Chapter 4.

AN: Still wish I owned Harry Potter (no homo).

"Hey sleepy head, wake up - it's ten already, you can't sleep all day even when it's the winter break." a girl voice pierced my sleep.

I opened my eyes and closed them immediately. The light was unbearable. Oww I feel like shit. Must be what they call a hangover.

I yawned and stretched, ignoring the protests of my body.

There wasn't much people left in Hufflepuff. Only 8 on the 63 first and second years and very few older students stayed at the castle. In my dormitory were only left Cynthia and Sullivan. Hufflepuff dormitories were the only one with no gender separation, it was sorted by years, three dormitories of ten beds for each year.

It was bad luck to have two of them in my dormitory, but on the other hand, they would be a perfect alibi if anything happened.

I sat on my bad and watched them wait for me.

"Go ahead, I'll meet you at breakfast. I'm taking a shower."

Once they were gone and I was finally alone in the dormitory, I opened my trunk and grabbed the small chest. It was no bigger than a brick, made of black wood and golden engravings. I pocketed it and looked at my new books. I would need to disguise them if I was going to read them in the castle. I pondered for a moment on how I could disguise a book. Hey, genius, you have the top grades in transfiguration.

My headache was not helping me think straight. I grabbed my wand and performed a flawless transfiguration on the cover of Obliviation Through and Through, changing it into Arithmancy or the Power of Numbers.

Perfect, that sound boring enough to prevent most of my housemates to try and take a look and at the same time I can make something up if they wonder why I study that.

I was about to get in the shower booth a few minutes later, and stopped before the mirror. I was in my small and scrawny eleven years old body again. I couldn't handle Sherry like I did a few hours ago, hell I wouldn't even want to, I'm young again, I don't care at all about sex and girls, even after that night.

I laughed bitterly, turning the shower on. It's nothing but a waste of time anyway.

But as I was taking a shower, I couldn't help but think that even if my body wasn't asking for it right now, it really felt great and I'd want to feel like this again soon enough. And that's where aging potion fucks your growth up.

I dressed up and went to breakfast. The plan was simple from here, study all my books as much as possible before buying new material.

A breakfast and a bit of small talk later, I was sitting outside, on a ice-covered bench. Winter was awfully cold this year and nobody else would sit outside.

"Outside? Have you gone nuts, Harry? It's like minus twenty out there." exclaimed incredulously Louise.

"I'm going alone then, I don't want to sit inside all day - I like the cold anyway." I answered before going.

It's not even a lie, I do like the cold.

I was now reading the book on obliviation, and it was fascinating. Skimming it quickly, I realized the volume explained everything about obliviation. Where it comes from, how to use it, how to master it, how it works, how it is countered, how it can be repaired, etc.

Five hours later, I closed the book. An insane smile on my lips.

My fingers were blue and I couldn't feel my toes. But it was worth it. Totally worth it.

I'd need something - someone to practice on soon. Desks won't do this time. Maybe I should ask Marvyn for a few ferrets. Eh.

Rays of light shone through the curtain's holes. The corridor bathed in the warm sunlight and was hot, even with the snow behind the walls and the frost on the thin windows. I was hidden behind the one-eyed witch statue on the third floor, watching my target.

I had five days left until the break ended. I had studied Obliviation as much as possible, casted it on Flitch's cat once and successfully made the cat forget me. I think.

Now it was time to get to the proper training.

A real mind, a human mind. Lavender Brown.

I had selected her after a bit of research, she stayed at Hogwarts because her parents were too busy to take care of her, having important international jobs. She was a Gryffindor, I never talked to her and she wasn't overly popular or talkative from what I remember but that mattered little, since I didn't have a large choice anyway. Only a handful of Gryffindor stayed at the castle. Zach was gone back home too of course.

The corridor was empty, she was carefully walking toward me, no, toward the minotaur statue, just before my one-eyed witch secret entrance. I had sent her a anonymous flying letter at breakfast, saying that I thought she was really pretty and was too shy to talk to her in public.

And her she was, in front of the minotaur, looking around to find her date.

I didn't like what I was about to do, it was wrong. Real bad guys stuff. I thought about doing it to a Slytherin but they were too hazardous, even a first year one.

I can't falter, I can't start thinking about good or bad. How fucked up it is anyway, if good or bad meant anything I wouldn't need to learn the obliviation curse in the first place.

I aimed my wand at her, from my dark corner, and muttered "Capperentum."

I was getting really good at casting spells with no more than a whisper. There were no paintings in this corridor, but words could travel fast in the large corridors of Hogwarts if you spoke them too loud.

The indigo stunning spell flew toward her and hit her square on the hip.

She lost her footing and fell to the ground with a brutal crack, breaking her nose on the stone tiles. Shit I didn't think of that.

I ran out of the corner, looking frantically left and right.

I reached her. She was all bloody and moaning softly. The minor stunning spell I used didn't knock the target out, it was more like getting totally drunk and losing your ability to control your body.

"Dissendium, Evanesco, Levicorpus."

The secret passage opened, the blood on the floor vanished and I led her hovering body in the secret passage, the statue closing it behind us.

Her body wasn't in her control, she was laying on a rock, eyes half open, drooling and bleeding on her robes, her arms and legs moving slowly up and down, left and right, without any coordination.

