The Awakening Power

Chapter 10: Dumbledore's Secret Library

* * *

"Er, are they there?" asked Ginny, squinting at the front of a carriage.

Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna stood near the carriages, waiting for Ron and Hermione to finish their prefect duties. Harry looked at the Thestrals hitched to the front of the carriages and shivered a bit.

"Yeah, they're there," he said. He didn't think he'd ever get used to their creepy appearance.

"Thanks for carrying Pig," Ron said, coming up behind him. Hermione was with him and relieved Ginny of Crookshanks, thanking her as well.

"We better find a carriage before they all fill up," said Hermione, walking down the line. "Here's one."

They all climbed in for the trip up to the castle. As the carriage rattled and shook along the path, Harry wondered again about the Potions Professor. It would be so odd not having Snape for Potions. Somehow whenever he thought of a magical potion, Snape's scowling face would appear along with it. As far as he was concerned, they might as well paste his face on every bottle.

But not this year. Maybe it would be a chance to make a fresh start in Potions class. On the other hand, if having a different professor for Potions was odd, it would be downright bizarre having Snape as Defense teacher. Snape had taken over the position briefly in Harry's third year, and that was more than enough for Harry's taste. He resolved once again not to take any abuse from Snape this year.

He watched the moon and stars peeking through the cloudy sky as the carriages took them the rest of the way. Finally they pulled up to the stone steps leading up to the huge oak doors of Hogwarts. They all exited the carriage and walked into the Entrance Hall, brightly lit with torches along the walls. The group turned right into the Great Hall where hundreds of students were noisily finding seats and chatting with each other.

Luna gave a vague goodbye as she left for the Ravenclaw table. As the Gryffindors reached their table, Ginny gave a squeal and ran over to greet some of her fellow fifth year students. Harry watched closely as she greeted her friends and noted that several of the boys at the table seemed to look her up and down. A feeling of annoyance filled him as he turned away and walked with Neville, Ron and Hermione to sit with the other sixth year students.

Distracted, Harry sat down at the table, and then realized he had sat directly across from Parvati, who was sitting next to Lavender.

"Harry, Hello! I'm so glad you sat with me!" she said delightedly.

"Hi, Harry," said Lavender, giving him an odd smirk.

Harry smiled weakly at them as he groaned to himself. "Hello, Parvati, Lavender."

Harry glanced over at Ron, whose jaw was hanging down. "Whoa. That can't be the new Potions Professor, can it? That's sure not Snape."

Harry looked at the front table and saw an extremely pretty young woman sitting with the other professors. He looked around and noticed many of the boys in the room were looking avidly at the woman.

Hermione was looking very annoyed with Ron's reaction, but Harry had to agree with him. The new Potions Professor was about as different from Snape as possible. She was rather tall, with long, blonde hair pulled back behind her head. Her face was very pretty with creamy white skin.

Just then, a line of first years came filing into the chamber, looking nervous and frightened, led by Professor McGonagall. She was carrying a stool which held the ancient Sorting Hat, covered in patches and worn from centuries of use. She placed the stool in front of the first years, where the hat seemed to wait for the noise to die down.

As silence descended upon the hall, the rip at the base of the hat opened like a mouth, and it began to sing its song:
Another year has come along
Another class is here
I am here to sing to you
And divide you, never fear

Long ago I was tasked
To decide the house of each
This role is mine and mine alone
The professors, they shall teach

Last year I gave a warning
To beware a split in heart
I still fear that dividing all
May not be all that smart

Another war has begun
Dread has spread and grown
But there are greater things to fear
Than just the enemy known

Some of you may think you know
Where the enemy might lie
A family line or Hogwarts house
Surely tells you who's an ally

A thousand years of watching you
Has taught me lessons to share
And among the most important ones
Is you find good and evil everywhere

Your house may be Ravenclaw,
Where you'll find the fleet of mind,
Many there have fought when called
To use the talents of their kind

But they are not immune to darkness,
Intelligence can be allied
Many crave the order
That a dictator can provide

Or Gryffindor, your kind might be,
Where lurk the brave and bold
Deeds of great daring are
Their specialty, all told

But courage does not guarantee
That morals and ethics are stout
Among the greatest betrayal known
Came from there, no doubt

Slytherin might be your home
For cunning and ambition
Many from this house have fought
Evil of their own volition.

