Concido. A powerful blasting curse, which acts at a specific place instead of a general area. The power can be amplified by addition of 'forte' (medium) or 'maxima' (high). The amount of destruction and power depends upon the strength of the caster.

I could use this instead of the general reducto.

Aegis Fortis. Powerful shield. Around eight times sturdier than the normal Protego.

Contego. The advanced version of Protego. Can be used to shield others instead of self. Power can be modulated using the suffixes forte and maxima.

Fulmen. A powerful elemental spell that causes a fork of lightning to erupt towards the opponent. Power varies upon the strength of caster.

Malleus pugno. Also known as Hammerfist, this spell is the most powerful bludgeoner. Illegal to use except for Aurors and Hit-wizards.

Harry closed the diary, mentally making sure he remembered all the spells and their wand movements he had learnt so far. It had been five days since he had received the letter from the twins. No one had yet showed up so far. Perhaps something had happened. Perhaps-

He shook his head. There was no point worrying mindlessly and attracting negative thoughts. It was not as if he was getting an ounce of rest anyway. The nightmares had continued their relentless assault on him, and every time he was forced to watch the same scene over and again. Harry had almost given up, deciding that if the only way he could sleep was to tolerate the nightmares, so be it. Understandably, the black marks underneath his eyes had slowly started to disappear as the fourteen-year-old had lost himself into deep, troubled sleep. For some reason, the Dursleys seemed to leave him alone, except in the morning when he had to do his daily chores. That and dinner, and except that, they left him mostly alone. He was more than grateful for that.

Even his perception of the night had changed. Watching the same scene had brought those wounds to resurface the first couple of days, but then, after watching them over and over again, he began to feel almost insensitive to the event. Now, he spent his time spotting every nuance and cranny of the dream, studying his arch-nemesis and trying to spot the other death eaters in his dream.

For some reason, the nightmares did not stop recurring. It was almost as if his brain had stopped at that particular event, and was recurring repeatedly. It was almost like a-

A recording gone wrong.

Harry's face blanched with the realization. Had something happened to his memory? Was that why his mind was replaying the same events, repeatedly? Was it giving him some kind of alert signal that some of his memories were missing?

His mind went back to the events of the second year. The memory spell. Obliviate. He had heard Lockhart use it. He had seen the spell backfire. He now knew each single event of his nightmare but could never spot being hit by an Obliviate.

What could have happened?

Lockhart had ended up in long-term spell damage ward because of the spell gone wrong. For a moment, he wondered if he might end up beside the fraud, mentally scarred and damaged for life. He lifted his wand again. Still the same. The desperation of not being able to feel that tinge of magic set him off.

He whipped the wand and pointed it to the chair, as he yelled. "Wingardium Leviosa."

Nothing happened. Not even an inch of the chair moved.

Fuck.

He suddenly looked all around, listening keenly to any sounds of owls dive-bombing around him. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds.

One minute.

Two minutes.

No owl.

He looked back at his wand. The stick felt dead as ever. Had his wand lost its magic, somehow during the fight? Momentarily, he wondered of this was how Neville felt when he could not cast a spell. He had seen Malfoy mock Neville and call him several times, calling him a-

Squib.

A certain scary thought pervaded inside his mind. What if, it wasn't his wand? What if-

What if, it was he himself? Had he lost his magic?

Am I a squib?

The thought felt nasty, almost as if someone had torn his torso and expelled the organs out. Magic was one thing that he had; something that separated him from the Dursleys It had always been magic that had helped him out of all situations. He might not have understood how... but on each and every of those situations, he sure felt the presence of magic- the fight with Quirrel, the battle with the basilisk, the dementors... he felt he would die if he didn't have magic anymore.

The disbelief rose in him like a tidal wave, unwilling to accept that he did not have any magic left inside his body. He held up his wand tightly, not caring if his accidental casting might cause him trouble at the ministry. At least it would prove that he still had magic in him. He whipped the wand and yelled, "Wingardium Leviosa"

Nothing happened.

Anger surged through him. He could feel something stirring inside him.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Still nothing happened. The wand felt as dead as ever.

