Disclaimer: What can I say? I don't own it.
Summary: Harry decides he wants to try Animagi, and persuades Hermione to help... this changes them... a lot.
Chapter 7 : A Fate My Own
Professor Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore was often seen as a mysterious man, and he was. He also often seemed to know things that others did not, seeming to know things he shouldn't, and at times he did. But he was never questioned, because in all his years he had proven that, whether he should know them or not was entirely beside the point, that when he knew something he was almost always right.
And it wasn't always simply because he was smarter, either; goodness knew there were others that were smarter than he was. More clever in their various ways. No, Albus Three-Middle-Names Dumbledore was hardly any smarter than his old friend Grindelwald.
But something that he'd always had over others was a way with people. He understood them in ways most other people couldn't, and in that way could guess things about them that others wouldn't have come to. Werewolves, he'd found, had their own peculiar way of walking, talking, acting, and even thinking that showed the educated eyes just what they were. Same with Vampires. Same with untrustworthy, or even the very few trustworthy ministers; Dumbledore could pick out a lie from a mile away, Ligillimency or not.
Harry was, of course, an odd duck; his behavior had changed so much and so quickly that Dumbledore had at first been alarmed. Then Harry had done what very few children his age would have, told the truth, and Dumbledore now knew what to expect of him again. Or, at least, he was learning what to expect. His new childish demeanor was mixed, sprinkled with far older, far wiser mannerisms that seemed to pop up at odd times, and though it would be hard to call Harry 'Sour' at any point, his new outlook being simply far too cheerful for that, it was clear that his new outlook was beginning to fray a bit at the edges. Dumbledore had more than once seen the trapped look in his eyes, and knew that he'd have to give him some more leeway soon lest he snap.
Of course, since Harry was no longer as human as he once had been, Dumbledore couldn't simply delve into his understanding of Human Nature to try to predict the boy anymore, and since even the Granger girl seemed stumped as to what he now was Dumbledore honestly didn't stand a chance if he tried to decipher that puzzle himself. Like the children, he'd never seen that sort of creature himself, nor even heard of it before, so rather than try to look it up himself he simply allowed the Granger girl to figure it out, something she seemed able to do faster and more effectively than nearly anyone else in the entire school.
Why, if she were allowed to the Restricted Section, there would be nearly nothing that she would be unable to do! After all, she'd brewed an apparently highly-potent Animagus potion on her own, in secret, under his nose, at the age of twelve! Not to mention what was likely a Polyjuice Potion at the same time, further splitting her already frayed, distracted attention; that the school hadn't exactly been safe at the time only spoke even higher of her accomplishments, and Dumbledore had no doubt that the Muggleborn girl would make waves in the Wizarding world like few others could.
Why, if her intelligence could be leveraged properly, guided in the right direction, given the right suggestions... the Wizarding World would never again be the same.
Intelligence. There was something else that was driving Dumbledore's curiosity of late; Harry's intelligence, far from being stunted by his now no-longer-fully-human status, seemed to have been amplified exponentially. Some of his Professors had complained that the boy seemed bored in their classes, even to the point of falling asleep at more than one occasion while still showing a sharpness that was second only to the Granger girl's. Professor Snape claimed that he was still rubbish at Potions, but had admitted that the reason for that lack of finesse had changed. Once, over the previous two years, Harry had simply done things wrong. Now he did everything right, but did them in a way that screwed him up, often taking one instruction or another 'Too Literally' or not waiting for the subtle visual cues that were so important in potions.
Indeed, Dumbledore more than once wondered if Harry had grown colorblind, as color cues seemed to be the biggest thing that he would miss most regularly; though he seemed adept at not keeping his cauldron at one specific temperature as even the worst of his classmates knew to, trying to turn the fire up to get something to boil more quickly or turning it down to get the boiling to stop more quickly. Indeed Patience, or a lack thereof, seemed to be his downfall.
The note before him, however, was nearly as puzzling as anything, even everything else he'd done all year. It was short, simple, and had been delivered by mail.
Dear Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards,
I was wondering, would it be possible for me to drop Divination and take up Arithmancy? I understand it's rather late in the year and I've probably missed a bunch, but if I studied hard could I try it anyways?
Sincerely,
Harry Potter, Third Year Gryffindor, Boy-Who-Lived, Owner of The Firebolt, Gryffindor Team Seeker.
He chuckled under his breath, a sparkle coming to his eye. The boy knew him too well, and if he was already to the point of adding unnecessary titles... well, the future seemed to bode well. At least in Dumbledore's humble opinion.
It was such a simple thing, such an easy thing, such an unneeded thing... not to mention brave, almost bold coming from such a young student. If Dumbledore didn't know that Harry rather disliked all the attention he usually got, he'd almost worry the boy was becoming big-headed. There was plenty of time to worry about that sort of thing later, for now he was merely amused and frankly rather curious.
Still, all that could wait, as at that moment it seemed that he had a visitor.
"Ah, Professor Lupin, how may I help you?"
Remus Lupin was yet-another study in Human Behavior. The man, as he had as a boy, tended to babble endlessly at times, skipping around his thoughts so quickly that if he were anyone else the Headmaster would have been entirely lost on what was going on. This was probably why he was the only one that the Werewolf seemed to go to when he was troubled, as no one else seemed capable of picking out the important bits quite so well as Albus Dumbledore.
Besides, being the first real wizard to accept him for what he was probably earned him a place in the boy's heart that would never go away.
Lupin paced a few times, acting a bit like an agitated animal, "Professor?" He stalled for a moment, then finally asked, "Was anyone... missing a few days ago that shouldn't have been? Or been admitted to the Hospital Wing for getting too near the Whomping Willow?"
