Chapter 4
Harry sighed as she paced nervously from one side of the train car to the other. She had been like this all morning, and Hermione couldn't really think of anything that would calm the agitated changeling. They were on the way back to Hogwarts for what would be their second year.
"I really think this is a bad idea," Harry said for what must have been the fiftieth time this morning so far.
"We all agreed to it, besides you can just fly back to the forest if you think it is so bad," Hermione said as she flipped the page of a book she was reading.
"I know, but I am still worried. I know someone is going to find out, I mean this idea is great and all, we still get to learn magic and all that. But if someone finds out before we are ready, we are going to cause so much trouble, remember what McGonagall said," Harry said before changing his voice in a rather accurate imitation of McGonagall's own voice, "Considering what you have become it would be unwise for you to return as Ministry law will not take kindly on you if your found out."
Hermione sighed and closed her book with a sharp snap, it was no good using it to distract her anymore. She knew Harry was right this was a big risk, and as she sat their thinking she could not help but remember the last few months that seemed to have passed in almost a blink of an eye. It had begun with the letters they had sent out to McGonagall, and Dumbledore. As instructed each of their teachers had shown up at the correct time and place. As this was part of their plan to deal with one than the other.
McGonagall had been the first to show up. Where Hermione, along with Maleficent had explained the situation. McGonagall was more than understandably shocked at what she was hearing, but the proof was none the less before her. But she was not completely sure that Dumbledore was trying to control Harry. None the less her information proved to be very useful in what they could and could not do about their current situation.
What it basically amounted to they could return to Hogwarts and continue their education as normal, but they had to be careful. This was because of how they changed they could be put in a very bad position, as all the laws that were used to suppress werewolves, also could be used in effect against them.
Harry was worried about this as was Hermione, but McGonagall pointed out, that their change was rather unheard of so the Ministry of Magic would likely be light on any early judgement. Though if they wished they could also just stay in the forest as the Ministry of Magic, for all its bluster, would not pick a willing fight with the Fairy kind. There was a reason the forest was called the "Forbidden Forest" after all.
Harry then asked how they could hide their changes, or if for that matter could they just join back in as first years, but under different names. Hermione as well as McGonagall was a little surprised by this request. At least till Harry pointed out it could be rather hard for Hedwig to become a second year student.
Hermione smiled, but McGonagall decided that it would be best to wait they could talk to Dumbledore about that. As while Harry, Hermione, and Hedwig may not trust him too much, he was still very brilliant. And in the end they went with what Dumbledore thought was best, well almost went with.
They were all headed into the second year, though Dumbledore said it would be best for just Hedwig to start first instead of second. But he could not get the idea through unless he wanted all three to just leave the school. He also lost the chance to sort Hedwig with the other first years as well, they were already going to be attracting enough attention as it was, with their changes once they were found out, putting one of them on display this early on was not need. So Hedwig was sorted that very same day when they went back to the Headmaster's office.
Then for the rest of the summer they worked on bring Hedwig up to speed. Both in speaking and in terms of at least first year magical skills. This did not mean they let off their normal magical or flight practice though. Maleficent would often now watch them to make sure they were not pushing themselves to hard and got plenty rest and food.
The finally they made their way back to London on the first big flight of their lives. Maleficent was the leader, using a spell that would make them appear as large birds rather than what they really were. Their destination was Hermione's home were they got to meet with her parents for the first time.
Hermione's parents were overjoyed to say the least about seeing their daughter again, but they were not quite willing to let her go again. But they knew they could not stop her. Hermione had been changed a great deal and she would have to leave again sooner rather than later. Still though they enjoyed their time with her, and her friends for as long as they could. Maleficent and Diaval on the other hand helped get the girls the supplies they would need for Hogwarts.
Maleficent ended up using the money from Harry's vault. Even for Hermione's stuff as well. And returned later that day with several packages. Diaval trailing not too far behind pulling a small wagon with the other three quarters of the items they had gotten.
They then left less than a week later to catch the Hogwarts Express back to school. But with a little added piece of jewelry around their necks. These necklaces were made by Maleficent before she had left to help conceal their changes with powerful illusion spells. This would allow them to take their time to find the correct point into which to reveal what had happened to them.
