Disclaimer: Anything familiar to JKR's books probably comes from there and is hers not mine. Also, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, the Wizarding World, and anything else that has to do with it belongs to the lovely JK Rowling, not me. I'm just playing in her sandbox and building my own Hogwarts in it.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The time following Sirius being cleared of all charges was chaotic in the beginning, Harry thought, because the paper had told everyone that Sirius was his godfather. Ginny had suggested he use his Invisibility Cloak to get from place to place, and he used it gratefully.

Once they had all calmed down, not all that much happened at Hogwarts. One of the few things Harry had done was convince Professor Lupin to teach him to repel Dementors because he had a feeling he would run into them again in the future. Though it took a lot of practice with a Boggart, Harry began to slowly get better and better with his Patronus Charm, the only way to repel a Dementor, until it finally turned into a Corporeal Patronus in the form of a Stag, which was his father's Animagus form. At least, that was what Sirius had told him.

When Tracey's father had sent the ring and locket back with Kreacher, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria had been relieved to see them. It was hard for all four of them to know that Voldemort had three more pieces of his soul out there somewhere, but they took what they could.

What made it harder for Harry was showing them to Ginny, knowing they would bring up memories of the diary and the Chamber. He had been sure to show her on a weekend so that they had time to calm her down and talk about anything she needed to. Without being told, he knew she was grateful that he had done it.

When Ron had heard that Scabbers had been Peter Pettigrew in an Animagus form, he had given Hermione a note to pass on to Harry, thanking him for removing the imposter from his life. Harry took it for what it was: The beginning of a friendship.

Sirius had been sneaking into the school as Padfoot, which was what he told Harry to call his dog form, and meeting with Harry and his friends every Saturday to help them with training, for which they were all grateful. His being an Animagus already meant he could help them. Of course, he had laughed himself silly when he had found out from Harry that he and his friends were training to become Animagi as well as in fighting.

The best training session had been near the end of the year, when Sirius had come to try and help Harry and his friends become unstuck, which most had finally done in their Animagus transformations, Harry included.

…

"Now, all of you are doing quite well in your transformations, even if you are all in different parts of them," Sirius told the group of students in sitting on the floor in front of him. "Something that helped me and Prongs when we were trying to transform was picturing how our forms would think, how they would sense things, and how it would feel to be that animal as well as how the actual animal felt. Now, you all try it."

Harry concentrated on getting his hands, arms, and backside to turn into a wolf, and then he began thinking about how it would feel to have the wind flowing through the fur on his body as he moved, hunting prey. Slowly, he felt changes along his body, and he kept going, thinking about being able to smell things around him and hear things he normally couldn't hear.

His eyes were closed as he let thoughts of being a wolf merge with how it would feel to be the wolf, and he felt his body changing faster and faster. He didn't open his eyes for fear of ruining his concentration, so he didn't know how much of him was changing.

Finally, he felt the sensations end and opened his emerald green eyes to turn and look at himself. Much to his surprise, Harry was looking around the room in blues and greens. Moving his head back and forth, he realized that his senses were a lot stronger than normal.

Blinking, Harry walked over to the mirror on the wall and was surprised to see that a black wolf with emerald green eyes was looking back at him. He had done the full transformation!

Barking in excitement, Harry turned around to see only a few of his friends had noticed him along with Sirius. Tracey was smiling up at him along with Ginny. Hermione had a jealous look on her face, but she also looked happy for him. Sirius looked… Sirius looked proud.

Harry's barking had gotten the attention of the others, and pretty soon everyone had seen that he had finished his transformation.

"How did you do it, Harry?" Fred yelled when he saw Harry, making Harry whimper and back away from Fred, his ears pressing down on his head.

"Fred, calm down a bit," Sirius told the redhead as he put an arm on his shoulder. "We all need to talk quietly for a bit while Harry's senses adjust. A wolf can hear better than a human, so loud noises will hurt his ears– especially because he hasn't taken his potion yet."

