Chapter 11

In the upstairs room, Albus was very slowly waking up. Pale blue eyes blinked in momentary confusion. Sitting up slowly, he surveyed the room. Harry and Severus were both asleep still. Remus and Poppy were gone. He carefully moved a chair in between the two beds, holding Harry's hand gently.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Harry" he said sorrowfully.

There was no response from the pale face. Only the shallow rise and fall of his chest told him that Harry was even alive.

"Please wake up, Harry" whispered Albus. "I love you like my own grandchild."

Severus lay very still as consciousness returned. He didn't remember going to bed, and experience made him instantly wary. Eyes still closed, he cautiously extended a magical scan of the room, and was surprised to feel an affectionate returning brush. He opened his eyes slowly.

Albus was sitting next to his bed.

"How are you feeling, Severus?" he asked quietly.

Severus completely ignored the question.

"How's Harry?"

Severus frowned slightly at the weakness of his voice. He hated this feeling, although he had unfortunately experienced it far too many times.

Albus sighed a little, making Severus start to feel worried.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Severus. Physically, Poppy thinks he will make a full recovery, but magically…"

His voice trailed off, his head shaking slightly.

"His reserves are nearly empty. I don't know what will happen. There have been so few cases like his in history. I myself only know of two…"

The younger man looked at his mentor closely, sensing a depressing story behind the comment.

'What happened to them, Albus?"

"One woke briefly, but slipped into a coma after an hour or so. He never woke up. The other…"

The old man sighed again, re-living the pain of old memories.

"She woke up three days later but it was as though she was a muggle. She had no magic, nor any memory of ever having it."

Harry was drifting, borne by the current of a dark river. Here, there was no pain, no anger, no danger; just peace. As he floated with the current, he found himself gradually becoming sleepier. All of his energy was draining away, to be replaced with the comfortable quiet of this river. He never noticed his eyes slipping shut

A soft cry reached his ears and he opened his eyes slowly, annoyed at the interruption.

'Harry! Please come back!' a voice begged in the distance. It was vaguely familiar. Female.

'Mum? I'm so tired…' he murmured softly.

'Harry! Fight the pull! It's leeching your magic!'

That was Sirius' voice. He sounded frantic. Perhaps he should listen to them? He started to fight the river current, but he could tell it was too strong. He didn't even know how to swim properly. He was already so tired…

'Let me help you, child' whispered another voice.

A golden rope appeared in front of him, and Harry clung to it as he was pulled back slowly. Power…his power…flooded his body, a tingling in his limbs. Power continued to flow until his body was bursting with raw, untamed power that quickly overwhelmed him.

Severus was morbidly contemplating the fate of his godson when alarms sounded in the room. He struggled to see what was happening as Albus placed a hand on Harry's forehead.

"He's burning up," Albus said worriedly.

Poppy rushed into the room, having been alerted by the monitoring charm. She took one look at Harry and paled.

"His magic levels are fluctuating rapidly, Headmaster. His fever keeps climbing, but it's magically induced. There is nothing I can do for him," she stated.

Seconds later, the room was filled with golden light. Albus and Severus gasped at the sight.

"Albus…is that his…" Severus asked uncertainly.

"I think so…I don't know how it…" replied Albus, mesmerised by the golden light.

Poppy was completely confused. The two men seemed to be speaking in half sentences that didn't make sense to her.

"Would someone please explain what is happening?" she interrupted, a little irritably.

The two turned to look at her in surprise.

"We're not certain…but I think Harry's magic is maturing…" answered Severus.

Albus nodded in agreement. "Not only that, Poppy, but Harry's magic ischanging, it's unheard of!"

"As long as my patient is recovering," Poppy responded. "However, Professor Snape, you should be sleeping."

She advanced on the man with a handful of potions.

Severus eyed her warily. He recognised all of the potions, having brewed all of them himself. Steeling himself, he grudgingly accepted the pain reliever and the replenisher, but absolutely refused the sleeping potion.

"Not while Harry's still asleep." Severus' voice was very firm. "I want to be here when he wakes up."

Harry opened his eyes to see a large black dog looking at him mournfully. Padfoot barked excitedly when he saw Harry waking up, lunging at him to place his fore paws on his chest.

"Hey Sirius," muttered Harry, sitting up slowly. Sirius shifted into his human form to hug him tightly.

