Harry Potter Breaking Free

After replacing his newly polished glasses, Harry turned back towards his friend with a confused expression upon his face. "Umm Hermione. I don't understand. I don't have an aura shroud. I've never had one... I'm not powerful enough for that." Harry was completely confused because Hermione was saying nonsense with a completely serious look upon her face. One thing he did know for sure was that he didn't have an aura. Even while hugging him in the past, Hermione had never sensed a magical aura around his body.

After taking a very deep breath, Hermione moved a few steps closer to Harry, where she stared him in the eyes. "Harry, listen... At the very least I don't think anyone at Hogwarts has ever completely destroyed a Dementor before... including Dumbledore. I'm tired of you marginalizing yourself. Sure, your grades aren't the best in the school, but then you turn around and make the fantastical look merely difficult. You are not a weak wizard... In fact... I'm beginning to think that perhaps you're a little closer to Merlin's side of the spectrum..."

After looking around the clearing in wonder for a few more moments, Hermione snapped out of her daze and pointed at her friend. "Besides. Are you trying to tell me that you don't feel a huge cloud of your magic just free floating around you all willy nilly? It feels like I'm neck deep in your personal space, and I'm still three meters away from you!"

During the moments that followed, Harry checked himself out because Hermione was right and there was something else there... At first he couldn't quite grab ahold of it. He knew that something was different, but he had no idea how to observe it within himself. Then, very suddenly, he felt his perception stretching outwards in profoundly bizarre ways, and the entire world around him seemed to open up. Crying out, Harry cradled his head, because now that he could feel it all, the new sensations and extrasensory perceptions were almost overwhelming in their intensity.

Holy Gods!.. He could feel! He could move! He could interact with the world around him!

Without even being able to explain it, one thing was immediately obvious to Harry. Up until now, his essence, his soul, whatever it was that made him who he was, had been tightly compressed. Not only that, but since he'd always been in that state for as long as he could remember, he'd never noticed that something was wrong...

Now that the intense squeezing feeling was finally gone, Harry felt... light. He felt unencumbered. He felt as if he could move easier, not physically but magically. Then, as he closed his eyes and paid attention to the right things, Harry could actually feel Hermione's aura within the range of his ambient magic.

Holy Gods...

A wizard's range of ambient magic or "aura" usually only extends about half a hand's length away from their body. If you get this close to a witch or wizard then you might be able to feel (some more than others) another person's magical presence or aura. A wizard's aura shroud is widely considered to be a far more intimate level of closeness than mere personal space, because to invade it is to begin feeling the truest essence of the person. Suffice it to say, if you find yourself within someone's ambient field of magic "aka" their aura shroud, and they don't want you there, it's considered extremely rude.

And Harry Potter was currently smothering Hermione Granger within his aura from every direction…

A gasp escaped Harry's mouth as he suddenly realized just how gigantic his newly released aura shroud was, as well as the awkward implications that such a thing might have on his social life. "How is any of this possible," Harry barked, while staring at his hands for answers. "Hermione. What's going on?! It feels like you might as well be sitting on my lap for Gods' sakes!"

Hermione could only nod at her frantic friend's words because, point of fact, that's exactly how it felt. "Harry... I do understand your concern, but we're both just going to have to get over it for now. We really do have to get moving." Forcing herself to move past the awkwardness of the situation, Hermione ran up and grabbed Harry by the hand. Even then, she felt like she might start blushing any second.

Less than a minute later, Harry and Hermione hopped on Buckbeak's back and flew off into the night.