Ninja Wizard III: Prisoner of Azkaban 07
By David
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and company. JK Rowling has that honor.
Author's Notes: These marks [] indicate Japanese spoken.
Ninja Wizard III: Prisoner of Azkaban 07
'Going Walkabout'
Harry had just left the Leaky Cauldron with a DE behind him. He headed off in the direction he was supposed to according to the plan they had come up with the night before. He was connected to the others via a special ops radio/transmitter that fit inside his ear like a hearing aid. He took his time walking down the street and casually glancing into the store windows every now and then. He was fully aware of the DE behind him. He also knew the man had at least four other DE's with him. Harry was almost sure that one of the Gringotts goblins had sold him out. Well, they would find out before long. The problem now was taking the five men into custody without them popping away. Harry kept going until he reached the alley he was supposed to go down. He turned to see the DE behind him grinning at him as the man stepped up to block the entrance to the alley. Harry pretended to panic and turned away from the guy and began to run.
[Two of his buddies just followed Harry's tango into the alley,] Hiroshi reported.
[That's three. Where's the other two?] Kazuya asked.
[They went running down another alley,] Ichiro reported.
[I'm on them,] Kotake said.
[I'm by the warehouse,] Kazuya said.
Harry looked up to see Kazuya pulling his old man act stumbling along the road that went past the warehouse. Harry raced past him and into the warehouse. The five men met up and went in after him. Harry pretended to stumble and allow them to catch him, hoping to give the rest of his team the chance to catch up. He heard the voices in his ear indicating they were ready. Okay, now to stop playing the helpless victim. One of them had Harry by the arms so Harry used that to kick out with both feet, catching the DE's in front of him in the chests, driving them back. The sudden increase in weight on the arms of the DE that was holding Harry caused him to lean down and off balance. Harry managed to flip the guy over him and out onto the floor. The guy somehow managed to grab hold of the backpack that Harry was wearing. Harry rolled out of it leaving the guy holding it. Now he could move freely not having the backpack to slow him down even though he could and would fight with it on his back. Harry moved forward to challenge the DE coming at him from his right side. Harry timed his kick, whipping the heel of his right foot up and across the man's face knocking that man down. Kazuya suddenly appeared and blew a needle into the neck of the fifth DE that was charging in on Harry's left side. The man slapped at his neck and then dropped right on the spot. One down. Harry did a back flip landing on the floor in front of the two he had kicked in their chests. This time Harry introduced the heel of his left foot into their faces and both of them fell. Harry spun around to deal with the one behind him but Hiroshi was already on that one. That one had gotten hold of a length of pipe and Harry tsked as the man charged at Hiroshi. Hiroshi stood his ground and waited for the man to take a swing at him. He did and Hiroshi stopped the strike by striking out at the man's elbow. The man snarled in anger at not having hurt Hiroshi. Harry turned away and took on the next one in front of him as Ichiro engaged one of the DE's. That one pulled a pair of long knives from inside his leather jacket as Ichiro smiled. Ichiro pulled a pair of his own knives and went to work on his target. Kotake was using chain with a bit of weight on the end to engage his target as that DE had grabbed a broom lying on the ground and pulled the handle loose. He jabbed the end of it at Kotake and that fight was on. Harry turned back to the one in front of him and smiled at the guy.
"Let's dance," he said as the guy charged.
Harry brought up his right foot and planted it hard into the man's stomach stopping him in his tracks and then followed up with an open palm strike to the face, knocking him backwards. Harry followed him, doing a spin on his right heel as he whipped the top of his left foot across the man's face, making him spin to his left. Harry kept up the attack with a combination of kicks and punches until the man had enough and went down. Harry turned to see the others had taken care of their opponents.
[Ah, it seems our friends here decided to drop out,] Kazuya said as he stood there with his hands behind his back observing the scene.
[I expected better,] Ichiro said.
[As did I. Oh well, let's hope their friends provide better skill,] Kotake said as he gathered up the chain he had been using.
Hiroshi was on his cell talking to somebody. Then he closed his cell and turned to the group. [Clean up is coming.]
[Good. Then we can get some answers,] Harry said.
[It will take some time, little brother. We will call you when we know something,] Ichiro said handing Harry his pack. [You better get going.]
Harry pulled the pack on his back and took off.
