Chapter Eight
Albus Dumbledore opened his eyes, feeling the weight on his shoulders much greater than it had been when he had awoken that morning. For the longest moment he stayed still, listening carefully to noises around him, and gently feeling out the magic. He was in a room, with very strong wards, and his wand was...to his left, less than a metre away.
"Sir, I know you're awake. We're perfectly safe for the moment, don't worry." Dumbledore's eyes snapped open to see Harry moving around his front desk, upon which were multiple cauldrons and ingredients.
"Harry?" He grimaced at the shake to his own voice. Judging by the lack significant response from his limbs, his age was catching up with him. Harry glanced over at him, emerald eyes travelling around him for a moment before he turned back to his potions and muttered something under his breath.
"You got washed in the aftermath of the Killing curse...we both did actually." Dumbledore felt his eyes widened as he remembered the beams bearing down on them, and his helplessness. He hadn't even been able to lift his wand to even attempt some sort of shield. It was on rare occasion he was that weak.
"What happened Harry?" Harry glanced at him for a moment before stirring his potion several times clockwise. He looked unnervingly calm.
"Portkey. I just managed to activate it before we were hit." Dumbledore nodded slowly, resting his head back. He didn't have the strength to appear stern. He had rather the impression that Harry would never stop surprising him.
"And we are in your room?" Harry nodded vaguely as he sprinkled what looked like crushed mandrake root.
"Yeah. I've put the wards around it up to full strength, only owls and that should be able to get through." With that he carefully poured a measure of the potion he was making into a cup and moved to his side, eyes sparkling in what appeared to be amusement.
"And no, I didn't make an illegal portkey." Dumbledore frowned gently as Harry gave him the potion, resting it on his chest.
"Then how..." Harry grinned a bit.
"Preset emergency portkey, perfectly legal by Ministry guidelines when it's set to your own home. You should drink that before it loses its potency." Dumbledore forwent staring at the young man and carefully drank the potion, pleasantly surprised to find it tasted of peppermint. He glanced questionably at Harry who smiled a bit before moving over to his trunk.
"Healing potion. I never liked the bitter ones Snape made. I'm sure he does it on purpose." He chuckled quietly, all the while wondering where exactly Harry would get an emergency portkey from. He hadn't received anything by owl so...
His train of thought was cut of as a gentle buzz filled the room. Harry glanced over to his desk, to where one of his parchments was glowing blue. A moment later, one began to glow black.
"Ah, Remus and Moody." Dumbledore watched as he moved over the desk, reading quickly over the messages, which stopped the buzzing and glowing. Then to his surprise, Harry reached for his quill. It wasn't that this was so extraordinary, it was the fact that it flew to his hand as if attracted before he was anywhere near it. He wondered if he was even aware he'd done it.
"They say they've cleaned out the area as much as they can tell, took them a while getting here though." Dumbledore winced as he forced his body to sit up.
"Can you ask them why the delay?" Harry nodded vaguely, scratching away for a moment. His eyes darkened suddenly.
"They attacked the Burrow as a diversion." Dumbledore watched him carefully. He could see a coldness in his eyes which disturbed him greatly.
"Harry? Are they alright?" Harry nodded a bit, glaring out of his window.
"Yeah, Mr. Weasley managed to trap them in the kitchen until the Order could arrive." He let out a small sigh of relief while Harry moved onto two other pieces of parchment, obviously belonging to his friends.
"Apparently the Ministry managed to get up the street in decent time as well, just after them actually."
"Really?" Harry smiled coldly.
"Yeah, although it was for my arrest rather than safety but I suppose it's a step in the right direction." Dumbledore sighed heavily.
"I take it your magic was detected then?" Harry nodded a bit.
"Couldn't really not have it detected out there in the open when I didn't have time to mask it..."
"You know how to mask your signature?" Dumbledore asked, alarmed. Well that certainly did explain a few things. Judging by the way Harry flushed he definitely hadn't meant to give that away.
"Yeah...well, it'll be fun when I let them near me; they've got a good few dead Death Eaters' lying out in the street." Dumbledore groaned quietly. This was definitely not going to be good. He could only hope Tonks was alright to give possible testimony, and the Ministry personnel were trusted ones.
"I wonder why they haven't come for you if the streets are cleared?" Harry chuckled coldly.
"They have, they're here at the moment actually, outside the house. I made sure to help along the blood magic - none of them are getting in this house for now."
"Helped along?" Harry glanced at him.
