"Very well, Mr Potter," McGonagall said as he finished his tale of what had occurred the evening before. "Thank you for being so honest. Your story matches what Miss Weasley has told me of last night's events and it is very clear to me what the consequences ought to be."

"Yes, Professor." Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Snape had seemed so confident yesterday that Harry wouldn't be in trouble over his semi-accidental magic, but Harry wasn't convinced. It was self-defense when he got rid of the dementors in Little Whinging and it was an accident when he blew up Aunt Marge. Somehow Harry always ended up in some kind of trouble.

"Barns will be expelled as his role in this was undeniable." McGonagall said severely. "Unfortunately, as Crutchley was not there during the actual attack, we cannot expel him, though I am convinced that he was complicit in the actions of Barns and, when he returns from suspension, we will be keeping a very close eye on him." The headmistress looked at Harry apologetically. "I'm sorry, Mr Potter, that I cannot do more. It is, of course, within your rights to press criminal charges against Barns also."

"Er, no." Harry did not need that kind of media attention. "But, Professor, what about me?"

McGonagall looked confused. "You?"

"I- I thought I'd be in some kind of trouble."

"Why in Merlin's name would you think that?" McGonagall asked rhetorically. "The only spell you cast was a Protego. It may have been applied with more power than intended, but your actions were purely defensive."

"I guess." Harry shrugged. "But won't Barns' family want to press charges against me or something?"

"They would be fools to do so. No court would convict you. They're more likely to go after you in the press, but even then, there's no taste for negative press for you at the moment."

Harry wasn't particularly reassured, but just to end the conversation quicker, he said, "Ok."

Minerva narrowed her eyes at his obvious disbelief but was interrupted by the opening of her office door. "Ah, Severus, perhaps you can convince Mr Potter that he is not in any trouble."

"I doubt it. Rarely have I seen Potter give up a notion once he is set on it." Snape's voice was a little snide behind Harry. "Perhaps we should assign him a month's worth of detentions if he is so insistent that he should receive some consequence."

Harry turned a sharp glare on Snape who merely rose a bemused eyebrow in return as he took the seat adjacent to Harry. When he looked back at McGonagall, Harry saw that she too was smirking at him and felt a little victimized.

Harry glared, feeling teased. "My persecution complex is hardly unjustified."

Severus almost smiled but raised an eyebrow instead. "You make a valid point."

"So, just to confirm, I'm not going to be expelled, arrested or otherwise sanctioned for knocking out another student with my exploding magic?"

"You are not." The Headmistress said confidently.

"However," Snape stepped in before Harry could feel too relieved. "We do need to take steps to support you in better controlling your magic."

"Right." Harry agreed reluctantly.

"Professor Snape has explained to me what you have told him of your new magic." McGonagall said kindly. "You have experienced changes in your magic since the end of the war, I understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And this exhibits as an increase in power?" Harry nodded. "Is there anything else you can tell us about how your magic feels or reacts?"

Harry thought about the changes he had experienced; the way that his own magic felt to him now, and the way he could feel other people's magic, could feel Severus' and Minerva's magic right now, could feel Hogwarts herself. Only he'd never heard of anyone experiencing magic in this way. He didn't even know if he could articulate what it was he was actually experiencing. Instead, he said, "It's quite unpredictable really. Sometimes it flares up if I'm angry, like yesterday, but it can also just be if I'm relaxed and not concentrating."

"Which makes it slightly different from the accidental magic of children, which is intrinsically linked to their emotions." Severus commented. "Headmistress, are you finished with Potter?"

"Yes, by all means, take him away with you, Severus; go and experiment as I know you wish to."

Snape was already leaving as he called back, "Come, Potter. We have work to do."

"What?" Harry stood and made to catch up with the Deputy on the stairs. "Sir, I have Charms."

"The Headmistress has cleared us both from morning classes so we can make a start on your magic."

"Oh." Harry followed the professor, accepting that this new training was no longer hypothetical.

"Um, Sir," Harry spoke when Snape led them up a staircase instead of down towards his office in the dungeons. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to test out your magic, Potter. Where do you usually do that?"

"Oh." Harry briefly contemplated mentioning that he knew a quicker way to the Room of Requirement but decided it wasn't really a conversation worth having and instead followed Snape silently until they arrived on the seventh floor corridor.

Snape stopped walking and looked at Harry expectantly. "Well, Potter?" He prompted when Harry made no move to conjure the door. "This is your routine, tell the room what you want."

"Er, right." Harry stepped up to the empty wall, not sure what to ask for. He wasn't exactly clear on what Snape wanted to do, and though he knew what he would usually request from the room, it felt a bit exposing to show that to Snape – even if he had seen it before.

