Here's Chapter 10 Guys!
I have seen some concern with the Magical Core. I'm just going to treat them like the soul. It won't be the main point of the story. I won't make Harry all powerful, he WILL have flaws. Also I'm not going to make Ron or Ginny weak; they are all gifted in their own ways.
But since I'm making the whole process of seeing a person's soul difficult, we won't see any other characters' (besides Harry's obviously) until much later. And Harry won't leave this process scratch free.
Since fate is playing a role in this story, each soul sort of foretells the person's future, but it is not a clear 'hey you're going to save the world' message. It will just be like that gut feeling you get.
With that being said, enjoy this Chapter!
Ch. 10:
At first Harry saw nothing but darkness; he heard, smelt and even felt nothing. It was if all of his senses had left him to sway in the unknown.
But then almost instantaneously, Harry felt everything. He was in the Dursley's kitchen being hit by a frying pan for burning the bacon; he was five. Then he was eleven again attacking Quirrel and burning him to nothing but Voldemort's twisted soul. But he was also in the graveyard again battling the newly resurrected Voldemort in front of the images of parents and Cedric. And finally he was catching the Elder Wand in mid-air and watching Voldemort fall for the last time. But Harry wasn't just watching these memories, he was reliving them.
All the feelings Harry had felt in those memories overflowed him again; fear, hate, determination, but most pronounced was the pain. Oh yes, the pain cut through Harry so much it felt as if his entire being was rolled and stretched to its limits. It wasn't the same pain the Crucio Curse or Dudley's beatings brought. This pain was a part of him.
Then as fast this pain began it ended. And while no solid fact or voice could confirm this to Harry, he just knew his suffering was a test. Harry felt himself conforming back to his physical body, and began to open his eyes.
To his left, right, and back there was nothing, but in front of Harry Potter was him, Harry Potter. It wasn't a reflection from a mirror nor an identical copy, but somehow Harry was looking at, well, himself. Harry tried to look down at his own body, but didn't find one to look at. He felt his body; his arms, legs, even his glasses, but it was as if he was under his cloak and couldn't even see himself.
Harry looked back up to observe the other Harry. The other Harry appeared to not notice him, but merely stood frozen in place. But suddenly a bright light started illuminating from the other Harry. It seemed to be eating away at the flesh of his chest, right where his heart would be. Despite this the other Harry still was motionless and looked as though it didn't notice a thing.
The light grew brighter as it made its way around the chest, and soon it began to spread to the right arm. The Harry noticed another light appeared, but this time it was on his forehead, on his scar. This light seemed to melt the flesh away, but the other Harry Potter had still not even flinched.
Harry looked back down to see the first light had moved its way down his chest and was just finishing at the fingertips of the right arm. Meanwhile the second light continued to cover the entire head, and twisted its way in a beautiful artistry to finish its job at the shoulders. But just a quarter centimeter before touching the first line it stopped. For a second nothing moved, and Harry stood shocked in his place staring at the pulsating force of power before him.
Then slowly, a small tentacle from each the first and second light moved between the uncharted area, and as if hesitant, the touched the other.
A force emancipated from the figure as the now blinding light spread throughout this barren land. Harry covered his eyes fearing that he too would be attacked by this mysterious light.
After what seemed like hours to Harry the light dimmed enough for him to uncover his eyes. The figure in front of him now looked part man and part pure power. The other Harry's chest, right arm, and head were now gone and in place was the twinkling white light, but this light connected to the rest of the body normally as Harry's other limbs looked perfectly unharmed.
The creature itself looked quiet, almost at piece. But suddenly a giant, red bubble like ball grew from the right shoulder blade; it grew to a fairly large size before dissolving. Once the first had sprouted hundreds began to appear on the figure like boils, but only on the spots illuminated by the light and depending on the spot they varied in color. These bubbles grew and dissolved in a time frame of no more than 5 seconds, and then with one final 'pop' sound they were gone.