"Made sure it activated and stayed, incorporated it into my wards, and extended the wards to contain the house." Dumbledore felt his eyes widen.
"That's extremely advanced magic Harry." Harry shrugged, reddening.
"Don't expect me to be any good at fighting after it. Wasn't that hard anyhow, just a twist here and there...any bones broken?" Dumbledore looked down and tentatively tested his arms and legs.
"None that I am aware of, I do appear weak though." Harry nodded vaguely, closing his trunk and then opening a different compartment. Dumbledore's eyes widened yet again at this. He rarely saw such a trunk outside of Auror habitats.
"You were under Cruciatus long enough, kind of does that to you. I've already given you the best remedy for that I could find out about, must have worked if you woke up."
"A murky green?" Harry glanced at him for a moment before nodding, pulling out a portrait.
"Could you call the school nurse, and then go to the headmaster's office and tell his phoenix to bring the nurse here for his master?" He watched in interest as the women nodded before disappearing from the frame.
"You keep surprising me Harry. She has a frame at Hogwarts?" He glanced at him in surprise but nodded.
"Yeah. I suspect we'll have Madam Pomfrey here in a few minutes. Should..." He grunted in annoyance as his window suddenly exploded.
"Great, they found the weak point. Rather smart for Ministry..." His mutters became inaudible as he drew his wand and moved over to the window.
"I'm not buying anything!" With that he did a sharp Reparo and a small charm to make it unbreakable. Dumbledore chuckled.
"Really Harry, Cornelius isn't going to like you resisting arrest." Harry smiled a bit.
"I'm not resisting, not one of them has said I'm under arrest, they're just attacking my home, and I'm defending it." Dumbledore laughed.
"Oh he most definitely won't like that." Harry shrugged.
"It's alright, I've already written to Luna about what happened for her dad while you were unconscious. Should be in the Quibbler by tomorrow that Ministry officials are attacking and draining the power which should be used to care for the injured member of the public I'm housing."
"It seems you have thought Cornelius out on this one then." Harry snorted.
"Not hard." Dumbledore watched as he nursed the outside of his wrist for a moment before moving back to his trunk and pulling out a pouch. He looked for Harry's wand, but found it was out of sight. He wondered where he had put it so quickly that he hadn't noticed.
"Sandwich sir?" He looked at him a bit bemused until he pulled himself a cheese sandwich out of the pouch and a glass of water that he placed on his bedside table.
"This is what you meant by your own food I take it?" Harry nodded.
"Useful isn't it? Would you like something?" Dumbledore grimaced at the churning in his stomach.
"No thank you Harry." He nodded and tossed the pouch back just as the women came back.
"Oh did you manage to find her?" The woman nodded, glancing at the bed questionably but not apparently bothered for details.
"Yes, she is on her way to the phoenix now." Harry gave her a thankful smile.
"I owe you. I'll speak to you later, alright?" The women nodded, watching the trunk lid come down on her before disappearing from sight. A moment later there was a flash of fire and Madam Pomfrey appeared in the middle of the room, looking distinctly ruffled. She glanced around the room once and then rushed to his side while Fawkes simply landed on the desk chair and watched.
"What have you been up to Albus? I'm having a coffee and suddenly every portrait in the castle is shouting for me! I've never heard anything like it." Dumbledore looked at Harry in amusement who blushed and moved over to stroke a very welcoming Fawkes.
"Nothing Poppy, it's been rather a pleasant day so far." Both Harry and Poppy snorted at exactly the same time.
"Don't look at me like that Albus, you're over one hundred! Puppy eyes lose their power at the age of ten!" Dumbledore sighed, watching Harry as he began to write on his pieces of parchment while he relayed to had happened to Madam Pomfrey. She huffed and examined him before giving him a multitude of potions and scoldings.
"Really, why can't you go to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore glanced at Harry who tensed up just slightly at that.
"You may not be aware that the only thing that's holding half the Ministry from coming in and arresting Harry are some wards. I'd rather like to be here when someone manages to slip through."
"Silly man. Potter! Aren't you hurt? You're in my hospital every month!" Harry smiled a bit over his shoulder.
"No Madam Pomfrey, we're not at school at the moment, I'm fine thank you." Dumbledore frowned.
"You said we both were washed in the aftermath of the Killing curse, why aren't you in my state Harry?" Harry smirked.
"The gift of youth, and I had some protection on me, you didn't. That, and I stayed conscious long enough to take a potion, rather than have it forced down me." His smirk quickly disappeared though when Poppy began to fuss over him.