That left them where they were now. Hermione reading her book trying to study for the coming year. Harry pacing back and forth in the compartment worried. While Hedwig watched them both debating if she should step in.
Finally making up her mind Hedwig grab Harry's hand and pulled her down into the seat next to herself, "Calm down, you don't want to cause a scene before get to Hogwarts do you?"
Harry sighed and looked at Hedwig but staring into those amber eyes which had only gotten so much deeper since the change, she found she could not keep her worries going for long. It was something that they had all noticed a while back. That no matter the mood Harry might be in, Hedwig could calm her down. Hermione found Harry could do the same for her. While Hedwig on the other hand depended on both of them.
"No I don't," Harry said finally turning away and fingering her necklace's pendent, a small broom made out of gold.
"Good, then don't worry, we have done all we can do to keep us safe," Hedwig said, rather happy that she could speak so well now, though she had spent countless hours practicing.
"But…" Harry tried but Hedwig put a finger to her lips, "But nothing. Just relax and think about our coming lessons for now. After all we have the best way of studying ever."
Hermione rolled her eyes at this, and made a small sound of annoyance that sounded and awfully lot like, "cheating."
Harry and Hedwig both laughed at this, though they knew better than to think Hermione was annoyed at the link they now bonded them. While it allowed them glimpses into each other's mind, allowing them to cheat with rather great ease on a test something Hermione detested, it also provided something Hermione loved. Which was if one of them read a book, any one of them could recall it, even if they had not read it themselves, meaning if the others were enjoying a good book, Hermione could enjoy it as well while studying something else.
It was at this point, as they passed the other edges of London did things settle down inside their compartment. Harry slowly falling asleep in Hedwig's arms, while Hedwig got Hermione talking about classes and how to navigate the passageways around the castle. And it was not till about three when the lunch cart came by to pass out drinks and snacks.
Hermione got up at this point and got a few sets of snacks as well as a few bottle of pumpkin juice. Once she came back inside she closed the door and locked it, as Hedwig woke Harry. It would be another five hours till they got to Hogwarts after all. They ate quietly enjoying the small meal that Hermione picked out.
And just as they finished there came a knock at the door to their compartment. It was Fred and George Weasley both looking rather surprised, but happy. Hermione opened the compartment and let the pair in, sitting back down quickly.
"Well, well, what do we have here dear brother of mine," one of the twins began, though Harry was not sure which yet.
"Well Fred, I would say I see three young beauties before us. Yet, last time I saw them they were headed towards certain doom," George replied.
"Yes indeed, so Harry, care to tell us what trouble you caused to cause your improvements?" Fred asked, grinning almost like a fool, as George then asked, "Not to mention who your lovely friend is?"
Harry sighed she had been rather enjoying the nap and had wanted to get back to it, but she knew that she would not be able to avoid these two. At least not and keep it quiet on the train she was back, and female.
"If I tell you, will you keep your mouth shut?" Harry asked, her annoyance a little noticeable.
"Depends on what you tell us," George replied back.
Harry sighed again while Hedwig gave the pair a rather glare that made the twins nearly back up. The look alone had them less than willing to continue any line of talk as it was a very heavy reminder of their moms own angry glares. Harry noticed their seeming fear at Hedwig but decided to save them, they were after all rather a good pair of people.
"You don't need to curse them yet," Harry said, her voice filling with laughter, giving Hedwig a grin.
"I was not going to," Hedwig said, in an almost defensive voice.
"Harry, I am not sure how you can be so lucky, but you got two of the most brilliant, beautiful and scary girls as your friends. Lord help the person who tries to hurt you, for these two will have no mercy on their idiot souls," Fred said once he was sure he was not about to be cursed.
"Dumb luck I guess," Harry said smiling.
"Well, your including in that list of brilliant beautiful and scary, or more than likely will be," George said, before sitting down by Hermione as Fred sat down on his other side, "so care to tell us what happened?"
Harry sighed but guessed she might as well tell a little bit what happened, not all of it yet. Just enough to keep them off her back for now. After all, if Hedwig could scare them with a look then it was likely they would not bug Harry too much for not telling them everything this time.
"Well, I guess I can tell you some of it. Not all of it just yet as we are waiting till everyone is used to my being female first," Harry said.
