A/N: Like it says in the summary, this was inspired by the fanart by odduckoasis on deviantArt. Credit to him/her for the idea.
I don't own Harry Potter. Just the spell and the plant name.
Edit: I changed the spell slightly. It used to be Equinus Transfiguro.
They browsed the books of the library, hoping to find one with Nicolas Flamel's name. The hours passed, and the three were becoming desperate.
"This is hopeless!" Ron cried. "We've searched every book for ages, and we still don't know who Nicolas Flamel is!"
"We can't give up now," Harry replied, determined to figure out who he is ever since Hagrid let the name slip. He grabbed another book and blew the dust off the cover. Hermione coughed.
"Please blow the dust away from my face, Harry," she told him. "And anyways, I agree with Ron."
Ron's eyes widened. "You do?!" he asked in disbelief.
"But Hermione-" Harry started.
"I'm not saying to give up the search," she interrupted. "It's just, we've looked in every book, aside from the ones in the restricted section, and have had no luck whatsoever in finding out who this 'Nicolas Flamel' is. I think we should just take a break and do this later."
As soon as she finished saying that, Harry's stomach growled. "Your stomach also knows it's dinnertime."
They walked down from the library to the Great Hall to join their fellow students, who were already eating. Hermione had her nose deep in a book she checked out before they left, and Harry and Ron were having a conversation on Quidditch and who would win the next match: Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Both of them had to agree it was Gryffindor.
"Oi, watch where you're going, Hermione!" Ron called out as they turned a corner.
"Huh?" She looked up and stopped herself from colliding into the wall just in time. She closed her book and ran to catch up with them.
"What is it you're reading that's so interesting you're not paying attention to where you go?" Ron asked.
"It's Amazing Transfiguration Spells for the Professional by G.D. Wilson," she answered, holding it up to show them.
As they entered the Great Hall, she told them all about it. "It explains many complex spells most witches and wizards have difficulty performing. Some spells can done only by a few. And over half of the spells written in the book, the effects are unknown!"
Harry was confused. "How can there be spells that have unknown effects?" he asked curiously, sitting down at their House table. He put some mashed potatoes onto his plate.
Ron was the one who gave an answer. "Those spells were made a very long time ago, created by ancient witches and wizards. They were complicated spells, yet they could perform them easily, but they had to hide their magic from Muggles when they were suspecting their magic, so they hardly used them, and eventually, forgot how to do 'em. At least, that's what my mum told me. We magic folk usually call them 'Lost' or 'Forgotten Spells'."
Harry swallowed his food. "D'you think that someone might be able to do the spells right now?"
Hermione put her fork down. "It's hard to say, after what Ron just told us," she said thoughtfully. "These spells are terribly hard to perform. Maybe I could try one later in the common room, while everyone else is asleep."
After dinner, the three waited in the Gryffindor common room for everyone to go to bed. Hermione continued reading her book, and Ron and Harry decided to have a game of Wizard Chess. At half-past twelve, they were finally the only ones left. The only sounds that could be heard were the cackling of the fire, the turning of pages, and the clashing of the attacks of the chess pieces.
Once Ron checkmated Harry's king, they went over to Hermione, who was too engrossed in the book to notice them. Ron cleared his throat loudly. Startled, she jumped and frantically looked around. She relaxed once she saw Ron and Harry.
"So, are we gonna begin?" Ron asked her.
"Sure," she replied, standing up. She took out her wand, then quickly flipped through the book. "Which should I try?" she asked the two, barely keeping the excitement out of her voice. Looking at her eyes confirmed this excitement, and a huge smile was spread across her face, revealing her rather large front teeth.
"How 'bout that one?" Harry suggested, pointing to a random spell in the book. He too was excited to be one of the first people to witness a Lost Spell performed in forever.
Hermione shrugged. "Why not?" She studied the spell a bit, raised her wand in the air, and cried, "Equum Transfigumante!" After saying those words, a rainbow slithered out of the tip of her wand, waving around like a ribbon. It shot up high, then dove down, circling the trio. It felt like a gust of wind from a hurricane, though none of the objects around them seemed to be affected.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Harry yelled, holding onto his glasses.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Hermione yelled back.
