Thanks to all those who reviewed, it really helped a lot. I will try to make my chapters longer, but that is my weak point, so I will need a bit of time to master it. I also realised I had a plot hole, and the best way I could think of to fix it was to include a Human Hedwig. So this is now a GirlHarry/Hermione/Fleur/Hedwig story. I also rewrote Chapter One. Please read it, there are a few interesting new things in it.
Harry is still a boy now, but that will change in the next few chapters. How, you'll have to wait to find out.
I feel I didn't commit plagiarism, but if anyone feels I do, notice me. On to the story now.
Chapter Two:
Friends in need
It was the end of this year at Hogwarts. Currently, all the students were getting into the carriages. Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were sharing a carriage. Neville and Luna had also recovered from the Death Eater attack, though they would need to remain calm for a few more days. They were releashed from the Hospital Wing only yesterday. Madam Pomfrey really had done miracles: Neville and Luna's scars were already beginning to disappear, though it would take a few years before they were fully healed.
When they all had sat down, Neville checked Trevor's cage. Luckily, Trevor was still in his cage, and looking sulkily and bored, if that was possible for a toad. After Trevor had disappeared for two weeks during last year and was finally found in a toilet on the 4th floor, Neville's grandmother had decided Neville had to keep Trevor in a cage. Reluctantly, Neville had agreed. Harry thought it was a good thing, as Trevor had caused quite a lot of annoyance at Hogwarts by randomly appearing in toilets and bathrooms. Especially the time Trevor had hopped all around a girls' bathroom at the same time a few girls were taking showers had caused a bit of uproar. Trevor had almost been stepped upon by one of the girls before they noticed him.
Harry, Neville and Hermione looked out of the window, while Luna was reading The Quibbler. Hermione looked a bit disapproving at The Quibbler, but since it had published Harry's version of the events at the Tournament, Hermione had opened up a bit towards it. She even had tried to read it, but it didn't turn out to be a succes; Hermione didn't think the Werewolf foxes, foxes that transformed into a sort of werewolf, were planning on starting a outbreak of pimples, as one of the articles had suggested. Luna had insisted they were indeed planning a outbreak of pimples, to try and get more power over the Wizarding world. Luna and Hermione had gotten into a rather heated discussion about it. Harry had been forced to break it up before the discussion got too heated.
The carriage ride went by as usual, the carriage moving very fast, their surroundings a blur.
When they got to the station where the Hogwarts Express was waiting, Hermione put her mouth near Harry's ear, whispering in it. With all the noise and commotion from the students around them, Harry had to strain himself to hear her.
"Harry, would you like to share a coupe with me? I want to talk to you in private during the train ride. I have a few things I would like to speak to you about."
Harry responded, glad Hermione asked him to talk. He had also wanted to talk to Hermione, but he didn't know how he could ever do that, with what had happened the last few days.
"Of course, Hermione, I was also hoping I could talk to you. I am also having some things to talk about."
The station was busy as usual, with students trying to get on the train as fast as possible, hooting owls and some cats as well. Harry and Hermione entered the last carriage of the Hogwarts Express, finding an empty coupe.
They entered the coupe, shutting the door behind them and putting their trunks away. Hermione seated herself on the opposite of Harry, both of them were sitting close to the window. During the last days of the school year, Harry and Hermione had agreed that Harry should be staying with the Grangers for a few weeks in the vacation, which was agreed upon by Hermione's parents, though her father was a bit wary of letting a friend of his daughter stay during the vacation. Hermione knew Harry would be very nervous about being accepted by the older Grangers, so she decided to try to and comfort Harry.
"Harry, I know my parents will accept you staying with us during the summer for a few weeks. But my father is a bit protective towards me, you know. I'm really his little princess. Just keep that in mind."
At these words, Harry became very worried. 'What is her father going to do?' Harry taught.