Harry approached Hermione's house in his cat form. He casually strolled down the sidewalk as he looked for anything unusual or that looked out of place. He went past the house and turned into the front yard of the house next door, squeezing through the white picket fence slats. He used various items in that front yard to get up on the fence that separated that yard from the Granger's. He sat there for a time and just observed things. Once he decided that things looked safe, he hopped down and went off in another direction. He entered the small alley in between houses and looked round to make sure nobody was watching. He quickly regained his human form and then went back out to the street and entered the front yard of the Granger house. He went up to the front door and rang the bell. Hermione was the one to answer the door.
"There you are, Harry!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "Have any trouble getting here?"
"None at all, Hermione. Your directions were perfect," Harry smiled.
Hermione let him in and Harry greeted Emma and Dan. He presented them with the bottles of champagne that Hiroshi gave Harry to give to the Grangers.
"Thank you Harry!" Dan examined them before heading into the kitchen with them with the intention of opening them.
"How was your Christmas?" Harry asked Hermione as he dropped his backpack into the corner of the guest room.
"It was good," Hermione said. "Had the gaggle of relatives through, big Christmas Dinner, and I got a few things that were nice."
Harry could hear something in her voice that told him that something was bothering her.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry asked softly, laying a hand on her left shoulder, concerned for her.
Hermione turned around and Harry could see something going on inside her eyes.
"You can tell me if you want," Harry said.
Hermione sighed. "It's some of my relatives. My cousins hassle me because they are older than me and they think they are so much better than me because their dad, my Uncle Harris, has money and we are just lowly dentists and will never amount to much. Not only that, they like to flaunt…"
"You know what?" Harry said. "You are much better than they are. Who cares if your parents are dentists? Who cares if you haven't started your changes just yet? They know nothing because they are nothing. Strip the money, fancy cars, fancy clothes and whatever off them and they are just as human as we are. So ignore them. They don't know the you that I know so well."
Harry suddenly found her arms around him as she hugged him tight to her. Harry looked up to see Emma nod to him and then move out of the doorway. Harry turned his attention back to her and a moment later she let go of him.
"Thank you Harry," she said. "I guess I needed to hear that. I only have to worry about them twice a year, Christmas and summer vacation."
"That's good. I don't think I could handle that if I had to live with people like that. One month with the Dursleys was bad enough," Harry shuddered as hr thought of them. "I just don't understand how people can act like that towards family."
"People are people, I guess. Are you going to be comfortable in here?" Hermione asked Harry, changing the subject.
Harry smiled. "Sure will, thanks."
"Let me show you the rest of the house," Hermione said and led Harry out of the guest room, back to her usual self.
Harry relaxed in the glassed in porch room, watching the birds hopping around the yard looking for food. Some of them had found the bird feeders from the trees and were taking advantage of them. Hermione brought Harry a cup of tea.
"Dinner's not quite ready yet," Hermione informed him.
"That's fine," Harry said. "Just means we can talk a bit."
Harry looked towards the kitchen and then turned back to Hermione. "Kotake, Hiroshi, Ichiro, Kazuya, and I ran a group op earlier this morning. Every time I go out into Muggle London through Gringotts and the Leaky Cauldron, DE's attacks me. Well we decided to set a trap and see what crawled out of the woodwork after me, and they bit. As I was standing in Gringotts talking to Ragnock, I saw one of the goblins looking at me kind of funny. He ran off to wherever, I have no idea. As I passed through the Leaky Cauldron one of them was waiting for me in there. There were four others outside in various places up and down the street. They tailed me to an abandoned warehouse where we took down the five of them. As we speak the Japanese Secret Service is working on them. They are very aware of the Wizarding World. In fact, nearly all of the world's governments are aware that the Wizarding World exists. All of them think the Wizarding Secrecy Law is a good one and they want to keep us very secret. If we are outted to the world there will be very serious problems for all of us. So it was agreed that we are to remain hidden. As for my situation once I know who's been selling me out I can deal with them or leave them to other people. Either way they have to be stopped."
"How long has this been going on?" Hermione asked.
"Every school break ever since I entered England's Wizarding World," Harry said. "Today was the first time I got proactive on the problem."
Emma entered the room. "There you are. Dinner's ready."
Harry smiled. "It smells great!"
"Well come and get then!" she said.
Over dinner they discussed various subjects of interest. Harry felt very comfortable being here with the Grangers. He wondered if that was some kind of hint that he might be spending a lot of time with Hermione. He hoped so as he really liked her.