The reminder of the potion made Harry race over to his bag, pick it up in his mouth, and take it over to where Tracey and Ginny were sitting side-by-side. He dropped it in front of them and pushed it closer to them with his nose before smiling up at them, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted slightly.

"What do you want, Harry?" Ginny asked softly, which didn't hurt his ears at all and he found it sounded as if she was using a normal voice.

"He needs the potion before he can change back, Ginny," Sirius told her. "I believe he's telling you that he's got it in his school bag and needs either you or Tracey to get it for him."

Harry barked and wagged his tail, still smiling and panting. Ginny and Tracey both realized what he wanted after that and worked together to find the vial of potion from the summer.

"Should they pour it into a dog bowl for you, Harry?" Draco asked in amusement as they uncorked the vial.

Harry growled at Draco and those snickering at his words before turning to Tracey, who had the vial in her hand, and opening his mouth for her. She smiled slightly and poured half of the vial into his mouth. Shuddering at the taste, Harry swallowed it before drinking the rest of the potion.

Once he had drunk the rest of the potion, he felt a subtle change in his senses and the feel of his form. It was as if there had been a piece missing that was there now or as if something had all been off balance but wasn't anymore. It was easier to hear things, but he didn't think his ears would hurt from loud noises while his nose could suddenly tell the difference between his friends and different things he was smelling. His eyes could see a bit more color as well, which was useful.

"Wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Sirius asked as he kneeled next to Harry and rubbed a hand through his fur.

Harry backed away and concentrated on being human again. Once he was human again, he smiled and hugged Sirius tightly.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. "I wouldn't have gotten it that easily if it wasn't for what you said. Merlin, that is so awesome!"

"How did it feel?" Hermione demanded for the group, and Harry knew she was jealous that he had beaten her in the transformation, but none of his friends but Tracey and Ginny understood that he wanted to do this first because it made him feel closer to his father, who had been a stag Animagus.

"Do what Sirius said – concentrate on what you think the animal would be thinking, how it would feel to have the wind going through your hair, fur, feathers, or whatever you have; what would the sun, water, and anything else feel like? Just think about that sort of thing while you let the image of your animal stay in your subconscious. It'll come on its own."

Harry turned back into his wolf, which was smaller than it would end up being as he was still only thirteen and not fully grown. He then sat down and watched as his friends went back to trying to finish their transformation.

Ginny was at about the same point he had been before he had overcome his block, except she had fur that was more red than black, and she was more feline. Tracey's arms, legs, tail, and cat ears were all a light brown, but the rest of her body just wouldn't change. Hermione had everything but her head and size changed, which made her look sort of odd, but it made it more amusing.

Draco and Theo, much to Harry's growing amusement, were both in the exact same place of their transformation. The only different between them was that Draco had silvery-white fur while Theo had brownish-red.

The birds in the group had full wings and some had feathers on their heads already. Luna had a few on her body as well. All of the felines other than Ginny and Tracey had paws and arms, but they couldn't seem to get anything more yet. Fred, the monkey, had his monkey hands and tail, but nothing else while Hannah the horse had her tail and part of her mane along with the hooves. Blaise's bear was coming along in the arms and legs as well as the ears, but not much more.

Terry was getting direct instructions from Sirius as they were both dog Animagi, so Sirius could explain the feelings to him a lot easier than anyone else in the group.

…

"Harry, can you please help me get this down?" Hermione asked a couple of weeks later as she growled in frustration. She, Tracey, and Ginny were the farthest along, and they were the only ones in the room with Harry, who was practicing his knife throwing yet again while keeping an eye on them.

"Hmm…" he murmured as he tried not to growl at Hermione in frustration. She had been annoying him ever since he had gotten his full transformation to help her, but he just wasn't sure how.

"Well, all three of you are some sort of cat, right? Why don't you all try to think like a cat?" Harry suggested once Tracey and Ginny realized he was trying to help them as well.

"That would be easier if we knew what you meant by that," Ginny groaned, throwing her transformed arms in the air in annoyance, her claws coming out.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw the claws before he furrowed his brow in thought. The claws had given him part of an idea that was slowly forming in his mind, and he knew he had to voice it to get it to his friends.

