Cabin Fever

As I was about to walk towards the carriages, Dumbledore called for me.

"Harry, I wanted to talk to you about some things we would need to do during the summer."

"Yes?"

"I don't want to do this but you would need to spend two weeks at Petunia's. Just enough time to keep the protections active. Immediately after that, I will come to fetch you. You would mostly spend the rest of the summer at the Burrow. I also will ensure that the Order gives a warning to the Dursleys about their behavior," his face looked apprehensive. Once again, he was waiting for me to blow up. And considering the moody behavior of this past year, he would be right to do so.

Alas, this put a dampener on my plans. A summer at the Dursleys would suit me just fine. I had no trace anymore and I could train to my heart's desire. And I had made a deal with Dobby regarding the food after all. The Burrow would be restrictive. What do I do? I could agree for now and when he comes to pick me up, I could make some excuse. I would need to think. And I don't think they will have a problem with giving me space, since I am supposed to be grief addled and all. I did not like using Sirius like this but I don't think he would have a problem with me 'pranking' them, as it were.

I nodded my head, motioning for him to continue.

"Excellent. Now, I will be fairly busy this summer, but once the new term begins, I want to train you. I will draw up a schedule for it and inform you once it is ready," ah, I suppose since the extra life has been exhausted, he now interprets the prophecy as a straightforward thing. Fair enough. The training would help.

"Thank you Professor, I appreciate it. I do have a request though."

"What is it my boy?"

I looked around, ensuring that there were no eavesdroppers. He seemed to understand what I was doing and smirked, showing his wand. Ah, he must have cast a spell before we even began talking.

"You will be hunting for the trinkets won't you?" he nodded. "I want in. I want to be the one to destroy them. If I am to kill him in the end, then I would be thorough and be the one responsible for the trinkets as well. At least, that's how I interpret the prophecy."

"Hmm, that sounds logical," he then took out something from his pocket and handed it over to me. I looked at the sunglasses in my hand and looked at him questioningly.

"I believe your eye would raise several questions in the muggle world. More so than the magical world at least. So, it is better if you keep it covered when you move out in the open there. This is a conjured pair, I would advise you to get them replaced before they deteriorate and disappear."

Sounds fair, but if he thought that I didn't notice the way he dodged my request, he had another thing coming. He seemed to understand my expression and beat me to the punch.

"Rest Harry. Use this summer to rest. You have gone through a lot and learned about a great burden. I don't want you to get caught up in it without a proper state of mind. Take this summer to rest. We will hunt the horcruxes later. We need to find how many there are, anyway. I assure you that I will let you destroy any that I find." There was a tone of finality in his words that brooked no arguments. But the last statement gave me hope. I didn't want him to get himself killed like it was supposed to happen in the timeline Cellarius told me about. And I had no palpable skill right now to go hunting for one of the most dangerous horcruxes out there.

"Is that a promise?" I ask.

"Of course," he nodded. He would be on my doorstep in twelve days. But that was enough time for canon Dumbledore to go after the ring and seal his death. The Dumbledore here was trying to win my trust though. I hoped it would be enough to dissuade him from going alone.

"I'll hold on to it then."

Gritting my teeth, I accepted what he said and moved towards my friends. There were things I had planned for the ride back. As far as I know, the Bones and Vance murders will happen mid-July. And both of these were things I wanted to stop. Bones was the head of the DMLE and considered as one of the most talented witches of her generation, her help in the war effort would be monumental. Vance was also considered to be a talented witch and she had already fought against the Death Eaters in the previous war. And within two weeks, they would be dead.

I wanted to intervene, but the problem was that I did not know where they lived. Nor would it be public information. But the train ride would give me an, opportunity. An opportunity that I would not fail to capitalize.

When Ron and Hermione went to the prefect carriage, I made my move. In canon, Malfoy tries to ambush me and gets overwhelmed by the DA. I would not give him the chance. Instead, I would seize the chance for myself. I had let Hedwig out of the cage, so that she could fly at her leisure. That was what everyone would think.

