A/N - Chapter 4 is now revised
Chapter 4- Powers, Magics and Dark Lord's Gift
Dumbledore apparated outside gates of the Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry. He immediately sent a Patronus message to Hagrid, McGonagall and Poppy. Hagrid came rushing towards the gates to let them in. He gently took the young boy from Dumbledore in his big arms and started to walk besides Dumbledore towards the hospital wing of the school, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting for them.
Hagrid gently laid down the young boy who he recognized immediately as Harry on to the bed specified by Poppy.
Poppy then moved towards the boy to have a look at him. She gasped with shock when she saw who it was. She immediately started to begin various chants and scans to check what was wrong with the Boy-Who-Lived.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had also reached the hospital wing and was watching Dumbledore's unreadable expression.
She asked "What is going on Albus? I was in middle of preparation for my vacation with my sister in Southern Ireland when your Patronus came. I am sure you have a valid reason to ask me to wait for another week."
Albus directed her to look at the nearby bed which was occupied by a young child. He seemed fragile and malnourished with no bodily movement other than rise and fall of his chest.
Then she looked at his face, where sat his trademark lightening shape scar and exclaimed, "Merlin, this is Harry Potter. What has happened to him. I told you that those relatives of his were the worst kind of muggles. I told you not to leave him there." She completed in an accusatory tone.
"This is not the time to discuss my follies, Minerva! Young Harry here has suffered a magical backlash at house of his relatives and is right now in care of Poppy who has agreed to indulge us for another couple of days before she leaves for her vacation. By then Harry will either be fine or we would need to move him to St. Mungo's. Poppy! can you tell us how young Harry is faring now?" asked Dumbledore.
Madam Pomfrey said, "He looks fine physically as he doesn't have any visible injuries. However, I found many previous injuries to his ribs, legs, arms and head. I have already broken and mended couple of bones in his arms which had healed incorrectly. Also, he had a mild concussion which his body is healing itself as we speak. But he will need rest and we will need for him to wake up to understand what has actually happened."
McGonagall was startled from the last sentence by Poppy. She was however confused that Dumbledore was calm. Had he not seen Vernon Dursley's memory which had showed how Harry's magic had healed his battered and exhausted body before he had collapsed due to excessive magical excursion and malnutrition, he would have been too.
'The boy will be a very powerful wizard one day. Maybe even powerful than me and Voldemort' he thought.
Poppy told him that the Harry was now on road of recovery with his bones and body healing slowly. She had also started him on a potions regimen which will help recovery of his stunt growth due to malnourishment.
Dumbledore asked Poppy if she could perform a scan for Harry's magical power scale measurement. Poppy moved her wand over Harry in an intricate manner while chanting a long incantation.
At end of incantation, Harry Glowed deep Golden, then pure blood colored Red, and then Deep Purple, which she repeated atleast thrice but with same or more deeper colored results.
Poppy asked "Albus, this is unbelievable. The Golden means his magical core is extremely large and still growing, it will turn to white when it stops. Deep shade Red color which resembles blood indicates that his magical skill is infinite, and deep Purple means he will have full recovery and his magical growth will not be affected due to his past. He will also be capable of various types of magics. He might even be an elemental. He will also be capable of darker magics."
Albus replied, "Poppy please understand, magic is neither light not dark. It is the intent of wizard who uses it that makes it light or dark, but again this is not the time to discuss this as well. We would need someone to analyze his blood and get his Magical Quadrant. Did you not have a cousin in Ministry who is an exceptional mathematician and keeps record of this information and is capable to perform this test himself."
"Albus, I will floo-call him right away and will ask him to come here directly from ministry."
Dumbledore instructed her to ask her cousin to come to Headmaster's office floo. He said, "I will leave Mr. Potter in your care for now Poppy. I shall move to my office to greet your cousin and escort him here."
"I would like to come as well Albus", asked McGonagall, which Dumbledore agreed to albeit a bit reluctantly.
