"What are you?"
Harry burst into tears.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what just happened! I swear!"
Snape groaned and managed to get back on his feet. He opened his mouth and started laughing uncontrollably.
"Well, I guess Dumbledore was wrong. You definitely aren't a Squib."
His expression became more serious.
"You need to get out of here now. If Aurors catch you, Azkaban will be the least of your worries.
"Azkaban?"
"Right, Petunia raised you as a shut-in Muggle, my bad. Azkaban is wizarding prison. The people who get sent there are the worst of the worst."
"But I didn't do anything wrong!"
Snape snorted.
"You didn't do anything wrong? How dumb are you? Look around. You leveled the entire town. Hopefully you didn't kill anyone, but best case you're responsible for ruining all these people's lives. You also destroyed the place where the Dark Lord was stopped - it's practically sacred to Wizarding Britain."
"It was just an accident!"
"True. We actually have laws for accidents caused by kids without control of their magic - but those sorts of accidents are something like a spoon disappearing or someone getting stunned. Something of this scale could never be classified as accidental magic."
"So... So am I a bad person?"
"I don't think so. A bit dull, perhaps, but certainly not bad. It doesn't matter if you're good or bad, though - it only matters what others can see. You'll learn that in time. For now, RUN!"
"Where should I go?"
"Anywhere, and go quickly. You see those people in the red cloaks? Those are Aurors."
Harry saw more and more of the red-robed wizards appearing on the outskirts of town.
"I'll try to distract them, but I can't distract them forever. GO!"
And with that, Harry bolted for the forest on the other edge of town. While he was running he noticed quite a few people staring at him, but none of them came after him. After what seemed like an eternity, Harry reached the edge of the forest and finally slowed down. He looked back at the town which was now swarming with red-cloaks. Snape had disappeared from sight. So now what to do? He obviously couldn't go back the way he came, but he didn't really want to venture deeper into the forest either - he had read books about things like giant bears and wolves that lived in forests, and he didn't want another near-death experience so soon. Harry decided to stay where he was for now, hoping that once things died down he could find someone to help him out.
Reflexively Harry reached in his pocket to check if his money was still there. Thankfully it was. Well, Harry thought, that means if I get back to Muggle civilization I'll have some time to figure things out. How far away did Snape say they were from London? One hundred kilometers? Definately too far to walk. He needed some form of transportation then. Muggle bus? That might work if he could find one.
Frustrated, Harry kicked the weed growing next to him. He sliced it clean in two and watched in satisfaction as the upper part keeled over and hit the ground. Harry suddenly felt a bit strange. Something had just happened - Harry could have swore that he just saw a light go out. He blinked a couple times to make sure he wasn't imagining things and then focused on a different weed. After staring for a few seconds, there it was again! This time Harry kept his eyes locked and examined the light closely. It appeared be coming from inside the plant, which made no sense since the leaves were opaque. Harry yelled at the plant in an attempt to make the light go away. Nothing happened. The light continued to emanate outwards from the plant. Harry put his hand on the leaves in an attempt to block the light, which had no effect at all; the light just went straight through his hand.
Harry took his focus away from the plant - lo-and-behold, the light was gone. It seemed like the lights only appeared when he concentrated on specific objects. With this in mind, Harry tried concentrating on a tree. After a few seconds, there it was! Harry immediately noted that the tree's light was both larger and more vibrant than the weed's light. It was also a much nicer color to look at - the tree light was a dark, fresh green while the weed light was a moldy yellow. I wonder what would happen if I looked at myself, thought Harry. Obviously he couldn't really stare at himself, so Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on an image of himself.
A few seconds of darkness ensued, and then... Harry's mind exploded a beautiful medley of white, green and blue. His jaw dropped in awe as he examined the kaleidoscope of colors more closely. The green in particular looked familiar - it was exactly the same color as the green mist that he'd used to accidentally blow up Godric's Hollow! Harry dropped the vision instantly, his jubilation replaced with fear. Did this mean he was stuck with the green mist forever? Was his fate to be an unsafe time bomb that could go off and blow up cities at any time? Harry sighed. Worrying about this wouldn't achieve anything - he would keep the green mist a secret until he found someone that knew what it was.
