Chapter 7

Harry, Hermione and Hedwig returned before dinner that night. And exited the forest near to Hagrid's cabin. Their day had been rather pleasant, and with the nice weather they had soared for several hours before finally landing. They had not been able to meet up with Maleficent, but they were not do disappointed about that. They knew she never remained in the same place for too long, so finding her by accident while flying on the outer edges of the Moor was highly unlikely.

Hagrid greeted them as they left the forest, waving rather cheerfully at them. He had been told about their changes, and actually seemed to be rather thrilled about them. Harry personally felt it was because Hagrid was no longer the only half breed in the school, though in Hagrid's case he was part Giant. Something Hermione had figured out, though they had never confronted him about as he did not seem too keen about talking about it.

"Hello you three," Hagrid said.

"Hello Hagrid," Harry answered, the three walking over, their disguises now firmly in place again.

"Enjoying a walk about the woods? Got time for a drink of tea before heading up to the school?" Hagrid asked.

"No, a nice flight. And sure a cup of tea would be nice," Hermione answered instead.

Hagrid nodded and went into his cabin before coming out with a tray full of the needed items. Hagrid soon handed each of them a cup full of hot tea and smiled back towards the forest.

"What's got you in such a good mood today?" Hermione could not help but ask.

"Oh, just the thought of the moors. Never been deep enough to enter them, and now, with all I have found out, I really want to. So many new creatures that I have never seen before," Hagrid said, before frowning a little adding, "Though I would not dare till I meet this Maleficent person."

"Agreed, she is the guardian of the Moors," Harry said, though Hagrid already knew this part as well.

"Been wondering, but as Changelings, are you under her rule?" Hagrid asked.

"Well, yes and no. We are free to do what we wish as we don't have ruler, but we must still follow the same rules all creatures of the moor follow, and she is the one who normally sets the rules being the oldest currently. Though there are only four rules that I know of," Hermione said, looking thoughtful.

"Yep, just basic things really. Mostly just things about avoiding humans, and who to contact, or what to do if seen by a human." Hedwig said supplying what little information on the rules they had.

Hagrid nodded thoughtfully, "By the way, I did not mention this to anyone else yet. But have you noticed anything unusual going around that first year Luna Lovegood?"

"Not really," Harry said, shaking her head a little, "Why?"

"Not sure. Call it a weird feeling I guess, but the few times I have seen her. Something has felt off about her," Hagrid said, "Same feeling when I first saw you three before term started. And I did not realize who you were."

Hermione, Hedwig and Harry all looked at Hagrid for a few moments surprised a little by this. They all had the ability, if rather in a limited form, to sense when something was not quite right. Maleficent had been the one to teach them a little of it, as fairy and changelings could sense magical deception, as well as each other.

For Hagrid to sense this was a little surprising as Giants were not very magical. Or at least not in the normal sense of the word. They favored brute force, over use of magic any day, as they themselves could not really use spells. So for Hagrid who was part Giant to sense this was a little unnerving.

Harry, Hermione, and Hedwig had tried to find out themselves Luna's secret. But nothing had been forthcoming yet. She seemed and acted completely normal, yet there was a grace to her that no human had. They had seen it with Maleficent, speed and movement without hesitation, never stumbling, yet also a control to it.

"We have noticed it as well," Harry admitted.

Hagrid nodded, "Well as long as it does not turn into a problem, I would not worry about it. Dumbledore has only made a few mistakes before, and a weird feeling does not mean something is bad. Besides she is a kid, what could she do?"

Harry felt that last bit was going a bit far, as did Hermione and Hedwig. Going on that phrase, Harry and the others should not have been able to do what they did last year, and get changed as they had. Still though there was some truth to Hagrid's words, the younger someone, even a fairy, was, the less of a threat they normally were.

Their talk then turned to other things before it was finally time for dinner. So heading up to the castle, they left with Hagrid. And were soon back in the common room after supper was done. Wood at this point gathered all the members of the Gryffindor team and began going over tactics. Something Harry and the others were sure would have put them to sleep if they had not been fully awake. By the time this was done, it was getting very late and everyone went off to bed.

The September continued onward and soon it was the beginning of October. Quidditch training was back in full swing for all the teams. And classes had lost their ease of reentering them and were each in turn proving to be more and more difficult. Well expect one.

Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, was truly nothing more than a joke. Something even Hermione admitted after the second lesson they had with him. He had released a group of pixies in their first class, and when he had tried to take back control of the class from them, had ended up being chased form his own classroom by said Pixies.

Now he read only passages from his books, detailing the better parts. He normally had people help him with reenactments, though Harry flat out refused to be part of anyone of them. And then would assign homework based on these things. But he never tried to teach them one spell, which too many of the students no matter their year meant it was time for some self-study. Harry personally had a bad feeling that the Fifth and Seventh years would be having a very hard time with their exams come years end.

Harry and the others though used Lockhart's class as a place to recharge and rest. Their skill over their forms was growing, but it still left them rather tired. And a class were they could rest for a little bit, even if it was only a few times a week helped a lot.

Ron on the other hand, was proving to be rather annoying. Harry, Hermione and Hedwig had becoming increasingly disgusted with how he was acting. If Draco Malfoy turning from a bully into an increasing nice kid, or at least not being as mean, was a surprise. Then Ron behavior change was scary.