This house has a reputation
That's not entirely undeserved
Ambition is greatly rewarded
When darkness is loyally served

The last is noble Hufflepuff
Faith and toil is their talent
When duty calls, they will answer
With a pride so very gallant

But many there are not content
To work to raise their lot
They seek the easy way instead
By doing deeds of moral rot

So while I will divide you
And I expect some house pride
Don't be too quick to doubt or trust
Anywhere among you, evil can hide.

There was the usual applause after the Hat's song, but Harry also noticed that, as last year, many students were whispering among themselves about the Hat's subject matter.

"Well, that was interesting," said Hermione.

"What'd'ya think the hat's point was?" said Ron, a bit perplexed. Harry had to admit that he didn't quite get the message, either.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione. Harry and Ron looked at her blankly.

She sighed. "The hat is telling us two things. One, that we shouldn't assume that people we expect to be trustworthy, are trustworthy. 'Among the greatest betrayal known' ... does that sound like someone we know?"

"Pettigrew," Harry said.

"Yes. And two, the hat is saying that we shouldn't automatically distrust other people, for example, the Slytherins."

Ron made a face.

"Yes, well, I know that many of the Slytherins we know live up to their reputation. But that doesn't mean they're all Voldemort supporters."

Harry grunted. The next Slytherin he liked and trusted would be the first.

Suddenly all eyes snapped toward the front of the room as McGonagall gave a general glare for silence. She unfolded a long piece of parchment and began calling the name of each first-year to come forward.

Harry clapped loudly with the others each time the hat called out "Gryffindor!" for a new student, but he began to get quite hungry toward the end. Finally the last student's name ("Zook, Henry") was called, and Professor McGonagall picked up the stool with the hat and took them away as Dumbledore rose from his chair.

"Well, students, it's another year at Hogwarts. I welcome you all," said Dumbledore, smiling at the room. "While I am sure you would like to listen to me prattle on about various business, I believe you would like to feast even more. Voila!" Dumbledore loudly clapped his hands and enormous amounts of food appeared on the tables.

Harry could almost see the drool leaking from Ron's mouth as he surveyed the variety of plates before him. Harry was having difficulty deciding what he wanted, so he began loading up his plate with a little of everything within reach.

They chatted among themselves as they ate, although Harry was very distracted as Parvati kept bumping his foot and giving him coy smiles.

Harry was eating his favorite Treacle Tart for dessert when he noticed Ginny walking around the table talking to various friends. She left a group, walked over and began talking to another friend - and Dean. Harry's fork holding a bite of tart stopped, suspended in front of his mouth, watching her speak to the two of them.

Slowly the tart went into his mouth and he chewed mechanically. He wasn't quite sure what he was watching for, but he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away. Ginny was smiling as Dean appeared to be telling her some sort of story. She laughed cheerfully as he finished, and Harry felt even more irritation toward Dean than he had felt on the train. He looked sulkily down at his tart and took another bite, not entirely certain why he was so annoyed.

As the feast began to wind down, Dumbledore rose from his seat and called for everyone's attention. The room immediately became quiet.

"Now that we've all filled our stomachs with this wonderful feast, I have a few announcements. The first - and most important - is a difficult one," he said.

His face took on a somber expression as he continued. "With your indulgence, I feel a duty to pay homage to a brave, honorable man who died several months ago. That man's name was Sirius Black."

A gasp of shock came up from the students, and Harry could hear whispering throughout the room. Dumbledore waited for it to quiet a bit.

