A/N- Here's part 1 of the second training session. I'm having a little contest for this story, the details are at the end of the chapter. -Phoenix
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office feeling a mixture of both anger and satisfaction. True, he hadn't been able to talk Harry out of staying with the Longbottom boy, but he had managed to secure a way to keep tabs on them.
The mirror that he had given Harry was very useful. He now had the method to check in on Harry whenever he wanted. And if there was one instant where it looked like Harry was hurt, he could contact the Aurors and take Harry away from Longbottom Manor.
Dumbledore looked at the clock on his wall and smiled slightly. The party had ended ten minutes ago, plenty of time for Harry to make it to Longbottom manor. Even if the mirror wasn't hanging yet, he could still eavesdrop in on the conversations without showing up in the other mirror.
He walked up to the mirror and tapped his wand to the glass. "Spy," he commanded.
The mirror glowed white before a picture began to show. Dumbledore smiled at his own brilliance. It was impressive spellwork to get the mirror to work only one way and still have the other mirror only work the way that it had been intended.
The picture finished forming and Dumbledore felt his face flush in anger. The picture that he was looking at was a very clear view of a kitchen that was filled with house elves working.
"Why is my mirror in a kitchen?" Dumbledore demanded. "Harry was meant to hang it in his bedroom!"
A house elf that was passing by the mirror stopped and looked right at it.
"Excuse me sir," the house elf squeaked. "But those eavesdropping charms do not work on house elves. Mistress Longbottom has given her house elves permission to destroy the mirror if Sir continues to spy and bother Master Neville and his friend Mister Harry."
Dumbledore flushed even more. "Why is the mirror in the kitchen?"
The house elf giggled into her hand. "Mistress Longbottom thought that the mirror looked nice in the kitchen."
"I demand that this mirror be moved into Harry's room," Dumbledore raged.
The house elf immediately stopped giggling and glared at Dumbledore. "Tippy does not serve Mister Dumbledore," she said in a cold tone that Dumbledore hadn't thought possible of an elf. "Tippy serves the Ancient House of Longbottom, and will proudly do anything that her master's ask. And Mistress asked to keep the mirror in the kitchen. Tippy warns you now, if Tippy or any other elf catches you spying on Mistress' home again, Mister will find that his mirror will be moved to a location with a displeasing view."
Without waiting for a reply, Tippy turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Feeling angrier than ever, Dumbledore deactivated the mirror. Fuming, he stomped up to his fireplace and threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fire and stuck his head in the emerald flames.
"Longbottom Manor," he yelled angrily.
Taking care not to inhale any ash, Dumbledore waited to be answered. He saw that he was in a study; Augusta's if he was correct. He frowned irritably when he saw that it was empty.
"Augusta," he called as calmly as he could.
He could faintly hear footsteps outside of the door. He gritted his teeth impatiently until the door finally opened and Augusta walked in.
"My dear lady," he said angrily. "Would you care to tell me why the mirror that I gave Harry is currently hanging in your kitchen?"
Augusta didn't flinch. She straightened her hat and grinned. "Harry thought that it looked good in the kitchen."
"I gave him that mirror so that I could communicate with him," Dumbledore said sharply. "You obviously do not care for his safety, but I do. I insist that the mirror be placed in Harry's room."
Augusta glared at Dumbledore. "You do not order me around Dumbledore," she said quietly. "You will see Harry at school, but until then you will not communicate here. I will ban you from my Floo Network and I will not reveal the location of my home to you."
"Madam," Dumbledore gasped.
Augusta wasn't done. She leaned forward, as far as her old back would go, and sneered at Dumbledore. "I will not be manipulated by you anymore. Harry is safe here, and that is all that you need to know. If you continue to harass me and my family, I will destroy your mirror. Rest assured that hideous coin will not be tossed outside with the garbage. That is all that I will tell you."
Without another word, Augusta stepped back and locked the Floo Network with a wave of her wand. She stood up and brushed off her robes in satisfaction.
"Tippy," she called while she finished locking Dumbledore out of her Floo Network.
The door opened and the small house elf walked in. After bowing down to Augusta, she stood up and smiled. "Tippy finished Mistress' request."
Augusta smiled widely. "So that wretched coin will not be a bother? Dumbledore failed to mention that as long as Harry wore that coin, Dumbledore could activate the portkey himself and bring Harry to him."
Tippy giggled. "Tippy secured the coin around a garden gnome. No bad wizards will be able to use the coin, but if Mister tries to summon Mister Harry then he will get a surprise."
"Good job Tippy," Augusta said while struggling not to laugh. "Hopefully by the time Dumbledore realizes that Harry doesn't possess the coin, they'll be done in the trunk."
