The weeks until Christmas break passed quickly with the increasing school load and preparations for mid-term exams. In addition to all that, Alec still had detention with Umbridge for two weeks after his stunt on the Quidditch field. Draco Malfoy was an arse and deserved to get hit, but he would've preferred to not have done it in such a public space, especially since he suffered greatly for it. With two weeks of detention in a row, his hand was hardly healing. His friends constantly encouraged him to talk to an adult—his father primarily—but he was too stubborn to make up with the man.
Alec was still avoiding his father as much as possible, still unsure what to think about everything. He couldn't bring himself to come out and demand the truth from the man. With everything else on his mind, now was not the time to confront him over that matter.
Finals week came and went rather quickly, in Alec's opinion. He figured he did pretty well on most of them, as did Lisa and Josh. The three friends were each going home for the holidays but had plans to meet up and hopefully finish their transformation. They'd been practicing as much as they could in their spare time and with all of their progress, there wasn't much else left to do except attempt the full transformation.
The moment he got home, Alec went to his room. Severus sighed and retreated to his potions lab to think. He didn't know what had gotten into that boy, but he'd find out soon. He'd wait until the holidays were over, not to spoil them of course, and figure out exactly why the boy had been avoiding him for the past several months now.
His hand reached up to scratch his arm, but he quickly dropped it instead. For a while now, the mark had been getting darker and it had been pestering him with an odd itchy, tingly feeling. All the signs were pointing to the possible return of the Dark Lord. He didn't think he could keep up the loyal follower façade this time around, should the Dark Lord actually return.
He shook his head to clear it and concentrated on his work as he attempted to alter the Wolfsbane potion for Lupin. His last attempt at the potion had been during the summer and with classes to teach, he hadn't had time to make much progress. If Alec was going to sulk in his room all vacation, then surely he wouldn't be missed by the boy if he stayed in his lab and worked. It wasn't long before he completely immersed himself in his work and soon lost track of time.
Alec sat at the table in silence, picking at his food. He wasn't very hungry, but knew he had to eat something. He felt particularly frustrated at not seeing his father eating with him. He didn't know why it bothered him, but it did. With a sigh, he dropped his spoon on the plate and stood up. He went back into his room and concentrated on breathing slowly. Lately, he felt as if he'd been getting angry over the simplest of things and couldn't figure out why.
When breathing slowly didn't seem to help, Alec turned his attention to practicing the transformation more. He knew his friends planned to come over in a few days but he didn't want to wait anymore. He
could feel the determination to complete the transformation growing and without regarding his safely, he focused on changing. Fueling his frustration in with his determination, he began to shift.
It was slow and awkward as he felt the rest of his body slowly alter into his Snow Leopard form. It wasn't painful—as he had previously thought—which relieved him. After a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. With his Leopard vision, sharper than his normal eyesight, he slowly took in his surroundings. Everything appeared larger, most likely due to his smaller size in animal form.
Alec took a step forward and stumbled. He wasn't quite used to walking like this just yet. He walked forward a few more steps and turned quickly when something caught his eye. He hissed --merely out of surprise-- at his reflection in a mirror. When his human mind assured him that it wasn't another animal, just his reflection after all, he allowed himself to relax.
Stepping closer to the mirror, he studied himself. He was quite shocked at the clean white fur. He'd originally expected gray fur, like he had read about, but then it dawned on him that it was winter right now. The Snow Leopard's fur changed to white during the winter to allow it a better form of blending into its surroundings. Perhaps when winter was over, he'd have gray fur? Alec was certainly interested in figuring that out. White fur just seemed the total opposite of him. His hair was black and yet his fur was pure white without a speck of black or gray markings on him.
He sauntered over to the mirror and stared into his eyes. Once again he saw something behind him and turned sharply, seeing nothing still. He'd just turned back to the mirror when he saw movement again. He curved backwards quickly and pounced on his prey. He let out a soft cry as his claws dug into his own tail. He released his 'prey' and watched his own tail swish back and forth. It would take some getting used to in his new form. It wasn't like he was accustomed to having a tail in human form after all.
