Disclaimer: Harry Potter, its characters, and the Harry Potter Universe belong to JK Rowling. I only lay claim to the situations I am about to put them in for your entertainment. I hope you enjoy my writing but warn you it will sound different than JK Rowling's style.
Chapter 14: Free time
At breakfast, Harry was happily tucking into some eggs and bacon when he got a sudden sense of dread. He was positive that if he had Neville's remembrall it would currently be filled with red smoke. What had he forgotten? He was replaying his day, and his glaring error became apparent. He immediately stood up and was out of the great hall like a seeker after a snitch. He admonished himself all of the way back to his room where he took the floo to the Burrow with an apology already on his lips.
What he walked into was anything but expected. Mrs. Weasley watching the floo with hopeful anticipation and was clearly disappointed when Harry arrived. Mr. Weasley had temporarily stopped talking but resumed his conversation with an auror. As Harry approached, he could hear the remnants of a missing persons interview being conducted with Mr. Weasley.
"Oh Harry, we haven't seen Ginny since yesterday morning. Have you heard from her?" inquired Mrs. Weasley tearfully.
"Last I knew she was leaving for the chaser tryouts for Puddlemere United's reserve team. She didn't say how long she'd be gone though. Have you contacted the coach?" asked Harry.
The scene was interrupted by an incoming floo. Ginny walked in looking a little worse for wear and was immediately pounced upon by her mother. "Where have you been!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed with relief and frustration.
"Mum, quiet down, my head is throbbing... After the tryouts the team took me out for a pint to celebrate. A few pints later, one of the other reserve chasers allowed me to crash at her place for the night. It was no big deal" said Ginny with little remorse.
"No big deal? NO BIG DEAL? You could have let us know where you were, we've been worried sick. You're grounded for the next month. You'll have a good time de-gnoming the garden, scrubbing pots by hand, and cleaning the house to make up for it. Go to your room this instant young lady. I hope it was worth it!" Said Mrs. Weasley, as an afterthought she added, "and congratulations on making the team."
"That's just it mum, I'm not grounded. I'm moving out. I need to be closer to the team and Jewley has an extra room at her flat." stated Ginny plainly.
"Who's this Jewley?... and you most certainly are not moving out." stated an irate Mrs. Weasley.
"Jewley Hammersmith is the lead chaser for the reserve team and I stayed at her place last night. I am moving out, and that WILL be happening as soon as I can pack up my stuff." Ginny said shortly. She then proceeded to her room as loudly as possible. Harry could hear her packing her belongings, at the same volume, and returned with her trunk in tow. Harry did not know how to proceed. The Weasleys had been the closest thing to family for him since he had met Ron on the train. That being said, he was now dating Ginny and felt like he should be supportive. While he was making up his mind, Ginny kept marching right out the front door. Apparently in the heat of the moment, Ginny didn't seem to notice that Harry was there. She hitched the trunk to the back of her broom and left without looking back.
This gave Harry a bit of a reprieve and he just stood there awkwardly. Mrs. Weasley stomped off toward the kitchen, clearly choking back tears. A stunned Arthur awkwardly bid the auror goodbye and thanked him for his time. Harry, not knowing what to do, gave Mr. Weasley a knowing glance, nodded his head solemnly, and took the floo back to Hogwarts.
Upon his less then graceful arrival, Harry found Hermione in their common area. He relayed the brief, but significant, events from the Burrow to Hermione who did not seemed shocked at this revelation. "Well, Ginny always said she would be out of there as soon as she could be. It was a bit more dramatic than necessary, but I can't say I'm surprised."
"Yeah, you're right. But I don't even know where to find her now. I guess I will need to send an owl." Harry wrote a quick note and carried it off to the Owlery. If he had to guess, by the time the school owl found Ginny and he received a reply, he had a few days before he'd get to talk with her. On the upside, Ginny having her own place could allow them some much needed privacy as well as the perk of being in a much larger wizarding town than Ottery St. Catchpole. On his way back he contemplated what to do with his time. He had it narrowed to working on his magical control and trying his hand at removing the portrait of Sirius' mother at Grimmauld Place. He decided on a combination of the two.
