Hello! I was asked to write a short story as a project for school a while ago, and I came up with this. Set around six or seven generations before the events of the books, this is the story of how the Black Family went mad and the Animagus Registry came to be. I hope you enjoy it. ;)
Perseus Orion Black sighed, sitting back in his new office chair. When he took the job in Magical Law Enforcement, he'd envisioned something a little more exciting than endless paperwork. He didn't need the job, as the Black family was certainly rich enough to live off of their savings, but he'd thought to extend his contacts in the ministry. 'Well,' He thought, 'Maybe Carina will have found something interesting to do.'
Carina was his twin sister, and upon graduating from Hogwarts, had taken it upon herself to organise the family library. An arduous task, Percy was sure, as the Black Family library was impressively large, and so old it was impossible to read the spines of several particularly ancient tomes for all the dust gathered on them. Naturally, Carina had jumped at the chance, her Ravenclaw thirst for knowledge shining through the Black Family's traditionally Slytherin nature.
As if in response to his musings, the office floo connection flared and Carina's regal face appeared in the emerald flames. She was clearly excited about something, but he tilted his head subtly toward two of his coworkers. She took a second to wink before greeting him enthusiastically, as if she hadn't seen him in years. "Perce!" She cried. "I haven't seen you since they dragged me off!" Percy let a wicked grin overtake him.
"Ah, yes. Two years in Azkaban, wasn't it, this time?" She gave him a smirk, and he continued. "I don't believe your... Victims are out of St. Mungo's yet," He paused, glancing at his coworkers, who were trying to eavesdrop discreetly. "And to think, they were only listening in on an innocent conversation." Their audience paled, made some quick excuses, and left the room as fast as possible.
Percy dropped the act the minute he and his sister were alone, letting out a loud, barking laugh. "So," He asked, once he'd mostly recovered. "What did you find?" Carina grinned at him.
"Who says I found anything?" Percy shook his head.
"One, you never call me at work unless it's something important. Two, you're my twin sister and I can tell you're excited about something, and three, there was bound to be something interesting in that dusty old library."
Carina tilted her head, conceding, "Alright, you win. I discovered a particularly intriguing volume, and I just had to share it with you."
"Well, go on," Percy prompted as she paused for a moment. "You've got my attention." She glanced around.
"I think this is a project best discussed in the privacy of Grimmauld Place, Percy." His face fell a bit, then he nodded, standing.
"I was afraid of that. Well, it's not as though I can't do this paperwork tomorrow." He grabbed a pinch of floo powder out of the box on the mantel, adding, "Out of the way, if you don't mind. I'm coming through." Her face disappeared, and he threw the powder into the fireplace, then stepped into it himself, calling, "Black Family Residence, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place!" A dizzying moment later, he stumbled out of the fireplace in a comfortable lavish sitting room. He scowled at the state of his robes before pulling out his wand to clean them of ash.
Hearing a snort from his right, Percy took an extra moment to brush soot off his robes before addressing his amused sibling. "Just because you're better at floo travel does not make you superior in any way." He sent a smug look at his sister. "After all, I'm better at appariting than you." Priscilla scowled at the reminder, but had to let it go as Percy changed the subject. "What's this interesting book you've found, then?"
She handed him a surprisingly thin text, titled inconspicuously, 'Arte of Animagi.' He raised an eyebrow at it. "Animagi? What is an Animagi?" Carina grinned.
"An Animagus," She explained, "Is a witch or wizard with the ability to transform into an animal at will."
Percy's mouth fell open at the implications of what she was suggesting. One could simply to transfigure themselves into an animal of some sort but they would then possess the intelligence of the creature they chose to become. That, causing the unfortunate witch or wizard to rely on another to recognise and untransfigure them or face being stuck in the form of an animal forever, would be why doing so was not recommended. "Limits?" He managed to ask.
"Animagi are limited to one form, and no, they do not get to choose." Carina answered. Percy nodded, busy calculating just how beneficial it would be to have this skill.
"Right," He announced, abruptly sitting down. He opened the Animagus book. "We'd better get started." Carina grinned.