"As many of you know, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban prison, where he was serving a sentence for the murders of many people. What many of you do not know is that he was completely innocent," Dumbledore said.

There was dead silence in the room as Dumbledore's words sunk in.

"He was framed by a man named Peter Pettigrew, who was the primary one responsible for bringing Lord Voldemort back to power." A hiss went up from the crowd at the name, and Harry noticed that even the teachers flinched a bit.

Dumbledore continued. "For far too long he was falsely imprisoned for another's crime. Unfortunately, he did not live to have his name officially cleared, but it's time that the truth was told. He died at the Ministry Battle in the service of the Wizard Community."

Harry could feel many eyes in the room turning toward him, but he kept his gazed locked on Dumbledore.

"At this time, I would like to call for a moment of silence for a good man, a brave man, a man who didn't deserve his fate: Sirius Black." Dumbledore lowered his gaze, and the rest of the room followed. Harry lowered his eyes as well. He was curious what Snape's reaction to the speech was, but didn't look up to check.

"Thank you," Dumbledore said gravely. "Now then, allow me to make a few Hogwarts announcements."

As Dumbledore made the usual admonitions about the forbidden forest, Harry found his mind wandering. He was very glad that Dumbledore had decided to clear Sirius' name, even if unofficially.

"All right, Harry?" whispered Hermione.

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry whispered back.

The truth was that he was feeling a lot better than he might have expected. One of the events he had reviewed in the Pensieve over the summer was the Ministry Battle. At the beginning, he would stop the action far before Sirius' death, but slowly he worked his way up to it.

It had taken a week. Finally he let it go and watched it happen all over again. It had been intensely painful, but he felt like he needed to understand how and why it happened. After reflecting on Sirius' death, Harry had been disturbed at how arbitrary the whole thing had been. All Sirius had needed to do was hang on for another minute, but Bellatrix had hit him with a spell.

And if he was totally honest with himself, he'd been very angry with Sirius.

Sirius hadn't taken Bellatrix seriously. Instead of just fighting and subduing her quickly, he had taunted her and let his guard down. It had been a terrible way to learn a lesson, but Harry did take a lesson from it: don't get overconfident in a battle.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts by Dumbledore's voice.

"Now, please allow me to introduce the new Potions Master, Professor Melanadray," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the new blonde teacher. "Don't let her youth fool you. She was one of the best Potions students Hogwarts has ever had. She comes highly recommended by Professor Snape."

Harry noticed that Snape actually looked approvingly at her. The look on Snape's face was so foreign to Harry that he wasn't completely sure he was identifying the expression correctly.

The new teacher stood, and the students applauded politely. She flushed, a bit embarrassed, and waved to the room. Her eyes scanned the tables, looking over the students. Her eyes locked with Harry's, and her face broke out in a smile. Harry darted his eyes away as a nervous shiver went down his spine.

Harry felt some heat climbing up his neck. Do I know her from somewhere? he thought. Slowly looking back towards the front, he saw that she had sat down and showed no signs of recognition. Maybe I imagined it, he thought.

"Erm, Harry, do you know the new Potions professor?" Hermione asked.

Harry felt another flush. "No... why do you ask?" he asked carefully.

"She just seemed to look at you like she knew you," Hermione said.

"Never seen her before," said Harry.

"I think if Harry had seen her before, he'd remember," Ron said, grinning. Hermione glared at him.

There was a loud rustling across the hall as the students began to get up from the tables after being dismissed by Dumbledore.

"Ron! Come on, we need to lead the first years," said Hermione.

"All right, I'm coming," said Ron, annoyed.

Ron yelled at the nearest first year Gryffindor. "Hey you! First-year! Start walking that way," he shouted, gesturing toward the door.

"Ron!" said Hermione, glaring at him. "First-years! Come this way! Yes, follow him," she said authoritatively.