Dumbledore raised a curious eyebrow, "Not that I'm aware of. All that was unusual over the last few days was when young Mr. Malfoy claimed to have been... licked, by a ghost whose description was not very ghost-like. But as it was by the Shrieking Shack no one seems to care to think much of it. Ghosts act like ghosts at times, after all."
Lupin's eyes took on a slightly less manic, yet more dubious likeness to them, "The... Shrieking Shack?" Dumbledore nodded slowly, "But... there's no real ghosts there... right?"
"I'm not aware of any having moved in since you were last a student, if that's what you mean."
Lupin took to pacing again, "A ghost? But then... then... ohh that doesn't make any sense either!"
Dumbledore nodded, eyes closing for his own thoughts, "Yes, I agree. Lemon Drop?"
Lupin almost snorted with his frustration, but quickly calmed and sighed out, "No, thank you, Professor."
Dumbledore nodded, popping one into his own mouth before leaning back, "Well, in a blatant attempt to change the subject," a twinkle came to his eye, "I received a letter only minutes ago. Would you like to see it?"
Lupin was not, generally, curious about what crossed other peoples' desks; if it wasn't his, he didn't care. But when the elder Professor asked that question, it was specifically designed to get his curiosity up, "Eh... sure. Why?"
Dumbledore passed him the letter with a smile, "Read and see."
Lupin did so, and when he was finished he seemed puzzled by something, "'Owner of The Firebolt?'"
Dumbledore chuckled, "Inspired, I believe, by his classmates. It seems appropriate judging by their behavior of late."
Lupin nodded mutely, pushing the letter back toward the Headmaster, a quietly curious look on his face, "Will you...?"
Dumbledore closed his eyes in thought, "That depends. What do you think? Is he really up to it?"
Lupin almost cut himself short, "Well... Harry... seems to be a lot smarter than he lets on. And it's obvious that neither he nor his friends seem satisfied with Divination, they only complain about Potions with Severus more. He probably got the idea from that Granger girl, she seems to speak rather glowingly about it anytime I hear it from her. I don't think Harry knows what he'd be getting into, really."
The Headmaster's eyes twinkled, "Well then, perhaps it would be best if we... 'tested' him first, to see if he's really 'up to it'. I'll have to speak with Minerva first, of course." He smiled as he noticed something, "In fact, I believe that's her now. Good evening Minerva."
She eyed his desk, "So you got one too, have you?"
Dumbledore nodded, "How many titles did he give you?"
McGonagall blinked at the combined looks of her Headmaster and former student, then sighed, pulling the parchment from where she'd kept it, "Professor McGonagall, Professor of Transfigurations, Head of Gryffindor House, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She sniffed haughtily at the amused looks in the eyes of the other Professors, "I should have known you'd find it... entertaining. I'm afraid I'll have to speak with him about manners, but for now."
Dumbledore nodded quietly, a smile forming as he drew up a chair, "Come, sit and we'll discuss it. Unless you're entirely against the idea?"
McGonagall eyed the chair, "And you're not, then?" As the Headmaster's behest, she sat, "Then what is there to discuss?"
"Arrangements, of course. Can't very well simply have him start attending classes, can we? He claims to be ready for the make-up work, I say we let him try it."
"The year's nearly over, Albus, he'd never make it in time."
Lupin stood, "If it's alright, I don't think I'll be of any use to you at this point, so I think I'll go back to my office."
A smile and a sparkle made him stall for a moment, "Actually, could you fetch Professor Vector for us? I believe we may be needing her assistance in this. Tell her I'm expecting her."
Lupin nodded mutely and turned to leave, heading to find yet another Professor. As he did, he couldn't help but to feel that Professor Dumbledore seemed to be taking things just a bit too far. After all, Harry had obviously been thinking of the 'easiest' classes when he'd chosen them last year, why would he suddenly think he was ready for the hardest course the school had to offer?
Harry didn't want to admit it, since the twins had taken such a large gamble in entrusting him with it, but he'd lost the map. He couldn't rightly remember where or exactly when he'd lost it, but it'd been at some point when he was heading off for Hogsmeade.
Probably by the Whomping Willow, when he'd set to checking to see if he'd gotten all the instructions for entering the hidden passage correct.
Harry honestly didn't care too much, as he'd already memorized the entire thing down to every last detail, courtesy his 'at times Photographic' memory, and frankly he trusted his own senses better than the itsy-bitsy dots on that map.
Really, he was more worried about whether he'd deactivated it or not. In the wrong hands that thing could be quite dangerous indeed. Unfortunately, unless he found it himself there wasn't much that could be done about it now. And chances were that it was now long-gone; he could, at best, hope that one of the better Professors, or more responsible students would have found it. Perhaps it was deactivated if left out too long and of no real value to anyone who didn't know the password.
Harry didn't think much of that, given his luck, but unless he saw it somewhere along the route to the Whomping Willow there was little he could do about it. And unfortunately, it was absent at the base of the tree, so there was little hope of finding it now.
Of course he had other things to think about, so he spared the map no other thought for the moment. Rather, he turned them to his classes; if he hadn't insulted them too much, perhaps Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall would allow him to change his classes as he'd asked. He'd already borrowed Hermione's Arithmancy text for some light reading when she assured him she didn't need it, and he found it nearly as fascinating as she did; the idea of writing a spell rather than using a wand and hoping you got all the motions exactly right... well, it seemed like it might help for when he didn't have his wand with him, at least.
Of course he recognized that, while potentially far more powerful than wand-cast spells, Arithmancy relied on having loads of extra time to come up with all the things necessary, especially the severe amount of calculating involved and that fact that it relied on steady quill, clean parchment, and flat table, none of which would be available in a fight.
