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Hermione had researched the spells that would be used during the testing and was mildly disappointed but not entirely surprised not to display a particular gift. Gifts like that were usually passed down family lines and were incredibly rare in muggleborns. She blushed as they cast the virginity detection charm then held her breath in anticipation as they cast the final charm searching her core for any magical bindings or blocks. Professor McGonagall encouraged her to turn and face the mirror and cast a spell on her eyes so she could see the core. As you can see Miss Granger there are no blocks or bindings on your core. Your magical core is relatively small for someone your age and your magic hasn't bonded to anyone strongly. There are two very weak bonds here which I would assume are friendship bonds to Mr Potter and Mr Weasley. If she hadn't been so upset about the blocks she might have been surprised that the bonds they assumed were to Ron and to Harry were almost identical.
"No blocks" Hermione echoed disappointedly.
"Are you surprised? You were aware how rare it is. There was no reason to believe your magic might have been blocked," Minerva said.
"I knew the statistics. It's just I've been having so much trouble with my spells lately, I'd thought, hoped this was the reason," Hermione said with tears in her eyes.
"Miss Granger, your academic brilliance and the amount of effort you put into casting each spell with perfect wand movements and pronunciation, your level of intent and your superior ability to visualise the result you want to achieve, have compensated for the size of your magical core up until now, and the fact that you were already one of the eldest students in your year level and the extensive use of the time turner in third year made you older still so your magic matured earlier than your classmates did which helped with your OWL studies but NEWT level transfiguration requires much more magic than fifth year and many of your classmates have caught you up in magical maturity. That is why you're starting to struggle," Minerva explained. "I'm sorry Miss Granger. Still I do believe you will be able to pass your NEWTs and live a normal life as a respectable witch."
"But you don't believe I could get a mastery in Transfiguration?" Hermione said.
"Your professors believe that you could successfully complete an apprenticeship in Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Potions, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures or Astrology or Magical Law but you're correct you're not likely to be successful beyond NEWT level in the more magically demanding subjects," Professor McGonagall said sympathetically.
"You're free to go" Madam Pomfrey said gently. "Would you like a calming draft?"
"No thank you" Hermione said. She squared her shoulders and exited the room heading for the library where she could bury her feelings in her reading.
Minerva and Poppy watched her go worriedly. "Do you think she is going to be alright?" Minerva asked.
"I hope so, the problem is that she's never struggled with anything that she's tried to do that was important to her before this year, reading, academics, magic, potions it all came easily to her and she wasn't interested in flying or anything else that didn't come easily. She hasn't had to build up the emotional resilience to cope with not being able to do everything easily," Poppy said.
"Too easily, because she was always able to get the wand movements, incantation and intent perfectly first time every time she never had to overpower her spells to get the result she wanted like most young witches and wizards do, so she never learned to really exert her magic and now she has to do that with every wand class in the curriculum and she's signed up for all of them while most witches and wizards of her magical strength would only take one or only take non magically taxing subjects like potions, runes, arithmancy, herbology and astronomy. She's exhausting herself and that's only going to make the situation worse but I cannot convince her to give up a subject," Minerva said sighing.
"Not to mention not exerting her magic before her maturity would have stopped it from growing to its full potential," Poppy said. "It will take a lot more time to reach it now, if she ever does."
"She's one of the eldest in her year level and with all her use of the time turner in third year she matured earlier than most, it might already be too late. We need to keep a closer eye on her," Minerva said.
"You should send her down for a pepper up if she needs it after your class," Poppy suggested.
"The problem is she seems exhausted after every one of my classes lately and Filius has expressed similar concerns. I don't want her becoming emotionally dependent to using potions to get through the day or to learn that that's the answer to her problems. She needs to learn to live within her limits," Minerva replied sombrely.
-o0o-
Harry hesitantly walked into the testing room when his name was called.
"There's nothing to be apprehensive about Mr Potter," Poppy said gently to her most frequent patient.
"That's easy for you to say. You know me. If anyone gets a totally out of normal unexpected result, it will be me. You know what my luck is like," Harry retorted.
"Stand there Mr Potter and we'll get this over with. You might even find you like some of the results you get today. There are several gifts in your family line after all" Minerva said amused.
Harry stood where he was told and held his breath.
"For Merlin's sake calm down and breathe child," Poppy Pomfrey said scoldingly. "Do you need a calming draft?"
"No thanks Madam Pomfrey," Harry said hurriedly forcing himself to breathe slowly in and out.
