The walk to the infirmary was not long, but it felt unending for the two shaken first years. Snape was still levitating Harry's seemingly lifeless body in front of them, and even though he claimed he was fine, it certainly didn't look like it. Daphne sidled over to Hermione.

"Hermione," she whispered, "we can't tell anyone except Madam Pomfrey what happened."

"Why not?" Hermione asked, a scandalized look on her face. "Daphne, they're professors, they need to know what happened! What if they need to know to help Harry?"

"Hermione, the only one who needs to know is Pomfrey, so she can take care of him. Please, almost nobody knows about what he can do and he really doesn't want anyone else to find out," Daphne pleaded.

"Why did he tell you and not me?" Hermione asked, a hurt look on her face.

Daphne looked embarrassed. "I actually found out by accident," she explained. "He really didn't want to explain it to me but I sorta forced it out of him. The point is, he really doesn't want everyone to know about it."

Hermione looked doubtful, but nodded nonetheless. Daphne sighed in relief, happy that Harry could keep his secret a little longer.

He was back in the air, flying over a massive mountain range. He weaved between the peaks, his wings responding to the slightest gust of air to keep him on course. He called out his dominance to the universe, proclaiming his superiority. He began to circle, rising into a thunderstorm, the crashing of thunder filling his ears. This was his element, this was—

Harry's eyes snapped open. It took him a moment, but he soon recognized the arched ceiling of the hospital wing. Several moments later, his most recent memories flooded back into his head, and he immediately sat up, casting about for Daphne and Hermione. His pulse slowed when he saw both of their forms sleeping in the beds to his side. By the amount of light coming through the windows, it looked to be an hour or two before dawn.

A shadow passed by the window across from him. He groaned as he recognized its form. He stood, walking over to the window, and threw it open. He was instantly set upon by his worried owl, who cuffed him a few times before settling on his shoulder, nuzzling up against his ear.

"Hey girl, did you miss me? I know, I did some stupid stuff again, but I promise I'm alright," he comforted her. "Is that a letter for me?" He untied the string, already knowing who it was from.

Dear Harry,
I'm quite glad to hear that you are alright after your stay in the hospital wing. I've heard that Madam Pomfrey can be quite strict, but she is quite good at what she does. If I were to hazard a guess, I believe that the extreme reaction you had to the Fulgus spell is a result of the thunderbird feather in your wand. Since thunderbirds can generate extreme amounts of lightning, I assume it latched on to that and attempted to generate as much of it as possible. As I said when I gave you your wand, earning its loyalty may not be easy.
I hope your life has been a bit tamer since then, though it seems that trouble loves to follow you around. For Merlin's sake, please be careful.
Talk to you soon,
Garrick Ollivander

Harry had just put the letter away in his pile of clothes when Madam Pomfrey bustled out from her office.

"Mr. Potter, just what do you think you are doing out of bed? Your bones have only just regrown, I will not have you breaking them this quickly. Back in bed, scoot," she said as she dug around in her potions cabinet. "Now, take these two now, and this one when you go to bed tonight," she instructed, handing him three different potions. "And if you even think about getting out of that bed before I've cleared you, you'll be stuck in here for another day."

Harry meekly slid back into his bed, with a "Yes, Madam Pomfrey." She nodded in approval, then returned to her office. Before he could even begin to get back to sleep, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"How're you feeling?" Daphne asked him, her voice slow and quiet. "You had me and Hermione really scared back there."

"I'm alright," he responded, "just tired and sore. How are you feeling?"

"Same as you. And… also a little embarrassed. Me and Hermione combined were still doing less than you were in there. How were you casting so quickly?"

Harry blushed. "I've been practicing a little. At first I was just going to practice my, you know, unique magic, but it kinda turned into just general practice."

Daphne glared lightly at him. "You're practicing extra and not inviting me? Or any of the others?"

"Er… yeah," he said sheepishly. "Um… I'll let you know next time I go?"

"You'd better, Mr. Potter," she replied with a scowl, before her glare slipped and turned into a grin. "And I wanna see what you've been working on in your spare time."

"Deal," Harry smiled, but a frown soon grew on his face. "I suppose all the teachers know about what I did?"

"Actually, no," Daphne smiled. "I managed to convince Hermione to let me do the talking, and I basically said that we all just cast Fulgus again and again until it fell over."

"Thanks, Daphne," Harry responded, glad to still have his secret.

The trio were finally allowed to rejoin their classmates after lunch, but classes had been cancelled that day so that Ministry employees could safely remove the trolls. As such, much of the school was outside enjoying the last vestiges of warm weather. They met Blaise, Tracey, and Neville out on the shore of the lake, continuing to practice skipping rocks.

"Hey, look who's back!" Tracey called out as she saw them approach. "How are you guys feeling? Madam Pomfrey refused to let us visit, otherwise we would've been there this morning."

"We're all okay, just a little shaken," Harry answered.

"Well, it's not every day you take down a mountain troll, so I guess I can't blame you," Blaise laughed. "How'd you manage it, anyways? All Dumbledore said at breakfast was 'they've been through a difficult experience, so I would appreciate your discretion in the matter.'"