As if Hermione could read Harry's mind, she said: "I think you can expect a few questions and he will keep an eye on you the first few days, but after a few days you should get along with him pretty well. Once he is used to the idea of a friend staying with us, he will be happy to have a man to talk to. He says it's hard, not having one man in the house to talk to."
Harry was only partially relieved by this answer, which showed on his face. Hermione had, after five years of knowing Harry, learned to read his facial expressions, so she noticed Harry's reaction.
"Harry, you are my friend, my father knows that. And my mother would not tolerate you getting bothered by my father, so relax. My mum will really like you, she will be so glad a friend of mine is staying over. My father has a bit of a big mouth, but he is actually very good with people. Besides, all fathers are worried about their daughters. It's natural, I guess. You don't need to be worried, Harry."
Harry was, thanks to the Dursleys, extremely insecure and shy. Hermione knew this, though of course she didn't know of Harry's treatment by the Dursleys. She and her parents had decided it might do Harry good to stay with them for a few weeks, away from the Dursleys.
-Flashback-
After the fight with the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, Hermione had been forced to stay in Hogwart's medical wing for several days by Madame Pomfrey. Antonin Dolohov's curse had severly injured Hermione, leaving large scars across her chest. At the moment, she was walking towards the common room of Gryffindor, when she suddenly saw Harry running through a corridor in front of her. Hermione knew Harry he just had a second talk with Professor Dumbledore about the events at the Ministry. Hermione didn't really know what they had spoken about, only that Harry had a sort of connetion to Voldemort and that Professor Dumbledore hadn't informed Harry about it. She quickly decided to go after Harry, to see if she could help him. It was hard to keep up with Harry, as his Quidditch training had made him very fit. Eventually, she stopped in front of a deserted classroom, in which she had seen Harry disappear. She tried to twist the door knob, but it was locked. Hermione tried the Alohomora charm, which was succesful. She slowly opened the door, to see Harry sitting on a desk with tears on his face. She slowly closed the door and walked to Harry. Hermione, after five years of being friends with Harry, instantly knew he was upset about Sirius' death. She knew a gentle approach would be best, so she spoke in a soft voice.
"Harry, Sirius's death wasn't your fault. You did everything you could to save him. Dumbledore should have told you his secrets."
"I have led Sirius to his death! If I had checked better, Sirius wouldn't have been forced to go after me!"
Hermione could tell that Harry was truly upset, blaming himself for Sirius' death. She knew Harry would not realise that he was not to be blamed. She had to make Harry believe he hadn't done anything wrong, otherwise he would keep blaming himslef.
"Harry, you did everything you could do to check your vision. It wasn't your fault you were misled. Did you talk to the Headmaster?"
At this, Harry become more even angry. "He has been keeping secrets from me. He should have told me everything. Instead, he tells me nothing. He lied to me."
Harry told Hermione how Dumbledore had kept Harry's connection with Voldemort secret, why Harry had to return to the Dursleys, and the indifference of Dumbledore about Harry's health and wellbeing. When Harry had said expressively he didn't want to return to the Dursleys, Dumbledore had ignored him. Hermoine became more and more horrified during the story, not understanding why Dumbledore would have done something like what Harry said. She knew Harry had to be right, though. Harry never lied to her.
"And he says he did it to give me a normal childhood. When did I ever have a normal childhood? He betrayed me, lied to me. How can I ever trust him again?"
"How? How can Dumbledore be so cruel, indifferent? He is supposed to take care of you, Harry." Hermione muttered, with a utterly shocked expression on her face.
"I don't know, Hermione. I would never have thaught he would do this to me. We obviously cannot thrust him as much as we thought we could. We will have to stay away from him, he already suggested to me I would have to be a bait for Voldemort."
"I'm not going to hide anymore. I want to survive this war. Voldemort has to be defeated. Dumbledore only hopes I will help him out. I will fight Voldemort, but not for Dumbledore. He has betrayed me. I'm not going to put up with his schemes anymore. I will need to get away from the Dursleys. I need to hind a place to hide, to train." Harry spoke, in a hard, determined voice.
