Rising Powers

Chapter 3: Apologizing

When Harry woke up, he could hear someone sobbing nearby. He wondered where he was, and what was happening.

"Ugghhh..." He sat up and looked around, and remembered why he was unconscious on the floor with a crying girl in his tree. "Hermione? I'm sorry I said those things. I didn't mean them, you know. I had to get you mad so that your magic would come up. It only works if you're upset at first. I didn't want to hurt you. Really." Hermione stopped crying for a second and Harry waited for her to turn around and see how sorry he was.

"I can't leave," Hermione said. She didn't look at Harry. "You don't have a door."

"Please don't leave. Please, Hermione. I really am sorry." He begged her with his eyes to forgive him, but she wouldn't look in his direction. "Hermione?"

"I don't care. I want to go home. I hate you." Harry flinched.

"Please, Herm--"

"No. Just take me home," she interrupted.

"Okay. I'll take you home." Harry gave up. He would try to talk to her again in class tomorrow. "Where do you live?"

"At the corner of Ash Lane and Magnolia Crescent," she replied as she brushed away another tear. It was about seven blocks away from privet drive, and three from the park.

"Okay. I'll open a portal." He drew a portal on the wall and opened it up. "This will take us to the corner of the street."

As they went through the portal, Harry tried to reason with her again. "Please forgive me eventually, Hermione. I had fun tonight, until...well..." He trailed off, the final words unnecessary. Hermione had fun too, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Harry stood there a second longer until he closed the portal and began to walk towards the Dursleys' house.

"Where are you going?" she asked timidly. She was still angry at him, but she didn't want him doing something stupid.

"To my relatives' house," he replied simply as he stopped walking.

"Oh." She looked at him a moment longer and walked towards her own house.

Harry watched her leave, and went to Privet Drive and into his cupboard. He lay down on the hard mattress with its scratchy sheets. For the first time in years, he felt he deserved to be there.

* * *

"Hermione Jane Granger, where have you been? Do you have any idea how late it is!?"

"Sorry Mum. Time kind of got away from me. I was with..." Hermione trailed off. Was Harry a friend? He really did seem sorry. And what he said did not go along with the rest of the day. If he was trying to prank her, wouldn't making her sit in the park alone as he watched from his awesome tree and laughed be enough? No. He explained things to her and gave her food and drinks. He seemed very happy to have the company.

Also, his insults were pretty standard for her. The only reason they hurt so much was because she thought she found a true friend, someone that could bring her life together, someone who just...understood her. When she thought about it, it seemed like Harry picked the insults that she most likely was used to.

"...I was with a friend," Hermione decided. If Harry tried to make it up to her tomorrow, then she would eventually forgive him. He did get her to use magic, after all. And, she thought with satisfaction, he was so busy apologizing that he didn't notice what happened to him. As she thought about it, she felt happiness and satisfaction. Except for her fight with Harry, she really did have a wonderful time. And her spell, while completely random and unintentional, got him pretty good. She ran upstairs, laughing, and completely forgetting about her boiling mother.

Emma was getting worried about her daughter. She came in past dark, from who knows where, and had obviously been crying. She watched as Hermione's face showed anger, sadness, thought, determination, and finally satisfied happiness. She talked about having a friend, which relieved Emma to no end. She didn't think she had ever had many good friends at all, both because of her personality, and because people tended to either use or resent smart people. Then Hermione ran upstairs cackling, ignoring her mother completely. Seconds later, she heard her scream, "I'm a witch!" followed by maniacal laughter. Something was...up... with her daughter.

* * *

The next day, Harry got up and went through the cupboard portal to get ready for school. He looked into his mirror, the only object in his tree not made of wood, for his daily attempt to tame his hair, only to get a big surprise. He had two antlers sticking out of his head. He completely forgot about what Hermione's spell did. He tried to remove them, and received a second shock for the day--Hermione's spell was so strong that he couldn't remove it. "She must have been really upset." Harry sighed. He liked Hermione; he really hoped they could make up.

He didn't think he could get away with an antlered day at school, so he cast an invisibility spell on them. After picking his favorite orchid for her and putting it carefully into his pocket, he teleported to the old boy's bathroom at the school. This bathroom had fallen into disrepair years ago and was off-limits to students, so Harry could appear there without fear of being seen as long as there wasn't a faculty member there for some reason. He made his way to his classroom and sat in the same spot as he did yesterday. Hermione's seat was empty and there were only a couple minutes left before school started for the day. Harry was worried. He was sure that she wouldn't pretend to be sick just to skip school and avoid him, would she? In fact, he didn't think she would skip school if she had smallpox. What if she was in the office, trying to get them to switch her to another class? That would never work, though. Every year Harry was put in the same class as Dudley, and every year, he went there on the first day to ask them to put him in a different class, only to be denied. It was as if they did it on purpose.