Harry walked past the wall three times with such a vague request, that he was surprised a door even appeared for him. The pair of them walked into a room so black that the little light emitting from the two tiny lamps was soon absorbed by the somber décor. On one wall stood a bookshelf with some old and obscure texts, though there was little light to read them by and no where to sit. Other than that, the room was empty; a large open space of stone floor for them to test out Harry's magic and nothing more.

"Potter," Snape asked incredulously, "What in Merlin's name did you ask for?"

Harry shrugged sheepishly, "A room for Snape?"

Severus looked up at the dark ceiling in despair. "I am constantly surprised that you have survived this long." He said a little scathingly, before muttering under his breath. "Dunderheaded boy."

Harry shrugged again, taking the remark good-naturedly as the Professor cast Lumos and threw the light-emitting balls around the room.

"Go on then, Potter." He looked at Harry expectantly.

"What?"

"Show me your magic."

"How d'you mean?"

Severus sighed. "I need to see how powerful your magic is if we are going to make a plan for how to better control it."

"Right, but it's not really that predictable…I'm not sure I can show you exactly…"

"Potter, you said that you come here to exercise your magic, correct?" The young wizard nodded. "Then do just what you would usually do. I only want to observe."

"Right." Harry repeated, feeling awkward as he removed his wand from his holster. The room, anticipating his needs, provided his usual dueling dummy, causing Severus to blink a little in surprise. Half-heartedly, Harry threw a stunner which the dummy blocked with ease, sending back a hex which had Harry livening up as he ducked out of the way.

Harry had been here this morning, exercising his magic as he usually did, noting its importance after yesterday's debacle. Thus, there was not much risk of him overpowering accidentally the way he had at times before. Instead his moves were precise and skilled; years of experience in real battle made him a fierce dueler, and the relative peace since the battle of Hogwarts had only given him chance to refine his proficiency.

Severus could see that Potter was not enhancing his spells with his full magical power, though he was fascinating to watch nonetheless. It was clear to Severus, if not to large portions of the magical community, that Potter's win over the Dark Lord had been a culmination of a number of factors: Dumbledore's plotting and manipulations, Potter's courage and sacrifice, the help and support of the Order and Severus' own actions. This, more than any great magical skill of Potters had won them the war, but watching the boy duel, one could not deny that the boy was a master of defense.

After a few rounds of rapid spell-fire, Harry put up a block which absorbed the last spell cast by the dummy and did not return another. He looked to the professor, breathing faster from the exertion and awaiting comment.

"Good." Severus said. "But not what I saw you doing yesterday. This isn't everything you've got."

Harry huffed in frustration before attacking the dummy with renewed vigor. This time he relaxed a little, allowing his magic to flow through his veins and out towards his wand. The release felt good. The power buzzed through his fingertips until his wand was vibrating. Gradually he built his pace and settled into his power the way he usually did. His spells came with greater force, hitting the dummy with resounding clatters and sizzling into the surrounding air.

Severus, watching from a safe distance, began to notice the shift in the atmosphere. Besides the obvious increase in impact and sound, he could sense the magic moving around him, picking up the pace it had when he had discovered Potter yesterday. This time, Severus could take the time to observe more closely and inspect Potter's magic. It seemed to take on an almost visible presence in the air, crackling and zapping around the room. Even from where he stood, he could feel a trace of each spell cast, as though it was happing right next to him. It had an eerie familiarity, reminding him a little of how it had felt whenever he was in Albus' presence. The magic, though forceful in nature, did not seem to overpower the boy; rather, he appeared to grow with it, to own it in a way that Severus had not expected.

Harry's casting built to a crescendo of spells, expelling so much magic that it saturated the air. It seemed to match the level of power he had seen in the Room yesterday, though not the sheer force of power which must have caused Barns' injuries.

"Happy?" Harry called over the sound of his own explosive casting.

"Rarely." Snape quipped back. "But I have seen enough; you may…desist."

Hitting the dummy with a sharp finite incantatum, Harry then stowed his wand and bent over, hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath.

"What now?" Harry asked, still panting slightly.

Severus conjured a chair and pushed the boy into it. Conjuring a second, he sat himself down opposite the Gryffindor, elbows on knees and fingers steepled together.

"Is there anything else you do to practice controlling your magic?"

"I practice casting non-verbally most of the time; it takes more power and helps me to concentrate." Harry explained. "And," He said more hesitantly. "Sometimes I practice spells without a wand."

"Anything else?" Snape pushed.

"…Sometimes, without a wand and non-verbally."

Severus nodded, receiving the confirmation of what he had long suspected. "Tell me what happened to the Black portrait."

Harry looked up suddenly, caught unawares by the question and looking as much like a deer in the headlights as he had at Christmas when Severus had first asked him.

"Um… I –"

"I know you lied to me before."

Harry sighed. "I took it down."

"How?"

