A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof! I just like to play with them. =)

Chapter 74

March 1, 1995

Dear Padfoot,

Moody is still acting weird. He keeps trying to help me. I don't think it's a coincidence that he leant Neville a book that contained information for me to be able to do the second task. And he gave it to him before my name was put in the goblet. He was also the one to suggest flying to me for the first task. He feels off to me. Is it possible that he put my name in the cup?

Gabby and I are still together. She liked her Valentine's Day and birthday present. Ron likes her because she can hold her own in Quidditch talk. Hermione likes her because she's smart. Hermione says that I'm lucky to find an understanding girlfriend.

I think I'm lucky to have Hermione as a friend otherwise I'd be lost with this whole girl thing.

The giggling confuses me.

Classes are going all right. I don't have to take any of the end of year exams so I have to keep my grades up all year long.

I've used four pranks from the book you sent me for Christmas. Other than Ron and Hermione, no one knows it's me doing it yet. The twins are so confused. It's really funny.

Tell Mooney I said hi.

Love,

Harry

Harry let Ron's owl, Pig, deliver the letter, much to Hedwig's annoyance.

He then sauntered off to find Neville.

"Severus, I'm growing concerned."

"There's nothing to be done about it. Flee if you must. I will make your excuses but I will not run," sneered Severus as he placed some empty bottles in his cupboard.

"So you will return to him if you are called?"

"I will do as I am bid to do. Now Igor, I have a class in two minutes. Kindly do yourself a favor and remove your presence from my classroom."

Severus saw Karkaroff leave the room in a cloud of anger. He slammed and locked the door behind him.

He then carefully pulled up his left sleeve.

The Dark Mark was getting darker and occasionally it would have a surge of pain flare through it. He had told Albus but there was nothing to be done.

Severus could only pray that it never reactivated.

"So you knew that it was Rita Skeeter because you recognized her glowy thing?" asked Hermione around a tower of books - one of which Harry swore was Russian.

"Yeah. I took her to Dumbledore. I hinted at blackmail. He found it amusing," Harry said, grinning at the memory.

"Harry, you need to go see Madam Pomphrey. You haven't found any books on it and it's not normal. You might be sick."

"Hermione, I'm fine and really ... I'm used to it. It doesn't even bother me anymore. It's just something that's there."

"Harry, now is the perfect time to go see her. You're mostly caught up on your homework, Gabriella is in detention because her and Ginny hexed each other again in Professor's Snape's class, and Ron and Neville are playing chess. Go on. If they ask, I'll tell them you went after a headache relieving potion."

"Fine," grumbled Harry. He gathered his books up and headed to the infirmary.

Harry looked around the hospital wing. He nodded to the 7th year Hufflepuff in one of the beds before knocking on the medi-witch's office door.

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute? It's kinda private."

"Of course." Harry watched her shut the door and felt what he guessed were privacy wards go up around the room.

"You won't tell anyone anything about what we talk about right?"

"It depends on what you tell me."

"Er... uh ..." Harry turned red and stood up to leave. "Never mind then. I don't want anyone else to know."

"Sit down Mr. Potter. As long as it's not life threatening or harmful to you or someone else, I won't speak of it."

Harry hesitated but nodded. He resumed his seat. "Ever since this summer, I've been able to see glowy things. I've been looking in the library to see if I can figure out what it is but I've not had any luck."

"Glowy ... things?"

"Yeah. Everyone has a different one, even the Weasley twins. During the World Cup game, I did notice that the muggles didn't have one. Professor Moody doesn't have one either. Everyone else does though."

Harry watched her eyebrows raise.

"Do they give you headaches?"

"At the World Cup I had one because of the sheer number of them but after that I've just gotten used to seeing them."

He watched her get up and rummage through some books.

"And you said it started this summer?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am."

"Did anything happen during the summer?"

"Not really. Nothing unusual anyway."

Harry watched her sit back down with four very thick books.

"Last year, you were doing accidental magic all over the place. I've not heard of you doing any this year. What changed?"

Harry turned red. That had been so embarrassing. At least the few bouts of accidental magic that he had done so far this year hadn't reached her ears yet. "I knew that I needed to control my temper so I read some books on meditation. Professor Lupin thought that it might help me control some of my accidental magic as well."

"Professor Lupin was right. Did you start practicing the mediation techniques you read about?"

