"Err…yeah" Harry finally got out. He backed away from the man slightly towards his bed side table and discreetly picked up his wand and gripped it hard ready to defend himself from this unknown person that had somehow silently penetrated the blood wards around the Dursley home.

The man's smile widened for a second before he said "Good thinking picking up your wand, I did after all just sneak into your house in the middle of the night. But I promise you I'm a friend"
Harry nodded but didn't relax his grip on his wand "Perhaps I should start explaining why I'm here?" asked the man, Harry nodded again.

"My name is Jericho Ignis, and last night I was…visited by a woman you may know called Bellatrix Lestrange" Harry frowned at this "She and some other Death Eaters attempted to burn my house down and take me captive" continued Jericho "I managed to drive them away with little difficulty but afterwards I had to find out exactly why they wanted me. You see I haven't really been a part of society for a very long time and it seemed unlikely that Voldemort would have been able to discover me" Harry's frown deepened here, Jericho only looked to be in his mid-twenties but he was talking like he'd been on the run for years. Harry broke this trail of thought for now when he heard Jericho start speaking again "I managed to follow Bellatrix back to her master's house and I learnt a couple of things that concern you I'm afraid"

Several hours ago

Jericho landed covered in flames in a courtyard that was thankfully empty, the flames on his body quickly extinguished themselves and he set of towards a side door that led into a large fortress that from Jericho's point of view was silhouetted against the moon. Peaking around the edge of the door Jericho saw that the corridor on the other side of the door was empty so he quickly and quietly moved down it until coming to some stairs going up. After finally getting to the top of the extensive set of stairs Jericho crouched down as he heard voices in the room ahead of him.

"I wonder what the Dark Lord will do to her?" said one voice

"Who knows" said another "she is one of his favourites but she did fail an important mission, the Dark Lord won't be pleased"

Lifting his head slightly Jericho saw that the room was an entrance hall of some kind with a few statues of poised snakes around the edges, a door to his right, a balcony through some French windows to his left and two black robed Death Eaters were standing in front of a large pair of double doors directly across form him, this seemed promising to Jericho so raising a finger and pointing it at a corner away from the door Jericho shot a small burst of fire. It hit the wall and caused a small flash, the two Death Eaters turned and hurried to the corner to see what had caused the light just as Jericho dashed out from the stairs and out onto the balcony, it overlooked a cliff which had a forest and lake at the bottom and in the distance Jericho could see a large mountain but looking to the right he saw that there was a window into the room behind the two double doors, he climbed onto the balcony ledge just as he heard the two Death Eaters debating whether to tell their master what they'd seen but luckily they decided against it on the grounds that Voldemort would kill them on the spot for interrupting his meeting because of 'a small flash'.

Jericho held his breath and then jumped across to the window ledge and managed to get his right foot onto it but the ledge was too small and he began to fall before his right hand transformed into a yellow talon which he dug into the stone wall to stop himself from falling, he looked in the window and saw that he was looking down into a darkened room in which Bellatrix was bowing down to a man sat in a throne that had to be Voldemort. Letting out his held breath he transformed his other hand and slid one of his claws into the gap under the window to unlock it and then slowly opened it a sliver so he could hear what was being said.

"It's not surprising" laughed a female voice "sending this little girl after him you stood no chance" Bellatrix scowled as Jericho tried to find the source of the female voice "he's too powerful for beings such as you, as is the boy" the voice continued with a small titter "that is why we are here, to help you capture Jericho Ignis and especially Harry Potter before he discovers his powers as an Awakened Animagus"

Back in the present

"An Awakened Animagus?" repeated Harry thoroughly confused

"Yes, it is an Animagus that has managed to communicate with the animal within themselves and has been given their animal's skills and abilities even while in human form" explained Jericho "For example someone with a dog for an Animagus form would have a heightened sense of smell and hearing even when they are not transformed or someone who was a cat Animagus would have lightning fast reflexes and amazing vision. And they can also transform just certain parts of their body rather than all of it such as just the claws or a tail. You get the idea."

Harry nodded "So how come they think I'm an Awakened Animagus? I'm not even a regular Animagus"

"Well as you know every witch or wizard has the potential to become an Animagus which means they can transform into an animal" Harry nodded "well some people's Animagus form, such as my own, is that of a magical animal"

Harry's eyes grew round "Y-you mean that Phoenix that was here a second ago…that was you?"

Jericho nodded "I could prove it if you like?"

"A-alright" stuttered Harry

Jericho stood and moved into the middle of the room and spread his arms wide and for a second nothing happened, suddenly he began to shrink and crimson feathers sprouted all over his body and a moment later a Phoenix with a blue feather on its head was hovering where Jericho was stood a moment ago.

