12 The Mind Fortress

After reviewing his progress for the last year, Harry took out the book for the next thing he had to learn - Occlumency.

It took him a lot of effort to get this book as it's not easily available in the bookstores. He tried asking 'Flourish and Blotts' for the book but they refused as this was not part of the Hogwarts curriculum and even though he tried to disguise himself, they could tell he was just a student.

But he was able to gain access to the 'Guide to Advanced Occlumency' by Maxwell Barnett, courtesy of 'Obscurus Books'.

Although he lacked a foundation and someone experienced to initiate him in Occlumency, he had a feeling that his meditation over the years would have already made him an Occlumens to some extent.

This was due to the fact that the first step which Harry learned in his journey of meditation was also the first step in Occlumency - 'Empty your Mind'.

After almost nine years of practice, he had absolute control over his thoughts and feelings. So, it would take someone at the level of Voldemort to get inside his head and even then it must be a sneak attack.

So, he started the Advanced Occlumency lesson.

The reason he wanted to take this course was that he wanted to master the next level of Occlumency. Right now he could empty his mind and prevent anyone from getting any information but that's not all he wanted. He wanted to be able to show the opponent whatever he thought was convenient at that time so that the Legilimens wouldn't get suspicious.

As he reaches Hogwarts for the first time everyone would expect him to be some kind of greenhorn in magic since he had been living with the muggles.

But then as he starts revealing his prowess, some people might get restless. His rise would be just like that of Voldemort in the past and thus even Dumbledore would be alerted. So it was almost guaranteed that there would be attempts of Legilimency on him by multiple sources.

If he just resisted them all, it might even increase their doubts thinking how a child could be such an expert in Occlumency. So, instead of just emptying his mind, he wanted the Legilimens to think that they have succeeded in their attempts. They would only see what he wanted them to see, which would be a normal boy, extremely gifted in magic and with some measure of control over it from a young age.

But it was on a completely different level as compared to the Occlumency that was normally practiced. Very few had been able to get to a level where they could keep their emotions and memories intact while showing a completely different view to the invading mind.

This was also needed in order to resist 'Veritaserum' or the truth serum. Although all normal Occlumency experts could resist it to a certain extent, he didn't just want to resist, he wanted to be immune.

In the story, Barty Crouch Jr. spilled out everything over Veritaserum because he was feeling groggy. Otherwise, with his expertise over Occlumency, there was no way he would let that happen.

So, Harry wanted to create a fortress inside his mind where his secrets were safely hidden and only what he allowed was visible to outsiders. This would hold even under 'Imperius' curse and no amount of 'Cruciatus' curse could break this fortress.

Actually, he didn't have much of a choice in this matter as the secrets of him being an 'Otherworlder' with the complete knowledge of future, could lead to some serious consequences.

So he had to achieve his dream of creating a mind fortress and that too preferably before starting Hogwarts.

As he thought of all this, he started with his training and decided to devote a large chunk of his time on this front. One of the methods that he thought of was torture training. The idea was to use different stimulations during meditation and still be able to maintain his mind.

He started off with some simple things such as loud noise, light effects, heat, cold, etc.

As he got used to this, he moved on to the next one - pain.

This was the one thing he planned on keeping up for a long time as he gradually increases the intensity.

It would prove to be extremely helpful for him in the future where pain might become a constant companion. So he started with pinpricks and slowly went forward.

He also thought of other torture methods he could use on himself like sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, water torture, starvation and many others.

He wasn't a masochist but being forced by the situation, he had no other choice.

It took him almost six months to get to a level where he could at least save himself from losing his mind and still enter the calm meditative state. Although not completely successful, he was still happy with the progress.

The last six months was really hell like for him. On top of the constant pain, he also had to make sure his aunt and Mrs. Naomi didn't find out anything about his new training regimen.

So he would have to make all types of excuses every time. Eventually, his aunt confronted him and asked what exactly was going on. Feeling her sharp gaze which seemed to be saying she wouldn't accept anything less than the truth, he sighed helplessly. A woman's instinct was the greatest magic of all.

So he told her that he was doing some intense magical training that had a few side effects. It would only last for a few months and was perfectly safe. It could cause some minor discomfort and slight pain but he could handle it.

After hearing him, his aunt looked at him pensively. Harry could feel himself sweating from her stare.

But she eventually accepted it and left him alone, but not before asking him to take care of himself and not overdo it. "You are still young and have enough time to train when you attend Hogwarts", warned her aunt.

Harry felt a little warm inside from his aunt's nagging. He had missed this feeling after he lost his parents.

It inspired him to work even harder since he didn't want to lose the other family he got in this world.

So by the time next year's March arrived, he could be considered as an expert in Occlumency. His mind fortress wasn't complete but unless someone literally tortured him for months and used all kinds of dark magic, it was almost impossible to get anything out of him.

Since he would be attending Hogwarts in a few months, he needs to start planning what he would be doing in his first year. Since he couldn't change the original story much at this point, he had to play along for some time.

He had also read a lot about Quidditch and was very excited about the prospects of playing the game.

Although the game didn't make much sense to him, it was still exciting to watch and as the entire wizarding world only had this one popular sport, he didn't want to miss out on it.

He had thought about giving up on becoming a seeker as it was literally the most boring position in the team. The seeker had to do nothing in the game as his only job was to catch the snitch. Even there, he couldn't use any strategy. He had to honestly wait until he could see the snitch and then try to catch it. Yes, there were some maneuvers you could pull but in its essence, it was a boring position.

He thought of becoming a beater or a chaser. But then gave up on all and decided to stick to being the seeker. Even though it was boring, it was still the most famous position and given his 'Potter' genes, he knew he would end up becoming the seeker anyways.

So, he decided to brush up on his theoretical knowledge about Quidditch since the practice could only happen after he reached Hogwarts. It would raise a few eyebrows if a young boy was seen flying around in the neighborhood on a broomstick.

As he finalized his preparations, he waited for the letter from Hogwarts. That would give him the legitimate excuse to go to Diagon Alley and this time, he wouldn't have to put on any disguise.

Finally, during the summer vacations, he received the letter he had been waiting for.