"Seer, no no sign of that. Metamorphmagus, yes a fairly weak gift it would take quite a lot of effort and don't expect to make the whole face and body changes Miss Tonks can make but if you intend to be an Auror it would be worth pursuing. Animagus, yes a definite gift there, you'll have to work a little harder in my class Mr Potter I will offer you tutoring in your gift if you can bring your marks up to an outstanding, it shouldn't take too much effort," Minerva said.
"Is there any way to know what animal I'll become?" Harry asked.
"Yes there's a potion you can take when we're finished," Madam Pomfrey said casting another spell.
Harry glowed blue for a moment and Minerva cast a complicated spell on him gasping as she saw the results. "You have two blocks on your magical core" she said shocked. "It's a wonder you can perform any magic at all with them in place." She turned him to face the mirror so he could see them.
"Blocks on me," Harry echoed fearfully. "What now?"
"Try not to panic about it now," Poppy said forcing a calming draft down his throat. "Head into the room on my left and we'll talk to you all together."
Harry headed into the room and was greeted by a very surprised Neville Longbottom. "Hi Harry" he said.
"Hey Neville," Harry said smiling to see a friend. He recognised the unnaturally calm tones. "Pomfrey shove calming draft down your throat too?"
"Yeah, though I didn't need it. I'm glad to hear I have a block on my magic and it wasn't just that Dad's wand didn't suit me," Neville said.
"Yeah I'm not surprised that you do, I was surprised I have though. I see Hermione's not here, she'll be disappointed," Harry said. "She's been going on about magic blocks all week. I'm sure she thought or hoped she had one."
"You have a block? I thought you'd just tested positive for a gift or something," Neville said shocked.
"Animagus and weak metamorphmagus and more than one block on my magic," Harry reported sighing and throwing himself into a chair. "Why can't I ever be normal?"
"I don't know Harry," Neville said sympathetically. "Have you thought about who…"
"Oh hell no," Harry moaned. "I hadn't got that far. What about you?"
"No, so far I've only thought about who I don't want to do it with. I've been on a couple of dates with Lisa Turpin," Neville replied. "She asked me out and I thought I she's really hot and I might really be attracted to her but I'm definitely not ready to propose. I always thought she was fun to hang about with but too catty and manipulative to tie the rest of my life to and her attitude lately has been a bit off. I don't know what I'm going to do but my initial reaction when I thought about asking her was hell no. I don't want to hurt her feelings by breaking up with her and immediately starting a serious relationship with someone else but..."
"Propose?" Harry asked confused. "I thought we just had to lose our virginity not get married."
"Lisa's a pureblood Harry," Neville said as if that explained everything.
"Huh?" Harry said still confused.
"Harry, hasn't anyone ever warned you that a pureblood witch could force you into marriage if you take her virginity?" Neville asked surprised and concerned.
"No nobody's ever talked to me about anything like that," Harry replied slightly bitterly. "I guess it's one of those things they don't think I need to worry about unless I survive killing Voldemort."
Neville grimaced, he wasn't surprised that Hermione hadn't told him, she probably didn't know either it wasn't something she'd find in a book in the library and it only applied to pureblood witches so it didn't concern her, but his magical guardians or the Weasleys should have told him. He spent a lot of time with the family and it would have been obvious he didn't know most of the wizarding laws and traditions. "Okay, well you need to know that any pureblood or maybe even any half blood girl from an old family whose blood's purer than yours may be able to force you into marriage if you take her virginity, because traditionally you would have devalued her to any other wizard. Even if she was a willing participant at the time. The law is only supposed to apply to purebloods but if the girl's family have enough power they might be able to force the situation."
"So you're saying that I should ask a muggleborn?" Harry asked.
"Yeah maybe. I'm sure Hermione would be willing to help you," Neville said.
"Ron would never forgive me if I asked Hermione," Harry replied shaking his head automatically. "I just wish they'd stop dancing around each other and try dating."
"I don't think they'd make a very good couple," Neville said doubtfully, surprised at Harry's statement.
"No I agree, to be honest I think it would be a bloody disaster, but until they've actually tried it neither will be able to accept that, get over each other and move on," Harry explained, laughing. "And if they start dating they'll have to stop using me as a referee."
"You hope so anyway," Neville replied grinning.
"They'll have to I'll refuse to be a third party in their relationship, there's no way I'm going on dates with them. Can you imagine it?" Harry said.
"They may end up killing each other," Neville said.