He was in the room with his family again. Suddenly, both his parents descended upon him, alternately hugging or scolding him for worrying them. Unused to such affection, Harry gave Sirius a slightly panicked look.

"Prongs, let him breathe," drawled Sirius.

"You really ought to be in bed still," fretted Lily. "You're still looking a bit pale."

Harry transformed the couch into a large bed with a thought, and crawled onto the mattress, beginning to feel the fatigue remaining from his battle with Voldemort. Sirius popped back into his animagus form, curling up at his feet, while Lily and James joined him on either side.

"Mum? How'd I stop the killing curse? And what happened to all the others?" asked Harry. The question had been tugging on the edge of his mind ever since.

Lily sighed, looking at her husband for guidance.

"You explain," she said.

"Harry, you know that this link was created by the killing curse. It also caused the explosion that knocked you out. Bellatrix Lestrange took the worst of the blast…"

"She's dead! I killed her?!" Harry's voice was higher pitched than usual.

"No Harry, she killed herself. It was her own spell that felled her."

Lily was being very firm about this. She had seen how Harry tended to feel guilty about everything that happened. Harry simply stared at her, and she wrapped him in another warm hug, kissing that black mop of hair lovingly. Harry only snuggled deeper into his mother's arms.

"Did you still want to know about the killing curse?" asked James in a teasing tone. He snickered as his son nodded enthusiastically, rolling over to face him.

"Okay Harry…time for a quick 'nature of magic' lesson. Spells are made of magic, as I'm sure we all agree. However, a spell is not simply one blast of magic; it's created carefully to serve its purpose. The simplest spells have very few intricacies; in transfiguration for an example, a paper to paper product is easier than…say, a paper to metal product. Understand Harry?"

"The complexity of spells depends on the amount of things that the magic needs to do?" summarised Harry, wondering absently why this wasn't taught in Hogwarts.

He remembered seeing the threads of magic in the spell.

"I saw the threads of the killing curse…I pulled one of them – what did I do?"

"The killing curse is complicated. Its purpose is to rip through the victim's body and stop everything in its path instantaneously: lungs, heart, brain, everything. From what I understand, you snapped the thread that stops bodily functions, literally removing the fatal part of the spell!"

James was becoming more animated as he spoke, his eyes shining with pride in his son.

"Removing a thread made the spell unstable…it magnified the effects of the remaining threads. You magical core was out of control, and reacted with the unstable spell, creating the explosion that hit everyone. The magic still held the intent to forcefully rip through a person's body, causing unconsciousness. Bella was in the most direct path of the blast, because the spell originated from her."

Harry shivered slightly. He had hated the woman, but he hadn't wanted to kill her.

'Although, it was poetic justice that her own spell had finally killed her,' he mused.

"So…this thing I did…is it normal?" Harry asked aloud. He really didn't want to be a freak again.

"It is…quite rare…but it has happened before," answered Lily slowly. "I'm not allowed to tell you anymore about it…in time you'll find out…"

"I suggest you ask Albus when you have the chance. He might know what it is," suggested James. Padfoot whuffed softly in agreement, before pushing the blanket over his godson.

"Padfoot's right. You ought to be sleeping," said James.

Harry obediently curled up, shifting closer to his mother, and slept.

The first thing he was aware of was the feel of warm sunlight on his skin. Slowly swimming towards consciousness, he immediately wished he was asleep again as deep seated pain flared. Indistinct murmurs reached his ears, intensifying his pounding headache.

'Harry?'

Disorientated, he instinctively retreated from the gentlest of mental touches, the memory of blinding pain making his wary. Waves of concern and love flowed down the link, reassuring him that it was safe. He cautiously responded to the mind touch, and was rewarded with a rush of happiness, mixed in with relief.

He felt a gentle caress against his cheek and tried to lean into the touch, only to whimper at the pain produced by the slightest of movements. A vial touched his lips and he swallowed the bitter potion automatically. The pain receded somewhat as he struggled to open his eyes.

Slowly, very slowly, he managed to crack open an eyelid to see Severus' blurry face. He cracked a small smile.

"Hi Papa," he whispered.

A/N: My deepest apologies to all my readers to the lateness of this update. I have been experiencing...some technical difficulties...and a small case of writer's block.

My aim is to update within 2 weeks. Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!