Chapter 4

Harry managed to get to his dorm and showered, quietly grabbed a change of clothes, the marauders map, and his fathers cloak without waking anyone. Pocketing the items he made his way to the great hall for an early breakfast. Halfway through pancakes, bacon, and sausage Harry realized he forgot something important. Possibly something even more important than his desire to get stronger, more important than his family accounts or his new wand.

She's going to be pissed.

That single thought was enough to make Harry abandon his half finished breakfast and the moment he left the great hall he checked to see if anyone was looking. As soon as he deemed the coast clear he broke into a sprint. Hallways, stairs, other students, Harry was determined not to let anything slow him down.

Harry hadn't seen her since before the choosing. How did she feel about it? Was she going to be upset about his stay in the hospital wing? His wand? Bank accounts?

What about when he tells her about Dumbledore being his magical guardian?

No. Harry knew no amount of information would make her forgive him for his absence.

Not even the fact he was unconscious for days would help. She would still be angry he hadn't spoken to her in a while.

Up the stairs two at a time as fast as his legs would carry him. Once Harry reached the top of the tower he looked around for her.

Nothing.

Where was she? We always meet here.

Before he could question where she was further a weight landed on his left shoulder. Turning to face it he was met with a surprising slap.

However not by a hand, by a wing.

Hedwig sat perched on his shoulder and if owls could knit their eyebrows in anger then that's what she would be doing. If looks could cause pain Harry might have to beg for his life.

"Hedwig." Harry smiled but before he could even begin to explain he got slapped up the side of his head with a wing again. "Let me explain." Harry tried but was cut off by a sharp bark then a hard peck to the forehead. "Ouch! Hedwig!" another peck to the head.

"I was asleep."

Peck.

"Unconscious"

Wing slap.

"Mortally wounded after a long fall down the stairs"

Another sharp owl bark.

"Had to get a new wand?"

Harry flicked his wand into his hand from the wrist holder to show his owl as proof. Hedwig didn't hesitate and grabbed it in her beak and threw it across the room where it clattered to the floor by the stairs.

"The goblins forced me into a meeting about various things?"

A harder wing slap then the last one followed by another angry stare.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry ok? I'm sorry I didn't come see you sooner"

Hedwig stared into Harry's eyes and clearly wanted him to continue. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to say anything, but i'm fine now. I'm ok" another moment of staring before Hedwig placed her head on Harry's forehead. Harry reached up and petted her in return softly.

After a couple moments Harry managed to get the little ankle ring from Gringotts on her foot explaining it made her important and only she could take or bring him Gringotts business.

Remembering his wand Harry turned to retrieve it, only to find it being held by a girl he didn't recognize. She was about the same height as him but maybe a tad taller by an inch or two at most. Light blond hair fell to her soldiers in slight waves. She had a pale slender face and light blue eyes speckled with green and a splash of light freckles from cheekbone to cheekbone running across her face.

"You have a very intelligent owl. I'd go as far as to say she might be your familiar with a bond like that" her soft voice indicated she didn't seem to speak a lot but the sparkle in her eyes hinted at mischief.

"Well if you ask her I'm probably her familiar" the words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them. A grin spread over the girl's face.

"This is a beautiful wand" the girl said, changing the subject, rolling the wand in her hand and examining it before reaching out to offer it to Harry.

The boy in question gingerly took his wand from the girl and replaced it back in his wrist holder.

"Um thanks" was all Harry managed unsure how to reply or what to say.

The mysterious girl removed a letter from her robes and approached a school owl but before she got close enough to it to attach the letter Hedwig let out a bark.

"Apparently Hedwig would like to offer her services in return for returning my wand" Harry translated looking at his own owl with eyebrows raised.

Hedwig stood on Harry's shoulder and lifted one leg.

The girl handed her letter to Harry and he tied it to Hedwig's leg.

"Please take it to my mother, she should be at The Meadow, it's my family manor west of London."

Hedwig gave a nod and took flight disappearing from the owlery.

"I rather enjoyed this Potter, as a price for me keeping quiet about you being your owl's familiar you'll save me a dance at yule."

Before Harry could answer the mysterious girl disappeared down the stairs.

Yule? Like Christmas? Why save a dance? Who was she?

It wasn't until Harry had gathered up his old text books and was halfway to an empty classroom on the sixth floor that he realized the girl had a green tie and didn't have a support Cedric button. He felt he should recognize her but with everything going on in Harry's life, he couldn't be expected to remember every face.

M.A.

Two minutes.

That's how long it took Harry to run into his first problem.

