Harry Potter and the Protectors of Hogwarts

xiv. of routines

Harry woke up suddenly and looked around. He was in his dorm, in his bed. He calmed his racing heart. He didn't want to think on what he'd just dreamed about but the images he'd seen, the words he'd heard. They wouldn't leave his mind. He looked at the time. He had half an hour before his alarm went off, and so he knew there was no point in trying to get more sleep. The dreams he'd had weren't nightmares or visions of Voldemort. They seemed to be memories; memories experienced in that very castle. Of students from the past; including his parents. On one hand, he thought he preferred these dreams to many of his others he'd previously had; on the other hand he felt like this was some cruel trick his very own mind was playing on him.

And what was worse was that he'd been having them for a while. Some of them he so desperately wanted to believe. Others he'd wished he'd never had. Sighing, he gave up and switched off his alarm clock. Grabbing his things he went to take a shower, taking his time. The memories, if that was what they were, needed to be dealt with another time. Things were getting busy for Harry.

He winced as he stretched down to pick up the bar of soap he'd dropped. He muscles were aching. The DA was taking up much of his time, between his classes and visits to the chambers and occlumency lesson with Killian, quidditch Harry barely had any time to himself.

The Chamber of Secrets had improved immensely in month they'd been working there. It was still by no means habitable, if that was what the teachers were planning, but it had been cleansed of much of its grime by the hard work of the students, professors and house elves. Dumbledore had the Chamber constantly covered with a guard. They had managed to uncover a few secret passages within and found that it stretched much further than they thought. Lupin and Moody had managed to set up some torches that would give them more light down there. There was plenty more work to be done, but it was a good work in progress. On top of all that, Moody and the Defence professors had introduced the student body that was the delight to muggle athletes who liked to train their bodies: the Gym.

Dean and Seamus had loved the gym immediately. It gave them a chance to work out and keep their bodies in shapes for the football games they shared during summer. For Harry himself it was also a welcome godsend. It meant with the declining weather that came with the Scottish climate, it much more preferable to running outside when it started getting so bitterly cold that not even running cold hold off the sharp cut of wind. The treadmills were definitely a welcome alternate, not mention the weights where he could work on his muscles. The quidditch team also appreciated the chance to improve their physical fitness, especially the beaters who would be using the weight to their advantage to work on the upper body strength. It also meant he was constantly sore, which he thought he got over since Killian's lesson. But as Killian had once told them, if they weren't sweating or walking ( or more accurately limping) away with sore muscles, they weren't working hard enough.

Yes, Harry definitely had a lot to keep him busy. The defence lesson were picking up. As it was getting colder and colder outside, they moved Killian's lesson from the quidditch pitch inside he castle. Some of which meant working out in the gym. They had also brought in martial instructors to teach them karate, but those lessons only took place Friday and Saturday evenings for an hour, which were completely voluntary and Harry had attended all 8 so far diligently.

Harry wished he'd had something like this years ago, but it seemed with the threat of Voldemort and now the Ministry's acknowledge of it, Dumbledore had been allowed to make some changes.

Harry shook himself out of his ruminations and finished showering. Wiping himself down with a towel, he wrapped it around himself and made a grab for his toothbrush. His defence education had definitely improved, and he was more than glad to throw himself into it, hoping to find that power he knew not he could use to defeat Voldemort.