Disclaimer: See previous chapters! :P

Chapter 115

Harry felt like he had just fallen asleep when he heard an irritated yell come from his best friend.

"Whassa-matter?" muttered Harry as he pulled open the curtain surrounding his bed.

"Quidditch is canceled!" yelled an irate Ron.

Blinking rapidly, Harry sat up.

"There's a notice on the board in the common room," continued Ron. "Evidently it's too dangerous. Dumbledore knew You-Know-Who was back before and he didn't cancel Quidditch then!"

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, Harry said, "Ron, last weekend Hogsmeade was attacked."

"You knew about this didn't you?" accused the redhead.

"Snape told me last night. You were off doing prefect duties when I got back or I would have told you then."

"This sucks. Why aren't you more upset?"

"At this very moment? Because I want to go back to sleep. Overall? Because it is dangerous. Now that everyone knows Voldemort's back, security has been tightened. None of the teachers nor parents want a repeat performance of what happened last weekend and Merlin only knows the spells that could go flying through the air, especially at me."

"But Harry ... it's Quidditch!"

"Ron, shut up," growled Seamus from behind his curtains, "or I'm going to shut you up. I'm tryin' to sleep."

Harry glanced at the clock on the wall. It was pointing at half way to 'time to get up'. "Ron, why are you even awake?"

"Woke up and couldn't go back to sleep."

"No offense, but find something to do quietly because I am going back to sleep." Having said that, Harry pulled the curtains closed and slammed his eyes shut.

Harry plopped down in the middle of the floor. He then laid back against it. He was exhausted. He finally felt like he was gaining some control of his magic. It still flared a little stronger than he liked but at least he wasn't blowing up tables ... or flooding classrooms anymore.

"Tempus," he muttered as he flicked his wand in the air.

'Good,' he thought. 'I still have 45 minutes before I have to meet Susan for lunch.'

He visibly shuttered as he remembered Snape yelling at him the prior evening for not eating. He had told the stubborn man that he would head to the kitchens before curfew but that had made him angrier, claiming that if he had eaten dinner at the normal time then he wouldn't have needed to raid the kitchens.

After that conversation came the one of him dating Susan. Surprisingly Snape clammed up when he had informed the man that he and Susan had decided to make their relationship known.

And he had no idea why, either.

Groaning slightly as he pushed his way back up into a sitting position, he glanced around the room. The practice targets he'd been using highly resembled Umbridge. A part of him realized it wasn't a particularly good idea to throw spells at the pink monstrosity, but the bigger part of him took a great amount of glee in chopping her head off.

He idly wondered if he should work on wandless magic. Snape had explained that while it wasn't something the majority of the wizarding world could do, it was something that most of the students at Hogwarts had the capabilities of - if they applied themselves. However, he'd been made to promise not to tell anyone, even his best friends, that he'd be trying to learn it.

He'd even asked Snape to show him a few displays of wandless magic. He'd been highly impressed. He then sighed. He also promised Snape that he wouldn't attempt it without the man being present.

With a small grunt, he pushed himself back to his feet. He eyed one of the targets of Umbridge with a smirk. "Bombarda!"

"Oops," he said with a grin as pieces of the target flew around the room.

Severus was walking to the Great Hall when he was stopped by one of the miscreants he was attempting to glare away.

"What, Ms. Granger?"

"Have you seen Harry, sir? I can't find him."

"Not since last night. He might be with Ms. Bones."

"I've already seen her. He's not."

"If I see him, I'll be sure to let him know you are looking for him."

"Thank you, sir."

He watched her walk away and shook his head. He then continued his walk to the Great Hall. To his surprise, Harry and Ms. Bones were sitting at the Gryffindor table eating lunch.

He stalked that way, black robes billowing behind him.

"Potter!"

He saw Harry startle a little. "Yes, sir?"

"Granger is looking for you."

To his surprise, he groaned. "I know. I suppose I can't hide from her forever. I'll find her after lunch."

"Why are you hiding from her?"

"She's in full O.W.L. study mode."

"I hope you've already been studying for them."

