Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling belong to the aforementioned J K Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
I would like to thank Shardraco for betaing these chapters up to this point. Starting with chapter 10, you, my readers, will have to put up with my bad spelling and Grammar in an effort to post chapters faster.
(9) McGonagall's Watch
The tabby cat jumped down from the fence and walked towards the two teens, about half way across the yard she transfigured back into their Headmistress. "I wanted to make sure you got back here, and then I kept an eye on you for a while. I visited with Arabella when you went to the Leaky Cauldron. I'm not trying to spy on you, I just want to be sure you're alright, and I can see the two of you are doing just fine together."
"I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that you are going to have your own quarters and common room next year. Hermione, come walk with me, I need to make sure you understand something."
Hermione gave Harry a 'now what' look and rose to go with McGonagall.
As soon as they were out of Harry's hearing range Professor McGonagall said, "I believe that soon you and Harry are going to be more than friends. It has been obvious to me for years that the two of you will end up together, is that what you want?"
"Ummm … yes." Hermione replied, in an audible whisper, while looking away from the Headmistress. "I can't seem to get any reaction from him … well nothing significant anyway. I tried to bring up that image he received from Fawkes and he changed the subject."
"That's not entirely unexpected; anyone he's cared for has been taken away from him, his parents, Sirius and now, Dumbledore. You may have to take the initiative at some point and show him how you truly feel. I think you'll find he has to be shoved … knocked off the fence, so to speak, I'm certain you won't be disappointed. You've undoubtedly noticed the hints, his eyes watching you from across a room, him finding your hand and holding it as you walk. The signs are there."
"Yes, I know … the signs … it's the waiting that's going to kill me." She sighed. "You think I should give him a shove, push him over the edge."
"Harry seems resigned to leave it as friends, whether he believes that's how you want it, or if he's scared of losing you too; I can't be sure."
"I had thought of that, but I really hoped that his instincts or at least his hormones would override his fear." Hermione replied. "Well … subtlety isn't working, I guess he'll need a 'bludger to the head' as Ron might say. Thank you Professor, I hope this doesn't backfire on me and scare him away."
"Certainly dear" McGonagall replied, "You're more than welcome, is there anything you want to talk about?"
"Actually yes … wandless magic, Harry's been able to do quite a bit of it, and it seems to come quite naturally to him now, is that to be expected?"
"Once you get accustomed to doing wandless magic, it can be easier to do that, than use a wand. The thing of it is that you don't even need to know a spell, you concentrate on what you want the magic to do, then send it out to do the job. You simply need the raw magical power to do the task and the desire to do it. Have you been able to keep up with him?"
"I haven't really tried it, but I got a book on it today. I haven't had a chance to read it yet."
"Of course you did, I should have known. It differs from wand magic only in how you think of it. It's something like apparition, you don't have to say a spell, or even know the spell, it's more concentrating on the object and the result you want, while mentally focusing your magic to the object. Once you've done it a few times your mind will know what it has to do and the more you do the easier it gets. You don't have to say the spell, though it might be easier at first."
"What about Defense against the Dark Arts spells like stunners and shield charms?"
"Oh yes, all that too and transfiguration, anything you can do with a wand can be done without one. Before we knew how to make wands that focus our magic, it all used to be done without a wand. A wand allows those with lesser powers to be able to use magic, otherwise only the most powerful of us would be able to do magic."
They had made their way around the house and back to Harry. When Hermione was standing near Harry she asked, "Can the Ministry really not detect wandless magic even if the amount of power that's used is considerable?"
"They can detect all magic, but they can't locate its source without the signature that's applied to it by a wand. In theory, they shouldn't bother with you doing magic here with your wand, but if you used Harry's wand I expect they'd be forced by one person or another to make a big deal out of it. I would prefer if you didn't use any wands here at all. Now Harry, Hermione tells me you're quite accomplished at wandless magic already, would you care to demonstrate for me?" McGonagall explained.
"Of course, Professor. Is there anything specific that you'd like to see?"
Looking at Hermione, McGonagall said, "Do you have your wand", and Hermione pointed to her left sleeve.
