Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own 'em.

AN: Don't usually do these, but I think this chapter necessitates one. Firstly, I want to thank Anna (who's known on here as juno malabre) for fantastic beta-ship. She is a marvel and without herI would undoubtedly fill my stories with terrible typing errors owing to my non-existent typing skills. She has an excellent story posted on here called 'The Unexpected,' which I strongly recommend you check out!

Secondly, thankyou so much to everyone who has reviewed! The reviews are lovely, it was so nice to get the little email bringing me news of them. Please, keep on reviewing, if only to tell me how I can improve this, or if it's going downhill at a rapid rate! And just to answer the question posed by poltergeist report 101, no, Harry hasn't just got elemental/telekinetic powers, it's something a bit more advanced than that, but as to whether it's going to make any sense at all, I don't know...

OK, will stop rambling and get on with the story!

When the swirl of colour faded and Harry fell to his knees, feeling smooth stone under them, it took him a moment to realise where he was. Then it hit him; Grimmauld Place, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, residence of the late Sirius Black and the last place on earth Harry ever wanted to see again. He turned to Lupin and Mr. Weasley, who were dusting off their robes.

"Well? An explanation might be nice. Something along the lines of why you decide to suddenly show up at my house and order me out of it to bring me here of all places?"

Lupin sighed.

"Harry, we will explain. At the moment the entire Order is sitting in the kitchen. We can talk in there for as long as is necessary. And as to why we're here, I would have thought that obvious." Lupin raised an eyebrow. "It's the only place we can discuss what's happened safely."

Harry groaned inwardly as he followed the two men into the kitchen. The entire Order. Whoop-de-doo. Just what he needed – interrogation.

As he entered the room, he had just enough time to glimpse a large number of faces sitting around the table before a huge motherly bulk nearly swept him off his feet.

"Harry! How are you, dear? Oh, Arthur and I have been so worried…but you're all right?"

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," Harry managed to choke out from the enormous hug he was currently trapped in. "I'm…" I'm what? Currently possessed by a strange and frankly very scary thing which could well be Voldemort trying to destroy my mind even further?

"I'm fine."

She released him, and he looked around the circle of faces that were staring intently at him. All were recognisable; and all about as welcome as a flock of vampire bats that have recently taken up residence under your bed.

There was Moody, looking as grizzled as ever, and just as scarred, if not more so. Tonks, whose hair today was bright blue and cut in short spikes all over her head, winked at him. And there, beard tucked neatly into his belt and with a serious expression on his face, sat Dumbledore.

"Hello, Harry."

"Professor," replied Harry stiffly. He didn't feel the raging hate that he had done last year towards the old man, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that somehow, Dumbledore had failed him.

"I expect you are wondering why we have brought you here so soon, Harry, when in the letter that was sent to you this morning we said that you would only be able to spend the final week of your holidays here," said Dumbledore mildly.

"Well, Professor, somehow I suspect that it might have something to do with the letter that I sent to the Order regarding the events of this morning," Harry answered dryly. As he finished speaking, he heard a faint intake of breath rustle from the Order, and noticed them suddenly avoid eye contact with him. So that was how it was going to be, was it? He felt the hot surge of anger rise up again, and this time didn't bother to check it, but let it flood out of him in bitterly sarcastic words.

"Oh, just perfect. Isn't that lovely? The one group of people I think I can trust to help me, and they're afraid. They're all scared of me, just like the rest of the entire bloody wizarding world. Great. So now I'm even more alone than I thought, because the Order is too scared of me to help! Believe me, you really don't need to feel afraid, because I've spent quite enough time doing that already, fearing what's inside me, wondering why the bloody hell it has to be me that all these things happen to. And now I get to friends, and you're all afraid?"

During this speech, far from feeling a kind of release, Harry had instead felt as though his entire body was filling up with energy, energy that fought to be released from him, and which he could scarcely contain. It had begun to seep out, tiny amounts escaping, but the amount was too large to all escape that way, and any minute now he was going to lose it…

Unbeknownst to Harry, Lupin had been watching him steadily throughout the outburst, unlike the rest f the Order, who had long since turned their faces away, through shame or fear, it was hard to tell. It was Lupin, therefore, who noticed the air around Harry begin to spark and crackle like static electricity, and it was he who bellowed at the others to take cover. The last member had just managed to protect themselves when Harry's tenuous grip on the energy within himself snapped.

A wave of blue-white light burst out of him and swept through the entire house. The raw energy smashed glass in photo frames, overturned small furniture and shook a couple of doors off their hinges. Thankfully, the blaze of power subsided after a few minutes, and the Order emerged from their hiding-places to find a boy, standing in the middle of the kitchen, shaking slightly, who turned a milk-white face to them and whispered,

"I'm sorry. I lost control," before he collapsed.

Blurred faces and fuzzy voices floated above him, and he caught snatches of buzzing conversations as he slowly drifted back into consciousness.

"…absolutely incredible…"

"…and you say the Ministry doesn't know?"

"…will he be all right, Poppy?"

And the strongest yet,

"Yes – look, he's waking up now. Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Madam Pomfrey's head floated into view, closely followed by a glass containing some red liquid which she proceeded to force down Harry's throat. It felt as though a violent chemical reaction had just taken place in his stomach, and he was jolted back into full consciousness unpleasantly quickly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please move through to the other rooms so that Madam Pomfrey and myself can check Harry's condition?"

Dumbledore's voice cut through the chatter that had arisen upon Harry's return to wakefulness. The room emptied rapidly, leaving a blissful sense of peace. The old man turned to Harry again.

"Now then, Harry…"

He was cut short by Harry's interruption.

"Professor, please tell me, I really need to know. Is this…power…something to do with Voldemort?"

Dumbledore sat on the edge of Harry's bed and smiled at him.

"I think it highly unlikely. You do share a mental connection with Voldemort and also possess a few of his powers. However, it has been proven that this type of connection can only serve as a means of sharing reactions and experiences, never powers. But to confirm this theory, I need to know all of the exact details of your discovery of this power."

Harry took a deep breath; the time for prevarication was over.

"I woke up this morning after a particularly strange dream. It didn't involve Voldemort," he added hastily, seeing the look on Dumbledore's face. "I was being filled by light – different coloured light, but mainly gold. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until after breakfast when I received the Order's letter. Then somehow I managed to burn a wardrobe – without my wand. The fire just flew out of my fingers. I wrote and told the Order, and then Lupin and Mr. Weasley turned up. He finished, and looked at Dumbledore, whose face now bore an extremely thoughtful expression.

"I see…thankyou, Harry. I wonder…" he said to the room at large, before lapsing into concentration. He blinked, and turned again to Harry.

"I shall go and tell Remus of your explanation. It may aid him in his research – he is currently going through the Black family library to see whether there is any information about your – condition." He finished with a wry smile, and stood up to go and open the door. Before he reached it, however, it was flung open to reveal Lupin clutching a large book and looking strangely excited.

"Albus, I think I've got it! I think I know what's happened to Harry!"