Aftermath & Animagus
Why did Harry react like that? Jeez, it was just another human being, it was nothing special, it was just an attractive body and Harry was respectfully admiring that, that's all. Harry smacked himself on his forehead with his hand, silently cursing himself for appearing so enthralled with Draco Malfoy. It was morning and he was making his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast his friend Ron.
"What's with you mate?" Ron asked curiously, referring to Harry's self-punishment.
"Oh nothing, Ron, just remembered something," Harry answered distantly.
The both of them sat themselves across from Hermione who was already there as always and started filling up their plates. Harry was still surprise to see that Ron's plate was already half-full when he was only starting to load his own plate. When Ron was determined, he was determined. He could clear out the whole Hogwarts kitchen in one sitting if he wanted to. Harry wasn't too keen on exploring that theory.
A few moments later, Malfoy walked in with the air of a king, as usual. Needless to say the crowd went ecstatic. The Hufflepuffs were the worst, screaming and just going frantic. There were a handful of Gryffindors who also made their enthralled noises heard and subsequently earned yet more scathing looks from their fellow housemates for such despicable acts of treachery, and as it were the same perpetrators from Potions. The hall burst into roars and screaming as Malfoy traipsed down to the Slytherin table with a proud smirk plastered on his face, even some of the admirers other boys! His two bodyguards were looking slightly confused and dazed about what was happening and more than disoriented at all the noise, and so were being extra vigilant in protecting their leader. Yes, Crabbe and Goyle weren't the brightest of wizards, if at all wizards. Pansy was also smiling pridefully whilst she walked through the hall to their house's table with Draco in hand. At least she would be the girlfriend of the sexiest and most sought after guy in the school and probably in its history, if that wasn't Lucius by any chance. Damn the Malfoy family was popping 'em out!
Harry turned around in his seat and started on his breakfast with a scowl. Why did the git always had to have so much attention? Pompous git, Harry thought irritably. Ron had also gone back to eating and ignoring the chaos that was breaking out in the hall.
There was wooing and clapping of hands and whistles from all around the room. The Gryffindor table was the one with the modest praise but all other houses were unmitigated. Professor Snape pinched his nose in exasperation and muttering something under his breathe about incorrigible ingrates and headache potions. Mrs McGonagall maintained her staunch and strict countenance and regarded the unfolding scene with a sharp gaze, and Professor Dumbledore looked on over his half-moon glasses with a small smile across his lips. No doubt Mr Malfoy was the star of the event. The boy did take after his stunning and beautiful mother Narcissa Malfoy quite well.
Yes, Dumbledore remembered the aristocratic girl that was always well mannered, always had her faculties in check, always with a small, courteous smile and always with those enigmatic cerulean irises, those eyes that were so silently enthralling and unforgivably modest. And Dumbledore remembered that they held so much mystery and secretes behind them, such polite concealment one would never suspect, not even the great wizard, Albus Dumbledore. She never showed any other emotion than that smile and those cautious eyes. Dumbledore admired Narcissa for her quiet elegance and diligence. The Malfoys were truly something.
Slowly, the praises and claps died out and everybody had returned to their normal conversations. Snape was nowhere to be seen. Parvati was fanning her red face and drinking some pumpkingjuice to restore her dry throat after her endorsing shouts.
Harry welcomed the general return of normality to the hall. They were just exaggerating the situation. Malfoy wasn't that good looking the night before... Harry stopped thinking about that there with a shake of his head.
Hermione, Harry and lastly, Ron, quickly finished their breakfast and then stood and left the hall. They were walking briskly to the dungeons for potions to escape the group of girls behind that were gushing on about Malfoy.
But they weren't so lucky.
"Oi, Potter," Draco dared not raise his voice, certainly not for Potter of all people.
The Holy Trio stopped in their tracks. Harry turned around and prepared for yet another confrontation with Malfoy. Somehow those acid insults never got numb, they always came with the very same razor sharpness and biting sting since first year. Even he couldn't understand why Malfoy got to him like he did. He fully believed that even if he did take a Calming Potion, he would have Malfoy in a headlock within minutes if they were to spent time in a classroom together.
Draco walked with Pansy in tow and his towering huge boulders behind him to Potter and his Muggle lovers. He stopped at a comfortable length and rearranged his arms that were already folded a little. "Well, Potter, it seemed that you enjoyed the show yesterday did you not?" lilted the more feminine of the Malfoy men, with an unforgiving smirk on his pale handsome face. Pansy had a lingering smile on he pug like face as she brushed Draco's arms, obviously still relishing the moments from the occurrence back in the Great Hall.