Over the past few days, I came to understand a few things. Traditional familiars, as a thing, did not exist in this world. But magical creatures often formed a bond of sorts to their caretakers. And wizarding owls were magical creatures in a sense. My new abilities had created something similar to that of the familiar bonds found in traditional folklore. I always knew where Hedwig was and what her state of health was. In return, her cognizance had shot up by leaps and bounds. The inherent magic present in her was also enhanced as a result. This allowed her to fly faster than any owl could.

The best thing about this was that the possession done by the sixth path was drastically different when performed on Hedwig. As I discovered previously in the hospital wing, I did not need to inject my magic into her bloodstream. But what was astounding was that, in the possessed state, we understood each other completely. There was no need for me to give any orders. She understood what I wanted and then would help me regardless. In that state, it felt as if Hedwig was an extension of myself. I could see from her eyes as she followed my wishes. This also cost me a lot less magic than a standard possession would. At first I thought that Hedwig wouldn't like me to order her around. But she did not like that I made such assumptions, and whacked me on the head with her wings.

Hedwig was proud of being a productive owl. So, now, when she found out that she became arguably the strongest owl around, she loved it. And as long as my wants were not barbaric, she would help me with whatever I needed.

So, as I was walked out of my cabin, I connected with Hedwig and saw through her right eye as well. A bird's vision was truly something else. We had practiced this quite a few times so that it didn't disorient me. At first, the shared vision was jarring, but I quickly learnt to cope up with it. After all, once I learned to do multiple possessions, I would have to cope with way more information overload than this.

It looked like she had been following Malfoy, just like I wanted, and he was with just Crabbe and Goyle. Score.

When I got closer to the compartment, I activated the first path and casted an illusion on anyone that saw me. To them, nobody walked towards this carriage.

As I got closer to his cabin, I prepared myself for what was to follow. A small part of me was afraid of failure, but I knew that I would not get an opportunity like this again. Without entering, I first placed an illusion on the three of them that the others were asleep. Now for the distraction.

I switched back to default and then looked from Hedwig's eye as she got a few feet ahead of their window and dropped a dead rat towards it. When all of their attentions shifted towards the window, I walked in discreetly and stunned them one by one.

Quickly locking the door and shutting down the curtain for good measure, I sat right opposite to Malfoy. I also laid an illusion on the door which acted similar to a muggle-repelling charm. Only difference was that it would work on magical folks as well. I needed to practice more with the first path. The versatility of illusions should not be underestimated.

I took a long breath and pumped magic into the sixth path now. I couldn't go for either the complete or partial possessions now because I did not have the right tools to inject my magic into their bloodstreams. It could be done, but it would be messy and raise a lot of questions. In this situation, it was ill advised. I needed the proper weapon soon. Moreover, I was not skilled enough yet with the partial possession to bend their minds and make them my sleeper agents as well. Even if I did, I highly doubted that Voldemort would let them into his ranks without sifting through their minds himself. That kind of manipulation required skill that I would have to nurture.

Despite these hindrances, this path did have a superior edge to the mind arts after all. I would use it to my advantage. I casted legilimens on the unconscious Malfoy and dove into his mind.

He did have some rudimentary protections, but my ability allowed me to phase through them without any issues. In preparation for this, I had fiddled around with the sixth path and had got an intuitive understanding of how the protections around the mind worked. I spent a lot of time studying the protections it gave me and what possible ways I could bypass then. Moreover, occlumency was a dying art, not everyone spent a lot of time perfecting it. I had an instinctual advantage in that regard. And since I used the incantation now, it was even more effective.

It took me close to half an hour to get all the information I could from these three. Crabbe and Goyle were practically useless, but Malfoy knew stuff. Especially since his home was their headquarters. He did not know about their plans and shit, but he knew who were in their ranks. That alone was precious information. I knew the names from canon, but the faces would be different here. And that's what Malfoy provided. Faces to go with the names. He even knew some cannon fodder that were not mentioned in the original works. All this would help me not be blindsided by these people.

