Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Guardians of the Eternal Phoenix
Restricted Knowledge
0 reviewsHarry gets his Hogwarts letter and a few secrets are revealed
2Exciting
Restricted Knowledge
A mysterious figure walked slowly towards the front door of No.4 Privet Drive. Slowly and silently he (considering the figure to be male, for now) picked the lock and pushed the door open. He squinted at the empty and dark hallway, watching warily and listening intently for any sounds, any sign of another presence. Finding none, he crept silently along the hallway while pulling out his wand. He noticed light at the end of the hallway and cautiously approached it. He peeked around the wall and saw Mr. and Mrs. Dursley eating dinner in the most inappropriate manner possible. Stifling the urge to retch, the figure cast a disillusionment charm on himself and silently crossed the area and moved on towards the basement. It looked like the figure was looking for something, or someone.
Slowly the figure opened the door of the basement and after a swift ‘Lumos’, crept down the stairs only to find Dudley and a few other boys of his age threatening a small boy with jet black hair. The figure took a step in their direction, apparently to stop the bullying, but stopped. He crept back upstairs and moved on to the 1st floor. There were two rooms on that floor. The figure skipped the first room and proceeded to the other room. The figure opened the door and peeked inside to find Mr. and Mrs. Dursley kissing each other. Hmm, weren’t they downstairs a while ago? He hastily closed the door muttering ‘gross’ under his breath. He moved on to the room he had skipped and eased the door open. Inside, an ebony haired kid was chatting away happily with an older boy with blue eyes. Smiling, the figure closed the door.
The figure returned downstairs and looked around, apparently looking for something. A few moments later, he walked up to the side of the stairs. There was a small door, apparently that of a cupboard, under the stairs. The figure opened the door and entered the tiny room, just barely large enough to accommodate him. Inside there was a small cot and nothing else. Shaking his head, the figure was about to leave when he spotted something-a loose floorboard under the cot. The figure reached out for it and started to open it….
“Don’t you think you have overstayed your welcome?” a strangely amused voice asked from the doorway of the cupboard.
“Maybe. Took you long enough to notice my presence, Harry”, the figure responded without turning, sounding a little stern.
“Yeah, well, as they say, better late than never. Anyway if my guess is correct I caught you faster this time.” Harry retorted.
“Still, not quick enough!”
“You are really hard to please! Now, enough talk. Get out of my house, Drake!” and with that the entire cupboard was filled with a blinding white light.
“Enervate!”
Harry sat up groggily on the floor where he had been lying unconscious and muttered, “How did I do?”
“5 minutes 30 seconds. Good, but not perfect. It’s an improvement, nonetheless, from the 5 minutes 40 seconds you achieved last time.” Drake grinned.
“Only 10 seconds improvement, huh?”
“Maybe it seems small to you but for a kid who has not yet felt his magic core, is not attuned to his magic, such timings are actually quite good….but that doesn’t mean that you can slack off. Practice, practice, practice!” Drake added, seeing the satisfied and smug expression on Harry.
Practice! That’s all what Harry had been doing for the last few months. Ever since the day he had successfully built up his mindscape, he had been spending most of his training duration, unconscious. Drake had been thoroughly testing out his mindscape. The little time he spent in the conscious world was spent in tolerating the pounding Drake gave his mental shields. It seemed to Harry that as his eleventh birthday came closer, Drake was becoming increasingly stricter and harsher. It was almost as if he was on a mission.
“Can we please call it a day? Harry practically begged. “My head’s pounding like hell and I am feeling nauscious.”
“Yeah, sure. Stay here awhile to get your bearings right. I’ll make tea.” Drake said, getting to his feet.
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“So, only a few weeks left for you eleventh birthday and your Hogwarts letter. Excited?” Drake asked, handing out a cup of tea to Harry.
“Yeah, a bit. How will I be getting the letter? Owl post?”
“Probably, but I don’t think so. As far as I know, usually someone from the school comes to deliver the letter personally if the child is raised in a muggle household. So, if I were to guess, I would guess that taking into account your importance in the magical world and you being raised in a rather disgusting muggle household, someone important from the school will be coming to deliver your letter. I am rather curious to see who.” Drake said thoughtfully.
“Well, I should get going.” Harry said, draining his cup.
“Yeah, you don’t want to be late tomorrow. It’s Dudley’s birthday after all! Such an important day!” Drake drawled, smirking slightly.
“AHHH! Did you have to remind me that? Now I will have nightmares.” Harry whined.
“Another reason to practice your Occlumency”
“You are impossible!” Harry said, shaking his head and laughing.
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“Stupid, stupid, stupid! I am the stupidest person alive!” Harry fumed as he paced in front of a curious Drake.
‘Harry’s mood seems to be drastically different each time he is coming to my house over the last few weeks.’ Drake mused. ‘Last time he was panicing over his ability to speak to snakes. Although, his tale of setting the snake on Dudley was rather amusing.’
“What made you realize your stupidity?” Drake asked curiously.
“The fact that I stupidly stood at the doorway, staring at my unopened Hogwarts letter, not even noticing Dudley, who had sneaked up behind me and snatched the letter from my hand. As a result of which my letter got deposited in the fireplace. Now my uncle has shifted me to another room, which is a good thing, but my uncle breathing down my neck to make sure I don’t receive another letter sure is not.”
“Your letter arrived by muggle post?” Drake exclaimed incredulously.
“Yeah!” Harry said, still pacing furiously.
‘Odd!’ Drake thought. ‘I was sure someone important, maybe even Dumbledore, would be coming to deliver the letter. What are your intentions Dumbledore?’
“Calm down Harry. You’ll get your letter eventually.”
“How? My uncle is practically sealing the house.” Harry exclaimed angrily.
“You are forgetting that you are very important to the magical world. They will make sure that you get your letter. That means eventually they will send somebody to deliver your letter. I am rather curious to see who and why haven’t they already done that.”