The door opened and Hermione walked in, barely a moment before the bell rang. Mrs. Hughes glared at her but said nothing as she sat in the same spot as yesterday, next to Harry. Harry looked to the side at her and caught her looking at him. They both looked away quickly, and each went to their own thoughts as Mrs. Hughes started on the class's review from the previous term. Harry and Hermione each tuned her out in favor of their own thoughts. Neither of them needed a review.

"Oh, she hates me. She absolutely hates me. Wouldn't even look at me. Well, if I ever want to be her friend, I better get to work." Harry slowly pulled the orchid he picked earlier from his pocket, and put it on the shelf under the surface of his desk. He opened a flower-sized portal and watched out of the corner of his eye as he pushed it through and into Hermione's desk.

"Of course he's embarrassed, Hermione, you idiot, he probably thinks you hate him. He was apologizing over and over, and what did you say? I hate you, take me home. And he did just that! He was a gentleman about it! Any other eight-year-old would have stuck his tongue out at you. You should just forgive him the second he says it again, and you know he will as soon as you'll let him get a word in."

Hermione was forced out of her thoughts when she saw movement in her desk. Remembering the time at her last school, where someone put one of the lab rats in her desk as a joke, she looked down in horror.

"Great, she doesn't trust me at all now. She probably thinks I'm sending her a rat or a spider." He heard Hermione give a small "Eeep!" and looked over at her. She was looking at the flower and blushing. She turned slightly and gave him a small smile. Harry knew then that everything would be alright between them. He decided to send her a note. Friends? he wrote and sent to her. She fumbled with a pen and wrote back, Friends. He smiled.

Harry decided to show her just how strong her magic was. He waited for her to glance over again and caught her eye. He held the pen in his hand and tapped it against his antlers until Hermione understood what he was showing her.

She stared at him for a second, wondering why he was moving his pen like that. Suddenly, she realized that he still had his antlers, they were just invisible. She couldn't help it. She was about to giggle like an idiot. She raised her hand so quickly that Mrs. Hughes must have thought Hermione was going to attack her.

"What is it, Miss Granger? Unless you have a question that pertains to the matter at--"

"Can I--brghh--Can I use the loo?" Hermione covered her mouth with her hand to stop the laughter that was bubbling up. She was slowly turning red from holding it in.

"Well, go on then, Granger, I don't need my classroom smelling of vomit," Mrs. Hughes said desperately, misinterpreting her behavior completely. Hermione fled the room, trying to hold in her snickering as if it actually were vomit. Harry's time at the Dursleys' allowed him to hold in his laughter much more successfully than she did.

* * *

"Hey," Harry said as Hermione stood next to the seat across from him at lunch. "Wanna sit here?"

"Thanks," Hermione said. They both looked at each other in an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry about--" they both started at the same time.

"Go ahead," Harry offered.

"Sorry I overreacted." Hermione blushed and hung her head.

"Don't be. That was the point, right?" They looked away from each other and went back into silence.

"Why didn't you take the antlers off?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I tried, but I couldn't. You got me pretty good," he replied honestly.

"You mean you're stuck like that?" Hermione was stunned, and suddenly felt bad about what she thought was a funny problem.

"Well, I'm in a situation I've never been in before. Either you can't reverse someone's spell, or you are more powerful than me. In either case, you're the one who has to get rid of them."

"What!?" She began to panic. "I can't do that, I've only done magic by accident! How am I supposed to fix that?"

"Just remember the feeling from last night and think of that while you wish for them to go away. Think of what I look like without them and they will go away. Hold on." He looked around, waved his hand twice, and his antlers popped back onto his head. "There. Now make them go away."

"But what if someone sees?" She looked around furiously, trying to catch the hypothetical person.

"They won't. I cast a spell so that people will conveniently ignore us," Harry replied calmly.

"Okay, then." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a few seconds she asked, "Did it work?"

"Not yet. It helped for me to say out loud what I wanted until it happened, why don't you try that?" he suggested.

"I want Harry's antlers to go away, I want Harry's antlers to go away," she chanted, and opened her eyes. Harry, now antler-free, was smiling at her as he took down his hiding spell.

"Good work. When I was starting out, I usually needed to say things three times." Hermione smiled and blushed lightly.

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't that big of a--"

"Hey, Potter! Is this your girlfriend?" Dudley, with two airheaded hulks behind him, came to torture Harry.

"No. Are those yours?" Harry gestured to his followers.

