Chapter One; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Amended

Harry shifted slightly, feeling slightly uncomfortable sitting on the cold ground. He lifted his face slightly to stare at the woman in front of him.

"Harry," said Hermione nervously, "I don't know how to say this, but-" Harry suddenly knew what she was going to say, and cut her off.

"But you don't think that Ron is the best person to bring with us on the Horcrux mission." Hermione bit her lip nervously, before nodding.

She's cute when she's all nervous like that, thought Harry, wait- when did I begin to think of Hermione as cute?! Harry shook the thoughts away, and sighed softly.

"Had you said that a few days ago, I would have leapt to his defence immediately, but now…" he trailed off for a moment, to really think about his answer… "I agree. He can't keep secrets and he doesn't stick with us. As soon as something doesn't go his way, he runs off and blabs. I'd spend the whole time too worried about him to think things through properly," he sighed, "but what can we do about it?" Hermione looked nervous all over again.

"We're going to have to… Obliviate him," she said in a pained voice. Harry stared at her, subconsciously shifting around on the grey tiles. His eyes blazed for a second, before subsiding into a more resigned look.

"I know," he admitted, "we will." Hermione nodded decisively, like a soldier preparing for his next battle.

"I also think we should take someone else as well… another person to help out. There should always be three." Harry began to protest, before his mind sent him a message- don't argue with Hermione, the sexy witch is always right! Harry blinked.

"Okay," he said, and Hermione stared at him in shock.

"What, no protests? Nothing? What happened to 'I must do everything alone and woe betides me if someone else actually helps me for once!'?"

"It left me with my belief in Ron!" said Harry, looking slightly embarrassed, "did you have anyone in mind?"

"Yes," said Hermione, not elaborating any further.

"And?" Harry prompted.

"Me," said a voice from the shadows, and a tall, thin figure stepped out.

"Ginny?" asked Harry incredulously, "no…" His brain protested at once, his mind disagreed. Yeah! Save the world with the two sexiest women on the planet! …wait… WHERE ARE ALL OF THESE THOUGHTS COMING FROM?!

"Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione, spotting the blank look on Harry's face.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he said vaguely, "Where were we?" Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"We were discussing my inclusion in your Horcrux mission," said Ginny flippantly. She then spotted the shocked look on Harry's face, and said "Oh, Hermione told me about it last night after I gave her some other information."

"What… other… information is this?" asked Harry curiously, "if Hermione thinks that you are capable of coming with us, then I think we would love to have you. Hermione and I can teach you the sixth year material… oh, wait… the Trace! What are we going to do about that?" Both girls stared at him.

"Okay, one; who are you, and what have you done with Harry Potter? Letting Ginny come with no protests? Thinking about education? And two… the Black family has some interesting information in the Library, and Sirius mentioned using magic over the holidays."

"Oh, um…" said Ginny, "all Pureblood families are taught the spell to remove the Trace, and they perform it on their children when they believe them to be mature enough to handle their magic." Harry just stared at her for a second.

"Okay…" he said, "you will explain that later. Now… about me caring about education…" he had paled slightly when they pointed his slip-up… "You see… I'm… argh… how do I say this… please don't be mad at me; please, Hermione I beg of you, but… I kinda… might've… I… Isuppressedmyloveoflearninga ndreadingsothatididn'tmakeyouandronjealous."

"What?" asked Hermione in a deadly calm voice.

"I…I suppressed… my love of… l-learning… and… r-r-reading so… so that I… didn't make… you and… R-Ron…jealous," he said sheepishly, flaming cheeks facing the ground, eyes pointing towards his toes.

"I see," said Hermione slowly but furiously, "and you will never do that again, will you?" Harry shook his head vigorously.

"Just as a matter of interest, why would I be jealous of you?"

"I…err… my IQ was tested at over 200."Hermione gaped at him.

"Only a handful of people have ever been able to say that!" she stared at him in awe, before pulling herself together, "for an intelligent person, you sure haven't been acting like one!" Harry blushed.

"Yeah, well, that test isn't a very accurate way of measuring a person's intelligence, if you think about it." Hermione looked thoughtful, Ginny just looked at them both blankly.

"Am I missing something here?" she asked them after about 5 minutes, leaving Harry to laugh as Hermione leapt into a detailed explanation of the IQ test. Suddenly, Hermione broke off and narrowed her eyes at Harry.