Harry spent the next few hours testing his newfound ability on the flora and fauna of the forest. He quickly realized that only living things let off light. Inanimate objects like rocks, dirt, and sand all were completely dark. Smaller and more annoying plants, like thorns, weeds, or rough grass gave off an unpleasant aura, usually uniformly moldy-yellow. Larger plants like trees and bushes gave off nicer-looking green auras. Small bugs and animals, for example snails, beetles, and mice gave off dull beige-colored auras, whereas the lone large deer Harry had run into gave off a slightly larger but still dull beige aura. Harry, without any rigorous training in Arithmancy, had no clue what any of this was. All he knew was that living things gave off auras, and relatively "nicer" life gave off auras that were bigger and nicer to look at. Of course, none of the auras Harry observed came close to the vibrancy of his own, but Harry wasn't about to look at his own aura again in fear of setting off the green mist.
At this point the sun was setting, and Harry was once again faced with the prospect of sleeping outside. Only this time, he wasn't in the middle of a big city, and there weren't likely to be college professors willing to give him a room for the night. He really didn't want to sleep in the forest - it was cold and wet, and he was deathly afraid that something would eat him. Godric's Hollow was still in shambles, so that wasn't an option either. Only one option then, Harry thought. No sleep for you tonight.
Harry didn't want to stay in one place, so he started following the forest edge, which by a stroke of luck led straight away from Godric's Hollow. It was slow going. There was no trail or road, so Harry regularly had to stop to untangle his feet from roots, or find an away around an unpassable thicket of trees. He went on like this for an hour, then gradually realized that in his current weakened state there was no way he had the strength to keep up the same effort for the rest of the night. But he had decided not to sleep either, so Harry was reduced to laying with his back against a tree, looking warily around him and praying for sunrise to come. Even with his best efforts, Harry couldn't ward off sleep forever. Gradually his eyes drooped until they closed.
Harry was woken by a strange voice.
"Quick! Get away! Get away!"
Startled, Harry looked around for the source of the voice.
"Behind you!"
Harry looked behind him, and saw in the distance a group of men carrying what looked like weapons. He was about to run, and then realized that he might be able to use his newfound ability to scan the men. Harry took a deep breath, focused on the men, and saw...
Five auras of blood red mixed with oily black. The auras were so repellant that Harry could taste vomit in his mouth, and only through sheer force of will was he able to keep his stomach down. Making sure the five men weren't looking in his direction, Harry darted off in the direction of the voice.
"This way! Towards the river!"
Confused, Harry realized the voice was coming from all directions. Where exactly was this river? Harry tried to respond.
"Where's the river?"
"I'm talking to you in your head! Respond through there!"
Harry noticed all five men turn around, look right at him, and start running.
Oh shit Oh shit thought Harry, they must've heard me!
Harry panicked and started running in a random direction. It was no use - there was no way he could outrun an adult. He heard the five men closing in on him. Harry found himself in a clearing, and with nowhere to hide wheeled around to face his fate. Two things happened at the same time.
The fastest of the five men reached the edge of the clearing, crossbow in hand, and loosed a bolt at Harry. At the same time, a huge animal came bounding from the other side, jumped over Harry, intercepted the bolt, and crashed into the man. There wasn't much of a struggle - Harry watched in fascination and horror as the animal ripped the man's head clean off. Blood spurted from his severed neck, but the animal paid no heed as it crashed through the foliage in search of the other four men. Harry heard several more screams in the next few seconds, and then saw the animal bounding back towards him. Harry prepared for the end, but amazingly the creature stopped right in front of him and looked at him expectantly. Harry got a better look at what exactly this thing was. It looked like a very large cat, albeit a cat with a much stronger body and two-inch long teeth.
"Uh, thanks! Please don't kill me too!" Harry managed to squeak out.
Child and big cat looked each other in the eye.
The big cat broke eye contact first.
"Hello child. What brings you here to the Forbidden Forest?"