Harry shrugged. "If they can't get along without me there to keep the peace it's better they find out as soon as they start dating. Imagine what would happen if I kept refereeing until they got married or moved in together. Then they really would kill each other."
Neville laughed. "Okay so not Hermione. Ginny's a good friend and she's always been interested in you, and perhaps one of the Chasers would agree, but you don't really hand out with many other girls."
"Yeah, but Ginny has six overprotective big brothers and I'm definitely not ready to get married this week, or to be beaten to death or fed to a bloody dragon for corrupting their fifteen year old sister. Besides she's dating Dean and I wouldn't do that to him either, and the Weasleys may not follow many of the pureblood traditions but Ginny is still a pureblood witch and I'm sure she's heard of what she can do if a wizard takes her virginity," Harry replied.
Neville laughed. "I see your point. She's spent half her childhood dreaming of being Mrs Harry Potter. I didn't realise she was still fifteen."
"So who?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Well who's your dream girl?" Neville asked.
"Someone who sees me as a person and not just the bloody-boy-who-lived," Harry said glumly. "That's pretty much just Hermione and you, and sorry Nev but I just don't swing that way. Unless it would work with a muggle?"
Neville laughed again. "Glad to hear it. Me neither, not that there's anything wrong with it, and as a one off it might be quicker and easier than asking a girl, I'm not sure about a muggle, I'd guess it would work but if she was able to get enough of a magical boost to turn her into a squib or hedgewitch you'd be breaking the Statute of Secrecy," He checked the time. "I guess we're the only Gryffindors."
Harry nodded. "Yeah I didn't expect any one else. We're the only one's who had parents that could've cast a blocking charm like that while we were babies but couldn't reverse it before we started school. Dean's birth father might have been a wizard but I think he'd taken off before Dean was born let alone old enough to show signs of magic."
"I wonder if there will be any others? The Ravenclaws have already been tested, Susan Bones is an orphan," Neville speculated. "And Tracy Davis lost her father when she was ten. Entwhistle's father was also killed towards the end of the war but the family has never had the reputation of being magically powerful."
"Davis is in Slytherin, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah she's friends with Daphne Greengrass. I don't know either of them very well but they don't seem to hang around Malfoy or Parkinson which is a point in their favour, and they've never picked on me," Neville said.
"Yeah, Davis and Greengrass don't start trouble but I've never spoken to either of them," Harry said thoughtfully. "Hermione said they were decent to her when they had to work together in Runes and Arithmancy."
"They're both pureblood," Neville warned.
"I'm not looking to date either of them, it might get them in trouble with Malfoy and Snape and I expect being in Slytherin would be pretty grim with those two both out to get you," Harry said.
Neville laughingly agreed.
"Yeah but anyone else with a block at least has a reason not to wait for their wedding night, they might be willing to agree not to force me into marriage" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Maybe" Neville said doubtfully. "But if their parents or guardians find out it might not matter what they agreed to. It would be her father that does the forcing."
"So do you know anything specific about what we need to do?" Harry asked.
"No. I'm hoping they'll tell us what to do? Maybe there's another way, a spell or a potion or something" Neville said nervously, not wanting to believe the rumours that sex was the only way to break the block.
"Not that I put much faith in rumours but I think if it was something that simple they'd have told us when they did the scans, even if it wasn't available until next week or we had to go to St Mungo's or something. They wouldn't have us waiting here for a discussion. I don't know why they wouldn't have come to talk to us after they finished testing the Gryffindors, what a waste of an afternoon off," Harry said resigned.
"Yeah, at least we were after lunch though," Neville agreed.
Several hours later Neville's first prediction was proved correct. Susan Bones joined them in the waiting room.
"Block on your magic?" Susan said to Neville, smiling abnormally calmly like Harry and Neville had.
"Yeah you?" Neville replied smiling, though his calming potion had long worn off.
"The same" Susan replied then noticed Harry. "What are you doing here Harry?"
"The same thing you two are. McGonagall found blocks on my magic" Harry replied.
"What? That's impossible, your magic is so strong, you are easily the strongest wizard in our year level," Susan said.
"McGonagall showed me them in the mirror," Harry retorted.
"Them! As in more than one?" Susan and Neville asked astonished. Neville had been so surprised earlier that he hadn't noticed that Harry had said there was more than one block on his magic, even now he assumed that the second block had been placed because the first block had failed but for the earlier block to still be visible it had to be at least somewhat effective.
"Yeah, they obviously don't work properly but I still want them gone before I have to fight MouldyShorts again," Harry replied.
Susan giggled nervously. "I don't think it's a good idea to call him names."
