The Transmutation of Slytherin
By PhantomShadowCat
Summary: In the summer holiday before Harry Potter's 5th year, Severus Snape acquires a familiar that will shake the very foundations of Hogwarts and change the course of wizarding history, forever.
Chapter One: An Unexpected Companion
It all began in the summer holidays before Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts. Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Head of Slytherin House was walking along Knockturn Alley. He had a scowl on his face, which wasn't particularly uncommon. However, this was a quite a fearsome scowl - and caused passing shoppers to quail away from him as he billowed past.
Severus had just visited 'Trewets Apothecary', which had a considerably larger range of ingredients then 'Slug & Jiggers' in Diagon Alley (and were far more discreet about what was purchased and by whom.) Only to find that they had no pygmy scales or in fact any pygmy dragon ingredients at all. This was a severe problem for Severus, he needed those scales urgently, he had quite a complicated potion brewing for Poppy, that took just over 2 months to complete, and he needed it done before the next school term. He didn't have time to start the potion again as it was only one month till September and if he didn't add those scales by the stroke of midnight tonight the whole thing would be ruined! When he had checked his ingredients store last month he hadn't done it thoroughly enough, and what he had assumed was a jar of Pygmy scales was in fact a jar of Wyvern scales, misplaced in his cupboard by a student, no doubt. Consequently he had spent the entire morning going from Hogsmead to Diagon Alley and finally to Knocturn Alley in search of this crucial ingredient. At that moment he passed 'Troika's Exotic Menagerie' and was struck by a brainwave. Turning on the spot and almost knocking over a passing hooded figure in the process, he strode inside.
The front door chimed as he opened the door (Though Severus could not see a bell). And glanced around as he moved slowly forward; it was dimly lit inside the shop and full of dark wooden floorboards, which creaked as he walked. 'Completely unnecessary and much too atmospheric for anyone with a sensible taste,' he thought. Predictably there were lots of cages, which formed neat aisles around the shop and these cages were full of lots of different kinds of animals. However there wasn't as much noise as you would expect from a room full of animals, clearly the owner had put a muffling spell on all the cages, meaning that the shop wasn't completely silent by any means but it wasn't full of deafening noise so you couldn't even hear yourself think either. There were the usual Kneazles, Diamond-Encrusted Tortoises, Stink-eyed Newts , Crups and so forth, but they also had a large range of other creatures, which Severus was sure were illegal to sell to the public. He was just examining an Occamy (a 15 foot, two legged winged creature, with a serpentine body that stared at Severus with disinterested eyes,*) when the store owner emerged from the backroom.
"How may I help you, sir?" He asked with a calculating smile
'Mr Troika' it seemed was an elderly man, slightly hunched with age and who had a long, grey beard, almost reaching his chest. His hair was also grey and had been greased back and tied in a low ponytail with a black ribbon.
"I was wondering if you had by chance a pygmy dragon for sale? I am in need of one for potion ingredients."
"The scales, I presume?"
"Yes."
"I'm afraid; we do not have any pygmy dragons in stock, sir."
Severus sighed in disappointment and went to turn away. Thinking whether he could simply buy the potion somewhere instead, despite the obviously lower standard then his own brew would have had.
Mr Troika cleared his throat "However, I may have a suitable substitute."
Severus continued to think about what his next course of action should be and not even bothering to look up from his thoughts replied "The potion quite specifically requires Pygmy scales, I'm afraid."
"That may be, but it so happens that I have a Lunio which may suffice…"
Severus paused and looked up, "I do not believe I have ever heard of a 'Lunio' before." He answered sceptically.
"They are also known as 'Forest Dwellers'"
"Ah, yes. I have heard of Forest Dwellers before. The Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts is said to have once had a village of Forest Dwellers there, hundreds of years ago."
Severus briefly went through all he knew of the race which was, admittedly, not much. As far as he could recall from when he studied them in Care of Magical Creatures, Forest Dwellers were shape shifters, very intelligent and also very protective of their homes and family.
"You could consider it an investment," Continued Mr Troika, "She can transform into many creatures for your potions and therefore save you many Galleons."
"How much are you asking?"
At this Mr Troika gave a slightly too wide a grin, "For her? 400 Galleons and 12 Sickles."
"That's extortionate." Replied Severus flatly.
"She is young and very talented at shifting. Most can only manage a little over 20 forms in their lifetime. She already has 18 forms and will only continue to improve with time."
Severus wasn't happy about the price, but knew that it was the best he would get for such a rare opportunity - and he was desperate, something Mr Troika knew as well. And as the shop keeper had guessed, he did have some potions he had always wished to brew that he couldn't due to the expensive and rare nature of the ingredients.
On the other hand, he had always disapproved of people owning Forest Dwellers, as they should have been classified as 'beings', like Centaurs and Merpeople. But they had slipped through the cracks, (much like House Elves) they were, after all, very useful to witches and wizards.
In any case, he reasoned with himself – I need the potion ingredient and I could be saving her from some uncouth wizard who wanted a children's plaything. At least he would treat her with respect or at least the same respect he gave anyone.
"I would like to confirm it can take the pygmy dragon form first."
