Hogwarts Year 2
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
With two weeks until school started back Harry, Hermione and Neville were going to take the animagus potion to see what, if anything, they might become. The trio, Sirius, Remus, and Lucy went to a stone chamber in the dungeon of the Potter Manor. Dan and Emma Granger, along with Rick, would stay upstairs so as not to distract the kids.
When they entered the basement chamber Harry immediately noticed that there were three mattresses on the floor, spaced around the room.
"Okay kids, here we are, the mattresses are for you three to lie on, which is better than James and I had when we did this. We had to lie on the cold floor old in an old shack", Sirius said as they entered. "Now each of you kids pick a mattress. As you can see there are three of you, three of us and of three mattresses so, I will stay by Harry, Remus will stay with Neville, and Lucy will stay with Hermione", Sirius continued.
"This potion was difficult to make, but once made it should be stable for some months, so we have extra on hand if needed. In addition, I have brought a mild calming potion for each of you to use. Remus will explain what will happen and how this will go as he is the most qualified in Transfiguration, which is where animagus transformation is based", Lucy added as she joined Hermione on one of the mattresses.
"I assume you three have done your homework and read the books and pamphlets Sirius gave you. I also assume you have been practicing your centering and relaxation techniques. What will happen is this; you will drink half of the calming potion then lie down on your mattress and relax. Once the potion has taken effect you will drink the second potion, the animagus revealing potion and hopefully you will see your form. The adults are here to make sure that you three stay safe. On rare occasions when you find your form the potion changes you immediately into that form. This doesn't happen often but it has been known to happen, if your form was say a fish then you might die since you aren't in water. We are here to cast the reversal spell if that happens so that you will be forced back into your natural form. Once the effects of the potion are over, and it only lasts about an hour, you will be sleepy and need a short nap. Now are there any questions before you start?" Remus explained.
There were no questions so each kid was handed a small potion vial and told to drink half. Harry could tell this was made by Lucy as it had a slight mint taste to it. After a few minutes the kids were given the second potion vial and told to drink all of it down quickly as it didn't taste very good. Next they were given a small amount of juice to counteract the foul taste and told to go into their meditative state so the potion could do it work.
Harry centered himself and soon found that he was in a meadow and he could see a blanket on the ground in the middle of the field. He walked over and sat down on the blanket, he felt very much at peace right now. Harry had only been sitting there a few minutes when a fairly large bird landed on the end of the blanket. The bird was bright red but had white tips on its wings and a long tail. As Harry studied the bird, the bird seemed to be studying Harry. Soon the bird moved closer and started to sing, the sound was very relaxing and seemed to encourage Harry to touch the bird. As Harry reached out towards the bird it came closer and ducked its head so Harry could stroke its feathers, the bird was soft and very warm; as Harry stroked it the bird seemed to merge with Harry. Suddenly Harry was seeing things from a different view, the colors were brighter and he seemed closer to the ground than a minute before. Harry jumped and found himself in the air flying, he was the bird!
Harry landed and blinked only to find himself back to normal with the bird sitting on his right shoulder making that soft thrill sound that was so relaxing. Harry felt, more than heard, something beside him and when he looked he saw a very large snake slither up beside him. The snake was swaying to the "music" of the bird and Harry could hear it saying something in snake language:
You are I,
I are you.
Touch me,
We are two.
Harry slowly reached out to touch the snake; the feeling was cool and slick, but dry. As he stroked the snake it flattened out it "neck" and formed a hood, this was a Cobra – a King Cobra! Suddenly he was seeing things differently, the colors were muted. He looked and saw the bird sitting in front of him but couldn't hear it; but he felt the vibrations as it sang, this made him feel safe and calm. He blinked and once again he was sitting on the blanket with the bird on his right shoulder and the snake's head coming up over his left shoulder.
Then Harry woke up to see Sirius looking very scared and pointing his wand at him. Harry hurt all over, he felt as if he had been twisted all about, wrung out like a wet towel. Then Harry fell over and went to sleep.