"What?" Dudley was not used to a Harry that did anything but get punched, so he was shocked when Harry not only deflected his barb, but insulted him in the process. "Shut up, Potter. Mum and Dad want to know where you've been. They thought someone had kidnapped you until I told them you were here yesterday. I've been doing your chores for the past six months, you know!"

Harry sighed. His cousin was such a spoiled whiner. "Well, I've been doing yours for years now, so why don't we call it even? And it doesn't matter where I've been, just that I'm certainly not going back. Especially not just because you've been doing a bit of work. What have they had you doing? Testing the light bulbs? I'm sure that's a lot of work for you, even though it's nowhere near what they made me do every day."

"Light bulbs? What are you on about? They made me put the dishes in the sink after I eat. Do you know how much work that is?"

Harry put his face into his palms. "Yes, Dudley. I know exactly how much work that is. Is there anything else?"

"Well--you er--that is...Come back and do your work, Potter! That's all you're good for, anyway." Dudley folded his arms and smiled, as if he thought he won.

"No," Harry said simply, and Dudley's smug expression vanished.

"What are you smiling about, rabbit-teeth? Did someone give you a new book?" Dudley, obviously losing with Harry, moved on to the easier target, and saw her smile vanish as she looked down at the table to avoid Dudley's attention.

"Actually, she's smiling because she knows that in a few seconds, she'll be free of idiots," Harry said seriously.

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Dudley asked rhetorically. Harry stared blankly at him for several seconds. "Whatever. Let's get out of here," Dudley said to his goons, and they left.

"And that's why I live in a tree," Harry said, and Hermione giggled. "I should have just kept the anti-attention spell up. I don't think anyone really wants to talk to us unless it's to annoy us."

They both sighed. "You're probably right," Hermione said. "I thought that there was something odd about those people."

"What? You know him?"

"The Sunday after the week we moved in, his entire family came and welcomed us to the neighborhood when we were all at church. They were way too nice, and kept bragging about the things they had. Dudley kept complimenting my mum on her dress. It was...creepy. And it seemed like they were only there so they could say they go to church."

"And I suppose they just forgot to say anything about the freeloading orphan with no future that lived in...their house," Harry joked, not wanting to mention his cupboard in front of her.

"It must have slipped their minds." They both laughed. "You actually live with those people?"

"Of course not! No proper citizen would live in a tree!" Harry joked.

* * *

"I have to be home by dark tonight. My mum was pretty upset with me last night," Hermione said as they sat down on the chairs in Harry's tree.

"Sorry. I'm used to being on my own. Time doesn't really have an influence on my life, except for school. I eat when I'm hungry, sleep when I'm tired, and get up when I'm rested. Well, except on school days." Harry conjured some food for them to eat while Harry mentally prepared for what he was sure would turn out to be a long lecture on magic. "Right. To start things off, let me tell you a few things. First, magic is entirely based on your imagination and your belief that what you want to happen is possible. You have a better start than me since you've seen some impossible things. When I started, I just thought it might have been a possibility. It was really an act of desperation for me.

"I got most of my ideas from books--fiction, folk tales, and religion." Hermione's face lit up more than it already was at the thought of books. "Now you have to be careful, because usually stories put some kind of limitation on magic. For example, in many systems of belief, certain things will only work during certain phases of the moon, or if you have eaten a certain type of food lately. Now, if you try to do that spell, knowing it is the wrong phase or that you have eaten something, you will believe that to be an essential part of the spell, and it will not work for you. Or, if they say a spell is 'forbidden' and will permanently damage you, if you believe it will, it will."

"A psychosomatic effect." Hermione nodded in understanding.

"If that's what you call it. In any case, what you truly believe will happen is what you get. Now, I've never performed any kind of ceremony or forbidden spell, since I'm basically making it up as I go along. But if there were things like that, the actual effects might happen. So what I'm saying is, only ask for what you want to happen, and think things through before you do it. And under no circumstances are you to try laser eyes. It does not work like you think it will." Hermione winced, and Harry rubbed his eyes, obviously remembering the experience that caused him to give her that warning.

"Your first task is to remember what your magic feels like until it becomes instinctual. Practice making light come out of your hand," Harry commanded. "It helps to close your eyes and visualize what you want. Also, say what you want to happen repeatedly until it works." With that, Harry waited for her to get started and picked up a book he copied from the library. Instead of checking the books out, he would read a bit of a book to see if it would be useful. If it was, he cloned the book and took the copy home to keep. It also gave him the chance to use the cupboard under the stairs in one of the ways it was originally intended.

Hermione spent a few hours practicing until she could make a light with little effort, but she was still not up to the instinctual level that Harry wanted her to have.