Harry held out his left hand almost lazily and Hermione's wand zipped out of her sleeve and into his hand. He then held out his right hand and acquired the Professors wand just as easily. He returned them both and, holding out his right hand palm up he conjured a candle floating just above his palm and removed his hand leaving the candle in mid air, then lit it.
"Very good Potter, you're getting on well with that, I shouldn't need to suggest that you help Miss Granger catch up to you. When you both come back in September, I suggest you use a wand for classes so the other students are not aware of your abilities without one. You could be at a disadvantage if Voldemort is made aware of your abilities."
"I could use a stick and no one would know", he said as he conjured a simple wooden replica of his wand.
"You certainly could, the point is so that no one realizes that you are doing it without a wand so that would be perfectly fine."
"Professor," Hermione's eyes lit up as she took McGonagall's attention away from Harry, "Would you please teach us to become Animagi?" Harry's attention peaked at the question too.
"There are not many wizards that can, or want to become Animagi. Since you both know how to apparate, it is one step further to transfigure yourself into an Animagi form. The major difficulty has been a trial and error process to determine the animal form you will become. Until you know the form you will take, you don't really know if you are attempting the magic correctly. The currently registered Animagi are all non magical animals, however Merlin, according to legend, was a Phoenix and there have been some other magical creatures over the years." After a pause Minerva continued, "Do you have any plans to visit the castle soon?"
"Yes, but no dates yet, Luna is trying to get the six of us that fought at the Department of Mysteries together later on Wednesday afternoon, and earlier that afternoon Mr. Twycross should be testing Ron and Harry at The Burrow", said Hermione.
"Luna … interesting, very clever, but she comes up with the oddest ideas. She probably gets them from her father; he was the same way when I knew him. My feeling about divination notwithstanding, Sibyll believes Luna may be a good seer."
"Ron has taken a fancy to her lately, I wonder what she has in mind", said Hermione.
McGonagall said, "Luna could make a good addition to your group, I take it Neville and Ginny are invited also?"
"Yes", said Harry, "I guess Neville has a right to be with us based on the prophecy. He and Ginny are also good fighters. What do you think?" he asked Hermione.
"We could use the help; the question really is how many people do we tell about the mission?" Hermione replied, "Do you have a problem, Professor, if the three of us become six?"
"Let me know what happens and I'll do my best to work with you. Luna and Ginny are a year behind you so they'll have to do their normal classes. Have you decided about coming back in September?"
"We haven't made a final decision yet, but we think it's a good idea to return in September", replied Hermione.
"Good", said McGonagall, "I or one of the other order members will try to keep an eye on you while you're here."
"Tomorrow afternoon, I think we're going back to my house."
"My time here is up, I have a meeting, someone else should be along shortly and Mrs. Figg will keep an eye out during the day. Try to let her know when you leave and I'll transfer the watch to Oxford." She transformed into her tabby cat form and scampered over the fence and into the neighbour's yard.
"What did you two talk about on your walk?"
"You and me … us." She said, hoping for a reaction. "Help me with some wandless magic."
"Done", said Harry, "You started me off with a candle", and he conjured one and floated it in the air, "and since fire is your specialty it should be relatively easy."
"What exactly would you do?"
Harry conjured a second candle and said "concentrate on the candle so all you can see is the candle and then imagine a flame on the candle and hold it there for a bit before relaxing."
Hermione did just as he said except that instead of blocking everything out that wasn't the candle, she made the candle fill the image in her mind. When she applied the flame to the image in her mind the flame she created was several times the size of the actual candle and melted the candle in a few seconds with a whoosh of fire." When she opened her eyes to see the results there was a wall of water in front of her about three feet wide and six feet tall, and Harry, off to the side, looked a little singed in places.
Harry moved the wall of water away from her, over the smoking remains of both candles to extinguish them and over to himself, and he passed through it to cool off.
"Harry!" She screamed, "Are you alright!" She ran to him as he passed through the wall of water and put her hands up to his face, gently touching his cheeks and quietly asked, "What happened?"