"I banished it. One day she was screaming and screaming and saying all that horrible stuff about Sirius, so I just took out my wand and I tried to banish her and she went."

Snape looked at him curiously. "Now tell me how you are warding your room."

"Uh," Harry was blindsided again. "Hermione taught me some warding spells. I may have put a little extra power in to it." He admitted. "I did the same at Number 12."

Severus nodded. "I felt it."

"Is that it?" Harry asked after a moment of Snape observing him silently.

"For now." Severus agreed. "We'll come here for your meetings in future. We can explore your magic a bit more and help you find ways to better manage it." The Professor leaned back in his chair, peering over his nose at the boy. "Clearly what you showed me today is not all you can do." He raised his hand to stop Potter's objections. "I know you were trying, you just can't access that deep level of power consciously as yet."

"So, we won't have the meetings in your office anymore?"

"Don't worry, Potter, there will still be plenty of time for our little heart to hearts." Severus smirked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright, Sir. So, can I go?"

"You may." Snape allowed in his usual drawling tones. "You are cleared until after lunch, so you need not rejoin your classmates until this afternoon. Do not miss lunch." He gave Harry a stern look. "You must eat after expelling that much magic."

"Okay." Harry agreed easily, already feeling rather peckish. "See you later, Sir."

Severus watched him go and took a moment to himself, leaning back in his conjured armchair and thinking about the Boy-Who-Conquered. Nothing was ever simple with Potter. As if saving the entire Wizarding World wasn't enough, the boy now had some kind of phenomenal magical shift happening. He had been up half the night, thinking about what to do with, what he now referred to as, the 'Potter Enigma'. At least he seemed to be unravelling some of the Potter mysteries and, simultaneously, was building something resembling a relationship with the young Gryffindor. Slowly, the steels walls which Harry used to guard himself were coming down and Severus was getting to see the remarkable young man who lived behind them. He was glad it was Friday. He would have another chance to see Potter in action in their DADA lesson this afternoon and then he had the whole weekend free to start researching what may have caused Potter's magical change.

Harry's Saturday was to be spent with Teddy and Andromeda, which happily gave him, not only quality time with his Godson, but allowed him to escape the rumors of Hogwarts also. Getting out of the castle was a relief after an intense week. Harry's friends now knew the truth about his magic and, after admonishing him for keeping it from them and calling him a prat, had iterated quite strongly that they didn't care what his magic was doing, he was still just their idiot friend. Hermione seemed quite fascinated when he described to them his magical change, where Ron and just shrugged and called it another one of his 'quirks'. Still, his friends' acceptance didn't entirely block out the whispers and looks from the rest of the Hogwarts population as word quickly spread of what had occurred between himself and Barns. And though the stares were more of awe than accusatory, Harry still felt like he was a bug being inspected under a giant microscope. Even Hogwarts' magic had begun to feel invasive and oppressive instead of its usual comfort, so to be out of the school grounds felt like he could breathe again.

"I need to ask you something." Andromeda said seriously as they were finishing off the apple pie from lunch.

"Oh?" Harry paused in his clean up of the table.

"I'm writing my will with Gringotts this week. Well, updating it." The witch explained, pulling Teddy out of his highchair and onto her lap.

Harry felt his stomach drop, clenched tight like someone had pulled a rope right around his middle. "You're not…?"

"Oh no! No, no, I'm fine." Andromeda reassured quickly. "I'm just being cautious that's all. If I were to…go, I need to know that Teddy would be looked after."

"Right." Harry managed, his throat dry at just the thought of someone else dying.

"You're already Teddy's godfather of course, but to make it legal, I have to ask if you are willing to be named as his guardian if anything should happen to me. The last thing I want is for him to end up in my sister's custody."

Harry shuddered. "I would never let that happen."

"I know it's a lot to ask. You're eighteen and not even out of school. You would be perfectly within your rights to say no to this level of responsibility until you are older."

"Andy," Harry stopped her fretting with a hand on her arm and the use of his personal nickname. "When Remus asked me to be Teddy's Godfather, I knew what that might entail. I never took my responsibilities lightly and I won't shirk them now." He said earnestly.

Andromeda smiled, relieved. "I don't know why I was worried; you are far older than your years."

Harry smiled too, very aware of that truth.

By Saturday evening, Severus was beginning to feel despondent. His own books had yielded little insight into what could have caused the change in Potter's magic and so he had been forced to trek to the Hogwarts library for its more comprehensive wealth of knowledge. It was late when he arrived, though not past curfew, so the library was quiet, though a few dedicated students were still working under glowing lamps. A group of fifth year Slytherins greeted him respectfully when Severus passed by them and a 3rd Year Hufflepuff scurried quickly away as he saw the Professor coming. Other than that, he was mostly ignored by the remaining pupils. Seeing a teacher in the library was not such an unusual occurrence to cause disruption among the student body.