Messier than expected but no matter. I lost no time.

I need her to see me before I erase it from her memory. Rule one of the Obliviation charm: you can only erase something if the target have it in their memories.

I didn't know her enough to erase a random thing, I needed to focus on something we both knew.

"Ennervate."

She opened her eyes fully and stumbled on her feet, bringing a hand to her broken nose.

"I'm bleeding... - who are you?" she asked before quickly drawing her wand out, eyes filled with terror.

Why didn't I take her wand, dammit! She saw me hesitating with my wand trained on her and attacked.

"Locomotor Wibbly!" Is she fucking serious?

The jelly-legs jinx hit me before I could move, I felt my legs start to wobble and fired a minor striking curse before falling.

She was running for the exit when the orange curse hit her right where I was aiming, on the knee, and dislocated it.

She fell forward at full speed, her wrist breaking on the rocky ground. Her finger skin got ripped open, she wailed like a banshee, tears flowing, clutching her destroyed hand and trying to get up at the same time.

I took this pause to gather my magic in my legs and destroy the jelly-legs jinx.

I stood up, fuming.

God fucking DAMN IT!

She screeched at me and grabbed her wand with her left hand. I was faster.

"Obliviate!"

The green beam of magic connected, and suddenly, I was looking at the memory of what just happened. Her point of view was terrifying, the pain and terror she experienced overthrew my control and I fell deeper in her memories, seeing things of her past, seeing memories that I didn't know about. Emotions and memories came so fast I couldn't see them. I fucked up, I need to get out.

Suddenly, I saw a way out. I saw a dark cave, illuminated by phosphorescent mushrooms and crystals, I saw blood and two shapes, one standing and the other one laying on the ground.

A big flash and I was back in my brain, seeing the scene through my eyes. I quickly recovered and took aim again, she was throwing up, still crying and bleeding. I wanted to throw up too but I refrained myself. The whole thing had taken maybe half a second.

I focused too much on my breach in her mind, I need to focus more on what to erase.

She surprised me once more by raising her wand again, her face covered in blood and other bodily fluids, she opened her mouth but I didn't give her the time.

"Ocunuo intus!"

Twisted pleasure infiltrated my body again as she screamed even louder, letting her wand fall on the ground to reach her bleeding eyes with her valid hand.

I took a sick pause to appreciate the dark magic. I didn't plan to do this. What the fuck am I doing, that was totally unnecessary...

She was crawling on the rock when I casted the obliviating charm again, this time focusing on what I needed to erase.

I saw the memory in her mind again, and erased it. I could tell it was a butcher job, I left traces everywhere, but the spell ended before I could try to fix it.

Now she was silent. Still recovering from her memory loss. I obliviated her a third time, erasing all traces, it was like painting a white wall in black. I managed to fill in all the holes, got the bit about the anonymous letter too and got out.

She was slowly coming back to consciousness when I stunned her. That should counter the pain and keep her silent.

Her face was literally covered in blood, dripping from her broken nose and eyes, it painted her face and upper body. She's a fucking mess, she's lost way too much blood.

I cancelled the eye-bleeding curse and vanished the blood, tears and puke on her robes and face.

Her wrist and fingers are broken, as is her nose. I can't deal with that myself.

"Dissendium." The statue slid again, opening the way.

I came out of the hidden pathway, her body horizontally hovering behind me, I looked around and saw nobody.

I placed her on the top of the third to second floor stairway, and pushed her down.

I watched her body roll and break on the steps, her nose bleeding all over them and her members flailing as she accumulated speed. She finally hit the bottom with a sickening sound of broken ribs, moaning loudly through her almost-stunned state and I ennervated her from the top, turning and running away silently as I heard her howl in pain.

I stopped in a nearly bathroom to empty my stomach and wash my sweaty face with cold water. Then, I went in the library, wearing my mask of cool indifference. Inside, my heart was pounding like Thor's hammer in my chest. My face was hot, my mind was going well over the speed limit.

Dammit, dammit! I fucked up big times. Calm down, calm down. Her memories are erased and her wounds are no worse than a fall down the stairs. It's just broken bones, at worst.

She won't remember.

I took a big breath while sitting at a table far in the back. What the fuck was that fighting spirit she showed, seriously!

Fucking Gryffindors.

It's my fault, I should have taken her wand. Hell it wasn't even necessary to release her in the first place, I could have erased only the anonymous letter from her mind.

I need to plan my shit better.

I opened a book on the card games of Scotland and started to read. It felt great to read. Even something as silly and useless as this book. Especially something as silly and useless as this book.

I didn't leave the library before ten, when it closed.

"Yes, she was found on the second floor, they say she was really hurt."

I took another bite of toast and listened silently. Louise was telling everybody the last new while everybody raised their head to look at the Gryffindor table. There wasn't much people so it wasn't hard to see Lavender, laughing with her friends.

She had been brought to the infirmary soon after I pushed her down the stairs and her injuries had been healed in a few hours. At first, they had attributed her memory loss to the fall down.

"She's lost a lot of blood apparently, and since she don't really remember falling or what she was doing here, they are investigating." she finished, lowering her tone.

