Sins of the Innocent

Chapter 4- Revelations

"And Ye shall find rest unto your souls"

The Burrow looked as it always did - ready to fall over at any moment, but magically staying where it needed to be. Inside, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were finishing up a late lunch. Hermione had been placed at the Burrow, as it was deemed a safer place for her. Her parents had been placed under the Fidelius and she was the secret keeper.

Ron had shot up another inch or two since the end of term, and Ginny was also now coming into her own. For her part, Hermione felt that she would never get any taller, not that it bothered her any.

Suddenly, Arthur Weasley's head appeared in the fire, interrupting the lunch.

"Ron, go and fetch your Mother, quick," the fiery red head of Arthur Weasley shouted from the flames.

"Dad, what is it? Is it an attack?" Ron was white as a sheet; Voldemort was definitely more active this summer than last.

"No time, Ron, it's Harry, he has started his Magical Maturation, fetch your mother, I need to talk to her." The head, looking more impatient, glared at Ron.

"Fine, don't tell me about my best friend then. Mum! Mum!" Ron headed through the house to find Molly Weasley.

"Mr Weasley, what is Magical Maturation?" Hermione asked. This was something she didn't know about.

"Well, you were going to have those education classes this year, as most males go through it in their Seventh year or after, but basically it's a concentrating of the male wizard's power - " he cut off as Molly Weasley entered the room.

"Out, out all of you!" Mrs Weasley shut the door behind them, locked it and cast a silencing charm on the kitchen.

"Do you reckon she didn't think about preventing Extendable Ears?" Ron was clearly worried.

"Probably not," Ginny replied. "She was too hurried."

The three put the extendable ears in and listened to the conversation going on in the kitchen.

"Arthur, what is it?" Molly sat down at the table.

"Molly it's Harry, he has started his Magical Maturation, but it's no ordinary Maturation, Dumbledore thinks it might be a Magus Maximus."

"But Arthur, it's too early, he isn't even sixteen. Fred and George haven't even had theirs yet, and Percy just went through his a year ago. The last person to mature this early was You Know Who himself, and before that it was Dumbledore. Even then they were sixteen, almost seventeen, and not fifteen."

"Yes, I know my Wizard's Ed, Molly. The fact remains this is not a normal Magical Maturation. Harry is currently floating in the Dursleys' yard shooting different coloured sparks from every part of his body."

"But I thought that Maturation was only supposed to be a soft glow around the body, and the colours were supposed to reflect the end maturation aura. That's what Bill and Charlie did." Molly was wringing her hands in distress, obviously disturbed about the news of who she felt was her seventh son.

"Well, Harry has never been usual, but the texts on Magus Maximus are vague at best as there have been only two in the last millennium." Arthur glanced over his shoulder. "Molly, I have to go, I will let you know more tonight." With that and a soft pop, he disappeared from the fire.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny then bashed into the kitchen, raving at what they just heard.

"Mum, what is this Magical Maturation and what does this have to do with Harry?" Ron was storming around the kitchen, doing accidental magic, breaking dishes and such.

"Ron, settle down, I am sure there is a logical explanation for this." Hermione went to Ron and patted him on the shoulders; the clanking of breaking dishes stopped.

"Alright, you three are all old enough to know this, and Ron and Hermione, as sixth years you will be having Wizard's Ed this year anyway," Molly Weasley sighed as she prepared the tea.

Bringing the tea over to the table and pouring it into four cups she began.

"Magical Maturation is a concentration of a Witch or Wizards power. For females it happens rather privately, when you begin menstruation. How early you menstruate for the first time has no correlation to your final power as it develops over many years after your first menstruation." She stopped for a second to put some sugar in her tea. "Ginny, you started your period in the third year, at school, and I trust that Madam Pomfrey noted the exact date?"

"Yes, Mum, I sent you a letter with the date, remember?"

"There have been witches that started early with weak power, and witches that started late with weak power; there has never been a correlation with witches." Molly stared into her tea once more. "With wizards that is just not true. The earlier you go through Maturation, and the longer it lasts, both contribute to how powerful a wizard you will be. Your Father went through it at 18, which is average, and it lasted for three days, which is longer than average. His colour is royal blue, indicating a wizard of some strength." At this Molly Weasley stopped. "Some witches and wizards believe that marriages should only be made if the colours are satisfactory."