His anger turned into a tempest. Had he noticed himself, he would have observed a slight change all around him. His magic was reacting violently, releasing a steel gray aura all around him. He held the holly wand tightly and went for his best spell.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"'

He felt his magic surge through him. Flowing mightily like a tidal wave, arising from his chest into his hand. He felt the wand get heated up suddenly as it vibrated for a moment and then-

The wand pulverized into dust.

Tears came to Harry's eyes, but the shock of the situation was not over. In his anger, he had shot both of his palms outward as he had pronounced the spell. While his right hand had held the phoenix wand, the very same that was presently nothing more than dust, his other hand was glowing softly. A slight glance showed him that his right hand was glowing as well.

Only if that were the only surprising thing in the room.

A large horse-like creature, except that it was skeletal in appearance, and had large, bat-like wings, stood in front of him in all its glory. Blinding white light ebbed out of it- bathing the entire room in light.

Is this... is this my Patronus?

Almost as if in response, the ethereal creature nodded its large head, towards his hand. Almost automatically, he rose his hand towards the creature, touching it. It felt soft, wet, and solid, and most importantly, the tinge of magic, the familiarity that he felt when he touched his dear phoenix wand was there.

But why did my Patronus change? It should be a stag.

The creature, as if it were sensing his fragile emotions, brushed his hand with it's nuzzle. The gesture felt strangely comforting to him. His eyes turned towards the creature, and then towards the dust on the floor—the final remnants of his dear departed phoenix wand, and when another shocking thought surged through his mind.

If my wand is dust, how did I cast the Patronus?

He looked at his palms, which were still glowing, though the glow had dimmed a little. A wild idea appeared to him, as he willed the Patronus to disappear. The skeletal horse brushed its nuzzle against his palm once more as it dissipated. He raised his right palm towards the chair and whispered.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The chair shot up to the ceiling.

William 'Bill' Weasley walked out from the bank as he walked towards the main apparation points in Diagon Alley. The advantage of apparating from these points were that since many people apparated from here, it was immensely difficult to spot their respective termination points. And letting others know where he was headed was something he wanted to avoid.

He disapparated and reappeared in the outskirts of Surrey, and cast a disillusionment charm on himself. He walked towards the direction of privet Drive, carefully looking all around and watching for any kind of magical activity. Suddenly, he felt a strange rush of magic flowing out from one of the lanes. His years as a goblin-trained curse breaker had sharpened his skills at magic sensing. Knowing who lived in that particular lane, he sprinted towards the house, his mind clouded with worry about what might have happened.

Harry!

Harry had just finished through the entire set of new spells he had learnt from the book he had on elemental charms. So far, he had been able to cast the Glacius and Incendio charms to great effect, the special point of notice being the moment when he was able to cast the two opposing charms simultaneously through the two palms. The fun thing was- none of the wandless magic seemed to be tracked by the Ministry sensors, not that he was complaining. Overjoyed at the new development, he had hastily taken out all of his books, and started perusing on the subjects. Perhaps transfiguration would be interesting.

He was just about to try the animation charm he had learnt last year when he heard a sound of someone rushing into the garden. Stopping midway, he got out of his room; he stepped out into the drawing room towards the door. Dudley was away for the week, and Petunia and Vernon had gone to some club; there was no way someone would come at this hour.

Could it be-?

He looked through the keyhole, but found nothing. Guessing it was someone invisible, he opened the door slowly, and his palm faced outward and a blasting curse on his lips.

A disembodied voice greeted him. "Hey Harry." It sounded nervous.

"Bill." Harry guessed.

"Shhh..." Bill admonished, "We don't want anyone to know that I am here."

Harry's face dropped all traces of geniality. "Am I being watched?"

"By our people, yes, but I am not supposed to tell you anything about that." The voice paused for a moment. "Listen quickly now, the twins told me that you are suffering from some problems?"

Harry nodded. "It's a long story."

"I have some connections with some private mind-healers, who can help with that. They work quickly and ask no questions. But we will have to be fast." The urgency was distinct in his voice.