Harry for the life of him couldn't prevent the flood of heat that rushed into his cheeks. He knew what Malfoy was referring to, everyone did. Harry tried to harden the look in his eyes as retaliation for his mortification. Damn and he knew he was blushing like a ruby because Malfoy's smirk had increased exponentially. The first thing that came to his mind reflexively was to tell him to sod off but, the question was innocuous, outwardly, and if he said that to him then he would be incriminating himself there by showing he was offended. Shit. Malfoy had him.
"Yes, just like the rest of the school and the glamorous Wizarding world. Compliments on your reception," he said coolly and then turned to leave quickly. Mafloy's smirk fell as quickly as it had rose. No wait, he was supposed to have milked more out of the situation than that! Draco felt robbed and almost betrayed, Potter usually fell for these things head first.
Draco inhaled a calming breathe and lifted his chin proudly. He then took off in the same direction without looking behind at whether Crabbe and Goyle were following or not. Pansy was still lodged at his side. They entered the Potions classroom a few minutes later and waited for the ominous slam of the door to announce Snape's grand arrival. The class trickled into the classroom until all were seated.
Seconds later, the door slammed open and closed just as loudly. Black robes were billowing furiously as Snape trudged to the front of the classroom with his natural half-scowl in place. He turned around sharply and his scowled deepened as he took in the occupants of his classroom. Let it be said Snape certainly had the flare for the dramatics.
"Today," He began ominously, roaming his eyes faithlessly over the faces of the entire class, with the exception of Malfoy upon whom he nodded the slightest at. "We will be attempting the Animagus Revealer potion." he intoned in a slow, calculating and obviously authoritative voice. "A simple potion that allows the drinker to morph into his or her personal Animagus form for a limited period only." At the end of this his eyes fell over Potter for the briefest of seconds and looked away casually. "The potion is relatively simple but that as has been previously proven does not guarantee success." He stressed as he pointedly eyed Neville Longbottom who squirmed into his seat.
The rest of the class snickered at him. The Potions professor continued as if nothing happened. "The potion instructions are listed on the board. You know where to find the ingredients and if you haven't then get out of my classroom now," he said sternly, turning around in a fluttery of robes to scan the students behind him to see who would leave. Nobody moved. Damn them.
"I will expect you to brew the potion with your partner for the majority of the lesson. In the last thirty minutes you will test your dubious concoction on yourself and today you might just find out what Animagus you are,"
Snape turned around and commanded, "You may begin." he ordered as he made his way to his quarters, away from all of those... children.
Harry packed up his things morosely and gave Hermione a commiserating smile before walking over to Malfoy's desk and put down his things. "Malfoy," Harry greeted without looking at who he was addressing in the eye, it was still too soon.
Malfoy waved his hand dismissively and continued preparing his utensils and ingredients on top of the table. "You might want to get the rest of the ingredients that I haven't got, namely wormwood and periwinkle," Malfoy ordered superiorly, finally deeming Potter worthy of his attention. Harry was more than glad to get away from Malfoy for a legitimate reason even if it was for a few seconds.
Harry returned seconds later with the required ingredients to Malfoy's table. He gathered that Malfoy had gotten the rest of the ingredients from his Potions kit which was sitting next to the wall.
Malfoy took a moment to scrutinize Harry.
Harry saw Malfoy looking at him and then remembered what happened in the hallway. Damn him, he cursed as he felt his cheeks burn again. Why did he have to stare at him like that last night! Harry felt the sudden urge to slap his forehead again but restrained himself in front of him. He grew uncomfortable and irritated at the look coming his way. "What?" he finally demanded tightly, unnecessarily blushing.
Malfoy's smirk was reborn with a vengeance. "Nothing," he replied, and then turned to begin the brewing of the potion. He started to measure the newt powder on his scale but then saw Potter who was inert. "Potter, if you are expecting to receive marks on this potion I suggest you begin skinning the viper shoots and chopping up the wormwood. Now would be good." And then turned back to his work.
Harry glared at him before picking up Malfoy's ornate carving knife and began chopping the wormwood vigorously.
There was a period of time where they were working in harmonious and uninterrupted peace. It lasted for about ten seconds. "Tell me, what part of the night did you enjoy the most, Potter?" Malfoy asked so casually that
Harry nearly said You automatically. He held his tongue though. "What's it to you?" he asked defensively.
Malfoy shrugged. "Just making polite conversation," he said casually, as if they did this everyday. That obviously wasn't the case and they both knew it.
"The whole night sucked. Why would Hogwarts want to stage a fashion show of all things?"
"I believe you evaded the question, Potter," Malfoy pointed out kindly. He was anything but kind in intent.
Harry gritted his teeth. "I didn't enjoy anything in particular, the show was what it was, just some kids running up and down a runway," he said almost petulantly.