However, he valued the idea so much that he intended to pursue the idea on his own if not for the classes, though happily it turned out that he wouldn't need to; Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Vector all agreed on giving him the chance to prove himself capable of not only succeeding in the class, but of catching up with a now nearly completed year. He had a veritable mountain of assignments, but he felt confident in his ability to catch up. Only the fact that he'd be sharing a book with Hermione gave him any hope for it, and lately she was giving him all sorts of rules for it, such as "Don't leave this room until I come for it, I want you studying that whole time alright?" and "Give it back right at breakfast, alright?" and even "And for Merlin's sake, don't chew on it! I want it in one piece when I get it back!"
Personally Harry thought she was being unfair; he'd only chewed on one of her quills once! Sure, most of his own books and quills had been chewed on more thoroughly, but it wasn't like he was teething or anything! He just chewed on things... well, because he could. And it gave his body release for some of the tension it had, while still allowing him to more-or-less sit still.
And that was the real challenge: sitting still long enough to get all that studying done. With how increasingly shut-in he was feeling, his body just wanted to twitch violently and fly away as fast as it could for much of the day, and Divinations class wasn't helping. Half the time the room itself made him jumpier than usual, and only the thought that he might be leaving it soon helped Harry get through the Crystal Ball Gazing portion of the class. (First day he'd seen himself, in animal form, floating in front of a massive glowing-red boulder as Professor Dumbledore stood nearby.)
Ron, of course, was aghast when Harry'd told him of his plan, "But, but you won't be able to help me with my assignments anymore!"
Harry grinned wanly, "That's alright, Ron. I think you can make it up on your own, you don't need me for that."
"But still, Hermione won't help me either."
"I'm pretty sure she's leaving soon, as well."
"But, but I'll be alone with Professor Trelawney! You know I don't like being around her!"
"I'm sorry Ron, but I can't go there anymore if I can help it. That room gives me headaches, you know that."
Ron sighed in defeat, "Yeah. I'm gonna miss ya', mate."
Harry grinned, "You act as though I'm leaving Hogwarts!"
Ron gave him a hurt, slightly-haughty look, "But are you? You complain enough about wanting out, I'd hoped going to Hogsmeade would help but you've only gotten worse!"
Cringing at the truth of the statement, Harry shook his head, "I'm not going, Hogwarts is too important. It's just..."
"I know, mate, I feel the same way. After they catch Black I'm gonna run around right there with yeh."
He shook his head, grinning, "You sure you can keep up? I'm pretty fast you know."
A competitive gleam entered Ron's eye, "You bet I can. Even if it kills me."
"Honestly, can't you two control yourselves at all?" Hermione came into the common room in a slight huff, looking as harried and harassed as ever; she walked over and practically dropped a book on the table in front of Harry, it was nearly a foot thick and must have been at least a couple of decades old. "Here, I'll need it back in an hour but I'll let you have it again tonight."
Ron goggled helplessly at the book, shaking a little when he reached out a hand to touch it, "Blimey Harry, is that it?"
Nodding, Harry opened the book, "Hermione's Arithmancy text; it's pretty interesting, I've gone through half of it already I just need to do the assignments. Thanks Hermione, I'll get one of my own next year, I promise."
Hermione glowed for a moment, "It's no problem Harry, I'm looking forward to having you in class. Professor Vector is wonderful!"
Ron snorted, "You love any Professor that gives you loads of homework."
"Hush you." She then started turning around, "I'll see you two in an hour-abouts, alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Ron waved her off and she huffed away, quickly finding some of her other books before burying herself in them, becoming lost behind the mountain of self-imposed work. "How's she do it, anyway? The work is one thing, but most of her classes overlap, it's just not right!" Ron waited for a moment before looking at Harry for an explanation to why he hadn't responded, but Harry had his face in the book and was writing things down at a furious pace, eyes darting every which way. "Oh come on! I may as well have wandered into the Ravenclaw tower!" He got up and stalked off to bug his brothers, who seemed keen on some sort of parchment that was likely to do with a joke of some sort.
Oliver Wood did not particularly take to Harry's recent studiousness; in fact, he seemed to feel that if Harry had all that extra time to study, he should be spending it practicing Quidditch. It didn't seem to matter that he, as Seeker, had only one job to worry about; find the Snitch. Time spent in countless hours of practice was, to him, time much better spent than in class or in talking with one-another or, indeed, even sleeping. Wood was pushing the team so hard that, while Neville Longbottom was near tears just with his class-load, Harry was near to becoming cross with his team captain; only the fact that he didn't need much sleep kept him from snapping at the older boy.
On the bright side Malfoy seemed to be improving in Care of Magical Creatures; he wasn't sure if he was aware that the creatures had dubbed him 'The Stupidest Human To Still Live', but the fact that nearly every creature acted as haughty and superior to him as he did to them seemed to take some of the wind from his sail, at least. Hagrid, on the other hand, seemed to be picking up the pace quite a bit, going with the general flow of things in assigning more and more homework as exams drew near.
The days started leading up to the much anticipated game between Gryffindor and Slytherin; Slytherin was down by thirty points, so in the end it really all came down to which team found the Snitch. No one, throughout the entire school, had any doubt as to which boy would do so other than Malfoy himself, who still thought that he stood a chance. Not that the other Slytherins were slow in attempting to give him a chance, with all of the tricks, traps, and curses that'd been lobbed at Harry anonymously and often in plain sight of at least three other people. After the first few trip-wires Wood had decided to keep an envoy of other people around Harry at all times, and the fact that Harry usually had his face in that Arithmancy book seemed to make the older boy even more nervous, as he was sure that Harry was becoming unaware of his surroundings and thus needed bodyguards.
