Harry Potter & the Price of Mercy

by: NecessaryEvil

Chapter Ten: Finally Some Results

Disclaimer: They aint mine, foo.

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers.

None this time.

Now on with the show.

By Friday right before their midnight Astronomy class they had found and started brewing a potion that was supposed to bring out the beast within. According to the instructions it would be finished by the end of the next week. They kept the potion in little cylinders in each of their trunks, waiting for it to be ready.

After Astronomy Harry went to bed and it felt like only moments later that Fred and George were shaking him awake. Harry grumbled, "Geroff," but the twins kept shaking him, he wasn't sure because he was still half asleep, but it sounded like, "Team meeting,"

***

Fred and George eventually dragged Harry out of bed and to the locker rooms where the rest of the remaining Gryffindor team were waiting. When the twins took Harry off of George's shoulder and put him on a bench the sudden change woke up the Seeker.

"What's this all about then?" Harry asked after he'd taken in his surroundings.

"We need a new captain," Fred said simply

"We also need a new Keeper, what's that got to do with you waking me up four hours after my Astronomy lesson?"

"We need to vote in private," Alecia said.

"Fine," Harry grumbled.

Katie handed out sheets of paper as George explained, "You put your vote on this then put it in Katie's hat. Winner wins,"

They all voted and George began reading over the votes, half way through he looked up, "Harry, try again," he said before putting all but one of the slips back in the hat.

Harry, now awake, thought over who would make the best Captain and decided on the two least likely to make him repeat this experience, Fred and George, they could be co-captains. Harry wrote down his vote and put the names in the hat.

Fred began reading over the names in the hat and when he finished he said, "Well except for one extremely wise vote, every vote went to one person, our new captain is Harry,"

Harry nearly collapsed, but seeing as he was already sitting he settled for sputtering," But..but..I can't be captain, I'm the youngest player here,"

"Votes seal it Harry, you are our new captain,"

"You get the honor of finding us a new Keeper,"

"Bugger," Harry muttered.

***

It was decided before they left the locker room that the Keeper tryouts would be held two weeks from that Sunday. That being decided the team broke off and went about their own business. Harry headed to the Kitchen with Fred and George, as they had missed breakfast already. When they had tickled the pear and opened the painting they were immediately surrounded by about fifty House-elves asking what they wanted to eat. After making their requests Harry and the twins found a seat and began eating.

"So does Ron have new Dress Robes?"

"Funny you should ask," Fred began

"Because our git of a investor all but forced us to get some for the little bugger," George finished.

" Making good use of the rest of the money?"

"Of course we are, aren't we Fred,"

"Of course,"

Harry couldn't help but smile. They sat talking about some of the items that Fred and George had come up with over the summer and how they could put them to use against the Slytherins. Just as Harry was about to get up to leave, a voice gave him an even better reason to do so.

"Mr. Harry Potter sir. How are you Mr. Harry Potter sir,"

"Hullo Dobby," Harry replied, "I'm fine, but I was also just leaving. I'll be sure to stop by to see you again sometime soon,"

"Thank you Mr. Harry Potter sir, I would much enjoy that,"

"Bye Dobby, send Winky my greetings,"

"I will..," at this point Harry closed the Fruit painting behind him and bolted.

***

The weekend passed with very little excitement and so did most of the week. Friday evening found Harry, Ron, and Cho under the invisibility cloak heading for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in the out of order girls bathroom.

"Never thought the Chamber would actually come in handy," Harry muttered,

"You know, we could always convert it into a party room," Ron whispered,

At this point they reached the sink that was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry looked at the little snake insignia carved into the pipe and said, "Open," which the sink immediately did. Harry stared down the pipe and suddenly he was back in his second year after rescuing Ginny from the chamber.

*Flash back*

"I'm going to be expelled!," Ginny wept as Harry helped her awkwardly to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and--w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

*End flashback*

Harry stared into the pipe that Ron had just leapt into. Funny, he thought, she seemed more upset about the consequences than what had happened. But Harry, being Harry pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and jumped into the pipes, shortly followed by Cho.