"Since that troll incident, they can't let anything go. But if she only fell down the stairs I don't see what's all the fuss about." commented Smith.

"They didn't vanish the blood immediately and they think there was way less on the stairs than what she lost." added Louise, still talking under her breath. "They think she was attacked by an older student, maybe she was even raped!"

I coughed my toast, everybody turned to me.

"Sorry, but I just don't see how you go from fall down the stairs to rape..."

"Why would anybody attack her if it wasn't for - you know what." she retorted.

To practice, or simply to cast dark magic and feast on her pain. Damn that's really fucked up when put this way.

"Anyway, it's not hard to verify that, she's eleven." everybody looked at me weirdly.

"And how exactly do you -verify- that?" mocked Smith.

What a bunch of morons. They have no idea what they're talking about... Even the girls look at me like I'm some weirdo.

"Not my job to teach you that, just know that it's easy to check on a young girl, and I don't think she would be laughing if she had been."

"Well anyway, she told me she had an appointment with Flitwick to check her for mind alteration. If it's a sixth or seventh year, he probably knows the obliviating curse." added Cynthia helpfully.

Fuck. Flitwick is really good at charms, there's a possibility that he'll see my work. I need to go back in her mind and check if it's really clear.

Maybe I'll use this thing about burying my old work with other memories, shuffling the mind.

The book said it would throw off the scent, altering the mind two separate times on the same memory and messing a bit with the order of memories would force the mind to rebuild itself on the previously erased part, making it look natural.

So I'm going in again, as soon as possible. If Flitwick sees my work, he'll call specialists in and the memory will be found.

The ultimate goal of the obliviating charm was to completely remove a memory and make it look like no memory was ever here. The breach would be impossible to notice and anyone looking would say there was no obliviation. The memory would be irrecoverable.

But I was no obliviation master, even if that little stunt in the cave taught me lots about it, I was still new at obliviating and I was incapable of removing definitely the memory.

The best I could do was try to hide the existence of my breach in her mind.

"I forgot my book." I stood up and walked to the hall doors.

"Oh you and your books, try and get switched to Ravenclaw already." laughed Sullivan as I was walking away.

This time, no kidnapping shit, just a quick spell when she's alone.

Sadly, she wasn't alone when she passed by me in the corridor that led to the Gryffindor tower.

"... professor Flitwick said he would come around nine, I think you can stay here, he just need to check my mind, he said it would be quick..." she was talking to two Gryffindors. I didn't know their names and I didn't care. Once she's in her common room, I won't be able to reach her.

I had to act. I came out of my cover, made sure no painting could see me from their position, crept behind them and, from about twenty foot behind them, shot an obliviation charm at her ankle.

The charm hit, but I couldn't see anything, the memory wasn't here. Good, that means I have hidden it successfully. I shuffled her memories a bit, I couldn't see what I was touching, but, like having a hand in a pot, I could shuffle it.

I'm getting the hang of this. I decided it was enough and the spell ended. I quickly sheathed my wand and walked forward innocently.

Lavender had paused, a distant look in her eyes, for a second and shook her head before going. Her two bodyguards didn't notice anything.

But the guilt was still here. She didn't ask for anything, she probably didn't deserve it. What if that had been Nat, how fucking mad would I be?

It doesn't matter, she's ok. Deal with it.

I couldn't stop feeling guilty but I could force myself to live with it.

I went to the dormitory and grabbed my disguised book on inferi creation.

The rest of the day was spent outside, in the snow, studying the different rituals needed to make various sorts of inferi. I was ready to see Aurors arrive wands drawn and to defend my freedom the best I could, I had carved a Rune of Destruction on the back of the book, ready to trigger it at any time.

Marvyn had taught me this trick when I gave him the chest and asked about similar emergency precautions. He showed me how to carve a rune, how to load it with magic and eventually trigger it.

He also told me he would contact me for the next job. Great, now I'm his minion.

Snow started to fall on the pages I was reading. Flitwick had probably finished scanning Brown's mind at this moment. I felt Natasha's necklace on my chest, beating with my heart. I won't let them take me, not until you're back.

No Auror disturbed me this day.

Occlumency is the direct opposite of Legilimency, mentioned and explained at the precedent chapter. Occlumency enables the user to defend his mind against any kind of mind magic attacks.

There is no precise explanation on how Occlumency works, being a different experience for each wizard learning it. To acquire such skill, one must seek a Master Occlumens to teach him, but few Occlumens are willing to do the job. There are Occlumency Books that will teach Occlumency to anybody reading them, see the list of such known volumes below, however, Occlumency being the best way to guard one's secrets and thoughts, to possess such a rare and powerful item is a secret anybody would guard.

Occlumency can block any kind of mind magic at diverse ranges of power. While Legilimency is directly blocked, it is harder to overcome more subtle intrusions like the Obliviating charm and other Imperius curse. It is also believed that the best Master Occlumens are able to lie under veritaserum.

I looked at the list and wondered where I was going to find one. These books seemed to be very rare and if you find one, expensive. Of course, such books were special and couldn't be copied. That would have been too easy. Most unique spell tomes were enchanted to prevent copying, but some were actually too magically complex to be copied. I had seen Pamela Laverne's book on magical creatures behavior that actually sent in your mind scenes of magical creatures in their environment when you touched the picture and spoke "show me" out loud.

