Chapter 36 - RECOVERY

Daphne POV

When we all entered back into Dumbledore's office, he immediately confronted me about registering my Animagus form. I thought it was over, I was going to have a can of worms opened now. The Daily Prophet and other media will be chasing me down for the first magical animal Animagus form. Dumbledore, however, proposed an alternative that I didn't think possible.

"Miss Greengrass, I could use my authority as Supreme Mugwump of the ICW to have your Animagus form registered through there. This won't alert the Ministry of your Animagus form immediately, and will list you down as a legal Animagus".

"Oh… wow… um… thank you, Professor".

His grandfatherly eyes then twinkled. Dumbledore then gave a recap of how the trial went and how it was pretty much a landslide victory.

Unanimous vote… wow! Well, it did make sense, anyone with political aspirations would have to be a huge dunderhead to vote against such compelling evidence.

Afterwords, Dumbledore then dismissed all of us to return to our dormitories.

A week had passed, it was next Saturday now. Harry and I were visiting his Godfather in the hospital wing as he was being discharged today. Harry had stated he would be free from the warden of the medical bay. I laughed at his antics as we cut through the secret passageway to get to the hospital wing quickly.

When we arrived, Sirius was already standing. He looked a lot healthier since last weak. He put on some weight and his skin was no longer pale and sticking to the bone. He also trimmed his long gruff beard and hair. His hair now rested just under his neck unlike the previous long rugged mane that went to his waist. Harry then spoke up first.

"Hi Sirius, we brought you a spare change of clothes today. I am sure you don't want to stay in the hospital wing prisoner pajamas… or return to ur other striped prisoner pajamas…"

Sirius and Harry stared at each other for a bit before they both hollered in laughter.

"Boys!" I yelled.

This did nothing but add fuel to the fire, Sirius laughed even harder after I said that.

"Oh-Oh my… that reminded me so much of your mother Harry… when she used to yell at me and James! You are such like your father… even getting the same type of girl… hahaha".

I was about to hex him, how did he surpass Tracey in being such a tease and annoying prat?

I pulled out my wand as Sirius and Harry were still cackling with laughter. Sirius, noticing my wand, quickly turned and transformed into his dog Animagus form and ran underneath the bed.

Two can play that game!

I then transformed as well and ran underneath the bed to chase him. He then barked and ran away from me. I snarled and chased after him. After chasing him around for a bit and not catching him, I cheated, well not really, it is one of my abilities. I looked into his mind and saw where he would try and dodge to next. Seeing where he was going to go, I cut him off and caught him. Sirius and I then both transformed back into our human forms.

"No fair! You cheated! Oi Harry! Your girlfriend is a cheater!" complained Sirius.

"DO YOU WANT TO GET HEXXED!" I yelled.

Sirius then jumped slightly and went silent. Harry meanwhile had doubled over, clutching his stomach. He looked like he might die from laughter. Dumbledore then walked into the hospital wing to take Sirius to the Ministry. He was to be officially cleared and would get his wand back. He also was going register his Animagus form at the Ministry today. Harry then hugged him before both Harry and I left for the Room of Requirement.

We skipped out on going to Hogsmeade today to visit Sirius. There wasn't much point going now as we would have too little time before Harry's saturday Quidditch practise. They were going up against Ravenclaw in a month, but Oliver Wood had already started to drill them hard in practise in anticipation for a 3-0. I sat down with Harry in the Room of Requirement, I shapeshifted and entered his mind to talk with Godric.

"Hello Daphne! I see you have been getting better at Occlumency and Legilimency. You have grasped both of them at an alarmingly fast pace".

Yeah, I have, I think it was because of how I used to suppress my emotions before in Slytherin, I used to clear my emotions by putting on the Ice Queen persona…

"Hmmm, indeed. Well, today we are going to be starting something new! We are going to try transfer your prowess in Legilimency over towards your human form."

But I can do Legilimency in my human form Godric, I use my wand and cast-

"That is my point, you won't be using a wand. You will be using just your eyes, you will be learning passive Legilimency".

Oh... I see...

Godric then chuckled at me.