Once back at Headquarters, Harry found himself alone. He sat down in one of the chairs and forced the magic from his core into the environment. He tried shifting the energy toward his scar. Never having intentionally controlled the flow before, he couldn't tell if it was working, so he released his effort. He tried to think through what had happened last time. The mirror was the difference.
Harry proceeded to the bathroom to try to the process again while looking in the mirror. He pushed his magic out again and focused on his scar. He could feel his magic pulling this time, but didn't have the flow. Something was still off. He had now pushed his magic out of his core twice, and he had been warned not to do this more two times in a single day. His efforts had not been held for as long as they were previously, so he decided he could give it one more go. He started by analyzing his scar. He traced the outline with his eyes. He closed his eyes and visualized the scar. He remembered the pain it had caused, the feel of the connection to Voldemort's mind, and he began pushing his magic toward the scar. He felt the flow of magic and focused to control it. Harry was highly aware that his magical reserves were wearing thin. Paradoxically, he started feeling stronger. He opened his eyes and could see that magic was not flowing out of him. He stared at his iridescent, silver-blue scar and held his magic until the growing sense of weakness clearly overrode the new found sense of strength. He released his magic, stumbled to the nearest chair, and fell asleep.
He was shaken awake a few hours later as Hermione found him in the chair sleeping. "Harry! Harry wake up!" yelled Hermione.
"Morning Hermione... what can I do for you?" ask Harry half awake.
"You missed lunch so I was checking on you." stated Hermione.
"Checking on me... I must have passed out... I was practicing with my magic. Can you check my levels? I think I moved magic to my secondary core, but I'm not sure." Harry said as he fought to stay awake.
Hermione cast the spell and her jaw dropped. "Looks like you were right, your secondary core is at about forty percent. Based on how you are behaving, I would say you over did it. I will have one of the house elves bring your dinner up here later. You are not to use any magic the rest of the day and then see Madam Pomfrey in the morning."
Harry readily agreed and remembered little else from the evening besides blinking, eating some soup and bread, blinking again, and then waking up in his bed the next morning.
He must have been more tired than even he realized, since he didn't remember moving to his bed, then again, the house elves or Hermione could have levitated him there. After a few good stretches and a quick run to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he vaguely remembered his promise to Hermione.
Upon his arrival to the hospital wing, he was immediately chastised by the healer. "Mr. Potter, I specifically told you to not overdue your new found talent. It is not considered control, if you put yourself into an exhaustion induced coma for nearly eighteen hours. Still... my protégé tells me you were able to accomplish something for your efforts. If you don't mind, Ms. Granger and I will check your progress."
Harry watched the healer and his friend's expressions as they set to the task. It seemed like it was going to be a good prognosis based on their reactions.
"Well, it appears your magic is nearly replenished and in record time, if you were as tired as Ms. Granger tells me. Do you care to repeat your efforts from yesterday? We would like to see your magical core manipulation in action now that you have focused your control. If you feel up to it, of course."
"I'll have a go at it. Please cast the charms and I will try to replicate what I did yesterday." Harry focused on the memories of the scar. At times they were abstract, but he visualized the shape of the scar and the feeling of the connection to Voldemort. Then he pushed once again.
As he was pushing, he registered Hermione's voice "Fifty percent... Sixty Percent... Seventy Percent... Eighty Percent... Ninety Percent... FULL!"
When she said the words full, he felt his magic struggle to keep flowing, and simultaneously felt like his head was going to rip open. He stopped moving his magic and sat down on the bed next to him.
"Well done, Mister Potter. You transitioned about half your magic into your extra magical core and that filled the remaining sixty percent. That means if you drained both of your cores you could have both of them filled in a matter of days. That is astounding to say the least! I wonder where the surprises will end with you." Madam Pomfrey wandered away to get her notebook to record the findings for the day.
"Hermione, I was wondering if you would want to go to Grimmauld Place with me this evening. I want to have most of my magic available when I try to take down the portrait and I was hoping you would be there in case something goes wrong." asked Harry.