"The Tome of the Why and the How, The Fortress of the Ambitious, those are funky titles..." I murmured distantly while finishing reading all the list.

So, Occlumency is the art of closing your mind. Marvyn was doing passive Legilimency on me, that means he's pretty advanced in the domain. I'll ask him if he wants to be my teacher, he must know Occlumency.

I watched absently the Gryffindors start taking their breakfast half an hour after every other house, mind in the clouds, thinking about all I learned when I was in Lavender's mind.

The Hat was right, I have a natural talent for mind magic, obliviation, even a messed up one, should never had brought me this deep into her memories. I think I kinda tried Legilimency too this day.

A week after the stairs accident, I felt no guilt anymore, she was well and oblivious and I learned loads about obliviation and other things.

Like never ennervate a potential enemy without taking their wand.

"Here he does it again, even when he's with us he's not really with us!" that was Louise.

Fucking Louise.

"I'm sorry you said something?" I asked, showing my annoyance at her.

"Yeah, I was just saying how much you stare into space these days. You're always in a book or thinking about a book." she complained dramatically, making the other laugh.

She pissed me off. She was obsessed with me, always on my back, asking what I was doing or where I was going.

"Yeah, it's true. Your point being?"

She opened her mouth to answer something stupid when Loren saved me.

"Just let him be, he's got the best grades you know, maybe you should read a book or two sometimes."

Loren actually had worst grades than Louise and that didn't slip by her.

"Want to talk about you grades? And I say whatever I want to him, you don't own him you know!" Loren blushed a bit and spat something about how Louise was only getting good grades because she licked Snape's arse and the angry exchange continued while I went back to reading the chapter on Occlumency, the rest of the page was descriptions of inner strongholds by diverse sources.

Somewhere in the fight came out a remark about Loren being my girlfriend because of how she was always protecting me and making things up for me when I just wanted to be alone. She was redder than the strawberry jam on her toast and answered something about Louise being jealous of her.

I pretended not to hear to avoid the whole thing and my mind drifted to the closest thing as a girlfriend I ever had, Sherry.

I thought about her every now and then, remembering more the incredible ambiance of that night, the drunkenness and the arousal I was experiencing than her. I didn't really want to touch her skin again, I didn't really want to penetrate her warm body neither.

What I was yearning for was to be in that state again, to feel the need to fuck her again.

I need a book on Occlumency anyway, maybe I'll drop by the bookshop and see what can be done when I'll be out.

Occlumency had became top priority on my list, I had secrets to hide and the Hat warned me about Legilimens. The fact that Marvyn, a sixth year, could do it was terrifying. I would need that book as quickly as possible.

Louise and Sullivan left the table, the argument was over. Loren was fuming, still red. I fetched my notebook and wrote in the "Marvyn" page he enchanted for me.

Today.

He would write back to say at what hour he was free and where I would go to meet him.

I closed my notebook and looked at Loren, who was angrily destroying fried eggs with her fork.

"Thank you, she was really annoying." I smiled and took her hand. Loren was nice, she respected my freedom and I really liked her. Enough reasons to become closer to keep her on my side if something happened. I'll need a girlfriend eventually, might as well chose the nice one right at the start.

She breathed in heavily, all anger draining from her face, leaving her only red with embarrassment, and looked away shyly, muttering a very hard to hear "thatsnothingnoproblem".

She really do like me. I went back in my book, the next page exposed a number of Occlumency tricks to protect one's mind with only the smallest control of Occlumency.

I was sitting in History of Magic lesson with professor Christopher. We had him for half the lessons and a ghost, professor Binns, for the other half. While Binns had a reason to be boring (he was a ghost after all), Mr. Christopher should have been at least aware of the class while he was doing his lesson.

But he wasn't. He was reading a History book monotonously, without even looking up to see the mess in front of him. Everybody was talking, laughing or sleeping. I always took the seats on the last row so I could read with nobody in my back. The kind of literature I was into wouldn't do well being discovered. I was dividing my attention between my book and Loren, who was giving me her best insane tales and myths.

"And so the knight was turned into a dragon. A black dragon. So he went and fought the other dragon, fire against fire, claws and fangs against hide and scales, and finally slew it. He went back to town to find Angus the Sorcerer to get transformed back, and as he approached the doors, he saw the townsmen grabbing spears and crossbows in a panicked crowd."

She was moving her arms all over the place and mimed the scenes excitingly.

"Why didn't he plan that in advance with Angus? It was pretty evident the townspeople wouldn't let a dragon in."

"Yeah well back in the days, they didn't plan everything like today, they just did stuff that needed to be done." she explained, shrugging.

Suddenly, my ear caught something from Christopher's mouth.

"... wrote a book called The Diary of Hellard the Tempestuous, titled after his name, a very famous book containing all his knowledge about an obscure branch of magic he mastered along with Elemental Magic. The diary is classified as one of the one thousand most precious magical tomes in the world and currently owned by the famous collector Albert Zabini and exhibited in the Zabini Museum in London."

The Diary of Hellard the Tempestuous... I heard that before! I flipped frenetically the pages of my book to find the list of Occlumency books again and slid my finger down until it pointed on The Diary of Hellard the Tempestuous, created by Hellard himself in 1520.