"IS THIS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN?!" Ron yelled.
"I DONT KNOW!"
Harry felt as if his bones were shifting. He swore that something was growing out of his nape, his sides, and the lower part of his back. He could no longer feel his toes of fingers.
He was starting to feel dizzy and light headed. Everything became a blur. The last thing he remembered were the screams of Ron, Hermione, and himself.
Harry opened his eyes and groaned. What happened? Let's see, Hermione did a spell, a rainbow appeared, and something happened to us, he thought.
He tried to stand up, but he fell on all fours. It did not feel natural anymore.
Something tickled his side. He tried brushing it off, yet it did not come off. He tried again, a bit harder. It still did not come off. He checked to see what was stuck to him, and what he saw shocked him.
He was transformed. He was now some sort of horse from what he could see. He had grey fur and feathery wings of the same colour. His tail was quite short, black, and just as wild as his hair. What surprised him most was his flank. On it was a picture of a Nimbus 2000 and a Golden Snitch. Funny, he thought. It's like a picture saying I'm a pretty great Seeker.
"What happened? Did the spell work?" Harry turned and found himself staring at a yellow horse with a horn of the same colour, bushy hair, a similar tail, a picture of three open books on its flank, and large front teeth.
"H-Herm-mione?!" he stammered.
She looked at him with confusion, then gasped. "Harry? Is that you?!" She seemed at a loss of words, which was unusual.
The former witch also tried to stand on her hind legs and failed.
"What happened?" Harry and Hermione saw another horse. It had yellow-orange fur, but unlike Harry or Hermione, it had no wings or horns. It had a flaming red mane and tail, and on its flank was a knight piece from chess. It looked blankly at them. "Why are there two weird horses in here?" it asked in Ron's voice.
"RON?!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed together.
Ron's eyes widened. "Harry? Hermione?!" he asked, shocked. "Why are you-" He gasped. "Wait, does that mean I'm..." He cautiously looked down, jumped up in surprise, and screamed, "OH MY GOSH! I'M NAKED!"
"Get a grip, Ron," Hermione told him. "You have fur."
Ron's face turned pink, and his ears laid flat against the back of his head. "Oh. Y-yeah, I knew that!" Hermione rolled her eyes as he gave a sheepish grin.
Quickly changing the subject, he asked, "Why are we now horses?"
"It must've been that Lost Spell I performed," Hermione replied.
"Hermione, what did you DO?!" Harry demanded.
She panicked and answered, "I don't know! Maybe there's some sort of counterspell in the book to reverse it!"
She trotted to the book laying on the floor. She flipped through it, skimming the pages, though it was difficult to turn pages with hooves.
After looking through it three times, she slammed it shut. "Nothing!" she cried. "The book has nothing!"
"Okay," Ron said, "who do we know has dealt with transfiguring into animals?"
"Professor McGonagall teaches Transfiguration," Harry replied.
"We don't know where she is," Hermione pointed out.
"Well, how 'bout Hagrid?" he offered. "He knows a lot about strange creatures and stuff."
"Alright, we'll go to Hagrid's hut right now." She looked out the window. "It's still dark out, so no one will see us. Though, you might wanna bring your Invisibility Cloak, Harry."
"But why?" Harry asked. You just said we won't be seen!"
"We still have to sneak out the school."
He realized she was right, and he did not want to run into Mrs. Norris, Filch, or Peeves at the moment. He nodded, and as quietly as he could, climbed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. It was not easy, since his hooves made trotting sounds each step he took.
When he reached his trunk, he rummaged through his things, searching for his cloak and making quite a bit of noise. Luckily, the snores of Neville, Seamus, and Dean drowned out the sounds he was creating.
Once he found his cloak, he attempted to pick it up, but had trouble doing so without fingers. After a few more fails, he resorted to using his mouth. It tasted horrible! But what else could he do?
He galloped down. As soon as he made it to the common room, he spit the Invisibility Cloak onto the floor. "Okay, let's go!"