Hermione found her center quickly and then found herself standing in a forest at night, she could see the moon big and bright over head and in a tree next to her she could see a large owl sitting on a low branch. As she studied the owl it seemed to study her. Then it suddenly took flight and circled around Hermione landing on her outstretched arm. Hermione brought her arm closer and tried to stroke the bird, it was soft and warm in spite of its "ruffled" looks. The "ruffled" looks reminded Hermione of her own hair when she had been out in the wind. As she stroked the bird she found herself sitting on a branch in the tree and things looked very differently, it seemed a little brighter and she could hear many insects chirping nearby. "I'm an owl!" Hermione heard herself jumped from the branch and took flight, this felt great. Soon she landed only to find herself in human form sitting on the same low branch she had first seen the owl, which was sitting on her right shoulder and was slightly heavy. Hermione found herself waking up and seeing Lucy squatting in front of her smiling, and then Hermione fell over and went to sleep.
Neville had a little trouble centering himself but eventually found himself walking through a forest. He came upon a large tree and noticed a hole at the base; he saw a head poking out the hole and heard a hissing sound mixed with a growl. The next thing Neville knew he was awake and Remus was looking at him, then Neville fell over, asleep.
Harry woke up, again, and looked around. He saw Hermione asleep on a mattress to his right and saw Neville asleep on another mattress kind of to his left. Sirius was sitting at his feet and still had his wand out and loosely pointed at him. Harry heard Hermione moan and when he looked in that direction he saw her waking up and stretching. Soon Neville was awake also and all three were given some water to drink, Harry wondered why he was so thirsty.
"Sirius why did you have your wand pointed at me?" Harry asked as soon as he could get his voice back, his throat was very dry.
Sirius just sat there and stared at him for a few seconds before answering, "Harry you remember what Remus said about sometimes that potion could force a change before you were ready?" Harry nodded and Sirius continued, "Well you experienced that effect and I had to force you back into your human form. Harry you were a very large snake and to be honest you scared the crap out of me".
"But Sirius, I was a bird first. Did that scare you too?" Harry asked.
"Harry, the bird didn't scare me. You were a bird for a few minutes then changed back as I was about to make you change. Then suddenly you were a big, very big, snake and that scared the crap of me. You reminded me of one of those snakes you see in India that the so called 'snake charmers' play with. But you were at least 2 meters long and as big as your leg. I'm not sure if I changed you or if you changed yourself, since you changed back to human form just as I cast that spell", Sirius replied and sounded shaken.
The six of them sat around and each one of the kids told what they had experienced. Hermione went first and afterward everyone congratulated her on her form. Neville went next and was disappointed that he didn't see his form but did explain what he had seen. Remus told him sometimes that happened and they would have to try again sometime when he was more able to center himself. Then it was Harry's turn to tell what he experienced. When he finished Hermione and Neville both just stared at him, along with all the adults (Sirius still looked scared).
Harry, are you sure you saw two forms? That is almost unheard of, of course Merlin was rumored to have more than one form but we don't really know for sure. Maybe you just needed to choose which form", Remus said.
"Mooney, I saw him change into two different animals. One was a bird, but the second was a very large snake that scared the crap out of me. I'm still not sure if he changed himself or if I forced him to change back", Sirius jumped in to say.
"Harry only you would have two forms. We need to look and see if we can identify our exact forms. I for one would like to know what type of owl I might become, and I'm sure you want to know what type bird and or snake you are. Can you use magic while you are in an animal form? That would be hard to combat if you weren't expecting it", Hermione said with a smile.
Remus explained that he wasn't sure about using magic while in an animal form but they could ask McGonagall since she was the only other animagus he knew who might know that answer. But he reminded the kids to keep this a secret as if it was found out they would be required to register their forms and then everyone would know. If they kept it a secret then they would have an advantage over any death eaters who tried to cause problems. The six of them went back upstairs to see the other three adults and to let them know everything was fine.
