Harry woke the next morning when a Hogwarts elf brought him his necklace. That piece of idiocy, forgetting his necklace, could have cost him dear. Thankfully this time his slip hadn't cost him anything. Thanking the house elf he donned the necklace.
The last months of school went by Harry focused on just day-to-day living: his lessons, quidditch, time with his friends, trying to find the time, the courage and the opportunities to chat up Cho Chang. Before he knew it it was the end of the year and he was taking exams. School was finished for Harry and his friends but they would be at the the school until NEWTS Testing finished in three days.
At his final occlumency meeting with Professor Snape he successfully blocked the professor from even entering his mindscape.
"Very good, Mr. Potter."
"Thank you, Professor."
"Have you given any more thought to learning the subtleties of the art?"
"I have thought about it, but I have decided against it. I have no need to be tricky about occlumency. My mind is my own and no other may enter, for me that is all I need."
Professor Snape nodded his acceptance. He wasn't particularly surprised. Harry did have an almost Gryffindor attitude at times. Deception wasn't a large part of his make-up, unlike many of Severus' snakes. Control on the other hand, especially self-control, made it clear why he had been sorted snake. Harry had an almost obsessive need for control. Snape wasn't sure whether he looked forward to the clashes that would come when the Headmaster decided to maneuver Harry around like a chess piece, or if he feared them. He supposed only time would tell.
He supposed Lily would be proud of Harry. He was maintaining his high placement in his year, but sometimes Severus felt that she would be slightly disappointed. Harry while perfectly charming when he wanted to be, lacked the warmth of personality that had made Lily the wonderful person she was. Harry lacked the joy and delight in everyday life that had so characterized his mother. Severus was certain that this would make Lily sad. Harry was cynical and distrustful especially with adults, this too would have disappointed Lily. This year was the first year that Harry didn't seem to be looking forward to the return to his family. Instead as the return home approached, he grew tenser and more irritable.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Potter? I have noticed that you lack your usual enthusiasm for returning home this year."
Harry gave a slight grimace. He really didn't want to return to Privet Drive. He had spent the many months at school coming to the conclusion that he wished to be around people who wished to be near him, not around people who merely tolerated and used him to their own ends, which unfortunately was most the people he knew.
He didn't like living the pretense of "family" with his aunt and uncle, but this summer he would once again be forced to. At least with Dudley and Rose it would not be pretense. He would probably try to spend as much time as he could at the dojo this summer because at least the liking and the respect from Sensei was real. He hoped that someday he would live his life for real, not just the pretense that everything was as it should be; the pretense that most the people around him actually gave a damn. His friends cared but they lacked the experience to understand where Harry was emotionally, with the possible exceptions of Neville and Luna.
Last summer he had seen that his hopes for genuine affection from Petunia would always be dashed, that the small tokens of affection she gave were more to keep him biddable to her plans and to make sure no one could accuse her of neglecting her duty to him. She had done it so well, that routing his trustee board had been child's play for her. Not that his trustees were really doing anything more than trying to enhance their own reputations by association.
Harry supposed Petunia had definitely done her job. He knew well enough how to care for himself and was accomplished at most things that would be expected of him. This summer's education would see to the rest of the social and practical sides; which left him wondering what he was supposed to do now. How many almost fourteen year-olds could say they were ready to care for themselves the way an adult did? He knew that he lacked experience and if he were to care for himself completely now he would make mistakes, but good judgement would only come with time and making mistakes. Politically and magically he had a couple more years before he had to be ready, but he already knew his career would be managing his investments and developing his art.
Belatedly Harry realized he should give some answer to the Professor. "I'm just not looking forward to the plans my aunt has made for the summer."
At an arched eyebrow from his head of house, he continued, "Dance lessons."
Severus Snape smirked at that. It didn't surprise him that Petunia thought the boy should know how to dance given her own love of dance. "I see. Well, learning social niceties never killed anyone. Try and make the best of it." His gut told him there was more to it than Harry said, but he knew the odds of getting it out of the boy were not in his favor. "If there's nothing else, you may go."
"Yes, sir." Harry left the office.
The next day found Harry in the Great Hall playing what would be the last chess match of the year with Ron. Since neither boy had a reason to hurry they were both taking their time considering what moves they wished to make. As they played they talked about their exams.
"So, Potter, were your exams what you expected?"
"Yes. What about yours?"
"All but my divination one, Trelawney spoke in this really strange and kind of creepy voice and said something about the servant escaping to his master, who would come back greater and more terrible than before. Then a moment later her voice goes back to normal and she had no clue she'd said anything. Weird, huh?"
"Definitely."
"She's probably been hitting the sherry a little hard and uses all that incense in her classroom to hide it."
"Possibly. She has made a certified prediction though."
"Really?" His eyes lit up as he captured Harry's queen.
"Yes." Harry moved his pawn to Ron's back row. "My queen, please."
Ron frowned as he started re-planing for the now changed board.
"Harry!" Neville came running up.
"Yeah, Nev? Do you need something?" Harry asked not even looking up.
....
Join my P@treon and get 60+ advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/0LordSilvere0 (Remove the *)
Free members get 2 chapters free.
Join Right Now