"Maybe not for you. I'm number one on his personal kill list already. What's he going to do? He isn't going to risk reviving me just so he can kill me twice, or waste time torturing me when I've escaped him five times," Harry said.
Neville chuckled, used to Harry's attitude towards you-know-who but Susan shuddered.
"I can't see why they would make us wait like this. Why not just tell us a time to come back?" Susan said. "They knew it will take hours to finish up everyone else."
"They must have a reason" Neville said.
"Maybe they don't want us to talk to anyone else until we have more information" Harry suggested.
"Then why not take the time to explain things to the two of you before they started testing Hufflepuff and Slytherin? They must have explained it to the Ravenclaw's already if there were any," Susan said.
"I don't know" Harry said sighing. "It isn't as if keeping us here keeps it a secret. Someone will notice we're missing and with the way gossip flies around Hogwarts everyone will know something's up. In fact, keeping us here for so long draws attention to us."
"Yeah but what will they know?" Neville said. "I bet someone thinks Harry transformed into his animagus form and got stuck or something."
"Or they discovered I'm a squib and all the magic I've done is from my scar" Harry suggested laughing. "Or I've got it. My magic is bonded to Voldemort and I'm being sent off to marry him to end the war."
Neville and Susan both shuddered at the name. "What are you doing?" the Hufflepuff girl asked incredulously.
"Trying to guess the most ridiculous rumour that's going around" Neville said. "Ron and Seamus have made a bit of a game about it."
Susan frowned. "Why?"
"There are always rumours going around about me" Harry said resignedly. "There's no point arguing with them and telling people they're not true, someone will always believe them no matter how many contradictory rumours there are and getting upset about it just makes people believe the stupid rumour even more. It's annoying but there's really nothing I can do except try to ignore them."
"So, we tried to find a way for Harry to be able to laugh at the rumours, we think it helps him," Neville said. "I got one Harry, they found out that you're a metamorphmagus and you're not really Harry Potter at all."
Harry laughed.
"And does it work?" Susan asked.
Harry shrugged. "It amuses me to hear people come up with rumours they've made up."
"Are you sure they're not starting the rumours?" Susan asked.
"No that's against the rules" Neville replied. "Besides it would take the fun out of it, half the time the craziest rumour is still something we never thought of, some people have scary imaginations."
"I'm glad you find my life so entertaining," Harry said sarcastically, but without heat. The guess the craziest rumour game had his friends and dorm mates not believing anything until they'd checked it with Harry which had saved him a lot of trouble and confrontations since they started playing it. Any amusement his friends got at his expense was worth it for that.
Susan shook her head in disbelief and pulled out her homework.
"I wish I'd brought my books, I can't believe that I'm so bored that I want to get ahead in my homework instead of doing it with Hermione, do you have any spare parchment we could borrow?" Harry asked.
"Yeah sure" She handed over parchment and watched in disbelief as they both started writing essays without referring to any research. "How can you do that? Just write an essay without the reference texts? Is that how Gryffindors do all their homework?"
"No. It's the Herbology assignment. I grow several variations of Gurdyroot at home, so I already know what I want to write to answer the question," Neville explained.
"DADA" Harry replied, which was explanation enough. "It's how Ron does all his homework when Hermione's not around to nag him into putting an effort in."
Susan took her head and started reading her Charms text, taking notes on things to include in her Charms essay when someone else joined them. Harry wasn't sure of her name but she was one of the quiet Slytherins that didn't hang around with Malfoy.
"Bones?" the girl said.
"Davis" Susan replied.
"Wow Neville, maybe you are a seer after all," Harry said.
"No Harry, McGonagall just ruled that out," Neville said grinning at his friend.
"What are you talking about Potter?" Tracy Davis demanded.
"Nev and I were talking when we first got here, speculating who else would end up here. Neville predicted both of you would, and it would likely just be the four of us," Harry explained.
"It's not fortune telling Harry. They're the only other two students from powerful families who didn't have father's available in the last couple of months before we came to school to remove any block they'd placed when they were younger," Neville said seriously.
"So you three have blocks too?" Tracy asked suspiciously.
"Yeah. We're waiting for Pomfrey to come talk to us about what to do about it," Susan said.
"You know what we have to do as well as I do," Tracy said bitterly.
Susan sighed. "I was hoping there's another alternative, you know how rumours are always the most extreme options, there might be something else," she said. The boys nodded in sympathy with her.
"I've never heard a rumour that was completely true and not exaggerated or half made up," Harry agreed.