“Why is this so important Drake?” Harry asked, now a little curious himself.
“If I am not mistaken, the address on your envelope was ‘Cupboard under the stairs.’ So they must know exactly where you live and in what condition. I mean, come on, who lives in a cupboard for heaven’s sake! So it is safe to assume that they know exactly what type of people the Dursleys are and the fact that they hate you and your magic and therefore, won’t raise a finger to help you get your magical education. If so, then why haven’t they sent anyone?
“Also consider the scenario that you and I had never met each other, which is still true for them since they are not aware of my existence. You get your letter by post. You open it and you read its contents, but then what? Would you have been able to do the shopping considering the fact that you would have been totally unaware about the magical world until that point? Would your uncle have helped? No! These are the facts that the people who had dumped you at the Dursleys are probably already aware of, seeing as you have always been under their watch. So the question again arises: why haven’t they sent someone?”
Harry was shocked. ”I-I have been under watch? How? By whom?” he stammered out.
“I don’t know them, but I am willing to bet my last knut that they are magical. That was one of the reasons why I forbade you to come to my house through the front door or acknowledge me in public.”
“So what should I do now?” Harry asked, a little irked at this violation of privacy.
“Let things run their natural course. Don’t worry, one way or another, you will reach Hogwarts.”
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Working at the Leaky Cauldron was a bittersweet experience for Drake. Sometimes he really enjoyed his work and the occasional conversations he took part in with some really interesting people, like that dimunitive wizard who came to the bar a few weeks ago. Drake got really interested when the wizard introduced himself as Filius Flitwick, a Professor at Hogwarts. Drake nearly laughed out aloud when Flitwick, in his slightly drunken state, happily regaled some mischievous stories of his students, especially of one Nymphadora Tonks. She, apparently, had caused quite a lot of trouble that year. Students and professors alike jumping up a foot in the year every time they uttered her name, had been a common occurrence that year. Even more amusing was the fact that even Prof. Dumbledore had been a victim and the fact that it had happened in the middle of the Great Hall hadn’t helped matters at all.
Other times he really hated his work, especially when he had to be forcefully polite with people whom he would like nothing better to kick out of the bar, like obnoxious and foul smelling wizards and irritating and fawning witches. Like he was hating it now, though not exactly for the above reasons. No, the reason was that this particular customer, one Mr. Quirell, was really setting a record of the amount of time it took to order a drink by his endless stuttering which was really starting to grate on Drake’s nerves. The fact that he was practically oozing out the foul smell of garlic from every inch of his body, didn’t help matters in the slightest.
“Could you please repeat your order, sir?” Drake requested for the third time, the previous two being lost between his stuttering.
“O-o-one g-glass o-of F-Firewhiskey, p-p-please”, Quirell stuttered out nervously.
“Damn his nervousness! It seems to be making him stutter even more”, Drake thought furiously, as he finally understood the order. ‘I wonder why he is so nervous.’
A short distance away, the barkeeper Tom was chatting away happily with some of the regular customers. ‘Great! He gets to have all the fun while I am stuck with this moron!’ Drake’s temper was particularly short that day because he was worried about Harry. He had not heard from Harry for more than a week. Fearing that his uncle might have taken some drastic measures, Drake had secretly gone to No.4 to check things out, only to find a house devoid of life. ‘I wonder where Harry is at the moment.’ Drake thought.
As if to answer his question, Harry stepped into the bar at that moment behind a rather large and wild looking man. Harry spotted Drake and was about to greet him when Drake dissuaded him with a slight shake of his head. Instead, he glanced at his escort and looked questioningly at Harry. Harry mouthed ‘Hogwarts’, to which Drake nodded, highly surprised. ‘So this is the man they sent. He doesn’t look to be very knowledgeable.’
“The usual, Hagrid?” Tom asked, enthusiastically.
“Not today, Tom. Important Hogwarts business. Also have to help Harry get his stuff.”
Drake almost face-palmed himself. ‘So much for secrecy. Now Harry will get a taste of being famous.’
Sure enough, the whole bar erupted in chaos at the news. Everyone was clamoring to touch and greet Harry. Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable at suddenly finding himself in the spotlight. Among them, one Mr. Diggle, actually managed to reach Harry and began fawning over him. Hagrid introduced him to Prof. Quirell, who greeted him back with his usual nervousness. Drake extended his hand and said, ”Welcome to our world, Mr. Potter.” Harry looked at Drake in surprise and confusion until Drake leaned in closer under the pretence of checking his scar and whispered, “Just play along”
“Same here, Mr…”, Harry said, following Drake’s lead.
“Drake, Drake Jones”
“New guy, Tom?” Hagrid asked.
“Only been a year. Really good at his work” Tom said.
Hagrid excused himself and Harry after a few more minutes and left the bar. Quirell left a few minutes later.
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Drake was greatly enjoying himself as he fed Hedwig (the owl Harry had got as a birthday gift from Hagrid), pieces of bacon from his plate. Harry was sitting on his bed at No.4, amusedly watching the scene.
Drake had popped over directly to Harry’s room the moment he returned from work. His sudden appearance had nearly made Harry jump out of his pants in shock. Presently they were chatting about the day’s events while devouring the food Drake had brought with him.
“Thanks for the food, Drake. I was starving!” Harry said sincerely as he put away the now empty plates.
“No problem!...Besides, I do need to feed you properly. I mean, all the girls would be expecting Harry Potter to be some sort of handsome hunk over whom they can fawn over. We can’t afford to disappoint them, now can we?” Drake added with a straight face.
“Drake!” Harry shouted, blushing crimson. Drake roared with laughter and it was thanks to the strong privacy charms he had placed around the room that the sound was not heard by the Dursleys.
“Seriously though, you do need proper nourishment. You are way too physically underdeveloped for your age. And if someday you wish to begin the next phase of your training, you will need it even more.” Drake said after he had got his laughter under control.