After entering the trunk, the first thing that they all did was sit around the dining table to discuss their plans. Hermione had her muggle notebook in front of her and she had a pen poised and ready to take notes.
Harry sat at the head of the table with the journal that Remus had given him sitting in front of him. The journal was open, but Harry was hesitant to activate the revealing charm.
"You might as well do it," Kex said.
Harry nodded sadly. "I know it's just that this is my father's legacy. I'm just nervous."
Kex nodded in understanding. "But think of it this way. You'll be closer to your father than ever. Remus gave this to you for a reason, don't pass it up."
After a couple more deep breaths, Harry tapped his holly wand to the pages. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said clearly.
Immediately ink began to appear on the pages and arranged into words. Harry noticed that the notes seemed to be written by more than one person and seemed to mostly cover Transfiguration and dueling spells.
Hermione, who couldn't resist and started looking over Harry's shoulder, gasped in excitement. "Harry those are some very useful spells and these notes show how to maximize their effects. The Marauders really knew their stuff. I'm worried though, Wormtail is sure to know these tricks as well."
Harry scoffed. "Wormtail is a pitiful wizard. That's why he clung to my dad. Even if Wormtail does know these tricks, I bet that we can easily overpower him. Remus told me to check out page 103, I guess now is as good a time as any."
Taking care not to rip the old pages, Harry continued to flip the pages until he saw a messy 103, scribbled in the corner. Harry read the page and he felt his mouth form a sly grin.
"What does it say Harry?" Hermione asked excitedly.
Harry grinned at her and gently pushed the journal towards her. The girl bent over the table and read the journal. Soon her grin was just as big as Harry's. Ivy climbed onto the table with Hermione and shrugged indifferently.
"We're going to be in here for almost three years," Hermione began excitedly.
"And we know how to process works now," Harry continued.
Hermione began reading through more pages. "It is illegal though," she said a little doubtfully.
Harry scoffed. "The ministry is run by idiots. If it gives us an advantage, I say we go for it."
Neville and Luna watched the exchange in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?" Neville demanded and Sage barked in agreement.
"Sorry guys," Harry laughed. He took the journal from Hermione and passed it down to Neville and Luna.
At the top of page 103, in what they called the Marauder's Handbook, Animagus was written boldly. Neville gawked at the notes, but Luna didn't seem too surprised.
"These are step-by-step instructions on how to become an Animagus," Neville gasped. "Harry, do you realize how dangerous this could be? If we screw it up we could seriously hurt ourselves."
Harry took the journal back and continued to flip through the notes. "Everything they wrote is incredibly detailed. Sirius said that it took them close to three years to do this, but they were figuring it out themselves. If we follow their instructions carefully we should be fine. And since we're going to be training for close to three years, we should be able to accomplish it." He paused and looked at his three friends with a serious expression. "If you guys don't want to do this, that's fine. But, I'm going to use every advantage that I can get."
Neville and Luna exchanged a quick glance. Neville still looked unsure while Luna looked interested.
"I'm going to go for it," Hermione said.
She took the journal from Harry and waved over every page of Animagus notes with her ash wand before waving the wand over the blank pages of her notebook. The notes copied in the notebook and filled up five full pages. When the notes were done copying, Hermione gently tore out the pages and performed another copying charm, making another three copies of the five page notes. When the notes were done copying, she waved her wand again and each pile of notes bound together as if they were tied with an invisible thread.
When Hermione looked pleased with the work, she holstered her wand and handed out the copies and gave Harry the original.
"This way we can each look over the process without having to bother you," she explained. "I charmed the pages so that they won't tear and they can't be separated."
Harry beamed at Hermione. "That's great. So I guess we should come up with a schedule now so we can start tomorrow."
Hermione nodded in agreement and grabbed her pen. "I think we should still start with physical fitness and weapons."
"Agreed," everyone said.
Neville looked thoughtful. "We should work on more than just fighting. What if we worked on Potions and other more passive forms of magic?"
Hermione looked thoughtful. "The Potter Library does have a vast collection. But we'll have to have a very diverse schedule to accommodate so many different topics. If we do physical training every day of the week and work on topics in the afternoon…"
They waited quietly while Hermione muttered to herself and wrote furiously in her notebook. Every now and then Ivy would bark a comment and Hermione would cross through something. After ten minutes of planning, Hermione looked very pleased. She used the copy charm again and passed out a copy of the schedule to everyone.
Harry groaned a little when he read the schedule. It read:
7-9: Physical Training
9-11: Weapons Training
11-12: Lunch
12-2: Spellwork + Dueling
2-4: Topics
4-5: Animagus
5-6: Dinner
6-7: Occlumency
"Geez Hermione," Harry groaned. "This schedule is even more brutal than Master Zux's was."