Once back upstairs they found Dan and Rick engaged in a chess match and Emma reading a Dentist trade journal. Everyone quit what they were doing to talk with the kids and find out what had happened. Hermione announced that she was an owl, Neville seemed embarrassed that he hadn't found his form yet, and Harry just mentioned that he was a bird of some kind he purposely didn't mention his second form, that was a secret,for everyone that had been in the basement for now. The nine of them talked for a while but soon it was plain that the three kids were very tired With Neville and Hermione spending the night the three said their good nights and trudged up to bed
Albus Dumbledore was confused; he couldn't understand how the ICW had found so many things wrong with his Hogwarts. He now had to replace three instructors, maybe four if Severus couldn't improve his teaching methods,the instructors had been hand picked by Dumbledore with the proper training of Harry Potter in mind. And speaking of that boy,what to do about Harry Potter. The plan had been that Harry was supposed to be so beaten down that he would readily accept what the Headmaster said. This was not how it was working at all. Maybe another cup of Chamomile tea would serve to help him relax and get a good night's sleep. He would deal with all this in the morning, now where did he put that headache potion?
Luna was still trying to get used to it, she was the heir of Ravenclaw and even better then that she had friends, real true friends! She had not had any friends for such a long time; Ginny Weasley used to be her friend and was acting more like a friend again but Luna didn't know what to think about all, and to top it all off she could summon – no, call – a Water Elemental. She would have to spend more time with Neville and her other friends so she could learn more about being an heir and how to work with her Elemental.
The next morning Harry, Hermione, and Neville had just finished breakfast and and started discussing the pros and cons of going flying, but a quick look out the window and it was decided that with the snowstorm going on outside no flying would be happening that morning since too dangerous. Remus suggested to the disappointed teens that they spend part of the day working on their animagus transformations instead of flying. It would take a while to master the transformation and be safe. Remus told the threesome that until they had permission from both their guardians and him they were not to try anything on their own, it was too dangerous.
The five of them, Harry, Hermione, Neville, Sirius, and Remus got together in one of the sitting rooms to work on the new skill. The first thing was to identify the correct animal that they could/would become after the transformation. It took a while but Neville finally found a picture of the animal he had seen under the potion, it was a Pine Marten. Hermione finally identified her owl form as a Long-eared Owl. It took even longer for them to find Harry's bird form; it turned out it was a Phoenix – which is a magical creature – and that it was very rare for someone to have a magical form. Harry had found a good picture of his other form, a King Cobra, but kept that bit of information to himself for now.
The next step was to be able to visualize their form clearly in their minds, so clearly that they could focus on one part of their body at a time. The next step would be to change a part of their human form to match their animal form, usually a foot or hand first. This would be harder for Harry and Hermione since their arms would become wings and their feet would be smaller, much smaller. Sirius showed them how to start by changing just his right hand into a paw and back.
Harry was able to change his right arm into a wing, which looked weird, and had a little difficulty changing it back. Hermione tried to change a foot but couldn't do it. Not being able to do something well on the first or third try upset Hermione but Sirius said it took some people longer to get the knack of changing their bodies than others. Surprisingly Neville changed his hand with little problem, until it was time to change back; Remus had to help him out.
After lunch Luna called and asked if it would be okay to come over, Harry told her to step through. Luna was surprised when she learned what the threesome had been up to that morning and wanted to try it. Remus told her she needed to be able to center herself first, and was surprised when Luna did the centering almost instantly. Remus said to give him a little time to get everything prepared for Luna but in the mean time the four decided to go downstairs and let Luna practice calling her elemental and showing her some of the spells they had learned.
~o~o~o~
Ginny was sitting in her room looking over some of the gifts she had gotten and decided to write in her diary. The next thing she knew it was an hour later and her mother was calling her downstairs to help in the kitchen. What had happened to that hour was Ginny's question to herself.