As the students all filed out the door, Harry spotted Ginny. "Hi, Ginny. Enjoy the feast?" he said, striding alongside her.

"Yeah, I did! And it was great getting caught up with my friends again," she said.

Harry remembered seeing her talking with Dean. "Erm, I guess you were happy to see Dean, huh?" he said nervously.

Ginny blinked. "Yeah, I guess so," she said, puzzled.

Harry looked ahead as they walked along. "I reckoned that you would be, er, anxious to see him," he said.

She looked blankly at him for several seconds. "Oh!" she exclaimed and then giggled. "You're thinking of what I said to Ron on the train last year."

Harry nodded. "Er, yeah, I guess I figured you two were going out."

"No, I just said that because Ron was being such a git on the train," she said, laughing.

"Good," Harry said, before he could stop himself. "Erm, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with Dean, er..." He felt heat starting to climb up his neck.

He glanced over at her and noticed that she was giving him a very odd look. He quickly looked back ahead.

"Hmm. But since you bring him up, he is sort of cute..." Ginny said musingly.

Horrible thoughts of Dean seemed to flow into Harry's head.

"What do you think, Harry? Do you think he'd make a proper boyfriend for me?" asked Ginny innocently. "You know him much better than I do."

Harry had always liked Dean, but at that moment he couldn't seem to find anything good about him. "Well, um, he's all right, I guess. But I think you could do a lot better."

"Could I now? Why, thank you, Harry. That's good to know. I'll keep that in mind," Ginny said, nodding with a serious expression.

They arrived at the portrait hole. Ginny gave the password ("pumpkin pudding") and the portrait swung open.

Harry gave a huge yawn as he said good night to Ginny, his soft bed sounding like heaven after the eventful day. He plodded up the stairs, back once again to his home in Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Harry woke up the next morning, excited about starting his first day at Hogwarts. He showered and met Hermione down in the Common Room. They waited a bit until Ron finally appeared, trudging down the stairs with a bleary-eyed appearance.

"All right, Ron?" said Harry, grinning at him.

"Need food," he grunted. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

They headed down to the Great Hall, where most of the students had already arrived and were noisily eating their breakfast.

Not long after they had started eating, owls began arriving delivering the morning mail. Harry noticed there seemed to be a lot more owls flying in than usual as they flew across the Great Hall. An owl swooped down and dropped a letter in front of him. Another followed quickly afterward, and then another. To his horror, a large stack of letters started growing in front of him.

"What's this about?" he said anxiously, suspecting that it could be nothing good.

He picked up one of the letters and slowly opened it. His heart sank as he read the letter, written in a young girl's handwriting.

Dear Mr. Potter,

My best friend's dad was killed by You-Know-Who. I'm so afraid that he is going to hurt my family, too. Please stop him, like you did when you were a baby. We always believed in you, even when they were writing that rubbish last year.

Love,
Mary

The letter dropped from his hands as Harry's guilt surged up, the pain threatening to overwhelm him. He put his hands over his face, leaning his elbows on the table. He heard Hermione reach over and pick up the letter. There was a pause as she read it.

"Oh, Harry, we should have expected this after Skeeter's article," she said sadly.

Harry just sat with his head in his hands. He knew that people were probably looking at him right now, and he just didn't care. How could he possibly live up to the expectations of the prophecy?

He heard a few more letters being opened.

"They're all like that," Ron said. "Bloody hell! Look at this one! The bloody git is demanding that you walk out of Hogwarts and duel You-Know-Who right now!" he said lividly.

Ron's outrage on his behalf made him feel a little better, but he still couldn't seem to look at anyone. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and someone whispered in his ear.

"It's all right, Harry," Ginny whispered. "Don't read any more of them. Don't worry about what they say. You can only do your best."

Harry finally looked up and saw Ginny giving him a worried smile. He forced a tiny smile to his face and nodded.

He noticed Seamus and Dean whispering to each across the table. They appeared to finish their conversation and looked over at him.