Harry was confused. “Why won’t I want to begin the next phase? Training’s fun, and useful!”
“The next phase may not be so much fun. Besides, there are certain conditions you must agree to before we can start with it and some of those may intrude upon your privacy a little.”
Harry laughed. “Let me guess! I won’t be able to tell about it to anyone. I had already agreed to it, Drake!”
“There’s more to it this time. If you decide to continue to the next phase, I won’t be teaching you as a friend any more. By agreeing to continue, you will become my apprentice. You will have to follow my every order regarding your training and general well-being, and believe me, I can be a pretty ruthless taskmaster. Moreover, I will put a spell on you. It will create a magically sealed enclosure deep within your mind. Within it every memory related to me and everything I taught or will teach you, will be stored by default, whether you want it or not. Only you and me will be able to access it. If you ever try to share the things stored there with anyone without my permission, those things will be erased permanently. The same will happen if anyone, other than me, breaks into it. So, these are the conditions. You can accept or reject. No hard feelings!”
Harry appeared to be conflicted. “What exactly do you mean by general well-being?”
“Nothing serious! You know, just prodding you in the right direction and interfering in things which I feel will hamper your natural growth and training, things like that. I will hardly ever interfere in your private matters but yes, I will occasionally give you advice. Actually, I am rather impressed that you asked the question. Good, you should never follow anyone blindly.” Drake said smiling.
Harry smirked. “I learned it from you, Drake. See, we are best friends since last year, yet you do not trust me implicitly with the knowledge. I mean those are heck of a security measures!”
“I won’t even implicitly trust my parents with the knowledge!” Drake said with conviction. Harry was shocked. “The knowledge is restricted and it’s for a good reason. At present only two people know of it, me and my mentor. It cannot be imparted on a whim. If it falls into the wrong hands, the world will be in chaos.”
“If it’s restricted, then why are you willing to share it with me?” Harry asked in confusion.
“Let’s just say, you may encounter certain problems in the future. It will help you to combat them. Don’t ask me anything more, I cannot tell you at present, but someday I will, probably when you are older.” Drake added, noticing Harry opening his mouth.
Harry nodded reluctantly. “Can I quit in between?”
“No. Once you start, you have to finish it.”
Harry nodded. He appeared to be thinking hard. Drake waited patiently. Secretly, Drake hoped that Harry would decide to continue. Certain events that had occurred earlier that day had greatly aroused Drake’s suspicions and unease. The attempted robbery at Gringotts on a vault that was emptied earlier that day, apparently by Hagrid, and the presence of a nervous character, who suspiciously had been nervous ever since his trip to Albania (according to Tom), was not exactly coincidence, according to Drake. Especially when, Albania happened to be last known location of Voldemort. ‘Or maybe I am just getting paranoid’, Drake thought.
“I think I trust you enough to go ahead with the training.” Harry said, rousing Drake from his thoughts.
“Are you sure? There’s no turning back!” Drake warned. Harry nodded affirmatively.
Drake leaned over and touched Harry’s forehead with two fingers. Harry tensed momentarily. “Relax Harry” Drake began chanting in a strange language. It continued for a full minute before Drake muttered softly, “From this moment onwards I shall be your master and you shall be my apprentice, until the day I formally release you.” Harry’s head glowed briefly with a soft yellow light, indicating the success of the ritual.
“Done?”
“Yes. Remember that the seal can be broken by me and me alone. Anyone else…well, you know the consequences.” Harry nodded shakily.
Drake climbed onto Harry’s bed and sat in front of him with his legs crossed. “Now Harry, observe.”
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“So Harry, excited about tomorrow?”
“Absolutely! I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight” Harry replied excitedly.
Drake chuckled. “So decided which house you wanna be in?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Like they will let me choose! However, I would like to be in Ravenclaw. Thanks to you I have come to love gaining knowledge and training. But then again, maybe not, since I don’t think that I am very intelligent. I am also not that brave, so Gryffindor is out of the question, even though it’s the best. I don’t want to be in Slytherin or Hufflepuff because the former is evil and the later I hear is for rejects.”
Drake frowned deeply. “Who told you all this rubbish?”
Harry looked taken-aback. “Hagrid” he muttered uncertainly.
Drake cursed inwardly. ‘I knew that man was not suitable for introducing a child to a new world’
“Listen to me very carefully, Harry. I want you to get rid of these biased ideas and half-truths.”
“But Hagrid said…” Harry tried to say.
“What Hagrid said is wrong or rather not entirely true. The reality is that no house is better or inferior than the other. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, the entire house system is inappropriate since it promotes division among students, unnecessary and sometimes rather violent rivalry and prevents the complete development of a student.”
“How so? I mean the houses select students based on their most prominent character trait, don’t they?”
“Drake smiled. “Exactly Harry! They select based on the most prominent, not the only. Let me ask you a question. What do you think a Gryffindor will do if he has to go into uncharted territory to, say, save someone?”
Harry shrugged, not exactly understanding the purpose of or answer to the question.
“Most probably, he would barge in recklessly and may fail to achieve his objective. This is a flaw of the house system. A person has many facets of his character but only one gets cultivated in a house, the rest gets neglected. The example I gave shows that bravery without proper knowledge of the area and cunningness to back it up creates a reckless person who leads not only himself but also others to danger. Similarly a knowledgeable person without bravery and cunningness becomes an overly cautious person and cannot take decisions in the heat of a battle. Would you want to be such an incomplete person?”
“No! But what can I do? It’s not that I can prevent my sorting!” Harry looked a bit unsure and distressed.