Harry hesitated a bit. Then, he cleared his throat. "How do I know it is you?"

A soft laugh was heard. "Alastor would be proud of you, Harry. Constantly vigilant, are we?"

Harry grinned.

"I lost four galleons to you in the bet we had last summer."

Harry felt a shot of elation surge through him. "Very well. Do I need to take my belongings?"

"Just your wand. We will return as quickly as possible."

Harry pondered over telling Bill about the wand, but then changed his mind and nodded.

"I cannot apparate inside the wards surrounding the house. If I do, it will alert everyone, including the Ministry. We do not want that, given the conditions."

"What do you mean?"

"Long story."

Harry dropped the topic.

"The twins told me that you have an invisibility cloak, correct?" Harry nodded as Bill continued. "This is what I want you to do. I want you to put that cloak over and walk to the park I noticed a couple of yards away. Right at the bench inside the park. Can you do that?"

Nod.

"I will apparate you from there to our location."

"Understood."

"Go on then." And the voice was no longer heard.

Masking himself completely by the invisibility cloak, he rushed out of the Dursley residence and walked carefully towards the park. As told, he stood right in front of the bench and whispered. 'I am here."

He heard a sigh just near his neck. Turning around instantly, he witnessed the materializing figure of Bill Weasley in front of him as the disillusionment charm faded. Bill nervously looked around. "Stay under your cloak, just hold my hand tightly. I am going to apparate us out of here."

Harry did so, and three second later, he felt the tug at his navel as he felt himself dragged and squeezed through a small keyhole. The entire thing was very nauseous and uncomfortable. The moment his feet touched the ground, Harry buckled down and threw up.

"Side-along apparation isn't enjoyable." Bill commented from beside, observing his reaction.

"I didn't know that, tell me more." Harry replied sarcastically, much to Bill's amusement. Then, he stared up in front of him. The two were standing in front of the humongous, pearly white edifice that sprawled across Diagon Alley.

Gringotts.

"What are we doing in front of Gringotts? I thought you were taking me to see a-"

"Mind healer, yes." Bill interrupted, "—and that is why we need to enter this building."

"But this is Grin-"

"I know." Bill replied impatiently. "No more questions. Follow me swiftly. Make no noise."

Still under his invisibility cloak, Harry just shrugged, following the eldest Weasley brother into the bank.

The two of them crossed the guards on the outside, crossed the rows of people waiting in front of the tellers, and made their way into one of the corridors along the side of a rather lavish archway on the left. Harry followed Bill silently, as the elder Weasley walked stiffly, not looking on either side. After some moments, they had come to a crossroad, and Bill turned to the right sharply, and stood in front of a large door. Whipping his wand out, Bill tapped the door at three different places as the door glowed.

"William Weasley. Curse Breaker. Three-o-five-Dee."

It was some sort of password, Harry guessed as the door glowed brightly, as it disappeared from view, leaving an empty doorway to enter. Bill entered through it, and Harry swiftly followed.

If only it had been so easy.

The moment Harry stepped into the doorway; a white light shot out of the hinges, and formed a barrier, preventing him from entering. He stood, holding his breath, not even trying to twitch a single muscle in fear that it would set the alarm.

"My guest." Bill explained casually, as the light dissipated once again. Harry sighed elatedly as he entered into the room.

It was a strange room. Unlike all of Gringotts, this looked like some kind of muggle office. There were a couple of couches sprawling here and there, with a large table in the center. Behind the table, on a rather kingly throne, sat a goblin- a very old, whiskered goblin.

"You can unveil the invisibility cloak, young Lord."

Harry mused for a moment why the goblin had called him using that unusual name, but he digressed. Things much more important were in his mind. He lifted the cloak up, and looked at Bill who nodded towards the goblin.

"Harry Potter, meet one of the most revered shamans in the country. Nagnok Frades el Boliva."

Harry had never learnt the customs and ways required to conduct dealings with goblins. After a moment of hesitation, he slightly nodded his head. "Uh, nice to meet you, Sir."