The boils did not spread the light on the figure, but merely changed the light itself. Now different parts of the light glowed a different color. All of the right arm and most of the chest pulsated in a bright red while most of the head was illuminated by a sharp green. But to get even stranger, a small circle surrounded both the heart and the location of Harry's scar. But instead of these spots being red or green, the heart was one of pure white, and the scar's was just a single black dot.
Harry couldn't process what the figure was. The amount of raw energy before him overwhelmed any reasonable thought he tried to muster. But then an unfamiliar but warm presence in his mind unclogged his brain enough for Harry grasp it. Harry was looking at his Magical Aura.
as if sensing the understanding in Harry the spirit made its first movement and took its first step closer to Harry. After the first step it made another, then another until it gained enough confidence to walk fully towards Harry. At the movement of the spirit the soft presence disappeared in an instant, making Harry feel just as cold and clueless as before.
Harry tried to move out of the way but found that he couldn't; it was like his legs were now nonexistent. This left Harry no choice but to look ahead as his Magical Core collided with himself.
Despite the impact, the collision brought Harry no pain. If anything it made him feel more complete. But not even a second after the fusion a shower of feelings overwhelmed Harry. Unfamiliar senses and memories flashed in front of Harry's eyes, things that had not happened yet, but yet somehow he knew would. They were moving so fast Harry couldn't see what was going on, but he could feel it.
At first he felt comfort and stability, but as those memories moved on slowly those senses began to be replaced with pain, suffering, and death. The pain of those memories seemed to eat away at Harry's very heart and seemed to come from the center of his forehead. Then as the anguish of those memories almost became too much, a soft but strong feeling began fighting against the dark.
It was a feeling Harry had yet to truly feel, and with its help he was able to end the evil of those memories. To Harry's joy the feeling that helped him didn't leave him, but instead grew stronger. What followed was a time of memories filled with this strange but welcomed feeling. And while some of those memories involved loss, sadness, and despair, that feeling kept with Harry until the very end.
Once the flash of memories faded along with that feeling (to Harry's disappointment) all Harry saw was blackness. But slowly, one by one, a burst of light similar to fireworks would grace the darkness. Sometimes these would be in the shape of a doe or a Grimm, but other times they took the form of the mighty phoenix or the clever snake.
They took other shapes as well, but for some reason these made a lasting impression on Harry. He felt as if he had seen these objects before, or at least would some affiliation to them in the future; but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember where he had seen these things before.
But he would keep trying, and Harry Potter would continue to see these bursts of his own soul until he was ready to enter the land of the living once more.
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Harry didn't know how much time he was in this state between living and dead, but his friends certainly did.
"Seven Days! He's been in this stupid magical coma for seven bloody days and you still won't tell me why!" Hermione screamed in anger and pointed angrily at a tad fearful Abubakar Krinx.
Hermione payed no attention to his fear though and fumed in fury. She started becoming suspicious after two days when Harry had not replied to her past three letters. She voiced her concern to Ron and others, but they all reassured her that he was probably busy. But after the fourth day with no communication, Hermione used the portkey on the ring Harry gave her to confront him.
On arrival she found Harry unconscious in what appeared to be his room being watched by a focused Ariana. Naturally she began to freak out and look for answers, which Abe only gave vaguely.
It didn't matter that the man in front of her was the best Egyptian rune and hieroglyphics translator/author in the world (and someone Hermione had only dreamed of meeting) nor that he was a man Harry trusted and admired. All that mattered to her was that because of him her best friend was injured.
"Ms. Granger I assure you that Harry will be fine, and I already told you what happened. We were combining the effects of the stunning and blasting spell when the reflecting spell I had placed on the wall backfired the effects towards Harry who was hit dead on. His body is now taking the appropriate time to recover." Abe explained calmly.
"That's bull and you know it! Me and the rest of his friends deserve do know the truth!" Hermione persisted, but her passion slowly hollowed by the end of the statement. Did his other friends really care?