After spending awhile trying to put on the Invisibility Cloak, they crawled out the portrait hole. There was a bit of bickering between the three as they slowly moved along.
"Your wings are tickling my side!"
"Sorry, Hermione."
"Your hooves are making too much noise!"
"Ron, those are your hooves."
"Oh."
"Hey, your horn almost broke my glasses!"
"Oops, sorry!"
"Stop kicking my back legs!"
"Well, you stop kicking my back legs!"
"I'm not kicking you!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are-"
"Would you boys be quiet!?" Hermione hissed at them. "Mrs. Norris is right there!"
That got them to shut up. Mrs. Norris glared at them, though she could have been looking at something else. Harry held his breath as they passed the cat. Thankfully, her gaze did not follow them.
When they were outside the castle, they took off to Hagrid's hut in a gallop. Again, Harry had to hold the cloak in his mouth.
At the front step of the hut, he dropped the Invisibility Cloak and knocked. They could hear the loud, booming barks of Fang from inside. The lights lit up. "Quie' down, Fang!" they heard Hagrid's voice say. Harry knocked again. Fang barked louder. "Fang, back!"
The door swung open, revealing a tired and shocked half-giant. "What the..." he muttered.
"Hagrid, it's us," Hermione said quickly.
He rubbed his eyes a few times, stared hard at them, and a few moments later, was wide awake. "Hermione?! Ron?! Harry?!" he exclaimed, looking at the three of them one by one as he said their names. "What're yeh doin' as ponies?!"
"It's quite a story." Hermione laughed nervously.
Hagrid motioned them in. "Yeh can explain inside," he said. "I'll make some tea fer us 'swell."
Once inside, Hermione proceeded to tell the story of the book, the Lost Spell, the rainbow, and passing out. Harry picked up from there since he was the first to gain consciousness.
"And so we came here," he concluded.
Hagrid nodded. "I see," he replied, taking a sip of the tea. "Well, I'm mighty proud of yeh, Hermione. Performin' a Lost Spell, eh? Why, yeh've done summat even Dumbledore 'imself couldn't ter done!" Hermione blushed as she received all that praise.
Hagrid continued. "I dunno nothin' 'bout reversin' that Transfiguration Spell there, but I do know a herb that can possibly change yeh threes back ter normal. Unfortunately, it's somewhere deep in the Forbidden Forest. Could take me awhile ter find one."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other nervously. How long exactly was "awhile"?
Hagrid stood up. "I think it'd be best ter tell Dumbledore about yeh're situation 'ere."
They walked out to the castle, the sun beginning to rise. They went up to a gargoyle, who asked them, "Password?" Harry thought he heard Hagrid say, "Wizard treats."
The gargoyle opened up to them a staircase to the headmaster's office. "Well, yeh can go up and see Dumbledore ter tell 'em what 'appened with yeh three. I'm gonna start lookin' fer that herb I was tellin' yehs about." He turned around, leaving the three ponies on their own.
They climbed up the staircase without a word. At the top was a wooden door, and just as Harry was about to knock, a warm and welcoming voice said, "Come in!"
Harry pushed the door open, and stepped into Dumbledore's office. The walls were filled with many portraits, all who were asleep. Ahead was Dumbledore, sitting at a large desk, smiling with that twinkle in his eyes.
"Um...sir?" Harry asked, unsure what to say or what the headmaster would think.
"Harry, would you care to tell the tale of how you and your friends ended up in this predicament?"
Harry was shocked. "How did you know it's us?"
Dumbledore replied, "I have my ways, Harry. If you really want to know, you still have your mother's eyes, your father's hair, and the scar.
"So, may I be informed what happened?"
The three too turns recalling the events that led up to where they were that moment.
"How extraordinary, Miss Granger!" Dumbledore exclaimed once they finished. "Fifty points to Gryffindor for an astonishing feat, and making the impossible possible!" Hermione beamed with pride.
Dumbledore flicked his wand, and a quill floated up started writing on a parchment of paper. "I'll write you three a note to show your teachers about what happened," he told them. "Yes, Mr. Weasley, you still have to go to class." He chuckled at Ron's gaping mouth.