He had found an empty classroom at the end of a hall on the sixth floor that, judging by the dust, hadn't been touched in years. Placing his texts on the teachers desk and opening his charms year one book, figuring starting at the beginning and making sure he knew all the spells and could perform them by heart would be a good idea.

The levitation spell, wingardium leviosa. One of the first spells he had ever learned. As good of a place to start as any. Flicking his wand to his hand and taking aim at a nearby chair Harry spoke the spell and gave the proper swish and flick. What happened next surprised him, in the blink of an eye the chair smashed into the ceiling leaving a shower of splinters and wood pieces Harry had to shield his eyes from.

That wasn't quite right.. One more time.

Taking aim at the desk that was paid with the now smashed chair he repeated the spell. The same thing happened. At an alarming rate the desk flew towards the ceiling and smashed to pieces adding to the mess in the room.

Maybe a less destructive spell? Lumos?

Harry cast the light spell and immediately shouted "nox" to turn it off as the ball of light was so bright he was afraid of damaging his retinas. Spots bounced around in his vision as if he had just been staring at the sun for a good amount of time. It took a few moments of blinking for the spots to fade.

What in Merlin's name is going on? Is it the wand? Is it me? It's almost like my spells are overpowered.

Trying to experiment and see what was different Harry covered his eyes with his left hand and cast lumos once more. Even with his eyes closed behind his hand, his eyelids seem red with light. Focusing on the feeling of actually casting magic Harry breathed deep. In and out while maintaining the spell trying to see what was different.

Then it hit him.

His spells seemed overpowered because they were overpowered at an alarming rate.

Before whenever he had to cast a spell Harry had to focus intensely. Like trying to stuff a full orange through a straw and only succeeding to get some juice to come out. Now it was like dumping a full pitcher of orange juice on a cup and hoping some would land in.

Before making a spell work was like trying to grab water in his fist and keep it.. Now it was like the water was part of him. Ready to throw tsunami waves at a moment's notice even if he only needed a cup full.

Focusing hard Harry brought down the intensity of the light to a manageable state even though it was still pretty bright.

It only took a moment for Harry to understand why. "The core binding" he spoke aloud to no one in particular.

Control huh?. I guess I found my goal for the next while.

M.A.

After a couple hours Harry got to a manageable point of lighting his wand and only having it bright and not blinding right off the bat. Levitating the desks and chairs got to the point of throwing them up and hitting the ceiling and no longer obliterating them on it.

This led to Harry getting over confident and deciding to try and fill a goblet with water and almost drowning as he flooded the old classroom.

After one chilly soggy walk back to the Gryffindor dormitories and a fresh change of clothes, Harry had a small list of spells to learn. The drying charm, the vanishing spell to remove old debris in the room, and warming charms.

What happens if you over power a warming charm? Do you just get hot? Or do you cook the target ? maybe it's a good thing I started with water and not fire.

With those thoughts going around his head Harry decided on going to lunch then going to his afternoon classes and possibly talking to a teacher about this over powering issue. His afternoon classes for today were charms then transfiguration. One of those professors should be able to help.

A quick lunch then off to charms. Harry grabbed a seat at the back corner of the class. Not once did he pull out his wand to attempt the spell being performed but professor Flitwick either didn't notice, or didn't care to bring attention to it. While his classmates were learning new spells Harry started thinking. He was exempt from classes and exams, but obviously still needed to learn to survive, and wanted to study magic on his own to help get through the tournament. Divination would be dropped, so would history, potions would be ignored so he didn't have to deal with Snape. One less stress and more time to learn solo. Care of magical creatures, probably dropped too. Just to make more time to study alone.

At the end of class Harry gathered his things and was about to head to the front to talk to professor Flitwick when he spotted Hermione. She had beaten him to the professor and was asking questions about an essay due in a few days.

Harry definitely didn't want to talk to her right now. So instead he figured maybe Professor McGonagall might help. This would be a good chance to see what she will do without Dumbledore over her shoulder. Maybe she will actually help, and if not then i wont bother with her anymore. Last chance.

Transfiguration went the same as charms. Harry sat in the back corner away from everyone else and didn't even bring out his wand, content to let everyone think he still didn't have one as he was sure the entire school knew what had happened to his old holly one.

Class came to a close and the students all packed up to leave save for two. Harry and Hermione. The latter chose to ask professor McGonagall questions while the primary deciding to simply wait in his seat for the other student to leave. It was the last class of the day so Harry had all the time in the world and could easily wait a few minutes.

Did Hermione do this for every class? Was it a daily thing? I wonder if the teachers get annoyed with it.