"Yes ma'am. I didn't want to blow anyone else up again."

"That is most likely what happened then. When you meditate, you center yourself - which in turn centers your magic. My guess is that had you not started doing that, then we'd be having this conversation in a couple of years."

"Do you know what's wrong with me then?"

She smiled which temporarily reassured him ... until she spoke. "There is nothing wrong with you, but you are more powerful than I realized. You, Mr. Potter, have been holding back in your spell work in all of your classes haven't you?"

"Er, what do you mean?"

"When you cast spells, you don't use all of your power do you?"

"No," said Harry. He was so confused.

"Can you gauge how much power you put behind spells?"

"For the most part ..." Harry suddenly got suspicious. "Isn't that something most people can do?"

"No, Mr. Potter, it's not. I take it this conversation has never come up with your friends?"

"No. Merlin this makes me even more of a freak than what I already am."

"You are not a freak Mr. Potter," the medi-witch said quite sternly.

Harry just shook his head. "What does this have to do with the glowy things?"

"The 'glowy things' as you call it, is a person's magical signature."

"Magical signature?" Harry's vision started to dim.

"Yes. People of a certain power level can see them. If you wouldn't have been holding back in your spell casting, I would have started watching for it from your first year. You would have been given two of these books to read then, in any case."

"What does 'of a certain power level' mean?" asked Harry. He was trying really hard to focus but the word freak kept entering his mind over and over.

"While I'm sure there are a few prominent wizards and witches in the world that can see them, I've only ever met one ... well two actually, though the latter is just an assumption on my part."

Harry was breathing in shallow breaths now but still managed to ask, "who?"

"The Headmaster and You-Know-Who."

The next thing Harry knew is that he was on the floor.

"C'mon Potter. Back in the chair or I'm going to make you stay overnight."

Harry shook his head, trying to get his bearings - and to clear the ringing out of his ears. He then cautiously got back in the chair.

"Drink this."

Harry done so. It made him feel remarkably calm very quickly.

"Better?"

Harry grimaced but nodded. At least the ringing in his ears had stopped. Even though he knew he didn't want to know the answer, he asked anyway. "And were they my age when they started seeing other peoples ... magical signatures?"

Madam Pomphrey looked at him grimly. "Perhaps you better drink another calming draught first."

Harry didn't need to be told twice.

When she answered, he was glad he had taken it. "Well, as for You-Know-Who, I imagine it was something he grew into. He offered his followers power, so it's my assumption he was powerful enough to see them. And as for the Headmaster, he was in his late twenties, early thirties when he started seeing them."

The only sign of stress that Harry could show was that his eyes glazed over.

Madam Pomphrey sighed. "Mr. Potter, I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell your professors about this."

"What? Why?" That certainly snapped him out of his daze.

"Because it's something they need to know. They may need to alter your homework or even class projects for you."

"No. Please Madam Pomphrey. Don't tell anyone. I'll do anything. I'm already a freak. This will make it so much worse."

"Mister Potter, quit fighting the calming draught. I can't give you anymore."

Harry took several deep, calming breaths. When he looked up again Madam Pomphrey was looking him over.

"Tell you what. You seem to have a pretty good handle on your power usage, certainly more than Albus did for many years," she added in confiding tones, "so I'll keep this between us for now. However, I need you to read these books for me. I'll give you two weeks to do so."

Harry's eyes widened as he looked at the thick books again.

"Don't look at me like that young man. This information is just as important as everything else you'll ever learn, even more so in some cases."

"How come there aren't any books on this in the library?"

"Because this is something that needs to be talked about before reading. Being able to see magical signatures is not a widely known skill. Can you imagine how you would have felt if you had read about all of this in a book?"

"And my classmates really can't adjust the power of their spells?" Harry clearly remembered Flitwick mentioning power usage in charms.

"They can to a degree but no where to your extent. In your 7th year, there is a 3-day class that discusses power adjustment of spells in detail."

"Three days?" asked Harry disbelievingly.

"Like I said, not to your scale."

Harry took the books and put them in his bag. "You won't tell anyone? Not Professor McGonagall nor the Headmaster?"

"I really should tell the Headmaster but I won't until we talk again in two weeks. Although, if he's not already figured it out, I'll be sorely disappointed in him."

"You won't even hint about this to anyone?" He had to make sure.