"And done!" Dumbledore picked up the note and handed it to Harry, who no way to hold it except with his teeth. He held his tongue at the back of his mouth, not wanting to taste the paper.
"Before you go to class, would you like breakfast?" the headmaster asked. "I'm going to the Great Hall for some myself."
"Er, no thanks," Harry replied. He was not comfortable going to where everyone in Hogwarts could see him.
"Very well, then. Classes begin in half an hour. Good morning!" With that, he got up and walked out of the office.
"What are those?"
"Those are strange horses."
"Is that a unicorn?"
"What's with the weird pictures on their butts?"
"The one with the wings and glasses looks like Harry Potter."
"Nah, it can't be."
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down the corridor, people around them would stare and whisper. When they entered Professor McGonagall's classroom, she and the other students inside gave them strange looks. They were even more surprised when she read out loud the note Harry gave her.
"Outstanding!" she exclaimed. "A Lost Transfiguration Spell!" She looked at the three, then said, "I suppose you three will have to sit out and watch, seeing as you can't perform magic very well."
In charms class, Professor Flitwick allowed them also to sit and watch since they could not hold a wand properly. The day seemed okay so far, until...
"Potions," Harry spat bitterly. "The class I'm so excited to go to." His voice was full of sarcasm.
"I don't know how I'll survive Malfoy," Ron groaned.
"Let's just get this over with," Hermione told them.
They grudgingly trudged down the stairs to the dungeons. As they walked in, they ignored the stares of the Slytherins. Harry felt himself go red as he handed Snape the note. The Potions Master smirked as he read it.
"Well, Potter, Weasley, Granger," he said softly, no emotion is his voice, "I can see you are not in proper form to perform magic, and probably expect to be exempt from creating potions as well. However, your disability is no excuse for failing to participate in my class."
Harry stared in shock. "But...but sir-" he began.
"No 'buts', Mr. Potter," Snape interrupted. "Ten points from Gryffindor for talking back." Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from protesting some more and losing more points for his House.
Upset, three sat down in the remaining seats next to Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Malfoy snickered.
When making potions, Harry, Ron, and Hermione struggled to get materials and measure with their hooves. Twice, they accidentally put too much of an ingredient in their cauldron, and at least five times they crushed or dropped the glass jars they held, due to the lack of fingers. Luckily, Snape decided to clean up their messes. Maybe he was in a better mood than usual, or he did not trust them to clean up; with hooves, they could have made a larger wreckage.
Draco laughed at their failures. "If it isn't clumsy Harry Trotter, Hermioneigh Granger, and Ron... Ron..." He struggled to come up with a horse pun that would suit Ron. "Ugh, got nothing," he said at last. "I mean, Ron Weasley, I can't work with that!"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron muttered.
By the end of class, the ponies were only on the first few steps while everyone was finished, except Neville. He left halfway into the class to go to the Hospital Wing so Madame Pomfrey could take care of the burns on his arms.
Lunch was no better that Potions. Apparently, the rumor that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were ponies had spread throughout the entire school. Students from the other tables stood up and craned their necks to get a glimpse of the three of them. "As if I didn't have enough attention already," Harry moaned.
"Hey, Trotter!" Malfoy called from the Slytherin Table. He strut over, Crabbe and Goyle tailing him. Harry thought he saw blue sparks coming from Hermione's horn as her eyes narrowed at Malfoy. "I got a name for your redhead friend: Ron Whinny!"
Harry was starting to get nervous. Not because Draco had come up with a horse-pun for Ron, but because Hermione's horn began to glow blue.
"'S not too good, but it'll do fine!" he continued. Crabbe and Goyle laughed alongside him. Hermione's horn glowed brighter each second.
"Psst! Hermione!" Harry hissed out the side of his mouth. This did not go unnoticed by Draco; he too saw her horn glowing.
"Are you afraid of the dark, Hermioneigh?" he mocked. "Or do you prefer Ravenclaw over your own House?"