As Gryffindor hadn't held the House Cup in a wide number of years now, and only Slytherin seemed to not be backing them in trying to win it this year, the enmity between the two houses seemed to be coming to a head in the last few days of the match, to the point that random fights were breaking out between them resulting in trips to the medical wing.
Finally the day came, and Wood had his team rounded up to give them one last speech, "Alright team! We're close, really close! We can't let it slip away again this time! We just can't! We've worked too hard, fought too much, nearly lost too much! We've got to fight like we've never fought before! And Harry, you know the plan right? Don't catch the Snitch unless we're no more than twenty points down! Got it, right? No more than twenty points down! Above that and you better catch it right off, got it?" Harry nodded his head mutely, not wanting to rile his team captain up more than he already was; the boy apparently didn't care that more than a hundred points separated the two teams in the running, still wanting to make a good showing at the end of the day. Satisfied, Wood turned a golden smile upon his team in general, "All right then! Let's get out there and show them what Gryffindor is really made of!" Wood roared and everyone marched onto the field.
It was the dirtiest game Harry had ever played in; Slytherin had seemingly gone more for size than skill, and speed least of all. Malfoy was easily the smallest of them all, and the entire Slytherin team had started the game with nasty glares at the Gryffindor team. There was no doubt that the game would, in all, be hard-fought.
But, despite that nearly every Gryffindor player came out of the game bloody and beaten, with fouls nearly every forty seconds, the entire game had been over from the moment it started. Gryffindor was simply the better team overall, and with Harry on the Firebolt it was so easy as to be silly. He'd seen the Snitch only feet from Malfoy and, thinking fast, locked eyes with the boy. Almost as predicted he'd panicked, thinking Harry was after him, probably in retaliation for the severe physical beating that was going on around them, and by the time Harry veered away towards his actual target it was too late for Malfoy to actually do anything about it. Though the finality of it didn't stop a pair of Bludgers from trying to take Harry's arms off, or one of the Slytherins to actually try ramming into him to keep him from the Snitch.
Harry had dodged the Bludgers and instinctively rolled beneath the burly blockhead that'd tried to ram him, and there was nothing to stop him from the Snitch...
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, "Snitch to Gryffindor!" The entire school was screaming as the whole of his team piled on top of Harry, Dumbledore bearing the House Cup and smiling down directly at the new champions.
Harry was happy, he really was. But somehow, he just wasn't bursting at the seams as everyone else seemed to be doing.
Indeed, he felt rather disconnected from it all; it was almost as though... he didn't care for Quidditch anymore.
The celebrations were nice and all, but Harry just didn't feel like celebrating as much as his house-mates did. Not that they had much time for it, what with exams coming just 'round the corner. Fred and George were the most striking change of all, no longer cracking jokes as they buckled down for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels tests, while Percy kept sniping at whichever person made the most noise as he prepared for his Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. This was about the time when Neville Longbottom finally did break into tears and everyone found that Hermione wasn't far separate from either him or Percy Weasley, both seeming in tears at times as well as sniping at anyone that made even a bit of noise.
In fact, although she expressed being happy in Harry's interest in Arithmancy, she seemed especially snippy at his lack of a need for sleep, largely because she seemed to be getting so little of it herself and was slowly being worn to the point of breaking. Ron was still stressing over the overlaps in Hermione's schedule, and perhaps worst of all was the fact that Harry now had next to no time for Dementor training.
'After the exams, he said. There may not be anything left of us all after the exams! Hermione most of all, wish she'd just drop more than just Divinations. Really, what's so fascinating about Muggle Studies that she has to read a-hundred and thirty pages in two days for? Gave me a chance to almost get caught up with her in Arithmancy, but still!'
Although Harry was entirely sure that he would be transferring out of it, he was still expected to arrive to and take the exam for Divination, which finally had him sitting at a table across from Professor Trelawney, who asked him to sit.
"Now then, look into the orb, what do you see?"
Harry looked, and his eyes widened, "Scabbers! Wow, he looks horrible. How's he been getting on all this time?"
Trelawney apparently wasn't prepared for such a positive response, but as a professional near-fraud she rolled with the punches, "Tell me, this 'Scabbers', is he still whole?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah, looks a fright, though. Wonder why? Hmm? Oh Ron's not gonna like that."
Trelawney was perplexed, but as usual managed not to show it, "What do you see now?"
"Sirius Black. Hmm, I'd better get Ron so we can get Scabbers."
Again Harry had changed the subject too quickly, "Why do you need to find this Scabbers?"
"Because it showed us finding him. Besides, he's important to the future."
Trelawney chewed on this for a bit, "Tell me, before you go, can you give a prediction for me?"
Harry gave her an odd look, shrugged, and started looking in the ball, staring for a moment before seeming to come to a decision, "You're going to catch cold this summer, June I think. You'll sneeze an awful lot and have to leave your tower for fresh air." He smiled wistfully at that, "Imagine that. Oh! And you're about to have a real prophecy. Good luck with that!"
"TONIGHT! IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT!"
Harry sighed, listening to the prophecy before being allowed to leave, whence he went to find Ron. They needed to find Scabbers; the crystal ball had shown him snooping around Hagrid's hut. And then it had shown him turning into a fat, balding human. That had to be important.
"C'mon, let's go see Hagrid."
"What? Why?"
Harry shrugged, "Maybe he'll tell us how our tests with the Hippogriffs went. Besides..." Harry looked left and right, finally speaking in hushed tones despite the empty hallway, "I think he deserves to know."
Ron's eyes widened, "What? Harry you can't be serious!"
Harry shrugged, "And why not? He IS the school's expert on magical creatures, right?"
"Yeah but still, he's not very good at keeping secrets."
"I think he can keep this one. Besides, it'll give us a reason to come see him from time to time."