"You should be better at magic," she said, "I know you have the power… you fought off over 100 Dementors when you were thirteen! Most fully grown adults can't manage to fight off even one, and your magical core keeps growing until you reach magical maturity."

"What's magical maturity?" asked both Harry and Ginny at once. Hermione smiled.

"That's when your magical core gets its final boost before stabilising and not growing any more. Most people get quite a large boost of power, it's estimated to be around 20% of the power you already have. A few people have been recorded to have gained extra powers during Magical Maturity, but most just get raw power. It happens between 15 and 17. That's why the Wizarding coming-of-age is at 17 years old, everyone has gone through Magical Maturity by then. Harry nodded, but it a rare scene of irony, he suddenly collapsed to the ground, glowing.

"Magical Maturity," said Hermione, suppressing a laugh, "at least we have an hour or so to talk!"

"So… what's happening to him?" asked Ginny, slightly nervously.

"He's in his mind, assimilating information and learning about his new power and possibly new abilities. If he's smart, he'll build some shields while he has time to get used to his new powers in his mind." Ginny nodded, before- in another burst of irony- collapsing to the ground, glowing.

Hermione sighed, and went back to the room she was sharing with Ginny, muttering under her breath about 'Harry' and 'bad timing' and 'Ginny.'

Harry remembered listening to Hermione and Ginny talk about Magical Maturity, before he felt light headed and collapsed to the ground. Groaning, he sat up… and blinked. He was in a foreign landscape, of rolling hills and mountains, a bright blue sky with only a few wispy clouds to add to the landscape. Information was flowing freely around him, confusing him. Memories flashed before him. It was… chaos.

'Where am I?' he thought wildly, wondering if it was a trick from Voldemort. Then his high intelligence kicked in. He was in his mind. He shrugged- well, the physical representation of him shrugged. Harry was suddenly puzzled. How do you shrug- or do anything, really, in your own mind? How do physical representations work in your own mind, exactly? And what were the mechanics behind it? Even magic had mechanics and driving forces- otherwise, people would do anything. That was a scary thought. Harry's representation sighed, before setting to work. If he was in his own mind, he might as well take advantage of it… and he set to organising it. Harry worked his way through all of the thoughts, emotions and memories, organising them into files and filing cabinets which he placed in a neat hole he had dug in the side of one of the hills. Harry couldn't believe how impetuous he had become after entering the magical world, but soon found the answer. Outside influence, in the forms of spells and potions. He had a sneaking suspicion that Ginny knew why they were there, and resolved to ask her when he was finished organising his mind. The discovery of the outside influences had led him to the discovery of his link with Voldemort- and its subsequent destruction. Voldemort had been stealing information and power from him for years.

Once he had organised everything, Harry filled in the entrance, sealing it with magic so that only he could enter. Apparently, you didn't need to know the spell in your own mind- you just did it. He supposed that most witches and wizards hadn't worked that out- then again; they never had been very creative people as opposed to muggles. If they were creative, they probably hadn't heard of Occlumency and Legilimency- or decided that it had no effect on them. Harry had no such qualms, and began to protect his mind with the most outrageously creative means he could come up with. Who knew that purple flobberworms were so dangerous? Or that grass was capable of strangling people? It was insane, but that was his advantage. Most people wouldn't expect a Golden Snidget to dive-bomb them before attacking with venomous fangs. It just wasn't done.

Once Harry felt that his mind was sufficiently protected, Harry began to search through it, memorising the layout of his own mind. That bothered him for a while, but he soon shrugged it off. It was magic- what wasn't weird, even after almost seven years?

Finally, he discovered what he had been sent in here to find all along- the information on his powers. Had he been in the Physical Realm, Harry would have fainted. As it was, he felt rather light-headed, which was quite an achievement for a mere physical representation of himself. He was… powerful. More than powerful… he was… well… extra-powerful. Harry wasn't really sure of any words he could accurately use to describe his power. It wasn't all-powerful, but he was sure that only a few people would match him in power- Voldemort included, most likely. He would have to keep his…new… powers as secret as possible. And learn how to use them.

With that in… mind? Harry set to work, getting used to the greater amount of power that now flowed through his veins, and learning about his new power… well, not really new; he just hadn't known about it before- he was a Metamorphmagus, and an Elemental.