Harry's jaw dropped and he gaped for several seconds before finding his voice again "That's incredible…I mean I never thought that people could transform into magical animals, I've never heard of it. Professor McGonagall did a lesson on Animagi in Transfiguration but she never mentioned that this was possible"

"No she probably doesn't know" said Jericho once he'd transformed back "What I mean is that the transformation into magical creatures has been considered a myth for at least five hundred years, the reason being that the Wizards Council which came before the Ministry of Magic made a law stating that anyone with the ability to transform into a magical creature is to be imprisoned immediately because they are too powerful to be controlled. This law is still in effect because no one has bothered to get rid of it because it hasn't been used for so long. Anyone that discovered they could transform into a magical creature since this law was put into place has wisely kept it quiet but those with this ability have become immensely rare. However those that are Awakened Animagi can sense other Awakened Animagi and those that can transform into magical creatures are already Awakened Animagi. With me so far?" he asked

"So you're saying that the people working with Voldemort know I'm an Awakened Animagus because they are too and they can sense it?" asked Harry as he tried to get it all straight in his head

"Yes that's the only explanation I can think of, of course that implies you've met one of them before for them to sense your power but we'll worry about that later" confirmed Jericho but not really reassuring Harry "So as you might've worked out now this means that your animal form is something magical in order for you to already be an Awakened Animagus for them to sense"

This had occurred to Harry and he found himself thinking back to the dreams that had woken him and he felt like they were connected to this, he decided to get Jericho's view on this idea.

"I've had a couple of weird dreams lately, about a strange animal that I couldn't quite see. They seemed like I was really there with this animal but I've always woken up before anything that might shed light on it happened" explained Harry

Jericho smiled "That was your inner animal trying to talk to you. It happens when your mind is at ease and not really thinking such as when you're asleep but for you to hear it you must try to communicate with it in turn which you can't really do when your asleep"

Harry nodded again as he tried to think what the shadowy creature in his dreams could be.

"Anyway all this brings me back to the reason I've come here" said Jericho snapping Harry back to reality "you are obviously in danger, I know you usually are considering your Harry Potter but I am offering to take you with me to train you to access and use your Animagus powers plus of course Voldemorts forces won't know where you are"

Surprised Harry thought about this, on the one hand all he had was Jericho's word that all this was true. It did make sense and it was no lie that Jericho could transform into a Phoenix, Harry couldn't think of a spell that could fake that and he would really like to learn more about his inner animal, and above all there was something about Jericho that Harry couldn't help trusting, he reminded him of Hagrid when he had first told Harry he was a wizard and although it was unbelievable he had believed Hagrid.
But then Harry thought of what Jericho had said about Voldemorts forces coming for him before he discovered his powers, that meant they'd come for him as soon as possible and what if they tried getting him at Hogwarts but when he wasn't there? they'd want to know where he was and that meant his friends would get hurt and that was something he couldn't allow.

"I'm sorry Jericho, I am tempted by your offer but I can't leave when there's a good chance Voldemort will attack my friends in an attempt to find me" said Harry

"I understand completely but if you trained your powers you could defend your fiends much more efficiently" argued Jericho

"I can't defend them if I'm not there. I'm sorry" said Harry in a tone of finality

Jericho sighed "Very well, it is your choice after all and I won't try to force you. If you ever change your use set this alight" he reached into his shirt and withdrew a red feather which he handed to Harry "but now I must go, goodbye Harry" he turned and then disappeared in a burst of flame, just as Harry had seen Fawkes do several times in Dumbledore's office.

Harry moved over to his bed and collapsed onto it and sighed. Once again he considered writing to Hermione to tell her about everything but again decided against it, he knew she'd want him to find his Animagus form especially since it was something so rare and useful but he wasn't so sure she would understand why he had decided not to go with Jericho and would argue for it until Harry caved and he knew he'd cave, if Hermione was the one persuading him.

"So when are you planning on going after Harry Potter?" said a tall dark haired woman who was standing in a dark drawing room examining a book.

"When the boy is at his relatives house I cannot touch him, the same can be said when he is at Hogwarts. Therefore my plan is to attack during his journey back to school" hissed Voldemort who was stood staring through a window and idly stroking the head of a great snake that was draped across his shoulders.

"Sound plan" smiled the woman glancing at him "will you be requiring help from my people?"

"I think not. A train full of children, one driver and an old woman that sells sweets from a trolley do not present much of a threat to me" said Voldemort in the same hiss

The woman laughed "Maybe not to you but what about your 'Death Eaters'?" she said making quotation marks with her hands as she said the name of the Dark Lords followers.

"I shall overlook your disrespect" the woman snorted "but if my followers fail me they will die, it is as simple as that" he replied

The woman nodded with a smirk on her face "Fair enough" her face then turned serious "remember you get to kill Harry Potter…but I get his soul before you do" as she put down the book she had been reading bits of ice fell from where her fingers had touched it.

"I remember our agreement" said Voldemort in a dangerous voice

The woman chuckled "Good" she said and then walked out of the room leaving Lord Voldemort alone with his thoughts.

Author Note

I hope the Animagus explanation isn't too confusing. I'm hoping to get at LEAST one chapter up every 2 days at most but obviously things happen but that's the goal.

Thanks for reviews they really spur me on