"Harry we shouldn't even be outside! Hagrid wouldn't even want us there!"
Harry nodded, thinking, "True, but I AM curious about my marks for Care of Magical Creatures. Y'know, I feel pretty close to... them." He grinned, averting his eyes from Ron's.
Ron finally sighed, "Hermione'll have a fit."
Harry shrugged, "She's probably asleep by now, overworked herself I bet; let her sleep, I say."
"You're mad!"
Harry shrugged, grinning, "I'm me, not gonna change that anytime soon, am I?"
The two of them vacated the hallways, getting the Invisibility Cloak before shrugging off for Hagrid's hut.
They had hardly gotten out the door when a small, bushy-haired, haggard-looking animal was spotted wandering the halls, sniffing the ground every so often.
Hagrid looked up from some sheets of parchment as Fang the boar-hound barked excitedly. Curious, he got up to answer the door to see who'd come to see him.
The doorway, however, was strangely empty. Puzzled, he shouted out, "'Ey! Anybody there?"
He nearly jumped when a voice whispered, "Hagrid!" It was Harry! "It's us, let us in,we're under the Invisibility Cloak."
Eyes wide he closed the door as he insisted, "Ye' shouldn' be here!"
Harry and Ron removed the cloak, Ron taking it in hand, "We weren't seen, besides there's a few things I wanted to talk with you about. How're the Hippogriffs?"
Hagrid waved the question off, "Pretty good. Ever'body did good, if that's what yer getting' on about." He turned towards the kitchen, "Since you're here, I'll make some tea. Sound alrigh'?"
"Uhh..." Harry froze just long enough for Ron to notice.
"Yeah, that sounds good, thanks Hagrid."
"Professor Hagrid!" Harry waved a finger, grinning teasingly as Hagrid barked out a laugh.
"Now don' you start getting' on tha'! Only a Professor when 'm teachin'. Wazzis?" He stopped, dumping out his pitcher, "A rat? What's 'e doin 'ere?"
Ron looked to the rat in Hagrid's hand, eyes widening immediately, "Scabbers! You're alive!"
Hagrid grunted, giving the rat a once-over at eye level, which seemed to quiet the rat with fear of being dropped from such a height, "Looks at death's door, if yeh' ask me." he handed the half-dead rat off and went on making tea after rinsing out the mess Scabbers had left behind.
As Ron returned, staring at Scabbers with a befuddled look on his face, Harry gave him a meaningful look, "Ron maybe you should take Scabbers outside, or up to the tower. Don't want him getting scared off again."
It took him a moment, but Ron seemed to get it, realization showing on his face. "Right, needs to take his tonic right away, I bet." He pocketed the rat and went to the door, Hagrid making a move to stop him.
"Don't worry, Black's not after Ron, remember? Mistaken identity aside." Harry said this and Hagrid seemed at least somewhat mollified. Ron gone, Harry turned to Hagrid, "Hagrid, there's something I've got to tell you, but it's a really, really big secret. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall already know, but that's all. D'you think you can keep it secret?"
Hagrid seemed to think about it for a moment, but nodded, "S'long as you've told Dumbledore, I won't tell a soul."
Harry grinned weakly, his secret would probably be out by next year, though he planned on letting it out eventually all the same. "Alright, Hagrid, I'm an Animagus."
Hagrid... stared silently for a moment, not judging but merely trying to understand, "What? Animagus? What kind?"
Harry's grin grew stronger, leave it to Hagrid to care more about 'what' than the little details of 'how', 'when', or mere legality, "I don't exactly know. Here, let me show you and see if you know." He changed and Hagrid's eyes widened.
For a moment there was silence, Hagrid moving only to weakly put his hand out to Harry as though comparing the kitten's size to that of his hand, "That's... you're pretty... er..."
"[Small? Pink?]"
Hagrid nodded, "Yeh." It took him a moment, during which Harry floated up a bit higher to give Hagrid a better look at him, "Yeh' got the same eyes, and the scar o' course... Great Merlin you're flying!"
Harry nodded, doing a playful flip in the air in front of the overlarge man, "[Yeah! I'm a magical cat! Just don't know what kind, any ideas?]"
Hagrid shook his head helplessly, "No idea. You're a Magical Animagus? Harry those are Really rare!"
Harry shrugged, "[Well, I just am. We think that whatever I am comes from a jungle, Hermione thinks from a really dangerous one over in South America or something.]"
Right then a loud shout from outside captured their attention, Harry darting outside before Hagrid could do or say anything about it; it didn't take more than a moment for him to lose Harry's trail, though he managed to spot Ron running for the Whomping Willow, chasing after a large black dog that looked like it might have given Fang a good fight. 'I'd better get Dumbledore! This can't be good!'
Harry, meanwhile, spotted Ron and the black dog going under the Whomping Willow, and quickly followed, swooping in through the open passageway as owls tended to do; he silently followed them until they appeared in the Shrieking Shack at the other end, staying unseen and unheard.
When they finally stopped in the first room, Ron and the dog were fighting over Scabbers, who was apparently crawling away despite injuries. Making a decision Harry transformed to his normal form and landed right in front of the frightened rat, who stopped dead cold; Harry grinned. Cute or not he was still a cat, and a little rat stood little chance against him any day.
"Harry! Help me out here!"
Harry's response was to quickly grab Scabbers by the back of the neck and hold him up with one paw, looking around as though expecting something.
That something came in the form of Crookshanks, who lazily waltzed into the room as though he knew he were expected. Ron's eyes bugged out, "Crookshanks! Go away, get out! GAH! Geroff! Blasted dog!"
"Blasted dog, am I?"
There was silence, filled only with the panting of both a now very frightened boy and the exerted, incredibly anemic man that was atop him. Harry decided to fill the silence, "Hello, Sirius Black. Got the rat, don't think he's going anyplace." He'd changed just as Sirius had, giving the man a calm look.