Harry's eyes widened in panic.

"We have, sir," said Ms. Bones, calmly.

Snape nodded and strolled away with a knowing smirk. One thing was for sure - Ms. Bones could lie better than his son could.

He, and the present staff, were treated to an amusing spectacle twenty minutes later when Granger walked in with a red faced Weasley in tow.

The girl sat across from Harry and Ms. Bones. Weasley, he noticed, tried to sit further apart but Granger wasn't having it.

While he couldn't hear the conversation taking place, he could imagine what was being said.

Granger then pulled a notebook out of somewhere and reached across the table and hit Harry upside his head. She then turned it on Weasley.

Albus started snickering when Harry suddenly bolted from the table - Ms. Bones on his heels.

"I wonder what that was all about?" mused the Headmaster out loud.

On the other side of him, Lupin replied. "O.W.L. study schedules. Ms. Granger isn't pleased by the boys lack of enthusiasm in reviewing the previous material."

"Sometimes I wish I had your hearing," chimed in Albus cheerfully.

Severus just rolled his eyes.

"Can't we study charms first?" asked Harry quietly.

He, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, and Susan were piled in the library. They had a silencing charm around the table but there was no sense in pushing Madam Pince's wrath.

"No. Transfiguration is the first on the list," stated Hermione as she pulled out a humongous notebook and the first year text book.

"Can I join you guys in studying for the O.W.L.'s?" asked a voice.

Harry looked up and saw Lisa Turpin, a Ravenclaw from their year, standing nearby.

"Of course," said Hermione brightly.

To his consternation, when Lisa took the empty seat on his left, Susan, who was on his right, glared.

He merely shook his head and dug out more parchment from his book bag.

An hour later found Harry repeatedly hitting his head against the table. "Hermione, I seriously doubt that they are going to put something a first year can do on our O.W.L.'s. I imagine it will be something like our potions O.W.L. that Ron told us about a while back."

Apparently that was not the right thing to say because he received an earful as to why going over the basics was necessary.

An hour later, as he pretended to take note of what Hermione was saying, he scribbled a message out to Susan.

'I need a break. Fake an emergency.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Susan fight a snicker.

'No can do. She'll actually kill me when she realizes I was faking.'

"Are you two listening?" demanded an irate Hermione.

"Hermione, we need a break. The words are blurring together," protested Harry.

He then saw Neville stand up. "I need to go, Hermione. If you try to shove anything else in my brain, it will explode."

"But we still have four more chapters to cover," she protested.

"Hermione, Susan and I are leaving, too. I'm tired and I'd like to spend time with her that doesn't involve us staring at a book."

"But ... I have a schedule! If we don't study according to it, we're going to fail."

"We'll be fine. The teachers are going to start reviewing with us on Monday," he said as he gathered his books up.

"Thanks for letting me join the study session, Hermione."

"Oh, no problem, Lisa. Anyone that wants to join us is more than welcome."

"How did you know we were studying this evening?" asked Susan.

"Hermione told me the other day during our Arithmancy class."

Harry slung his bag over his shoulder. "I won't be back to the dorm tonight."

"Why?" asked Ron.

He shrugged. "Snape wants me to stay down there tonight. I'll see you guys in the morning." He then took Susan's hand and dragged her out of the library.

Harry stared in horror at Snape - who was currently smirking.

"You have got to be kidding me," he protested.

"I can assure you that I am not."

"But ... but ... no! I won't!"

"Seriously, Potter. I'll be perfectly fine. I want to see what you can do."

"My magic is still somewhat on the fritz. I could hurt you!"

"Think highly of yourself, don't you?" asked Snape with a raised eyebrow.

Harry scowled.

"The Headmaster has offered one of the rooms down here for us to practice in. He warded it himself. When he and the Order begin training you, that room is where it will take place."

He sighed. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you."

A couple minutes later found Harry looking around what obviously was a large empty classroom.

"We're going to stick with the basics. You are going to try to disarm me."

"Uh. Ok."

He and Snape stood apart by about twenty-five steps.