"If you can master this in your human form, then you will become a lot more in tune with your Kitsune powers when you transform into your Kitsune Animagus. It could improve your ability to do mind healing, as with better Legilimency, it will become easier to explore and navigate the mind. It would make finding hellish nightmares and bad lingering dreams or thoughts quicker".

I nodded at Godric's statement.

"So you will be trying to essentially invade your boyfriend's mind in your human form. Your objective… is to find me in his mind".

Harry at that moment decided to cut in.

"You are going to play a game of tag? Within my mind?"

Godric then laughed at Harry's analogy.

"That is another good way of putting it".

I shapeshifted out of my Kitsune form and locked eyes with Harry. I tried recalling on the feeling of bridging the minds together and leaping in, like when I was in my Kitsune form. Then it clicked, I was launched into Harry's mind! It was hard and difficult to navigate, unlike in my Kitsune form. Previously on his mindscape, I could see all the snitches and brooms very clearly moving around the pitch. Now it was foggy, my vision around me was limited. I could only see flashes of gold here and there around me. I then took off, trying to find Godric.

One hour later, I managed to catch Godric only twice in that time!

"Well done Daphne, don't be too let down that you only caught me twice. Harry has been adapting to your presence within his mind. He has been trying to push you around and redirect you with false images, after all, you cannot expect someone who is an Occlumens to simply lay down their mind bare for you to explore".

I nodded at Godric's statement before leaving Harry's mind. Harry then left to Room for Quidditch practise. I stayed behind to continue with my wandless magic training.

Harry POV

Quidditch practise had been brutal as always. I got injured today in practice as Fred and George placed two solid hits on me. I managed to still fly on my broom, but I got hit on my left arm by the Bludger. The drill sergeant, sergeant Wood kept me going and said I would be treated after practise. This led to me returning back to the hospital wing once again. Poppy was currently in the infirmary healing my arm.

"Honestly Mister Potter, how many times do you plan on visiting me this year? I should keep an extra stock of potions and healing equipment just for you!"

I chuckled at Poppy's statement. After a couple more healing charms and a potion stuffed down my throat I was clear to go. I was about to leave when Poppy called out to me.

"Oh and Mister Potter, could you ask if Miss Greengrass has time next Wednesday afternoon? She has an extremely rare talent, developed by her Animagus ability, in the field of mind healing. If Miss Greengrass is interested, she can join me at that time and I could teach her the art of healing. I do recall she was quite good at potions as well…"

"Of course Poppy, I will pass on the message to her!"

"Thank you Mister Potter, good day!"

She turned on her heel and went back to her office.

When I got back to the my room in Gryffindor Tower, Fred and George apologized again for the hit on my arm, but I waved them off and told them it was all good. I sat down on my bed to read up on more spells from Godric's and Rowena's note books when Hedwig came in and launched, what seemed to be, a paper wrapped broom at my bed. Instinctively on reflex, I caught the packaged broom.

"Hey look George!" said Fred.

George then spinned around.

"Blimey Fred-"

"Harry seems to have-"

"Gotten a new broom!"

I stared at my package in excitement.

"Go on Harry! Open it!" said George.

I then started to peel off the packaging around it. When I opened it Fred and George both gasped.

"Merlin's beard Harry-"

"That is a-"

"A Firebolt!" said them in unison.

I was still staring at the broom in wonder when I noticed that a note was attached to the end. I peeled it off the end of the Firebolt and began to read it.

Dear Harry,

For all the times I missed your birthday.

All the best, Padfoot

Forgetting the soreness of my arm from Quidditch. I looked up at the two twins, the three of us immediately ran outside to the courtyard together. I then mounted the broom and took off into the sky.

"WHOOOAAAA" I yelled.

Damn this broom is fast!

I raced towards the Quidditch pitch in no time. This is going to take some getting used to, but it felt awesome!

Whilst flying at the new incredible speed, I felt the pressure and burdens that were placed on me this year disappear. The mystery around the secret keeper… the prophecy… Moldy shorts and his Horcruxes… it felt good to just be free from it whilst flying…

I circled back after flying a quick couple of loops around the pitch. I later gave Fred and George both a try on the broom. George almost fell off due to how fast the broom was. When George flew back his hair was a complete mess like mine and Fred's. We then talked about Quidditch and the next match. I was looking forward to the next Quidditch practice!