Once I was done with the pilfering, I shifted to third path and summoned several tiny spiders. I then opened their trunks and directed the summons inside. Each of them had enough magic to last for two weeks. And the magic that I put into them was not large enough to be detected, especially when they will be masked by the signatures of the magical items they were carrying. But I had to ensure that I did not deplete myself of my magic, or else I they would disappear without the connection.

Through these few days, I learnt that the bigger the animal I needed to summon, the more the magical energy it required. And the depletion was at a steady rate for the time they were available to me. If I were able to make big animals right off the bat, I don't think I would have thought up this strategy. Because I could only summon small animals right now, the insects made perfect sense. And spiders were the best for this task because nobody would notice these small things up on the walls and roof.

Satisfied with my work, I walked out of the cabin, once again, making myself unnoticeable through the use of illusions. Those three will think that they fell asleep. The spiders had standing orders to infiltrate the headquarters and stay away from Nagini. They would let me know when the raids were initiated. I hoped that it was enough to stave off the attacks. I wanted to try and get the information about Amelia Bones from Susan, but then I decided against it. She was the only living relative of the head of DMLE, there was no way that she did not know or have something to protect her mind.

When I got to my cabin, I was glad to find out that Hermione and Ron were still on their rounds. Deciding, not to waste my time, I activated the second path and started reading the defense book that I got in preparation for the DA. With the improved comprehension provided by this path, I could notice things in the book that were previously overlooked. I got a better understanding of the spells I previously learned from them. I had already re-read all the other books I had on hand, the past few days. Additionally, I used the room of requirements to get the books of the first four years and read them too. This path allowed me to skim through the contents, yet perfectly understand all the subtleties present. Right now, my foundations were solid, up to OWL levels. I understood the theory and could perform the spells without any issues. There were so many things that the previous me had overlooked in those books. Magic surely was an intriguing thing. I could understand how Hermione could spend hours on end, poring through large tomes.

As Ron and Hermione entered the compartment, I switched my eye back to the default path before looking up.

"What are you reading Harry?" she asked.

"Just going over stuff."

"Why mate? The OWLs ended didn't they," Ron said, eyeing the book with distaste.

Before Hermione could whack him, I closed the book with a snap and leaned back.

"Yes they did. But I realize that I've been stupid."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever magic that was hanging out in my brain, it must have made me incredibly dense. I am glad it is out now. I spent years searching for an escape and I finally found this wonderful world of magic. And instead of learning all that I could, I spent my time being a waste of space."

"You are not a waste of space Harry," she piped in.

"Why? Because I taught the DA? What good did I do in the end? If I was strong enough, I could have stopped that bitch from killing Sirius. I will not suffer mediocrity anymore," I knew I was laying it on thick, but this had to be done. Or else they would not believe the changes to my skill level. Because after summer, I will be stronger than the students in the caste at the very least.

"No. It's not just the DA. You saved me from the troll, you saved Ginny from the Basilisk, you saved… Sirius from the dementors. And you have survived duels against Voldemort more than any person other than Dumbledore maybe. If you consider yourself as a waste of space then what are we?" she said heatedly.

"It's just that I could have been better Hermione…" I said.

"You're saying this to the person who is addicted to learning and self-betterment. This is just your grief talking Harry. I am glad that you will be taking your studies seriously, but please refrain from belittling yourself. You are not alone in this, we are together with you after all," she said. Ron nodded his head vigorously.

Hermione, I had no doubts about, but I was a bit leery about Ron. Sure, he would jump into any danger with me, but at the same time, he had a propensity to let his jealousy get the better of him at times.

"You're right. Thanks," I mumbled. At least the groundwork was laid.

Hermione then pulled out a parchment and began writing something on it.

"Here, these are good reference materials for our subjects. They would help you, if you can get someone to buy them for you."

I took the list from her and gave a wide smile. This was very thoughtful of her, and it covered almost everything that would be needed for us at the OWL level at least.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and I finally got out of the train, now wearing the conjured sunglasses that Dumbledore gave me.

And as he said, the order threatened the Dursleys and sent us on our merry way. The whole way home, I could see Vernon's anger simmering, waiting to explode. It just made me smirk. He would love the surprise I had in store for them.