OMG you guys are amazing, in less than a week we've gotten 18 favs and 33 follows. To all of you people who have done those and not reviewed, I encourage you to let me know what you think! This chapter is where we really get into things! I'm updating a few days early, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and my dad has tomorrow and Friday off (he usually only has thanksgiving) so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get online, so just to be safe, I'm mass updating everything xD

AquaEclipse - Well I had to get rid of the whole dementor thing for this au, so not having that did slow stuff down a tad.

Joydan69 - Hope you like this chapter then :D

god of all - The fic is updated weekly, usually on Fridays(except for this week bcause of the holiday) so there'll be a bit of a wait for the chapters, but it does give me time to make sure the chapters are really good! Glad to hear you're enjoying though :3

SLYNNR- Here's more!

snini9 - No problem! Thanks for reading :3

Dashti-the-dramoine-shipper - :D

TheAmberShadow - Oof I know the feeling, it took me like two weeks once to track down one that I forgot to write the name down of (that's my secret, if i don't feel like following or faving, i just write down it's name somewhere xD)
It's where a character has a Creature Inheritance, so they're part creature. Usually Harry gets made something ridiculously OP
Well, no dementor attack. There might be some dementors later down the road X)
Here it is :D

On to the fic!

Harry woke to the sound of bells ringing. Jolting upright, he panicked for several heartbeats that he had overslept due to staying up half the night worrying about Dumbledore, then he saw that the window was still dark.

Breathing slowing, Harry frowned, and slid off of his bed. Neville, Dean, and Seamus were already gone, their beds in dissaray. Ron's bed was sheltered by the drapes, but given that he could hear his friend starting awake, Harry knew Ron was still there.

Quickly changing out of his nightclothes and into his uniform, Harry nearly tripped over the door-frame as he raced out of the room he shared with the other five male Gryffindors in his year, and into the Gryffindor Common Room.

The Common Room was buzzing, Gryffindors swarming towards the Fat Lady's portrait, and filing out as quickly as they could. Seeing Hermione in the crowd, Harry slowly made his way to her, trying to avoid being knocked over, at the same time trying not to knock over anyone. "What's going on?" Harry asked, close enough to call to the frizzy-haired female. Hermione's eyes darted towards him, and she wove past a group of second years.

"The castle is under attack!" Hermione explained, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him deeper into the crowd of Gryffindors. Harry's eyes widened and he did his best to move faster. "By who?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head "I don't know!" she sounded frustrated, but before Harry could say anything Hermione continued "But we've got to find out, if it's You-Know-Who, then we need to get everyone out!"

Harry shook his head as the two finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "I don't think it's him," he said, one hand reaching up to trace his scar. "I feel fine." Hermione nodded "Maybe the Death Eaters then, either way we need to help!" Harry nodded, emerging into the hallway he put a hand in his robes and gripped his wand tightly.

Time to prepare for a battle.

The fight was over before Harry, Hermione, and Ron who had met them on the stairs, reached the Great Hall.

But it was worth being late to rush into the Great Hall to see Umbridge behind held still by a centaur.

"The centaurs attacked?" Ron muttered, looking as confused as Harry felt "I thought they stayed out of school stuff." Hermione nodded "They do, or at least they're supposed to." her eyes darted around the room, and then widened "They aren't just centaurs, look," she nodded towards a group of people with rounded ears perched atop their heads, and lion tails flicking from their robes.

Harry scanned the room, and saw people with wolf-like ears and tails, people with antlers sprouting from their heads and deer bodies connected to their waist, people with fish tails swimming in floating bubbles of water. The entire Great Hall, of those that weren't students or professors, was filled with half-animals.

"Animai" Ron gasped, eyes huge. Hermione all but whirled to stare at him "What?" Ron's gaze didn't flicker from the group of centaurs talking to Umbridge in voices too low for Harry to hear, but he said "Animai, half man half animal, they're a really old race from Merlin's time, but a lot of wizards see them as a lesser species, so you almost never hear about them."

Hermione narrowed her eyes "Why is it you know this, when nothing I've read has ever mentioned them?" Ron shook his head "I just said, nobody ever talks about them, except to further their oppression." his eyes narrowed and he looked down at the ground angrily. "The Ministry is pushing to have them seen as lower than creatures."

Harry remembered that summer, when he'd arrived at Sirius's home. Animai. That was what Remus had been talking about, not Animagi.