Deciding he was ready for some more exploration, he leapt on the bed and landed with a soft thump, surprised at his graceful leap. Spotting an owl in the room, his instincts took over and he launched himself at the perch. The owl, who had previously been watching him cautiously, screeched and flew into the air. It landed on one of the posts belonging to the bed. The young leopard, still controlled by instincts, leapt again at his new prey, but had no success. Instead the white cub landed on the nightstand, knocking over the lamp, causing quite a ruckus.
Severus was torn from his potion when his house elf reminded him of the time. By the time he'd cleaned himself up somewhat and arrived for dinner, Alec was already gone. Glancing at the boy's plate, he could tell that Alec hadn't eaten much.
A muffled cry from upstairs had Severus setting his fork down and slowly getting to his feet. Merlin knew what that boy was up to in his room, but as a parent, he knew he had to check in on him to make sure everything was okay. He was only feet away from the boy's door when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a lamp crashing to the floor. Throwing open the door, he was not prepared for the sight he saw.
Alec –or what he assumed must have been his son—had succeeded in becoming an animagus. He hadn't had any doubts of course the Alec could do it, but he finally saw the boy had completed the change. As the boy looked over at him, Severus noticed the wild look in his eyes. Sighing with frustration, the Potions Master quickly changed into his own animagus form.
The white leopard stared at the man with confusion. Who was this? A faint stirring of recognition stirred in the animal, but it brushed that thought away. He was about to turn back to his prey when the man disappeared and a panther appeared. The young cub growled, warning the panther to stay away from his prey. It was his! He saw the bird first and was determined to catch it.
The panther growled warningly back, but the cub ignored it. This was his prey and he wasn't going to give it up without a fight. He stepped closer to the panther, not caring that it was larger than him. That didn't matter. All that matter was getting his food and not letting this other one steal it from him.
Severus, in panther form, stared at his son incredulously. How dare this cub challenge him? He wasn't here to take the boy's prey; he just wanted his son to get back into his right state of mind. The cub stepped closer, obviously picking a fight with the larger panther. Not wanting to hurt his son, Severus growled back and quickly swiped his paw in warning. The cub growled and came closer, but still just out of reach of his paws. Deciding to end this as quickly as possible, Severus pounced.
He slammed into the white leopard and knocked the young cub down. Using his paws, he managed to pin the furiously wiggling little creature down and used his mouth to grab him by the scruff of his neck. He picked up the small cub and held onto him as it struggled to get out of his grip. It wasn't long before the small inexperienced cub realized it wouldn't get out of the large panther's grip anytime soon. After a moment, the white cub went limp and let the panther hold him.
Severus decided it was safe to set the young animagus down. The cub tried to get to its feet, but Severus growled in warning and it remained there. The panther looked at the cub carefully and could still see a wild look faintly in the boy's eyes. As he waited for his son to regain his own self, he began to clean the cub up. He smoothed down the ruffled fur and it wasn't long before he could tell that his son was back in control.
He backed up and changed into his normal self. The cub lowered his head submissively as Severus scowled at him. The Potions Master took multiple deep breaths before he turned back to his son.
"Change back," he instructed sternly.
Some minutes later, a panting boy was sitting in front of him. The first transformation was always the most exhausting. Until the body got used to the drastic changes, the boy would definitely be tired after transforming.
"That was the most foolish, reckless, irresponsible, careless and idiotic thing for you to do," Severus snapped. He paused again to take a calming breath. "You are grounded until Christmas. You will tell your friends that they are not permitted to come over before your punishment is complete. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Alec replied.
"Good," the man turned and closed the door behind him. He placed his head against it and sighed.
"I'm sorry," Alec whispered.
Severus heard the apology and collected himself before retiring to his room for the evening. It was going to be a long winter break.
The days passed with agonizing slowness. Alec wasn't permitted to do much of anything while he was grounded. He spent most of his time reading his school books and finishing up any homework assignments that he had. He was especially forbidden from attempting to transform again, not that he really wanted to at the moment. While it was an exciting experience, he had no desire to lose himself again to the animal. Severus assured him the first transformation was the only time that could happen—and remain permanent—but it still scared him. If Severus hadn't been there to help him regain his own self, then he could have believed he really was a Snow Leopard.