Hermione grinned. "We have a lot of work to do. It won't seem too bad after a while. We'll take it easy at first and add on to the workload as we go on."
Luna was looking at the schedule with interest while Neville paled. "What is Topics?" she asked.
"Topics are things that would be covered in school," Hermione said with a grin at Neville. "Monday and Wednesday we'll work on Potions and as much Herbology as we can while in the trunk. Tuesday and Thursday we'll go over Transfiguration and Magical Creatures as much as we can. Friday we can work on whatever we feel needs more work. I feel that these topics are the most important, but I would also like to work on Runes a little bit whenever we can."
Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Are we only working Monday through Friday Mione'?"
Hermione nodded. "We'll need the weekends to fully recover. Does this schedule look alright to you three?"
Everyone nodded and moved to stand up when Sage growled something. Harry and Hermione looked at Neville confusedly.
"He wants to know what they're supposed to do," Neville said. "He has a point. We're going to be working hard to train, why can't they?"
"Can you guys do magic?" Harry asked Kex.
"I'm not sure," Kex admitted. "It's not like we have anyone explaining it to us."
Harry closed his eyes in concentration. "Ragnok said that true familiars can apparate when taken away, but I don't remember what else. It was over seven months ago to me."
"I'll do some research," Hermione promised the familiars. "But until I find anything, you guys can work with us. It would be useful if you could sneak up on an opponent of ours and attack. And when we work on topics, we can activate a training dummy and you guys can practice on that."
Sage looked happy with the answer, as did the other familiars.
Everyone suddenly felt very exhausted after their day. "I vote we go to bed," Harry said. "Tomorrow's the first day of training and I for one don't want to fall asleep in the middle of it. We have a lot of work to do."
Four months into training everyone had improved immensely. The first two weeks of training had been completely brutal for everyone. Dobby and Winky had more on their plate between cleaning and repairing after their training sessions (especially failed potions) and taking care of injuries.
The two elves had managed to add a room to the trunk, which they turned into a potion's lab. The lab had everything that they would need for potions and always made sure that the ingredient pantry was always full. Their current project was making a room with the same properties of a greenhouse for plants for Neville.
Harry and Hermione worked Luna and Neville very hard in physical training. Hermione still preferred swimming to running, but she was trying to do both. During weapons training, when they weren't sparring, everyone worked on their own to further develop their skills.
So far during spellwork, they worked on polishing the spells that they already knew. Thanks to the Marauder's Handbook, they were able to use their spells to their full potential. The handbook was filled with little tips, like how to hold your wand or an easier wand motion.
The familiars worked very hard to get in shape as well. The three mammals would mostly run and swim while Fay flew laps. Out of all of the familiars, Fay had the hardest time. Even though the trunk's apartment was incredibly roomy, it felt very small to her. Fay didn't have enough space to truly work on her flying abilities and her heart ached for the open sky.
Whenever they weren't training they all spent a lot of time in the pool room. It was Fay's favorite room mainly because of the sky. Everyone loved the pool room and it always made Dobby practically burst pride whenever they praised him for all of the hard work that he put into it.
The most difficult thing for the four friends so far was the Animagus training. The very beginning of Animagus training was basically the same as beginning Occlumency. They had to clear their minds, but in Animagus training they also had to tap into their animal instincts. A week into Animagus training, they found that it was easiest to do this while in the pool room. Even though the pool room only mimicked nature, it still made it easier.
The difficult part wasn't clearing their mind; it was tapping into their animal instincts. So far only Hermione had managed to grasp and hold her animal instinct, but that was only for a few minutes at best. Only when they could grasp and hold onto their instinct without losing their grip even for a second, could they move onto the next step.
Because Hermione was already further ahead than anyone else in most of the Topics, she would spend some of the Topic's time in the library. She said that she was researching more about the familiars, but Harry felt that she was hiding something.
The four friends were finishing yet another day of training in the training room when Hermione cleared her throat. Everyone's eyes were on her instantly.
"What is it Hermione?" Harry asked while he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Occlumency training was still difficult for him.
Hermione looked excited. "I finished researching about true familiars."
The familiars immediately matched Hermione's excitement. Only Ivy didn't look surprised, but that was mainly because she had helped with the research.
"What did you find?" Neville asked.
Hermione stood up off of the floor and stretched. "True familiars can't do much magic, they can open doors and unlock things, but other than that they can't do much on their own. But they can be incredibly useful while in battle. When it comes to magic, all they can really do is strengthen our spells. I'm not sure how they do this, but from what I've read the spell's strength can increase by over 50% when aided by a true familiar."