"Please come and take a seat." The old goblin had a croaky voice. Harry and Bill walked towards the seats and relaxed comfortably. The goblin gave Harry a sharp look and continued. "Our curse-breaker says that you require a mind-healer for some subjects of an undisclosable nature."

Harry gave a doubtful glance towards Bill who nodded encouragingly. "You can trust him." Turning back towards the goblin, he let out a sigh and began. "You might not believe me," knowing Fudge's reaction when Dumbledore had revealed to him about the return of Voldemort, "- but it is the truth. On the night of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, I was kidnapped from Hogwarts using a portkey to a place where-"

"The dark lord was resurrected, we know." Nagnok replied, finishing Harry's words for him. As if in answer to his inquisitive look, "-we might be bankers, young Lord but we were warriors once. In fact, we still are. It is the nature of the warrior to never underestimate the rise of a possible enemy."

Harry nodded. "Are you going to fight against Voldemort when the time comes-?"

"If he turns against us, yes. We believe staying neutral is good for profit. But knowing what we know about the dark lord, he will turn on us on a whim."

Pause.

"Ever since I had returned home for the holidays, I have been getting nightmares about the fight I had in the graveyard."

"That is perfectly natural—you just had a near-death experience. It is natural to suffer some nightmares of that incident-"

"Every single time I close the eyes." Harry finished.

That shut Nagnok up.

"Every single time-" Bill construed.

"I close my eyes, yes. It is as if my mind is fixated at that memory. I have watched the same scene replay itself again and again, repeatedly over a hundred times so far. That is not natural." Harry emphasized.

"No, it's not." Nagnok construed. "Is it possible to view this memory?"

"In a pensieve?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows at the goblin.

"You are familiar with one, I see."

Bill shot him a surprised look, but did not say anything.

"Are you familiar with the process of extracting a memory?" Bill asked.

"I cannot- I can't do it by myself."

"I will help you." Bill advised. "Think of the incident, and only of that particular incident. I will do everything else."

It was only too easy. Why? Because his mind was almost over-eager to replay the events the moment he closed his eyes, and tried to relax. In matter of a couple of seconds, he was back to that night. His facial features stiffened as he felt Voldemort cruciate him. Bill instantly placed his wand at Harry's temples and extracted the memory out, dropping it into the silvery waters of the pensieve Nagnok had brought out.

The memory glowed with a crimson tinge, something that did not go unnoticed by Bill and Nagnok. However, neither said anything about it.

"We will watch the memory first, and then listen to your problems." Nagnok stated in a no-nonsense tone. Harry nodded.

"Are you going to join in?" Bill asked. Harry gestured a denial with a sway of his arm. "Watched it too many times. Be my guest." Bill nodded and looked at Nagnok, who activated the runes of the device before it swallowed both of them in.

After what seemed to be an anxious twenty minutes or so, the pensieve glowed again as it erupted with a queer little noise, as Nagnok and Bill were ushered out of it, back to their seats. Nagnok's face held a queer, calculating expression while Bill seemed downright shaken.

"That- the dark lord-you-"

Harry waited for a moment, before Bill composed himself using Occlumency and regarded Harry again. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Harry asked, completely oblivious to Bill's query.

"Defeat the dark lord himself in a battle of wills. He should have blasted you away when the spells connected. Despite the reverse spell effect, you should have been blasted into smithereens when the dark lord pushed his entire power towards you. Forgive me, but you are just a fourteen-year-old and-"

"Holds a power at par with the dark lord." Nagnok intervened speculatively.

"What... No!" Harry denied, completely at odds with the idea that he stood any chance against the dark lord. His minions, yes, but having power at par with Voldemort? The idea was completely bollocks.

"Let us return to your problems. You say that your mind is fixated at this memory, right?"

Nod.

"Is it all, I mean- is that all you are suffering from?"

Harry paused. "There is something else." He hesitated for a moment. "Ever since that night, I haven't been able to find any familiarity with my wand." His darted a glance towards Bill, who nodded understandably. "My wand felt cold, dead."

Nagnok gasped shortly but did not say anything.