"I doubt they'd wait until after OWLs to test us if there was another legal way to do it, if it was a spell Pomfrey and Snape would've cast it in the infirmary rather than making us wait here in isolation, and if it was a potion we'd be given an appointment to come in and take it when it's been brewed, no need to keep us here waiting together," Tracy said dismissively.
Harry, Neville and Susan tried to return to their homework while Tracy paced restlessly around the small room.
Finally, Madam Pomfrey, and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout and Snape came in to talk to them.
Snape sneered at Harry and Neville but seemed surprised to see Harry there.
"Okay as I guess you all know you're here because you had a block placed on your magic as a child that hasn't been removed. These blocks are easily removed by the castor so we've contacted your families Miss Davis, Miss Bones and Mr Longbottom in the hope that the castor has just forgotten to remove them. Of course, there is the possibility that they were placed by someone who is no longer available to do so."
"What happens then?" Susan asked.
"There is only one way your magic will remove a childhood block if the castor is unable to do it," Madam Pomfrey replied apologetically.
"There's no other way?" Tracy asked apprehensively.
"No Miss Davis there is not" Snape said surprisingly gently.
"I had heard that head of house rings can negate the blocks? Harry said. "Neville is the future head of house Longbottom," Harry suggested.
Susan also smiled at this idea. "Yes some head of house rings will remove blocks from their wearers others will not let themselves be worn by a wizard whose magic is blocked but I don't believe that under the circumstances, it would be wise for you or Longbottom to wait until the end of July," Minerva McGonagall said.
"Now I urge you to think very carefully who you will get to assist you in removing the block. There are a lot of consequences to consider," Madam Pomfrey said.
"Such as?" Harry asked.
"The release of your magic will create some degree of bond between you and the person assisting," McGonagall said.
"What sort of bond?" Susan demanded.
"Ron said that the person assisting will get some boost to their magic," Harry said.
"It would be more accurate to say they get a little of your magic, linking the two of you together, it would give them the appearance of an overall boost, but that part of their magic would be subservient to yours which can cause problems, particularly in a witch or wizard whose own magical core is significantly weaker than yours," McGonagall explained.
"What does that mean?" Tracy asked.
"Does that mean they couldn't cast a spell at me?" Harry asked, wondering if there was a way to trick Malfoy into unblocking his magic without knowing.
"No. It would mean that any curse or spell without your permission cast against you or your allies would only use their pre-existing magic, but a spell cast against your enemies, a healing spell cast on you or your allies or any spell you wanted to work would be stronger, they may also be less likely to cast any spell you don't want them to cast while in your presence. Theoretically you could prevent them from using your magic at all in your presence or while you were thinking about it and if you're not in contact with them any longer that magic would slowly fade away which would cause problems if they've become dependent on using that magical boost in their apprenticeship or career," Madam Pomfrey said.
"So I could be stalked all my life by this person, even if we have a falling out, or I could have a friend that was afraid to disagree with me about something, even if it was important to them, so I wouldn't cut them off. What else?" Harry asked, thinkingof the worst case scenorios, wanting to be sure he knew everything when this came back to bite him in the arse.
"It's not well documented, but there will be a connection between you, in some cases the connection has lasted a few weeks in other cases it seems to have been lifelong and the couple has married, of course some of them may have chosen the other as their unblocking partner because they were betrothed or attracted to each other beforehand," McGonagall admitted.
"What sort of connection? Tracy asked.
"I'm sorry Miss Davis. None of the literature says anything more specific and it's been several years since we've had a student deliberately unblock their magic here at Hogwarts, and none of them have confided in me about their connection. I would speculate it would depend somewhat on the strength of the magic released."
"Hermione didn't find anything about a connection," Harry agreed. He had faith that if there was anything about connections formed when releasing a magical binding in the Hogwarts library, no matter how obscure the reference was, Hermione would have found it.
"Why was she researching it. Have you talked to her about it this afternoon?" The headmaster asked frowning.
"No I've been locked in here all afternoon waiting for you, she was researching it last week. Along the grounds of if it's abnormal and almost unheard of, then it's probably going to happen to me," Harry said rolling his eyes depreciatingly and not wanting to bring up Hermione's desperation to believe her magic was blocked in front of the others.
Neville chuckled. "You got that right Harry," he agreed.
"So Miss Granger spent the last week researching magical blocks?" Professor McGonagall asked looking severe.