The tunnel looked identical to how it had looked three years before; uninviting. The three made their way further into the tunnel and towards the chamber itself.

"Bit of paint, a few couches..," Ron got out jokingly.

"Fix the leak," Cho continued for him while eyeing a stream of water.

"Your right, it'd be party central," Harry finished dryly.

They had reached the entrance to the Chamber itself. Harry once again concentrated on the snakelike figures and said "Open," and was once again greeted with results.

"I'm never going to get used to you doing that," Ron commented.

"I don't know," Cho said, "It's kind of cool," Harry grinned and blushed despite himself.

Once in the Chamber they surveyed their surroundings, the Basilisk carcass was still lying in the middle of the room, but aside from that the chamber was calm. The trio found a relatively dry spot to set up and began fishing around in their bags for their potions.

"Now," Cho began, "This potion will transform you into an animal for one hour, we'll have to take it a couple times to build up something similar to muscle memory,"

"Fine," Ron said simply, "Whose going first?"

Harry and Cho both turned to Ron, "What?"

Harry sighed, "Fine! We'll all go at the same time,"

Ron eyed the blue potion in his hand for a second, "Are you sure this stuff'll work right,"

Cho glared at him, "I think I know my potions well enough,"

"Alright," Harry called, "Bottoms up," and then they all downed their potions.

Harry felt his insides changing and he also felt like his skin was crawling around on his body. His back legs shortened and bent and he fell forward on to his front legs. The room seemed to brighten and the stench from the Basilisk carcass began to grow, he could hear three heartbeats beating in his ears, he moved and his muscles rippled. Suddenly he spotted a red bird flopping around on the ground and suddenly he heard a voice in his head saying, 'Food,' Harry began creeping silently towards his prey and then he thought, Why do I want to eat an owl?

Because its food, the first voice said.

But, its an owl, and its not cooked.

Eat.

Harry suddenly realized that this was similar to the imperius curse and began fighting it more actively until he had complete control again, until he turned the other way and saw Cho. He somehow knew that he was looking at Cho even though she was in the form of a tiger with a black body and white stripes, and the voice was once again fighting its way to the surface.

Mate, it said.

No! Harry thought back, let her be.

But this time the instinct was stronger and his resolve was weaker. He could see Cho moving towards him too. She purred at him and he purred back and he found that he could understand the tiger's language.

Guess I know what I am too, Harry's human mind thought wryly before completely being drowned out.

***

Harry woke up and realized that he was curled up next to someone else. He instantly shot up waking the sleeping Cho. Harry was very much confused.

"Dun worry, you two didn't do anything," Harry turned to see Ron leaning against the wall, "You just snuggled up and went to sleep. It was cute in a terrifying tigers sleeping under a frightened owl sort of way,"

"I lost control twice there," Harry said, "First when I wanted to eat the owl..I was able to fight that off like the imperius curse, but...,"

"Don't worry," Cho finally spoke, "Once we're actually Animagus the instincts won't be as powerful. The potion makes it so we are the animals and the human part is just along for the ride. When you're an Animagus you're a human in the body of a animal, the instincts are there, but just as buried as they are in most humans,"

"So you two are big old black tigers, the most mysterious feline species known to the wizarding world and I'm a regular old red barn owl," Ron complained.

"At least you can fly," Harry commented.

"Great, I can fly around while you jump up and snatch me up in your jaw and crush me to death," Ron grumbled.

"Sounds about right," Cho grinned wickedly.

"Haha," Ron said dryly, "So we come back here tomorrow and Sunday?"

Cho nodded, "Then we should be able to do it without the potion, but it will still be awhile before we can change without major concentration,"

"How long?"

"Depends," Cho said, "Anywhere from two weeks to a year,"

"Oh great,"

***

The next two nights of transformations went much more smoothly than the first and they discovered on Sunday after the hour was up, if the concentrated hard enough they could become their animals. Monday morning Harry woke up ready for Transfiguration, he shoveled down his breakfast and then took off for the Transfiguration classroom, causing many students to snap their necks to the side as he went at a fast pace.