He was aware that Minerva definitely had many questions in her mind at this time and he was not ready to answer a lot of them. But he knew he had failed Harry and Minerva will have his hide if she did not get to know what was going on from him but from another source. Knowing her he was aware that she will not let this go. Both James and Lily were her favourite students and she had also liked Harry alot. She could have raised him herself if he had not insisted on Harry living away from Magical world till he entered Hogwarts.
It was a good thing that the term of the school had ended and there were no students running around so the risk of being heard will be very less, which prompted Minerva to ask Albus "Will you please tell me now as to what is going on and what the hell on earth James and Lily's son doing in hospital wing. Did he hurt himself? Did the muggles hit him? Did they mistreat him? I am telling you Albus, I told you not to put him there as they were the most wretched type of muggles"
She was becoming frantic and Dumbledore raised his hand to stop her rant. "I will tell you everything about what happened." 'well not everything as I cant still tell anyone about Tom's horcruxes'.
He continued, "When I had put young Harry with his aunt and uncle, I had only his best interests at heart. The war had just ended with Tom's defeat but his Death Eaters were still around. With likes of Malfoys, Crabbes, Goyles or Carrows and Lestranges, he was not safe to be left in the wizarding world. Imagin what would have happened if someone like Lucious Malfoy after bribing whosoever he needed to had gotten custody of Potter heir. Young Harry would not have lasted there more than a year or two, and the world would have easily forgotten the death of their Hero. I placed the best possible blood wards at Privet Drive based on Lily's blood assuming that her sister will love Harry like her own which will be able to create a powerful ward which not even Tom himself would be able to break. But I miscalculated the hatred of Petunia for Lily and her jealousy. I had thought that maybe she will get over it and take care of Harry. But this miscalculation on my part became a bane for Harry as those muggle bastards did not just abused him physically which I am afraid was not occasional but had also treated him worse than a slave. I am sure as per the memories I saw in Vernon's mind Harry didn't even know his real name till he was 3 years old. Those people made him do chores since he was 3 years old. My mistake made the poor boy worse than a house-elf. I will make sure that those bastards will pay." His Blue eyes blazed with anger as he spoke about Dursleys.
A tear flowed down his beard as he tried to control his emotions.
He continued, "I had keyed one of my trinkets at my office with the physical wellbeing of Mr. Potter and had also keyed an alarm into the wards and tied it to myself as to alert me immediately if Harry would be in any sort of danger at No. 4 Privet Drive. I was at ministry when the alarm alerted me. I immediately reached No. 4 Privet Drive and found that due to abuse from Dursley's, Harry was almost at verge of death. It seems that there had been a block on his magic from failed killing curse, which this event removed and his magic had emerged out of himself and had flared to save him and in process destroyed some property at Privet Drive. When his magic had taken control of young Harry, he was unconscious and was healed to a great deal before I got him to Hogwarts. In my rage at the muggles, I had destroyed the wards which cannot be reconstructed and Harry cannot go there again. Also, the kind of backlash would have made ministry and Death Eaters aware of his location by now. Harry will be safe here till he recuperates."
"Thank Merlin, the poor child has already suffered so much. I am at blame too as I never remembered to check on him. I don't know what face will I show to James and Lily when I meet them." Minerva said as she also felt herself to be blamed as much it was a mistake of Albus. She wowed never to let this happen again.
Albus continued, "The biggest concern now I have is that the magic of the Potter heir is increasing at alarming rate and he will need protection and new guardians to help him manage the rare amount of power he holds."
Minerva suddenly remembered, "Wasn't Sirius Black his godfather and magical guardian. If that man had not gone bad, he could have been the best person to raise Harry."
Dumbledore said, "Oh yes Sirius Black!. I remember him as a bright young man, rather a brother to James than his mate, and he loved Lily as much as a sibling would, so I cannot understand how he could have betrayed his family outside his real family. I wish I was present at his hearing to listen to the evidence. I can still check."