Ginny was not having such a good time. Her Magical Maturity much resembled Hermione's- she had less power than she had expected; though Ginny, unlike Hermione, was still above average power, unlike Hermione who was just below. Both of their skills relied more on thinking, planning and understanding rather than the sheer power that Harry commanded.

Ginny also had the knowledge of what Legilimency was- so she spent her time constructing fiery walls around her mind. Not as creative as Harry's, to be sure- but that was the disadvantage of growing up a Pureblood- she just didn't have the creativity of a Muggle born or raised. Or at least- that was what an invader would be led to believe.

Behind the great, clichéd fiery walls lay… a sand pit-like moat, filled with muggle toys. Muggle toys that attacked with potions and poisons; that could only be stilled with the right words. Beyond that lay a towering castle, filled to the brim with inconsequential memories and such things. A few more important ones, to be sure. However, the truly important memories were hidden better than that. They were buried in the sandpit. And could only be found if you dug tem up with the right toy. The walls would hold, though, so unless someone with more creativity than her attempted to breach them, the sandpit was relatively unnecessary.

That was the thing with Legilimency- it was the uncreative that attempted to master it, but only the truly creative people would succeed. The creative people could come up with more inventive ways of getting the same information… and get the information in a more subtle way, to be sure.

Hermione walked back into the room just as the other two were stirring, with a small beaded purse clutched in her right hand.

"You're awake," was all she said, glaring at the two of them. Harry blushed. Ginny, however, glared right into her. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought that she was chastising Hermione for blaming them for the timing of their Magical Maturity. His mind was more… pleasantly engaged.

"Harry? Harry! Harry, snap out of it!" He jerked, and his cheeks flamed as he realised that both girls were staring at him, concern peering out of their expressive eyes. He turned to face the window, preferring to watch the small flag flutter in the breeze, and the rolling mountains beyond it rather than face their questioning glances. It didn't work.

"Harry, look at us," said Ginny, "we were discussing the mission, and I was going to remove the Trace from your wand… but if you can't look at us, then we can't include you in the conversation." That didn't help either; just turned his cheeks an even brighter red as he turned around again, face pointing determinedly at his feet. He would not let them see how red he had gone, he would not. Instead, he silently handed over the wand that was hiding in his back pocket, much to the disappointment of Hermione who had listened to Mad-Eye's rants.

"At least I know what to get you for your Birthday," she muttered under the breath- but Harry, who had gained enhanced hearing, heard it clearly, though he pretended not to. What on earth did she mean?

"Thank you, Harry," said Ginny softly as she took the wand gently out of his hand, her skin brushing against his as she did so. Harry's breath caught as the soft skin brushed against the top of his hand, the warmth was amazingly gentle; not something he had expected from the youngest of seven, and with six elder brothers. Well, he wasn't sure what he had expected exactly, but that was not it. She muttered something under her breath, his wand flashed, and she handed it back to him.

"There," she said, with not a small amount of pride in her expression, "I did it. You can use it now!" He grasped the wand as warmth spread through his body, infusing every particle of his skin with a tingling sensation that he remembered, associated with the first time he had ever held his wand.

"It's celebrating," said Hermione, "Your wand is celebrating the fact that it can now perform your magic uninhibited."

"Uninhibited?"

"It means that there's nothing…"

"I know what it means," said Harry irritably, "but why was it inhibited in the first place?" Hermione blushed, realising her mistake. How could she have forgotten what he had told them only a few hours previously about his intellect?

"The Trace includes a tracer, stopping the wand from preforming spells that are either deemed too difficult or too Dark for people under legal age to be performing- all Dark spells are blocked, as well as a few light spells like warding," explained Hermione, the dull flush never leaving her cheeks. Harry nodded, but he still looked puzzled.

"Why was the Patronus not blocked then?" he asked. Hermione adopted his puzzled look- Ginny, however, did not. Instead, she grinned triumphantly.

"Two reasons," she said, "one; to perform the spell itself doesn't require that much power- it has more to do with the emotions which is why it is more difficult around more Dementors. It's emotionally draining, more than magically. Secondly- when the Tracer was developed, the magical world was in a terrible war against Grindelwald. That was why the Tracer was originally developed, to stop those who had not enough experience to resist Grindelwald's speeches from learning the Dark Arts. It was therefore a requirement of the Wizengamot that no spells that were classed as Defence against the Dark Arts would be blocked from the wands, no matter the power they required. It was up to the teacher to only introduce spells that the student was capable of." Hermione shook her head.

