passage. He returned to find Hermione explaining the general concept to Ginny. He handed her the book and sat down at the foot of the bed, the girls joined him after Hermione finished her explanation. "So I need to imagine some sort of barrier around my mind and concentrate on it?" Ginny asked, unsure of the subject. Harry decided to take a stab at it as though it was a topic in the DA. Actually he might think about teaching Occlumency to the DA if he had a chance.
"You will need to read through the book for some specifics but I was able to pick it up pretty quickly, especially considering I had to repair the damage done by Greasy McBatterson first. Hermione and I will try to teach you a couple of meditation techniques that will help you find your center. Once you're there you should be able to pull all the stray thoughts in your head into some sort of order. Personally I created a little town and sorted my memories in various ways. I imagine Hermione probably imagines her mind as a library." He looked over to see the girl blushing with her mouth hanging open. "I don't know what would work for you, if you think a Library would be the best way to sort your thoughts, go with it. If you think it would be better to make your memories into pet rocks and make a rock garden you can do that too. The main point is the organization has to make sense to you." She nodded her head in understanding so he continued.
"After you order your thoughts it will be harder for a Legilimens to access your memories without first figuring out how you organized them. He will still be able to get at the thoughts you haven't sorted yet though. And you know how the strangest thoughts can pop into your head without you meaning to think about them. Like if I said 'Don't think of an elephant.' What was the first thing that popped into your head?" Ginny nodded surprised at how much she was learning in such a short time.
"So to protect those thoughts until you can organize them, and to further protect the thoughts you already put in order, you need to erect a barrier of some sort. Imagine the strongest substance you can think of, as close to unbreakable as possible, and then build a wall or dome around your thoughts. Eventually you should be able to feel someone attempting to access your thoughts and learn how to fight back. A master Occlumens can create false memories and thoughts, and feed them to the Legilimens without him knowing. I think that is what Snape is able to do to Voldemort." Harry finished.
Ginny looked at him in awe, and Hermione surprisingly was just as drawn in to his explanation. "Harry it doesn't say any of that in the book I sent you, how did you figure all of that out?" Hermione asked.
"Most of it is guess work but it's what seems to work for me. And the explanations are my best guesses as well based on the information provided by that book and my experience with the Grease Lord in remedial potions." Harry said, unsure whether to be proud he had taught Hermione something, or scared that he had it all wrong.
"Well your way makes so much more sense, but I think we should have Professor Dumbledore check your shields before you teach Ginny. If it works I will have to rethink the way I am protecting my mind. How did you know I would choose a Library?" She asked.
"Easy, I have a library in my town and I filled it with false thoughts, useless thoughts, and misleading half-truths to throw someone off the trail. My actual thoughts are in a pretty unlikely place mixed in with the other buildings, and my memories are sorted in to a personal library that is hidden from anyone that doesn't know where to look." He said, again both girls were in awe.
"And you figured all of this out in the week since you received that book from Hermione?" Ginny asked.
Harry realized just how crazy that sounded but shrugged. "I didn't have anything else to do at the Dursley's, and I may have it completely wrong. After what happened last month I have good motivation to keep someone out of my mind. I guess I will ask Dumbledore when he gets back if he can…" Harry stopped mid-sentence as he felt the wards redirecting someone to the back yard. "Actually, that's probably him arriving now. Hermione why don't you forget the Occlumency stuff for now and just walk her through the breathing and meditation exercises. I am going to go check on our new guest. Hermione nodded and Harry walked out of the room and took the hidden staircase down to the kitchen.