Title: Proving Adept
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: The bindings on Harry's Magical Core should have killed him in a magical explosion, instead his system re-routed the unusable Magic into other, more physical, areas. Now 14 and ready to go to Hogwarts, Harry is not the meek and ignorant weapon Dumbledore expected.
Harry laughed at the joke one of his friends made before he took his next bite of pizza. It was his Birthday and his friends had taken him out to dinner at a small restaurant near the Gym. Kelly and Lindsay were flanking him, with Robert, Megan and Edward sitting across the table. All the kid's parents, except Harry's of course, were seated at a table nearby, including the Head Coach who was Edward's father.
This was not because they did not trust the children, instead it was for the children's protection. Two years ago the Indoor Soccer Club had claimed that one of their players had been injured by one of the anchor points, D rings embedded in the Gymnasium floor to help secure the Gym Equipment, which they said had not been properly covered. They instantly blamed the Gymnastics Club, despite the fact that the Gymnastics Club had not used it in three days when the alleged incident occurred and five other clubs had used the Gymnasium after the Gymnastics Club.
At first the Gymnastics Club thought nothing of it, until one of the older members had been attacked by five members of the Indoor Soccer Club and had ended up in hospital. After that one of the Coaches had begun, as part of their regular training sessions, to teach the Club members how to defend themselves, with an emphasis on escaping and avoiding confrontations but he had shown them a few punches and kicks if they could not avoid a confrontation.
The party was the most fun Harry had experienced in quite some time. Not that his Gymnastics training was not fun, but it was also a lot of hard work and this was… relaxing. Well, mostly. There was still something he had to tell his friends.
"I kind of have an announcement." Harry said during a lull in the conversation. "I'm afraid the Comp in two weeks is going to be my last for a while. I have been accepted into a very exclusive Boarding School up in Scotland and I leave on the First of September."
All the other teens looked at Harry, and he could not help but feel a bit sad, especially with the emotions he 'smelt'. Robert, Megan and Edward were all a bit sad and disappointed that he would be leaving, as Harry was one of their strongest members, but with Kelly and Lindsay there was more. There was that earthy, mushroom like flavour he had been getting off them for a while but there was also a strong sweetly sour flavour as well. Tapping into his enhanced hearing and vision slightly he concentrated on the two girls. Both had slightly elevated heart-rates and breathing as if they had been exercising and they had their individual micro nervous ticks, Kelly just under her right eye and Lindsay in her left hand, the kind of thing most people would never even see, let alone notice, that were involuntary and were a sign of stress.
"I'll be back next June, and I hope to be able to come back for Christmas." Harry said, trying to cheer Kelly and Lindsay up but it did not seem to work.
The party broke up soon after and Harry watched as his friends went their separate ways home, with Kelly and Lindsay looking back at him before they disappeared from view, though not at the same time.
The day after tomorrow, Professor McGonagall would be stopping by to take him shopping for his Hogwarts School supplies. He was kind of amazed that he was a Wizard. When the Professor had asked if he had ever made something float or something had repaired itself around him or anything else strange he had shaken his head. None of that stuff had happened, but thinking back he kind of figured that he had done something else instead.
Magic was where he got his ability to enhance himself from. Instead of making something float, he could run really fast. Instead of repairing things, he could 'smell' emotions. He could tell that the Professor had been truly shocked when he denied having done what she called 'Accidental Magic', but she had performed a spell on him and confirmed that he was Magical.
Shrugging deeper into his jacket, Harry turned and began his walk back to Number 4.
Harry sat on the Hogwarts Express, dressed in well-fitting jeans and his favourite t-shirt, idly browsing through one of the additional books he had picked up on during the trip to Diagon Alley that Professor McGonagall had supervised. McGonagall had shown him how to get onto the platform so he had shown up early and was waiting for the train to depart.
He actually felt kind of stupid, thanks to the trip to Diagon Alley. He now realised what the two emotions he could 'smell' from Kelly and Lindsay. The earthy, mushroom kind of smell was lust. He had smelt that from a number of girls and boys in Diagon who were going out with each other. The sweetly sour flavour was devastation, he had 'smelt' it on an older Witch who had just broken up rather publicly with her boyfriend. Kelly and Lindsay were infatuated with him and had been devastated that he was going away to school. He felt flattered, but he was not interested in them in that way. Sure they were good friends but that was the extent of their relationship.
A knock sounded on the door and Harry looked up from his book.
"Come." Harry called out.
The door opened and a teenaged girl with bushy brown hair entered, but she stuck close to the doorway. She was dressed in a pair of jeans that accentuated her hips and butt and a nice long sleeved shirt, but he could tell, partly from the 'smell' and partly from the way she held herself, that she did not consider herself in any way attractive, in fact she seemed to be emotionally shy.
"Hello." Harry said. "Were you looking for somewhere to sit?"
"I can find somewhere else." The girl said in a slightly hurt voice.
"No, come in." Harry said, closing his book and waving a hand at the opposite facing seat. "Sit down. My name's Harry Potter, what's yours?"
"Hermione Granger." The girl said as she hesitantly walked in and sat down, as the train whistle blew outside. "Are you sure it's ok for me to be here?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Harry asked as the train began to move out of the station.
"Well…" Hermione began.
"It was a rhetorical question." Harry said. "Let me guess, you are extremely intelligent, quite a bibliophile. Your peers either ignored you when they did not want you to do their homework or they bullied you."
"Who told you?" Hermione said, getting angry. "Have you been following me?"
"No, I have not been following you or speaking to anyone." Harry said in replied. "Your hesitant behaviour and you hovering near the door when you entered tells me that you are wary of strangers and were most likely bullied. The unusual wear pattern on the outside heel of your sneakers and the slight smudges and small cuts on your fingers indicate you love reading books, most likely you have a comfortable chair in your room at home where you read your most beloved novels. With someone who looks as good as you, the only reason you would be bullied was if you were socially unpopular, which means they are jealous of your intelligence."
Hermione stopped being angry shortly into Harry's speech, and began to stare in fascination.
"How did you do that?" Hermione asked.
"Again proving my point." Harry said. "I said you looked beautiful and you focus on how I deduced so much about you."
"I'm beautiful?" Hermione said in disbelief. "With this hair, and theses teeth?"
"It's all observation." Harry said, referring back to her earlier question. "Try to take note of everything you see. Question every assumption and everything you have been told. The rest is knowing what it all means. That I can teach you."
"It sounds too simple." Hermione said.
"Far from." Harry replied.
TBC…
A/N: I know that Hermione is much more… meek than in the Books/Films, but in this story he has had an extra three years of sever bullying in school. She will be more like the normal Hermione in future but it is going to take some time for her to open up, though she will be more 'herself' with Harry than anyone else for quite some time.