"S-S-Sir-" Ron seemed to be choking, wishing his wand were only a few inches closer. But before anything more could be done or said, let alone Sirius' confusion be resolved, the door opened once more to allow in one Remus Lupin.
Lupin looked at the gathering, eyes wide for a moment before focusing on Scabbers; scowling he pulled his wand on the animal, "You! Sirius, how... unless you switched? That's him, right?" His eyes darted back and forth frantically, "You did, didn't you? But then, it was, him!" Harry stepped back and gave Lupin an odd look, but Lupin merely focused on the rat and practically shouted "HOMOMORPHUS!" Harry dropping the rat with a yelp just an instant before the spell hit.
The rat suddenly glowed for just a moment, squealing and wriggling frantically before becoming a portly, balding man with wide, fearful eyes and blood coming from his midsection despite his odd attempts to keep it in; he was thin as a rail though his folding skin suggested that he'd once been quite a bit larger, and he was most certainly not a simple rat.
"Hello, Peter."
"H-hello, Remus..."
"Been doing well?" Peter's eyes widened further, but he didn't answer, as Lupin did so for him, "Of course I'd say you're doing quite well, for a man twelve years dead."
Ron's eyes were nearly all white, his face playing a bit of catch-up as his lungs seemed to be fighting with his heart over which would stop first. He'd been carrying... a.. a full grown man.. in his pocket? For some three years? But no, that was weird, but with a man taking the place of his rat, there wasn't a lot of sense to be made...
And most infuriating of all, Harry hardly seemed to care. Instead, he seemed amused. "Could someone tell me what in bloody hell is going on here?"
Sirius, still laying on Ron to keep him from moving around, practically growled, threatening to get up to do something unpleasant to the man, "THAT is Peter Pettigrew."
"But he's dead! Dead because you killed him!"
Harry gave a curious, while still confident look to Sirius, "Yeah, how's that?"
"He's a madman! I only barely got away! Mmmf!" Pettigrew was suddenly wrapped up, bound from head to toe, his mouth covered in magical bindings keeping him quiet; that it'd been Harry to cast the spell drew everyone's attention.
Harry looked back and forth before shrugging, "What? He ran away, pretended to be dead and hid himself away as a rat for twelve years. If he was really innocent, he would have told everyone where he was right off, right?"
Remus blinked owlishly, "Eh, right, of course."
Harry nodded, turning to Pettigrew and waving wand again, making the man's bleeding suddenly stop, "There, keep him from bleeding all over the place." Satisfied, he turned to an almost-stunned Sirius, "Now, Sirius Black, right?" The man nodded, "Right, so as the accused, I guess it's time for you to tell your story." For a moment Sirius seemed confused, and this was just enough to pull his gaze from Pettigrew's throat, "What? You never had a trial, right? May as well make your peace while you can."
There was silence for a few moments, finally broken by Lupin cracking out a quiet, "Sirius?"
He nodded, "Right, fine. You're right, Remus; at the last second I begged them to switch. Figured Voldemort-" Ron choked at the name, "-would expect me to be the secret-keeper. Plan was I'd go off and hide like I was, while Peter would be the real secret-keeper, without anyone suspecting it was him." He growled, "Should've known; one of us, Dumbledore expected there to be a spy somewhere. Should have known it was him. Sniveling coward, just hung out with us cause we kept the bullies off."
Ron seemed confused, but not immediately sure why, "But, you blew him up."
Sirius shook his head, almost angrily, "No. I went looking for him, to make sure he was still alright. He was gone, and then Voldemort came. I knew what happened, it was the only thing that could have happened. He told him. I found him, and he was in the middle of a street. Bloody brilliant, it was. He yelled how I was guilty, cut off his finger and used his wand from behind his back; made an explosion big enough to kill all those Muggles. Blasted straight through the road to the sewer, then he transformed to a Rat and escaped with all the other rats in the sewers." He growled, "When the Aurors showed up, who would believe me? Eh? We made it on purpose that everyone thought I was Secret Keeper; even Dumbledore thought so. I was thrown straight in Azkaban; you're right, Harry, never got a trial. 'Course those were the times, people tended to just get arrested for even speaking his name. Makes sense, though." His scowl changed to a sort of sunken-faced, wistful smile, "They send innocent people to the Dementors, but half of the real Death Eaters are still running the Ministry. No need for Voldemort, eh? Nothing's really changed 'cept the random killings've stopped, right Remus?"
Remus blinked, "I... suppose so. Yeah, everyone reckons the old Death Eaters are still loyal; claimed they'd been Imperius'd, but only the masses and Minister Fudge really believe them. Lucius Malfoy's got most of the Ministry in his pocket, and he's one that doesn't need an Imperius. I had the 'pleasure' to meet him a few weeks ago; still as... well, no change at any rate."
Sirius grunted in reply, "Yeah, I bet." Pettigrew whimpered, "Oh be quiet, Pettigrew; you had twelve years to tell the truth, but you were too afraid of your Death Eater buddies, right? Figured they knew you sent him to his death, they'd want to get you back, right? So you lay low with a Wizard family so you could keep up with the news." His voice lowered dangerously, "Twelve years. Twelve years I dreamed of finding you and ripping your neck out."
Harry shook his head, "No, he needs to go to Azkaban. He'll probably die there, too, but at least then you'll be absolved; he can't be shown alive if you kill him. And he's still got his wand, the spell he used can still be tracked, right?"
Remus' eyes widened, "Yeah, maybe..." He waved his wand, "Accio Wormtail's Wand!" A wand shot up toward him and he grabbed it from the air, "Good idea, Harry." Unseen to most others, however, was the troubled look that he gave the wand.