"So what are you kids planning on doing once you get back to school in January?" Dan asked, breaking into Harry's thoughts.
"I am going to keep up on the classes I think are going to benefit me," Harry said. "I am kicking around the idea of teaching as Professor Lupin has me helping him in class demonstrating things and helping other."
"Good idea," Dan said.
"I think Harry would be great at it," Hermione said.
"What would you be teaching if you got the chance?" Emma asked.
"Defense," Harry replied. "I seem to have a talent for it."
"Is it hard to do?" Dan asked.
Harry thought about that for a moment. "Not really. It's a matter of learning how to defend yourself and then practicing it on a daily basis."
"Good luck with that," Dan said.
"What are you planning on doing for the of the week?" Hermione asked.
"I will be going to the Weasley for a day or two. They live out in the country so I thought I would try some cross country skiing. I have my route planned out. I need to give you a copy, Hermione, so you will know how I will be getting there," Harry said.
"We used to do that before Hermione came along," Emma said. "It was a lot of fun. I wonder if it's too late to go to the nearest resort and try it again. Hermione would enjoy it."
"How did you learn how to snow ski?" Hermione asked Harry.
Harry grinned at her. "Back home in Japan. I learned how early and enjoyed it. I even snowboard and that's a lot of fun. Its kind of riding a skateboard, except there's no wheels. That was easy to do because I liked skateboarding. Still do."
"What else are you into?" Dan asked.
"The martial arts, karate and kickboxing. I play rock and roll guitar. Those are the two things I do on a regular basis. I do other things when I get the chance to," Harry replied. "I try to keep active. Sitting in class everyday is hard on me."
"You are an active young man," Dan commented.
Harry nodded. "I try to be. Don't want to turn into an overweight couch potato like my cousin Dudley. Good God, he weighed enough to qualify for the heavy weight class in Sumo wrestling. I did a bit of that when I was much younger and liked it, but never really had an interest in it."
"Good for you," Emma said.
Harry turned his attention back to his dinner.
Harry joined Hermione in the kitchen to help clear away the remains of dinner. They continued their conversation from earlier.
"Do you think Dumbledore has something to do with any of that?" Hermione asked Harry as she handed him a dish to dry.
Harry sighed as he considered the question. "I wouldn't put it past him to try something like that and then use it against me. Be just like him to even try."
"Then you need to be careful at the burrow," Hermione said. "We're very sure about the twins, Percy, and Ginny, but what about the rest of the Weasleys? Bill and Charlie are questionable in my mind, especially Bill, as Ron had bragged that Bill is a curse breaker for Gringotts. If Dumbledore has his claws into him he could curse you six ways from Sunday and you wouldn't know it. Please be careful around him."
"Molly and Arthur are questionable too. I've only met them one time," Harry said. "I'm sorry, twice. Once in Dumbledore's office and the second time in the Leaky Cauldron. He warned me about Sirius Black and swore a life debt to me for saving Ginny down in the chamber."
Hermione's eyebrows lifted. "That's serious business."
"I know. One of the things I did when I got back to Hogwarts was to look it up in the library. It is serious business, and I'm glad I accepted it. If I hadn't, there would have been bad blood between us. I also dug into the back issues of the Daily Prophet for information on Black. They certainly played up his capture and the bull about him selling out my parents. I get the feeling there's more to this that what's been said. I couldn't find anything about a trial for Black and that's raised questions in my mind. I found my parents trunks in the Dursleys attic when I was there and got them out of there. I found all of my mom's journals and read them, all six books and I learned a lot about her. I found my dad's journals but there is one missing, and it had the information I need to find out what really happened from my dad's point of view. Mom certainly had plenty to say about Dumbledore in those last days, and it's led me to believe he was plotting something. She never said anything about who the secret keeper was, so I think that was something that was done between Dad, Black, and Pettigrew. If I can find that book I'm sure it will give me all of the answers I need," Harry sighed.
Hermione handed him the last plate to dry. "I hope you find it, Harry. It will give you the closure you need to put all of this behind you."
Harry nodded. "That's what I'm hoping for."
He hung up toe drying towel and followed Hermione out into the living room to enjoy the rest of the evening.