"I will need to do it by myself. I cannot rely on Dumbledore anymore." Harry spoke again, now in a voice that was almost breaking. This startled Hermione, as Harry had always been strong.
Hermione did the only thing she knew would help, hugging Harry and making physical contact. She noticed his breathing was ragged and forced.
This seemed to startle Harry at first, but he didn't pull away either. After a while, Harry seemed to calm down. He hugged Hermione back and making more physical contact, his head now next to Hermione's. Harry realized that Hermione had been injured because of him, and he immediately realised he could not allow Hermione to get injured because of him again. A guilty feeling flashed through his entire body. Hermione noticed this; she looked questioningly at Harry.
"Hermione, I am truly sorry for what I have caused to you. I can really understand it if you don't want to be associated with me anymore. I caused your injuries."
"Harry, I would never leave you. You are just too important to me. You didn't cause my injuries. It was that Death Eater Dolohov."
When Harry didn't seem to be convinced, Hermione turned his head, looking him in the eye. Their faces were now only centimeters apart, fierce brown eyes looking into defeated and sad green.
"Harry, you ARE my friend. Truely. I will always stand by you. And stop being so self destructive. Sirius wouldn't have wanted you to be all grieving! He would have wanted you to be happy!"
"Hermione…"
Harry didn't get further; Hermione put a finger on his lips, silencing him. Hermione decided to chance topics, since Harry was in such a bad mood.
"Harry, enough. You don't have to stay with the Dursleys all summer. You can stay with me and my parents for a few weeks."
Harry was completely stunned, unable to say anything for a few moments. Finally, his brains provided him an argument.
"Hermione, I cannot accept that. It would put your family in danger."
"It won't, Harry. Voldemort doesn't know about my family, they're Muggles, after all. He will never suspect you'll be with us. You would be even safer with us than anywhere else."
"But your family, I don't want to disturb them. I don't have the right to interrupt your holiday."
"That's nonsense, Harry. My family will love it if you stay with us. I've already asked them and Dumbledore. They think it's a good idea. My mom was really happy to be able to meet one of my friends. You really need to have a proper holiday instead of staying with those Dursleys. I promise you my parents would really like to have you staying with us for a few weeks."
Harry tried to argue, but his brains couldn't find any arguments. After a moment or two, Hermione grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him off the desk he was sitting on, and said: "You need to go packing, the Hogwarts Express leaves in a few hours. And no excuses."
Hermione made her way out of the classroom, dragging Harry along. Harry was too schocked to struggle, so he allowed himself to be dragged to the door by Hermione. When the two teens stepped into the hall, Hermione released Harry and locked the door again.
Hermione grabbed Harry's hands again, and started to walk towards Gryffindor Tower. Harry didn't object, as his brains were still processing what had just happened.
-End Flashback-
"We will need to find a way to practice some spells, Hermione. I also would like to read about becoming an Animagus. I think that could be very usefull in the coming fight. We will need any advantage we can get. Look at Sirius. He's the only person who's ever escaped from Azkaban, and he was only able to slip the Dementors because he had a canine form; it confused them, they couldn't home in on him like they would a would need to keep it hidden, though. If we registered with the Ministry, Voldemort and Dumbledore could find out."
"That's a really good idea, Harry. I do believe we should be able to buy some books about Animagi transforming. I believe it requires a potion, so we would be able to brew that during the vacation, but the ritual itself would have to wait until we're back at Hogwarts. It is a very hard process, and it is probably going to take several months. The book I lent from the library said you can't choose your form, your magic will force you in some form. I know you will be able to do it, Harry. You're definitely powerful enough." Hermione rambled on, bombarding Harry with her knowledge.
"Doesn't ever chance." Harry thought.
"Really, Hermione, I'm not that powerful. I think it would be you who would be able to transform first. You're so smart, I cannot compete with you."