“The starting point would be to keep an open mind towards all houses, even towards Slytherin. I know Hagrid told you that it’s an evil house, and to some extent it’s true but what Hagrid didn’t tell you is the reason behind them turning dark. The reason is the house system and the irrational prejudice and hatred it promotes. It is the nature of human beings to shun something that they don’t understand. Snakes had never been, what you would call, a ‘light’ creature. Hence the ability to speak to snakes is regarded with prejudice. They consider people who have that ability as Dark, although it’s not at all true. Unfortunately, the symbol of Slytherin house is a snake and its founder had the ability to speak to snakes. Naturally, the rest of the houses regard the Slytherins with distrust and hatred. Add to the fact that Slytherin House promotes pureblood supremacy, hasn’t helped either.
“Personally I hate pureblood supremacy. It is the major cause of corruption in the magical society and incidentally was also the main agenda of Voldemort. It has led to the death of many innocents and the suppression of other magical beings.”
Harry looked extremely confused. Drake chuckled. ”I know that I sound contradictory. Let me explain. The reason for Slytherin House going Dark and their promotion of pureblood supremacy is their isolation from the rest of the Houses. Remember Harry, isolation leads to stagnation of ideas since new ideas are not allowed to flow in. Add to the fact that all Slytherins are cunning and ambitious. Now this could have been guided down a proper path if they had not been shunned unnecessarily. What happened instead is that isolation turned their ambition into a blind hunger for power and a way to prove themselves. This led them to the path of evil because they had become prone to follow anyone blindly if they had power and would give them a chance to prove their mettle. This was how Voldemort gained his followers during the last war.
“As far as pureblood supremacy is concerned, the idea was born of the fact that only purebloods understood that Parseltongue is not an evil ability. This idea got distorted by the isolation, a cause of which was the entry of Muggleborns and Halfbloods, who did not fully understood their ability, into the other Houses. Now the idea, further distorted by Voldemort, extends to anyone and everyone not fully human or Pureblood.
“So Harry, while I am not telling you to get sorted into Slytherin or be extremely chummy towards them, don’t ignore them either. Who knows, maybe you can find some gems among the trash. As far as Hufflepuff is concerned, if you believe that loyalty is a weakness, then I have nothing more to say to you. Harry, always strive to be an open-minded person and always judge people for who they are, not what their House is. Also no matter in which House you get sorted in, try to embrace the good qualities of all the Houses. Never restrict yourself to only your House, no matter what anyone says. Only this way will you be able to become a well-rounded person.”
“Thanks Drake. I will always try to remember and follow your advice” Harry said sincerely.
Drake smiled warmly. “You better get some rest. I will meet you at Kings Kross tomorrow.” And with that Drake vanished.
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Harry looked around nervously as he stood in the middle of platforms 9 and 10. People passing by were watching him curiously. He felt that it had something to do with the fact that he had in his possession a snowy owl. He had absolutely no idea how to get on platform 9 ¾ . Also Drake was nowhere in sight.
Suddenly he felt a pair of hands on his eyes. “Guess who?”
“You are late. I’ve been waiting for you for over 10 minutes.” Harry said in reply, sounding a little annoyed.
“Well, I am here now. So, where’s the platform?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”
“Hagrid didn’t tell you?” Drake asked, very much surprised. Harry shook his head.
“Hmm!” Drake looked thoughtful. “Logically it should be somewhere between platforms 9 and 10…”
Drake was interrupted from his monologue by a rather loud voice, ”…filled with Muggles…” Drake looked around and spotted a group of people being led by a rather plump woman. All of them had red hair and freckles. “Now what’s the platform number no. again?” the woman asked loudly, coming to a stop in front of the pillar separating platforms 9 and 10.
“Platform 9 ¾!” a small redheaded girl, who did not seem to be of Hogwarts age yet, piped up. Drake frowned at the group.
“Maybe we can ask them” Harry suggested from beside Drake.
“No” Drake flatly refused.
Harry was a little taken aback. “Why not? They seem to be magical and know where the platform is!”
“The magical world is a secret. Magical people know this and strive to keep it that way. Therefore they do not shout out magical terms in broad daylight in the middle of a platform filled with Muggles. Only a fool would do so…..or someone who wants to attract the attention of everyone, or rather someone.” Drake added, looking pointedly at Harry.
Harry’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s a setup?”
“Possibly. I mean, a person, half of whose family has been going to Hogwarts for quite a few years, by the looks of the three older boys, and I believe that it’s safe to assume that the person herself had gone to Hogwarts for 7 years, forget about the platform she had been visiting for so many years! It’s rather fishy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah! What should I do? By the looks of the younger boy, he appears to be a 1st year just like me and all of the boys will be on the train and at school.”
“Look Harry, don’t get paranoid. I may be totally wrong. For the moment, just tread carefully around them.” Harry nodded.
Drake and Harry followed the group through the pillar which turned out to be an invisible magical portal. ‘Ingenious!’, Drake thought. They were greeted by the sound of screeching birds, shouting people and the sight of a beautiful crimson train, the Hogwarts Express.
“Whatever you do at Hogwarts, do not neglect the exercises I told you to perform regularly. Also I want you to do your absolute best in academics. No excuses! Always remember, knowledge is power.” Drake instructed as he discretely helped Harry with his luggage. He had to be discrete since he was presently invisible to everyone, except Harry. “And keep out of trouble…or maybe, cause as much trouble as you can.” Drake added as the exploits of Tonks briefly flashed through his mind.
Harry looked at Drake as if he was out of his mind for suggesting him to cause trouble. He gave a small wave as the train began to move. At that moment both felt a sense of loss. During the last year both had grown accustomed to each other’s company. ‘This is going to be a long year!’ Harry sighed.
“Good luck Harry!” Drake muttered softly as the train and Harry, slowly got lost in the horizon.
A/N: I know, I know, that this was a rather uneventful chapter. But believe me, this and the previous four are absolutely critical for the entire story. Hopefully, things will start to get interesting (and romantic) from next chapter onwards. For those who are wondering where’s the hell is Fleur, sorry to inform you that she is still a few chapters away. And please REVIEW! Enjoy!