"Of course. We'll need a few things, but this shouldn't be too hard, after all those tricks we pulled on the old Headmaster while we were at Hogwarts." Percy snorted, remembering how the two of them had very nearly driven their poor headmaster into retirement with their pranks. He'd deserved it, of course, having become all too well known as one of the worst headmasters Hogwarts had ever seen.
"I'll have to start on this potion right away," Percy decided after copying the recipe and reading it through. "It calls for lacewing flies... This will take some time to prepare." Carina nodded, flipping to the Charms section of the book.
"The charms will take time to cast as well, I don't expect we'll be done for a good while." Percy 'hmmm'ed vaguely, still pouring over the complicated potion.
"Haliwinkles to help bind the forms, butterfly wings for change of form, and sopopherous bean... Hmm. Carina, did you know this potion would put us in a trance?"
"Huh." Carina said. "I suppose it's meant to help us find our forms or something like that. The charms will need to be personalised a bit, but they seem to be focused on transforming more than anything..." Percy nodded.
"Makes sense." They spent another half hour reading the book thoroughly before splitting up to begin. Percy sent an owl to the ministry requesting time off work to deal with 'family matters' so he could concentrate on the potion, and Carina began to piece together the incantation they would use, as the book neglected to contain one.
Carina finished her part a week before Percy did, thanks to the complexity of the Animagus potion. As it was, she spent weeks on the spellwork before going back to organising the library.
The time went fast, and the potion was complete. The siblings gathered back into the sitting room, where Percy carefully poured some of the thick, unappetising concoction into two glasses, then handed one to Carina. She eyed it, looking disgusted. "Is it supposed to be so... Lumpy?" She asked.
Percy smirked, picking up his own glass. "Unfortunately. I suggest you drink quickly, it'll taste worse than it looks." Carina groaned.
"I was afraid of that." She eyed her glass again. "It's your potion, Percy. You go first." Percy nodded, then threw his head back and gulped it down, shuddering at the taste. He knew Carina was watching to see if there were any side effects, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The potion tasted worse than Poly juice Potion, and he could feel it slowly making it's way down his throat.
"Merlin," He exclaimed, shuddering again as the concoction reached his stomach. "I'm never doing this again, 'Rina. Never... Ohh," He added, as the potion took effect. He sat down, quickly becoming sleepy. He blinked, and there was a coyote sitting in front of him. Percy stared at it, marvelling at its dark coat and grey eyes. It stared back at him, not moving, and Percy suddenly realised it looked a lot like he did. Or rather, it looked exactly like he would if he were a coyote.
It hit him suddenly that the coyote was him. It barked, and he blinked again. When he opened his eyes, it was gone, and Carina was staring at him. "Well?" She asked. "Did it work?" He nodded silently, choosing not to tell her his form just yet. "Your turn," He smirked as she drank her potion. Like him, she seemed to become sleepy, closing her eyes. Percy waited patiently, and she opened them some time later with a pleased look on her face.
"I'm a crow," She told him as soon as she recovered. "I can fly!" Percy nodded, feeling only a bit envious. "Now we just need to add our other forms to the spell and recite it." She continued, taking a quill and dipping it in her inkwell. "What are you, again, Percy?"
"Coyote," Percy admitted reluctantly, having hoped not to tell anyone at all. She laughed as she wrote it into his incantation.
"Perfect for you." A minute later she handed him the parchment. "Here, Percy. It's done." He looked it over, but couldn't find a problem with it.
"Good. You first this time," He said.
Carina stood in the middle of the room, well away from the furniture. "Nunc ab tergo ac mulier mutari ad cantum; Sic fiat," She chanted, over and over. At first, there was no change, but then she began to grow smaller, her face lengthening into a beak as feathers grew over her chest and back. Percy winced as her bones changed, making audible sounds as they did, cracking and bending. A minute later, a crow flapped its wings experimentally where Priscilla had been a moment earlier.
Percy clapped as Carina became human again, much faster now that she'd mastered the transformation. She curtsied jokingly, then motioned him to take his turn. "Go on, then." They switched places, so Percy was standing and Carina was on the couch.