"You lit the candle just fine; the flame was a little larger than it needed to be. Did you have your eyes closed?"
"Yes, I was trying to concentrate …"
"Let's try something that's not related to fire, why don't you conjure a few canaries and I'll get rid of the wall of water. Keep your eyes open this time; I don't want to see a five hundred pound canary." Harry smiled, leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek.
She concentrated on one canary and imagined it appearing in front of her. When it popped into view it was about twice as big as it should have been, she adjusted the size in her mind and it became normal. She conjured five more, one at a time and each was a perfect duplicate of the first. They were tweeting and singing all over the back yard. Harry gave her a hug and she knew he was happy, she was relieved.
"You're not going to have any problem with wandless magic that a little practice won't cure", Harry said as he walked over to the bench, he sat straddling the bench. When you're ready come here."
Petunia had been watching the scene unfold from the kitchen window. The teens sat on the bench, the cat that became a rather stern looking older woman, who had later walked off with the girl, only to reappear from the other side of the house. They talked for a while and the woman turned back into a cat and jumped the fence. Then some magic and that huge flame scared her. Petunia saw Harry scorched by the edge of the flame, but somehow a wall of water protected the girl. The love they shared was so obvious, and he would do anything to protect her. It reminded her so much of her sister and that other Potter boy. If only she could have shared that depth of love with Vernon, how different it might have been. She thought she saw something odd, she blinked and looked again, the background around them appeared to be moving, shimmering. Petunia gave up watching and went back to her cleaning.
"That should be good enough for now", said Hermione, "I want to look at those books we picked up today before it gets too late."
"That sounds like a plan; I want to look at the wandless magic book, do you want to try the Occlumency book?"
"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" She asked as they went inside.
"I thought you'd say that … no … I think this is the right way, at least for the Occlumency. Since I never did get the hang of it and you'll probably figure it out quicker than me, I think you should tackle it. You'll have a fresh mind with no preconceived ideas."
As they walked upstairs she asked, "How will we know if the Occlumency is working if we don't learn Legilimency?"
"Good point, that's where you need to start, and I guess I'm the guinea pig to test your skills on. A word of caution, this mind has witnessed some very nasty things that I would prefer you to never have to see. On the flip side, there are some fantasies in there that you star in."
"Ooohhhhh … now I have an incentive to learn Legilimency."
They found the books, Hermione sat at the desk and Harry lay on the bed. They studied in quiet for about two hours. Occasionally he would try the things that were in the book about wandless magic and make appropriate noises if they worked or didn't. Hermione just kept on reading in silence.
"Harry, I think I'm ready to try this, do you mind?"
"Go for it", he said as he looked up. Harry pictured in his mind the scene from a few hours ago of them happy and sitting on the bench.
They looked at each other face to face, eye to eye and Hermione whispered, "Legilimens" and tried cautiously to find her way into Harry's mind. Nothing seemed to happen until she put more mental effort behind it. Gradually an image formed in her mind and she sensed the feelings associated with it. Hermione smiled as the image came together with the feelings and she knew just how happy Harry was at that moment.
She broke eye contact as she got up and virtually flew at the bed. Harry saw her coming, his seeker reflexes coming to play as he rolled over onto his back to catch her when she landed on him. She knocked the wind out of him and planted her lips on his before he could get a breath. Her hands and arms were all over him trying to get a solid grip as he squirmed trying to get some air.
"Er … my … nee …geroff … " was as much air as he could squeeze past his vocal chords before she rolled off him, giggling, then laughing. About a minute later he was still trying to catch his breath and Hermione was still laughing and now crying a few tears of happiness. "What … in Merlin's … name was … that all about", he said between breathing.
"Oh Harry! That was so beautiful."
"What? Us sitting … on the bench", he got out between breaths.
"No … well, yes … I got a sense of how you felt at that moment… and… well, you were happy, very happy."
"Of course, your wandless magic was perfect, why shouldn't I be happy?"
"It's getting late", she said, "Tomorrow, you learn Legilimency, good night Harry."
Harry said, "Good night, lock the door after me", he gave her a kiss on the cheek, then picked up his things and left for the other room.