"That's ENOUGH!" Hermione yelled. As she did, her horn shot a blue beam at Draco, which blasted him to the other side of the Great Hall, smashing him into the wall. Crabbe and Goyle quickly ran over to his side, helping up to his feet. They glanced at Hermione fearfully, then hurried back to their own table.
Harry and Ron, mouths gaping open, stared at Hermione in shock, who had her hooves over her mouth. After a few silent moments, she finally managed to say, "Did I do that?"
"That was the best thing I've ever seen!" Ron exclaimed. "You shooting Draco like that, he totally got what he deserved!" He laughed. "The look on his face when he saw you was priceless!"
"That was pretty amazing, Hermione!" Harry said afterwards as he grinned.
Hermione looked at her horn with wonder. "I-I didn't know I could do that," she admitted. "I just thought it was useless and only meant for decoration." She smiled, obviously thrilled she could still use magic in her new body.
For the rest of lunch, she practiced spells with her food, saying some spells and waving her head around. She soon found she did not have to do either, and mastered a levitation spell and apparition, even though it was impossible to apparate on school grounds. "The enchantments must only apply to witches and wizards," Hermione theorized, "but I'm a unicorn at the moment, so my magic must work differently than when I was human."
The next class, Herbology, was a breeze with Hermione using her newly found magic to move around objects and plants easily.
When classes were over, the three headed down to the Quidditch field for Harry's practice. He insisted they come with him, since he did not want to be by himself when he walked down as everyone stared at him.
The Gryffindor Quidditch Team was just flying around the field. Wood was on the ground, probably waiting for Harry. When he finally arrived, Wood was just staring at him funny. Probably because instead of The-Boy-Who-Lived, he was looking at a weird winged-horse with a Nimbus 2000 in its mouth.
"So the rumors are true," he said at last.
"Hey, Wood!" Fred called from above. "Whatcha doing down there, looking at some funny horses?"
"Hang on," George said, "those are Hermione, Harry, and Ron as horses like everyone at lunch was saying!"
They both flew down to the ground. "Don't you think Ron looks like a character from that Muggle thing the little sister of that cute Muggle girl likes, Fred?"
"You mean My Little Pony?"
"I guess you could say Ron is now..."
They smiled and finished together, "My Little Ronny!"
Harry laughed along with the twins. Ron just stood there, his face red with embarrassment. "Shut up," he mumbled.
"What was that?" George asked. "I couldn't understand you. I think you're a little horse!"
"Alright, enough joking around," Wood said. "Harry, you can just watch at the sidelines for tonight. Since you're already a wonderful Seeker, you can skip a practice, okay?" Harry nodded sadly. Holding his broom, he walked over to Ron and Hermione and sat next to them, full of disappointment.
He watched everyone else practice. How he longed to be up there with them! If only he could be flying on his Nimbus 2000, feeling the wind in his hair, the sound he heard as he sped around, the-
"FRED!" Ron's yell interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw a blur falling quickly to the ground.
Without thinking, Harry galloped towards him and pumped his wings as hard as he could. He grabbed Fred from the underarms with his forehooves. Flapping as hard as he could, he struggled to stop Fred from falling, but only managed to slow them down a bit. They were still speeding towards the Earth, but at least it would not result in death.
They crashed into the ground. Luckily, they were both alive. Harry just had aching wings, and Fred had a broken leg.
Everyone ran over to see if they were all right. "I could've died," Fred said, "But you flew and saved my life!"
"Yeah, I-What?" Harry was not sure he heard right. He flew?
"You flew and saved my life!" Fred repeated. "Gee, do I have to repeat it a third time, too?"
He remembered. He did fly! He looked at his wings, gave them a quick flap, and smiled. He no longer needed a broom to fly now that he had wings!
He looked back at Fred. He had a blue aura enveloping his body from Hermione. She looked like she was having difficulty. She managed to lift him a few inches off the ground, then dropped him.
"Ow! Hey, watch it, 'Mione!" he yelled.
Hermione looked as if she had just hauled a ton. "Sorry," she said. "You're just too heavy to lift. My horn feels like an extra arm on my head that just carried you."
Fred looked offended. "I'm not fat!" he protested. "It's just...muscle."