Before he knew it, Christmas had come and gone. He and Severus had exchanged gifts and his punishment had been lifted. Several days later, his friends were allowed to come over.
"I can't believe you did that," Lisa said for the second time. "That was awfully reckless of you."
"Don't," Alec snapped. "I've already heard it from my dad, okay? He's lectured me on it and I haven't been allowed to practice since then. Since you both are attempting to complete your transformations today, he's allowed me to practice as well."
"Sorry, I don't mean to nag you or anything," she apologized. "Would you show us first? Before we try?"
"I suppose," Alec relented. After a second or two of concentration, a white Snow Leopard stood before the other two Ravenclaws.
"You're beautiful," Lisa gasped.
Josh laughed. "I wouldn't say that, but I agree that the Snow Leopard suites you."
"Can I pet you?" the girl asked.
Alec stepped closer. The second transformation went much easier than the first, but it would still be quite some time before he was able to change as quickly as his father or Sirius.
"I can't believe that just last winter we were just starting the transformation. Now with the help of Sirius and your dad, we're going to finally finish the change. I think I'm ready to try. Is your dad around to supervise?" Josh asked.
Alec nodded, still in leopard form. He slipped through the open door and went in search of his father. He was found reading in his favorite chair.
Severus looked up when he spotted his son's animagus form. He raised an eyebrow. "I presume that means your friends are ready to attempt the transformation?"
The white cub lowered its head and nodded. Severus bookmarked his page and got to his feet. He walked through the doorway, pausing to pet the cub lightly on the head, before entering his son's room. The two Ravenclaws were eagerly awaiting him.
"Are you sure you are both ready?"
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
"If you feel the animalistic instincts taking over, remember to change back immediately."
They both nodded. Lisa stepped away from Josh and watched as he attempted the transformation. After several minutes, he was breathing hard and still attempting to change. With a sudden pop, a medium sized polar bear stood where Josh once was.
Josh practiced walking around for a few minutes before he was too tired to stand.
"Change back now," Severus instructed. The boy looked tired and must change back soon otherwise there could be some complications.
Slowly, Josh managed to change back into his human form, only he still had white fur on his arms.
"I will give you a pepper-up potion once you have fully changed back, Mr. Johnson. But you must remove all of your animagus form immediately."
After relaxing for a moment, Josh was able to summon enough energy to change back completely.
"Whew," he said after taking the pepper-up. "That was harder than I thought."
Lisa stared nervously at the exhausted boy before her. "I'm afraid I'll get stuck," she admitted.
"You'll be fine," Josh assured her. "It was hard because I was so excited last night, that I didn't sleep much. So I was a bit tired today as it was."
Alec walked up to her, still in his form, and rubbed against her leg to reassure her that it'll be alright.
"Okay, I'll see what I can do."
It wasn't long before Lisa too completed the transformation. She had a more difficult time than the two boys learning to move around because she needed to fly and the room was small. She'd be able to fly freely outside once she fully mastered the use of her wings.
Once Severus was no longer needed to supervise, he left. Once he was gone, Alec changed back to his normal form.
"Congrats guys, on completing the transformation!"
"Thanks," Josh replied. "I can't believe we did it! Wait till I show my parents."
"My parents will be quite shocked as well when they see it for themselves. They've heard about it of course but I'd love to see their reaction when I do it in front of them." Lisa stated. She turned her attention to Alec. "Are you two still not talking?"
Alec shrugged. "We had a good Christmas and all but I still haven't been talking with him much. He's frustrated with my stupid stunt and I'm frustrated with him over other stuff. It's complicated. I don't really want to talk about it either."
Lisa sighed. He never wanted to talk about whatever was going on between the two Snapes but she'd let him be for now.
Josh looked at his friend in concern as well. There wasn't much he could do, but at least he could change the subject to keep everyone happy.
"So who's up for exploding snap?"
A/N: Well, I'd say you guys are quite lucky this chapter made it out. Being a computer geek, I just had to mess with my computer and ended up having to resinstall my OS. Thanks to an excellent backup program, I was able to restore my important data, including my stories and notes for this. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter--I certainly had fun writing Alec's animgus scene. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and please feel free to keep them up! They encourage me to write you know, and you all do want another chapter soon, yes? :-)
