A/N: Hey! Sorry for the delay, again. But last Thursday, I (Jamie) had high school cheerleading tryouts. And incase you are wondering, I made the Varsity Cheerleading Squad. YAY! (Just so you know, I'm going to be a freshman, so congratulate me even more.) And we had exams to study for, so we couldn't get together. Unfortunately, there is going to be more delays due to summer vacation. I (Jamie) am going away to sleep-away camp for a month, so it is going to be hard for us to write since we won't be together. But I (Shelby) am lucky enough to be able to go to the party at Barnes & Noble for the 6th book. WOOH WOOH, GO HARRY POTTER! ONE MONTH FROM THURSDAY! YAY! Ok. No more waiting. Start reading!

P.S. In one of the first A/Ns, I (Jamie) said my mom was wacko because I didn't think she would let us get together to write. But now, both of our moms don't really care what we do. So, she is no longer wacko, but the best mom in the world.

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The Power He Knows Not: Ombre de Puissance

"Finally, you asked," said Lily wisely.

"Well, you had this power. To read-" Lily was cut off from her explanation.

"What? I don't have a power to read. Everyone has that power, Hermione especially," said Harry showing his confusion while Ginny smiled at his little joke.

"Let's start at the beginning-" started Lily.

"Honey?" interrupted James hesitantly, "Could you hold on for a second while I get us some comfy chairs to sit in. I know how you love telling stories, and I have a feeling this is going to be a long one for sure," he asked. At that Lily gave him a deadly glare, "But that's one of the reasons I love you," he added lamely.

"Fine love, but hurry up. I've got a lot to tell," granted Lily.

Harry watched in amazement as his father walked away from him and with each step, became more and more unclear. It seemed as if the farther away his father walked the less he could make out his father's frame. With each step his father dissolved into the clouds, until there was nothing left. At this a smile rose to Harry's face. Cool he thought, but only because he knew he would be coming back. After he was sure his father had dissolved completely into the clouds, Harry turned his gaze on his mother. He stood staring at her for what seemed like an eternity memorizing her every feature. He wanted to never have her face leave his memory. He knew, although he didn't know how, that he would never be able to take her back with him. This thought saddened him more than he thought possible, so he decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he reason that seeing her now, although not for the rest of his life, was better than never being able to see her at all. With this thought in mind, he studied her face: the beautiful red hair that framed her face, the dark, long eyelashes that protected her big, loving, emerald eyes, and finally her smile that lit up her face.

Harry, who was of course, too engrossed in memorizing his mother's face, did not notice that his own staring brought on the smile that lit up her face.

"Is there something on my face, Harry?" Lily asked kindly.

"What? Oh... sorry. I was just…" said Harry, while trying to think of an explanation for his staring.

"It's okay-Don't worry, I understand," said Lily knowingly, making Harry smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, Harry, Lily, but James is back," apologized Sirius.

Harry turned to see that see that not only had his father returned, but had already set five very comfortable looking chairs in circle, also supported by the cloudy ground. How long was I staring at my mother for? Harry thought to himself.

"It looks like their ready for us, Harry. Let's go sit down," suggested Lily.

Lily and Harry went to sit in the chairs in between Ginny and James, with Ginny on Harry's left and James to Lily's right. Sirius sat on the other side of James and Ginny.

"So, now we are going to learn about Harry's extraordinary reading abilities?" asked Ginny jokingly.

"No," said Lily with a smile at Ginny's joke, "we're not. What I was trying to explain before was not Harry's power to read. He had a much greater power than that."

"Had? Do you mean I don't have this power anymore? That I lost it somehow?" asked Harry, clearly interested in any power to help end Voldemort.

"Yes, had. But you didn't lose it. We took it from you." Said Lily while motioning to herself and James.

"You what?" demanded Harry.

"We took it from you," said Lily.

"And why in the name of God would you do that? Wouldn't power help me? I mean, couldn't I protect my self better with more power?" asked Harry.

"You better be careful when saying that up here. You never know where it might be," warned Sirius with a grin as Ginny broke into a fit of the giggles, remembering his previous confusion.

"Let me explain. You see, your power…well…"started Lily while searching for the best way to explain it.

'Just tell me what my power was,' suggested Harry

"You could read and control minds," replied James before Lily had a chance to answer.

"I could…wow. But I still don't understand why you took it. Power like that is only an advantage to me, isn't it?" asked Harry

"It is," began Lily, "but not to a baby of your age. A power like that is too powerful for a baby. You couldn't control it yet and tapping into people's minds' at that age was too much for you to handle, so we decided to take it from you. We decided it was the best choice for you and that when you were old enough, we would give it back. Also we knew Voldemort was planning to get it somehow, so we were protecting it from him, along with you."

"Of course, our plan was ruined when Peter chose to tell Voldemort of our whereabouts," continued James with disgust evident in his voice.

"But luckily enough, I chose to remain the secret keeper of the whereabouts of your power, preventing Voldemort from retrieving it," said Sirius proudly.

"Wait. But how did you take Harry's power? And where did you put it? I've never heard of power being taken away and stored," questioned Ginny.

"We used a very complex spell that sort of pulls the power out of the body painlessly, through the chest as a red smoke since it was so powerful. If it were very weak, it would be a liquid," explained Lily.

"Why do you want to know? It's not like your going to use it." Said James ignorantly.