"Yes ma'am, she seemed excited about the idea, several people reminded her how rare they were and how they were almost unheard of in muggleborns but she still wanted to know everything about them. Ron and I didn't pay much attention. I mean it's Hermione, she always wants to know everything about everything, and like I said she expects weird stuff to happen to me and I am an orphan so this was a possibility even though everyone said it was unlikely," Harry replied.
Minerva sighed, better understanding Hermione's disappointment, she had obviously got details of the testing as soon as the notice went up and instead of researching the spells used to complete the scans or what gifts her friends may have inherited, she'd focused on blocks convincing herself that she might have one herself which would explain why her magic was weaker than many of her peers and she was having so much trouble with the more powerful NEWT level spells. She was going to have to keep a close eye on the girl for the next few weeks to make sure she didn't slip into melancholy or start to resent Mr Potter for the increase in his magic. She wondered whether Harry would choose Hermione to unblock his magic with in attempt to help her boost her magic and ease her current frustrations. From what she'd observed of the friendship dynamic between Potter and his two best friends that was not likely to end well.
Harry, can you come over here for a minute, Harry my boy?" Dumbledore asked his eyes twinkling.
"Okay," Harry got up and walked over. Dumbledore waved his wand and the sound from the rest of the room disappeared. Harry looked at him warily.
"What is it Professor?" Harry asked wondering why the headmaster was here singling him out.
"Have you thought my boy about who you're going to choose to assist you with this?" the aging headmaster asked.
"No, I don't know... I mean I've thought about it... But I haven't... I don't know who I want to ask yet," Harry rambled nervously.
"I'm sure Miss Weasley would be happy to help," Albus suggested eyes twinkling.
Harry stared at him in horror. "You can't be serious! She has a boyfriend and six older brothers. The idea of unblocking my magic is to increase my chance of survival not get me murdered in my sleep!" he exclaimed forcefully.
Dumbledore smiled in amusement at Harry's words but Harry got the impression that he was also disappointed and annoyed by Harry's refusal of Ginny Weasley and he wondered why.
"Perhaps an older witch would be better, I'm sure Hestia or Nymphadora could be persuaded to assist, or Kingsley Shacklebolt if your preferences run that way, it's important it be done as soon as possible, before rumours reach your enemies," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, regretting for a moment that the two eldest Weasleys were not available if Harry's tastes ran that way.
"Um no thank you... I mean... rather ask someone... I mean.. I'd want a chance to pick someone for myself, someone my age who I feel… at least somewhat comfortable with…" Harry stuttered.
"I'm concerned you're thinking of asking Miss Granger," Albus said. "That would be very unwise my boy. The difference in magical strength is far too great. Your magic would overwhelm Miss Granger's and that would be quite an unfavourable situation for her."
"Hermione is my best mate's girl. I'd never..." Harry spluttered.
"Very well. I'll leave you to think on it. Remember the situation is not that urgent. You do have a week or two to think it over and ask the right girl and I'm sure if you changed your mind Nymphadora would be happy to help you out, and I'm sure she'd be willing to use her unique gift to help you feel more comfortable," Albus said patting Harry on the hand reassuringly.
"That's disgusting, I could never ask her to be someone else like that. It's so wrong to her and to the other girl," Harry exclaimed shocked that Dumbledore would even think of using one of his friends like that.
Harry immediately felt more anxious than he had before though he wouldn't have believed it possible until this moment. being given a week or two made the situation did not reassure him in the least.
"How do I know if someone's magic is strong enough?" he asked as Dumbledore dropped the privacy barrier.
"Do you mean strong enough for your magic not to overwhelm theirs?" Professor McGonagall asked joining the conversation.
"Yeah," Harry replied. "I mean yes Professor that's what I meant," he immediately corrected seeing her severe look.
"You're aware of the difficulties Miss Granger is having in class?" Professor McGonagall said.
"Yes, does that mean anyone other than Hermione would be okay?" Harry asked her wanting to be insulted on behalf of his friend but he wasn't aware of anyone else suddenly struggling the way Hermione was.
"Anybody performing well in Charms and Transfiguration without looking drained at the end of each class would have the appropriate magical levels. I would recommend you not choose, Miss Parkinson, Miss Perks, Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle or Mr Finch Fletchley, or anyone else who has chosen not to take a wanded subject at NEWT level," Professor McGonagall said matter-of-factly. "I would also suggest you ask the person politely whether they have an active betrothal contract before you proposition them. Some contracts have quite punitive chastity clauses and you wouldn't want to be responsible for harming their future."
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed and those who followed or favourited this story for your support.