I wasn't even listening to Loren anymore, my mind was racing at full speed. Exhibited at the Zabini Museum in London? I can get to it, I can steal it.

"Blaise Zabini was the last student sorted at the sorting ceremony, he was ..." I muttered, lost in my thoughts.

"Slytherin." she helped suddenly, visibly amused at my sudden change of behavior, "What about him? Did you somehow link the black dragon tale to him?"

"The professor just talked about him - a museum or something."

"Oh? I didn't listen."

Ernie McMillan, located on the row just before us, turned around.

"The Zabini museum is owned by his grandfather, it's not a big museum but it has a few very rare pieces. Other thing I know about the Zabinis is that Blaise has had seven fathers, and they all died suspiciously - his mother got all their money each time." he winked and turned back to talk with the row in front of him.

I turned to Loren, who turned to me.

"If I ever marry someone, remind me this story as I write my will." I said seriously. She giggled and promised. Then she launched us in a conversation about strategies at exploding snap.

"It's easy to take the lead if you skip a turn every four turns, especially if you sit just before the dealer, the risk ratio is still less than five on ten at this point and you still win more points than if you skip every third turn. Even if you called an exploding card right, the multiplier plays in your advantage. The average point raking is higher on more than thirty turns." I explained, while my thoughts were turned on something a bit more risky than skipping turns late in Exploding Snap, when most first years didn't even skip turns.

The Zabini Museum in London. I'll go in as a visitor and come out as a thief. A museum is sure to be heavily warded against thievery but if it's a small one, I might have my chances. First step, visit it once and see what I can see. Second step, think about how being pal with Blaise could help me and take care of it. Third step, formulate an attack plan. Fourth step, get the book. I'll have all summer, James and Lily won't lock us in this year, and if they try, I'll just escape.

The first two steps of my plan had to be done before the summer break, I had months available but becoming Zabini's friend could prove harder than any on the other steps. Too bad my magic is still too young to even try the Imperius curse.

"Could I be excused, professor? I need to go to the bathroom." I inquired, raising politely my hand. McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"You may leave only if you have finished your practical work, Mr. Potter, this is no vacation." she answered with a strict smile.

I took my wand out, this is not the moment to hold back, Marvyn is already waiting for me. I aimed at the rabbit on her desk, an animal way larger than the mice we had to change in matchboxes and transfigured it. She had used the rabbit to show the two classes sitting in the amphitheater how it's done without having them squint to see the mouse. It was now a finely engraved umbrella stand, made of pure steel and gold. Yep, I was really good at transfiguration, but anyway the first year stuff was just too easy, to set every student at the same level.

Surprised and pleased, she awarded three points to Hufflepuff and let me go to the bathroom, under applauding of course. Sometime it just felt good to show off and shut her mouth.

I distinguished Marvyn at our usual meeting spot, the isolated bench in the far away west yard. I came to him and greeted him politely.

"Hello to you too Potter, now if you would hurry and explain what is this about, I don't have all day."

"Very well, I'll be brief. Can you teach me Occlumency?" If he could, I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting the Diary of Hellard. That would give me time to study something else this summer. How to raise the dead, for instance. Even if I wasn't very comfortable with the idea of Marvyn teaching me something as crucial and touchy, I couldn't be delusional and think anyone else would be less dangerous. Even the book could be as hazardous.

He chuckled softly for a few second and finally answered, shaking his head.

"I don't know Occlumency, Potter. It is a very obscure branch of magic and very difficult to learn, provided you find a mentor in the first place. The few books that teach it are either lost, hidden or owned by powerful wizards who keep them for their own bloodline. I intend to learn it eventually, after I graduate, but no, I can't teach you."

Why did I assume he knew Occlumency anyway, he was only reading my mind the other day - and Legilimency is way more common and easier to learn according to my books. The museum break in it will be then, Merlin help me.

"Okay, I'll manage something on my own then. Do you by any chance know Zabini junior? I would like to meet him."

"I don't do dating services, Potter, skip to the point if you have one." he was obviously getting impatient.

"I'm sorry, I'll speak to him on my own. Thank you for having answered my call." I bowed slightly and got up.

"If it's for boring requests like these, next time write them on your enchanted notebook or I won't bother showing up, Potter, you're rapidly becoming tiresome." He added, still sitting legs crossed on the bench "Don't force me to spice our association up, you won't like it." he was now grinning viciously, I could hear it in his tone. I shivered and walked away.

Might have to take care of him before he becomes really dangerous. I already know that he doesn't have any Occlumency shields, obliviation would totally work. I displayed a grin of my own. Two can play this game, Mr. Darden.

The chill air of London was soothing my body, I was walking fast, striding even, through the lively streets, my dark cloak and robes went unnoticed thank to a Notice-Me-Not charm I was getting really good at, since I often had it on in Hogwarts. The muggle vehicles were gliding on the wet road, making this distinct sound of the rubber on the watery asphalt and projecting droplets of water on the pavements. Rain was falling on London, as always. I moved through the crowd, trotting quickly and bumping in a good number of muggles and eventually reached the stone archway between a muggle bookshop and bank. The archway was wide and deep, hidden from muggles, it was the entrance to Idea Alley. A massive magical boulevard that contained many places of interest and shops, along with the most expensive magical apartments of the United Kingdom.