"That's ridiculous, if they had that much control over the student, the Tracer wouldn't be required." Ginny just shrugged.

"So…" said Harry, attempting to diffuse the tension, "what was this information that you gave Hermione?" It was an innocent question, but it had the opposite effect to that which Harry had intended. Both Ginny and Hermione tensed, their shoulders hunched over as worried expressions crossed their faces.

"A- are you sure you want to know?" asked Ginny hesitantly, and Harry nodded. She and Hermione exchanged looks before Ginny sighed deeply, her eyes sparkling in a way that didn't look happy. It could have been tears, but that just seemed so… wrong… when it came to Ginny Weasley.

"Well," began Ginny sadly, "I overheard this the other night when I went downstairs to get some hot chocolate because I couldn't sleep. Mum, Ron and Percy were in the kitchen…"

"Wait- Percy?" Harry interrupted.

"That's what I thought," Ginny nodded, "I thought he still wasn't speaking to us. Turns out, he just wasn't speaking to Dad, Bill, Charlie and I. I decided to listen to their conversation a little before I interrupted- what if they were talking about something I didn't want to be a part of? Turns out that was a good thing… for you."

Harry was beginning to get a very, very bad feeling about this 'information.' Ginny took a deep breath and continued.

"They were discussing… you," said Ginny, "and it wasn't very nice." Suddenly, she paled, and ran out of the room. Harry and Hermione shared shocked looks- but there wasn't time to wonder about it, because almost immediately, Ginny rushed back in.

"I think this might give you a better idea," she explained, holding up a small object.

"A mirror?" asked Harry sceptically, and Ginny shook her head.

"It's not a mirror," she said, "its Fred and George's latest invention. It's like a Pensive, but it lets a larger group of people watch the memory- and it's from outside of the viewer's perspective. The memory can't be tampered with, either." Harry nodded as Ginny added the particular memory to the surface of the mirror, and they… watched.

~()~

Percy, Ron and Molly were huddled around the kitchen counter, talking in hushed voices. The light was dull, so they couldn't make out the expressions on their faces, so they strained to hear the conversation that was taking place.

"…few more weeks, Ron," hissed Percy.

"A few more weeks is too long!" Ron said, "I want him out now!"

"So do I, Ronnie, but we need his Gringotts key first and once he's of age we can let him go. If we send him off now, the potions won't work properly!" said Molly patiently.

"Why not?" asked Ron stubbornly.

"Ron," said Percy exasperatedly, "we've been over this a thousand times! Potter needs to take all 6 doses for it to work at all; otherwise it won't get through his system properly! He can only have one a week; if we give him more than that he will be poisoned and either die or be sent to St Mungos and they would ruin the plan!"

"Why don't we just kill him then?" asked Ron.

"If we kill him, people will talk. They will know what we did and then the Wizarding world will turn on us! Potter is the only one that can kill Voldemort! We can't take his powers or his money if he dies before he is of age! How are they for a few reasons! Want some more? I would lose my job; mum would be cast out of the Weasley family, as would you and I. Mum would get sent to Azkaban along with me; you could plead your age and get locked in St Mungos if you tried, but I doubt it would work as you are of age and can't afford a lawyer." Percy continued to rant for a few more minutes before Molly shut him up.

"Okay, I get it," Ron grumbled, "Potter can stay in my room for a few more weeks. Then the potions are finished and we can send him off to kill Voldemort. When he kills Voldemort, he dies and we get all of his money. But how do you know the potions will work?"

Molly and Percy just glared at him. Ron glared back for a minute before ducking his head, ears flaming red.

"Alright, the potions will work," he grumbled, "I'm going to bed." And he stomped up the stairs, only just missing Ginny in his anger. The memory ended, and the mirror went blank for a second before reflecting the room again.

~()~

Harry stared at the mirror, lost for words. Speechless. Hermione and Ginny saw his devastated look and quickly dropped down onto the ground on either side of him and wrapped their arms around his emaciated body, their legs curled up beneath them. They stayed that way for several hours.

Thanks to my awesome sister, and Beta; Sarakitty for doing an amazing job of translating my drivel

[End of Chapter One. Please review!]