"Brilliant," Harry muttered and Kex nodded in agreement.
"Familiar apparition is something that can only be activated when the need is great," Hermione continued. "I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe that it happens when the familiar is separated from the wizard and both parties feel the separation so much that their bond brings the familiar back. Do you guys remember how on Harry's birthday, Dumbledore tried to cast a Confundus Charm on me?"
Everyone nodded. Ivy looked furious at the memory and had her lips drawn back in a snarl.
"Well when it happened, I felt a pull coming from Ivy," Hermione continued. "I think it was because I truly needed her and she would have apparated right to me if I hadn't managed to cut her off."
"And nearly gave me a heart attack out of worry," Ivy growled.
Hermione smiled apologetically and picked up Ivy and gave her a hug. "I didn't want Dumbledore to see you. Hopefully I won't have to hide you at school."
"Like I'd let you wander Hogwarts without me," Ivy teased.
Hermione giggled and turned her attention back to the others. "I don't know how to control familiar apparition, but from what I can gather both parties need to feel the need."
"Is there anything else?" Harry asked excitedly. The thought of what Kex could do made Harry fidget in excitement.
"I found something called 'Body Merge," Hermione began carefully. She looked a little nervous as did Ivy. "I personally hate the name, but what it is, is when a witch or wizard literally becomes one with his or her familiar."
Harry looked confused. "How do we do that?"
Hermione sighed and put Ivy down on the floor. "From what I've read there are two parts to Body Merge. The Body Merge is difficult, but if done correctly you can literally merge into your familiar's body. It's kind of like apparating your entire essence into your familiar. I haven't managed to do it yet though."
"You've actually tried this?" Neville gasped.
"We have," Hermione said. She looked at Ivy who nodded. Turning back to her friends, Hermione gave them a half-smile. "We've only managed the first part of the Body Merge. We'll show you."
Before they could stop her, Hermione sat down and closed her eyes in concentration. Harry felt a rush of magic come from her, and before he realized what was happening, Hermione collapsed to the floor in a heap.
"Hermione!" Harry, Neville and Luna cried worriedly.
Harry pulled Hermione into his lap and anxiously checked her heartbeat. It was slow, but it was steady.
"Wake up Hermione," Harry said urgently. He turned to Neville and Luna. "Did something go wrong?" he asked desperately.
He felt something poke him. Looking down he saw that it was Ivy. The fennec fox was grinning painfully and seemed a bit unsteady on her feet.
"What went wrong?" he asked Ivy.
Ivy barked something to Kex, whose eyes widened in surprise.
"She says that nothing went wrong," he translated in awe.
"But then why is Hermione unconscious?" Harry demanded.
Ivy continued to grin, and leapt on Hermione's body. Shakily, she stood on her hind legs with her front paws planted on Harry's chest. Harry looked down at the little fox and gasped when he saw a pair of achingly familiar brown eyes staring at him.
"Hermione?" he asked.
Ivy's grin widened and she nodded enthusiastically.
Neville and Luna crawled over with their familiars following. They gasped when they too recognized those eyes.
"So your spirit merged with Ivy's body, but you can't get your body to follow," Luna concluded.
Ivy nodded again and jumped away from Harry. She closed her eyes in concentration and Harry felt the same magic that Hermione had let off moments before. The little fox became unsteady on her feet and sat down roughly, panting slightly.
In his lap, Harry felt Hermione stir. He looked down and smiled when Hermione opened her eyes and gave him a tired smile. Harry returned the smile, but didn't let go of her.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
Hermione blushed and nodded. "It's just a little tiring, but it's much easier than it used to be. Right now all I get is a small headache afterwards."
Without thinking, Harry brushed a gentle hand across her cheek. "Please explain what you're going to do next time," he said gently. "You scared me half to death."
"I will Harry," Hermione responded, just as softly.
They were reminded of everyone's presence when Sage barked in amusement. Blushing like mad, they scrambled away from each other.
Hermione picked up Ivy and gently set her in her lap. "Are you okay Ivy?"
Ivy nodded. "It didn't hurt as much this time," she said happily.
"That's good," Hermione sighed in relief.
Luna made her way so that she was sitting next to Hermione with Fay perched on her shoulder. "So how did you do that?"
Hermione chuckled. "I just sort of followed the bond. I don't really know how to describe it. But I think the reason why I can only move my spirit is because I can't follow the bond completely."
"So you can't really teach us," Luna confirmed.
Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I can't. But I can tell you this: when you start trying it out do it at night and while you're on your bed. It's very tiring and it hurts to land on the floor night after night."
Luna laughed and looked Fay in the eye. "I would very much like to fly with you Fay. When we perfect the Body Merge and we finish our time in the trunk, we'll go flying together often."