A breeze of wind entered the archway, making a loud echoing sound and shook the lanterns hooked to the top, adding a chimes-like sound to it. I entered it, and felt the tingle of the wards as I went forward. Eventually, I came out and found myself in the famous boulevard. The first thing to catch my attention was the huge building thirty or so yards from me, on the right.

The entrance was the very definition of majestic. Countless lights and colorful bills decorated the walls around the thick red carpet - adorned with representations of gryffins, manticores, dragons and such in golden thread - that covered half the street. None of this would ever get dirty or wet, in fact, the whole boulevard was perfectly clean - compared to the muggle street I just went through, it was godhood. On top of the entrance was written in big, stylish, moving and glowing characters TONIGHT: A Witch Remedial For A Lady's Curse, Starring Helena Kohar and Jun Guo.

I walked past the theater and the mesmerizing poster depicting a witch brewing a pink potion in a gold cauldron and winking at the spectator, and spotted the building I was looking for on the other side of the street, a bit further up the boulevard. It was indicated Zabini Museum, on a simple golden plate. I entered the hall and walked to the ticket office. The place was empty. The clerk took my five galleons and let me in.

The room was long and rectangular, magical artifacts lay on cushions and tables, without any kind of protection. I looked around and saw only two wizards admiring a jeweled silver shield, I brought my recently-purchased wardbreaker scope to my eye. Wardbreaker scopes rendered a certain range of wards visible in the form of light threads and colours, but only a true wardbreaker could tell what they meant. It was almost useless to an amateur like me but it at least gave an idea of how much wards there were and how they were linked to the place.

I watched the different coloured light threads starting from the center of the ceiling, they were spreading like a spider web, coating the place with yellow, orange and a light blue mist. Orange threads were linked to each item in the room, and to two doors, the entrance and a closed door labeled "private". Picking anything up would trigger something related to the door. I'd get trapped in.

I pocketed the scope and started thinking, pretending to be watching a wand. I could try and blast through the walls but they're probably adamantine-reinforced wall, with a huge resistance to magic. I could try to hide in there under Zach's invisibility cloak but the light blue mist all over the place looked like it wasn't linked to anything, most likely a detection ward that will activate when they need to and rat me out. And the yellow threads all over the walls are obviously the anti-apparition ward.

I knew very few about adamantine, but it was widely renowned for its resistance to any direct magic attack. It was only possible to destroy it the muggle way. The shopkeeper had explained me how Gringotts was full of it when I had bought this tiny little adamantine phial that contained my sister's last drops of blood, hanging around my neck at this very moment, cohabiting with her necklace. I can't afford to lose that, no matter what happen.

According to what he said, my body would be obliterated before anything can lay a scratch on that phial.

I didn't have much knowledge on wards, I would never be able to break them or remove an object from their grasp without studying them for years. So, yellow for anti-apparition, blue for detection and maybe even incapacitation, and orange as trigger set up on every item. I was now standing next to the private door. "Do not touch the door - emergency measures will be triggered and you will receive a 50 galleons fine." The orange ward on the private door triggers as much as it locks... You'd need to be keyed into the wards to access it. That means that if I find someone that has the authority to open this door, I can use him to pick the diary up.

While I was considering the embryo of a plan that was born in my mind, I reached the Diary of Hellard the Tempestuous. It was a small leather diary, on its cover was carved a circle and a multitude of arrows pointing to the center, under it was carved the words "For a Secure Psyche and Unreachable Secrets." I was tempted to open it but I refrained.

Hellard the Tempestuous stored a piece of his own mind in his diary to make it intelligent and able of helping anyone feeding magic to it. This artifact is considered one of the most precious books in the world. Item is not for sale and can possibly be loaned, contact Mr. Zabini for more information.

Hellard the Tempestuous was known for killing anyone who stood in his way, ruthlessly and with no small measure of sadism. He was one of the most powerful wizards of his time with his mastery of Elemental Magic, he died at the hand of a group of Mage Knights under the order of Count Vlasis. The legend declares that Hellard killed the brother of Count Vlasis in a werewolf hunt, out of spite, using Elemental Magic. The brother would have been disintegrated with a violent use of ice and fire, making such a sudden temperature change that he exploded in a billion tiny pieces. Following this event, Count Vlasis would have used of his political influence to obtain a squad of Mage Knights and send them to track down and eliminate Hellard. Only one would had survived the skirmish and he reported that Hellard died burning in fiendfyre. The body has never been found, burnt to ashes by the demonic fire. Some believed he was not dead and Hellard became a myth, supposedly lurking somewhere in the world and killing at will. Many unresolved death had been imputed to Hellard in the next few decades, in spite of him being officially dead.

I finished reading and admired the diary itself, according to this plate, it was a gem of magic. The loaning part was interesting but it was probably way too expensive, even if I managed to get Mr. Zabini to lend it to me, which was a challenge on its own. A fifteen years old without any identity or an eleven years old Potter boy. I couldn't decide which had less chances. And once I'd ask for it, stealing it would be madness. I need to be subtle, invisible, inexistent.