"Expelliarmus," yelled Harry.

The spell went flying through the air and was absorbed by whatever personal shield Snape had erected.

"You weren't trying. Try!"

"I don't want to hurt you!"

"You won't hurt me. Disarm me. Now!"

"Expelliarmus," called Harry again. Snape merely stepped aside to avoid being hit.

A half an hour later finally had Harry holding Snape's wand - which Snape wordlessly and wandlessly summoned back to himself.

"How much power did you use?"

For a brief second, he was tempted to lie, but then he saw Snape glare, so he opted for the truth. "Not all of it."

Snape sighed. "Harry, you will not hurt me. I want you to disarm me using your full power and strength."

Harry glared. Snape wanted his full power, fine, he would give him his full power.

"Expelliarmus," yelled Harry again, giving it all he had.

To his horror, despite Snape's personal and thrown shield, when the spell connected, the man went flying.

He immediately ran to where he landed. "Are you all right?"

"I am," came an irritated tone.

"I'm sorry. I tried to warn you."

"There's nothing for you to feel sorry about. You did exactly as I asked," Snape said as he stood back up.

Harry watched as Snape walked to the only cabinet in the room and pulled out the weirdest looking contraption he had ever seen.

He watched the man put the object on a conjured table in the center of the room.

"What is that?" asked Harry, curiously.

Snape eyed him with a weird expression. "For lack of a better term, they're scales. This will test your power."

"Test my ... power?"

"Yes. To have it gauge your power correctly, you have to cast a spell at it using your full power. It will help you gauge your own power usage for each spell you cast at it afterwards."

Harry saw red. "Do you mean to tell me that all this time I could have had an accurate way to make sure I could gauge my power correctly?" he demanded.

He didn't notice as the candles in the room flickered nor when Snape proceeded to cast several light orbs to circle the ceiling.

"Control your tempter, Potter. It's always best to learn on your own. This is just a tool to make sure you are right in your own assessment."

Harry took a deep breath. "Why wasn't I told about this before and why did you make me cast a spell at you using my full power when I had a way to not hurt you?"

"Harry, you didn't hurt me and before, you had control over your power just fine. After you get your magic firmly under control with your new wand, you won't need this thing ever again."

Harry simply glared at Snape.

Severus eyed his sleeping son. They had got back to their quarters about an hour before. He hadn't meant to keep Harry so long doing various things but he had been too curious for his own good.

The sheer power the boy possessed was simply unbelievable. Lily had packed a hell of a punch with her power, but what he felt tonight left Lily's power in the dark.

An hour before they had called it quits, he had conjured an indestructible target and added a few of his own spells to make sure that it couldn't be destroyed. He then told Harry to destroy it. Upon Harry's incredulous look, he had goaded the boy, telling him that he didn't think he could.

The target exploded on the sixth try. Harry told him that he had needed to reach for every bit of reserve power he had. He decided not to tell him that he shouldn't have been able to destroy it at all.

With a sigh, he pushed himself out of the doorway to head to his room. He was in desperate need of a pain reliever. Despite his protests to Harry earlier, he wasn't okay. He hurt like he'd been cursed by the Dark Lord.

Opening his night stand, he pulled out a bottle and blindly downed it. He would never tell Harry that the boy had harmed him. With a grimace, he could only imagine what that would do to him.

Twenty minutes later found him sighing softly as he slipped into his bed. One day later this week, he would quiz Harry on what he had learned from reading the book on wandless magic.

With that plan in mind, he drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Harry and his new wand are slowly getting used to each other. It's amazing how using a target that looks like Umbridge will motivate someone. hehe

Up next, the teachers begin reviewing for the O.W.L.'s. bwahahaha

Right now the next chapter is way too short, but while I was posting this one, I got an idea that I can add to it. Hopefully I'll have it up by next weekend. As for me, I'm fighting some kind of cold and allergies so I took some benadryl earlier and it's kicking in, so if something sounds kinda wonky, then I blame the meds. *nods sagely and flees*

*comes back temporarily to leave sweets to bribe reviews then flees again*

;)