Chapter 7.

Harry woke later that evening, feeling terribly thirsty and incredibly hungry. He searched for his glasses and a small feminine hand placed them gently on his face. He looked over and smiled at his beautiful fiancée and said

"Hi gorgeous. Fancy seeing you here." Fleur giggled softly, but noticing the harshness in his voice, got up and retrieved a glass of water for him to drink, which he accepted gratefully. Once he had drunk the water, Fleur then leaned over and kissed his lips softly and whispered into his ear

"I've missed you, love." Harry noticed that it was dark and realized that he must have been unconscious for hours, which was probably the longest he and Fleur had been apart since they had discovered their bond. He then noticed Hermione sitting over the other side of his bed and he greeted her warmly, saying

"Hey 'Mion, thanks for staying with me."

Hermione smiled warmly at him and responded, saying

"Of course I would. You're my best friend in the world Harry and after all we've been through don't think a life threatening ritual was going to stop me."

The three of them laughed at this, now that the danger of the situation was over and Harry relaxed back into the bed, still feeling a little tired.

"So," He said with a smile, "Since I am still in the land of the living with all my faculties, I gather the ritual worked fine?"

He saw the looks on the two girl's faces and asked worriedly

"Is there something wrong? What happened?"

It was Hermione who finally responded, saying

"

Well Harry, with those that this particular form of the ritual has been performed on before the after effects simply caused their entire body to glow as their body's magical energy was matured and the core gathered more of the magical energy from the area surrounding it. This did happen with you, just to a greater extent."

She then went on to explain the whirlpool effect that had happened as if his body had sucked in huge quantities of magic and the concussive explosion that had knocked all of them over and knocked Dumbledore against the wall. Harry was incredulous at this information.

"So does this mean then that I am quite powerful?"

Hermione responded that no one knew the answer exactly, but Professor Dumbledore forbade Harry to perform any magic until he could be thoroughly tested after his recovery in hospital. Hermione explained that this was just a precaution, since if he was a great deal more powerful now; the level of force that he had normally used before to perform spells may cause devastating consequences. Harry nodded, understanding this precaution and wondered if he would ever just have a normal school week. He then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep once more.

The next day found Harry in a room he had never been in before. Dumbledore had showed it to him that morning and explaining it was called the room of requirement.

"All you must do Harry for this room to appear is to walk by this patch of wall three times thinking of what you need the room for. It will then make a door appear in the wall and the room you desire will appear inside."

Harry thought that this sounded like a really cool idea and thought it would come in real handy for practice for dueling and strength training. He had decided after Dumbledore's revelation that he also needed to get himself into his peak physical condition. He had always been a little on the thin side, since he was starved at his Aunt and Uncle's place, but now that he had his emancipation, he would be living with Fleur at one of his places during the summer so he would no longer have that problem. Once he had gained control of his magic, he decided to implement his new idea.

Dumbledore had set up the room as a large arena with practice dummies lined up on one side with chairs for spectators on the other, well away from the spell fire.

"Ok Harry. We are first going to test just how powerful your magic has gotten from the ritual. Can you please perform the patronus charm?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded and thinking of his first night with Fleur he cried out

"Expecto Patronum!"

He was dazzled as a blinding white light erupted from his wand as a stag three times as large as his previous patronus sprang forth from his wand and cantered around the room. The patronus was so bright that it was very hard to look at. Dumbledore as well as the other spectators who included Hermione, Fleur, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were quite impressed and shocked at the power this difficult spell had been created from. Dumbledore felt sorry for any dementor who ever crossed Harry's path in future. After a few moments of silence where everyone gathered their thoughts and considered the implications, Harry included, Professor Dumbledore requested Harry to perform simple spells such as expeliamus and stupefy on the dummies set out about the room. Since Harry's powers were greatly magnified now his expeliamus didn't only throw the dummy back against the wall, but tore it to shreds in the process. His stupefy spell immolated the other dummy, leaving a small pile of ash. Harry paled at the thought of actually doing that to someone. Dumbledore then led him through some exercises where he caused Harry to go into an almost meditative state to feel his magical core and the magic running through him. With careful instructions, Dumbledore managed to get Harry to understand how he could put as little or as much power into a spell as he wanted. When he had successfully performed the standard fourth year spells without any further problems, like exploding dummies, everyone left the room of requirement and went up to Professor Dumbledore's office. They all sat down in the seats that the professor conjured for them.

