Chapter 5: The Power He Knows Not
Not knowing what possessed him to do so, he slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips softly to Hermione's.
As soon as his lips touched hers, a burst of light and magic shot from Harry's scar. The two of them shielded their eyes from the intense light that had filled the room, their mouths open wide with shock as they watched papers on the desk rustle as if a gust of wind suddenly entered the room. The windows shattered and books fell from the shelf like heavy drops of rain.
Moments later, the light slowly faded, as did the wind and the magical energy. Harry clutched his hand to his aching scar, and fell to his knees in pain.
Hermione stared in disbelief around the room, amazed at how much destruction had just taken place. Before she could even process what had just happened, she heard the door creak open. She turned around and saw Ron standing in the doorway, his mouth hanging wide open in shock.
"Bloody hell," he managed to croak.
***
"Ron!" Hermione cried out. "Go get Remus or Tonks!"
"What the bloody hell happened to your room? And what's wrong with Harry?" Ron asked, still standing in the doorway.
"Ronald! Quickly!" Hermione shouted as she scurried over to where Harry was kneeling, clutching his scar with his hand. Ron, finally listening to Hermione, ran out of the room, yelling for Remus or Tonks at the top of his lungs. On any other occasion, Hermione would have scolded him, telling him that she could have simply yelled for them, but now, she was too focused on Harry to care.
She slowly helped Harry to his feet and was helping him lie down on the bed when Ron came rushing back into the room, out of breath, with Remus and Tonks at his heels.
Noticing Harry, Remus rushed over to the bed. Harry was shaking, his face pale, his body tense. Hermione noticed that his scar was stark white, practically glowing across his forehead. His fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were turning white; his eyes were closed tightly in obvious pain. Remus sat down on the edge of the bed, and slowly brought his hand to Harry's scar. The scar was scorching hot, and Remus winced and quickly drew his hand away. "Hermione, go get me a cold, wet, cloth," he instructed, not even looking at Hermione as he asked; instead, he stared intently down at Harry, his eyes filled with concern.
Much to everyone's relief, a few minutes after Hermione brought back the cold cloth, Harry's scar slowly began to cool down, gradually fading back to its normal color. Harry visibly relaxed; his hands fell limply to his sides and he drifted off into a deep sleep.
"He's fine," Remus announced. He sighed with relief and finally looked up from Harry. Hermione noticed his jaw slowly drop as he took in the destruction around him. Up until that point, Remus had not paid any attention to his surroundings, focusing solely on Harry.
He gestured for everyone to follow him out of the room, allowing them to talk without disturbing Harry.
Giving one last glance at Harry, Hermione followed everyone else into the hall, dreading the conversation they would be having out there. She knew that everyone was extremely curious about what had happened: why Harry was hurt, why the room was completely destroyed.
"Hermione, what happened?" Remus asked, staring at Hermione so intensely that Hermione shuddered.
"I…I…err," Hermione stammered. She had yet to sort out in her mind what happened, much less explain it to anyone else.
"Hermione, please," Ron said, coming up next to her, placing his hand comforting on her shoulder.
"Well…" Hermione began. She looked desperately at the closed door of Harry's room, as if hoping that Harry would suddenly come out to explain everything himself. How was she supposed to explain what had happened? She hadn't a clue herself. "Harry had a nightmare," she said slowly, "and I came in here to wake him up and help him get back to sleep…"
"Harry's having nightmares again?" Remus interrupted, stealing a quick, concerned glance at Harry's door.
Hermione nodded before continuing. "Well, this one was really terrible. He was fighting Voldemort, and losing quite badly. It seemed that every curse or spell was useless against Voldemort and there was nothing Harry could do to beat him…"
Remus nodded and gestured for her to continue.
"And then Voldemort began making people appear in front of Harry, everyone who Harry really cares about…before Voldemort killed each of them in turn." Hermione choked back a sob as she finished retelling Harry's dream. She failed to mention to the others that she had been the final person that had appeared in front of Harry, that she was what had caused Harry the most pain and fear during the dream.
"But how did the room get like that?" Ron asked, confused.
Hermione hesitated. She didn't want to tell everyone about what had happened between her and Harry. She didn't want to announce that Harry had kissed her; she still wasn't sure what it even meant…
"I…I don't know," she lied, looking down at her hands in embarrassment. "I don't know why it happened."