"In my frustration, I even tried to cast magic using my wand, but nothing happened. However, today morning, the frustration rose more than I could control and I feared that I had lost my magic." Bill looked at him with something like pity, but Harry continued. "In my anger, I tried to shove my magic through my wand as it cast the Patronus spell."

"You can cast a Patronus?" Bill asked with awe.

"Yeah, it is a stag." He hesitated, "I mean it was a stag."

"A corporeal Patronus? Since when?" Nagnok pressed.

"Since last year. I conjured my Patronus for the first time when I was attacked by Dementors." Harry paused for a moment.

"Impressive, for a thirteen year old. How many dementors were there?" Nagnok asked generally.

"I think, I think around a hundred. The entire horde that was sent to Hogwarts had attacked me."

Bill and Nagnok swallowed in unison. "You fought against a hundred dementors with a single Patronus? And that too when you cast it for the first time?"

Harry fought against the blush he was getting because of the embarrassment. He still had problems trying to accept compliments from people.

"Extraordinary." Nagnok exclaimed. "Anyway, what happened when you tried to cast the Patronus today morning?"

"My wand- my wand began to heat up and vibrate, and then- and then, it turned into dust." Harry returned with impeccable sadness in his voice.

Nagnok eyed him speculatively. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Harry lifted his head as the joy of doing wandless magic, returned to him. "I found out that I could do this." He raised his palm to the right, and whispered. "Expecto Patronum!"

The huge, skeletal winged-horse erupted out of his palm and trotted out into the wide room. The bright light emanating from it was dazzling.

"A thestral..." Bill replied reverently. Turning to Harry, "You said it was a stag."

"It was, just that since today morning, it is this- this horse."

"Thestral." Bill corrected.

"thestral." Harry repeated.

"Extraordinary." Nagnok repeated again. "Wandless magic, and without straining. I have one final question, young Lord. Describe your wand for me."

Harry looked puzzled. "Holly and phoenix feather. Eleven and a half inches. Nice and supple." He paused, hesitating to say the next part. "Ollivander said that my wand is the brother wand of Voldemort's wand."

A smile crossed Nagnok's lips as his eyes shone with recognition. "Finally, yes it all makes sense, now."

"Excuse me, what makes sense?" Harry prodded.

Nagnok relaxed back into his chair. "From the moment you entered this room, young Lord, the room has been scanning your magic and your vitals. From the information, it garnered and from what you revealed, I believe I have a few things I can tell you at this moment. More than that, I will need some more time. Perhaps a month or so, if my hunch is correct."

Harry nodded.

"The first thing is that you, Mister Harry Potter, were hit by a killing curse on the night of the third task."

Pause.

Harry blinked.

Then blinked again.

Pause.

"That can't- can't be possible." Harry darted an uneasy glance towards Bill. "I mean, I would remember if I got hit by the curse." He paused. "Right?"

Bill did not reply.

"The second thing, is that the memory you submitted to me, the memory that your mind seems to be fixated at, has been tampered with."

Harry's eyes widened. "I was obliviated?"

"It was more than a memory spell, young Lord. The memory has been hidden from everyone using one of the most powerful spells in Wizarding magic. The Fidelius."

Bill's eyes were large, gaping holes. "Someone hid away a portion of Harry's memories by a Fidelius? Is that even possible?"

Nagnok nodded. "The Fidelius can be used to hide nearly almost anything that has a non-tangible nature. Locations, secrets, information..." he left the statement open-ended. "Fortunately, we goblins have a way to find out the source; that is to say- we can track out the person that cast the spell."

"Who was it? Who cast the Fidelius?"

For the first time, Nagnok smiled at Harry as he gazed at him. He looked downright scary. "It was you."

AUTHOR'S NOTE : I hope you are liking this story. To the best of my knowledge, the premise of this story is unique. I have always hated the idea that Harry was a weak wizard with a very small arsenal of spells and powers when he was supposed to have a power the dark lord knew not. The graveyard scene- it was a bad joke to me. Anyway, I hope you love it. Please follow, favorite and review. Thank you.