Once Hermione found out Harry was hurt she immediately used Ariana to alert Hagrid, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Ron, refusing to leave his side. Of course all of them showed up to see what was wrong and had Abe explain his condition.
Everyone but Hermione believed he was saying the truth and after staying there the whole evening hoping he would wake up, they went their separate ways in the morning. While they all wanted to stay, all of them claimed to be too busy to stay constantly (that and to them Harry being injured was a common occurrence).
This bugged Hermione extremely, after all what was more important than the health of their friend, but she understood most of them having to leave. But she was furious when Ron got up to leave. She started yelling and accusing him that he needs to stay with his best friend, and Ron started yelling back saying how he couldn't risk being kicked off the program and that Harry would understand.
Finally Hermione let him go (albeit begrudgingly), but despite everyone else insisting she too should go back to Hogwarts, she refused to leave Harry's side. So for the past three days, Hermione had only left Harry to receive work from school and to yell at Abe some more.
And as hard as Hermione tried, she couldn't help but feel his injury to be her fault. If only I had been there. It's my job to protect him... I could've stopped it. Hermione keep thinking.
Before Abe could say anything else, a soft moan escaped Harry's lips. In less than a second Hermione was by his side, searching for any signs of pain.
Slowly, Hermione saw a small crease line Harry's face along with a slight twitch in his eyes. Hermione could've jumped for joy. "He's waking up!" she squealed.
Another groan escaped Harry and miraculously he moaned, "Woke up 'Mione. I already was awake because of you bloody screaming." Ignoring the insult Hermione flung herself onto Harry and said, "Oh Harry I was so worried." Then she pulled herself off him and gave him a good slap on the cheek.
Now with more menace she said, "What were you doing to get yourself in a bloody magical coma?" Harry looked at her questionably and replied, "A magical coma?"
"Yes Harry." Abe said speaking for the first time since Harry's awakening. "After the 'incident' you began convulsing and your magic went into defensive mode until you would fully recover."
"But-how long have I been out?" Harry asked. He had a painful headache and his mind was still fuzzy. "You've been out for a week, Harry." Hermione answered automatically as if she'd been planning what to say to him.
She put up her hand to stop his coming protests. "Let me finish." she said in a tone that meant don't push it. "I came here on the fourth day after you didn't answer my letters, and the others were here for a day too but had to leave. Now, Mr. Krinx here has told me your injury was from a magical backlash, and as much as I respect him as a wizard, I know he's lying. And while I'm thrilled you're okay, you better tell me the truth."
Harry sighed and looked to Abe for approval. He trusted Hermione with his life, but was this something he could confine in her. After all he didn't understand it himself. As if understanding his internal debate, Abe said to him, "It's up to you Harry, I see no issues."
Harry nodded and responded. "Okay, I'll tell you both everything, but after I eat something; I'm famished."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Harry, in all honestly, felt like Hermione inflicted more pain than the ceremony did once he told her what he was doing. "That subject is one of the least researched branches of magic! Even the Department of Mysteries doesn't know much... You could have been killed!" she screamed.
Luckily for Harry, Abe calmed her down enough (mostly by summoning her wand for precaution) and assured her, "Relax, Ms. Granger. While you may not know this, I am the leading expert in Magical Souls. I made sure everything was prepared correctly and while I couldn't predict what Harry's core would be like, I think you and I both know he's a compatible enough wizard to know what he's doing."
This didn't calm down Hermione immediately. But after a few minutes, she sat back down angrily sipping the now cold tea and biscuits silently. Harry took her silence as a sign to continue.
He explained to both of them the lights, colors, and animals he had seen; but he didn't tell them about the unfamiliar presences in his head or the feelings he got, mostly since he didn't understand them himself.
Abe stayed mostly passive while he told them about his experience, and Harry could tell Hermione was trying to do the same but failed to keep the worry behind her eyes.
Once he finished an eerie silence filled the table. Abe was the first to speak. "Harry," he started gingerly. "Do you know what an average wizard's Aura size is suspected to be?" When Harry shacked his head as a 'no' he continued.