"Harry, mate, we have an idea," said Dean.

"Yeah. How about if we screen your mail? At least until this calms down," said Seamus.

Harry was stunned that they would do that for him.

"The D.A. has to stick together, right? You'll go nutters if you have to read this stuff every day," said Dean.

"Um, thanks, really," Harry said gratefully.

"Not to worry, Harry. Let us take care of it," Seamus said firmly, reaching across the table and pulling the stack of letters toward them.

Harry felt a stab of guilt over his thoughts of Dean the previous night. He really didn't deserve friends like this.

Harry finished his breakfast in silence. Hermione was right; he should have figured this would happen after that article was published. It was hard enough having to deal with the responsibility without seemingly the whole world watching what he was going to do.

He felt a tug on his robes and noticed Dobby next to him.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Harry Potter, sir!" he said excitedly.

Harry smiled at him. "Hello, Dobby. It's good to be back, and it's good to see you, too."

"Harry Potter is too kind to Dobby! I have a message for you from Professor Dumbledore," he said, handing Harry a note.

"Thanks, Dobby," said Harry.

"Anything for Harry Potter! And if you need anything this year, you let Dobby know and Dobby will do whatever he can," said Dobby.

"All right, Dobby, I will," Harry said.

Harry read the note. It simply said,

Mr. Potter,

Please meet me in my office after breakfast and bring your Pensieve.

Professor Dumbledore

P.S. The password is Toffee Coconut Cluster.

Harry felt some fear surge up in him. He really didn't want any more bad news this morning. He tried to tell himself that if anything really bad was afoot then he would have been summoned immediately, but he seemed to expect the worst of everything these days.

"Dobby just gave me a note to meet Professor Dumbledore after breakfast," said Harry to Ron and Hermione.

"Does it say what he wants?" said Hermione curiously.

"No, it just says to bring the Pensieve. Well, I'm finished, so I guess I'll head up there. No use putting it off," Harry said.

"All right, mate. Let us know later," mumbled Ron through a mouthful of food.

Harry sighed and got up from the table, terrible thoughts going through his head about what the meeting could possibly be about. He walked slowly up to his dormitory, trying to avoid the inevitable meeting. He pulled his Pensieve out of his trunk and walked slowly down the spiral stairs, his anxiety growing by the minute.

The Fat Lady seemed to notice his mood and gave him a cheerful smile as he opened up the portrait hole. Harry smiled wanly, which lasted until he was down the corridor when his face reverted back to a worried frown. Inevitably he reached the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Drawing a deep breath, he gave the password.

The gargoyle seemed to shake itself as it became animated, and then jumped aside, revealing the wall beginning to open with a noisy rumbling. Harry stepped onto the moving stone staircase, which spiraled up the round chamber towards Dumbledore's office, bringing him to the beautiful polished door. He reached out toward the brass knocker, and then paused, remembering the last time he had been in that office. He had learned the prophecy after his ordeal at the Ministry.

Gathering his courage, he knocked on the door, feeling his knees growing rubbery from his nervousness.

"Enter," he heard Dumbledore say, as the door swung open by itself.

"Ah, Harry. Good to see you," said Dumbledore affably, as if they had just shared scones the previous day.

"Er, Hello, Professor," said Harry. Dumbledore's office appeared to have been put back together since his last visit when he had smashed several things. The portraits on the wall were sleeping peacefully, as well as Fawkes, who was sitting on his golden perch with closed eyes and slow breathing. In fact, the whole room seemed to radiate a quiet tranquility.

Dumbledore was sitting back in his chair, looking calmly at him. Harry waited for something else, but Dumbledore seemed satisfied with the greetings. Finally Harry couldn't take it any more.

"Erm, Professor, did you want to see me?" said Harry.

"Yes, Harry, I did. Please have a seat. First, I suppose I should give you personal birthday wishes. I'm sorry I couldn't have come to your party in person. I had - other duties," said Dumbledore. "But I heard it was quite a success."