"Well, here goes," He said. "Nunc revertar ad virum Ex explodendae mutari; Sic fiat." Like his sister, he repeated the words until he began to change.
It was a peculiar feeling, but it didn't hurt. Percy could feel fur sprouting all over him, and his bones cracking and re-arranging. He fell forward onto his new paws as a tail sprouted, long and bushy. He wagged it experimentally, but was distracted as his vision became much better, and he was hit by all the smells and sounds in the room.
He glanced over at Carina, to see that she looked rather impressed. He focused on being human, and made the change back faster than his sister. "That was... Brilliant!" He gasped. "Merlin's beard!"
Carina nodded, agreeing. "These forms will be so useful, Percy! Just imagine, now that we can spy more easily! We'll have blackmail on all the ministry." Percy glanced at her, frowning slightly.
"What are you talking about, 'Rina?" She stood and began pacing excitedly. "Power, Percy! What do you think I'm talking about? We can do anything!"
Percy laughed. "Sure, but why do we need that? We're fairly well off, you know that." It was true. The Black Family had been around for a long time, and was very rich and influential. Carina waved a hand.
"So what? I'll likely be married off to some lesser family soon enough, and I'll no longer be a Black."
Percy had forgotten that. "Right. Go on." Carina smirked.
"With a little more power, we will have the entire Ministry under our thumb." Percy nodded slowly, seeing what she was getting at.
"So we can do anything we want. We will be in charge, and not the Ministry. Okay, I like that idea." He left Grimmauld Place an hour later with a thoughtful expression. There was something wrong about his sister, but Percy couldn't put a finger on what. He supposed it had to do with the books she'd been reading, something on dark magic.
The Black siblings' Animagus forms came in very handy over the next few years. Percy earned a seat on the Wizengamot, becoming the youngest member to date. Carina began to act very odd, spending hours in the family library pouring over dark books though she'd finished reorganising the tomes mere weeks after transforming for the first time.
Percy finally confronted his sister about her odd behaviour late one evening, about five years after he first noticed it. They were sitting in the dining room of Percy's flat, which he'd rented for the past three years in order to impress his girlfriend, Aradia Greengrass. "I'm fine, Percy," She answered him defensively. "There's nothing wrong with me."
"I think there is," He pressed, as she turned back to her book. "There's something off, 'Rina. I'm worried about you." Carina looked back up and glared at him.
"If you care so much, then you should leave me alone!"
"Carina! You've been mostly alone for nearly six years now! Ever since we graduated from Hogwarts, and I think it's because of all these books." Percy gestured angrily at the thick volume she'd brought with her. She stared at him, and he accused, "You're spending too much time in that dusty library. Even when you're away from it, you're always reading!" She laughed condescendingly.
"And what would you have me do instead? Find a nice little husband and play housewife for the rest of my life?"
"Yes!" Percy cried. "You're a girl, that's what you're supposed to do!" Carina's face twisted into anger.
"I'll show you what I'm supposed to do," She ground out, pulling her wand on him. "Expulso!" Percy whipped out his own wand, casting a hasty shield charm. The blasting curse rebounded, causing the dining room window to shatter harmlessly.
"Are you insane!?" Percy shouted. "That could have killed me!"
Carina cackled, throwing a spell at him that would have caused him to disintegrate, had it hit. "That was the idea!" Percy muttered something along the lines of, 'You are crazy,' and Carina narrowed her eyes. "I'll teach you to call me insane, brother. Just wait!" Before he could react, she had thrown herself through the broken window and transformed, quickly disappearing in the dark sky.
Percy cursed, knowing there was no way he would find her now. Instead, he grabbed a quill and a bit of parchment, and wrote a note to the Head Auror. He reckoned the Auror Corps would have a busy few weeks tracking his sister down.
Four months later, Carina Mirzam Black was sentenced to life in Azkaban for the torturing and deaths of eight muggles, as well as the the attempted murder of her twin brother. Her threat to him proved not empty, and Percy suffered a descent into madness a short time later, followed later by his wife and most of his descendants. A year after that, the Ministry asked all Animagi to register their forms.