A mysterious figure walked slowly towards the front door of No.4 Privet Drive. Slowly and silently he (considering the figure to be male, for now) picked the lock and pushed the door open. He squinted at the empty and dark hallway, watching warily and listening intently for any sounds, any sign of another presence. Finding none, he crept silently along the hallway while pulling out his wand. He noticed light at the end of the hallway and cautiously approached it. He peeked around the wall and saw Mr. and Mrs. Dursley eating dinner in the most inappropriate manner possible. Stifling the urge to retch, the figure cast a disillusionment charm on himself and silently crossed the area and moved on towards the basement. It looked like the figure was looking for something, or someone.
Slowly the figure opened the door of the basement and after a swift ‘Lumos’, crept down the stairs only to find Dudley and a few other boys of his age threatening a small boy with jet black hair. The figure took a step in their direction, apparently to stop the bullying, but stopped. He crept back upstairs and moved on to the 1st floor. There were two rooms on that floor. The figure skipped the first room and proceeded to the other room. The figure opened the door and peeked inside to find Mr. and Mrs. Dursley kissing each other. Hmm, weren’t they downstairs a while ago? He hastily closed the door muttering ‘gross’ under his breath. He moved on to the room he had skipped and eased the door open. Inside, an ebony haired kid was chatting away happily with an older boy with blue eyes. Smiling, the figure closed the door.
The figure returned downstairs and looked around, apparently looking for something. A few moments later, he walked up to the side of the stairs. There was a small door, apparently that of a cupboard, under the stairs. The figure opened the door and entered the tiny room, just barely large enough to accommodate him. Inside there was a small cot and nothing else. Shaking his head, the figure was about to leave when he spotted something-a loose floorboard under the cot. The figure reached out for it and started to open it….
“Don’t you think you have overstayed your welcome?” a strangely amused voice asked from the doorway of the cupboard.
“Maybe. Took you long enough to notice my presence, Harry”, the figure responded without turning, sounding a little stern.
“Yeah, well, as they say, better late than never. Anyway if my guess is correct I caught you faster this time.” Harry retorted.
“Still, not quick enough!”
“You are really hard to please! Now, enough talk. Get out of my house, Drake!” and with that the entire cupboard was filled with a blinding white light.
“Enervate!”
Harry sat up groggily on the floor where he had been lying unconscious and muttered, “How did I do?”
“5 minutes 30 seconds. Good, but not perfect. It’s an improvement, nonetheless, from the 5 minutes 40 seconds you achieved last time.” Drake grinned.
“Only 10 seconds improvement, huh?”
“Maybe it seems small to you but for a kid who has not yet felt his magic core, is not attuned to his magic, such timings are actually quite good….but that doesn’t mean that you can slack off. Practice, practice, practice!” Drake added, seeing the satisfied and smug expression on Harry.
Practice! That’s all what Harry had been doing for the last few months. Ever since the day he had successfully built up his mindscape, he had been spending most of his training duration, unconscious. Drake had been thoroughly testing out his mindscape. The little time he spent in the conscious world was spent in tolerating the pounding Drake gave his mental shields. It seemed to Harry that as his eleventh birthday came closer, Drake was becoming increasingly stricter and harsher. It was almost as if he was on a mission.
“Can we please call it a day? Harry practically begged. “My head’s pounding like hell and I am feeling nauscious.”
“Yeah, sure. Stay here awhile to get your bearings right. I’ll make tea.” Drake said, getting to his feet.
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“So, only a few weeks left for you eleventh birthday and your Hogwarts letter. Excited?” Drake asked, handing out a cup of tea to Harry.
“Yeah, a bit. How will I be getting the letter? Owl post?”
“Probably, but I don’t think so. As far as I know, usually someone from the school comes to deliver the letter personally if the child is raised in a muggle household. So, if I were to guess, I would guess that taking into account your importance in the magical world and you being raised in a rather disgusting muggle household, someone important from the school will be coming to deliver your letter. I am rather curious to see who.” Drake said thoughtfully.
“Well, I should get going.” Harry said, draining his cup.
“Yeah, you don’t want to be late tomorrow. It’s Dudley’s birthday after all! Such an important day!” Drake drawled, smirking slightly.
“AHHH! Did you have to remind me that? Now I will have nightmares.” Harry whined.
“Another reason to practice your Occlumency”
“You are impossible!” Harry said, shaking his head and laughing.
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“Stupid, stupid, stupid! I am the stupidest person alive!” Harry fumed as he paced in front of a curious Drake.
‘Harry’s mood seems to be drastically different each time he is coming to my house over the last few weeks.’ Drake mused. ‘Last time he was panicing over his ability to speak to snakes. Although, his tale of setting the snake on Dudley was rather amusing.’
“What made you realize your stupidity?” Drake asked curiously.
“The fact that I stupidly stood at the doorway, staring at my unopened Hogwarts letter, not even noticing Dudley, who had sneaked up behind me and snatched the letter from my hand. As a result of which my letter got deposited in the fireplace. Now my uncle has shifted me to another room, which is a good thing, but my uncle breathing down my neck to make sure I don’t receive another letter sure is not.”
“Your letter arrived by muggle post?” Drake exclaimed incredulously.
“Yeah!” Harry said, still pacing furiously.
‘Odd!’ Drake thought. ‘I was sure someone important, maybe even Dumbledore, would be coming to deliver the letter. What are your intentions Dumbledore?’
“Calm down Harry. You’ll get your letter eventually.”
“How? My uncle is practically sealing the house.” Harry exclaimed angrily.
“You are forgetting that you are very important to the magical world. They will make sure that you get your letter. That means eventually they will send somebody to deliver your letter. I am rather curious to see who and why haven’t they already done that.”
“Why is this so important Drake?” Harry asked, now a little curious himself.