Suddenly Albus gasped, as he remembered that Sirius like many others was given a sentence without a trial. He had not even checked if there was enough evidence to send him to Azkaban. He held his head in his hands. This was another of his mistake where he had failed not just one but two people he claimed he loved.
James and Lily were his favorite students at Hogwarts, and he had loved them both as his own. His eyes became hard with determination. He would reach out to Amelia Bones, who is the current Head of DMLE, for Harry's abuse and re-opening the case for Sirius. 'Wasn't he dating her when he was captured by DMLE. Maybe the news of his betrayal had made her also overlook his innocence.' He will correct his past mistakes and make sure that he won't make any more so far Harry Potter is concerned. He will atone.
They reached his office at Seventh floor, and Albus gave password to the Gargoyle at the bottom of the stairs which had stepped aside to allow the Professors to the revolving stairs. They entered the office of Headmaster and found, a man of early eighties waiting patiently on the couch in the office watching Fawkes with amusing interest who was moving on his perch as if to keep the gentleman entertained till his familiar arrived.
"My name is Bartholomew Humphrey and I am a cousin of Poppy Pomfrey who is the current nurse and healer at your school. Pleased to meet you finally Headmaster Dumbledore. I am also a mathematician who works at the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry in capacity of the unspeakable who keeps record of all the magical population's magical prowess, including you headmaster", the man concluded.
Dumbledore shook the proffered hand of the most gifted mathematician the wizarding world had ever seen. He was the man who had developed the method to find how powerful a wizard was. He was assumed to have one of the highest brain function, though slightly higher magical power than an average wizard. But he knew it was a mere rumour to keep attention from himself.
Albus responded in kind, "Welcome Unspeakable Humphrey to Hogwarts. The pleasure is all mine to meet such a great mind that wizarding world has ever seen. Would you like some tea while we discuss why I had asked for your help and precious time."
A tray with three cups of tea and sugar, cream and cookies immediately appeared at the table in front of the assembled group. While sipping his tea Dumbledore explained the reason of the visit by the esteemed Unspeakable and asked for a magical oath that the information that he will gather will not be shared with anyone else and will be sealed as highly classified due the reasons that will be clear shortly. If Unspeakable Humphrey was surprised or annoyed for the oath, he did not show it. He rather readily agreed to both giving the oath and keeping the information highly classified which meant that it will not be revealed to anyone without express permission of certain individuals listed therein, when he learnt the identity of the one who this pertained to.
When they had finished their tea, they moved to the hospital wing so that the task at hand could be taken care of. When they reached the hospital wing, Harry was no longer in the bed where he was earlier, and had been moved to a magically cordoned area in the hospital wing which allowed healers to provide the anonymity to the patients that they dealt with.
Bartholomew asked Dumbledore as to what had happened to the boy and why the reading was needed at this young age. The boy was just 5 years after all.
Dumbledore raised some strong silent and anti-eavesdropping wards and explained to unspeakable Humphrey as to what had happened to Harry and gave him his ideas about how the horcrux was destroyed by Harry's magic and Lily's protection and that the block on boy's magic was now gone and addition of magic from soul fragment had added to the boy's magic.
He also wanted his suggestions to train the boy to control and harness his extremely rare magical prowess so that he is not a danger to himself or everyone else near him. If Bartholomew was intrigued earlier, now he was practically feeling like a child who was given a new toy, while waiting for his chance to test the boy's magical prowess. He had an intuition that the boy would be extremely powerful. He asked Dumbledore to remove his charms so that he could test the boy. He was also extremely pleased that Dumbledore had felt him worthy of the secrets he would surely never share with anyone else.
