Next Time Around

The ritual II

Harry looked the person who spoke directly in the eye. 'The first person I killed indirectly was when I was one-and-a-half. After that, eleven. Since then I've gone though a war and have killed multiple others as well. I don't even know who anymore.'

It was silent for a while. Then one of the people said quietly, as if they were afraid to be insensitive, 'that's why you have this... interesting repertoire of books to learn?'

Harry nodded, a determined look on his face. 'I want to go back and save others. I know I can.'

Another spoke, in the same quiet tone 'You know you can't save them all right? Even with what we will teach you?'

Harry averted his gaze, glaring at the ground stubbornly. '...yes. I know. But I can't just leave them die, can't I?'

A couple of people swallowed, looking around slightly uncomfortably. 'Well, on another note, how about we do a round of names?'

Someone else agreed. 'Great idea. I'll start. I'm Maat. I'm the combat instructor. Hands, weapons, magic, runic stuff... I'm the guy.

Oh, you probably don't know how this is going to work right?'

Harry nodded, slightly confused. 'Where am I? And how's this going to work? What's happening?' He grew slightly panicked at the end. He knew it was never a good thing to hear voices inside his head- "not even in the Wizarding World" as Ron had once said- just think about second year!

'Hey, hey, hey, relax man. Nothing bad's happening. You are in the middle of the ritual and we're going to teach you about all of the stuff you stacked up in the ritual room. We're basically the memories of the creators of the temple. The ritual works because you are constantly on the verge of dying, making it possible for us to pull your consciousness to another plane. Here, we instruct you about the books you put in the room until you know it all.' At Harry's slightly surprised look, Maat smirked. 'What, you thought you'd just be in a coma for a week and you'd magically just know all of the stuff in the room?

Harry blinked and his cheeks colored slightly. 'Well... I mean we have magic right? So why not?'

Someone else shook her head. 'No, it doesn't just work like that. You can't just...' it seemed like she wanted to rant for a while, but the person who spoke earlier -Maat- shushed her.

'Please, let's not overwhelm the boy. Why don't we proceed with the names.'

Someone else spoke up. A stern looking man with dark skin and dark brown, almost black, eyes. Harry would think him to be about fifty. 'My name is Amun. I am a master of the mind arts.' At Harry's questioning glance he smirked. 'What, you didn't think there was more to the mind than just some meditation?'

Harry blushed. He quickly looked at another for clarification of their name.

After meeting Samantha, Roy, Nefertiti and a couple of others- Harry forgot their names- they started planning. Harry understood by now, that the ritual would basically have him in this 'dreamworld' until he knew all of the books by heart. That could vary anywhere from one day to twenty years in dream time, but would only vary from one week to two weeks in real time.

Because he had a lot of books to work though and a lot of different kinds of books, the teachers (as Harry understood they were) had made him a schedule for the time being. Though later on they would change it to fit more of the subjects in, for now it was quite good, if Harry said so himself.

Happily, in the dream world there was such a thing as rest. They decided to just keep it to days of 24 hours, as that was what Harry was accustomed to.

Schedule:

6:00 wake up, shower and have breakfast.

6:45 group talk about things that are going to happen that day and general relaxing.

7:00 fitness.

8:30 fighting training.

10:00 rest

10:20 study period with any of the teachers, depending on the day.

12:00 rest and lunch

12:30 study period with any of the teachers, depending on the day.

2:10 rest

2:30 study period with any of the teachers, depending on the day.

4:00 study period with any of the teachers, depending on the day.

5:40 rest.

6:00 dinner and relaxation.

7:00 personal study time.

8:00 study period with any of the teachers, depending on the day.

9:40 rest, relaxation and sleep.

Harry though his schedule was a bit much, especially in the beginning, though he did keep himself to it. After a couple of weeks it was routine though, and he got used to it. He had Sunday's off anyways.

The first few days, he was out like a light when the clock hit 9:40 and could barely wake at six. But he adjusted soon, and after a while even came to enjoy the strict schedule.

The classes he took were all fascinating, just like the teachers themselves. He could especially enjoy the company of Nefertiti and Samjeer. They often joked around together and reminded Harry slightly of the Weasley twins.

He took classes in just about anything he could think of. He trained walking and fighting in different shapes or with certain hindrances, because he might have to fight as his five year old self once he went back in time and it was great for disguises. He worked on Herbology because of underage restrictions for magic, and on hand-to-hand combat, wandless magic and potions for that reason as well. He even took classes in dark arts (know thy enemies) and torture, thanks to the Black library. He learned how to search for things in other people's mind, how to interrogate, how to murder in cold blood. He detested it, but knew that war was war, and hesitation would get him killed.

He also took nicer classes, as cooking, acting, flying and disguise. He also enjoyed the acting. Though it was supposed to give him a mask to hide behind, it soon turned out that he was a natural at not only acting but also Occlumency (it turned out Snape was just an incredibly bad teacher), and he combined the two in almost impeccable masks.

One Sunday though, Amun asked to see him. Amun was a rather grave man and rarely asked for him outside of the lessons he gave him. As he was the Mind Master, Harry knew there was something serious going on.

He walked up to Amun, who was sitting under a tree.

Harry fleetingly felt proud of how his dream-scape had turned out. There were multiple complexes for working, living and training, as well as a park, where Amun was situated now.

'Harry.' Amun nodded at him.

Harry dipped his head as well. 'Hello Amun. You asked for me?'

Amun turned towards him with a serious expression on his face. 'Indeed. There is an important matter I noticed a while back, but couldn't help with immediately.

You see, one day searching though your mind during Occlumency lessons I noticed something strange.'

'Ah...' Harry said uncomfortably. 'Yeah well you might have seen a Horcrux. I'm one of Voldemort's.'

Amun nodded calmly. 'I know, you told me that before. I see that more often in your mind, but this is something else.' He sighed. 'Harry... you have two strong magical residue on your mind, not just the one from your Horcrux. That can mean either compulsions or blocks, or another Horcrux. I suspect both compulsions and blocks.'

Harry was speechless. '... I... what?'

Yup! Cliffhanger! Like and review for new part. Hope you still like it ;-)

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