"Would you shut up? You're so rude! You're making a very bad impression to your son. It's not like he has to like you since he's a fully intelligent adult when he meets you. And you haven't done anything for him that he knows. So just shut up and let me do the talking," scolded Lily.

Despite the fact that his mom had just yelled at his dad, Harry had a smile on his face that Ginny loved to see. He absolutely loved thee way they acted together.

"God, he hasn't changed one bit since school when he was constantly wooing me." mumbled Lily next to Harry.

"Well for your information Mr. Potter, I thought our friend Hermione would want to know." Said Ginny with a smile, being playfully rude to get back a James.

"I like this girl. Padfoot, you want to switch seats with me so I can sit next to her?" asked James.

"They still call each other by those names?" Ginny asked Lily with disbelief.

"Yeah Gin, that is a good idea. Mom, what's it called?" agreed Harry.

"Well, it's sort of a habit now, and we like them, since we made them up," defended Sirius who had obviously over-heard Ginny's question.

"The Ombre de Puissance. What, you don't want to sit next to your wife?" said Lily playfully to James as he looked at Sirius who was shrugging innocently to Lily.

"Well, as you said, I was being very rude. So to make up for it, I want to be nice and get to know my son and his friend," said James while moving to sit next to Ginny.

"Fine," said Lily, slumping back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

God, I missed a great childhood. And all because of Voldemort I had to live with the Dursleys. Makes me want to kill him even more, thought Harry.

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Sirius, his voice full of concern after seeing the big smile on Harry's face shift into an angry furrow on his forehead.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about my snake-headed enemy. So, can we get back to my power so I can kill him faster,' said Harry with a smile on his face.

It makes me so happy to see him smile, thought Ginny. God, I have got to do something about this or else I'll just start smiling at a funeral if Harry's there, Ginny scolded herself.

"Sorry Har, but you have to get rid of all that negative energy. We don't necessarily want you to think of killing Voldemort all the time, even though you do have to," said James.

"I know, but it's all his fault I had such a messed up childhood when I could have been having the time of my life living with you."

"Awww. That's so nice." thanked James.

"Yeah. Uh-huh, there's more. And then on one of his many attempts to kill me, his screwed up followers kill my god-father and my only chance to leave the Dorsey's'."

"Oh," said James, "but at least you've got friends like Ginny and Hermione, is it, and…and Ron, you said," he continued while looking at Sirius.

"Yes, that's what I said, but we really should get back to his power. I'm not sure how long Harry and Ginny are able to be here," suggested Sirius.

"You're right, we really should. So, we took the power out of you with the spell L'Ombre de Puissance. Then the smoke forms an Ombre de Puissance which takes the shape according to the person it was for. Usually it has to do with blood. Yours had to do with our blood to since you were so little. So yours was a red stag, red for Gryffindor since we were both in Gryffindor and a stag representing your father and now your Patronus, and it had green eyes, which represent me, since you have them too."

"We took the power from you about a month before Voldemort attacked and gave it to Sirius, and he hid it." continued James.

"But where would you hide something as valuable as that? Surely not Gringotts or Hogwarts? You-Know-Who would be sure to check there," asked Ginny.

"You know, it really is about time you started saying Voldemort too Gin. Even Ron has started and you have even more right then him with the chamber and all," encouraged Harry.

"Yes, I know, it's sort of a habit know though," replied Ginny.

"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to Harry. But back to the Ombre de Puissance," interrupted Sirius, "But strange as it may, I hid it in the House of Black."

"What! You hid my power in the darkest house of the dark arts for everyone to see? Do you know how stupid that is?" exploded Harry.

"Now, now Harry. I'm not that thick. There's a secret passage way there that lead to a very secure room under the house…behind my mother's portrait," said Sirius hesitantly.

"Oh great! How are we supposed to get it from there? You know how she screams bloody murder," demanded Harry with his voice rising on every syllable.

"Harry1 Calm down! You are really over reacting," scolded Ginny as her and Harry stared each other down.

Oh My God! I just yelled at Harry. How am I ever going to live with myself? thought Ginny. But what they didn't notice was Sirius had somehow summoned the Ombre de Puissance and bit by bit a red stag with glittering green eyes the size of a teddy bear was appearing in his hand.

"We've got it you two," James broke the staring contest that had gone from annoyance to pure love between Harry and Ginny. Yet none of them noticed, but Lily and Sirius did, which was shown by the smiles on their faces.

"That's it?" said an amazed Harry who had finally snapped out of his gaze.

"Wow. That's beautiful. It looks like a ruby," said an also amazed Ginny.

"No, it's much more valuable than any ruby," said Lily.

"Much, much more. That's why it can travel back and forth between life and death," corrected James. An odd but comfortable silence followed that statement. Sirius handed the Ombre de Puissance to Harry. Ginny saw that once again, Harry had a dazed look on his face as he took his power showing he was thinking.

"So, how do we put it back in me?" asked Harry slowly, probably still amazed at having his own power so close.

"That's the hard part, because we can't do it here," replied Lily.

"Then how do we do it? There's now where else," Harry said calmly while handling the glimmering stag gently. Apparently, Ginny yelling at him had meant so much to him that it had calmed him down.

"We're not the one's that perform the spell, we just give you instructions on how to do it," said James.

"The ones who perform the spell are the ones who give it strength and keep you living," explained Sirius.

"And who are they?" asked Ginny.

"Hermione, Ron and you of course," announced Lily happily.

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