"So there is more than just you being female," Fred said, but motioned for Harry to continue.
"Yes. Now as you know, we were dealing with a detention assigned to use for being out of bed for 'Telling Lies about illegal dragons'. Well our detention was to help Hagrid find a unicorn that had been injured and either help it, or put it out of its misery," Harry said.
"Wait a punishment in the Forbidden forest," George said confused.
"Yep," Hermione said, looking up from her book.
"That should not have happened. All detentions are to be conducted within the school walls, as only sixth and seventh year students have the needed skills to survive in the forest," Fred said looking thoughtful, then adding, "We looked up all possible punishments that are currently legal to know what they could actually do to us when we get into trouble."
"Yeah, we know, and I take it you know that was a real dragon we were getting out of the school as well?" Harry said, guessing the answer.
"Yep, Ron told both Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore everything when it was stated tat you two were missing," George replied looking thoughtful.
"I hope McGonagall was not too harsh on him," Harry said.
"Nah, actually Professor Dumbledore gave him a 100 points for him coming forward and telling the truth. Though McGonagall gave him a detention and lines for not coming and telling them right away," Fred answered.
"Okay, well getting back to my story, we went deep into the forest. Then split into two groups, Hermione, Hagrid and I were one group. While Neville, Malfoy, and Fang was the second. As you can guess Malfoy decided to have some fun with Neville and we ending up switching so I was now with Malfoy," Harry explained.
"Idiot if there ever was one. Never pull stupid stuff when you're at risk of personal injury," George said.
"I do agree, either way I made a couple moments peace with Draco, saying that if we have to fight might as well as it be without us being enemies. I had noticed the puddles were getting bigger and knew something was coming up. At which point, Draco surprisingly agreed. Then we came upon the clearing in which the Unicorn stood, or at least was trying to stand. We were about to move toward it when… something came out of the forest," Harry said before pausing a few moments, reorganizing her thoughts.
"I told Draco to make a run for it while I attacked the creature. My spell was less than amazing, only knocking the creature over. But it did all that could be hoped for. It turned to face me at which point I felt an almost unbelievable pain in my scar as it raised a wand, but by this point the Unicorn had been given a chance, and it took it to attack. The hit was not lethal at all, but it sent the person tumbling. I, in all my Gryffindor brilliance moved between the person and the unicorn. And waited for what would come next," Harry said pausing again letting Fred and George take this in.
"So you faced down the evil villain without any formal training as a first year. I do believe that makes you a Gryffindor alright," Fred said.
"Agreed, to bad our knight hear turned into the maid, but let see how that happened yet," George finished before motioning for Harry to continue.
"Well as you can guess, I was given a chance to move. But to be honest I doubted that if I had moved that I would have been allowed to live anyway. So I stayed put, and waited for the end to come. But then out of nowhere came someone to our rescue, it was a fairy of the forest named Maleficent. She drove the attacker away, saving both myself and the unicorn. At which point I worked with Maleficent and saved the Unicorns life, and to my surprise as such was given a gift by the unicorn. The result of that gift caused a powerful magical shift in my body which ended up leading to my changes though they did not happen right away," Harry explained.
"That is interesting, so then why did you not return to the school?" Fred asked.
"Well I was out cold for that part," Harry said pointing to Hermione, "So Hermione here would be better on the details."
"I told you before," Hermione said, but smiled, "but I guess I can do the story telling at this point."
"Anyway, we were running for the clearing Harry was in at this point, when we heard a blood curdling scream. To be honest it made my heart stop as I realize the voice to be Harry's and upon entering it we saw his body lying on the ground, unmoving. Hagrid was already checking him over, and said he would be okay. At which point Draco suggested we all get going, Hagrid said we had to finish the job first, and Draco to my surprise said then I should stay here as it should be safer with Harry," Hermione said shaking her head, "the first time he actually cared for either myself or Harry I might add."
"That is… surprising," Fred said, looking stunned.
"Yep, anyway at this point they headed out into the forest, while I stayed with Harry. I was not paying too much attention as Maleficent and the Unicorn reentered the clearing. But when I did notice it was rather startling to say the least. Maleficent, even though she is a fairy, looks more like some demon than a fairy, plus with the unicorn still having some blood on it made me try and drag harry and escape," Hermione explained smiling a little bit.