He found that he was the third student to arrive. Ron and Sayouri were already there immersed in conversation that Harry was sure if he was close enough to hear would sound a hell of a lot like flirting. Harry smiled and waited at the end of the hallway for class to start so as not to disturb his friend. After awhile he got bored, as he was extremely early, so he started concentrating on the black tiger's hearing. He soon found success as he could hear heartbeats coming from all the rooms around him and more importantly he could hear the conversation going on down the hall.

"So you live in London?" Ron asked.

"Yep," Sayouri replied happily.

"But not in Diagon Alley?"

"I live about a mile from there...in a muggle neighborhood,"

"Are you a muggleborn then?" Ron asked curiously,

"No not really, would it bother you if I were?"

"Nope,"

"Should have known. You're a good guy Ron,"

Harry could practically hear the grin on Ron's face, but at this point he heard the Transfiguration classroom door opening and decided to return his ears to normal and get to class.

***

Transfiguration had moved on to the normal routine of turning things into animals, today they were covering changing people. Harry and Ron instantly teamed up, Ron shooting a apologetic look at Sayouri and mouthing, "I'll explain later," she nodded and paired up with another Ravenclaw. Harry and Ron spent the class pretending to cast the spell they were being taught, but really just practicing their Animagus transformation. It seemed that McGonagal was buying it as she gave them five points for Gryffindor each.

Unfortunately she then had them pair up with other people to demonstrate to the others how they pulled off the perfect casting of the spell. Ron and Harry were only decent at the actual spell so this took a lot of work, but they pulled it off and were able to get everyone in the class house points for their "spell casting,"

***

In Divination they were covering the fortune telling skill of MASH. Ron had so far discovered what he'd figured since forever, he'd be poor, with hand-me-down stuff, and tons of kids, he hadn't yet discovered who the mother of those kids would be yet, but it was looking likely that it wouldn't be his first choice.

Harry on the other hand had discovered that he'd be rich with one kid and he would marry someone, but he didn't know who as he had landed on the one of the above option. Which meant that if he believed in fortune telling he would end up with either Cho or some one else. He wasn't being very creative at the moment.

Harry was soon, as usual in a half sleeping state.

***

In Care of Magical Creatures Hagrid said he was going to introduce them slowly to the next Creatures they would be studying and then handed them a sheet of paper with some information, Harry grinned when he looked down and read;

Basic Edicate When Dealing With Black Tigers

Harry went up to Hagrid and said with a big grin on his face, "Good choice Hagrid. Wonderful creatures," Hagrid beamed at Harry before turning back to the rest of the group and telling off Dean and Seamus for not paying attention before complimenting them on the model Hippogriffs they had been working on. He was so busy examining the models that he didn't notice Dean and Seamus having a sword fight with their wands until one of them shot off a beam of light which headed towards Harry. Harry reacted by instinct time seemed to slow down as his eyes turned yellow and narrowed. His reaction time heightened Harry dodged out of them way and then rolled coming out of it with his wand pointed at where the spell had come from. Everyone except Ron was staring at him in amazement, Ron was staring at him in plain disbelief.

After class Ron walked over to Harry and whispered at him, "That's the least concentrated I've seen you when you're transforming,"

"Instinct," Harry whispered back, "Kinda cool, even if its not a full transformation,"

"Yeah," Ron said

***

At dinner Cho walked over to the Gryffindor table and whispered in Harry's ear, "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Harry supressed a grin, not wanting to assume too much, "Sure, what are friends for?"

"Thanks Harry," Cho said and leaned down a gave him a light kiss on the lips. Harry's face turned as red as Ron's hair, but he managed to not stutter when he said, "Wow!"

***

A/N: I tried to take my friends suggestion and make this Chapter 4 times longer than the last, but it seemed like I'd just be making 2 chapters into one if I went one much longer.