Ron, each time they passed them, would scowl at the trio. Even when Harry or Hermione would ask if something was wrong, Ron would just brush them off. And his temper only seemed to grow. And as it got closer to the end of October Harry and the others began to wonder if they should just cut ties with Ron.

Ginny on the other hand had not shown any signs of caring one way or the other about the group. True, she did show interest in Harry, but that interest was about the same as anyone who met her for the first time. And it seemed to be slowly fading away, and to be honest, Harry was finding herself liking the youngest of the Weasley, if only as a friend.

As it was, they decided it was time to show the twins their new forms. The twins had been very patient, considering that Harry nor the other had spoken to them about showing them the changes for a while. They had thought about possibly including others, but decided that for now at least, it would be best just to see how the twins would react.

So not long before the Halloween Feast, Harry, Hermione, Hedwig, Fred and George hurried along the corridors till they came to a classroom. Sealing the door shut with a spell, Hermione and the others turned to Fred and George.

"You ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes, are you?" George replied.

"About as ready as we will ever be," Harry commented quietly.

Then without any more waiting Harry, Hermione, and Hedwig removed the necklaces and allowed their changes to show through fully. Fred and George seemed to have been struck dumb by the full extent. Their eyes would jump from one change to another, lingering most often on the horn, or wings that each of them had.

"So, you like," Harry said, shifting a little bit, her hooves scarping a little across the floor.

"I am not sure what to think," Fred finally said, the first to recover, "When you said affected by fairy magic I was thinking… well pointed ears or something. Not wings, horns, tails and cloven hooves."

"Well messing around with the magic of a Unicorn is not smart," Harry commented dryly.

"So is there any chance of changing back," Asked George.

"No, at least not fully. We can alter our forms some, but that takes a good deal of our energy and leaves us rather tired afterwards. It will likely be another fifty years before we could hope to hold a full change for longer than a few hours. At best we can keep our wings shrunk down for the time between classes and during meals," Hermione explained.

"We still feel rather tired afterwards, and that is not the only change," Harry said, before holding up her hand.

Fred and George watched in slight amazement as a small ball of light formed in Harry's hand. A second later it vanished, and then across the room one of the desks began to fly about. This continued for several moments before it came back to rest in the same spot as before.

"Wandless magic," Fred said, a small smirk forming on his face, "Well now that is impressive. And we can see why you did not want to just reveal this to the world."

"For that matter it would probably be safer to keep it hidden," George continued, "there are several people out there that hate anything part human. Even if you change was not your fault they would still try and have you charged for carrying a wand at the very least."

"So you are suggesting we keep this hidden from the rest of the school," Hermione said.

"Yes, unless you wish to unless the all hell on us," George commented.

"Well I am not to worried," Harry commented a small smirk forming on her face.

"Why is that?" George asked, glancing at Fred, then back to Harry.

"Because of what we are, and how it happened, the Moor is our home. They try anything there is a slight risk they could bring the Fairy and Changlings of the Moor down on them. Mind you, I don't want anything to happen anyway," Harry said, the smirk changing to a smile.

"Agreed," Fred said.

It was at this point they heard a small crash, causing each one of the five to jump. Spinning about the looked for the source of the noise. Hedwig only caught a hint of something that flashed away from a closed window, which had been open a few moments before. Racing over to it, she saw something speed up the castle wall, and disappear into another window.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked, glance at Hedwig and Hermione, though she already knew that neither of them knew.

"No clue," Hermione replied.

"What thing are you talking about," Fred asked.

Hedwig answered this time, "I saw something feeling up the castle wall and entering into the school. It must have been spying on us."

"On the castle wall? But how?" Fred asked, hurrying over to the window, opening up so he could see outside.

"No clue," Hedwig said before pointing to another open window, "But it crawled into the window over there."

Fred looked at the spot that Hedwig had indicated, then down the wall to where they were currently. Then glancing down the wall towards the ground far below Fred shook his head as he pulled his head back inside.

"I am not sure who or what you saw, but they are a dare devil. To climb this high up, and along that wall, just to try and spy on us. That is risking a lot," Fred said sighing.

"They might have thought it was worth the risk. But what does not make sense to me is, why not just use a broom? It is faster and safer than climbing on that wall," Hedwig commented.

"Agreed, unless they did not own a broomstick. But still too able to move that fast, I mean that area of wall to cross was no small amount, and even the fast mountain and rock wall climbers could not have covered that distance so quickly," Hermione said, looking thoughtful.

"Unless what you saw was not human but rather a spider of some sort," Harry commented.

"No, I am pretty sure it was human," Hedwig said, "Spiders don't move like a human would across walls. Besides the person seemed to leap from one spot to the next."

"Well this is a bit of a mystery alright," Harry commented.

"Hopefully it is the only one this year," Hermione said, thinking about the stone from their first year.

"For that matter let's hope this does not turn out bad for us," Harry commented, before placing her necklace back on.

"So to the feast then?" Fred asked.

"Agreed, I am hungry," Hermione, said followed a few moments later by Hedwig as they both put on their own necklace.

As they left though, they missed a small figure poke their head back out. Then looked into the room the group had just been in, someone they would have all known. And someone who now new their secret. As well as someone who had one of her own.