***
"I'm still sore from yesterday's training," grumbled Ron the next morning. Everyone was in the drawing room the following afternoon for another training session. Harry stood silent in the corner, looking sullen with his arms folded tightly across his chest. He was still feeling quite discouraged by his lack of ability from the previous morning and somehow, he knew that today wouldn't be any different.
"Don't worry, Harry. We'll go easy on you today," Remus said, misinterpreting Harry's sullen mood. In reality, Harry felt quite fine. He had slept in late, and had woken up perfectly fine, despite a dull ache in his scar. "I'll work with Harry today, and Tonks will take Hermione and Ron," suggested Remus.
Everyone nodded and split up into their assigned groups. Harry slowly made his way to the other side of the room to where Remus was magically arranging the furniture against the walls.
"I don't see why we're even bothering," Harry said bitterly. "You saw how I was yesterday."
"Let's just see what happens," Remus said, a smile creeping to his face. He waved his wand, muttering a charm, and a chair scooted towards them, stopping just before it reached Harry. "Okay, move the chair, nonverbally of course."
Harry sighed but began to focus his thoughts on moving the chair. After several uneventful moments, Harry began to grow even more irritated. "I told you," he said bitterly to Remus, "I just can't do-" He cut off, his eyes suddenly drawn across the room to where Tonks was dueling Hermione. He had no clue why, but his eyes felt glued to Hermione, and he found himself unable to pry his eyes away.
"Harry?" he heard Remus ask, snapping Harry out of his daze.
Still looking at Hermione, he snapped bitterly, "I can't move the bloody book!" as he waved his arm in exasperation.
"Harry!" Remus exclaimed.
Startled, he looked away from Hermione and looked down, just as a bright light burst from the ends of his fingers and connected with the chair, causing the chair to fly across the room and crash against the wall near where Hermione and Ron were training.
"Bloody hell, Harry," Ron exclaimed, giving Harry a dirty look from across the room. "You could have warned me before you sent that chair flying at me. You nearly hit me."
But Harry paid him no attention. He looked at his fingers in awe. "What just happened, Remus?" he asked, incredulous.
Remus gave a small chuckle before shaking his head.
***
"We need to talk, Harry," Hermione announced as she entered Harry's room later that evening.
"Yeah, we do," he said softly, as he got up from his desk and walked over to his bed and sat down. He gestured for Hermione to do the same.
They sat there in silence for several moments, neither knowing what exactly to say. Truthfully, Hermione and the kiss had been swimming through his mind all day, and he still didn't know what exactly to make of it. He had never really thought of Hermione in that way…but then why did he kiss her? And why did it feel so…right? Of course, it had only lasted mere seconds, before the room exploded, but still…
"I honestly have no idea what to say," Harry said nervously. Beside him, Hermione nodded.
"I mean, I didn't really even mean to kiss you," he admitted. "But then…it just happened."
"Oh," Hermione said softly. "It was a mistake…I understand."
"What?" Harry said, confused. He then realized that he would have to be more careful with what he said; he didn't want to screw up his entire friendship because something he said was taken the wrong way. "No," Harry said firmly. "A mistake is something that…well, if you could take it back, you would…this was more of a surprise. A good surprise," he added.
"Hermione," he said, turning to face her. "I honestly don't know what possessed me to kiss you right then, but it made me realize something."
"The thing is, Hermione," he said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I think I'm in love with you. I think I probably always have been, I've been too stupid to realize it all of these years. And that scares me so much. I know I shouldn't love you, I know that this will only put you in more danger…But Hermione," he said, gently lifting her chin with his hand, "I'm too darn selfish to care anymore. I need you-I love you."
Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes and her lips slowly curved into a smile. "Oh, Harry," she said, biting her lip. "You don't know how long I have waited to hear you say that. But then you said it was a mistake…oh Harry," she said, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, "I love you too."
At these words, Harry smiled, his green eyes twinkling with happiness. So this is what it feels like, he thought happily to himself, to truly love and be loved. The feeling and connection he shared with Hermione, the wholesome love and devotion he felt towards her, made him realize how little he shared with Ginny and Cho. Both girls were pretty, but Harry was suddenly sure that his relationship with both of them was never beyond lust, beyond a silly crush.
