~OOooOO~
The banquet seemed to fly by. After everyone had eaten their fill, the prefects escorted the students to their respective houses. Harry left Ron and Hermione, talking to Sirius, to speak to Professor McGonagall. She met him in front of the head table and he pulled her further away. She looked at him, questioningly.
"Professor, there's something I need to talk to you about." Harry began.
"You mean other than the earring and the makeup?" McGonagall asked, smiling.
"Yes...I have a slight problem with my wand. I noticed it right after the final battle and it's only gotten worse since then." Harry paused, not really sure how to say what he needed to tell her. She placed a hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to continue. "My wand doesn't work anymore, or rather, I don't need my wand anymore. I can do everything with just my hands." Harry waited, holding his breath.
Minerva's eyes went very wide and she paled slightly. "You-you don't need your wand? Show me, Harry. Show me." There was instant silence at the head table.
Harry stood back, very conscious of the stares of all the teachers, including Charlie, Bill and Snape. Mimicking a move that Albus Dumbledore had made at the end of Harry's first year, he brought his hands together once and pulled them apart, palms open and facing out. The buntings and wall hangings in the Great Hall all changed from the different house colours to the Gryffindor scarlet and gold. The gasps of the teachers were loud in the silent hall. He could feel Sirius' stare from down the hall. He bent his head toward Hermione as she spoke, presumably to explain to him about the wandless magic, but kept his eyes on Harry. Professor Snape pushed his way forward to stand in front of Harry.
He looked at Harry's hands and asked, "May I?" Harry nodded and Severus Snape took Harry's hands in his. He looked at them and then turned them over, looking at the backs. He released Harry's hands and stepped back, shaking his head. Harry assumed he had been looking for a mark of some sort. Minerva motioned to Poppy Pomfrey, the Hogwarts mediwitch. Madame Pomfrey came forward and ran her wand over and around Harry's body.
"Minerva! His magical abilities are completely off the scales! I've never seen anything like this!" She ran her wand over him a few more times. "Are you able to do all of your magic without your wand?"
"Yes...my wand doesn't work for me at all anymore." There were several more gasps from the instructors as the meaning of this sank in. Albus Dumbledore, even Voldemort, had needed to use a wand for certain things...but Harry didn't. Before them stood the most powerful wizard the world had ever seen. And he wasn't even 18 years old yet.
Minerva turned Harry around, so that he could see where Sirius stood with Ron and Hermione, staring at him. "Hand me your wand." Her voice shook. Harry gave Minerva his wand. "Apparate to them, Harry. You still need a wand to apparate."
He looked at her strangely. "The wards won't let me apparate."
"The wards have been down since the battle. We haven't told anyone yet, other than the teachers. No one knew how they had been put up, and we haven't been able to figure it out yet." Harry nodded.
Harry thought for a moment, and then, turning away from Sirius' shocked eyes, looked back up the hall at the instructors, still standing at the head table. He thought again, and was back in front of Professor McGonagall. Her jaw dropped open briefly, but she recovered quickly. "Merlin, Harry! How long have you been able to do this?" She handed his wand to Madame Pomfrey.
"It started right after I destroyed Voldemort. I began to notice that I was able to do more and more without my wand. I didn't tell anyone, at first, because I couldn't control it well, and then only told Ron and Hermione, once I was more confident. Now, my wand doesn't work at all. This isn't...normal...is it?" Harry was still afraid of being labeled a 'freak'.
"No, but Harry, remember something. You destroyed You-Kn...Voldemort. Severus and I are positive you absorbed Albus' magic when he died. You may have absorbed Voldemort's magic as well, when you destroyed him. You were, after all, his final horcrux, remember?" Harry nodded slowly.
Harry heard the sound of shocked breaths and turned to look at Remus, Bill and Charlie. They hadn't known about that. Snape had known it, Minerva had as well. But no one else, save Ron and Hermione, had known. The horror and pain in Remus' eyes made Harry reach out a hand to him. Remus took it and pulled him into a hug. "Pup! Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell us?"
Harry looked down at his feet. "I-I wasn't sure how anyone would take it. I had a piece of that bastard's soul somewhere in my body, and the only way to get it out was to kill him...or be killed by him, which would have killed him anyway, because mine was the last piece. Ron, Hermione and I had already destroyed the rest." Charlie closed his eyes when Harry talked about being killed by Voldemort. He was very blunt about it, as if it didn't really matter. But, to Charlie, it did matter. He couldn't imagine a life without Harry. He felt Bill's hand gently rubbing his back. It came to rest on his lower back, giving him support. "He survived, Charlie. He won." Bill's whisper reached him and brought him back to himself.
Everyone was staring at Harry as if he had grown a second head, and it was spouting Shakespeare. He hated being looked at like a freak.
Charlie knew only a tiny bit about Harry's upbringing, but he knew it hadn't been a good one. Not like the one all of the Weasleys had, knowing they were loved and wanted. Ron had told them about Harry's being told by the Dursleys that he was a freak. He reached out and put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It doesn't matter anymore. You're here, he's not. You succeeded. You are not a freak, Harry. Remember that."