"That's books and studying, Harry, that's not all. Your intuition is so much better than mine, and that's what's required for the Animagus transformation. The book said the transformation mostly happens on instinct and willpower, and that's what you're far better in than I am."
"You're pretty good at that too, Hermione. But how does the process of becoming a Animagus work?"
At Harry's question, Hermione broke out into a bright smile, obviously happy with the chance to bombard Harry with her knowledge. Harry could tell that Hermione was preparing herself for quoting some book in great detail. Indeed, Hermione got a serious expression on her face and started to give Harry a lecture, as she took out some book from her trunk, flipped over to a page and began to read.
"The first step to becoming an animagus, and by far the longest and most difficult in the multi-step process, is the retraining of the brain to connect with the natural world. This preliminary step is where most witches and wizards attempting the transformation fail. To truly harmonize oneself with their animal form, a witch or wizard must willfully and consciously abandon part of themselves to their animal instincts. Only when tokens of this union with the world transcending human experience are fully connected to the witch or wizard seeking form beyond human can one transition from the human shape of witch or wizard to the adopted form of beast. Here too lie complications, for even if one has the mental discipline to adjust their thinking, many witches and wizards are inherently incapable of accepting that they have an animal counterpart woven into their magical psychological profile. If one cannot surrender to the idea of possessing animal qualities they will never succeed in physically transforming into that animal shape."
"Okay… so how can we do it?" Harry asked.
Hermione sighed in exasperation. "We have to figure it out ourselves from these clues, obviously. They're not about to give a step-by-step how-to for becoming an animagus."
Harry frowned and said: "So… you don't know how to do it?"
Hermione glared faintly at him. "Harry, we can figure this out. Now, I've been thinking about what they meant by 'retraining the brain', and I think it could mean meditation."
"Meditation? Like, Buddhist monks?"
Hermione smiled. "Something like that, yes. In the Muggle world there are alternative medicine theories as well as religious subgroups that suggest meditation to do very much the same thing, get in touch with nature, transcend human consciousness. I think that kind of approach is what this book suggests is necessary for the first step."
"What about those tokens? What does that mean?"
Hermione looked down at the book and played with the edge of the page. "Maybe we're supposed to gather bits of the natural world. Perhaps we're meant to collect as many pieces of nature as we can, you know, as many kinds of grass, or types or leaves, or bits of animal hair from as many species we can, feathers… I don't know, but those would be 'tokens', don't you think? I don't really know how to do it, but I'm sure there has to be some book with more detailed information somewhere."
"So we can collect those tokens during the holiday, and make preparations for the transforming process?"
"Yes Harry, we could do that. We wouldn't be using any magic, so the Ministry won't be able to detect what we're doing. We'll have to conceal what we're doing though, since we don't plan on registering with the Ministry, it is considered to be illegal."
"Thanks Hermione, it could really help in the future if we were Animagi." Harry had a worried look on his face when he spoke, clearly thinking what could happen in the future with Lord Voldemort on the loose.
"You shouldn't worry about the future, Harry. Whatever happens, I will stand by you. Remember that." Hermione spoke, in a strong voice, without any doubt. Harry was relieved by this, as Hermione's friendship and support meant so much to him. Harry was sure that if Hermione hadn't helped him, he wouldn't even have survived his first year.
"Thanks, Hermione. I still don't know what will happen with Lord Voldemort back, and the Death Eaters behind us. I'm really happy you support me. I wouldn't know what to do without you. You really are a life-saver."
"Don't praise me so much, Harry. You can do very well on your own. I just helped a bit here and there." Hermione said, looking into Harry's eyes, communicating silently with him. Harry looked back, and a connection seemed to form between the two of them. The connection was deeper than they had ever thought possible. It was as thought they could send their thoughts to each other, knowing instantly what the other thought. Both of them had many thoughts, about present, past and future. However, each knew that their friendship was something that bounded them together, assuring them they would never be alone. That feeling reassured them, making them more confident that they would be able to overcome what lay ahead of them.