"What does colour have to do with it, Mrs Weasley?" Hermione stirred her tea.

"The colours are very important. Any witch or wizard that has not gone through maturation has a magical aura of orange or red. A witch or wizard that has entered the maturation cycle will have a green aura. For most witches, this is between their second and fourth years." Hermione nodded at this statement. "By the age of sixteen or seventeen most witches have settled, and have to have their aura measured by a spell. Wizards, however, go through a violent maturation where the aura is visible to all, and are unconscious from one to three days. For most this occurs between the ages of eighteen and twenty. A few will have it occur at seventeen - these are powerful wizards, and a few will have it occur after twenty - these wizards are generally weaker. An adult witch or wizard will have an aura shade of some kind of blue, which is usual, or some kind of purple, which is rarer. The darker the colour, the more powerful the witch or wizard. There is some correlation to the starting aura and the adult aura but there are always exceptions. Orange is thought to be weaker than red." At this, Molly, paused and took a sip of tea.

Turning to the three young people in front of her, Molly continued. "Ron, your father's is royal blue, and he went into it a month after turning eighteen. He is a wizard of considerable strength, as there are only two shades of blue darker than royal, navy blue and midnight blue. Bill went through the maturation at nineteen, and his aura is also royal blue. Charlie went through at eighteen and he settled on navy blue. Percy went through it last summer, just after his nineteenth birthday; he settled on lavender purple. He is just as strong as I am, as that is my colour."

Taking more tea from the pot, Molly looked to Ginny, Ron and Hermione. "All aura colours of every witch or wizard are kept in the files at St. Mungo's. This is closely guarded, and is available only to the Healers and certain members of the Wizengamot and the Ministry for research and record keeping purposes."

"Hermione, you are probably close to being settled, as you will be seventeen in September. Muggleborns have the hardest auras to predict, as they are totally random in power. However, you are a powerful witch already so I suspect you will be in the purple range." She sighed and turned to Ron and Ginny. "If the current trend in the family continues the twins will be powerful, but with twins sometimes they split the power between them. They will probably end up light blue, royal if they are lucky, due to that. Ron, as the sixth son you have the potential to be very powerful anyway. I measured your aura last night, and I think that you should be going through your own maturation soon, as your aura glowed bright green. You will be some shade of purple. Ginny, as there are so few Weasley women to go by, so we will have to wait and see." At this she stopped.

"Mum, what does this have to do with Harry?" Ginny asked. "I mean, this is a normal rite of passage, right? Harry is just going through it earlier than ever recorded."

"I wish it was that simple, Ginny. It also has to do with the manner it is being done in. Most wizards have some flux in their aura colour, but it is just a soft glow, and they sleep for about one to three days. Harry is floating, and shooting bright bolts of every colour. Even Tom Riddle and Dumbledore did not do this, and they are both Royal Purple, the darkest purple usually seen. It is legend that Gryffindor and Merlin went through some special transformation, called a Magus Maximus, which is what Dumbledore believes Harry is experiencing, but the texts are very vague on the subject, as he is the first in 800 years. It had also previously been seen as a kind of second Maturation; both Gryffindor and Merlin had done their Maturation cycle already. As it is there is, only one royal purple witch or wizard every 75 years or so." Molly Weasley stopped and finished off her tea.

"You mean that Harry has the potential to be the most powerful Wizard in history?" Ron exclaimed.

"Yes, Ron and there is a prophecy that Merlin made weeks before his death that stated that the next Magus Maximus will come when darkness covers the earth, and he will come in a great wealth of light." Molly sighed. "This is just another prophecy about Harry Potter."

Too stunned for words, everyone filed from the kitchen. Ron went to a secluded spot in the yard, and waited for Hermione to follow. He was feeling awfully tired, and when she came and sat down next to him, he fell asleep, his head on her lap. As he was sleeping, a soft glow started to emanate from his body. Mrs Weasley came out, tears in her eyes, and levitated him onto a prepared bed in the parlour.