An Evening Sojourn

As a sixth year student, and now 16 years old, this wasn't the first time that Harry Potter had visited the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. Wearing his father's invisibility cloak, he crept slowly along the corridor, checking his map to insure that Filch and Mrs. Norris were properly occupied. He shuddered to recall his first such trip, back in his first year. Of all the terrors he had faced after discovering he was a wizard, the howling face, forever trapped in the book, was still one of those that would give him a start. At times, even Voldemort seemed less frightening than that face and scream, forever encased in those pages.

He slowly navigated the aisles of the main library and slipped through the gate into the small restricted section. This trip was unique: he wasn't looking for anything in particular. He thought of this as an exploration, with no particular aim or goal. As a sixth year, he simply had time on his hands and was looking for adventure. Maybe a book about...well...something. He didn't quite know what. Maybe Occlumency. God knows, he never really learned much about it from Snape. Those nights had simply been torture sessions...one of Dumbledore's few screw-ups.

The more he thought about things, the more he was interested in the actions of a Pensieve. How did it work and how did you store things in it? Could it accurately repeat memories that you really couldn't summon accurately? When he had seen it in Dumbledore's office, even the figure of Professor Trelawney from 16 years before seemed so accurate, and the death eater trials before that were so vivid. Was Dumbledore's memory that good, or did the Pensieve help somehow? Well, maybe he'd look for that.

As he rounded the corner of the first aisle, books that he had seen before came into view. You could see these from the regular library, if you looked through the last bay of shelves, which, of course, everyone did. Now he could read the titles...Unbreakable Hexes...The Last Jinxes You'll Ever Need...Shedding Light on the Dark Arts. Up on the top shelf he saw an old friend, Moste Potente Potions. It brought back the memories of his second year, when he and Ron became Crabb and Goyle and Hermione tried to be Millicent Bulstrode's cat. Harry smiled as he remembered Hermione in the hospital wing, coughing up furballs.

As he moved along, he found a section devoted entirely to potions. While he knew he should be interested in this, since his N.E.W.T. class with Snape was a vital part of his desire to become an auror, he kept looking, for something and nothing. He stopped at the end of the shelf and paused. Between the last two books was a space, like a book was missing or checked out. But when he looked deeper, there was a book there, pushed back so it couldn't be seen from the front. After staring for a moment, Harry's curiosity finally got the best of him, and he moved the invisibility cloak aside to reach the book. It was tightly squeezed and he had to use two hands to pry open the space to free it.

The binding was worn, and the old leather retained only a portion of the lettering, nowhere near enough to make out complete words. His curiosity raised, Harry opened the cover to see what it was. His surprise was now complete. The title was written in very old script and he had to work to make letters out of the shapes. Finally, he realized what it said...Magic between Witches and Wizards, Spells and Potions That Affect Relationships.

Harry wasn't certain, but somehow it seemed he'd found exactly what he wanted. After the disaster of his evening at the Tri-Wizard's Cup Ball with Parvati, and his equally painful failures with Cho last year, this looked like his kind of book. Of course, he had no idea who he might target with this knowledge, but somehow it had to be useful stuff.

Now he turned a few pages into the book. There were recipes for Love Potions amidst the drawings of witches and wizards in suggestive poses. He'd heard about potions like this, and no less than Rita Skeeter had suggested they were being used by Hermione. He also knew that school rules forbade them. Probably a good idea, he thought. Then he went on.

He turned to the next page, not knowing what to expect. It was a potion to prevent pregnancy. Well, he thought, that seemed obvious, given the book's title. As a million thoughts ran through his mind, Harry decided to "check it out" and slipped the book under his robe. He concluded that his exploration was over for tonight, and after carefully reviewing the map, made his way back to his dormitory high in the Gryffindor tower. Since tomorrow was Saturday, without classes, he would have lots of time to read and explore.