He had enjoyed the rest of the evening there as they had fun passing gifts that he had for them and the ones they had for him around. The talk was light and Dan had showed his humorous side and Harry laughed at his jokes until his sides hurt. He slept well, the bed in the guest room very comfortable. After breakfast Harry had given Hermione the information she needed as to how he planned on getting to the burrow from the train station he would be going to. He had gotten on that train and it took him where he needed to be. Once he was sure the coast was clear he slipped into the trees and retrieved the snow skis from his pack and expanded them to their normal size and got the ski boots on. He double checked his GPS unit and set off in the direction he needed to go in. The day was cold but clear, no clouds in sight. Harry was relaxed and feeling good. He called Kotake while he was on the train.
"Oh we got plenty of information out of our friends son," Kotake said. "You were right about a goblin selling you out. The goblin in question was a cousin to the goblin Dumbledore had in his pocket. Ragnock took his head."
"Goblin justice is a lot swifter than human justice, isn't it?" Harry remarked.
"It is, and we now know who the goblin was in contact with. He told us where we could find him and we got him late last night. We had a bit of help from Japanese wizard agents. Not only did we bag this guy, we also found lots of intel. This guy was operating independently from the known DE's so hopefully we ended the problem for now," Kotake said. "We are going through all the intel we found and it will be some time before we have a complete picture of them. Be careful out there."
"Thanks Dad," Harry said. "Any news on Black?"
"No. Sorry son," Kotake said.
"Okay. Thanks for the briefing," Harry said.
"Take care, see you later," Kotake said.
"Okay Dad," Harry said and hung up.
Harry kept moving in the direction of the burrow hoping to get there soon as it was cold out here. He glided over the snow enjoying the scenery around him. He set an easy pace and kept at it until he came over the top of a small hill and saw the burrow in the distance. He pushed off and started the downhill run towards the house in the distance. He couldn't tell what it looked like from out here. Fred had described it as something resembling a crude child's drawing and Harry though he had been joking around. As he got closer he realized Fred hadn't been kidding about it. It had to be the most unusual house he'd ever seen. It looked like it had been built by a troop of four year olds. Harry shrugged his shoulders and decided to reserve judgment until he had seen it up close.
It took another half hour for him to get there, as he had to travel over flat ground. He was breaking a sweat as he used the poles to propel him forward. At least the snow was easy to travel over. He shivered as he passed through the Weasley wards. Ginny had told Harry that Bill had been responsible for them.
"He put up the absolute best ones possible, Harry. You will be very safe inside the property line," she said.
Harry had an interest in warding and decided he wanted to ask Bill about wards during his visit. Harry passed what looked like the garden as he passed the fence, the gate having opened it's self for him and then closing behind him. Harry relaxed, as he knew he was close enough to the house. He was still moving a little bit after he stopped using the poles. He stopped and gazed at the house for a moment. Really unusual house.
"Hello the house!" Harry called out.
A window opened on the second floor and George stuck his head out. "Harry! You made it! Good to see you! Be right there!"
The window got closed and Harry glided to a stop by a tree stump. He sat down on it just as the back door opened and the Weasleys came out. Harry got the skis off the boots and then stood up.
"Hi everybody," Harry greeted them as they gathered around him.
Harry shook hands with the men and got hugs from Molly and Ginny. Arthur looked at Harry's snow skis with interest.
"What are these things Harry?" Arthur asked.
"He can tell us about them inside, Arthur. Much too cold out here," Molly said.
Harry carried them into the house through the back door. Harry explained what they were before shrinking them down and putting them back inside his backpack.
"Is that a wizarding pack, Harry?" Arthur asked.
Harry got his snow boots off and shrunk them down. "It is, and one of the best investments I've made. I have a pack I use for classes that's absolutely awesome. It delivers what I need to the top of the pack for easy retrieval."
Harry smiled as he envisioned their faces when they opened their presents and found theirs. Harry pulled his heavy jacket off and then his thick sweater.
"Ah, much better. I was breaking a sweat the last few miles. Nice to see all of you, and thank you for the invitation," Harry smiled.
Molly handed him a hot steaming cup of tea and Harry sipped it and sighed.
"Oh that does feel good going down," Harry said.
Molly beamed at the comment. "Thank you dear. You can bunk in with Ron. He will show you where."
Harry turned to see Ron standing there by the tall grandfather clock. He looked very different than Harry remembered him. His hair was cut down very short in the crew cut style. He looked like he had bulked up some and Harry was sure he had been doing heavy labor around here. He had gotten a bit taller as well. Harry set down his cup of tea and walked over to Ron, holding out his hand.