Bartholomew started his examination of Harry Potter with a long chant which carried on for minutes and ended with a bright beam of white light emerging from his wand and hitting Harry squarely in the chest. The light eventually enveloped Harry completely and stayed there for almost half an hour. This was the longest he had seen anyone in the scan's light. He took the results of the scan and recorded on a parchment which he will later add to official records at Ministry. He looked dreamily at the parchment and passed it on to Dumbledore who also had a shock on his face.
The parchment read:
Name: Harry James Potter
Age at time of scan: 5 years, 6 months and 8 days
Magical Quadrant: 15.25*
Status: Princeps Magus
*FAQs:
· To be most accurate the test shall be performed at a minimum age of 12 before which the results may be inconclusive;
· Average wizard/witch has a magical quadrant of 6 which is good enough to manage a normal life;
· The squibs have a magical quadrant of up to 2;
· Any wizard/witch with magical quadrants above 9 are considered as Sorcerers. These wizards are required to register their scores with Ministry if they require to be addressed as such;
· Any wizard/witch with magical quadrants between 10 to 12 are considered as mages. Till date only Albus Dumbledore has a recorded score of above 10, the accurate score has not been recorded though as he was not tested at ministry. The score for he-who-shall-not-be-named is said to be close to 12 but had never been verified.
· The score above 14 is rarest. Only Merlin is presumed to have had a score of 15. He was a High Mage.
"Wow, Harry has a score of a High/Battle Mage at age of 5." said Dumbledore.
He reigned his emotions and his eyes were devoid of the twinkle he was famous for and in a very serious and commanding tone he said to Bartholomew, "These scores cannot go into ministry records as the ministry is full of corrupt individuals at all levels and this information may make the boy a target. Thanks for coming and helping us. I would still need your suggestion to help the boy to control his magic. We both can agree that it is most important thing to do."
Bartholomew agreed and promised to stay in touch as he would look for a solution.
(((HP HP)))
3 hours ago
When Harry was dying, he was happy that he will finally meet his parents and nothing will keep him away from them now. He felt a sudden chill and feeling of extreme fear as he felt the vile soul of Lord Voldemort enveloping him. He also felt love of his mother now covering him lending a feeling of warmth and peace fill his mind as his own magic was called out to protect him. It might have been few minutes but it felt like ages that he was trapped between his own magic and his mother's love which was like a warm blanket on a chilly night and the vile and evil radiating from the soul fragment of the dark lord.
He had felt this vile presence earlier as well but it was not as clear ever before. Then he felt the evil leaving his body. But still a layer of foreign magic was there, but was no longer evil, but it was something that he felt drawn to.
Suddenly this foreign magic was absorbed by his own and it settled within his own warm blanket as a wave settles in the large sea, overwhelmed for some period but then becoming one with the ocean. He finally felt the extreme swell of his own magic now infused with his mother's love and foreign magic and a large set of information simultaneously flooding his brain. He also felt this exceptional feeling of being alive and loved and magic healing his battered body. In this warmth he lost consciousness.
(((HP HP)))
Present Time
He woke up after some time, but he was not sure how long he was unconscious. But he was aware that he was no longer at No. 4 Privet Drive, and it scared him.
There were voices around him which were talking about him. They did not seem hostile, but rather worried. But why would they be worried for him, a freak of nature, one whom his family hated.
His head hurt and he tried to get up. Due to all the information that the foreign magic had brought with itself was now flooding into his brain filling his head with everything Dark Lord had known till date and foreign memories flooding his brain he was developing a growing headache.
But at the same time he felt powerful and knowledgeable. His head still hurt and he was confused about the information flooding his brain.
He however did not know that the years of knowledge accumulated by the Dark Lord will take its own time to settle in his mind. He was at the same time aware of his own magic and he welcomed the warmth of combined magic and slowly fell into a peaceful sleep again.
Unknown to him he will be in the same state of consciousness and sleep for months to come. When he will wake up, he will be not just be an equal to the Dark Lord when he returns, but much more. He silently thanked the magic for the Dark Lord's gift.
A/N- Please read and review. Your reviews will help me do better.