"No, Mr. Potter. Now, I've charmed those books to look like medical books should anyone see you reading them. However, you are not to show them to anyone. You'll understand why when you sit down to read them."

Harry nodded.

"Did you have any immediate questions?"

Harry gave a humorless laugh. "Yeah. Why couldn't I just be normal? Normal's the only thing I've ever really wanted to be."

"Being normal is highly overrated. Now, you run along."

"Actually, can I have a couple of headache relieving potions. I get the feeling I'm going to need them."

Harry put them in his bag and as he and Madam Pomphrey were exiting her office, he nearly ran straight into Professor Snape.

"Sorry, sir," he muttered as he left the hospital wing.

"Poppy, a word?" Severus said as he eyed the visibly shaken Potter leave the infirmary.

"Honestly Severus. Hold on. Let me check Mr. Callen's leg."

Severus placed himself in a chair across from her desk and pulled a piece of parchment out of his robes.

Madam Pomphrey shut the door as she re-entered her office. "Now, what is so important that you nearly run over Potter and then order me around."

"I did not nearly run over Potter and I am not crazy enough to dare order you around. I am merely in a hurry. Here is a list of potions I just restocked the cabinets with. Is there anything else you need?"

Severus saw her look over the list. "At least three more vials of Skelegrow. I have no idea what Alastor is teaching his 7th years but that's the third student that I've needed Skelegrow for this week."

"Very well. I'll have some ready in two weeks. Out of curiosity, what did Potter want?"

"You know very well that I can't talk about what he and I discussed."

"I was merely curious. He looked like someone you just gave the sex talk too."

Poppy chuckled. "Something tells me that he wishes that was what we talked about but it wasn't. And don't think I don't realize what you're doing. I only said it wasn't because he is dating one of your Slytherin's. Now shoo before I make you give him the sex talk. I have paperwork to do."

Severus strode away in as calm of a walk as he could. He certainly wouldn't put it past Poppy to con him into doing such a thing, so it was best to leave before she could. The woman could be scarier than Dumbledore at times.

When Harry got back to the dorm, he managed to avoid Hermione and headed up to bed. He put the four books in his trunk and then through sheer force of willpower, he made himself fall asleep.

Around 3:30am he woke up sweating in bed. It wasn't due to Voldemort, Dementor's, or even basilisks this time. It was because no matter how hard he ran, he couldn't out run the word freak. He didn't want to be different from everyone else, he just wanted to be a normal 14-year-old wizard boy.

Sighing, Harry quietly got up and gathered his things for a shower.

Afterwards, he picked up the first book and began to read. By the time Ron got up, Harry was half way through it.

"Hermione, it really is nothing."

"But Harry -"

"Look. I talked to Madam Pomphrey. She told me what it is. I'm not sick, I promise. She also told me that I couldn't tell anyone." Okay, the last part was a lie but Harry really didn't want anyone to know just how big a freak he was.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't?"

"Why can't you tell anyone?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm in the hospital wing way too much to question her."

Hermione huffed and stormed off. She hated being denied information.

"I just saw Hermione run out of here. What did you or Ron say?" asked Gabriella as she sat her books down on the table.

Harry made a face at her. "It was me. She's upset because I wouldn't tell her something she wanted to know."

Thankfully, Gabby didn't press him. She no doubt sensed his mood.

"You're good at potions right?"

"For the most part. Why?"

"Because this makes no sense to me. Can you help?"

"Sure. Let me see what you're working on."

March 7, 1995

Harry,

Alastor Moody has always been weird. It's possible that Albus has told him to watch over you. You have nothing to fear from him. He certainly would not have been the one to put your name in that goblet so get that out of your head. Moody is one of the good guys.

Let me tell you something, from one guy to another. The giggling confuses everyone. As you get older, you'll see that women get more confusing instead of less.

It sounds like you like this Gabriella girl a lot. Take things slow with her.

Only four pranks? I figured you would have gone through half of them already. If you have any questions about them, let me know.

Any ideas what the third task is yet?

Remember, if you have any more dreams, make sure you tell the Headmaster. If you need me, let me know.

Love,

Padfoot

Harry sighed as he read the letter. Was it just him that got a bad feeling from Moody? He stowed the letter in his trunk and headed off to class. He had been toying with the idea of telling his godfather about being able to see magical signatures but realized that even if he did want to, it wasn't safe to do it over a letter.