"Certainly, sir." The owner replied with a pleased grin.
He led Severus over towards a cage at the back of the room. Inside was an Artic Fox, curled up and watching them approach with large, green eyes.
"Whatever form she takes, she always has the same green eyes. Rather noticeable when the form she is taking shouldn't have them. I believe that is how she was caught in the first place."
Severus leaned in closer and peered at the fox. The fox stared back, and both gave the other the impression of being closely examined.
"Lunio, could you please take your pygmy dragon form for Mr…" He glanced at Severus.
"Snape."
"For Mr Snape."
The fox glanced at Severus again and then obligingly shifted forms. Like the previous fox form it had the same green eyes. The pygmy dragon now standing before them had bronze scales and stood at around 35 cm in height, the tail flicking behind the body, like a cat's. The pygmy then reared up and two amber wings unfolded slightly only to snap back, to the sides of the body.
Mr Troika turned back to Severus.
"Satisfied, Sir?"
"Indeed. Could we settle the payment now?"
"Certainly."
He led Severus towards the counter.
"That will be 400 Galleons and 12 Sickles, sir."
Severus opened up his mokeskin pouch, pulled out the money and paid. Once Mr Troika had rung up the purchase on the cashier machine he bent down beneath the counter and pulled out a dark green collar, with runes inscribed in silver on the side.
"This collar," Mr Troika explained as he led the way back to Forest Dweller's cage "Will resize itself, according to whatever form she takes and you can anchor it yourself or to a building, allowing some freedom but also preventing escape. You can, of course, adjust the distance limiter as you see fit."
The Forest Dweller it appeared had been listening to Mr Troika as well and did not seem to like the idea at all. Consequently, Severus had to watch Mr Troika struggle to get the collar onto the creature, (who had taken its fox form again) for almost a whole minute before he decided to step in.
"I assure you," he said to the fox. "That I will not abuse the use of this collar, there is no point keeping a creature that is always trying to escape. It will merely be a precaution and I shall remove it as soon as it is feasible to do so. I give you my word on that."
The fox seemed to mull this over for a few seconds before bowing it's head to Severus and allowing Mr Troika to slip the collar on. Severus pulled out his wand and adjusted the collars distance limiter to two meters away from himself and said he would readjust it to a further distance once they got home.
Wizard and Artic Fox then left Knockturn Alley and headed up through Diagon Alley towards The Leaky Cauldron. Thankfully for Severus, the Alley was still student free. (The booklist wouldn't be sent out for another two weeks.) As he couldn't think of anything more damaging to his reputation then to be seen walking along with a pure white fox trotting by his side.
A few minutes later (much to Severus's relief) they made it to the pub without being seen by any gossiping teenagers.
They then headed towards the empty fireplace at the back of the pub and Severus reached into his pocket as they walked in between the tables and pulled out a small pinch of glittering floo powder. He then asked the fox if it would be alright if he carried her for the journey, as it was after all much safer that way. The fox then leapt into his arms and together they stepped into the grate. Severus dropped the powder and said in a low but clear voice:
"Spinner's End!"
There was a flash of light and both were spinning through the Wizarding Fireplace System.
*Occamy description can be found in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them' by Newt Scamander
A/N: Forest Dwellers are my own creation so I decided to make my own description , in the style of an excerpt from 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them' by Newt Scamander.
Lunio
M.O.M. Classification: XXXX
The Lunio, more commonly referred to as the 'Forest Dweller' are found in large forests all over Europe and the British Isles and is a most remarkable creature. Possibly very distantly related to Skin-Walkers, the Forest Dweller can change form at will, ranging from domestic non-magical creatures such as dogs and cats to (in rare cases) inherently magical creatures such as dragons or even unicorns.
Little is known as to why Forest Dwellers have such variations in shape shifting ability but it is speculated that it has something to do with the temperament of the Forest Dweller in question. A vey timid Forest Dweller, for example, would not be able to take the form of an aggressive creature such as a crocodile, and instead would have an easier time taking the form of small mammals and rodents. All Forest Dwellers however can take a human form and have near human-like intelligence, much the same as Centaurs and Merpeople (see pages 6 and 28).
The Forest Dwellers infamously live in well hidden and guarded villages or 'dwellings' deep in the depths of large forests. No wizard or witch now alive has visited a Forest Dweller village since 1786, when a visiting group of wizards were invited to a Forest Dweller village in Wales and abused this rare privilege by kidnaping eight Forest Dwellers with the intention of selling them at a Magical Menagerie. Though Forest Dwellers would appear to make charming pets due to their ability of changing forms it is unwise to try and capture one due to their high intelligence and general intolerance of all witches and wizards.
The popularity of having Forest Dwellers as pets has greatly declined since 1855 when a witch by the name of Alma Inkerman was killed as she tried to put an orange bobble hat and puce knitted sweater on her 'Siberian Tiger'. However there have been cases of well-established magic folk owning a Forest Dweller and not ending up dead if they take great care to treat and refer to the Forest Dweller in question as a companion instead of a pet or belonging. Therefore I have given the Forest Dweller the classification of XXXX, not because they are unduly aggressive but because they should be treated with respect.