“If I am not mistaken, the address on your envelope was ‘Cupboard under the stairs.’ So they must know exactly where you live and in what condition. I mean, come on, who lives in a cupboard for heaven’s sake! So it is safe to assume that they know exactly what type of people the Dursleys are and the fact that they hate you and your magic and therefore, won’t raise a finger to help you get your magical education. If so, then why haven’t they sent anyone?
“Also consider the scenario that you and I had never met each other, which is still true for them since they are not aware of my existence. You get your letter by post. You open it and you read its contents, but then what? Would you have been able to do the shopping considering the fact that you would have been totally unaware about the magical world until that point? Would your uncle have helped? No! These are the facts that the people who had dumped you at the Dursleys are probably already aware of, seeing as you have always been under their watch. So the question again arises: why haven’t they sent someone?”
Harry was shocked. ”I-I have been under watch? How? By whom?” he stammered out.
“I don’t know them, but I am willing to bet my last knut that they are magical. That was one of the reasons why I forbade you to come to my house through the front door or acknowledge me in public.”
“So what should I do now?” Harry asked, a little irked at this violation of privacy.
“Let things run their natural course. Don’t worry, one way or another, you will reach Hogwarts.”
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Working at the Leaky Cauldron was a bittersweet experience for Drake. Sometimes he really enjoyed his work and the occasional conversations he took part in with some really interesting people, like that dimunitive wizard who came to the bar a few weeks ago. Drake got really interested when the wizard introduced himself as Filius Flitwick, a Professor at Hogwarts. Drake nearly laughed out aloud when Flitwick, in his slightly drunken state, happily regaled some mischievous stories of his students, especially of one Nymphadora Tonks. She, apparently, had caused quite a lot of trouble that year. Students and professors alike jumping up a foot in the year every time they uttered her name, had been a common occurrence that year. Even more amusing was the fact that even Prof. Dumbledore had been a victim and the fact that it had happened in the middle of the Great Hall hadn’t helped matters at all.
Other times he really hated his work, especially when he had to be forcefully polite with people whom he would like nothing better to kick out of the bar, like obnoxious and foul smelling wizards and irritating and fawning witches. Like he was hating it now, though not exactly for the above reasons. No, the reason was that this particular customer, one Mr. Quirell, was really setting a record of the amount of time it took to order a drink by his endless stuttering which was really starting to grate on Drake’s nerves. The fact that he was practically oozing out the foul smell of garlic from every inch of his body, didn’t help matters in the slightest.
“Could you please repeat your order, sir?” Drake requested for the third time, the previous two being lost between his stuttering.
“O-o-one g-glass o-of F-Firewhiskey, p-p-please”, Quirell stuttered out nervously.
“Damn his nervousness! It seems to be making him stutter even more”, Drake thought furiously, as he finally understood the order. ‘I wonder why he is so nervous.’
A short distance away, the barkeeper Tom was chatting away happily with some of the regular customers. ‘Great! He gets to have all the fun while I am stuck with this moron!’ Drake’s temper was particularly short that day because he was worried about Harry. He had not heard from Harry for more than a week. Fearing that his uncle might have taken some drastic measures, Drake had secretly gone to No.4 to check things out, only to find a house devoid of life. ‘I wonder where Harry is at the moment.’ Drake thought.
As if to answer his question, Harry stepped into the bar at that moment behind a rather large and wild looking man. Harry spotted Drake and was about to greet him when Drake dissuaded him with a slight shake of his head. Instead, he glanced at his escort and looked questioningly at Harry. Harry mouthed ‘Hogwarts’, to which Drake nodded, highly surprised. ‘So this is the man they sent. He doesn’t look to be very knowledgeable.’
“The usual, Hagrid?” Tom asked, enthusiastically.
“Not today, Tom. Important Hogwarts business. Also have to help Harry get his stuff.”
Drake almost face-palmed himself. ‘So much for secrecy. Now Harry will get a taste of being famous.’
Sure enough, the whole bar erupted in chaos at the news. Everyone was clamoring to touch and greet Harry. Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable at suddenly finding himself in the spotlight. Among them, one Mr. Diggle, actually managed to reach Harry and began fawning over him. Hagrid introduced him to Prof. Quirell, who greeted him back with his usual nervousness. Drake extended his hand and said, ”Welcome to our world, Mr. Potter.” Harry looked at Drake in surprise and confusion until Drake leaned in closer under the pretence of checking his scar and whispered, “Just play along”
“Same here, Mr…”, Harry said, following Drake’s lead.
“Drake, Drake Jones”
“New guy, Tom?” Hagrid asked.
“Only been a year. Really good at his work” Tom said.
Hagrid excused himself and Harry after a few more minutes and left the bar. Quirell left a few minutes later.
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Drake was greatly enjoying himself as he fed Hedwig (the owl Harry had got as a birthday gift from Hagrid), pieces of bacon from his plate. Harry was sitting on his bed at No.4, amusedly watching the scene.
Drake had popped over directly to Harry’s room the moment he returned from work. His sudden appearance had nearly made Harry jump out of his pants in shock. Presently they were chatting about the day’s events while devouring the food Drake had brought with him.
“Thanks for the food, Drake. I was starving!” Harry said sincerely as he put away the now empty plates.
“No problem!...Besides, I do need to feed you properly. I mean, all the girls would be expecting Harry Potter to be some sort of handsome hunk over whom they can fawn over. We can’t afford to disappoint them, now can we?” Drake added with a straight face.
“Drake!” Harry shouted, blushing crimson. Drake roared with laughter and it was thanks to the strong privacy charms he had placed around the room that the sound was not heard by the Dursleys.
“Seriously though, you do need proper nourishment. You are way too physically underdeveloped for your age. And if someday you wish to begin the next phase of your training, you will need it even more.” Drake said after he had got his laughter under control.
