Harry Potter Breaking Free

In the end, Harry and a still rather skittish Hermione, returned to the Hospital Wing just in time for the three hours the time turner granted them to come to an end... In fact, since they were right on schedule, they encountered Headmaster Dumbledore just as he was exiting the room.

For the first second and a half, Dumbledore didn't look the least bit surprised to see the two teenagers just standing there in front of him. It was only as Dumbledore finished closing the door behind himself that he began to look confused.

"We're back," Harry quickly announced. "And we were successful."

Dumbledore briefly grinned at that news, but then he began to look confused again. Drawing in a rather deep breath, he pierced Harry with a stare. "Harry... Exactly how and why are you channeling so much of your magic into the air like that?" Dumbledore was dumbfounded by what he was feeling at the moment. He was over a hundred and forty years old and he'd never felt anything like the mass of ambient power that he was currently standing in.

Well... at least not from a human...

Harry looked at Hermione, who looked back at him and then they both turned back towards Dumbledore.

"Well. We kind of had an... adventure again," Harry replied, in a somewhat sheepish tone of voice. "I ended up having to perform some very intense magic and I've been stuck this way ever since." Turning towards Hermione, Harry gave her a wry grin. "I'm lucky I've got someone like Hermione watching my back. She managed to stay on task even though she felt like I was being a right pervert to her."

Despite his cavalier tone, Harry's expression contained a very real apology and Hermione didn't miss it. She nodded her understanding at her friend before turning back towards Dumbledore. "Harry's telling the truth, minus the pervert part." While smiling at Harry again, Hermione crossed her arms in a very stern don't mess with me pose. "His aura shroud feels more like a rather comforting hug."

The two teenagers smiled at each other again, before suddenly breaking down into several hard fits of laughter. Truth be told, their Hippogriff ride had felt a little too intimate for either of their comfort, but with those words they'd managed to successfully move on. They both knew that they were all but family so it would take far more than this to cause them issues.

As the two Gryffindors continued to joke around with each other, Dumbledore took the time to perform a little passive Leglimency on the two of them. His aim was to discern their real thoughts on the aura shroud that Harry was generating. As he'd suspected would be the case, neither of the teenagers had a single clue what had happened to Harry and they were both looking to him for answers. With that much figured out, Dumbledore pulled his focus back into himself. He didn't have to be a mind reader to know that Harry and Hermione had a story to tell. "Okay you two... How about you come back to my office? I'd be interested in hearing about your exciting night in the hospital wing."

Harry and Hermione nodded enthusiastically.

.....

When Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore were released from Dumbledore's Pensieve, the two teenagers stumbled several times and almost fell to the floor. Entering and exiting Pensieve memories felt a lot like using the Floo to travel and neither of the Muggle raised teens were any good at it.

After Harry and Hermione recounted what they'd done earlier in the evening, Dumbledore had asked if he could witness their memories for himself. They'd all just re-watched Hermione's version of Harry's actions from several different angles. Now that they were all back in the here and now, they walked across the room and fell into their respective seats like marionettes with their strings cut.

Dumbledore and Harry dropped to their asses a little harder than Hermione did because they we're both stunned by what they'd just witnessed. Oh sure, Harry had been the one performing the spell, but he'd been entirely consumed by getting past the blockage that was stopping him. He'd only been peripherally aware of the spectacular light show that had taken place around his body, and until now, he'd barely noticed the black wraith that had been ejected from inside of his scar.

Looking down at the skin of his arms, Harry noted that the blisters and redness covering his body were healing with an unnatural quickness. His clothing was still pretty much ruined though...

Slowly turning towards Harry, Dumbledore gave the boy a very meaningful look. "Harry... I think we need to investigate all of this in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey..."

Nodding his head in complete agreement, Harry slowly rose back to his feet. At this point, he was more than ready to get control of his aura shroud. He was magically brushing up against Albus Dumbledore, and it was giving him a case of the willies.

As the three of them walked back towards the Hospital Wing, Harry's carefully controlled sense of optimism finally began to fail him. By the time they arrived at their destination and took their first breath of sterile, medically scented air, he was beginning to feel a sense of impending doom. The sensation grew that much worse when they finally walked into the Hospital wing only to have Madam Pomfrey come flying out of her private alcove looking rattled in the extreme.

Looking down at his feet, Harry rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. Madam Pomfrey had just reacted to his presence while he was still a little over six meters away from her. The fact that she'd already felt his shroud could only mean that the problem with his aura was getting worse, rather than better. His shroud was even wider than it'd been an hour ago!

After taking one long look at young Harry Potter, Poppy Pomfrey pointed back towards the bed that he'd been laying in just an hour earlier. "Sit, now."

After obediently nodding his head, Harry continued to stand where he was, with noticeable hesitation plain to see upon his features. "Ummm Madam Pomfrey. I'm really feeling quite alright at the moment. Truth be told, I feel like I've been wearing enormous Iron manacles around my magic until now. As awkward as I know this is, I feel like I can breathe right now. I feel like I can feel for the very first time in my... in my entire life. I... I agree that I need to stop touching everyone, but..."

With no way to really explain how he felt, Harry looked down at his feet again. He was feeling extremely conflicted at the moment...

After clucking at Harry's nervous expression like a mother would, Madam Pomfrey put her hands on her hips in a very stereotypical fashion. "Harry... Right now, standing three meters away from you, I feel like you're rubbing against my body... magically speaking of course. It's too much for an old widowed witch like me to handle, so let's find out what's going on with you, shall we?"

While blushing a vibrantly bright red, Harry realized that Madam Pomfrey was right. He couldn't keep invading other people's personal space just because his current lack of control felt good... He needed to man up because doing the right thing very rarely meant doing the comfortable thing.

Ugh...