"You really shouldn't push yourself, Harry, but we can give it a try. Have you decided what spell you're going to use to remove the portrait? A reducto perhaps? A blasting curse? There is no point in going unless you have a good plan." Hermione said thinking she had gotten the best of Harry.
"Actually, yes I have, but you will have to wait and see. The goal is to remove the portrait, not to blow up the house. We can floo over after dinner if that works for you. See you later, I need to grab brunch and I am going to go back to bed until dinner. I want to recover as much strength as possible for this evening.
It wasn't until dusk that Harry was able to get Hermione to leave the castle. They reached Grimmauld Place and immediately had to calm Walburga. They then proceeded to the dining room to draw up a plan of attack. Hermione started pressing Harry on what spell he was going to use. Harry, sensing a rare opportunity, decided to try to lead Hermione to the answer through a series of questions for a change. "Well, Hermione, what would you do with any other picture you hung on the wall?"
"Well I would take it down, remove its hook, patch up the wall, and repaint it." said Hermione missing Harry's point.
"What would you do with the picture at that point?" tried Harry again.
"Most of the time we just replace the picture in the frame Harry, and leave the old one behind it." said a frustrated Hermione.
"Well let's say you were taking it down for good." added Harry.
"Well then I would throw it away wouldn't I?" said a now confused and frustrated Hermione.
"But what if you wanted to keep it?" asked Harry.
"We may store it in the attic." said Hermione.
"But what if you wanted to protect it since it was a family heirloom?" Harry tried one last time.
"I would pack it in a box... pack it? Is that the answer? You want to use a packing spell?" asked Hermione.
"Very specifically I want to use an organizing spell. It just happens to be used to sort socks or organize clothes for packing usually..." Harry paused as he saw the wheels of Hermione's mind turning. He wasn't sure if she was doing math to calculate if it would work, but that's what he imagined in his head.
After a minute her eyes came up from the floor shining with excitement. "That may work... That just might work."
"Shall we give it a try?" Asked Harry with a renewed sense of hope and a cocky grin.
"Maybe I should try first, we don't know if it has even been done before. If nothing else, it could save you a small bit of effort later." said Hermione.
"Sure" said Harry with a shrug. "I was going to use the eídos parangelía charm."
Hermione closed her eyes and cast the spell. As she did so, the portrait began cursing her name and complaining about mudbloods performing magic in the ancient and noble house of Black. She struggled for a few minutes, fueling her efforts with the frustration caused be the portrait's words, but it was to no avail.
Harry called Kreacher to his side. "Kreacher, I am going to try to move the portrait of your former mistress. If you see it moving from the wall, I wish you to assist me in any way possible to remove all connections to the wall. If you help me with this, I will let you keep the portrait in your private quarters if you wish. Is that understood?"
"Yes Master Harry, Kreacher will help with this task, like Master helped Kreature with the locket." replied the house elf.
Harry took out the Elder Wand, inhaled deeply and cast "Eídos Parangelía!" He poured all of his energy into the spell. The wall began to shake and the portrait began to rattle. That's when Kreacher stepped next to Harry with his hand raised. The portrait started shouting at the elf, but both pushed on. Harry could feel his levels declining quickly, but the rattling became louder and bits of plaster were falling off the wall. Finally with a burst of energy from Kreature, the portrait went flying to the elf. This was not a controlled acceleration though, so the pair went flying into the stairs. Hermione quickly rushed over to find Kreature bleeding and unconscious. She attempted some basic healing spells, but her attempts were fruitless. Elvin magic was not the same wizards. In a panic, Harry scooped up the elf and quickly floo'd back to Hogwarts.
Sprinting through the halls, Harry made his way to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey quickly came to his aid, and used the few spells she had at her disposal for elves to try to staunch the flow of blood. As Hermione caught up she jumped into action as well. Knowing most of their magic would be useless, she started bandaging the elf in muggle fashion, while instructing Harry to get some of the elves from the kitchen.
After a mad dash through the school, Harry tickled the pear on the portrait leading to the kitchen. He found an elf who immediately transported them to the hospital wing and got to work on Kreature. It wasn't until he took a step back to calm down, that he realized the elf he had found was Winky. He just hoped the elf in question had gotten over her drinking problem.