"It is believed that a muggle's soul only shows color, for that reflects the users internal feelings, experiences, and personality. To be a wizard at least a part of your soul must glow. Now, a squib will glow on a small part of their body, but their magic won't be enough for casting spells; it would only react if they acted extremely strong on at least one emotion. A below average wizard may have part of their wand arm illuminated, and an average wizard might have that entire arm and shoulder.
If someone is above average in power, they might have an arm and a small part somewhere else say, on their foot or forehead glowing. But you Harry... you say all of your chest, right arm, and head was shining!?" Harry and Hermione (who too was listening to his words in awe) both nod their heads to confirm his question.
"Only a truly exceptional wizard could hold that much power. The only people I would even think that may have had that size Aura are the founders of Hogwarts, and well-Merlin himself! Not even Dumbledore or Grindelwald processed that much potential!"
"No-ot -even-Dumble-do-ore!" Harry chocked out. He was in so much shock he could hardly breathe. Abe nodded grinning broadly. "Not even Dumbledore himself... Of course, he was very powerful very powerful, but he did not posses that much greatness. So you see Harry, you have the capability to do great things, you just have to know you can!
Harry took a minute to think about everything. "And what about the shapes I saw." He asked. "What do they mean?" "Oh they just represent things in your life that have or will affect you greatly. Just something to make everyone unique." Abe responded.
Meanwhile Hermione was struggling between wanting to hex Harry into oblivion, or to hg and congratulate him on this accomplishment. She was close to blasting him again when he said the most idiotic response to life changing news she had ever heard. "Wicked!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Harry spent the rest of October recovering from his expedition, and harnessing his new found energy. Now that he knew he could do just about anything, it was hard to not to hold back on his spells. It seemed once he had accessed his Aura, the magic came more naturally. He discovered this once one badly aimed disarming spell at the bookshelves, which made quit an entertaining show of dominoes.
Therefore, Abe spent most of the days now trying to teach Harry how to hold back in spells. "Now, before you had differing power levels in your spells, you only had to focus on the incantation and the intent. But now you need to focus on how much power you want to put into it. To begin with, imagine what you want the spell to do. Naturally this is a handicap in a duel, but once you get better you'll find that you won't need to do that anymore."
The rest of Harry's friends showed up the day after he recovered to see if he was alright. "You had us worried there, mate." Ron said to him patting him on the back. Ginny ran to hug him, then moved back to slap him for being careless. When they asked what happened, he told them the lie Abe had said to Hermione. While she didn't want to keep any secret from her friends, she understood this was something Harry had entrusted in her and was not hers to tell. "Tha's a relief", Luna said dreamily. "I thought the Nargles got to you for good."
They all spent the day off together and Harry showed them some of the sites and places he knew and Egypt. Ron and Ginny recognized a few places from their visit a few years ago, but everyone was amazed by the history behind the ancient city. That next day they all went off back to school. "Don't get yourself cut into pieces, Harry." Neville joked at him. Harry laughed and agreed and said goodbye to his companions.
Since that day he began receiving more letters from each of his friends. Now they're definetly making sure I'm not dead, Harry would think amused, and once a week he would get a visit from Hermione. Instead of greeting him every time she would say, "I'm not coming because I want to, but because I have to. Clearly you need me to get by alright."
To this Harry would always mock pout and reply, "As you wish." And despite Hermione's strict entry, they would always by the end of the day hang out and do something exciting. This made Harry happy since he could see one of his friends and not just get their letter. Hermione felt the same since she too was without a best friend at school and would spend the time to repeat every detail she sent in a letter to him in person (to which Harry still listened to attentively).
It was on an evening like this that the two found themselves sitting on a nearby sand dome watching the archeological dig and the sunset. That night also happened to be October 31st, Halloween.
Both sat in compatible silence for a while before Harry said, "You didn't have to come today Hermione. You shouldn't have to miss your last Halloween feast because of me."
