Chapter ten

'Then let's do Miss Granger first. If you can stand away from your friends, we don't want the charm to get mixed up with their aura's,' Severus waited until Hermione stood alone then he performed the charm, a bright yellow surrounded her whole body, 'You are yellow. Now it's golden white first, gold second, silver is third, and silver yellow is fourth and yellow is fifth. You are powerful Miss Granger, but I think we all got to see that.'

'You look a little disappointed Hermione, why?' Harry asked.

'I just thought I might be a little higher.'

'Let me explain something. The aura is to show your magical power, not your intelligence. You are one of the cleverest witches I have ever seen, but that is not power.'

'Oh thank you professor, but I thought being smart was part of my power.'

'No, you just have a photographic memory when it comes to anything you read,' Ron said as he rolled his eyes.

'Alright, Mr. Weasley's turn,' Severus waited until Hermione and Ron switched places and perform the charm, it was blue, 'You and Mr. Longbottom are the same colour, blue, so you are sixth. Now I can see you look a little disappointed, but let me say this. The dark lord performed this charm on all his death eaters, that's how he determined rank. Most of them were blue and green, green is under blue, which should tell you that those colours show that those people are still powerful. There would only be a dozen witches and wizards alive that would be silver like I am, like Minerva McGonagall is. There would only be around four or five that would be gold, and that's in the entire wizarding world. Those first three colours are rare and doesn't come along very often. So imagine it this way, if golden white, gold and silver weren't there, then silver yellow would be first, yellow second and blue third. Now to be in the top three in very good, those are the average colours for the top in the list of powerful people. The staff at Hogwarts all have this charm performed on them when they first start. Apart from Minerva, Albus and I, every other member of staff are either blue or green. Do you see now Mr. Weasley?'

'Yeah, I do, thanks professor.'

'Now Harry, you will see your colour,' Severus again waited until Ron and Harry switched places then performed the charm, 'Oh my.'

'Oh Harry,' Hermione stared wide eyes, Ron's mouth dropped open.

Harry stared at the colour around him, 'But you said I was gold, this isn't gold.'

'It's golden white, the same as Merlin. Right now you are as powerful as Merlin and more powerful that Albus Dumbledore ever was. I will tell you this, the dark lord was gold, you are even more powerful than he was.'

'But I don't feel powerful, if I was powerful I wouldn't be so scared all the time. But how can I be? I can't do spells and curses like others, like you can, like Dumbledore, he used wandless magic he was so powerful.'

'Have you ever tried to do magic without your wand?' Severus asked.

'Um, no, I know I couldn't do something like that so why bother.'

'You also had a lot on your mind for years, so naturally you would not be thinking about trying something that you believe only someone like Albus Dumbledore could do. I think you should try. It might not happen straight away, just like when you learn anything, it takes time. So why don't you try something simple, like a levitation charm?'

Harry saw Hermione nod, Ron shrugged, 'Um, okay,' Harry took his wand from his sleeve and handed it to Severus, then stared at the cup on the table, 'I doubt this will work, but here goes,' Harry concentrated on the charm, Wingardium Leviosa and moved his hand as he had seen Dumbledore do, 'Oh fuck,' Harry, Hermione, Ron and Severus all watched the cup float into the air.

'Don't lose it Harry, concentrate,' Severus said as he saw the cup shake slightly, then it very slowly lowered back to the table, 'I think you just saw proof that you are powerful, now I am actually scared to face you.'

Harry heard Hermione snigger which made him look up and saw Severus looked serious, 'I can't believe this, I don't feel powerful, but seeing that, oh blimey,' Harry sat down still staring at the cup and wondering if this meant he could finally stop being so scared. He still didn't feel powerful but if he could just learn to fight properly, fight like a death eater then maybe that would show him exactly how powerful he was.

'So do you want to get settled into Hogwarts?'