"One's eyes glazed over and mouth open doesn't say to me that one is not enjoying what one was seeing, especially at that particular moment, wouldn't you agree?" Malfoy lilted with an innocent expression, though a small smirk was tugging at the sides of his lips.
Harry blossomed cerise yet again, how many times was he going to blush today? Maybe many more times because they still had Transfiguration and CMC with the Slytherins. He scowled at Draco but said nothing. "Don't worry Potter, you're not the only victim. You do know that I am going to hold this on your head until graduation right?" Malfoy warned timeously, his opponent needed to know what he was in for. Wait, he saw an opportunity to humiliate Potter just then.
"Unless," he said after a few moments, feeling and rolling the coming words on his tongue like some fine French wine, but he waited a little.
Harry finally snapped. "Unless what?" he all but barked impatiently, anything was better than being reminded about yesterday from then for two more years to come.
"Unless you tell me that I'm hot," Malfoy wagered and smirked as he saw Potter's eyes widen.
Harry stared incredulously at Malfoy for what seemed like forever.
"What?" he asked finally.
Malfoy gave him a blank look to signify that he wouldn't be dignifying the inane question.
"You-y-you want me to say what?" Harry asked in disbelieve. The lab work was completely forgotten. Malfoy had also abandoned his tasks, his arms were folded.
"Yes, Potter, unless you want me to torture you daily with the way you practically drank me up and indulged your eyes and lusted af-"
"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed quickly, loudly enough for the surrounding lab partners to shoot him strange looks. He was blushing hard to his roots and it had probably spread to his ears and neck. Malfoy laughed airily at his reaction. Harry closed his eyes and took a calming breathe.
"I wasn't drinking you up Malfoy, or indulging my eyes or lusting after your body," He declared tersely. Malfoy raised an eyebrow, obviously indicating his absolute disbelief and Harry's filling in his unfinished sentence. Harry was getting frustrated. "Fine." he said, looking at Malfoy's shoes rather than in the eyes. His jaw worked a couple of times and he pursed his lips a couple of times as well, as if mentally organizing the Founding Fathers' speech rather saying just two measly words. "You swear I will never hear of this again?" he asked. Why would Harry believe Malfoy to hold a promise anyway?
Malfoy looked like he actually considered it carefully and then nodded in the end. He had just thought of another brilliant plan! Hhm, two spontaneous brilliant ideas only a few minutes apart, yes intelligence certainly was an advantage. Harry took another another breathe and fixed his eyes in the area between Malfoy's eyes, dismissing Malfoy's strangely placid acquiescence.
Malfoy's saw the thin line of flesh between Potter lips tear apart as his mouth opened to say something. In one swift, deft move he reached for his wand, grabbed it, and pointed it at Potter's throat in a matter of splits seconds and softly muttered "Sonorus."
"You're hot."
The words reverberated off the walls of the Potions classroom, echoing loudly and stamping out all possible doubt of its message. The class stopped rambling and began to swirl their collective heads to the source of the booming voice. In his quarters, Snape looked up from his work, asked himself if he had heard right and then dismissed the thought to return to his work. From the sound of it, it was Potter's voice and he had been working with Malfoy. If what he thought he heard was from Harry and directed at Malfoy...
Potter's eyes grew wide slowly at what had just happened. The room was dead quiet after hearing in none other than Harry Potter's voice saying that someone was hot. And the source of that declaration was looking at the person he was addressing: Draco Malfoy.
There was a moment of silence. The first to crack were the Slytherins when they figured out what Malfoy had done, judging by where his wand was still aimed at. They let out a roar of sudden laughter which caught fire way too quickly and in no time most of the class was rolling on the floor. The Gryffindors had looked hesitant to betray, though some inexorably had wide lopsided grins on their faces. Hermione couldn't take it. She burst out laughing, and tried to maintain some modesty by placing a placating hand on her traitorous mouth, but to no avail. Ron turned to look at her from where he was stationed with Pansy with a vehement glare. The glare lost all potency when he saw Hermione shaking with laughter and her hair vibrating and the surrounding laughter, so he also cracked.
Harry watched as Malfoy tried to stop himself from a full hearted fit of hysteria with unbelieving eyes. Before he knew it his hands were on the other boy's slender neck. And just then that damnable Snape decided to walk in to investigate the raucous of noise. Talk about perfect timing.
"What is this!? Silence! Potter! Fifteen points from Gryffindor for threatening to asphyxiate a student!" Roared Snape. The room went from guffawing to mute in a few milliseconds when Snape bellowed for silence."And ten points for the probable cause of the noise!" he added the last spitefully as an afterthought, as if Potter owned forty other laughing voices.
"Sorry, sir." Harry muttered unrepentantly under his breathe as he returned to his work of peeling the viper shoots. Malfoy straightened his robes and dusted them off from imaginary dust and also resumed his duties. Everybody followed suit hurriedly and in no time the Potions classroom was restored to silent diligence. Snape lingered for a moments with narrowed eyes and then retreated into his study again with a loud bang of the door.