"As it was, Maleficent and myself talked a little bit. And in the end, after realizing several things were not adding up I decided that we should not return to the school. Meaning Harry and myself, so as Maleficent already wanted to talk to Harry about the gift he had received and the magical reaction it had caused, I decided we might as well stay, if Maleficent allowed it. And she did," Hermione said finishing her small story.''
"Well that is my cue then," Harry said, picking up the story, "I woke the next day and Hermione explained the things she had noticed. Mostly details not adding up in my upbringing or at the school year. After hearing them… I agreed with Hermione that it would be best to stay away from the school, at least till we had a better plan to deal with what was going on. After which Maleficent got the information she wished, and we found out about my transformation, and halted it before it got too bad."
"Interesting alright," Fred said, looking at George, then to each of the three girls in turn.
"Yes, so what were these changes that you stopped? Or is that part that you will be hiding?" George asked.
"We will tell you about them later, and it is also how we met our newest friend," Harry added.
"She is a fairy?" Fred asked surprised.
"Well, not she is a Changeling, as am I," Harry said, before explaining, "A changeling is basically a human who has been affected by fairy magic. In my case a unicorn."
"This is truly fascinating," Fred said grinning, before finally nodding, "Well I think that more than satisfies our curiosity."
"You are not going to tell anyone are you?" Hedwig asked.
"I don't see a shove for digging our own graves yet," George said with a grin.
"Thanks, we will tell you and Ron in a week or so. And maybe the rest of the school in about a month if everything goes well," Harry said smiling.
Fred face at this fell a little bit, "you might want to avoid Ron, and Ginny."
"Why?" Harry asked confused.
George looked at his brother before shrugging and said, "As you have been truthful with us we will be the same with you. You are right in things not adding up, we noticed it as well with how our mom was acting before we got onto the platform. And in our snooping we found out some rather uncomfortable things, it is why we were able to spot you, even as a female."
Fred nodded looking a little anger and disgust in his voice as he spoke, "You see, our mom, seems to have made a deal with Dumbledore in return for some large amount of money to be paid out in a few years. We are not sure on the details as of right now. But we know that she wants to set you up with Ginny or Ron. Now I don't think either of them realize what is going on yet, but they might be told soon."
Harry stared at the pair in shock, "Are you telling me that your mother is trying to get me to marry someone so she gets money?"
"Maybe, as we said we are not sure on the details. Could be she is to do something else, direct you to the side of good, and the justice. You know the mother figure you never had," George said, sounding just as annoyed as his brother.
Harry sighed but Fred spoke before he could, "We will find out the details as soon as we can. But for right now, just be careful with what you say around Ron, or Ginny. I know they may mean well, but till we know what our mother is up to, just be careful around them. For that matter around us to if you should feel the need to."
Hermione blinked and looked at the pair surprised, "You are saying we should not trust you?"
"Oh, you should never trust us, we are pranksters after all," George said with a small wink at Hermione, causing her to glare at him.
Everyone though soon gave small chuckle at this, before Harry spoke, "How about this, find the agreement if you can so we know what to expect. I don't want to be controlled anymore, and I will leave the school if someone tries to do that again."
"We understand you there mate, though you might have to wait till after we win the Quidditch cup, or Wood will be out for blood," Fred commented, with a small grin on his face.
Harry looked a little put out but nodded, "Sorry about vanishing like that, I hope that match did not go to…"
Harry stopped though at the look on Fred's face. At this point their talk switched into the things that Harry, Hermione, and Hedwig had missed after vanishing nearly a month and half before the end of the last school year. They continued talking until the train began to slow, at which point Fred and George left to change into their own school robes.
Harry, Hermione and Hedwig changed into their own robe quickly, using their wandless magic to fit them around their wings. Something they were incredibly thankful for Maleficent for teaching them. And finally the train to a halt, and they waited for a few moments till the loud bustling of students outside the door calmed down.
At which point they left the train compartment, and stepped out onto the station. Around them students were still hurrying about. Harry looked at the others before nodding a small and slightly grim smile on her face, "Hogwarts were back."