They remained in that position for what felt like hours, never looking away from the other.
The Hogwarts Express was now riding through a forest, the trees a green blur, the sound from the train almost non-existent.
Harry and Hermione broke their eye contact when they heard the door being opened. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle stapped in, Draco looking angry and Crabbe and Goyle intimidating. Crabbe and Goyle appeared to have suddenly grown an inch or so, making them rather tall and broad-muscled.
"Ah Potter, have your Mudblood whore with you, I see? You should watch out, Potter. He has now returned. He will strike against the Mudbloods and Blood traiters. Soon you'll be His first victim. The Mudbloods and Blood Traitors will be exterminated. You have made the wrong choice, Potter. You have sided with the wrong, losing side. I told you so years ago. Now you're going to pay for your arrogance, Potter. You'll pay for putting my father into Azkaban."
Snapped Malfoy, his eyes focused on Harry. Crabbe and Goyle crackled their knuckles appreciatively, trying to grin in a mean way. Harry, however was not intimidated. A hot surge of anger flashed through him, making his eyes flicker dangerously. Draco stepped away a bit from Harry, being intimidated by the look in Harry's eyes.
"I'm more than happy to have been able to put the worthless Death Eater you call a father in Azkaban. Leave now, Malfoy. You're just as worthless and stupid as your father was. I hope you end up with him in Azkaban. You two are too good for the Dementors. Now, leave. Do not bother me again."
Harry snapped back, standing up and pulling his wand. Harry pointed it straight at Malfoy's face, the end only a few inches away from Malfoy's face. At this, Malfoy tried to pull his own wand too, but before he had managed it, Hermione had sent a Disarming Hex at him, making his wand fly through the air. Crabbe and Goyle tried to hit Harry, but before they could manage it, Harry had sent Stunners at them and Malfoy, knocking them to the floor. Harry looked at Hermione: she too had her wand aimed at Malfoy, her face very angry. The look on Hermione's face was, in Harry's opinion, enough to make a Death Eater back away. He had never seen Hermione so angry. Slowly, Harry put his wand away, shortly followed by Hermione.
"Thanks for the help, Hermione. Now lets get these worthless pieces of shite out of here."
"No thanks, Harry. I was glad to be able to help. You shouldn't let Malfoy get to you so easily, Harry. He is just worthless rubbish."
"He insulted you, Hermione. I simply couldn't let that remark pass."
"You don't need to defend me, Harry. I'm not insulted by him. His words mean nothing to me."
Harry frowned, but decided not to continue. Instead he said: "Lets get them out of here, they're not exactly adding to the interior."
Hermione agreed, and she and Harry rolled Draco, Crabbe and Goyle into the passageway. It wasn't easy, since Crabbe and Goyle were rather heavy. When Harry had finished with Draco, he bent towards him saying:
"You have a lot to learn, Malfoy. Even a first-year could defeat you at duelling. Maybe your greasy-haired Death Eater could learn you something? Tell your aunt I'll do everything I can to get her someday. I will get her and every other Death Eater. Voldemort won't be able to protect them. I'll finish them. Azkaban is too good for them, I hope they will rot away in it."
With these words, Harry stood up straight, and walked back into the carriage. When he closed the door behind him and sealing it with a Locking Charm, Hermione sat down again, saying: "Those three won't be bothering us now. I think we should also do some exercizing during the vacation, Crabbe and Goyle were very heavy."
Harry agreed, sitting down on the opposite of Hermione.
This was the renewed Chapter Two. Please let me know what you think of it! For the ones that read the old Chapter One, please don't forget to check the new one and let me know what you think! Next chapter will have Ron in it, and the Death Eaters too!
Hope to update soon!( but don't count too much on that, I'm rather busy at the moment)