Harry was confused. “Why won’t I want to begin the next phase? Training’s fun, and useful!”
“The next phase may not be so much fun. Besides, there are certain conditions you must agree to before we can start with it and some of those may intrude upon your privacy a little.”
Harry laughed. “Let me guess! I won’t be able to tell about it to anyone. I had already agreed to it, Drake!”
“There’s more to it this time. If you decide to continue to the next phase, I won’t be teaching you as a friend any more. By agreeing to continue, you will become my apprentice. You will have to follow my every order regarding your training and general well-being, and believe me, I can be a pretty ruthless taskmaster. Moreover, I will put a spell on you. It will create a magically sealed enclosure deep within your mind. Within it every memory related to me and everything I taught or will teach you, will be stored by default, whether you want it or not. Only you and me will be able to access it. If you ever try to share the things stored there with anyone without my permission, those things will be erased permanently. The same will happen if anyone, other than me, breaks into it. So, these are the conditions. You can accept or reject. No hard feelings!”
Harry appeared to be conflicted. “What exactly do you mean by general well-being?”
“Nothing serious! You know, just prodding you in the right direction and interfering in things which I feel will hamper your natural growth and training, things like that. I will hardly ever interfere in your private matters but yes, I will occasionally give you advice. Actually, I am rather impressed that you asked the question. Good, you should never follow anyone blindly.” Drake said smiling.
Harry smirked. “I learned it from you, Drake. See, we are best friends since last year, yet you do not trust me implicitly with the knowledge. I mean those are heck of a security measures!”
“I won’t even implicitly trust my parents with the knowledge!” Drake said with conviction. Harry was shocked. “The knowledge is restricted and it’s for a good reason. At present only two people know of it, me and my mentor. It cannot be imparted on a whim. If it falls into the wrong hands, the world will be in chaos.”
“If it’s restricted, then why are you willing to share it with me?” Harry asked in confusion.
“Let’s just say, you may encounter certain problems in the future. It will help you to combat them. Don’t ask me anything more, I cannot tell you at present, but someday I will, probably when you are older.” Drake added, noticing Harry opening his mouth.
Harry nodded reluctantly. “Can I quit in between?”
“No. Once you start, you have to finish it.”
Harry nodded. He appeared to be thinking hard. Drake waited patiently. Secretly, Drake hoped that Harry would decide to continue. Certain events that had occurred earlier that day had greatly aroused Drake’s suspicions and unease. The attempted robbery at Gringotts on a vault that was emptied earlier that day, apparently by Hagrid, and the presence of a nervous character, who suspiciously had been nervous ever since his trip to Albania (according to Tom), was not exactly coincidence, according to Drake. Especially when, Albania happened to be last known location of Voldemort. ‘Or maybe I am just getting paranoid’, Drake thought.
“I think I trust you enough to go ahead with the training.” Harry said, rousing Drake from his thoughts.
“Are you sure? There’s no turning back!” Drake warned. Harry nodded affirmatively.
Drake leaned over and touched Harry’s forehead with two fingers. Harry tensed momentarily. “Relax Harry” Drake began chanting in a strange language. It continued for a full minute before Drake muttered softly, “From this moment onwards I shall be your master and you shall be my apprentice, until the day I formally release you.” Harry’s head glowed briefly with a soft yellow light, indicating the success of the ritual.
“Done?”
“Yes. Remember that the seal can be broken by me and me alone. Anyone else…well, you know the consequences.” Harry nodded shakily.
Drake climbed onto Harry’s bed and sat in front of him with his legs crossed. “Now Harry, observe.”
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“So Harry, excited about tomorrow?”
“Absolutely! I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight” Harry replied excitedly.
Drake chuckled. “So decided which house you wanna be in?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Like they will let me choose! However, I would like to be in Ravenclaw. Thanks to you I have come to love gaining knowledge and training. But then again, maybe not, since I don’t think that I am very intelligent. I am also not that brave, so Gryffindor is out of the question, even though it’s the best. I don’t want to be in Slytherin or Hufflepuff because the former is evil and the later I hear is for rejects.”
Drake frowned deeply. “Who told you all this rubbish?”
Harry looked taken-aback. “Hagrid” he muttered uncertainly.
Drake cursed inwardly. ‘I knew that man was not suitable for introducing a child to a new world’
“Listen to me very carefully, Harry. I want you to get rid of these biased ideas and half-truths.”
“But Hagrid said…” Harry tried to say.
“What Hagrid said is wrong or rather not entirely true. The reality is that no house is better or inferior than the other. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, the entire house system is inappropriate since it promotes division among students, unnecessary and sometimes rather violent rivalry and prevents the complete development of a student.”
“How so? I mean the houses select students based on their most prominent character trait, don’t they?”
“Drake smiled. “Exactly Harry! They select based on the most prominent, not the only. Let me ask you a question. What do you think a Gryffindor will do if he has to go into uncharted territory to, say, save someone?”
Harry shrugged, not exactly understanding the purpose of or answer to the question.
“Most probably, he would barge in recklessly and may fail to achieve his objective. This is a flaw of the house system. A person has many facets of his character but only one gets cultivated in a house, the rest gets neglected. The example I gave shows that bravery without proper knowledge of the area and cunningness to back it up creates a reckless person who leads not only himself but also others to danger. Similarly a knowledgeable person without bravery and cunningness becomes an overly cautious person and cannot take decisions in the heat of a battle. Would you want to be such an incomplete person?”
“No! But what can I do? It’s not that I can prevent my sorting!” Harry looked a bit unsure and distressed.