"Nonsense boy, no one walks away from that curse..." Harry laughed as she trailed off.
"Madam Pomfrey, I rather think you should think before scolding me." Dumbledore watched in amusement as she blushed before clipping him over the head.
"Stop talking back and let me finish examining you." Harry sighed and did so, watching his pieces of parchments glow. Dumbledore leaned forward a bit, hoping that Poppy was taking note of what was on the pieces of parchment, but even as he did, he realized that he couldn't focus on any of the writing on the page. Harry had charmed it.
"Well I..."
"HARRY POTTER! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! REMOVE THESE WARDS AND COME PEACEFULLY..." The charmed voice cut of suddenly as Harry waved his wand and sighed.
"I rather wondered how long it would take them." With that he slipped out from Madam Pomfrey's clutches and moved over to the window, sliding it open. Dumbledore could only guess how many people he was looking out to by the grimace on his face.
"Where's Fudge?"
"That's Minister Fudge Potter!" Harry snorted exactly the same time as Dumbledore did. He glanced over at him in worn amusement before turning back to Fudge.
"Well now that you've actually given me a reason for being attacked at my own home by the Ministry Minister Fudge; care to tell me why I am under arrest?" There was a loud spluttering.
"You've been using magic! You've killed..." Harry grunted.
"Don't any of you believe in innocent until proven guilty?" There were a few murmurs at that from the crowd, but no one seemed to want to speak up.
"Bring these wards down before we force them down Potter!" Harry laughed.
"If you haven't been able to break them down for the past few hours, what makes you think you can do it at all? Besides, even if you get past the wards anytime this summer, you won't get past the blood protection in your lifetime. As long as I feel threatened by your presence, there's absolutely nothing I can do to bring down the magic." Dumbledore had to smile as he heard Fudge scream in frustration.
"You're resisting arrest!" Harry leant against the window frame.
"I am not. One, you only just told me I'm under arrest, after spending the last two hours or so attacking my house, which I have right to defend when I'm not given a reason for the attack. For all I know you could be Voldemort's henchmen coming to kill me! And, secondly, I have no control whatsoever of the blood magic. So you see, Minister, I'm rather stuck here." Poppy glanced at Dumbledore questionably. He gave her a small smile and nodded. Her face came as cold as stone as she charged over to the window.
"Now see here Minister, I have a patient to care for, and I do not appreciate..."
"How did YOU get up there?" Harry moved away from the window, laughing quietly while Madam Pomfrey began a full raging argument with Fudge and his Aurors in his back garden.
"Harry, we can't stay here all summer." Harry grinned.
"Course not; I can leave the house whenever I want. I never said I couldn't. They didn't ask me to go out though, they asked to come in." Dumbledore stared at him. This was definitely not the Harry he was used to. This sounded much too...focused on intellect than pure will and emotion. He began to get the worrisome idea that he was thinking too much about everything.
"How can you leave?" Harry shrugged.
"I have an invisibility cloak, I have I preset portkey I can set somewhere."
"They will have put up things to stop you doing that you know." Harry nodded.
"I know, anti-apparition and portkey wards are up, but they're completely flimsy at best. Wouldn't take much at all to break through them."
"How'd you make that?" He shrugged.
"There are potions that can help, or a little charm could cause a hole in them, or you could just ram right through them if you didn't mind a hell of a headache afterwards I suppose."
"I think you need to sit back and enjoy your holiday more Harry, rather than study." Harry shrugged.
"Not really. It's surprising how interesting books about wards can be when you get the understanding down." Dumbledore chewed nervously on that for a long moment.
"You can't leave yet, not so early into the holidays." Harry let out a long sigh and the tiredness behind his voice cut into him.
"I know. Just remember you say that, and you're the one in the bed not moving much." He smiled slightly.
"Yes I am, aren't I? Perhaps Poppy would be so nice as to give me a strengthening potion so I could get onto my feet and see Cornelius about this stupid escapade of his." Harry moaned quietly.
"How long can I keep him out of here on the excuse of the blood magic?" Dumbledore smiled a bit.
"Not long. How long will your wards last?" Harry flushed.
"They're beginning to collapse. I think they've finally got someone competent on them." Dumbledore murmured his agreement before falling back in thought. He knew that the public wasn't going to be helpful for Fudge if he brought charges against Harry, but Harry didn't exactly play by the rules. There was more than enough for him to justify him accusing Harry of a number of crimes.
"Really! The audacity of that man! How dare he..." Harry cut her off.