"Questions about what you read Mr. Potter?" asked Madam Pomphrey.

"I suppose being normal really is out of the question isn't it?"

"I told you before, being normal is overrated."

"I took some notes on what I read and most of it did make sense but I still don't understand why Professor Moody doesn't have a magical signature."

"Oh, he has one, but with him being as paranoid as he is, he no doubt performed a ritual to hide it. There are spells to hide one's magical signature for a short time of course, as you should have read, but the ritual makes it permanent so that you don't have to remember to keep casting the spell."

"Why? If only really powerful people can see it, why would he worry about it?"

"It's just the way he is. He's paranoid, but he's good, so most do not question his eccentricities."

Harry frowned. "Can I borrow the Aberton book for a little while longer? That's the only one I had the most trouble understanding."

"I'm sure the book being written in a form of Olde English doesn't help any does it?"

"Not really."

"You may borrow it for another week. Now, as for this agreement not to tell anyone, I really do need to tell the Headmaster."

"Please don't Madam Pomphrey."

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired of being different from everyone else."

"Mr. Potter. Harry. You are going to have to accept that you are different from everyone else and embrace it. With this type of power you can do a lot of great things, but it also comes with a great deal of responsibility. The Headmaster can help you through this. He's been through it himself."

"I don't want power or responsibility. I just want to be a normal 14-year-old boy. I want to worry about causing pranks and not getting caught. I want to worry about Quidditch and keeping my friends and girlfriend happy. I want to worry about whether or not I'm going to pass Transfiguration. I don't want any more responsibility than that."

"Harry, listen to me. It is my belief that if you could not shoulder the responsibility that this gift has brought on, you would not have received it. I have faith in you that you will be fine. But you will need help understanding whatever else this could bring your way. I can only help you understand what you're going through to a degree. The Headmaster will be able to help you understand things a lot better."

Harry took a deep breath. He was on the verge of exploding something.

"Can we ... Can we keep this between us for just a little while longer? I need to time to think. Time to process stuff."

"Very well. Just remember this can open doors for you and allow you rare opportunities that you wouldn't normally get."

Harry nodded but before he could leave her office, she stopped him.

"Until you allow me to tell the Headmaster, I'll need to meet with you once a week to make sure that you don't have any questions about what you've read, or what you're going through. I'm aware that you've been fine thus far and you would have been fine had you not came to see me, but I would prefer to ere on the side of caution."

He groaned, but nodded. If it kept anyone else from finding out how different he was, he would probably agree to meeting with her once a day.

Severus was restocking the potion's cabinet with the Skelegrow Poppy had asked for when he saw Potter flee from her office again. He looked like he had been run over by a herd of hippogriff's.

Why was he in the hospital wing again? Was he sick? It couldn't be blamed on Quidditch because no one was allowed to fly this year. Besides, he didn't look physically hurt.

"Oh, thank you for the Skelegrow, Severus."

Severus nodded and swooped out of the hospital wing.

As he headed back down toward the dungeon's, he was brought up short by Potter looking out of one of the window's. He ducked into an alcove to watch him but he turned around at that moment and walked off, mumbling something that Severus couldn't over hear.

He idly wondered if he could sic Albus on Poppy to see what was wrong with Harry. Then again, the Headmaster would just twinkle at him because he was concerned. He would be forced to hex Albus at that point.

Severus made the journey to the dungeons in silent contemplation.

A/N: Poor Harry. As you can see, the Dursley's left an impression on Harry about him being a freak. And as you also saw, Harry was yet again ignored when he suspected something was wrong with Moody. Let's just hope that it doesn't come back to bite him in the arse. ;-) I hope I explained magical signatures and his ability to see them to where it was believeable. Hopefully I explained Moody's lack of a magical signatures to everyone's satisfaction as well.

Up next, Harry learns that there are still yet some things about girls that he doesn't understand. Also, he makes more trips to the Founder's Library.

I had a couple of new reviewer's and I was asked what my update schedule is like. I update about every 2-4 days. For a while it was everyday, but that was because I hit a wall of writer's block ... which has since been torn down. I like to keep myself several chapter's ahead of what I post that way I can go back and change minor things if I need to. Anywho, the next one will be up in a couple of days. =)

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day if you celebrate it. Personally, I'd like to tell cupid where to shove his arrows ... but that's just me. ;-) *grins*