Once Hermione had gotten the answers she seeked, she grabbed her bag and went to exit the class. Harry saw his moment and grabbed his bag and started to make his way towards McGonagall's desk when he and Hermione made eye contact. Seeing her open her mouth to speak Harry opened his and cut her off as she spoke his name.

"Harr-"

"Professor McGonagall, do you have a moment? I've got some questions" pushing past the other student Harry made his way to the professor's desk.

"Mister Potter, it's good to see you in class once more" the teacher eyed the two students for a moment before Hermione decided to take her leave "what can i assist you with?"

Harry waited for the classroom door to close before speaking "I recently broke some core bindings and am having issues with my magic"

The Scottish teachers' eyes widened.

"Core bindings? Issues with your magic?. What kind of issues?"

Harry ignored the first question and chose instead to demonstrate the later two questions.

Flicking his wand into his hand and pointing it at a nearby chair. Professor McGonagall's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose at the sight of the new wand but didn't comment, instead waited for Harry to cast something.

"Winguardium leviosa" the spell was spoken and motioned perfectly but the chair rocketed to the ceiling and smashed to pieces leaving debris to fall where the chair once stood.

For a moment there was silence while the professor thought about what she had just witnessed.

"Tell me mister potter. How does it feel to cast magic? Is it different than before? How long has this been going on? As long as it doesn't directly involve me giving information about the tournament I shall do my best to help"

"Can you do it without Dumbledore's interference?" A simple question. One that caught the professor off guard. "I've .. recently learned things to do with him that has made me no longer trust him. I would like to trust you but if you need his permission, or even to inform him then I might be better off asking Professor Flitwick. I want to trust you, professor."

A moment of quiet while Minerva McGonagall pondered what Harry had just asked.

The moments of watching Harry's relatives and protesting to Dumbledore about leaving him there flashed through her mind. Followed shortly by first year Harry and his friends asking for help and warning about the stone. Second year not doing anything while the school exiled him for his parseltongue. Third year not doing more to protect him from Black even though it turned out he was innocent. Bringing her thoughts to this year and the tournament.

Coming to a decision professor McGonagall pulled out her wand giving it a flick to lock the door and repairing the chair and offered it to Harry.

"I haven't done enough for you. I protested leaving you at your relatives but it fell on deaf ears and since then I've listened to Albus without too much thought. But that stops now." The scottish teacher seemed to light a fire in her own eyes and pulled up her own chair. "Tell me everything and you have my word as a witch I'll aide you in anyway I can"

Harry felt he was taking a pretty big chance, but he did it anyway. She seemed sincere so he would be honest and give her a chance to prove herself. He told her everything. How it felt to cast magic with his old wand and the difference with his new one, even showing his want to her.

They discussed the motions and feelings of magic, even the sound of it as its cast until it was dinner time. McGonagall had sent Harry to go eat and she had told him to meet her at the black lake at seven sharp. She wanted to eat and check some books that may help but she had a general idea as to what might help.

So Harry did just that. Headed to the great hall for dinner, sat away from everyone else and ignored the stares and the odd malicious comment about being a cheat. Even hearing a couple comments about how he no longer had a wand, he ignored them all.

What sort of idea did McGonagall have? Why the black lake?

Harry was much too lost in thoughts to notice the people staring as he sat there with a grin of excitement on his face. The other students wondering what he could possibly have to grin about. Particularly at the Ravenclaw table one with silver hair. At the Slytherin table there was a blond and one with dark black hair both watching the same grin.

At the Hufflepuff table one redhead also saw the grin and smiled herself only wishing she could speak out to the raven haired boy. This was the house of loyalty so it was almost forbidden to go against the masses, and currently they all hated the messy haired teen for taking their champions spotlight.

M.A.

Harry stood at the edge of the lake closest to the castle waiting for the transfiguration teacher to arrive. Many thoughts when through the teens head about what sort of ideas the professor would have and why here at the lake? How could that help? He was soon to find out as from the corner of his eye he spotted her walking towards him.

"Walk with me mister Potter." and she began to walk around the lake. Harry didn't hesitate to follow and rushed to keep up with the tall lady's long strides.

They walked in silence for a while before reaching the far shore of the lake. Professor McGonagall took out her wand and started waving it in patterns unknown to Harry. While she was doing that he looked over the lake at Hogwarts and thought it was rather beautiful mirroring itself in the lake.

"Privacy wards." McGonagall explained once she had finished.

"Now, I've looked around and even spoken to professor Flitwick about it and the few books I found, he and I all agree on a way to hel[p you. Though it will be trying."

Harry nodded. "What would you have me do?"