Ron scowled at Harry, "Harry, how can you be so bloody calm?"
Harry shrugged, "Dunno, guess I saw it coming." Lupin, who had perked at hearing Ron's exclamation, seemed to grow even more troubled with Harry's little brush-off.
Sirius growled, but at just that moment another noise entirely caught everyone's attention; a voice coming from just behind the door to the underground passage to Hogwarts, "I think that will be quite enough."
Before anyone could do anything Remus had had two wands pulled from his grasp and Sirius was magically bound to the floor; Harry instantly drew his wand on Professor Snape, expression suddenly serious, "Put down your wand, Potter."
Harry didn't move, "What do you plan on doing, Professor?"
"Severus, what are you doing?"
Snape gave Lupin a glare, "What do you think? I should have known you'd be working with him; never trust a Werewolf."
A growl was heard crossing the room, but that growl was not from any of the people present; before an explanation could be had it made its appearance in the form of a flying fur ball that slammed into Snape's arm, latching its small mouth around his wrist and nearly knocking him to the floor; it was all the distraction needed as, while the slimy Professor was trying to bash the creature's head in Harry had disarmed him and Professor Lupin had knocked him out with a swift hit to the head.
Suddenly Harry found himself holding a frantic little... animal that was whimpering and licking his face, "Alright, alright! I'm safe, thank you." Seemingly mollified the furry little dog-like animal seemed to puff up a bit before biting his finger, "Ow! Okay, I'm sorry! Now get down." He leaned over to let it down gently before handing Lupin back his wand.
"Well... that was unexpected. I suppose we'd best get him untied."
Lupin pointed his wand at Sirius and released the man's bindings; Sirius sat back up and popped his neck, "Wow I get sore quick these days." He gave a dark look to Snape, "What's he doing here, anyway?"
"He's a professor now; potions." Lupin waved dismissively at the man, as though hardly caring at his own words.
Sirius' eyes nearly popped out of their places, "A Professor?! Him? What's Dumbledore thinking?"
Lupin shrugged, "Dunno, I trust him of course. And if it wasn't for Snape I wouldn't be able to be here in the first place. He's been making the potion that keeps me... in control during the Full Moon."
Harry nodded, "Right. Well what now?"
Lupin regarded Harry for a moment, then Sirius, then the men on the floor, "Let's get them out of here. And for Merlin's sake Sirius get off the boy!"
Sirius' eyes blinked owlishly before looking stupidly down at the boy; he laughed airily and got up, offering Ron a hand in the process, "Sorry boy, guess I just got comfortable."
"What?"
"You're the most comfortable thing I've had to sit on in ages."
Ron shivered at this, seeming not to want to know exactly what that meant; he wasn't sure he wanted to be a comfortable chair for an escaped convict, innocent or not. Or for that matter anyone else, either.
Except for a few choice girls. Yeah, he wouldn't mind some of them sitting on him, but an old man that looked like he might break in a stiff breeze and smelled a bit like death... No, that just wouldn't fly.
Lupin waved a wand and Pettigrew floated up into the air, Professor Snape was floated, upside-down, by Sirius and the lot of them were ready to head out, "Well, I guess that settles it," Sirius looked through the group, "Once we're done here, you lot are going to have a lot of explaining to do."
The trip back to the school was, at their new leisurely pace, rather a lot longer than it had been when they'd been running away from it; which was fine, as it gave them time to talk, "Sirius, I still don't understand something. If you've had a wand all this time, why didn't you just 'Accio Wormtail' or something?"
Sirius had the decency to look flustered, "Well... I guess you noticed that, huh? I nicked it some time ago, guess I'm gonna have to give it back eventually." The looks he was getting told him he wasn't fooling anybody, and that he'd best answer the question, "Alright, alright. First, it isn't my wand; they snapped mine, remember. And since it isn't my wand, it doesn't really work as well as it should. That and being holed up in Azkaban for twelve years made me rusty to begin with. I'm lucky to be able to remember any spells, let alone be able to do them. Besides, summoning a living thing takes a lot more energy, skill, and... well, delicacy than summoning, say, a piece of parchment, or a wand."
Lupin actually looked sideways at this, noting that Sirius was being none-too-gentle with Professor Snape, "Yes. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to thank whoever left the Marauder's Map out where I could find it. I'm just glad I had the mind to grab it before it blew away, and that I've had a fondness for the Willow, whether I need to take the old path or not." Suddenly his eyes took on a hollow, thoughtful look.
"Why's that, Professor?"
Sirius answered, grinning at Ron, "Moony here," He gestured to Lupin, "is a Werewolf. Old Dumbledore put the Willow in to protect this path because Madam Pomfrey would send him to the Shrieking Shack every full moon; the Whomping Willow would keep anyone out so he couldn't attack them, so he was more or less safe. 'Course we couldn't just let 'im have it on his own, so James and I figured out how to become Animagi, Wormtail here coming along for the ride."
Harry seemed in thought about something, but at about that time Professor Lupin let out a hollow 'No!' and bolted away from them, leaving Pettigrew behind and running as though his life depended on it.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, but Sirius reacted the most quickly of them all, "Dammit, what's wrong with him now?" He turned to the younger ones and growled out "Stay here!" before becoming a dog, dropping Snape in the process, and going after Lupin with great leaps and bounds.
Harry was the next to recover, giving his friends meaningful glances before stating, firmly, "Stay Here. Guard Them." He then ran off down the tunnel just as the older men had, without even looking back.
Ron nearly ran after him, but before he could get anywhere he was tackled down by a frantic little animal that seemed determined to stop him from following, "What? What're you doing? We've got to help them!"