"Hello Ron, good to see you," Harry greeted him.
Ron took his hand and shook it. "Hello Harry."
Ron then reached for Harry's pack and took it from him. "I'll take this up to my room for you. You can leave your heavy jacket by the back door."
"Thank you Ron," Harry said.
Harry went to the back door and hung his heavy jacket up on the coat tree that was there by the door. He sat down at the table to finish off his cup of tea.
"Are you hungry, Harry? I was just about to start lunch," Molly asked.
"Not at the moment, Mrs. Weasley. I can hold out until lunch," Harry said.
"It won't take long, dear. Soup and sandwiches, you can make your own sandwich," Molly informed him.
Harry smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that."
Harry set the teacup on the counter and turned to Ron who had come back down.
"Come on, I'll show you my room," he said.
Harry followed Ron up the stairs to the third floor and to his room. It definitely was Ron's room, from the Quidditch posters to the girl holding the brand new Firebolt. Ron's bed was in the far corner and there was a fold up bed in the other corner with Harry's pack on top of it. Harry set it on the floor at the foot of the fold up bed and sat down on the bed. He bounced up and down a few times and then nodded his approval.
"Seems to be comfortable," he said.
"It is. I've spent a night or two on it," Ron said.
Harry noticed that Ron seemed to be uncomfortable and wondered how to play this situation. He nodded and sighed.
"So how have you been?" Harry asked.
Ron looked up. "I've been okay. Been going to a much smaller school, working hard around here and I've been getting counseling."
"That's good, Ron. I'm glad to hear that. They can be really helpful," Harry said.
"They helped Ginny so I said okay, what could it hurt," Ron said, getting a bit braver. "Kind of hard to talk to at first but the guy let me take my time. Sure knows how to get me to think about things."
"Is that good?" Harry asked.
Ron stood up and went to the window. "I think so. I still have a long way to go though."
"You will be a better person by the time you're done," Harry said.
Ron turned to face Harry. "I need to apologize for the things I said about you and for the things I did to you. Wasn't right of me. I have a cousin that I used to see a lot and he was the one who messed up my head something bad. Instead of questioning the things he said to me I let him influence me in the wrong way. Once Dad knew what was going on he went to my uncle and told him what was going on. I don't see him anymore, I don't know what happened to him and I'm kinda glad about that. You wouldn't have liked him either, Harry. He was kinda scary."
"Ron, I accept your apology. I hope we can eventually be friends. Keep up the hard work," Harry said. "Would you mind if I wrote to you here and there?"
"I'd like that Harry," Ron said.
He fell silent for a moment as he looked out the window once more. Then he turned back to Harry and held out his hand.
"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley. Nice to meet you," he said.
Harry stood up and took his hand. "I'm Harry Potter."
They shook hands and Harry knew that things would be okay between them in time.
Harry's time there was pleasant and he enjoyed it. He liked the warm feelings he got from watching the Weasleys interact with each other. Reminded him of being back home in Japan and he liked those memories. The Weasleys liked the gifts he gave them. The magical backpacks were a big hit with them and Harry had given Molly a bottomless bag, which she really liked. At one point he was able to talk to the twins and Ginny when Ron went with Molly to the shops in town. Percy had locked himself into his room. Charlie, Bill, and Arthur had gone someplace. The four of them settled on the couches in the living room. Ginny got things going when she showed Harry the book on occlumency that he had loaned out to Hermione.
"Ah, so you guys have been working on learning it," Harry said.
"We learned it the same time Ginny was," Fred stated. "Once we understood the concept it was very easy to do. Want to give it a shot?"
"I'm not sure I want to," Harry said. "Knowing you two it's going to be something completely outrageous."
Both of the twins laughed out loud and Ginny grinned. Harry sighed hoping he would come out of this in one piece and sane. He looked into Fred's eyes and whispered the spell that would get him inside his head, and then suddenly he found himself standing in front of a ticket booth. Harry blinked. What the hell? Okay, we move onward. Harry started to walk past the ticket booth and suddenly there was Fred grinning at Harry.
"Hi there!" he crowed delightedly. "Want to step inside? Gonna cost you one galleon. Thrills and chills abound, things to delight and excite you!"
Harry patted his pockets and found a galleon. He got his ticket and walked in through the gate in front of him. Suddenly he found himself in some kind of fun house.