He felt Harry's shiver and his body answered with one of its own. He let go of Harry and stepped back. Bill was watching him closely. He had to get control of himself or everyone would know how he felt about Harry, not just Bill.
Bill made up his mind, right then. He wasn't going to pursue Harry. No matter that he still wanted him, he wouldn't go after him. In his mind, Harry and Charlie now belonged to each other. He smiled slightly. Now he was going to be able to try and go after the one he had wanted for the last twelve years. Finally.
Minerva looked at Harry. "This really doesn't change anything, you know. You still have classes you need to take. The only one it may affect is Potions." She looked at Snape. "Is it the magic in the wand or in the wizard that supplies the final ingredient in the potions?"
"It's both. The wand holds its own magic, while the magic of the wizard intensifies the magic from the wand. This may affect your ability to make potions properly." Snape looked at Harry thoughtfully. "We won't know until you try to brew your first potion. If your wand no longer accepts your magic, you will have to be excused from Potions classes. There is no way to change that result. I will watch your first potion carefully, to see if it is affected by the lack of magic in your wand."
Harry nodded. "I don't want to get out of my classes. I still need to learn things. But I don't want the wandless magic to cause problems." Severus was surprised that Harry wasn't going to use this as a reason to get out of classes.
"Well, as I said, I will watch the first potion you make. If it doesn't end up as it is supposed to, I am going to recommend that you be switched to a different class. One where you will be able to do as is required."
Harry smiled at them both. "Good. I really don't want to be treated differently because of this. It isn't like I can control it. And, like I said, there are things I still need to learn."
Snape nodded his head slowly. For some reason, Potter was having a really strange effect on him and he wanted to leave as quickly as possible, before it got worse. He nodded at Minerva, nodded to the rest of the instructors and then left, robes billowing behind him. He never noticed the set of bright blue eyes following his progress out of the Hall.
Madame Pomfrey handed Harry his wand. "I can't find any trace of magic left in it. It's like it was drained out into your hands. I would like to have a look at some books I have, to see if this has ever happened before." She left the Great Hall, her mind already sifting through her books.
Ron, Hermione and Sirius came up to the head table. "You alright, mate?" Ron was concerned. He knew how much Harry hated to be singled out, the new look aside.
Harry nodded. "I may not be able to take Potions anymore, though. If there's no magic in my wand, the potions won't turn out right." He turned to look at the headmistress. "Do you think another wand would work? I could try getting a new wand." He actually wanted to finish Potions properly, not like this.
"Let's see how this goes first, Harry. I don't want you to purchase another wand, if it's going to be useless as well. I would, however, recommend that you don't touch anyone else's wand. We don't want their wand to be drained of it's magic as well." She would contact Mr. Ollivander tomorrow morning, to see if there was anything he could do. Maybe he could come up with a solution.
Harry agreed quickly. He didn't want to cause anyone problems because of this new ability.
"Now, it's getting late. You will need to see to your new rooms. Hermione, you will have your own room. I have requested a second Head Boy's room for you, Harry. But, until it's ready, you will need to share with Ron." The two young men nodded. "Now, off to bed with you. Oh, the password is 'Oddment'."
The trio turned and left the hall. Minerva watched, silently, until the doors closed behind them. She turned to the teachers. "Nothing will be said about this new ability of Harry's. The students will notice on their own. It will be impossible to keep it from them, especially if Harry has to transfer out of his Potions class. I want each of you that has Harry in class to watch his magic carefully. I need to know if he's in complete control of it. If not, he will have to have extra lessons to learn to control it." She turned to Sirius. "Your job will be more difficult. You will need to make sure that nothing in the castle starts to behave strangely. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, I need to know about it immediately. Is that understood?"
Sirius accepted his task with a simple nod of his head. He was not going to risk his new positions by keeping something from Minerva, even if Harry was his godson. Merlin knew he needed something to occupy his time. He certainly didn't need the money.
Minerva pursed her lips as she thought of something else. "This is not information to give to anyone in the Ministry of Magic. If they find out about this, it could cause a panic. We don't want Harry to be taken into custody to be studied like an animal. So, not a word. Agreed?"
~OOooOO~
As Ron and Harry got ready for bed, they talked about the effect Harry's wandless magic would have on the other students.
"I can almost guarantee that they're going to want to learn to do it, too." Ron thought it was just another burden on Harry. This wasn't something he'd asked for, it had just happened.
"I don't know that this can be learned. Sure, some spells can be done that way, but all of them? I've never heard of that before. I'm not exactly happy about it, either. I did really want to finish out Potions. I rather like making potions." Harry sat on the second bed in the room and started removing the eyeliner.
Ron chuckled. "You gonna wear that stuff all the time? Or only when you know you'll be seeing Charlie?"
Harry laughed. "That 'stuff', as you call it, goes along with everything else. If I decide not to wear the makeup, I'll wear the plain denims and a sweatshirt."
Ron smiled. "So, every once in a while, you'll look like the old Harry?"
Harry threw a pillow at him. "Yes, you prat, occasionally I will."
"Good...y'know, sometimes I miss him."
"Hey! I'm still in the room, here!" Harry smiled. "And it's not like I changed my personality or who I am, just the way I look."
"I know, s'just hard to get used to. G'nite Harry."
"Night Ron."