"You bastard!" Harry hissed furiously at Malfoy, cutting his viper shoots more forcefully.
Malfoy laughed. "Potter, you're priceless!" He said with a chuckle. He composed himself shortly. "Hhm, thank you for the compliment, it's much appreciated, though I can't say I didn't know it before," he said imperiously, totally unmoved by Harry's indignant accusation.
Harry couldn't even imagine what would happen when he got back to the common room.
The period progressed without further incident. That is, until the potion testing.
Right on time, Snape emerged loudly out of his study and stalked to the front of the classroom. "Get up here with your... potions. After changing back to your original self, you should tell us what your Animagus form is." He said curtly with much doubt in his voice. The potion wasn't really difficult, there was just a few tricky areas that could easily be overcome.
Once the entire population of the class was at the front, Snape began. "Right. Since you were so pleased to disrupt the class from their preparations, Mr Potter, it is only fitting." The man never ran out of makeshift excuses that were made up on the spot. The class giggled, remembering the praising words of the Boy-Who-Lived to Malfoy. Harry blushed and went to the front with his head bowed. Snape would usually choose him first when the crowd was the most attentive and interested, the first trial.
He walked into the centre of the circle that was made up by the students. Malfoy walked over and handed him the vial with a smirk as he had done last time. Harry was disgusted with himself that he actually took the potion to be brewed perfectly for granted because of Malfoy's expertise. There was no denying it, Malfoy was the highest achieving pupil in Potions. In the beginning Harry had been too quick to attribute that to his status as teacher's pet but soon discovered the exquisite capacity of those long, pale, capable hands. He raised the vial slowly and then downed the concoction in one gulp. The taste bordered on soapy and slightly sour.
He felt the purple viscous fluid travel slowly down his oesophagus and settle into his stomach. Then his superficial nerve ending began tingling a little.
The kids watched in awe as what was before Harry Potter was then a fierce griffin. Magnificent huge wings, which seemed to swallow the size of the rest of the body, spread out before them. Harry, in his Animagus form, felt empowered and invincible at that moment. Snape's papers on his desk were flying around in swirls in mid-air, the windows were rattling a little bit and the potion jars were shaking. All the desks in the classroom were rumbling slightly. Everybody took this in with wide eyes around the room. There was always an exception to Harry Potter. Snape had an inscrutable expression plastered on his face again as he watched the small griffin creature in front of him.
The sight was witnessed for a mere five seconds before a white, flashing light returned the creature to its precursor. Harry blinked liked an owl behind his round glasses after feeling the the familiar odd sensation of having ingested a potion, especially a non-medical potion, slowly disintegrating in his stomach.
Snape's voice penetrated the air sharply. "Well, Mr Potter?" The revered Potions master prodded impatiently. "A griffin," Harry said with less confidence than he expected of himself. That effect was inherent in Snape's presence, the man made you doubt yourself. Snape was probably capable of making him doubt his own name if the professor was to ask him a second time with a raise of an eyebrow. "Very well, Mr Potter. Move. Mr Malfoy if you would please." Harry moved away from the centre of the circle and took Malfoy's place where he was standing, watching his rival stand confidently in front of everybody and ingesting the serum.
A few moments of inactivity passed before a golden light quickly engulfed the young Slytherin and within its diminishing wake was the emerging image of a stunning creature. It's leathery scales glittering emerald in the dim dungeons, a stark white underbelly running from head to tow, a long powerful-looking tail and two brilliantly silver horns sticking out from the head. The class wowed its amazement. The dragon snake paused for a moment, and then it reared its head and out of its mouth came out a fierce jet of fire. Everybody screamed and tried to back out of the way, but the fire didn't reach them as Malfoy had replaced the creature.
"A Dragonsnake." Malfoy intoned confidently without prompting from Professor Snape. This rare display of courtesy from the professor was of course reserved for his number one student. The Slytherin Head of House gave a small approving nod and ordered another student to take the stand. Nothing had vibrated like when Harry was in his Animagus form as well as for the rest of the following students.
In another twenty five minutes the lesson was over. People started bagging their tomes and quills and making their way outside the classroom with excited chatter, having now known what their Animagus forms were. Ron had been a large lion with a fiercely orange main and tail tip, both merely a shade lighter than his normal red hair. Hermione's was a startling white owl with an appreciable wingspan and two huge hazelnuts that seemed to burn right through to your deepest secrets. And guess what Neville's Animagus form was. Yes, a giant hamster. What possible use could that be leaves to be pondered by the highest philosophers and they still wouldn't fathom it in time before the next redistribution of Universal Magic.