"Ron," Harry started, wanting to ask if his friend knew anything about why the Animai would attack Hogwarts, when one of the centaurs in front of Umbridge stamped one of its front hooves and bellowed "SILENCE!"

The entire Great Hall stilled. Panicked students and bristling Animai warriors alike froze, and turned to the front of the hall. The centaur who'd spoken, tan-skinned with a jet black horse body, turned from Umbridge to face the crowd. Two others stepped up to stand next to him, a female with cat ears and a rippling black cat tail, and a male with silver wolf ears and tail.

The centaur holding Umbridge, with a sleek russet body, forced the woman forward and the black centaur spoke "People of Hogwarts, we are the Animai. Your fathers, and your fathers fathers have forced us underground for centuries, but with the banishment of Dumbledore the wards keeping us hidden have vanished. We come to reclaim our children, to set free the inheritances that have been blocked by the people you call great. We seek to free the children who should have trained under us, to set right the wrongs that Dumbledore has done."

A dull throbbing pounded in Harry's head. He wanted to scream at the centaur that he was wrong, Dumbledore wouldn't do anything like that, but at the same time he wanted to hear more.

"Our shamans will be sorting you children, one at a time we shall free your blocks, reveal your Animai inheritance, if any, and set all right!" the centaur concluded. He waved a hand to the cat-woman next to him "Shaman Ayoa will now speak."

Ayoa nodded to the centaur and stepped forward. "Children please, you have no reason to fear us. We are not what your Ministry has made us out to be. Please, allow us to help you. You have been harmed, we wish to heal you. We thank this woman for banishing Dumbledore, but we are going to have to stay in control until we know the full situation."

Beside Harry, Ron seemed relaxed. Hermione was stiff as a board, and Harry...Harry felt somewhere in the middle. His head was telling him not to trust them, but his heart felt calm.

Ayoa continued "My fellow shamans, Tyona, Revera, and Illom will be the ones doing the revealing, I shall be removing any blocks found on you. Currently, there are Animai warriors scouring the castle, bringing forward everyone. Not just students but also Professors. Dumbledore has been alive for a very long time, it is entirely possible, although quite unlikely, that every single person in this castle has been blocked by him in some manner."

Ayoa finished by waving her hand around the room "The process begins now. Please wait patiently. You will all be called forward one at a time. We will be choosing first off of House, and then by your last name. The first house to be cleansed will be..." Ayoa paused, looking around the room. "Well alphabetically is probably best so we'll begin with House Gryffindor."

"Hermione Granger." came the call of the wolf-man. Harry, Hermione and Ron had been sitting crosslegged on the floor in the back corner, whispering to one another about what they knew. Surprisingly, Ron seemed to know the most about Animai. He was also the only one out of the trio to actually know anything about them, which had caused a small scowl to plant itself firmly on Hermione's face.

That scowl wiped off of her face quickly though, and she looked up towards the shaman with an expression of fear. So far none of the students called back had returned, and the room was rather tense.

"Hermione Granger." the wolf Animai repeated, this time with a hint of a growl in his voice. One student, a seventh year, had tried to run from the room when his name had been called, and a Cheetah Animai had been called in to chase him down. "You'd better go." Ron said, flicking his gaze up at the group of lion-people who were passing nearby and growling to each other. Hermione took a deep breath and nodded, hair bobbing.

Slowly, Hermione got to her feet and walked up to the wolf-man. He growled approvingly at her, and escorted her through the doors.

Absentmindedly, Ron reached a hand up to scratch at his hair. He'd done that several times in the past hour, and Harry was about to make a comment about him have picking up fleas from one of the canine Animai. Before he could Ron said "I'm going to go find Fred and George." and vanished into the crowd of Animai, leaving Harry to wait for his own name to be called.

"Harry Potter."

Any whispered chatter in the room froze as Harry's name was finally called. Slowly the fifteen year old walked through the hall, the crowd parting to allow him pass.

The one who'd called his name, a woman with black fur surrounding her eyes and a striped tail swaying from her clothing looked at him curiously. "Come along little one, let's see what you've got on you."

And that's a wrap!

Please let me know if you spotted any errors, this is my first time writing for Harry Potter, and I legit got into the fandom like two months ago lol

Remember to review! And feel free to leave names and species of some Animai, I'm gonna need some for later ;)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

~Savannah