"Okay, that's enough for today," Harry said as he placed his bookmark. "Any more and you'll start to get tired."

"I think I'm getting the hang of it, Harry. What are we going to do tomorrow?" Hermione asked, hoping that he would show her how to make portals. She got the feeling that was very advanced, though.

"Your homework tonight is to think of stories you know with something like magic in it, and we'll make some spells out of that. Tomorrow I want you to practice your light again to warm up, and then I'll help you out with making your first spells." Hermione immediately went into thinking mode. "Try to keep it relatively simple, though," Harry added as he saw her look.

"I'll try my best," she said as she blushed. Harry had only known her for a day and already had her personality down. If he didn't say that, she probably would have come up with some impossible task that not even Harry could do. "Hey, before I go home, can you teach me a way to come and go from here on my own?"

"I actually planned on doing that since this afternoon. Give me your necklace and choose an activation word for it. When you say that, it will take you here, and if you are already here, it will take you home."

"Harry," she replied as she took off her necklace and handed it to him.

"What?" he asked after a short pause.

"Make the word 'Harry,'" she explained.

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "That's too common. It has to be something you would never say, like 'kumquats in Japan.' Otherwise every time you say my name, you'll end up here. Or you'll leave when you talk to me."

"Kumquats in Japan it is," Hermione said, laughing a bit.

"Okay, then." Harry closed his eyes, waved his hand over the necklace, and gave it back to her. "All done. Say it and you'll be in your back yard."

"Bye, Harry," she said as she put her necklace on. "Kumquats in Japan!"

"Oh! I forgot to warn her. Oh, well. I guess she'll figure it out on her own," Harry muttered.

Meanwhile, Hermione was lying face-down in the pile of dirt she fell on. "Stupid Harry."

* * *

The next day, Hermione gave Harry's world another important, albeit minor change.

"I want to do the force, Harry!" Hermione said excitedly.

"Which force?" Harry was confused.

"You mean you've never seen Star Wars?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"No. Does that have something to do with astrology?" Harry had never watched TV or seen a movie. With the Dursleys, he wasn't allowed, and in his tree he had never considered it. Harry thought of TV as a waste of time, either news (which he had no interest in) or Things Dudley Liked (which Harry assumed had nothing to do with magic, and had no purpose except to occupy Dudley's time). The one time Harry had caught a glimpse as he was moving through the room to answer the phone (which the Dursleys did not want him to do, but would still punish him for not doing), it was a blaring, incoherent narrative about talking fruit that fought crime. Harry was surprised Dudley was allowed to watch it, since fruit most certainly did not talk. Then again, it was Dudley.

"No, silly. It's a movie," Hermione answered. "An orphan leaves the farm he lived at so that he can fight the evil empire using something called the force, which is kind of like magic but...well, it's different. The people that use it are called Jedi Knights, and they fight with a sword made out of light." Hermione obviously liked this movie.

"You saw this at a theater?" Harry asked, now interested.

"No, we have a tape of it at home."

"What does tape have to do with anything?" He was now massively confused.

"Are you saying that you've never watched TV or seen a movie before? Don't the Dursleys always have the latest technology? They seem like the type that has to outdo everyone they can afford to and then some."

"Yes, they have it. I think. But that is like the opposite of me having it." The conversation lapsed into an awkward silence for a moment, and then Hermione began her explanation.

"The video is stored on a plastic thing called a VHS tape, and you put it into the VCR, which goes into the TV. It's that simple." Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair at her explanation.

"D'you think we could--well, perhaps we should--I mean--what I'm trying to say is--" Harry stuttered.

"Would you like to come and watch it, Harry?" Hermione smiled warmly to show that he would be welcomed in her house.

"Well, yes. That would be nice."

* * *

They used Hermione's necklace to go to her backyard, and walked in through the back. Harry felt weird. He was not welcomed in his own house, and here he was in someone else's.

"Mum? Dad?" Hermione called, and got no response. "They must not be home yet."

"What do they do?" Harry asked.

"They're dentists," Hermione replied absently as she led them over to her TV and looked for the tapes. Harry sat down on her couch timidly.

"Is this what a house is supposed to be like? It looks... it looks like a place where people would like to live," Harry thought. The Dursleys' house felt cold and sterile, probably in part due to Harry being forced to clean the entire house repeatedly. The only other house he had been in was Mrs. Figg's, who babysat him sometimes when he was still at the Dursleys'. Her house was filled with cats and smelled of cabbage, so Harry didn't particularly feel like he would want to live there. But the Grangers' house was inviting. There were stacks of papers covering parts of every table, and by the door was a pile of shoes, tossed haphazardly upon each other. Harry loved it. It looked like there were actual living people in there, and they connected with their house in the same kind of way Harry connected to his tree, only less magical.