"Did you see who's working on the wards?" Madam Pomfrey paused for a moment before glancing back out of the window.
"Yes, it's Arthur's boy...Percy, Percy Weasley." Harry let out a small growl of anger at that name. Dumbledore was aware that his respect for the Weasley family made him feel angry at Percy's betrayal to them, but the light in his eyes foretold of more than just that. He most definitely decided he needed to be out of bed before Percy Weasley got anywhere near Harry Potter. On a vague note though, he felt a fledging of pride; he had chosen him to be Head Boy after all. It was his choice that was bringing down the wards while the others had no success.
"Harry? What are you planning on doing?" Harry let out an audible breath before turning slowly to him, his eyes sparking dangerously.
"Well how many options are there really?" Dumbledore watched him as he slowly paced his rooms. He was unstable, constantly changing from confident and arrogant to the fifteen year old boy he was. Some might have called it growing up, but Harry Potter had grown up long ago, even if he did have his occasional tantrums.
"Cornelius will want you up before the Wizengamot." Harry grunted a bit, glancing at his trunk. Dumbledore smiled a bit.
"Well then maybe I should remind you that I have been reinstated as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot." Harry paused for only a second before continuing his slow pacing.
"You'll only be charged for conspiracy against the Ministry or something unless you act impartial." He had to admit, Harry had never stuck him as a person who went into specifics. That was much more like his friend Hermione Granger.
"Well yes, but the least I can do is make sure you have a fair trial. Cornelius has very little to put on you if you for example condone Veritaserum." Harry winced a bit, glancing around his room for a moment before suddenly moving to his desk and scratching a quick note.
"That'll take ages though. I didn't want to spend my birthday in a holding cell." Dumbledore's face darkened a bit.
"No, I shouldn't think anyone would. Poppy, would you please give me that strengthening potion you keep telling me of? I think I need to take some action."
"Oh Albus you need rest!" Dumbledore gave Harry a pained look. He gave him a small smile and moved over to his trunk. There was more than a moments rummaging, and then he handed him a vial. He felt his moustache twitch violently as Poppy glared at the young boy.
"Oh you've got your own medical care centre here then have you? I take it you won't be needing..." Harry suddenly gave a very small gasp and moved back to sit in his seat.
"What is it?" Harry glared out of the window.
"Percy's not playing nice." Dumbledore quickly drained the potion, happy to find it also was deprived of its normal bitter taste.
"How so?" Harry pulled a face as he got a reply on the furthest right piece of parchment.
"He caused some kind of surge in the wards, making them double back...to me in this case...anyway, my wards are down."
"Then perhaps we should get to business. I must commend you on your potions skills despite Severus's complaints, they are quite potent." Not a word of it a lie Dumbledore climbed shakily to his feet and picked up his wand, letting out a soft sigh as Fawkes flew to him and rested on his shoulder, bathing him in warm strength.
"Thank you my old friend." Harry glanced at him while writing furiously between two pieces of parchments.
"The Order's coming to give you some cover in case the crowds a bit...too much."
"I may be my age Harry, but I do not think I will be crushed in a crowd easily." He flushed a bit but didn't argue. A moment later he nodded to himself.
"Kingsley's already out back with Moody anyway." Dumbledore nodded and stroked Fawkes for a moment before gesturing Poppy over.
"Very well, don't let anyone in the house. I'll contact you when I have the situation working to our benefits." With that, and a flash of bright flame, both adults disappeared from the room. Harry counted silently to five, and then moved quickly to his trunk, summoning a small box. He quickly glanced around and then opened it, quickly looking over the fang inside, before lifting it nervously to his left ear. There was a sharp pain, and then he felt he earring magically attach itself. Pushing the throbbing of his earlobe out of his mind he quickly cast a concealment charm on himself and moved over to the window. Looking out he quickly found Dumbledore and Cornelius being given a wide berth by everyone else. Carefully moving his hand up to his new earring, he cast his mind back to the instruction manual. With painfully slow care he pulled it, begging he didn't rip any skin, while focussing his gaze intently on the two men. To his satisfaction he felt it work immediately.
"...is not on!" Fudge definitely didn't sound appeasing.
"I am telling you Cornelius, there is absolutely no magic that will let you in that house while you parade around here making him feel threatened! You have my word I will deliver him for a hearing later in the month once you withdraw!" Dumbledore's injuries were apparent, but he wore them to no effect. He looked as if he was alive as he was every other day. Harry had to wonder how he managed to do that. Not ten minutes ago he had been unable to move further than a metre without being in pain.