Severus wandered amongst the shelves with increasing frustration at the lack of progress he was making. He didn't even know where to start, having never heard of someone's magic changing in the way Potter's had. He settled on scouring the Magical History section in the hopes that something would stand out as relevant. In despair, he began taking some tomes from the shelves, which he hoped might point him in the direction of something useful even if they themselves weren't of any help.

Having gathered a plethora of texts with promising titles, Severus levitated his large stack over to a quiet corner near the Restricted Section, where an oak table suited his needs perfectly. Allowing the books to drop with a gentle thud, Severus sat down and opened the first of his books, 'The Origins of Magic,' hopefully.

He had been reading for a short while, making notes on some spare parchment if anything seemed relevant, when his study was interrupted by a gentle voice.

"Hello, Professor. Is it alright if I sit here?" Severus looked up to see Luna Lovegood taking a seat opposite and further down the table from himself, not waiting for his reply before settling down with her own book.

Severus glanced at his pocket watch and looked back at the Ravenclaw sternly. "Miss Lovegood, there is only 4 minutes until curfew, should you not already be on your way to Ravenclaw tower?"

As usual, the girl was entirely unaffected by his severe countenance. "Oh, the Blibbering Humdingers were very clear that I should be in the library this evening." She said as though that were explanation enough.

Severus sighed; this must be the only student he had never managed to instill any fear in. Still, he would try. "Miss Lovegood, if you are caught out of bed after curfew, not only will you receive detention for the rest of the week, but you will lose your house a good portion of points."

"Hmm," She pondered. "Professor Flitwick has fairy flu so he went to bed, and Professor Sprout is planting the Anjelica herbs tonight. Professor Sinistra is plotting the trajectory of Venus, Professor Jones is brewing a fairy flu tonic and Professor Weasley is visiting Hagrid." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "So it doesn't seem very likely that I would be caught."

From anyone else it might have sounded horrendously rude, but Severus could see that the girl meant only to consider the truth of her own reasonings. The Professor almost spluttered, unsure what to object to first: the fact that she knew so much about the movements of the Hogwarts faculty or her blatant omission of his own ability to censure her as he was a Professor in her very presence.

Instead of doing either, he sighed. He had been trying to speak sense to this girl for seven years and not once succeeded. He had neither the time nor the patience to make another hopeless attempt now. "Read your damn book, Miss Lovegood and if you must remain, do be quiet."

Luna was quiet, opening her book happily, and remained so for some time, aside from her occasional humming. Satisfied, Severus returned to his own reading about the earliest recordings of magic in Egypt and Ancient Greece.

At that point there were no wands. Much like the Druids of the British Isles, magic was wilder at that time, more innate and pulled from the natural earth. Wands had been introduced much later as a way of harnessing the magic, controlling it more effectively until it was standardized and predictable. Now, once you learnt a spell it would come out just the same as anyone else casting the same spell, but before it was more about how one experienced and accessed the world's elemental magic.

"Oh, you're reading about Harry." Lovegood interrupted again, scanning the titles of the texts he had gathered.

Severus was torn between admonishing the girl for her intrusiveness and asking her how she had come to that, albeit correct, conclusion.

"Miss Lovegood, not one of these books is titled 'The Life and Trials of Harry Potter.' I strongly suggest you return to you own business and stay out of mine."

Luna took no notice of him. "I'm glad you're helping Harry with his magic now. He has been very worried about it."

Severus looked at her sharply, now with his full attention. "Harry told you about his magic?"

"Oh no." Luna denied. "Harry doesn't like to share his problems."

"Hm," Severus was well aware of that. "And just how exactly do you know so much about it?"

"Harry's head is full of Wrackspurts." She answered dreamily.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. He recalled that Lovegood had been at the Ministry that time and she seemed to be a part of Potter's trusted circle of friends. Where other pupils found Lovegood odd and peculiar, Harry appeared to be fond of her…not as fond as he was of Miss Weasley, of course, but he definitely counted Lovegood as a close friend.

"Hm," Lovegood continued looking over the books he had selected. "I don't think these books are going to help you."

"And what would you suggest I do instead?"

"Hatchmund's Chronology of Soul Magic is very enlightening."

Severus paused. "That book is in the Restricted Section, Miss Lovegood."

"Is it?" She answered, unaffected by his tone. "I think I'll go to bed now, Sir." She marked her place in her book, before closing it and beginning to stand.

"Wait," Severus stopped her. He didn't know how; whether the girl was gifted or just particularly perceptive, but she clearly had some insight when it came to Potter. "What else do you know about Harry?"

Luna stood, her pale skin and silver hair almost eerie looking in the soft lamp light. "Harry is like the moon." She said as though it was all there was to say about Harry.

"The moon?"

"Part of him is always hidden."