Hermione snorted before gazing at the bound bodies... one of which was suddenly no longer bound... or seemingly even there, "Vee?"
"Hey, where'd Wormtail go?"
Hermione was the one to answer, her large ears picking up the sound of a small animal scampering along the walls; acting on instinct she gave chase, followed by Ron and soon after by Crookshanks, who thanks to his larger size managed to overtake the usually-a-girl's relatively small strides. "Vee! Ee~vee!" She didn't know if Crookshanks could understand her, but it didn't hurt to try.
Ron almost tripped when Hermione suddenly stopped, forcing him to do some fancy footwork in the dark tunnel to keep from stepping on her; he turned to ask what was up and found her to be gasping for breath. Apparently she'd passed the torch of chasing after Wormtail off to Crookshanks, "Well, if anyone can catch him, it'd be Crookshanks. C'mon, let's go find Harry."
Hermione gave Ron a tired look and then crawled into his outstretched hands, allowing him to carry her the rest of the way.
Once Harry had made it out of the tunnel he found out exactly why Professor Lupin had run off: Apparently he'd realized that he'd forgotten to take his anti-Werewolf potion. By the time he'd made it to the outside world the two canines were having a go at it, and Sirius seemed to be losing.
Making a decision Harry joined in; Sirius was alarmed at first, even with how Harry made a show of punching the rampaging Werewolf hard enough to knock it into a nearby tree, stunning the usually-a-teacher, "Don't worry, I'm an Animagus too, remember?" He then shifted to his smaller form and leapt out of the way just as the Werewolf lunged at him from behind.
Sirius, however, was not mollified by Harry's change; not because he was worried about the boy being turned, as Werewolves were only really dangerous to Humans. Rather, Harry's new size would prove to be a problem, as he looked as though one good bite would cut him clean in half. With this in his mind Sirius fought even harder than before, but found that Harry's new form was surprisingly effective; he seemed to be able to keep the larger Werewolf so off-kilter that Sirius was all that more effective at controlling him, and the Werewolf seemed almost unable to properly attack back, as though he were rather severely confused by the two-on-one fight.
Soon the two Animagi had to give chase as the Werewolf dashed off into the forest, snarling a bit as he went.
The fight in the woods was even more frantic than the one from before, as the trees themselves seemed to almost be impeding the Animagi's efforts, almost as though they were helping the so-called 'Dark Creature' to escape. In response, to Sirius' utter bewilderment, Harry seemed to step it up even further, seeming to dart in and out so fast as to almost be flying, as though he were getting his footing on the air itself before using those big, strong-looking legs to dart in whichever direction he jolly-well pleased, landing punches that were frankly far too powerful for something so small.
At some point during the fight Sirius suddenly had to stop, eyes opening wide as a coldness clenched his heart; Harry apparently felt it, too, as an entire flock of Dementors cast themselves into the clearing, actually allowing Lupin to bound away as though out of respect for a fellow Dark Creature.
Sirius backed up, growling angrily as the Dementors closed in, but to his immense surprise Harry did not. Instead he shifted to Human form and actually leapt at them, showing that that odd strength of his carried between both forms as he punched and lashed at the dark robed abominations.
To Sirius it was like watching the worst moment of his life unfold before his eyes; Harry was going to die. Worse, the Dementors were going to suck out his soul! Harry, the last bit of hope his heart had in the world, was going to be reduced to something worse than dead and there was nothing he could do about it...
Just like for Lily and James. Just like the Longbottoms. Just like all the other friends he'd ever watched die. All the funerals he'd had to attend during the last War.
His heart gave out, even as an animal unable to withstand the thought of finally losing Harry, whom he really did think of as his only remaining family. He slumped to the ground, eyes going empty and simply waiting for the blasted things to give him their kiss. He didn't care anymore.
It was over.
Everything was over.
"BEEEEEEE!"
Harry looked behind him, seeing something silver coming toward him; a high-pitched cry had sounded just before the silver shot had gone by, erupting into an explosion amongst the Dementors before seeming to go through their ranks, scattering them like crows being swatted with a broom.
And when he looked and saw what'd done it, he could only frown in puzzlement. That certainly hadn't been what he'd been expecting.
He noticed the other's gaze suddenly flit to Sirius and he looked back; his eyes widened considerably as he found that the dog was laying perfectly still before the leaning form of a single Dementor. With a roar he charged it, hitting it in the head as hard as he could.
Unfortunately, that very emotion had been all the crack in his armor that was needed, as the cold immediately took over; he heard screaming, pleading. He heard a man shouting "Get Harry! I'll hold him off!" He heard a woman pleading "Take me! Leave Harry alone!" He heard cruel laughter, and saw a bright green light...
End Chapter 7
As an author, especially to a story that I so enjoy writing even without encouragement, I absolutely LOVE reading my reviews, and that I've been getting such a positive response makes me feel rather good, as well, and unfortunately a bit talkative. (insert random blush here) I don't think it's really all that great to banter on too much, I try to keep it less than ten percent of the chapter length, that being a length I've heard quoted as being acceptable, but I also don't want to give too much away. At the moment I'd like to say just two things. First that The Virus is one of my favorites, and second Harry should be around level 15 at this point, having done little of what one would call training so far. Obviously that will change with time, but it's not like he's been going through tall grass and challenging Pidgey's to fights. XD
Hmm, actually that's an idea. (mumbles distractedly to self) Implementation to come, then. (nods to self)
Well I hope everyone likes the cliffhanger! Byes!
Edit: (8/7/2012) Fixed a couple spelling errors, created, removed, and moved some lines to make the whole thing make more sense (hopefully). Removed the dreaded smart-quotes and fixed some lingering punctuation errors.
Alex Ultra: From Normal to Nottingham
LATER