"A month! Never! He's killed..." Dumbledore cut him off so sharply Harry looked for magic whiplash.
"He has killed no one! You will not make such claims without the proper evidence!"
"I have dead bodies!" Dumbledore took a step forward.
"As well I suspect you will. I for one do not take kindly to ambush, neither does Harry. We did not care for control on our curses while defending ourselves!"
"He's underage Dumbledore! He..."
"Is full within his rights to defend himself!" Fudge was so red he resembled in comparison to Harry's fingers a berry, which he wished would be crushed when he closed his fingers.
"He's a dangerous criminal! I will not let him wander free for a month..."
"He is no more a criminal than you and your greed make him! I will remove him from the house and bring him to trial within the week – that is my final offer. If you leave it, you are welcome to continue to attack the blood magic, but bear my warning. The magic will begin to retaliate soon!" Fudge visibly paled at that.
"I...it...you can't...but..."
"Do you agree to my terms?" Fudge looked around him desperately, but no one offered him any help. With a snarl he turned and stormed away.
"I want him in the courtroom by Monday Dumbledore!" With that he disappeared out of sight, his many Aurors and personnel scurrying hungrily after him. It was quite disgusting to see such a sight.
The moment they were out of sight, invisibility cloaks were shed and what appeared to be half the Order was suddenly visible in his back yard. Harry had to admit, he never saw Privet Drive as a politic battleground.
"What do we do now Albus?" The underlying growl to the voice left no doubt that it was Moody speaking.
"We work on reinstating the wards..." Harry groaned gently and moved over to Moody's twin parchment, having noticed it clutched in his hand. He quickly scribbled a note and then moved back over to the window with the parchment and quill, reactivating the fang.
"...don't waste time with putting up the wards again." He saw Moody's magical eye swivel for a long moment around his room.
"Albus? You did leave him in the house didn't you?" Harry stared at him for a moment before remembering the concealment charm. He swore quietly under his breath as there was a panic outside and quickly began writing on the paper.
"Don't worry, I'm here, the wards stop your eye." Moody looked relieved and rather perplexed.
"I didn't know you could block my eye...hey! If he can block my eye he could have been at the meeting last night! The cheeky little..." Dumbledore looked around him in amusement.
"Yes well, he didn't want to share that little secret so feel free to speculate. Perhaps we should adjourn to headquarters? This is not a good place to talk." There were murmurs of accent followed by numerous cracks of apparition. Harry slowly deactivated the fang once Dumbledore left last, obviously painfully. He was surprised he had the strength to Apparate, he wasn't certain he could do it himself if he needed to. He also knew that the younger you are, the faster your power reserves and you yourself recover.
With a small sigh he decided to sit out this Order meeting and replaced the parchment back onto his desk. Placing his wand on his bedside table he moved back to his trunk and shuffled through it until he brought out Rowena's portrait and leant it against his headboard. She wasn't in her frame at the moment so he sat back and waited patiently, running over the days happening in his mind. While a sip of Veritaserum would prove his innocence of murder, it would just prove him guilty of other mundane things like using magic and tampering with Ministry observation records.
"Yet again I hear you have had an adventure. The same small man was running through the halls again. He appears to make quite a habit of it." Harry chuckled quietly, imagining Professor Flitwick running around the castle in a panic every few hours.
"Yes. The outer wards failed and we were attacked by Death Eater's. Professor Dumbledore was badly injured so I brought him back here, and after doing what I could I asked you to summon the school nurse." Rowena sighed quietly.
"A pity she could not see me. I had to ask the other portraits to call for her, and they were rather too eager." Harry grinned.
"Yeah, I heard about that. Couldn't you just shout her and tell her?"
"I'm afraid that if people can't see me, they also can't hear me, otherwise I would immediately instruct them with the appropriate counter-curse." Harry blushed a bit, twisting his thin sheets under his hand.
"Suppose that makes sense." There was a few moments silence which allowed Rowena to look him over. He had no idea whether she was so sharp eyed when she was alive, but she certainly seemed to want to analysis him with every new conversation they had. He wondered as a side note whether she actually knew how much time had passed, or if she tried to interpret that by his appearance.
"What happened at the meeting last night then? Were the charms we went over successful?" Harry grinned reluctantly at that.
"Oh yes, very. Moody couldn't see a wink of me and neither could Dumbledore." Rowena nodded her approval.
"And the other man...the potions master. Did you manage to shield your mind from him?" Harry winced a bit at the reminder. That had been the most draining activity of the night.
