Chapter 6: New Powers

Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked up from where they were seated on the stairs as Dumbledore came striding out of the library, they looked past him for Harry but could not see their friend. They all felt slightly nervous, they tried to listen on the extendable ears, but that had failed as Dumbledore had placed an Imperturbable Charm on the room, obviously as a precaution against just that. "You may go in and see him now; I believe he is too shocked to come out at the moment." And with a chuckle he strode out the front door.

"Totally mad, that one," Ron muttered and they jumped up and went into to find out what exactly had their friend so shocked. When they walked into the library they found Harry, slumped in a chair, staring at the wall, they called his name several times and he did not seem to notice them.

Ron started to the door to get his mother, Harry snapped out of his daze, "Hold up mate, I'm alright. Just a bit of a surprise really. I mean, wow…"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, and said in a sugary voice, "Well, then that explains it all, doesn't it."

Harry blushed and make a face at Hermione, "Sorry, It's just a little hard to grasp is all. I had no idea what Dumbledore wanted to talk to me about, and he's always been a little around the bend but to ask me to be a Professor, who would have thought." They spent the rest of the evening discussing lesson's for the year, and Hermione promised to help Harry choose a text book, and Ron kept interrupting their discussion, falling to the floor in hysterics, randomly spluttering words like, 'Malfoy…face…teacher…points…" and then he would become completely impossible to understand.

They were still in the library well after midnight, not realizing it was now Harry's birthday, Ron was again on the floor as someone had said Malfoy. Harry looked at his friend shook his head, "Come on, Ron shut up already." The air seemed to fill with magical energy, and Ron sat up and his mouth snapped shut and he was silent.

Everyone was quite stunned by this and unsure how to react, when Hermione looked at her watch and said suddenly, "Oh my, we need to get to bed, it's after one!" They all left the room minds still reeling from what they had just seen. They moved upstairs and through the hall silently to avoid waking either of the formidable mothers in the house.

They awoke slightly later than usual the next morning and as they dressed Harry looked out the window, disappointed to see that it was storming, "Wow, I wish it were nicer out today." As the young wizard finished speaking, the rain slowed to a stop, and the sun began to drive the clouds away. Harry turned to see Ron gaping at him.

"How did you do that, mate, it just stopped raining."

"I didn't it's just a coincidence, I didn't stop the storm." Harry stammered hurrying out the door and down to breakfast.

"Yeah, you did. And last night you made me stop laughing."

"Ron, you made yourself stop laughing, and so what if the storm stopped when I wished it would, I bet hundreds of people in London were wishing it would." Harry countered as they entered the kitchen.

"Look, we're friends, I don't care, just tell me how you did it." Ginny and the twins were seated at the breakfast table; they looked up as the friends came into the room arguing.

Ginny could sense Harry's frustration rising, as he spun to face Ron. "Ron, if it was something I did I would tell how, I did it, but," his voice rising, "IT WAS NOT ME!"

Ron opened his mouth to continue arguing, but Ginny jumped up from her chair quickly, and said in a warning tone "Ron, just let it go."

"Gin, I just…"

"No, Ron shut up!" She through her hands forward emphatically. As she did this several things happened at once, the cupboard behind Ron exploded; pots, pans, and pieces of dishes clattered onto the floor, accompanied by a loud shriek from the doorway, Ron threw himself onto the floor looking for the source of the bang, and the twins stood and began to applaud the scene.

No one knew what to make of the situation and stood staring. Hermione was the first to speak, "Did you see that, that surge of red light around Ginny?" Five red heads and one black one swiveled to look at the girl framed in the doorway.

"'Mione, are you all right?" Ron asked her, looking at her as if she had turned green.

"There was a huge gathering of red light around Ginny, just before the explosion. It seemed so angry." She said this all in a quiet voice, looking at the floor, afraid that they would think she was crazy.

"You're not nuts; it sounds like you were aura reading. Only a really powerful wizard can do that, we knew you were powerful but, that's pretty impressive." George said consolingly.

"Thank you, Fred, that makes me feel better," said Hermione mistaking the two brothers.

For a minute, Fred looked amused while rage gathered behind George's eyes. Then George erupted, loud enough to shake the whole house, "That's it from now on we are wearing our sweaters!" Hermione looked horrorstruck, unsure how to make amends in the face of his anger. Then George chuckled, and said, "Only joking, 'Mione, I don't mind." The girl turned bright red, in a blush to rival any of the Weasleys, and then joined the others as they began to laugh.

Unsure of what exactly was going on with the powers of the teenagers in her care and concerned that her son's suspicions about Harry's role in the two incidents which led to the mess in the kitchen may have been correct, Mrs. Weasley confined them for the day in the front parlor, a room which contained only a fireplace, a rug and several couches. They passed the day in relative quiet, each lost in their own thoughts, occasionally the silence was broken as someone turn to snap at Hermione for staring at them, she always apologized, explaining that she was just watching their aura change as they mulled over recent events. They avoided most other mishaps, although Ginny did accidentally blow the leg off a sofa.

As evening drew nearer they began to talk again, feeling that, they all needed to cheer up, Harry started telling them stories of the marauder's pranks that Sirius told him about. Before long they were laughing like a pack of hyenas. They continued laughing until tears rolled down their cheeks, and when they finally stopped Harry, Hermione, and Ginny looked around the room, unsure what to think, Ron was missing! "Umm…guys help," they heard Ron's voice call to them timidly, and as one their heads snapped up and the saw him bobbing against the ceiling.

"Ron," said Ginny in an awestruck voice, "how did you get up their?"

"I don't know. I was listening to the story and then I felt something hit my head, so I forced myself to stop laughing so that I could find out what hit me and I was up here."

"Right, so any ideas, on how to get him down? Ron why down you try swimming through the air?" Harry suggested, making a valiant effort not to laugh at his friend's predicament. The watched him try to propel himself through the air, using a frog kick, and saw that that idea was completely useless.

"Well," said Hermione always willing to help, "have you tried just willing yourself down?" The look on his faced told her that he had and it was apparent from the fact that he was still, floating that it had not worked.

Ginny took a deep breath, and looked up at her older brother eyes wide, she started talking in a sweet voice, although she sounded slightly nervous, "Ron, there is something that I have been meaning to tell you, and since you are stuck up there this is probably the best time to tell you. I know that I have been dating Dean, but I don't really like him, in fact I am in love with someone else. Please don't be mad at me, you're my brother and I just want you to be happy for me, but," the volume of her voice dropped even lower, "it's Draco Malfoy, I know you don't like him but I really, really…"

But she never finished her sentence; Ron fell to the floor with a loud thump, and within seconds he was on his feet yelling at her. Harry just stared at them his heart, felt like it had been ripped from his chest, she was in love, and with Malfoy, nothing seemed right with the world. As he stared at her Harry noticed Ginny's face crack into a smile, "It was just a joke, Ron, calm down, I just thought that maybe a shock would knock you out of the air, I couldn't tell you or it wouldn't work."

Harry felt his heart return to his chest and begin beating several times faster than normal, she didn't love Malfoy, was all he could think. He looked up at his best friend, he was a shade of purple so deep Harry would swear that he had to have dyed his skin, even Uncle Vernon could not be that mad. But, it was clear Ginny's words were sinking in as he had stopped yelling, some of the color was beginning to drain out of him and he began to breathe normally. They all eyed him wearily for several minutes, afraid that he would snap, their minds were put to rest however, when he suggested that they play Gobstones, since they had nothing else to do they all agreed. That's where they were an hour later when Albus Dumbledore walked into the room followed by Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.