“The starting point would be to keep an open mind towards all houses, even towards Slytherin. I know Hagrid told you that it’s an evil house, and to some extent it’s true but what Hagrid didn’t tell you is the reason behind them turning dark. The reason is the house system and the irrational prejudice and hatred it promotes. It is the nature of human beings to shun something that they don’t understand. Snakes had never been, what you would call, a ‘light’ creature. Hence the ability to speak to snakes is regarded with prejudice. They consider people who have that ability as Dark, although it’s not at all true. Unfortunately, the symbol of Slytherin house is a snake and its founder had the ability to speak to snakes. Naturally, the rest of the houses regard the Slytherins with distrust and hatred. Add to the fact that Slytherin House promotes pureblood supremacy, hasn’t helped either.
“Personally I hate pureblood supremacy. It is the major cause of corruption in the magical society and incidentally was also the main agenda of Voldemort. It has led to the death of many innocents and the suppression of other magical beings.”
Harry looked extremely confused. Drake chuckled. ”I know that I sound contradictory. Let me explain. The reason for Slytherin House going Dark and their promotion of pureblood supremacy is their isolation from the rest of the Houses. Remember Harry, isolation leads to stagnation of ideas since new ideas are not allowed to flow in. Add to the fact that all Slytherins are cunning and ambitious. Now this could have been guided down a proper path if they had not been shunned unnecessarily. What happened instead is that isolation turned their ambition into a blind hunger for power and a way to prove themselves. This led them to the path of evil because they had become prone to follow anyone blindly if they had power and would give them a chance to prove their mettle. This was how Voldemort gained his followers during the last war.
“As far as pureblood supremacy is concerned, the idea was born of the fact that only purebloods understood that Parseltongue is not an evil ability. This idea got distorted by the isolation, a cause of which was the entry of Muggleborns and Halfbloods, who did not fully understood their ability, into the other Houses. Now the idea, further distorted by Voldemort, extends to anyone and everyone not fully human or Pureblood.
“So Harry, while I am not telling you to get sorted into Slytherin or be extremely chummy towards them, don’t ignore them either. Who knows, maybe you can find some gems among the trash. As far as Hufflepuff is concerned, if you believe that loyalty is a weakness, then I have nothing more to say to you. Harry, always strive to be an open-minded person and always judge people for who they are, not what their House is. Also no matter in which House you get sorted in, try to embrace the good qualities of all the Houses. Never restrict yourself to only your House, no matter what anyone says. Only this way will you be able to become a well-rounded person.”
“Thanks Drake. I will always try to remember and follow your advice” Harry said sincerely.
Drake smiled warmly. “You better get some rest. I will meet you at Kings Kross tomorrow.” And with that Drake vanished.
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Harry looked around nervously as he stood in the middle of platforms 9 and 10. People passing by were watching him curiously. He felt that it had something to do with the fact that he had in his possession a snowy owl. He had absolutely no idea how to get on platform 9 ¾ . Also Drake was nowhere in sight.
Suddenly he felt a pair of hands on his eyes. “Guess who?”
“You are late. I’ve been waiting for you for over 10 minutes.” Harry said in reply, sounding a little annoyed.
“Well, I am here now. So, where’s the platform?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”
“Hagrid didn’t tell you?” Drake asked, very much surprised. Harry shook his head.
“Hmm!” Drake looked thoughtful. “Logically it should be somewhere between platforms 9 and 10…”
Drake was interrupted from his monologue by a rather loud voice, ”…filled with Muggles…” Drake looked around and spotted a group of people being led by a rather plump woman. All of them had red hair and freckles. “Now what’s the platform number no. again?” the woman asked loudly, coming to a stop in front of the pillar separating platforms 9 and 10.
“Platform 9 ¾!” a small redheaded girl, who did not seem to be of Hogwarts age yet, piped up. Drake frowned at the group.
“Maybe we can ask them” Harry suggested from beside Drake.
“No” Drake flatly refused.
Harry was a little taken aback. “Why not? They seem to be magical and know where the platform is!”
“The magical world is a secret. Magical people know this and strive to keep it that way. Therefore they do not shout out magical terms in broad daylight in the middle of a platform filled with Muggles. Only a fool would do so…..or someone who wants to attract the attention of everyone, or rather someone.” Drake added, looking pointedly at Harry.
Harry’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s a setup?”
“Possibly. I mean, a person, half of whose family has been going to Hogwarts for quite a few years, by the looks of the three older boys, and I believe that it’s safe to assume that the person herself had gone to Hogwarts for 7 years, forget about the platform she had been visiting for so many years! It’s rather fishy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah! What should I do? By the looks of the younger boy, he appears to be a 1st year just like me and all of the boys will be on the train and at school.”
“Look Harry, don’t get paranoid. I may be totally wrong. For the moment, just tread carefully around them.” Harry nodded.
Drake and Harry followed the group through the pillar which turned out to be an invisible magical portal. ‘Ingenious!’, Drake thought. They were greeted by the sound of screeching birds, shouting people and the sight of a beautiful crimson train, the Hogwarts Express.
“Whatever you do at Hogwarts, do not neglect the exercises I told you to perform regularly. Also I want you to do your absolute best in academics. No excuses! Always remember, knowledge is power.” Drake instructed as he discretely helped Harry with his luggage. He had to be discrete since he was presently invisible to everyone, except Harry. “And keep out of trouble…or maybe, cause as much trouble as you can.” Drake added as the exploits of Tonks briefly flashed through his mind.
Harry looked at Drake as if he was out of his mind for suggesting him to cause trouble. He gave a small wave as the train began to move. At that moment both felt a sense of loss. During the last year both had grown accustomed to each other’s company. ‘This is going to be a long year!’ Harry sighed.
“Good luck Harry!” Drake muttered softly as the train and Harry, slowly got lost in the horizon.
A/N: I know, I know, that this was a rather uneventful chapter. But believe me, this and the previous four are absolutely critical for the entire story. Hopefully, things will start to get interesting (and romantic) from next chapter onwards. For those who are wondering where’s the hell is Fleur, sorry to inform you that she is still a few chapters away. And please REVIEW! Enjoy!
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