"We will now see what other talents that Harry possesses in order to provide the appropriate training in them so he is fully prepared for the future."

Harry understood this talk as meaning that he had not told the professors present why he had to go through all of this, just that it was necessary because of Voldemort's constant attempts to do Harry in, especially now that he was an adult and no longer had the blood protection his mother provided.

Professor McGonagall then got up and produced a blood red stone somewhat similar to the Philosopher's stone in her hand.

"This Mr. Potter," She said in her lecturing voice, "Is a stone that will tell us whether you have an animagusform. If so, then I will take you for additional lessons outside of transfiguration and will train you to achieve and maintain your form."

Harry just nodded and took the stone into his hand. For a moment the stone did nothing, then the stone glowed a soft blue color and Professor McGonagall smiled, saying

"This proves that you do have a form Mr. Potter. I'll arrange some time in my schedule and will let you know at the end of our next transfiguration lesson." Harry nodded at this news, happy that he was going to become an animagus like his father, but also hoping it would be something useful that he could use in his fight against Voldemort.

Dumbledore then walked over to a corner where there was a large basin with a pedestal. With a wave of his wand, he levitated the entire structure to the middle of a bare section of the room. He motioned Harry over and explained

"Harry, this next test will tell us of any latent powers you may have. The ritual will require one drop of your blood as well as a concentration of your raw magic for the ritual to work. When I give you the signal, I want you to concentrate on your magic within your body, like I explained earlier. I then want you to pool that magic in your wand hand and then pointing that hand into the basin release the magic in a constant stream until I say it is enough. Understand?" Harry nodded and

Dumbledore, taking a silver dagger from his robes, pricked Harry's finger. Harry felt no pain as he saw one drop of his blood enter the basin and realized that the dagger must be charmed as he felt no pain and saw that the small cut had healed as soon as one drop of blood had fallen. Dumbledore then began reciting an incantation and gestured for Harry to begin. He closed his eyes, feeling his magical core and then propelled his magic through his right arm into the tips of his fingers. Pointing his hand over the basin, Harry released the magic from his hand in what he felt was a flowing motion. He heard gasps from around the room as he did this, but paid no attention, as it took most of his concentration to keep flowing the magic into the basin until

Dumbledore tapped him on the shoulder, giving him the signal to stop. He did so with a relieved smile. He felt very tired and smiled gratefully at Fleur as she led him over to a chair, which he sat down in gratefully.

Dumbledore looked at Harry across from his desk and Harry, even though he was tired, could tell the man was impressed.

"Harry when you were putting your magic forth, were you trying to put as much magic in as possible?" He asked softly.

Harry shook his head, confused, wondering if he had done the wrong thing.

"No sir. I just let the magic flow out in a continual stream just like you asked of me. I didn't want any accidents to happen like in the room of requirement, so I thought just a gentle, steady flow would be best." Dumbledore again looked surprised, but did not say anything. He then explained to the gathering that the results of the tests would take a while to calculate and that he wanted to meet up with them all this Thursday night to discuss the results. They all nodded agreeing to this. The professors left first, leaving the three students behind. Dumbledore then turned to Harry and said

"Harry, let me tell you, I have performed this ritual many dozens of times before as it is my duty in special circumstances to do so. In all my time I have never seen anyone release so much magic in a controlled manner as you did today. You have become very powerful, but not only that, you have also a great amount of control over it in just a short amount of time. I am very impressed and am sure that your results will provide some interesting revelations." With these words, Dumbledore dismissed the three and the two girls helped Harry back to his rooms as he was truly exhausted after that experience.

As soon as Fleur laid him down on the bed and stripped him down, pulling the covers over him, he fell deeply asleep. She smiled fondly at her beloved and kissed him gently on the lips, to which he responded to slightly, even in deep sleep, causing Fleur to giggle softly. She then left the bedroom quietly and rejoined Hermione in the common area and they both continued their studies, chatting amiably, as they had become quite good friends.