Hogwarts Year 2

Chapter 13

It was finally Easter break, strange how their breaks matched up with muggle religious holidays, and this time it would be a week long. The train ride home offered very little excitement, except Luna getting stuck with a beak for a nose for a few minutes. Hermione quickly took care of that little problem for her. The kids were met at the station by their families and soon everyone was on their way home, with plans already made for them to get together later.

Once back at Potter Manor, Harry informed on what had been going on at school. Harry, Sirius, and Remus spent an hour in the dungeon while Harry showed them how far he had come on his transformation into a Phoenix – both adults were surprised. Harry asked if they had worked with Luna as she too had been able to change forms, Sirius and Remus said they had not. That made things seem strange, how had Luna learned to do the transformation?

It was after lunch the next day when everyone showed up at the manor, Hermione with both of her parents, Luna by herself, and Neville with Augusta. After everyone had arrived and talked for a little while the four kids plus Sirius, Remus, and Lucy went downstairs to work on their transformations. The first thing the adults did was ask Luna how she had managed to learn to transformation into an animal. It seemed that Luna's mother had tried to learn it before her death and Luna had watched her, and had slipped some of the potion her mother had made. Lucy gave Luna one of her potions and they all watched as Luna just drifted off. It wasn't long before Luna changed into an eagle for a few minutes and then back to herself. Luna followed the same trend in that she woke up and went right to sleep.

While Luna slept Lucy mentioned that they needed another adult to watch over Luna, but Remus told her that now that Luna had her form that all that was needed was for someone to watch while he instructed them and that Lucy should watch the girls as Sirius watched the boys. The only problem that Remus could think of was that once they mastered the change fully the first time the kids changed they might end up without clothes when they changed back, this had happened to Sirius and the others when they did the first full transformations. Lucy said she could do that and if the girls did come back naked then she could just conjure them clothes, but they did need to put up a barrier to preserve modesty for everyone.

When Luna woke up again they started the lessons. Remus explained again about the chance of ending up nude and the precautions they would have to take. All the kids blushed slightly at hearing this said they still wanted to try as a group. Remus talked for about an hour then told them to try and change a single part of their bodies to the animal form. Harry being Harry just changed both arms into wings, as did Luna. Hermione changed her left arm into a wing and Neville changed his left arm into a paw, which looked funny since the paw was only about six inches long. Remus had everyone change back and then change a different part until they had changed each limb into their animal form. Now it was time to change their heads, and this was where the first challenge came into play as they had to retain their "human" mind to be able to change back.

Harry once again did more than was asked, he changed into his full phoenix form. Sirius asked if Harry could understand him and was answered by a nod of Harry's head, so Sirius told Harry to hold his form until they could put up the barrier in case he came back nude. Harry just nodded and blazed slightly – as if he was blushing. Now the three others looked funny with an animal head on a human body, that was until Luna fully transformed into her eagle form and tried to walk over to Harry, but fell over. "I don't know how to walk in this shape", Luna thought. But Harry heard her also and replied, "Hey, I heard that Luna and I can't walk either. I wonder why we can hear each other?" "Well it could be that we are both a type of bird", Luna replied.

"That would explain why I can hear both of you" Hermione interjected, and both Harry and Luna looked at Hermione sitting there with an owl's head on her body.

Remus told Hermione and Neville to change back but for Harry and Luna to remain in their forms, both birds just nodded their heads. Hermione changed back but still had a beak and Neville still had his nose in animal form. Both of them laughed at each other before changing back to animal heads and trying again. It took Neville three tries to make the change correctly, but Hermione accomplish it after the second time. Remus had the two keep changing back and forth until they could do it without problems.

"Now Hermione and Neville, I want you to change your bodies only after you have changed your heads. Otherwise you might just fall over due to the weight of your heads on your animal bodies", Remus told them.

Neville changed his head again and had a little trouble changing the rest of him. Hermione had trouble at first then just changed completely, and this seemed to surprise her seeing wings and clawed feet on herself. "Good work Hermione" was heard from all the adults. Neville finally made the complete change, but he had an easier time walking since he had four legs to keep him steady instead of two like his friends. Now it was time to change back so the barrier was erected, a simple curtain between two areas.

Lucy walked over to Hermione and Luna and bent down to speak with them; "Now I want you two to get on my arms so I can carry you behind the curtain, but watch the claws and don't scratch me up." Both girls climbed on to Lucy's arms carefully and were taken behind the curtain. Harry and Neville were told to try and change back by Sirius and both started to change. Neville came back nude with his animal head, Harry was nude but had wings. Remus had them change back into their animal forms and do it again until they were whole, then he and Sirius would provide clothes.