I would get secretly friendly with Blaise -or at least as friendly as possible- and try to get information on who could access this door. I could end up torturing him if there's no other way.

I watched the other items for a couple of hours and got out of the museum, and exited Idea Alley, with only one thing in my mind. I was going to see Sherry again. And maybe get a couple books but that was secondary.

"I know it's hell to be bad in potions when you're a Slytherin, Snape can be a bitch to the other houses but I don't want to imagine how he is to his own house students in private."

"So you're proposing to help me, a Slytherin. I'm no Hufflepuff tool, Potter, you want something from me." retorted Blaise strongly.

"I do, but we can deal with that later, for the moment I'm only proposing to help you with your potion problem, in exchange I ask nothing." I answered simply.

"I don't promise anything, Potter, but I accept the offer. I heard you were the best in potions, easily second year level, probably more." he declared, whispering, "But I can't let it known that I'm being tutored, even less by a Hufflepuff, even a special one like you."

"A special one like me? Care to elaborate?" I didn't know what he meant, but it could be bad.

"A group of first years were plotting pranks one evening in the Slytherin common room, and one eventually suggested doing something to the brother of the Boy-Who-Lived. The Slytherin prefect, present in the room, warned them about you. His exact words were Pro tip, you don't want to fuck with Harry Potter. And then he smiled and said that we were free to try, but none of us missed the message, Potter." he was now uncomfortably close. "You are no standard Hufflepuff, no Potter as ever been Hufflepuff. Lots of Slytherins, lots of Gryffindors, a few Ravenclaws, but no Hufflepuff."

"I'm the exception that proves the rule, the Hat actually told me that." I answered coolly, shrugging. Not exactly this rule, but whatever.

As we were agreeing on hours to meet, I thought about my plans for the next months until summer. I had three months left to get the information I needed. In the meantime, I couldn't afford starting with Necromancer stuff, if someone were to read my mind, that would be a one way ticket to Azkaban, so I'll take this time studying schoolwork and the few books I had bought the last time I went to Hyacinth's Haven. Dark combat spells and magical torture. I really didn't want to come to that, but I needed to be able to if necessary.

I watched Zabini sprinkle the magnesium powder in the Cat-Eyes Mixture. It stayed on the surface for a few seconds and sank in. Zabini lost no time and killed the fire just a second before the silvery potion turned into a lavender blue one with a bright flash.

"That was perfect Zabini. I think you really got it now." I clapped my hands, happy.

I had been tutoring Zabini for three months, once every week. His grades in potions gradually went up and he told me Snape actually asked him to stay after class once to praise his efforts and encourage him to stay on that path. Heh, if he knew...

The main problem with potions and the reason very few students were good at it was that you needed to sense the brew, you needed to smell it, to watch it and to react accordingly. It wasn't just add two sliced slugs and stir counter-clockwise three times, it was add about two slug -give or take a half-, cut in pieces -slices or cubes, according to what you want exactly- and when you feel like the slugs have touched the bottom, stir counter-clockwise about three times -give or take a turn, according to the speed and strength you use.

No one understood that because potions professors didn't feel like it was important, by following simply the book, you'd get a mediocre potion for sure. And that was all they asked from students. Zabini, however, had a talent for following the instructions at the letter but ruining the potion anyway, so I had taught him the subtlety of potion brewing and all I knew about how brews generally reacted to what ingredients and such.

I was good thanks to Lily's amazing library, that and my own interest in the subject.

"Yes, I supposed the magnesium would act like the phosphorus and cut the fire before the reaction, was it necessary?"

"You supposed right, the magnesium would have burnt faster if the fire had stayed lit, and then, the potion would have been less efficient in terms of visibility. I'd call that an A-class Cat-Eye Mixture, no less." I answered with a smile, it felt actually nice to help someone to become better at something.

"I'm really grateful for the help you provided me Harry, but now it's time for you to tell me what you want. You've done all of this for a purpose, so let me hear it at last." he solicited with a smile of his own. We had grown quite friendly, I actually liked him, he was truly intelligent, that was a day and night change from my fellow Hufflepuffs. They were nice and comfortable to be with, but Merlin they were such idiots sometimes.

"Very well. I already told you of my interest in History of Magic and everything that relates to wizarding art, relics and such." I had indeed invented this little story to make him more comfortable with my request.

"Well I already visited the Zabini museum and I wondered if there was some way to get a glance in the private room." I paused, scanning him for a betrayed face or anything, and seeing no apparent reaction, I finished my request, "So I thought that being Zabini, you might help me with that. All I ask is an hour in the private room to see everything and that's it."

"Well, you sure helped me well... It would only be normal for me to help you." But?

"I can get you in the private room, it's actually a storage room, heavily protected with wards and such but I'm keyed in the wards as a Zabini, I can open the door for you." he paused, thinking.

"If you don't touch anything, it should go unnoticed, not that my grandpa would really be mad at me anyway." he smiled and clapped his hands. "It's a deal, I help you with that and we're even."

I couldn't help but grin widely, I even wanted to let an evil laugh out but refrained. I can't believe it's going to be so easy, all I have to do is use Blaise to pick up the diary and leave, he's keyed in the orange ward, the triggers won't set off. Then I obliviate him and it's over. Nobody ever saw us being together, he kept it secret even from his housemates, nobody will ever suspect me.