"This is going to be interesting," Harry thought.
He moved on, following the path into the place. Harry looked at everything in front of him and into the warped mirrors, catching glimpses of memories. In one mirror he saw a three-year-old Fred grinning at him mischievously. The little boy laughed at him and darted off. Harry tried to follow him but got lost in the hall of mirrors. The more Harry moved around inside the fun house the more the illusions turned him around and around until he was hopelessly lost. And then suddenly the little boy was back. He had a frown on his face.
"Not nice to go mucking around in somebody's head!" little Fred exclaimed. "You go 'way now!"
The next thing Harry knew a funny looking roller coaster car popped out of nowhere, scooping him up and taking him someplace. It stopped at the edge of the track and tossed him out. Harry blinked and suddenly found himself back in the living room.
"Damn, Fred, that was a great defense!" Harry laughed. "Snape will absolutely hate you for that one!"
"That was the low setting. If you really wanted to rip up my mind the fun house would have kicked into killer mode. Imagine killer clowns with axes," Fred grinned.
George grinned, making Harry wonder if he should even try.
"I dare you," George said, "I double dare you. I double dog dare you."
Harry stared into George's eyes and whispered the spell and immediately found himself at the entrance to the big top circus. He had to laugh at that. He walked in and immediately saw everything associated with the circus. The various cages were marked with various things that resided inside George's mind. Harry spotted a cage he wanted to look at and he boldly walked up to it as things began moving across his path. They seemed to press in on him trying to keep him from that particular cage. The clowns moved in on him pulling their usual tricks of flowers that squirted water, a pail of what Harry thought was full of water but was confetti that tried to put him to sleep, tiny cars that cut him off, white ponies that raced past him with the girls trying to kick him, and still Harry pressed on, wanting to get to that cage. He managed to get to the cage and suddenly came face to face with the meanest looking tiger he'd ever seen.
Harry suddenly wondered if he was in trouble. He moved around the cage to try and find the door, which he eventually did. Just as he reached for the padlock a pair of clowns popped up from nowhere, grabbing him by the ankles.
"There you are, me boyo," one of them said. "You're needed."
They dragged him away from the cage as Harry tried to stop them. "Needed for what?"
Harry looked in the direction they were dragging him in and saw the cannon.
"Uh, no thanks," Harry said as he struggled.
"None o that sonny," the one clown said.
Both of them managed to pick him up and stuffed him inside the cannon and used a big cotton swab thing to push him down to the bottom. A door next to his head opened up to reveal a clown smoking a cigar.
"Not nice to be snooping round someone's head. So we'll be sending you on your way now," he snickered. "Enjoy the trip."
The door slammed shut leaving Harry in the dark once more. He could feel the cannon start to move and he looked up and could see colors moving as the muzzle of the cannon was brought up into firing range. The crowd started chanting as the countdown began, and it sounded like all of Hogwarts was there. Suddenly he felt himself moving up the cannon and then he was out of it, flying upward towards the roof of the big top. He caught a glimpse of Dumbledore and Snape wildly cheering as Ravenclaw house stood and cheered Harry on. The moment he went through a hole in the roof of the big top he found himself back in the Weasley living room. He blinked and looked at the twins as they were rolling on the floor with laughter. Even Ginny was smiling.
"Enjoy the trip, Harry?" she asked.
"You two are complete whacko," Harry said.
Both of them beamed brightly. "Why thank you for the generous complement, Harry!"
"Wasn't a complement," Harry said as he turned to Ginny.
She smiled sweetly at him and suddenly Harry felt afraid. He drew a breath and let it out. He looked into Ginny's eyes and whispered the spell. Suddenly Harry found himself in front of a building. The sign on the right of the door proclaimed the place to be Ginny's Cathouse. Harry wondered if Ginny knew what a cathouse was. He walked up to the door and entered. There in front of him was a big pen full of cats of all breeds and color. Oh, that kind of cathouse. Each one had words on them. Harry picked up one that said 'Luna' on its fur. It turned out to be a collection of memories concerning Luna. Harry stroked it for a moment and then put it back down and it scampered off. Harry checked out a few more kittens and let them go. Then he saw one that had the word 'secrets' on it and began to chase it. The little Siamese would dash off in a new direction when Harry got too close or was about to catch it. It led Harry on a merry chase, making him go round things and crawl through tubes or hedges. Eventually Harry managed to corner it and before he could grab it the kitten escaped through a cat flap. Harry cursed in frustration and crawled through the flap to find it tumbling about in the middle of the lush green lawn. Harry remained on his hands and knees completely focused on it, moving towards it slowly until he got his hands on it. He chuckled as he brought it up close to him. And then suddenly he was aware of hot panting breath on his face. He looked up into the face of the meanest saber tooth tiger he'd ever seen. Harry smiled brightly as he slowly backed up.