"I can't wait," Fay screeched happily.
Hermione suddenly gasped excitedly. "Oh, I almost forgot! I found a way for us to understand each other's familiars!"
Harry saw Luna flinch slightly in the corner of his eye, but he didn't make anything of it. "That's great! How do we do it?"
"A loyalty oath," Hermione laughed. "A true familiar can only be understood by another wizard if that wizard makes a loyalty oath and the familiar's wizard accepts it."
"It's that easy?" Neville asked in amusement. "We could've done that months ago!"
Harry laughed with Neville. "I'll go first then." He held his alder wand in front of his face. "I, Lord Potter-Black, do hereby swear to be loyal and a true friend, to Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood."
Hermione raised her ash wand. "I, Hermione Granger, do hereby accept Lord Potter-Black's oath of loyalty. I also do swear to be loyal and a true friend to Lord Potter-Black, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood."
Neville accepted Harry's and Hermione's oaths and gave his own. Hermione accepted Neville's oath and Harry accepted both Neville's and Hermione's. After they were done they looked at Luna expectantly.
Luna looked nervous and hesitant to speak. After an encouraging chirp from Fay, she took a deep breath and looked at her three friends with an expression that was more serious than they had ever seen on her.
"Before I accept your oaths and make my own," she began. "I wanted to tell you guys something."
"What is it Luna?" Neville asked curiously.
Luna took another deep breath. "I can already understand your familiars because I can speak to animals, magical or not."
Luna closed her eyes and braced herself for her friends to call her Loony or odd. She was so used to being mercilessly made fun of while at school that she had built up a vague appearance as a form of defense. But, when she was with her true friends her defense came down.
If they reject me, it'll break me, Luna thought despairingly.
After a couple of moments Luna couldn't bear it any longer. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and saw that everyone was smiling at her. Neville's smile was the biggest and he reached out and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"We already knew," he said gently. "After you said that you understood Fawkes we figured that you could also understand other animals, including our familiars. But, we wanted to wait for you to tell us."
"You guys don't think I'm Loony?" Luna asked in surprise.
Everyone shook their heads. "We think you're Luna," Harry said happily. "A kind, intelligent and somewhat unorthodox witch. But that's what we love about you. You aren't Loony Lovegood, you're our friend."
Luna felt her eyes fill up with tears. "Thank you," she sniffed. Eyes still watering, she accepted their oaths and made her own.
Everyone accepted Luna's oath happily. After the oaths were finished, they all grinned at each other. They looked at their familiars expectantly.
"I think they want us to say something," Kex said in amusement.
"It appears that they do," Ivy chuckled.
"It's about time that they figured out how to do this," Sage laughed loudly.
"It will be nice to be understood by everyone," Fay said clearly.
Everyone laughed in excitement when they realized that the oaths had worked and they could all understand each other. Their bonds had become that much stronger, and nothing could break them.
The biggest achievement that was made during their training was achieved by none other than Neville Longbottom. They had now been training for close to a year, and Neville had managed to transform his hand into a large paw. They started partial transformations after they each were able to grasp their animal instinct, but it was incredibly difficult.
Neville was so happy that he was the first one to achieve partial transformation that he danced around the pool with Sage right behind him. It turned out that Neville had a great energy and sense of humor, but he was always so shy that it never came across. Now that he had spent so much time with his best friends, he finally felt comfortable showing who he really was.
"I did it," Neville chanted excitedly.
"He did it," Sage barked.
Everyone watched the two in amusement. Luna watched Neville fondly, with a small smile on her face.
"He did it," she whispered to Fay, who was perched on her shoulder.
Fay nodded. "He's come a long way," she whispered back.
Harry was laughing in excitement and stood up to stretch. "That's awesome Nev! Now we know that you're a mammal!"
Neville stopped dancing and came running back to the group. There was sweat pouring down his face and he seemed to be struggling to hold onto the partial transformation. The paw was covered in dark brown fur and was twice the size of Sage's paws.
He held his paw out to Luna, who knew more about animals, magical or not, than even Hermione. "Do you have any ideas Luna?"
Luna blushed slightly and took the paw in her hands. "I don't know exactly what it is, but I can tell you that it isn't feline, the toes are too long and the claws don't look like they can retract."
Neville smiled at Luna's touch. Her fingers were so delicate and gentle that even when brushing against fur it sent shivers up his spine. "Well that narrows it down," he said cheerfully.
Their eyes met and for a moment they both found that they couldn't look away. It was only when Fay gently dug her nails into Luna's shoulder when they broke the contact.
"So," Hermione said a little awkwardly. "Congratulations Neville, this means that you're going to be the leader for this step."