On the other side of the curtain Hermione changed but fell over when her feet and legs didn't change, and she was flat-chested with feathers in that area. Luna had the same problem as Harry, nude but with wings. Since they heard Remus telling the boys what to do both girls started changing multiple times until they were back to normal, just nude. Once all four kids were back to normal Remus told them to keep trying until they were comfortable with the changes before worrying about clothes and that it might take a while to get the hang of it. The kids kept practicing until suppertime. Lucy conjured clothes for both girls. Harry just took care of that himself while Sirius made clothes for Neville.

After supper Luna asked if she could talk with Remus and Lucy about a problem. The three of them moved over to a different area of the lounge to speak. Luna told them that she had seen two forms this time when she took Lucy's potion and the other was an animal comfortable in the water and wondered if this was possible. Remus explained that Harry had two forms and it was possible, just unusual since even one form was hard for most people. Lucy said that she would be willing to work with Luna, but if Luna got stuck she would have to get Remus to help and that meant that he would see Luna in all her glory. Remus commented that they could work around that by having Luna face away from him so all he saw was her backside.. Luna blushed and said it it happened it happened.

The rest of the evening was spent playing games and just spending time together, watching a movie. Augusta went home leaving word that Neville could spend the night, but she wanted him home a full day before they went back to school. The following morning the topic of conversation was of course the animagi transformations, until Luna asked if anyone had an idea who was the Hufflepuff heir. Harry said he had been told that the heir was present at Hogwarts just not who it was yet. After breakfast the kids went flying. Harry and Hermione worked with the other two to help them improve their skills.

When they all tired of flying and practice they decided to land and call their elementals since they didn't have much chance to do so at school. All four elementals were called and everyone sat around talking with them. Luna was asked to allow the others to dismiss her elemental if the need arose,allowing any of them to dismiss the others elemental. Harry even showed his elementals his phoenix form, which qualified as both fire and air, this seemed to amuse Firebeard and Windford.

The biggest surprise was when Fawkes showed up and landed beside Harry. Fawkes offered to show Harry how to fly and some of the special feats a phoenix could preform – like flashing somewhere. By lunch time Harry had learned enough to walk without falling over and how to take off but landings were still a little rough. When they were called to lunch Harry hid in some bushes to change back and cover himself before going inside.

After lunch Remus, Sirius, and Lucy took the foursome outside to work on their forms. "What you four need to do is practice changing forms. The trick to keeping your clothes is to remember what you were wearing when you changed and seeing that same form with clothes on when you change back.

"Now we are going to call up some tents for you work in, girls I will ask you to face the rear of the tent when you change into your normal form since I will be going between the tents. That way all I will see is your backsides", Remus explained.

It took Harry three tries to make the change from bird to human and still have clothes, Neville had a more difficult time doing that. In the girls tent, Hermione took four tries before getting it together and changing back with clothes, Luna took six before getting it right. After talking with Neville, Remus and Sirius found out what the problem was and told him how to correct it; they ended up making a full length mirror for Neville to look at so he saw his clothes and how he appeared before transforming. Neville finally got the idea.

When all four were comfortable changing forms and retaining their clothes the tents were dismissed and the kids spent time in their animal forms to learn how to move. Hedwig showed up and taught the girls how to walk and fly, the girls had a few bad landings but were unhurt – except for their pride. Neville was soon running around chasing and being chased by Sirius in animal form. Harry, he was practicing his landings and was soon gliding about in the air and landing in the trees without problem. Sirius did get a surprise when Neville just ran up a tree to escape from the big dog chasing him. The kids spent all afternoon practicing with Fawkes showed back up to work with Harry some more.

By suppertime all four were tired and hungry. Lucy was slightly disappointed that she was not able to do the transformation like Sirius, but was happy for everyone else. Hermione showed her parents what they had been working on and needless to say Dan and Emma were amazed to see their daughter change into an owl and back to a human in front of them. When the others were asked to show their forms to Dan and Emma, that was where the surprises started.

Everyone watched as Harry changed into a Phoenix and back, then Neville changed into his Pine Martin and back, next Luna showed her eagle form; Harry surprised everyone when he went into his snake form and back, but when Luna changed a second time it wasn't into an eagle – it was an otter. Between the four of them they had three avian forms, two mammals, and a reptile. The questions were now flying, especially about Luna's second form as nobody had seen it previously. Luna explained that since she was the Ravenclaw heir that explained her eagle, but since she was a water elementalist she needed a water form, hence the otter. She went on to explain that it had been easy, all she had to do was picture the form in her mind to decide which one to change in to, but it didn't work with anything except those two forms.