Hermione smiled sympathetically at Harry and replied, "It's alright Harry. Honestly that day hasn't been enjoyable to me in years." Harry had to agree with this. What with fighting a troll, the Basilisk, the Dementors, Twiwizard Tournament (man he had a rough childhood), AND Horcrux Hunt, the holiday was not a enjoyably one at all. "And besides." Hermione continued. "You shouldn't be alone today."
While she didn't say it, Harry knew what she was referring to. Seventeen years to the day, Voldemort had murdered his parents and given him his cursed scar. It took over Seventeen years, but he was finally gone. "We could have gone seen them you know." Hermione said softly. "I would've come with you."
Harry shook his head and responded, "No... It just makes it more.. real. If I go back to that place on the same night, it's almost like I'm letting what he did consume me. No, I'd much rather dwell on their happy memories, the ones they would want me to know about." Harry briefly smiled and recalled the conversation with his mother. He could still hear her soothing voice, and feel the hug only a mother could give.
Oh how he wished he could be a normal child who didn't treasure those things and if anything acted embaraased by it. Why couldn't his parents say goodbye to him every year when he went to Hogwarts. Why couldn't they send him a Howler when he did something wrong, or ground him when he got in trouble. Why did he not have a father whom to teach him about pranking and play Quidditch with? Or a mom to talk about the girl he likes with or to go to with homework?
As if reading his thoughts, Hermione moved to comfortably embrace Harry and murmured into his shoulder, "They would've to be there with you, Harry. To tuck you in at night, to tell them stories of their childhood, not forcing you to learn about them from resentful teachers or mourning friends. They loved you Harry... remember that."
Reluctantly, Harry let a single tear fall at Hermione's words, but he refused to let more fall. There was no use in crying over it. It was over, there was no way to bring him back; the end. Despite this, Harry couldn't help but be thankful he had a friend like Hermione to fill in his empty gaps with love; it was something he could spend eternity thanking her for but still not feel he did enough justice to it.
Again the two returned to their comfortable silence, arms around each other. Harry couldn't help but drift to the thought of how romantic this moment was, and how this would be more of a couples moment. But Harry didn't want Ron there instead of him; he was perfectly happy to have his arm around Hermione. With this thought Harry's eyes unconsciously drifted to her curvy hips and slender legs. And he couldn't help but notice how her usually bushy hair fell into nice ringlets that reflected the fading light in the sky.
While Hermione wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Cho or Ginny, Harry thought her 'plain' features (that which she called them) had a more subtle beauty. He thought back to her at the Yule Ball, and when in fifth year she was cheering him up and he told her how he didn't think she was ugly. He mentally slapped himself for saying that. She wasn't just 'not ugly' she was beautiful. Harry suddenly felt a bubbly feeling building up in his chest and suddenly found his mouth dry. What was he doing?
Oblivious to Harry's discomfort, Hermione said quietly, "I still don't see why you had to risk your life to see you Aura, I could've told you how exceptional you are."Hermione then moved to look Harry in the eyes and continued. "I'm so proud of you Harry... You truly are the bravest, kindest, and greatest wizard I've ever met."
As Hermione was saying this, Harry found himself looking at Hermione's plush pink lips. Not truly realizing what he was doing and caught in the moment, he started leaning forward. To his surprise, Hermione too seemed to be entranced and made no move to reject his motion. But suddenly, just an inch from touching each other's lips, screams of terror were heard from the pyramid.
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Ok this is it! I was originally going to put in what happens next in this chapter, but as I was writing it began to become too long so I'm just going to make another chapter. I hope you think I did the auras tastefully. I didn't want to make Harry have his entire body illuminated (that would just be crazy) so I made him just as powerful as the Founders and Merlin.
And while I said he was more powerful than Dumbledore, Grindlewald, and you can assume Voldemort, it isn't by a big margin. And Harry has a long way to go before he gets anywhere near their abilities.
So long and I hope to have the next chapter up by the 18th of June!