Neville beamed in pride. He never thought that he would be the leader in anything except for perhaps Herbology while they were in the trunk.
"It's just taking what we could already do a step further," Neville began to explain. "You just have to go a little deeper…"
That night after everyone had finished with Occlumency they all split up and went to their rooms to rest early. Hermione was changing into her pajamas after a much needed shower when there was a timid knock on her door.
"Hold on," Hermione called while she finished pulling on a simple blue tank-top over her gray sweatpants.
Ivy was sprawled across the bed and lazily opened one eye. "Don't be long," she yawned. "I'm tired."
Hermione rolled her eyes in amusement. "I won't."
She opened the door to find a nervous Luna standing in the hall. "Can I come in?" she asked softly.
"Of course," Hermione said instantly. She stepped to the side and closed the door behind Luna.
She motioned for Luna to sit down. Luna was so distracted that she almost sat on Ivy. The fox gave an indignant grunt and leapt out of the way to play with Fay.
"What's wrong Luna?" Hermione asked gently. Even though the two girls were very different, they were still best friends and it hurt Hermione to see the desperation and confusion on the younger girl's face.
Luna smiled nervously and looked at Hermione pleadingly. "I think I have feelings for Neville."
Hermione smiled and took Luna's hand in her own. "I kind of figured."
Luna gasped in horror and pulled her hand out of Hermione's. "Does that mean that Neville knows?" she asked despairingly while she buried her face in her hands.
"Luna its okay," Hermione said hurriedly. "I don't think he knows."
"I don't think he knows either," Ivy said while she squirmed her way into Hermione's lap. "He doesn't act like he knows."
Fay clumsily walked over to Luna and gently pecked her arm. "It's nothing to be ashamed about. It's completely normal to find a mate."
Luna looked at Fay in alarm. "A mate? I'm just struggling with some feelings; I'm not planning on marrying him or anything."
Fay gave a little bird shrug. "The ways of humans still confuse me. Everything is so much simpler as an animal."
"I bet," Luna mumbled. She looked up at Hermione. "I don't know what to do. What if this ruins our friendship? It would kill me to lose Neville as a friend. What did you do when you realized that you had feelings for Harry?"
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. Beside her Ivy flinched and looked at Luna. "She didn't realize it yet," she explained.
"You didn't realize your feelings for Harry?" Luna asked disbelievingly. "It's more obvious than my feelings for Neville."
"I d-don't," Hermione stuttered. "I don't have feelings for him!"
Luna giggled and put her hand on Hermione's knee reassuringly. "It's rather obvious. You stay as close to him as you possibly can, you turn as red as a tomato whenever you touch, and whenever you look at him you don't look away until someone talks to you."
Hermione shook her head in denial. "He's my best friend."
"Neville's my best friend," Luna pointed out.
"It-it's different," Hermione said. She got off of the bed and began pacing in front of Luna and their familiars. "I do feel safe when I'm around him, my heart beats faster…"
She started to ramble on about her relationship with Harry and how the thought of there being more both excited and terrified her.
While Luna watched Hermione worry over her feelings for Harry, she began to feel better about her feelings for Neville.
Suddenly Hermione stopped pacing and burst into laughter. Luna and Ivy exchanged confused glances before turning back to Hermione.
"Hermione?" Ivy asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"
Hermione turned to face them and started to clutch her stomach. "I'm okay," she choked out. "I just can't believe that I never noticed it before! I'm supposed to be the brightest witch in my year and I can't even realize that I bloody love Harry Potter!"
Luna stared at Hermione for a few moments before she started laughing with her. "We're quite a pair aren't we?"
Hermione nodded and flopped back on her bed. She hugged Ivy close and tried to control her laughing. "It's not like he would ever return my feelings," she said when she finally managed to stop laughing.
"Don't say that!" Luna protested. "You're an amazing person! You're loyal, intelligent, caring, strong and beautiful. There's no reason why he wouldn't love you back." She smiled when she withheld the fact that Harry already returned her feelings. They'll have to figure that out for themselves, she thought.
The two girls talked about their newfound feelings for their best friends for almost an hour. It wasn't until Ivy let out a huge yawn when they remembered just how exhausted they all were.
"I think it's time we went to bed," Luna said while she held her arm out for Fay to perch. "Thank you for listening Hermione."
Hermione laughed. "Thank you for helping me realize what I had been denying."
The two girls laughed again. They bid each other good night and Luna left Hermione and Ivy alone. Once the door was closed, Hermione sighed deeply and collapsed onto her bed. Without a word, she waved her vine wand and the lights in her room turned off and she fell asleep.
