I do not own Harry Potter

I have only created one shots in the past, but thought it would be fun to write a long adventure of Harry taking control of his life. Let me know what you think, I redid this chapter as well as made it a little longer. Thank you for your encouragement.

Knowledge is Power - Chapter 1

I'm tired of being treated like a child but expected to respond like an adult. Harry was sitting in his room overwhelmed with a feeling of powerlessness and responsibility. How can I kill Voldemort, as I'm expected to, if no one is training me? Shouldn't Dumbledore be doing more to prepare me? Maybe he expects me to get lucky like I have in the past? Harry groaned and pulled at his hair, frustrated with what felt like a circular thought process. My dumb luck didn't save Cedric and Sirius. I have to have some skills if I want to save myself and others. He thought with determination trying to ignore the guilt he felt at the thought of Sirius and Cedric's deaths. I didn't want them to die, I didn't create a portkey to Voldemort, I didn't ask Voldemort to kill Cedric. I didn't ask Sirius to come save me and I didn't knock him into the veil. IT WASN'T MY FAULT! He blinked back tears and clenched his fists in determination. If no one else will teach me I will teach myself. After all knowledge is power. He thought with a smirk.

I don't need all the knowledge in the world, so what should I focus on? Dumbledore did want me to learn occlumency, and it will help me control my connection with Voldemort. Harry rubbed his scar while pacing and thinking, ticking off each item to learn about on his fingers. I need to learn how to defend myself if I want to stand a chance against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Don't they say the best defense is a good offense? I should learn how to attack, maybe I can do some harm to them. Plus I have to learn how to defeat Voldemort, Harry thought dryly. In order to defend myself well I should understand what I'm defending myself from, so I need to know more about dark wizards, magic, and creatures. It might be a good idea to learn how aurors learn to defend and attack. I never felt like I truly learned about magic and the wizarding world, I should learn of their history and culture as well as the nature of magic. Harry thought jumping from one topic to another.

He sat down at his desk grabbing a sheet of parchment to write to Flourish and Blotts, he would need books on these topics.

Dear Flourish and Blotts,

Please send a list of your available books. The subjects I'm interested in are occlumency; defense; offense; dark wizards, magic, and creatures; aurors; history and culture of the wizarding world; and the nature of magic.

Do you know of any popular primers on these subjects that would be helpful?

Please inform me if there is a better way to order books.

Your customer,

Harry Potter

It would also be a good idea to learn of current events, especially now that Voldemort is active. With that thought he wrote to both the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler with a subscription to their newspapers.

He opened Hedwig's cage, giving her an affectionate pat before attaching the letters to her leg. Harry opened the window to let her out into the gentle wind, pausing for a second he enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun on his skin. Deciding to leave the window open he went to his bed where he sat cross legged in the typical meditation pose to clear his mind. Snape had said that Harry needed to clear his mind to learn occlumency, but no matter how hard he had tried to clear his mind in the past he could never manage it. Despite this Harry closed his eyes and tried once again to 'clear his mind' and just breathe, at least he wasn't in danger of falling asleep like he was before bed. He still didn't understand how clearing your mind worked; thoughts kept floating through his head. Maybe if I just focus on my breathing, he thought in frustration. But before long his thoughts of breathe in, breathe out changed to thoughts of how long his breaths were. I need a break, I'm not getting anywhere. He thought tugging at his hair in frustration.

Standing up and stretching Harry realized he would need strength and stamina if he was really going to do any muggle fighting. I should start running regularly, not just as a necessity to get away from Dudley. He opened his door and listened, the house was quiet so he quietly crept down the stairs and out the door to freedom. As he took off running in the cool morning air he wondered what else he could do while waiting for responses from his letters. As he reached the park he slowed to stretch at a nearby bench while wondering why he had never heard of hand to hand combat in the wizarding world, he had only heard of dueling with wands.

He had learned last year that using magic in the summer, even for self-defense, could have serious consequences. He needed an alternate way to defend himself if necessary, plus if he was ever disarmed it would be useful to be able to defend himself. The best way to learn about hand to hand combat would be from a book in the muggle world, Harry straightened up from stretching his legs and headed to the library.

At the library Harry grabbed some books on self-defense and meditation, but when he went to check them out he realized he would have to walk back carrying the books. He hesitated at the checkout counter with this thought causing the librarian to ask him if everything was okay.

"Yeah, I just realized I won't be able to carry these books back to my house" he said picking the books back up to return them to their shelves.

"We do have a knapsack that was left a month ago and no one has claimed, we're getting rid of it at this point, you're welcome to use it" said the librarian.

"Thank you that would be great," said Harry putting his books back on the counter and pulling out his library card. As the helpful librarian was checking out his books Harry noticed a poster with information on a martial arts class at the community center down the street. I'll have to check that out. He thought as he took the bag filled with his books from the librarian.

By the time Harry got back to the Dursley's he was sweaty and thirsty from the sun shining down and the air warming up. Luckily the house was still quiet, so he went to the kitchen where he immediately chugged a glass of cold water. Filling the glass back up he took it upstairs with a large sandwich and some crisps. Taking out his book on meditation he opened it to read while taking a big bite out of his sandwich.

When Harry finished eating he took his dishes down to the kitchen. Quickly washing and putting them away, leaving no sign of his having eaten lunch. Just as he was putting away the dishes he heard a car pull up in the driveway. Before he made it to the stairs the door opened and Petunia walked in with a load of groceries.

"Help bring in the groceries." She ordered Harry in passing.

Harry obediently headed out to the car to retrieve the groceries. The rest of the day was spent doing chores for the Dursleys.

That evening in his room Harry focused on what he had read in his library books that afternoon. In both the meditation and martial arts books he had found mention of qi which you cultivate and balance through something called qigong. Since it was connected to two subjects he was interested in he thought it would be worth trying. The book said there were three parts, posture, breathing, and mental awareness. So he sat with his body in line and breathed through his stomach, now for the hard part, the book had said not to force silence in the brain but to focus on breathing calmly. Whenever a distracting thought came up he was to acknowledge it and then calmly return to focusing on his breathing. After working on this for 10 minutes he actually felt like he was having more success than normal and wasn't nearly as frustrated. But it was time for a break from his meditation and focus on hand to hand combat.

The poster he had seen at the library for the martial arts class had said Tae Kwon Do, but that didn't seem like the best form of martial arts for him to learn. He had read of a form of martial arts that was especially attractive to him, called Krav Maga. It was created for real life combat situations and was used by military; it focused on eliminating the threat as quickly as possible. This sounded like his best chance for success with hand to hand combat against any threat. The book had been no help on forms to practice, he would need a class or group to help him learn it effectively, he would need to find one tomorrow. In the meantime it would probably be good to focus on getting his muscles into shape through exercise, with more than just running.

He did some basic exercises like push-ups and sit ups, before lying down on his bed to sleep. He was excited about the changes he had started to make that day and was looking forward to what tomorrow would bring, books from Flourish and Blotts to read and learn from while continuing to practice what he had learned today. He was so hyped up by his successes that he wasn't able to calm down to sleep. Maybe if I practice meditation with qigong it will help me relax and fall asleep. He did the same thing he had done when he had meditated before, but this time continued for 15 minutes with slightly more success. Meditating helped him relax enough to fall asleep.

Authors Note:

I thought this would be a good place to stop the first chapter, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is very welcome. I'm trying to be descriptive, but I'm not great at it. Hopefully that will get better. Side note, Harry will not be super powered, in fact think of him as batman he works hard to be awesome!