Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
Forest of Mystery.
Harry's eyes filled with tears as his brain tried to process what the old man was telling him. Sirius, the only man he had ever considered family, was dead. He had been killed thinking that Harry was dead. It was his fault, if Sirius had known that he was alive he would have been more careful, he would...
His thoughts were interrupted as strong hands picked him up and he was placed on someone's lap. Looking up, he saw intent black eyes staring at him sternly. A soft voice spoke to him. "Don't even think that this is in any way your fault, you had no way to be here."
Those words broke something in Harry, and he couldn't help but throw his arms around the man's neck and burry his head in his shoulder as tears started to run down his face. Dimly he heard Parvati crying softly at his side, but he was too intent in his own hurt to take notice of it, someone would help Parvati, for once, he needed help himself and Severus seemed more than willing to do so.
Minerva watched with in shock as her younger colleague comforted Harry. If she had had any doubt that Severus had changed, it had disappeared by now. After all, the old Potions Master would have laughed at Black's death and he would have berated Harry for being weak and crying. While the teens tried to come to terms with their losses, Madam Pomfrey stood up.
"Severus."
The man looked up, his arms still firmly around the teen he was holding. "Yes?"
The nurse smiled softly down at him. "Do you have a room in which I can set up my things? I need to examine all of you and make sure you are alright."
The man frowned a bit, but knowing that arguing with her would be no use, he softly called a house elf. When Pepy appeared he told him to lead the nurse to one of the unused rooms close to the common room and help her with anything she needed. Once the two of them had disappeared, he turned his attention to Harry, who had become quite while still gripping him around his neck.
"Better?"
Harry nodded slightly, but didn't move from his position on the man's lap. He needed the closeness to the man that had become his protector and confident during the last months. Severus, sensing this need, didn't move to push him away and instead watched as Seamus entered the room Poppy had moved to.
They all sat in silence for a long while, with Dumbledore, McGonagall and Bill giving the others time to process the news they had given them. Finally, about half an hour later, Seamus reappeared with a frowning Poppy on his heels.
Sensing the woman's confusion, Dumbledore looked at her curiously. "Is there something wrong, Poppy?"
The nurse shook her head slightly. "Just a few shocking things I came across, but I need to check on everyone else before making a statement. Mr. Finnigan is healthy, so don't worry about it, but he has gone through some changes, as was to be expected. Now, if you excuse me, would you mind coming in, Miss Granger? Mr. Finnigan has told me you haven't been feeling well."
Hermione came out some time later with strict orders to rest and so one after another went in, sometimes alone and sometimes in pairs. Severus and Harry were the last ones to enter the room and Severus watched as the nurse not only checked for the boy's physical condition but his magical strength as well. Once she was done with the boy, she turned towards him and he went through the same process. He frown deepened as she finished with him and shooed them both outside.
Everyone was still waiting for them in the large room. Harry and Severus took their seats and looked towards the nurse, who was right now pacing in front of them. Finally it was Dumbledore who broke her nervous walking.
"Is there something wrong with them?"
The children looked at her a bit anxiously. They were all feeling alright except for starting to feel tired again, but there had to be something wrong for the woman to be so agitated. Snapping into attention, the nurse turned around and faced them.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, just surprising. Physically they are in very good condition, probably better than they have ever been. Hermione and Harry still have a bit of the cold they caught a few days ago, I think that because of the lack of magic it was worse than it usually is but they will be fine with a few more days of rest. What really has me surprised is their magic. At first I thought they had all just reached their majority."
Minerva immediately looked up at that. "They are still too young for that."
Poppy nodded in agreement. "Yes, but it's not unheard for, if I remember correctly the Headmaster went through it when he was fifteen."
The old man nodded. "That's right, Poppy, but it's very strange for it to happen before being seventeen, Poppy. I could accept one or two, but all eight of them?"
The nurse smirked grimly. "Actually I would say all nine of them."
Severus' head snapped up. "I already went thought my majority."
The woman nodded. "Yes, I know, that's why I think that the children haven't gone through it yet, but I can't deny that their magical powers have grown quite a lot, same as yours Severus. You're much stronger than when you went into the Forest."
They all stayed silent for a long while, trying to process the meaning of the woman's words. Finally, Hermione broke it. "It kind of makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, we're wizards, we use magic almost unconsciously to live. In the forest, the amount of magic we used was very small because we knew it would be dangerous so subconsciously we tried to store as much magic as we could."
Snape nodded lightly. "You're right. In trying to store up so much magic we stretched our reserves to the limit, making them larger than they ever were and now that we're back into a magical they have filled completely."
The teenagers nodded while still thinking about that theory. Dean cocked his head and looked towards the Potions Master. "But then what about Harry and Parvati? They have been the ones to use the most magic, they wouldn't have had the chance to fill their magical reserves enough to stretch them."
Poppy was the one who answered. "You are right in some way, Mr. Thomas. Harry and Parvati's magic has been the least affected, but they both had larger magical reserves than you, and if I'm not mistaken they didn't really use all of it. Most teenagers have more magic than they are aware of and they usually never reach to activate all of it. I think that their stay in the Forest has managed to awaken their sleeping reserves making them stronger."
Once again everyone fell silent. Finally, after a while, Dumbledore sat up straighter. "We need to discuss what we're going to do now."
Snapped out of her own musings, Poppy quickly interrupted. "Not now, Albus. The children and Severus should go back to bed, all this magic around them is tiring them out more than you think. They need time to adjust to their new surroundings. Not to mention that you could do with some rest too, headmaster."
The old man was about to protest but was cut off. Severus and Harry, while they wanted to discuss what was going to happen, saw that Poppy wanted the Headmaster to rest and agreeing completely with her assessment they stood up. The other teens imited them without a word, while some of them didn't know why they were doing as the nurse said without arguing, they knew better than to question it right now. Their questions would be answered when they were on their own. Minerva smiled slightly when she heard Albus start to protest, ignoring him, she helped the nurse to lift him on his feet. Turning to Severus, she smiled at him.
"We'll be back tomorrow after classes, Severus, try to get a bit of rest."
Snape nodded lightly and led his guests towards the front door from where they would be able to use the portkey to head back to Hogwarts. Poppy held him back from the group and regarded him seriously. "I'll be here to check on you tomorrow morning, try not to use magic until you've rested a bit more and make sure the children don't do anything. You have had years of experience controlling your power and probably won't have much trouble but Merlin knows what they could do if they started to fire curses."
Severus nodded seriously. He had already thought about that and would make sure to warn his former students of it. Not that he thought there would be many problems, they just weren't used to use magic anymore.
"Don't worry, Poppy, I'll warn them."
The nurse nodded and smiled sadly at him. "Try to make sure everyone sleeps, Severus. They need to rest and some of them have had quite a few shocks today. Maybe a bit of dreamless potion wouldn't be amiss." After the man nodded in agreement, she added: "And don't think that because I want you to keep an eye on the students you don't have to rest too. I want you to get at least eight hours of sleep tonight, and I'll be sure to check with your house elf if you have done so."
Severus groaned softly, making the nurse smile. He knew her well enough to know that she would do just as she said.
A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to Vinnie for beta reading.