"Yes, it was. Thank you so much for the Pensieve," Harry said, feeling like a simple 'thank you' wasn't enough, based on what Lupin had said about rarity of Pensieves.

"Not at all, not at all. I hope it was - helpful?" said Dumbledore, with eyebrows raised.

"Yes, sir, it helped a lot," said Harry. Part of him wanted to tell the Professor that it had helped him more than he could know, but it was difficult to find the words.

"As I said, I would be happy to keep it safe for you. I have just the place in mind," said Dumbledore.

All the small talk was driving Harry mad. He needed to know what was going on. "Er, sir, if I might ask, why did you ask me up here? Is something wrong?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Heavens, no, Harry. I apologize; I suppose I should have put that in my note," He looked at Harry compassionately and sighed. "I suppose you are getting used to receiving bad news, and this morning was no exception, I noted."

Harry guessed he heard about the letters. "Yes, sir. It's - hard when I know that they're right, even when they don't know they're right. They want me to defeat Voldemort, and I don't know how to do it."

Dumbledore nodded. "I won't go over territory that we discussed before, but perhaps you begin to understand why I was so reluctant to give you the burden before now. Keeping things from you was a costly mistake, Harry, one that I won't repeat - but with a caveat. I will tell you what I can, but there are some things I simply cannot tell you. It's too dangerous for you to know, if Voldemort was somehow able to break into your mind. We know that Voldemort cannot possess you, and we know that you have natural defenses against him. But he is clever, and he is resourceful. There are certain - keys - to this whole thing, keys that you are not ready to use. It's imperative that he not find out about them. Can you trust me to tell you when the time is right?"

Harry thought about it, and nodded, not completely satisfied.

"Thank you, Harry. I hope this demonstrates to you that I don't keep this from you because I don't think you can be trusted, but because of strategic reasons. Now then, let me tell you what I can tell you," Dumbledore said.

Harry leaned forward.

"As expected, Voldemort is beginning to amass an army. He is making a lot of promises in - certain quarters. We believe that this army will be used when he is ready for the final showdown. His numbers are still small, which is fortunate for us. It will take him some time to put it together. I would estimate at least a year, and more likely two years, before he is ready. He will not make the mistake of striking too early.

"But that is not our immediate problem. While he is building his army, he is working to destabilize our side at the same time. You've no doubt heard about the Ministry murders. The targets were not randomly chosen. They were specifically designed to spread terror and weaken the Ministry in key positions," Dumbledore said gravely.

Harry felt a chill. "Was - was Mr. Weasley a target?"

"We believe so, although ironically his closeness to you probably spared him. Everyone connected to you has extra security, so he is quite difficult to get to," said Dumbledore.

Harry felt a bit of relief at that.

"I believe Minister Ragnok talked to you?" Dumbledore said, with a smile.

"Er, yes, he did," Harry said, feeling embarrassed about his conversation with Ragnok.

"As he told you, we are also concerned about some sort of plan that Voldemort has hatched. We really have no more information about it than that. All we know is that it may - but may not - involve the Goblins. It's not much to go on, but Ragnok is intelligent and a trusted source," said Dumbledore.

Harry was tempted to tell Dumbledore about Ragnok's other concerns about Harry, but it just seemed too absurd to mention.

"Unfortunately, that's about all for the news," Dumbledore said apologetically. "It's not much, I know. But Voldemort has hidden himself away, and he's difficult to find if he stays low. The good news is that the Ministry is being much more cooperative these days."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, sir, for bringing me up-to-date."

"You're welcome, Harry," said Dumbledore, smiling kindly.

"Um, sir, can I continue the D.A. this year?" said Harry.

"I think it would be an excellent idea, Harry, although I think it should be restricted to fourth years and above. Also might I suggest having an advisor this time?" said Dumbledore.

"I guess that would be a good idea. Who?" said Harry.