"Nice kitty," he cooed at it and the tiger didn't seem to be very impressed.
Harry suddenly felt something poking him in his butt and he turned to look behind him. There was a second one behind him, only this one had a very sinister smile on his face. Harry paled when he saw a third one tying a bib round its neck. The looked to his right and there was a forth one opening a bottle of A1 steak sauce while licking his chops. Harry got up on his knees as a lady tiger approached him and it was obvious that it was a female tiger as she was dressed just like Molly Weasley. Harry smiled big as he handed the kitten to the lady tiger. She snarled at him as she took the kitten from Harry. The kitten giggled and snuggled down in her arms. It turned to look at Harry and stuck her tongue out at Harry. The lady tiger turned and walked away leaving Harry with the four now very pissed off tigers. Harry glanced around and saw a door marked exit. The sign changed to read something else.
"Run bub, they missed breakfast," Harry read.
Harry slowly brought his right foot up underneath him as the four tigers shifted their position. Harry suddenly took off, managing to jump over the one in front of him. The four tigers chased him all the way to the door. Harry managed to get it open and got through it, slamming the door in their faces. Harry leaned against the door panting. A pair of very muscular Siberian tigers grabbed him by the arms and dragged him back to where he had started the adventure. One of them kicked the gate open and then they grabbed him by the wrists and ankles and swung him back and forth a few times and then launched him out into space. Harry snapped to lying on his front in the middle of the living room. The twins were rolling on the floor and Ginny smiled at him sweetly.
"Ginny, that was really creative and effective," Harry said.
All three laughed at him and Harry had a feeling they had one more thing for him.
"Aaaaaaannnnnd for our next trick," Fred smiled, "we will now show you our Animagus forms."
"What?" Harry asked.
Fred revealed a copy of the Marauders Animagus Journal. Harry groaned.
"Guys, you need to bury that thing or burn it. Your Mom finds that all four of us are dead meat, especially me," Harry said.
"Relax Harry, she'll never find it because you are taking it with you. We're done with it," George said.
Fred handed it over and Harry sighed in relief. "Thank you. Where did you get it?"
"We bullied Neville in giving it to us," Fred said.
Harry groaned. "Oh you guys, damn it! I've been trying to help Neville build up his confidence in himself. I hope you guys didn't undo all the work I've done with him."
"We didn't. The three of us have been working on Neville too. So has Luna," Ginny said.
"Good. He needs all the help he can get. Okay, can I see your forms?" Harry asked. "Knowing you guys I get the feeling they are going to be interesting ones."
Fred and George nodded to each other and Harry watched as the both of them morphed into red colored foxes.
"Kitsune. Perfect. Trickster foxes. Got you two to a t. Keep practicing the changes guys. Great job," Harry said as they changed back.
Then it was Ginny's turn. She became a beautiful sleek black panther. Harry was taken back at how great she was. Ginny rubbed herself against his legs as Harry petted her. Ginny changed back into her human a moment later. Harry showed them his two forms. Ginny loved the Siamese cat while the twins flipped over the falcon.
"Your forms are cool," George said.
"Do you want Ron to know?" Fred asked.
"Not yet. He's still dealing with things. He apologized to me and I forgave him. He still has a ways to go yet. I'll leave that up to you guys. Percy, no. I got a bad feeling about him," Harry said.
George frowned. "You think he's going to go bad?"
"That's what my gut says. I hope to God I'm wrong. Let's keep him out of the loop just to be on the safe side. If the ministry gets their hooks into him that's it for him. I hope I'm wrong," Harry said.
Fred, Ginny, and George all agreed. Harry took the book up to the room he was sharing with Ron and tucked the book down into the bottom of his pack. He came down to find Ron and Molly in the kitchen.
"Hi, have fun out?" Harry asked them.
"Sure," Ron said. "Got what we needed. Anything going on round here?"
Harry reached into one of the bags and pulled out a can. "Nah. Plenty quiet round here."
To Be Continued