Leaning forward to kiss her, Harry noticed that the door was open. Not wanting Ron or anyone else to walk in right then, he muttered a spell and the door slammed shut and locked with a soft click. And then he kissed her, and for the first time in his life, Harry felt truly happy.
After several moments, Hermione suddenly broke away, her eyes darting back and forth between the closed door and Harry. "Harry," she whispered, her lips curling into a smile, "your wand."
"What?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Your wand," Hermione repeated, pointing to Harry's wand, which lay on his desk on the other side of the room. "You just did wandless magic, Harry!" She squealed and grabbed him, pulling him into a tight hug.
All of a sudden, something clicked inside Harry's mind, and a memory flashed before his eyes.
"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES…
…AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT…"
He snatched Hermione's hand, dragging her out of the room after him. "Harry-" she squealed, completely taken aback at what was going on.
"Remus! Remus!" Harry shouted, scurrying down the stairs and rushing into the kitchen where he found Remus and Ron sitting at the table, playing chess, Tonks sitting beside them, watching. "Remus!"
"Harry, what is it?" Remus asked, looking slightly bemused.
"I've figured it out. I know what happened last night, I know why I could move the book nonverbally and wandless during my training. I've figured it out," Harry said, hurriedly.
"Well, what is it, mate?" Ron asked impatiently.
"It's because of the prophecy," he said simply.
"The prophecy?" Tonks repeated, biting her lip, as if trying to think very hard. Her eyes looked upwards in concentration. "Are you talking about the prophecy from the Ministry two years ago?"
Harry nodded.
"But…wasn't the prophecy destroyed?" Tonks said, obviously confused. She looked at Remus, a perplexed expression written across her face. Remus didn't say anything; instead, he continued staring down at Harry.
"You heard it, didn't you? You know what it said," Remus said softly.
"Dumbledore was there when the prophecy was made. He told me what it said that night in his office," he said dully, shuddering at the memory of that night
"What did it say?" Tonks said, hardly able to control her excitement.
"It said that I was the one with the power to defeat Voldemort and that neither of us can live while the other survives. That he will mark me as his equal, but that I will have power that he doesn't know of," Harry said dully, as if he was simply reciting the words that had gone through his mind so many times during the last couple of years.
"That power is love," he added, looking up at Hermione, who blushed and looked down at her hands.
"What?" Ron and Tonks asked in unison, apparently confused.
"The prophecy said that I will have a power that Voldemort doesn't know of…or, as Dumbledore believed, a power that Voldemort simply underestimates. It's love; it's that simple. That night at Godric's Hollow, Voldemort tried to kill me, but my mother's love kept me alive. Voldemort should have realized then that love was a powerful form of magic. But even now, he casts it aside, believing it to be worthless, because all of his life, he has never loved anyone and has never been loved by anyone."
"You're not making any sense, mate," Ron said blankly.
"If you'd listen," Hermione snapped angrily.
"Well, last night…" Harry continued, ignoring Ron and Hermione. He was dreading explaining the next part. This was hardly how Harry pictured he would be telling his best mate that he kissed their best friend; he had no idea how Ron would react. He knew that Ron and Hermione were over, but still…
"After Hermione came into my room, we talked," Harry said slowly.
"We know this already," Ron said in a bored tone, causing Hermione to glare at him.
"I kissed her," Harry said quickly, looking away from Ron.
"You what?!" Ron exclaimed, suddenly looking very interested.
Ignoring Ron's reaction, Harry continued. "I- I love her," he said, glancing at Hermione with a small smile. "And that's why I can suddenly do wandless, nonverbal magic," he concluded. "As soon as I realized that I loved her…it was as if I was granted these special powers, powers that came solely from love."
"But Harry," Remus cut in. "You did it once. That hardly means that…"
"He did it again," Hermione interrupted, grabbing Harry's hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze, "just now… upstairs."
Remus smiled and stood up to give Harry a pat on the shoulder. "Well done," he said, his voice filled with pride. "Well done."
"I can't believe you can do wandless magic," Tonks exclaimed. "Honestly Potter, is there anything you can't do?" she joked.
At those words, however, Ron angrily pushed back his chair and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving everyone else completely shocked and confused.
Author's Note:
Well, that's chapter 5. Hope you liked it- please review!!!
-->