"As Defense professor, I believe Professor Snape would be the logical choice ..." Dumbledore started.

Harry gritted his teeth as the Headmaster continued. "...but I believe the Professor is too busy to take on additional duties at this time." Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Unfortunately, it is politically difficult to allow Professor Lupin to visit the school. I took the liberty of asking Miss Tonks to oversee your meetings, and she agreed, quite enthusiastically, I might add. You should know that she graduated among the top in her classes at the Auror Academy, with the exception of Stealth and Tracking," he said, chuckling.

"That would be great, Professor," Harry said. "I'm sure she'll be able to give us some good practical experience."

"There is just one more thing," said Dumbledore.

Harry looked at him curiously.

"Come with me, I want to show you something," Dumbledore said, rising from his chair.

Harry rose as well and walked with him across the office. Dumbledore approached a part of his stone wall and tapped it with his wand. It slid open, revealing a large, dark chamber. As they entered, torches lit up bathing the room in bright light.

The room held several large bookcases, with what appeared to be very old and dusty books. Several large, carved oak tables were in the middle of the room, apparently set up for study. He noticed an odd-looking sunken platform at the other end of the room.

"What is this place, Professor?" asked Harry.

"This is my personal library, Harry. There is quite a bit of - information - here that is not even available in the restricted section of Hogwarts library. I want you to have access to this place. You will find it very interesting, I daresay," said Dumbledore.

"Why aren't these books in the restricted section?" asked Harry.

"Harry, the restricted section is intended to keep information that is potentially dangerous to students. These books contain information that is potentially dangerous to anyone that is not ready to use it. Some information is so dangerous that it is restricted by the Ministry. To be perfectly frank, my preference is that you not have access to books like these at this time, but Voldemort has forced our hand," said Dumbledore grimly.

Harry nodded, intensely curious about what the books contained.

"This will also be an ideal place for you to keep your Pensieve. I will teach you some advanced techniques for using the Pensieve to organize information. You will find that you can learn spells much faster and have much quicker recall. You see, not only can the Pensieve retrieve memories, but it can put them back into your head more efficiently. It can organize your memory," said Dumbledore.

"What is that area over there?" Harry said, gesturing toward the sunken platform.

"That is a spell testing area. You see, Harry, it's difficult to practice very powerful spells for the obvious reason that powerful spells tend to be, er, damaging to the surrounding area. That space has a very powerful indestructibility charm. You can cast your most powerful spells, and they will not penetrate the area. Allow me to demonstrate," Dumbledore said.

Harry noticed a large pile of stone blocks next to the testing area. Dumbledore took out his wand and levitated a block into the sunken area. He then mumbled a long spell that Harry couldn't quite make out. A powerful purple beam of light erupted from Dumbledore's wand and made contact with the block. The stone loudly exploded, causing Harry to flinch at the noise.

He peered into the space, now filled with smoke. The block had shattered but all the pieces were confined to the testing area. Even the dust seemed to stay within its confines.

"Wow," Harry said, impressed.

"Yes, it's quite useful, I must say," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Now then, let me show you the entrance. There is another door that leads to a secret stairway. Why don't you go ahead and leave your Pensieve here."

Harry placed his Pensieve on one of the tables.

"The password is Nutrimens Dulcis," Dumbledore said, tapping the stone and giving the password. The wall slid open, revealing a spiral staircase. Dumbledore led the way down the staircase, until they came to a blank wall. He gave the password again, and the wall slid open, revealing a dead end corridor behind a blind corner.

"The wall will not open if someone could potentially see the opening," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you, Professor. Is it all right if I give access to Ron and Hermione?" said Harry.

Dumbledore smiled. "I thought you might. By all means; I would imagine that Miss Granger would never forgive us for hiding a special library from her."

"No, sir, she wouldn't," said Harry, grinning, as he said goodbye to the Professor and headed down the corridor to find Ron and Hermione.