Harry Potter Breaking Free

While nodding his understanding of Appoline's rather subtle nonverbal communication. Harry started wondering if he'd always been this sharp. Sometimes it seemed like his brain was growing right alongside the rest of him.

Exactly as Appoline predicted, Dobby soon arrived with a lunch basket that was very elegantly prepared. Of course the presentation was somewhat ruined by the fact that it looked like a meal fit for a large family, and yet it was put together for him alone...

Harry felt his embarrassment rising as he pulled out his food and put it on the table one after another, after another, etc… Flying high, wind in your face, Quiditch pitch far below... Using Quidditch imagery, Harry finally regained control of his emotions, only to look up and see a completely stunned looking Delacour family staring right back at him...

It was too much.

Harry blushed. He blushed a bright vibrant red, and the room's embarrassment level skyrocketed with his aura before he finally managed to strangle it back under control. "Sorry about that," Harry apologized before coughing and trying to joke, "I'm a growing boy..."

"Yes, yes, apparently you are," mused Adrien. "How much did you say you'd grown in the last three weeks?"

"Almost one inch in height per week with corresponding increases in my muscle mass and bone density." Harry was far more comfortable now that he was answering questions, so he hoped he could keep up the momentum. "It's all been quite dramatic and uncomfortable. There's an enormous nutrition quota that I need to reach each day, as well as a physical exercise regimen so that I don't end up with the balance of a baby deer. From what I've been told, I wasn't doing a very good job of holding my body together before the bindings broke, and now my magic is intervening in a massive way. I cut my arm the other day and it healed almost instantly."

"Do you 'ave any idea what you will look like when you are done growing?" Appoline was leaning into the table with a look of intense interest on her face.

At first Harry smiled but after a moment his expression dimmed and he shook his head. "Not really no... I only know that I can expect to be quite a bit bigger than I am now. The Healer I consulted explained that when my bindings broke I was fourteen years old and yet I'd barely grown to the maturity of a preteen. She said point blank that by the end of the summer I'll look at least sixteen years old if not older. Between all of the growing, building, tearing and rebuilding my body's been going through these past few weeks, I feel like an arthritic old man." Harry gave Dumbledore a significant look and a smile.

"I resemble that remark," Dumbledore responded, with perfect comedic timing.

Everyone laughed (even Fleur).

"One of the reasons I can expect to be okay on my feet at the end of all of this, is I can practice in my Mindscape a lot," Harry continued into the new silence. "I use a large and varying body shape every night so that I'll hopefully be more familiar with whatever center of gravity I end up with later. I've built a large obstacle course in my Mindscape and I'm running it all the time in my sleep. I do... I... I fear that... my... my friends won't even recognize me... when I return to school... and... It's also all but certain that my seeker career in Quidditch is over…"

Harry looked down at the table and his aura became dark and gloomy, before his head suddenly shot back up towards the Delacours with an alarmed expression on his face. He immediately closed his eyes and everyone at the table felt him think of something Patronus worthy just for their benefit. His aura became extremely warm and happy as if they were standing near a real Corporeal Patronus.

Everyone at the table just stared at Harry with varying levels of shock on their faces. They were all completely blown away by both Harry's huge range of emotion and his desperate kindness.

"Well... I knew that you were telling me the truth before, but..." Adrian paused at that and stared Harry in the eyes. "You really can create a corporeal Patronus can't you? At just fourteen years of age?"

Surprise entered Harry's face at Adrien's question. "Well... Yes sir... I've just recently managed to create a Corporeal Patronus for the very first time. However... That doesn't necessarily mean I've mastered the Charm… Historically speaking... I've only ever cast major magic under very specific circumstances."

"Specific circumstances?" At this point Adrien had his head tilted to the side. It was as if he was trying to figure Harry out and was missing an important puzzle piece.

"Life or death sir," Harry replied casually, without missing a beat. "Poppy, my school's Healer explained that with my magic contained in the bindings, I've always needed that extra... adrenaline or extreme motivation to eke out anywhere near the power necessary... I needed that extreme need, fear or desperation to be able to get anything more than the most basic of spells to work for me. Truly, up until recently, I've always thought of myself as a completely mediocre wizard in terms of strength."

Harry shrugged at this point before rubbing the back of his head. "Since the incident where I broke the bindings, I haven't been casting any magic at all. Instead, I've been trying to do the opposite. I've been trying to wrestle it all back inside of my body, so that I won't trouble the people around me. Well... That and a physical training regimen that would make Victor Krum look lazy in comparison."

At this point, Adrien looked extremely curious again. "Harry... Do you think you could perform a Patronus Charm for us right now?"

After smiling in amusement, Harry found himself shrugging again. "That's a very good question. My honest answer is I have literally no idea. I could try of course, and the results could be anything from nothing, to a Patronus so big I break your house. The last Patronus charm I created was a little... unique."

"Harry... You'll stick your wand out their window and give it a try won't you?" Dumbledore asked the question with a smile that held just the tiniest hint of mischief.

....

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