"Maybe I could carry him on my back?" Ron offered. George and Wood lifted Fred onto Ron's back. Harry noticed how easily he could carry his brother as they trotted to the Hospital Wing.
"Blimey, Ron!" Fred cried. "You're a lot stronger than I remember!"
"Huh?" Ron looked back, realizing what he was talking about. "Oh, it must be from the Transfiguration."
When they entered the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey (who gave them weird looks) was able to fix Fred's leg, but insisted he stay there for the night against his complaints.
Afterwards, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed outside by Hagrid's hut, waiting for his return. They played around with their newfound abilities to help pass the time.
Hermione toyed around with her magic. She practiced some Transfiguration, turning a flower into a sapling. She mastered some weather spells, creating some snow and sunlight. At some point, she set the sapling on fire. Fortunately, she was able to perform a water spell before it spread, though the sapling did not survive.
Ron was carrying some large boulders and the biggest pumpkins Hagrid had on his back, and did not break a sweat. He also experimented what happens if he kicked something with his back legs. He smashed a pumpkin, cracked some rocks, knocked down a full-grown tree, and was even able to harvest fruit from another tree for them to eat.
Harry flew through the skies, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing through his feathers. He flew up, down, and did some loop-the-loops as well. He soared up so high, he was able to touch the clouds, literally; it was now a solid object to him. He tore some off, then flew down to the ground to show Ron.
Ron's mouth hung open as he saw Harry standing on the cloud. "That's so wicked!" he cried. "Let me try!" He jumped up, but fell right through. "Guess only you can do it," he said glumly.
Harry pushed it around, loving the cotton-like feeling on his hooves. He stopped. Wondering what would happen if he kicked it like Ron did, he tried it. He never expected it to rain, but that was what happened when he kicked it.
Hermione shrieked.
When the rain stopped pouring from the cloud, he saw Hermione was drenched, water dripping from her mane and tail.
Ron laughed. "Nice look, Hermione!" he said. She just glared at him and shook herself dry like a dog.
"Looks like yeh're already here!"
They turned their heads and saw Hagrid coming out from the Forbidden Forest holding in his hand some dark green, vine-like plants with leaves tipped with white.
"Is that Leersia Panicum?" Hermione asked.
Hagrid smiled. "Yeh know, I sometimes wonder why yeh never ended up in Ravenclaw, Hermione.
"Anyway, all yeh have ter do is crush it up inter a fine powder, see, and...er..." He scratched the back of his shaggy head. "Ter be honest, me mem'ry's not too good on Potions. Been a while since I was a Hogwarts student meself, yeh know?" He handed the plant to them, and Hermione took it with her magic. "Jest take it ter Professor Snape. He'll know what ter do."
Harry groaned. It just had to be Snape.
Hermione brought the three flasks up to their mouths, tilted them, and the three ponies gulped the potion down. The flasks were placed gently on the cold, stone floor of the dungeons. A few seconds later, Harry felt a tingle, first in his spine, then it spread throughout his entire body.
He felt his tail and the hair on his nape shrinking into his body, which itched. His fur turned back into light-colored skin and black robes. He felt his wings merge into his sides. Looking down, he saw his fingers grow back. Soon, he was a human again. He stood up, along with a Human-Hermione and a Human-Ron. It felt great to be on two legs once more!
"Now that we are done with business here, get out of my office," Snape said coldly. They wasted no time in exiting, though Harry took some time to turn the knob of the door. Hands have never felt so wonderful!
Once back in the Gryffindor Common Room, they could not help but discuss what they enjoyed most: magical abilities, strength, and flying.
"You have to do that spell to us sometime again, Hermione," Ron told her. "I loved being a pony or whatever. Being stronger than Fred and George, imagine what I could've done to get back at them for pinning me to the floor at home any time they could!"
Hermione grinned. "It was pretty amazing, wasn't it?" she replied. "But I've had enough adventure for one day. I think tomorrow, we should just continue our search for Nicolas Flamel back in the library."
THE END
Don't worry. Harry got his Invisibility Cloak back. :) Hope you enjoyed this story!
-Randomness Girl