"And is that what you call discrete?" Daphne asked.

Blaise's cheeks gained a rosy hue. "Well, I just kinda figured we weren't included in that instruction…"

The group laughed as Blaise's embarrassment, but eventually they relented, and Daphne told the same abridged version she had told the teachers. Neville and Tracey gaped at them, while Blaise looked on with a slightly skeptical gaze.

"You guys took out a mountain troll… with first year spells?" Blaise asked, clearly not convinced.

"I think it was just the sheer number of spells," Harry cut in easily. "It was probably a good five minutes' worth, and we were all casting pretty much constantly." Blaise looked more satisfied at this, and Harry relaxed. "So who's got the most skips so far?"

That night, Harry and Daphne snuck out of the common room. They had invited Hermione to join them, but she refused to leave the common room after curfew. Harry promised her that he would explain everything to her in detail that weekend. A few minutes later, Harry and Daphne arrived at the classroom Harry had claimed for his own.

"Alright, snake-boy, let's see what you've got," Daphne demanded with a smile as she settled in one of the seats in the front row.

Harry grinned at the nickname, then turned so he was looking down the length of the classroom. He raised his right hand in the air. Over the course of roughly five seconds, a javelin of ice formed in his hand, about three feet long. Then, enhancing his strength and reflexes, he hurled it across the room, where it shattered against the far wall. Daphne clapped lightly, impressed by his work.

"I can do that with the other spells from defense too, except Aguamenti," he told her. "I learned how to do this, too."

Harry concentrated, and pushed magic into the floor through his feet. Next to him, a stone spear grew from the floor, where he grasped it and threw it down the room, as he had with the ice one. This one also shattered, but the tip of it managed to embed itself in the wall.

"That's pretty impressive, Harry. Have you worked on any spells from our other classes?"

"Well that last one was basically just Transfiguration, though I still haven't figured out how to change material from one to another. I did manage this with Wingardium Leviosa, though."

Harry transfigured a stone slab from the floor, then lifted it to chest height in his hands. Pouring magic into the stone and giving it a purpose, he then released it. It dropped several inches, then lifted itself back to its previous height. It stayed in place, and when Harry walked around, it followed him.

"Alright, toss a spell at me. Maybe a Tarantallegra?" Harry requested.

Daphne stood, aiming at Harry. The block of stone was currently hovering to his right side. "Tarantallegra!"

The slab immediately moved to intercept the spell. Upon impact, the stone wavered, then dropped to the floor. Harry grimaced.

"I haven't been able to figure out how to make it stay up for multiple spells yet," he explained. Daphne, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"Harry, this is amazing! It's basically a new type of magic, and you're developing it really quickly. I think you should be pretty pleased with what you've accomplished already. Have you done anything with your Parselmagic yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I can't really make much progress with that until I get a snake. So far, I haven't been able to speak Parseltongue unless there's actually a snake in front of me, and I have no idea of where to start when it comes to runes."

Daphne looked pensive. "You might write that guy again, ask him if he can help you get started with Parsel runes. Though it might be best to wait until third year, so you can take a runes class. I can't imagine the rules would be too different between different languages, except maybe the syntax."

Harry nodded. "I figured as much. I just wish I could work on something besides this." A confused look crossed his face. "Daphne, did I tell you about the dreams I had in the hospital wing?" She shook her head, so Harry told her about both.

"They just seem incredibly vivid. Something about them makes me think that they're not just a dream, but I don't know what else they could be."

"You know, Harry, in the magical world, dreams aren't always just dreams. Some people think that it's how magic communicates with us. Others think that dreams are a representation of our magical cores, and can communicate problems or information to us. Really, nobody knows what they mean, but you shouldn't disregard it so soon."

Later that night, after returning to his dorm, Harry sat down to write a response to Ollivander.

Dear Garrick,
Thanks for your last letter. I swear I'm not looking for trouble, but it really does seem to seek me out. In that line of thought, I need to tell about something that happened earlier this week.
One of my friends didn't show up to class, so me and another friend went looking for her during dinner. We found her, and were just sitting there talking, when a troll came wandering in. I swear, an actual mountain troll. It took a while, but eventually we managed to knock it out.
I got knocked out again when the troll fell over on me (I promise, Madam Pomfrey fixed me right up), and before I woke up, I had another really vivid dream, really similar to the first one. One of my friends said something about dreams being some sort of connection to our magic, but I wanted to get your thoughts on the matter.
Anyways, I'd better get to bed, it's pretty late.
Write you soon,
Harry Potter

Author's Note: Potential spoilers ahead, so read with caution: So a reviewer pointed out (thanks, Thracer) that Harry was becoming a bit too OP, and I have to agree. My original plan was for Ollivander to come up with a ritual to mitigate some of Harry's difficulty casting normal magic sometime around fourth or fifth year that would decrease some of his other abilities, but now I'm thinking that I should add some downsides to the ritual he's currently working on, and have that happen at the end of this year. Specifically, I think I want to drop (or at least drastically reduce) his enhancement abilities, and keep his wandless abilities as they are. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this, and any other comments or suggestions you have. Thanks for reading!

Author's Note 2: What even is my update schedule?