At Hogwarts Dumbledore called for Severus but received no answer. Thinking that maybe Tom wasn't too far off with his dark mark being able to call his Death Eaters at a moments notice he called one of the house elves and was told him Prof. Snape had gone out about an hour before and had not returned yet. Dumbledore was annoyed at this Severus knew that "for his own good" Dumbledore required him to let Dumbledore know when Snape was leaving the property. After all Dumbledore wouldn't want anything to happen to his potions master now would he. Snape had left earlier that morning to visit with his godson, Draco Malfoy, to see if he could convince him to curb his actions toward Potter, before Draco ended up seriously hurt or worse. When Snape returned to Hogwarts he was told that Dumbledore was looking for him and went to see was what needed, probably another potion.
"Severus, my boy, I hope your holiday is going well. As you know I met with the board of governors the other day and they had a few requests, a couple of which concern you. They were disturbed by the report from the ICW team and wanted some of the problems addressed quickly. You were caught using Legilimency on students by the ICW team; you must to be more careful with that. Also, the board has received several reports that you continue to show favoritism to your own house and penalize the other houses, this has to stop also. And finally, you must start explaining potion making and not just putting the recipe on the board and expecting the students to get it correct. The board is going to put someone in your class to monitor it, if these things aren't changed then they will force me to get rid of you at the end of the year – if not sooner", Dumbledore explained.
Severus Snape was not prepared for these developments. Dumbledore had always protected him and allowed him to teach the way he felt most comfortable. Now he was being told that these things had to change and quickly or else he would lose his job and his home but most importantly without Dumbledore protecting him he might end up dead or worse in Azkaban.
Prof. McGonagall was relaxing in her quarters with a nice cup of tea and thinking about what the board had demanded of the Headmaster and wondered how he was going to get out of this one. She had been aware of the problems caused by Severus, had never had any use for Trelawney as she didn't think Divination was a real subject, and had wondered about Binns for some time, since he was still teaching the same lessons she had been forced to sit through as a student. The only difference was he was rumored to have been alive when he was teaching at that time. Lockhart was a real waste of time; she had monitored a few of his classes in her animagus form and knew Lockhart wasn't teaching anything worthwhile. McGonagall's thoughts drifted to the three Gryffindors, Harry, Hermione, and Neville; those three were miles ahead of their class and really should skip a year, or two, so they could be challenged more. The ICW would agree to this as would the board of governors but Dumbledore would throw up such road blocks and make this so difficult for the trio that maybe allowing them to stay where they were would be less stressful for them. McGonagall sighed and peered deeply into her tea for answers that just might be floating just below the surface.
~o~o~o~
Spending a good portion of the afternoon practicing calling their elementals and with Luna being shown several new spells they took a break to have a snack. It was during this break that Luna asked what it meant to be the heir of Ravenclaw, what would she have to do once back at school? Harry told her the first thing to do was to locate the Ravenclaw quarters and that most likely she would be the only one allowed inside until she had claimed her rights. Harry gave her a brief rundown of what he had to do when he found the Gryffindor quarters. After their snack and talk Luna was introduced to Occlumency and she was a natural. Lucy and Rick even came in to test all the kids and were very surprised at Luna's level. It was noted that Luna needed to practice more so she could keep her shields up all the time,especially in potions and around Snape. Privately Lucy and Rick felt that Luna needed to keep her shields up around Dumbledore also, especially with Luna's new strong friendship with Harry Hermione and Neville. But neither felt it was appropriate to say anything to the young lady about that just yet.
It was while testing Harry that Rick got his biggest surprise; he got pulled into that dark area in Harry's mind and couldn't find his way out until Harry released him. Lucy had some trouble also, but finally got inside Hermione's mind only to find herself in a maze until she could pull out of that mind-scape. Rick tried Neville, after a rest from Harry's tricks, and found a wall of plants that attacked him every time he tried to go anywhere. Lucy tested Luna and found herself surrounded by strange creatures she had never seen before and then was confronted by a wall of stone that surrounded her. These kids had very good shields, especially Harry - his were just plain scary according to Rick.
A/N: Okay next up back to school and Luna finding the Ravenclaw quarters and the connecting door/hallway to Gryffindor's quarters. Do you think the kids will quit trying their animagus forms once back at school?
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