"Yeah, with the help of that potion I found in the book and that chant you told me."
"Very good. You were hidden then the entire night?"
"Apparently they're having right arguments over how I managed to hear what they were saying, and give them that little message at the end." Rowena smiled, and he thought he detected a glimmer of pride.
"You are a fast learner when you want to be. You should always leave a little something for people to ponder on, keeps them on their toes, and makes you just a little less predictable."
"I felt a bit silly leaving it though."
"I expect you would do, but did anyone tease you about it as you feared?" He shook his head doubtfully.
"No, but they've hardly had chance to. I spoke to my friends a bit ago. They know I trashed the meeting because Mrs. Weasley was having it out with Mr. Weasley afterwards, but I was more worried about them then that. The Death Eater's attacked their home as a diversion for the Order." Rowena scowled.
"I certainly don't like the sound of those men and women. If I had my wand and my body I would put a stop to them right this instant!" Harry smiled sadly.
"It's not that simple. The Death Eater's are dangerous - very dangerous, and trained hard. They also seem to be getting bigger - I didn't recognize one of them from earlier. That and they managed to beat down Dumbledore by sheer numbers." Rowena sighed.
"A pity. I wasn't able to see him well on the bed. I have heard many a tale about him." Harry nodded.
"He is a great wizard. He saw you as well by the way." Rowena glanced at him in surprise before smiling warmly.
"This is a nice surprise. Three people have seen me in the space of a week. That has never happened before."
"Perhaps when things cool down you will have chance to talk to him. We might have a while before that happens though." Rowena's raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"Oh," Harry explained. "The Minister is taking me to trial again, this time on murder charges as well as underage magic." Rowena eyed him carefully for a moment.
"You didn't kill anyone did you?" Harry shrugged a bit, rather unnerved he didn't really care.
"I'm not sure. Well...I did influence a lot of wands to backfire the next curse fired...but they really killed themselves. I used a Flipendo on one guy to stop him cursing Dumbledore so maybe...the rest I just hit with general physical spells, forcing them away."
"I can't say I know much of your customs and rules in this day, but you did all your actions upon self-defence and defence of another person, so they shouldn't have much against you." Harry laughed coldly.
"Oh Fudge'll drag something up somehow - he's got his own personal vendetta against me. Oh sorry, that's the Minister." Rowena's expression before it darkened.
"A Minister of Magic should not have a personal vendetta." Harry shrugged.
"He's spent the last few years making me out to be a madman and raving lunatic, I'd say he was beyond caring." She looked thoughtful for a long moment.
"Something must be done about him. We may think on that another time. Now, how are your reserves?" Harry sighed and closed his eyes, taking a moment to calm himself before feeling out the magic inside him.
"Weak, but returning quickly. I was surprised Dumbledore managed to get the power to Apparate before I did." Rowena gave him a small smile.
"You'll find some spells become increasingly easier with age. I may have been depicted as my younger self, but I was older than Dumbledore when I finally died. At that time I could Apparate with less than a thought and without even tickling my power supplies." Harry frowned a bit.
"But I thought it was harder to cast spells with age..."
"When you reach the one hundred mark, yes, some spells do become a hassle, but they are the powerful ones. It's not that they become harder; it's that the magic takes longer to regain. A wizard in his prime is normally aged forty to fifty. Before then the most complex spells can't be mastered, and the power reserves aren't under enough control, even if they are revitalised quickly. That is why I worry about you attempted the Fidelius charm. It will surprise me greatly if you can control your own reserves enough to even begin the charm, never mind complete it." Harry flushed darkly in indignation, but quickly pushed it away. He knew from growing experience that Rowena never was dishonest in her assessments. Her assessments came from knowledge of her own vast experience, which he couldn't doubt.
"We'll see." Rowena gave him a long look before gathering herself.
"Are you ready to continue with..."
"Berimas!" Harry cried out in sudden pain as he felt the vein's in his left arm swelling to the size of a baseball. His eyes watered as he tried to reach for his wand on his bedside table but a quick banishing charm prevented his reach. Feeling his legs collapse beneath him at the pain he moaned at the pain, clutching his arm and furiously trying to think through the haze in front of him. He just remembered his second wand in time to be hit with summoning charm, and cursed his bad luck he had let his wand out of his holder at that second. As the wand disappeared from his grip, he found a wand pointed straight between his eyes, and the person he most definitely didn't want to see holding the wand behind it.
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[#]Beta needed[#]