"Here we are!" Hermione put a tape into the machine.

"This is that tape thing?" Harry asked, still suspicious of a movie in a plastic box.

"Yes, now stop talking and watch," Hermione responded playfully.

They sat back and read the text that scrolled down the screen.

"Wait, why aren't you starting with the first one? And there's four of them?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, there's only three. And it starts on episode four."

"But--but that doesn't make sense." Harry argued.

"Well, the director wanted to make the first three when they have the technology to make the special effects they need for those movies. But that's going to be years from now, and everyone's waiting for them. Now hush and watch the movie." The two children then had an ordinary time watching popular movies and talking about the powers they wish they had. Of course, what wasn't ordinary was the fact that they could probably use those powers if they tried.

"Hermione, are you watching that movie again?" a voice asked from the other room.

"Yes, we're watching it again, but this time it's for research," Hermione defended.

"We?" her father asked as he came into the room, his wife trailing him. He vaguely looked like Hermione, but the woman could have been her older sister. They were obviously Hermione's parents.

"Research?" her mother asked dubiously.

"Yes, we were talking about--er--about..." Hermione trailed off in thought.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Granger. She just doesn't want to embarrass me. I've never watched TV, you see. Harry Potter." Harry put out his hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Harry. You can call me Emma," Hermione's mother said, shaking his hand.

"And I'm her, father, Dan." He took Harry's hand as well.

"Well, it's nice to see that your new friend has some manners, Hermione," Emma said to her, then turned to Harry. "And you say you've never watched TV before? It may be mostly useless, but all children have to watch TV. It's the law." They all laughed, but Emma made sure to ask Hermione later why Harry had never watched TV before.

There was something odd about this boy. He was at the age where boys liked to watch cartoons all day, play with worms, and run around without a care for the house he was in. Harry seemed to be the opposite of that. You could tell by looking at him. He was very still, only moving when necessary. His clothes looked like they were picked out of a garbage dump, and they were definitely not the right size. But he carried himself with confidence, as if nothing would be a problem for him. And Emma, like all good mothers, knew a lie when she saw it. Today, she saw two. The obvious, fumbling, obviously-not-planned one came from her daughter, who had never before lied, as far as she knew (and it showed), and the smooth, polished one that was completely logical, and probably just as completely true. But Hermione said something about research. What could that be about? This merited further observation.

"Well, why don't I go and fix up some food for you two while you watch your movies?" She started to leave the room, but was stopped by Harry.

"That's okay, Mrs. Granger. I brought some things." She looked where he was pointing and saw a small feast of junk food. She hadn't seen that a second ago.

"Oh. I didn't see. Well, if you need anything, just ask," she said as she started to walk away.

"Harry, why did you do that?" Hermione whispered. "It's not that much of a burden for her; she was only trying to be useful."

"Sorry, Hermione," Harry started. "I'm still not really used to thinking about other people's feelings. But I conjured this because it will be healthier."

"Healthier!? Are you mad? This is the worst sort of food you could possibly eat! Anything Mum would have given you would certainly have been healthier than this! It's almost a part of her job, you know."

"Well, that would be the case normally, yes," Harry admitted, smiling.

"Well then, what's so different about this case?" she demanded.

"The difference is nothing about me is normal." He grinned at his statement. "It's conjured food. It's transmuted from something, usually air, into a special recipe of mine that is basically perfect food--it's the ideal amount of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and proteins to keep the body as healthy as possible. Then it's transmuted again to taste like the real thing does, and transfigured to look like it. The packaging is for appearance's sake."

Hermione was in shock. "You mean I've only been eating a little bit of your food, but it's the healthiest thing you can eat? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Sorry, I forgot again. And you still need to eat meat and fruit occasionally. For some reason, those are the only things that I haven't been able to completely replicate. It's mostly good, though."

"Wow, Harry. And you figured out the perfect balance thing just from reading about it? That's impressive."

"Actually there's a poster in the school cafeteria that says what you should eat."

"Oh. Well, still..."

"Anyway, I conjured so much so that you can keep the leftovers," Harry offered.

"Thanks, Harry!" Hermione dove into Harry's chest and hugged him, not noticing as Harry tensed up. "You think I'll be able to do it on my own someday?"

"Er--yes--probably, I think," he stammered.

Emma had been watching them whisper with interest, when Hermione suddenly shot forward and brought him into a hug. This too merited further observation. After she made a mental note about the way he stiffened when she touched him, she left them to their movie and walked away, deep in thought.