Luna's explanation caused Sirius to wonder if he could have more than one form, the next thing he knew he was in animal form but not his usual grim. He was an Irish Setter, then a Beagle. These two forms were new and could be very interesting, and useful. Remus was the most surprised since this was an unknown to him, and the biggest surprise was that Sirius could do some wand-less magic in any of his forms. Hermione and Neville found they could do almost all of the wand-less spells they knew in animal form, Harry only did magic in his Phoenix form; Luna knew very little wand-less magic and so was very limited in either of her forms, until she learned more wand-less spells.

The rest of the break was spent teaching Luna material beyond her year and getting her caught up on what was expected this year. The four also spent some time working on their offensive and defensive spells, flying, and getting better acquainted with their animal forms. All in all a very exciting and beneficial break, even if Neville, Hermione, and Luna had to leave early to spend time with their families before returning to Hogwarts.

All four, along with their families, met up at the train station an hour and a half before the scheduled departure. Augusta and Mr. Lovegood made it plain that as soon as school was over they wanted to see all the forms the others were able to assume, and that their kids were going to Peaks that summer if at all possible. Once the train had pulled out of the station Hermione commented that it was too bad none of them could assume an insect form as then they could go unnoticed around school if it was a small form. The four of them soon pulled out books to study; Harry was reading about runes, Hermione was looking at animagi information, Neville had a Herbology book, and Luna was reading the latest issue of the Quibbler that came out the next day.

Ginny and the twins wandered in about half way to Hogwarts and caught up on what had gone on during the break, of course nothing was mentioned about animagi forms. Harry noticed a strange smell and it was coming from Ginny, but he couldn't tell what it was – just that it smelled familiar somehow. The twins showed a new invention they had come up with, at least it was new to them. Hermione told them that it was something the muggles already thought of, a wand that turned into flowers when used a certain way. But where the muggle version just sported flowers from the end, the one the twins made turned into a bunch of flowers completely.

Draco Malfoy made his usual appearance but thought better when he saw so many wands aimed at him, especially from the two older more experienced students. Leaving without saying much at all. Everyone in the compartment laughed after he left. Only small amount was bought from the cart lady as they had brought a nice meal with them provided by the Potter kitchens. The meal was shared with everyone in the compartment.

The four met up after lights out in the Ravenclaw room where Luna called her water elemental and told everyone she had come up with a name that the elemental liked, Ariel from the Little Mermaid story some muggles had made into a film. Everyone thought it was a fitting name and welcomed Ariel to the group with the new name. They talked for about an hour and then went back to bed, unobserved.

A week later, during McGonagall's special session, Hermione told the professor that they had learned something that the professor might want to know. It was possible for a person to have more than one animal form, and that she might want to try. McGonagall was cautious at first until she was told it had been confirmed by Remus Lupin using Sirius as a test subject. Hermione explained that all it took was being able to form the image in her mind before willing the change, the professor had to try it. McGonagall focused within for a few seconds then changed into a Panther; the change surprised her so much that she lost focus and changed back almost as fast, but at least she didn't forget her clothes. The five talked about this new information then the professor decided to ask Prof. Flitwick to join them; he too was surprised and congratulated the four for their discovery. Both professors agreed that it was too bad they couldn't award points for this, but the reason would show up in the book of awards and punishments. It was Harry who suggested that McGonagall's second form be kept a secret from the ministry, after all they knew about her Tabby cat form and two forms were very unusual – no need to draw attention. Both professors agreed that it would only cause McGonagall problems, so a secret it would remain.

The kids continued to practice their animal forms every chance they got with Fawkes continuing to help Harry and train him in matters related to a phoenix and the powers it had. Within a couple of weeks the kids would sneak out to the forest and assume their animal forms on the weekends. Neville finally commented that the other three could just change forms and fly out but he had to wait until he was hidden in the forest to change. Luna told him to change while they were in the Ravenclaw sitting room; once he changed she changed and picked him up gently in her talons and carried him out to the forest, with Harry and Hermione behind her. Once inside the forest she landed and put him down so he could either run around or change back.

"That was a new experience, but I liked it once I got used to it. Now we can all come outside and not have to sneak around as much or worry about getting caught or followed" Neville commented.

"I've been doing that for several days now" Luna explained. Everyone got a laugh out of that and wondered why they hadn't thought of it sooner. It might even be possible for Hermione to carry Neville in animal form, but nobody wanted anything to do with carrying Harry in his snake form!

A/N: I noticed in the last chapter I goofed and had Luna change but didn't give a reason for her to know how, now that is fixed.

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