I shook his hand, too happy to feel guilty about what I planned to do to him, and started to put the ingredients back in my trunk, which had followed me in the unused classroom.

"Wow, you really love magical artifacts, I've never seen you smile like that." I saw his smile but I knew he was suspicious, that was the Slytherin instinct.

"I am, you clearly don't realize how amazing is your grandfather's collection, even the less popular items are fascinating to me." I closed my trunk in a loud clap, followed by the sound of the locking mechanism.

"So, what day? I am free anytime." I learned enough battle magic and dark spells to handle a first year, I'm ready to do it.

"I don't know, send me an owl during summer and we'll see." he waved and exited the room.

"Got it, have a good summer, Blaise."

I walked out after a few minutes, my trunk following me.

A year. Not exactly. Ten months have passed since she died. I had thought about her throughout the year, but not as much as I thought I would. Am I deviating from my plan too much? Have I forgotten my promise? I don't think I did, everything I did was in order to eventually bring her back. I need to protect my mind before I start going really deep into the matter.

But fucking the bookseller didn't serve any purpose, except for my own satisfaction. Laughing, having fun and getting all cozy with Loren didn't either, I don't need her to be the perfect Hufflepuff everybody sees.

Thinking about this brought a smile on my face. No, I can't blame myself for that, I lost too much time studying unimportant stuff, that is the only problem here. Having fun is alright as long as it doesn't obstruct my path to the finale.

A full year and what did I learn? Enough about inferi to know that it doesn't fit my needs, enough about golem to know that I'll need a shitload of rituals to make her a new body, a load of dark magic that has nothing to do with necromancy and nothing about Occlumency.

I started to get angry, I felt my spirit getting warmer as I thought about it.

It's true, I lost too much fucking time. I need to step it up or it'll take me my whole life. I didn't actually care about spending all my life to resurrect Natasha, but I wanted to do it the soonest possible. I missed her.

My good mood had been crushed in the ten seconds it took me to review my first year in Hogwarts. I was lost in my dreams of golem creation rituals when I heard someone call my name. I shook my head and turned around.

Professor McGonagall was striding toward me, visibly alarmed.

"Mr. Potter, come with me." she instructed quickly, I had never seen her so worried over anything. Even when Sullivan had somehow transfigured Susan's leg into a pickaxe while trying to change a beetle in a sickle.

I grabbed my wand in my pocket and prepared myself to attack, my first spell would be the obscure Serbian dark perforation curse, Kroz Sve, aimed at her wand hand. I had a hard time pronouncing and learning it but it was a good compromise between power and exhaustion, even with my weak eleven years old magic muscle I could cast it quite a lot. I had started to sweat immediately. I have no chances against McGonagall, it's suicide.

"What is going on, professor McGonagall?" I asked warily, still one inch away from assaulting her.

"It's your brother, Zachary. Don't worry, he will be okay. Headmaster Dumbledore sent me to fetch you." she was walking as fast as ever, she sent a quick glance to me, I tried to change my relieved expression to a concerned one but was too late, "He got into a dangerous position, your parents have been notified and will arrive in a minute, Headmaster Dumbledore thought you'd like to see him." she explained, watching me strangely.

I sheathed my wand and focused on acting like I was meant to. But how the fuck am I supposed to react? I don't even understand what's going on.

McGonagall brought me to the hospital wing, where I found Dumbledore and Snape discussing in a corner. In front of them were the hospital beds and in one of those beds was Zachary. Next to him were Ron and Hermione, watching me come to them. So, he got hurt somehow, do I have anything to do with that? I scanned my mind to find something that could link me to that. Marvyn. He better have not fucked up.

McGonagall dropped me here and walked to Dumbledore and Snape. I approached Zach's bed.

"Sup." was all that came to my mind. I had nothing to say to him and I couldn't bring myself to care about his health, he looked healthy anyway.

"Hey Harry. I told them you wouldn't have minded seeing me in a coma." he smiled feebly.

"What are you talking about?" I literally had no idea of what was going on.

Hermione answered for him.

"Zachary was in a coma during three days, he only woke up now." she sobbed before bursting into tears and throwing herself on Zach to cry in his hospital garments. "We were so worried." she helpfully explained between two sobs.

"Oh well, we all have to go through that once don't we?"

She turned to me with a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Still not telling them, eh Zach?" I laughed.

"Dumbledore knows, and that's why he didn't want you to see me in that condition, until I woke up." he said seriously, "But whatever, I think you're right, it's time for me to tell them." he smiled proudly.

"Great, tell hello to James and Lily, or not, I don't care." I was angry, I didn't know why, I wanted to punch them all in the throat. "Good night." I walked off. The three professor had moved a bit further and didn't see me leave. I couldn't say why I got so pissed. Probably the fact that my project is going slow as fuck and they make me lose time and focus on shit like this. I don't fucking care about Zach, he can die in his own vomit for all I care.

Too angry to attend the end of term feast without ruining my image of friend to my housemates, I spent the evening in the owlery studying and feeding Hedwig.

AN: That's it for today, don't forget to review. I'd like to hear what you guys think so far, especially about the pacing.