Ivy stayed awake and waited until Hermione was fast asleep. When she was sure, she leapt off of the bed and opened the door with a flick of her tail. After making sure that the hallway was deserted, she quietly trotted down the hall, closing the door behind her with another tail flick. When she made it to her destination, she opened the door and cautiously poked her head inside.
"Kex," she whispered, loud enough for the pine marten to hear, but soft enough so Harry wouldn't.
Even in the darkness of the room, Ivy could see Kex lift his head up from the bed. Without a word, he leapt onto the floor and ran over to the door.
"What is it?" he asked tiredly. "I'm exhausted."
Ivy rolled her eyes and motioned with her tail for Kex to follow her into the hallway. The tired familiar obliged and closed the door behind them.
"I think it's time that we give Hermione and Harry a little push," Ivy said bluntly.
Kex's ears twitched in amusement. He knew exactly what Ivy was talking about. "What's bringing this on?"
"Hermione finally realized just how much Harry means to her."
Kex squealed happily. "Harry knows, but he's still in a little denial. What do you want to do?"
Ivy gave a sly fox-grin. "I have a plan."
The next day was a Saturday and everyone had the day off from training. Everyone's favorite way to enjoy their time off was to sleep in and, in Hermione's case, research.
When Hermione woke up at 8, she rubbed her eyes tiredly and instantly went to her wardrobe to change. She preferred to start her day with a good swim when she could, and Saturday was always the best time. Everyone ended up sleeping in until 10, which gave Hermione plenty of time to swim by herself.
Hermione brushed her teeth before throwing on her bikini. Even though they were dead, her parents would never forgive poor dental hygiene. Once she was ready, she grabbed a towel and made a move to grab her ash wand off of the nightstand.
"Just leave it," Ivy said while she shook herself awake.
"I need to glamour my scars," Hermione said sadly. Hiding her scars had become an instinct. She wasn't ready for her friends to see the scars.
"Everyone always sleeps in on Saturday. You need to get used to wearing your scars with pride," Ivy said harshly. "That's what Master Zux always said."
"Why should I be proud of them," Hermione demanded. "One reminds me how I was too weak at the fight in the Department of Mysteries and the other reminds me of how I couldn't save my parents. What do I have to be proud of?"
Ivy looked at Hermione sympathetically. "You survived," she said simply. "You survived to become stronger. If you can't be proud of those scars, then you should wear them as a reminder of why you're fighting."
Hermione stared at Ivy for a few minutes before she sighed and nodded. "Fine, but I'm covering up for the walk down."
"Okay," Ivy said with a little shrug. "I'm going to head on down then."
Hermione looked over her shoulder in confusion. "If you want."
The fox grinned and left the room, closing the door behind her. She sprinted to Harry's room and opened it slightly. Right away, Kex poked his head out from under the covers and winked at her. Ivy nodded and closed the door and sprinted to the pool.
Hermione joined Ivy a minute later wearing a pair of short jean shorts and a blue tank-top over her bikini. She didn't have either of her wands on her and she looked incredibly nervous. Ivy felt guilty about talking her into swimming without a glamour charm, but she knew that it was necessary.
With a heavy sigh, Hermione took off her shorts and slowly took off her tank-top. She stopped taking her shirt off halfway and looked at Ivy desperately.
"I can't do this," she choked. "I feel so hideous; I shouldn't even be wearing a bikini. I'll ask Winky to get me a one piece suit."
"Don't you dare," Ivy growled. She ran up to Hermione and playfully butted her leg with her head. "You're beautiful, and I'm not the only one who thinks so."
Hermione blushed and nodded. With shaky hands, she slowly pulled her shirt off and threw on top of her shorts before she could change her mind. Once her body was exposed, with only her bikini covering her up, she looked down at her abdomen. She choked back a sob when she saw the long scar that had been the result of Dolohov's curse and the smaller scar that had been left behind by the knife.
After she took a few calming breaths, Hermione began walking to the water's edge. She was about to take a step in when the door behind her burst open.
"Hey Hermione!" she heard Harry call.
She was so shocked that she stood frozen to the spot. Hermione grew pale and started shaking slightly.
He's going to see, she thought despairingly. If I go for my clothes he'll see and if I don't turn to face him, he'll know that something's wrong.
"Hermione?" Harry asked worriedly.
When he saw her shaking he instantly jogged up to her and put a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Hermione flinched at his touch and Harry pulled his hand away, hurt.
"I'm sorry Mione'," Harry said softly. "Do you need a moment alone?"
Hermione almost said yes, but she felt the words get stuck in her throat. Suddenly, realization hit her so hard that it knocked the wind out of her.
I'm tired of hiding, she thought. I'm so tired of hiding.
"Don't go," Hermione said softly that Harry could barely hear her.