'Um, yeah, I do, I just need to pack my clothes, cloak and map. I couldn't be at Hogwarts without those.'

'Ah yes, that map that insulted me or should I say the map charmed by your father and godfather to insult me.'

Harry blushed, 'Sorry, but it wasn't meant to just insult you Severus, it was meant to insult anyone that tried to activate it without the password. Remus took it from me after we left you, but he gave it back before he left Hogwarts. I only used it for things like the DA, during the triwizard tournament or that night. That night I thought I saw Pettigrew's name on the map, I told Remus, he didn't believe me, not at first.'

'None of us thought you were telling the truth. But when you mentioned what you used the map for, you never mentioned one,' Severus raised his eyebrows, 'An invisible person throwing snowballs at Mr. Malfoy.'

'Oh right, I forgot about that, but that was the only time I used it to sneak out using the tunnels. Malfoy was giving Ron and Hermione mouth like he usually did while they were looking at the shrieking shack. I couldn't let him get away with that.'

'Um, how are we supposed to see Harry if the enchantments are around Hogwarts?' Hermione asked.

'We can work it for those times Harry is disguised. He will need to leave Hogwarts to get used to being around people. He could send you an owl when we are about to leave.'

'Okay, that works. We'll let you go pack mate, just do me a favour, don't call my sister a bitch. I know she shouldn't have said that and I get why you're mad, but she is my sister.'

'Okay, I won't call her a bitch where you can hear it, how's that,' Harry smirked, 'Sorry, I won't, I promise,' Harry hugged his friends, 'I'll see you soon, hopefully I won't be so pathetic.'

'You're not pathetic, you've had a hard and dangerous life Harry. You thought it was finally over then they kept going after you as you are the one that killed Voldemort. It's natural to be scared, everyone gets scared. We might not have seen your fear over the years but we knew you must have been.'

'Not very often and usually when I was it had nothing to do with Voldemort. Anyway, I'll let you know when I'll be out so we can meet up.'

'Do that, but listen to Professor Snape. He survived being around some dangerous and powerful people so he must be good,' Ron hugged his friend, 'Talk to you later.'

'You will,' Harry waited until his friends left, 'I'll just pack my stuff.'

'No hurry.'

Harry raced upstairs, grabbed his old rucksack, and shoved all his clothes, shoes and his cloak inside. He then put his map in his pouch before sticking that in his rucksack. He checked the room before he slowly opened the drawer and pulled out the elder wand. Harry stared at it for a minute. He never intended to use it so he had put it away the moment he got to the house. He was glad he did because of the attacks, if one of them ended up disarming him, or killing him then they would have been the master of the most powerful wand in the world. Now though, maybe it was time to use it, along with the power he had. He stuck it inside his pocket before heading downstairs.

'Kreacher, I'm going to be staying at Hogwarts for a while, you can as well, if you want to.'

'Kreacher will be where his master is so Kreacher will return to Hogwarts.'

'Alright, I'll probably see you there.'

'Do you have somewhere we can apparate or do we need to leave?'

'I have a small unwarded section outside, it was so Hermione and Ron could come over without being seen.'

Harry and Severus walked outside, 'I can see you're nervous which is understandable. Minerva took the enchantments down on the small gate but Hagrid is keeping an eye on it until we arrive, just in case.'

'That helps,' Harry felt the panic again. He started to pant, he clutched his hands tight together.

'Stop, do not try to apparate, you'll end up splinching yourself. I will take you, is will be safer.'

'I don't know if I can do this.'

'You can, we'll be outside the enchantments for a couple of seconds,' Severus took hold of Harry's arm, 'You won't be alone.'

'Okay,' Harry said nervously then felt Severus turn, 'Shit,' Harry glanced around with wide eyes but he was being pulled through the small gate onto the Hogwarts grounds then he saw Severus pointing his wand at the gate. As the shimmer went around the gate three figures in dark robes appeared just outside the gates of Hogwarts.