"I need you to empty your magical core. Cast your most strenuous spell and then tell me how you feel."

Harry thought about it a moment before pointing his wand out at the lake. "Expecto patronum!"

A brilliant light blue stag lept out of Harry's wand lighting the area and immediately searching for danger.

"Beautifully done mister Potter. That's a NEWT level spell, if we were in class i'd give you points. Do you feel tired at all? It is a taxing spell"

"No mam. I feel fine" Harry studied his stag. It seems a bit off. It seemed extremely realistic, but that wasn't the issue. Were its antlers shorter? Was its eyes more slit like? Tail a bit too long? Fur a bit to.. Fluffy looking?

"Well mister potter we need you tired. Lets try something else. How long can you maintain an incendio?"

Harry was broken from his thoughts and the stag evaporated into nothingness.

"I'm not sure.. At full power?" he replied

"Yes. we want you to drain all your energy. Use all the strength you have at your disposal"

Harry hesitated a moment. If just trying to summon a cup of water caused him to almost drown in a classroom, what would fire do? And at full force? Harry now understood why they came out to the lake.

Inhaling deep, steeling his nerves he pointed his wand over the lake and putting all his might into it the raven haired teen shouted.

"INCENDIO!"

M.A.

Students and visiting schools all over Hogwarts would whisper about this night for a while. It became one of those unofficial rumours.

"Did you hear Sally pet a unicorn just on the edge of the forbidden forest last month?"

"Did you know the Weasley twins feed toast to the giant squid?"

"There is a room on the seventh floor that disappears"

"A couple years ago three first years killed a fully mountain troll with no help at all"

"Jacob says all last year a grim sat by the whomping willow and didn't get crushed"

"Were you watching when half the black lake caught fire?"

The students relaxing on the deck of the Drumstrang ship jumped in fright as a massive wave of fire made its way towards them but stopped halfway across the lake.

A Massive fifteen foot tall wall of solid angry orange red and yellow flames licking at each other almost eager to keep crossing the lake. For almost ten minutes it maintained itself before snuffing out just as fast as it came.

A little way away from the ship sat the Beauxbatons carriage. A few students laying in the grass and some looking out the windows towards the lake, anyone who saw it would definitely remember that brief moment half the lake caught fire.

Throughout Hogwarts' towers and many windows a smattering of students all caught the brief lightshow that was the lake catching fire. It instantly became a hot topic among the gossip of the rumor mill.

M.A.

Professor Minerva McGonagall's witches hat hit the ground, she didn't even feel it leave her head. All of the Scottish woman's attention a engrossed on the massive wall of flame in front of her. This was not what she was expecting at all. How far did it go? She couldn't see through it so it was impossible for her to guess. The stern teacher had been expecting a flame not unlike one of those muggle contraptions, what were they called? Flame throwers? Violent things.

Even more shocking than the size of the wall made of flame was that it didn't just fade out immediately. McGonagall had expected Harry would put all his magic into a big ball of flame and that would be it. However right now the teenager stood before her facing the lake with a serious look and maintaining the flow of flames.

How long could he keep it up? Just how much magic did Harry have at his disposal with his core unbound? She didn't know what time it was or how long it lasted, but after what felt like forever Harry collapsed to his knees and the flames vanished as quickly as they came.

Sweat dripped down Harry's face and neck, he was breathing heavy and dizzy from the effort.

"Alright, now what professor?" he panted to the still dazed teacher.

Professor McGonagall shook her head trying to break her daze. Picking up a pebble from the shore she held it to Harry. "Lift it" she commanded.

Harry pointed his wand and spoke the incantation but the stone simply shook a bit and refused to rise.

"Now that your core is drained you can teach yourself to use only small amounts of your magic instead of throwing it all at it till it does what you want. Before when your core was bound you had to force yourself to accomplish anything because you had to get around the binding. Once it was gone you were still trying to throw everything at it. But without the binding nothing stopped it, causing your spells to be overpowered. Now you will learn to only use what's needed."

The professor placed the stone in Harry's hand. "I want you to remember the three principles I taught you in your first year. Knowledge, power, and intent. You need to know what it is you want to do. The stone for example. You want to lift it. Is it heavy? How far? How fast? Rotating or still? Then you need to have the available power. This pebble and a boulder will take different amounts of magic to move. And intent, you have to want and intend it to happen as you think it should."

Harry stared at the stone in the palm of his hand soaking in his teacher's words. A grin spread across his face.

This is it, the first steps to making my own life.

Knowledge, power, intent.

No one will decide my fate but me.

I will become my own man.