Harry nodded and gently put his hand back on her shoulder. "I won't."
While their humans were focusing on each other, Kex and Ivy quietly left the pool room and closed the door behind them.
The two friends stood there in silence for a few moments while Hermione collected herself. Finally she took in a shuddering breath and looked over her shoulder to look Harry in the eye.
"I've been hiding," she admitted softly.
"Hiding what?" Harry asked gently.
Slowly, she turned around with her eyes closed shut. Harry gasped in horror when he saw the long scar that went from her shoulder to her hip. He knew that the knife would leave a scar, but it shouldn't have been that long.
"Your knife wound left that?" Harry gasped.
Hermione looked puzzled for a moment before she realized what he was talking about. "This smaller scar," she said while she pointed at it, "is from the knife. This scar," she said while she traced the long scar with a trembling finger, "is from Dolohov's curse."
Harry felt his heart skip a beat. "I d-didn't know," he stuttered shamefully. "Why did you hide it?"
Hermione hastily tried to wipe away the falling tears. "Because it's hideous," she cried. "I'm hideous."
Harry immediately scowled slightly and pulled Hermione into a hug. The girl squeaked in surprise before she began crying into his shoulder. Harry gently rubbed her back and whispered comforting words into her ear.
"You're not hideous," he whispered over and over. "That scar just shows me how loyal and true a friend you are. You're not hideous."
Hermione shook her head. "I am. It's always going to be there, taunting me, reminding me of how I was too weak."
"Weak?" Harry asked, unsure he had heard correctly. "Mione' you're the strongest person I know!"
"I am?" Hermione choked out.
Harry smiled and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Are you kidding? Not only are you an amazing witch, you're also an amazing person. You're the most important person in my life."
Hermione smiled and leaned her face into Harry's hand. Harry felt his heart start to race. Gulping hard, he gently caressed her face.
Her skin is so soft, Harry thought. I can't believe how soft.
While he looked into her anxious brown eyes, Harry felt like he couldn't look away. Holding her felt right, and seeing the hurt on her face, hurt him too. He touched his forehead to hers and quietly inhaled the scent of her hair. Hermione took in a sharp breath and Harry was afraid that he had gone too far when Hermione lifted her hand and traced Harry's lightning-bolt scar with a delicate finger.
Harry smiled tentatively and grabbed Hermione's hand in his. The spark that he felt when he touched her, the same spark that made him uncomfortable when he first felt it, now felt extremely comforting. It felt right.
At that moment, Harry ignored the warnings that were shouting in his head and listened to his heart. He lifted her chin up with his finger and slowly leaned in. He was past the point of no return, now he just wanted to act.
Their lips met, and instantly they both felt like their whole bodies were on fire. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, but she returned the kiss. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck while he wrapped his arms around her waist. At first their kiss was shy, neither of them wanting to push the other. But, then Hermione slowly deepened the kiss. Harry was more than happy to oblige.
When they came up for air they both gasped in pain. It physically hurt them to be apart. Within seconds, they were kissing again.
After they kissed for another minute, Hermione's mind finally ruled over her body. She stopped the kiss and gently pushed Harry away. It broke her heart to see the hurt in Harry's eyes, but she had to stop before they went too far.
"Harry," she whispered. "What was that?"
Harry smiled and pushed a stray hair behind her ear. "That was me, doing what I've wanted to do for a long time."
Hermione blushed and her breath quickened. "You've wanted to kiss me? Why?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Harry laughed. "You're amazing Mione', I'm just sorry that it took me so long to realize just how amazing. I'm sorry that I pushed myself on you though," he said softly. "I just couldn't stop myself. If you don't return my feelings, I perfectly understand."
Hermione's eyes suddenly filled with tears again and she started crying.
"Oh God," Harry gasped. "Please don't cry Mione', I understand, you don't like me that way."
Hermione shook her head irritably and she looked Harry in the eye. "I'm so stupid."
"Why are you stupid?" Harry asked.
Hermione smiled and kissed Harry softly on the lips. "If I had realized sooner we could have been doing this for much longer."
Harry kissed her back. "Realized what?" he whispered.
Chocolate brown eyes met emerald. Both colors were filled with so much happiness and warmth that it could melt the coldest heart.
"Realized that I love you," Hermione whispered in his ear.
Harry's heart instantly filled up with so much warmth that he thought that it would burst. "I love you too."
A/N- Contest time! I feel like hearing people's theories so I decided to make a little contest. The first person to correctly guess Slytherin's magic gets to pick an Animagus form (within reason) and I will definitely use it in my story. But that doesn't mean that one of the Heirs will have it. There have been clues in the story. Good luck and I look forward to hearing some more theories! -Phoenix