"Bear with me because I've got an idea, but it's not fully formed yet," he told the three impatient girls who had recognized the look on his face.

"Go on," Hermione encouraged, wanting any help she could get.

"Well, Ginny's claws made me think… When I was transforming, I pictured hunting and the feelings that went with it, but none of your forms hunt as much as wolves do, so it doesn't help. But what all cats do is climb. Why don't you all imagine the feel of climbing a tree with the bark beneath your paws and the claws digging into the tree?

"In fact, all of you, close your eyes now and listen to my voice, picturing things as I say them, and just remember what your form looks like somewhere in your mind as you do it."

Harry watched as all three girls closed their eyes, and then he began, the perfect image in his mind now.

"Your claws are digging into the trunk of a tree, but only enough so that you don't fall off as you climb. The rough bark of the tree is digging into your paws as you hit it. All around you, the warmth of the sun is warming your fur, but a cool breeze is cooling you down as the wind blows and you move up the tree. Your fur is moving in all directions and your ears are hearing leaves move, animals moving swiftly, birds chirping, and other noises. Smells attack your nose from all sides, taking over as you ears listen and your eyes only watch the tree you're climbing."

Harry stopped as, before his eyes, all three girls began to transform fully, eyes closed.

Hermione slowly grew into a dark brown cougar. Her face gained fur even as her ears changed to a cat's ears. Her body lengthened and seemed to gain new muscles.

Ginny's reddish-brown fur grew to cover her entire body, her face turned more feline, and her body seemed to grow slightly. Her nose began twitching as it changed to a pink, feline's nose. She was truly a lynx.

Tracey slowly became the small cat he had originally seen almost a year ago when her father had told them they would get to become Animagi. She shrunk quickly, her entire body becoming smaller so that she became the size of a house cat. Her body became more feline, and the light-brown fur that had already covered her arms and legs covered the rest of her body even as ears grew from the top of her head.

Harry transformed himself and then sat down, his head on his paws in front of him as, with amusement, he watched his friends realize they had transformed. He actually had to hold in a barking laugh as they looked from side to side in both amazement and confusion. Like him, they had felt changes, but hadn't realized how much had changed.

To Harry, it meant revenge as everyone had actually seen him as he transformed and once he had realized it, but they had pretended they hadn't. After he had found out, they wouldn't leave him alone about his reaction to the transformation, and now he could get revenge on these three.

Ginny was the first to finally get over the change and walked over to him, nudging him with her nose until he growled lightly. She hit him in the head with a paw, and he hit her back harder, which was her warning to stop, and she finally took it.

One of the things Harry had been unable to explain to his friends was how he felt once he was transformed as it was impossible to describe how much of the mind the animal took over. Unfortunately, it meant that his friends didn't realize that he felt more like an alpha in his wolf form than he did as a human. They were always calling him their leader, and that idea had passed on into his Animagus form, so he knew he was alpha of his friends and was finally beginning to understand what that meant.

Tracey padded over to Harry and Ginny, and she climbed onto Harry's back, careful to keep her claws in. She settled down into his fur and rubbed his back softly, purring.

Hermione walked over to Harry and the two girls with a look in her eyes that had him a bit worried, especially as his wolf side was warning him that she was older and felt she should be alpha. He knew that it meant her cougar side was controlling her more than she realized, but he also knew that he couldn't do much with Tracey on his back, so he stood up slowly.

Tracey must have gotten the message as she jumped off his back and she and Ginny moved away from the two larger animals. He could almost feel the worry emanating off of them, and they couldn't turn human until they had taken their potions.

Hermione hissed instinctively at him, but Harry held back the growl that instinct was trying to let out. He knew that Hermione didn't have as good control over her animal side yet, so she needed a reminder that she was the one in charge, not the cougar. Once she had taken the potion, she would be in full control, but the animal fought for control until then.

His non-reaction was obviously confusing the cougar side of Hermione, and the human side was coming forth. She sat back, and Harry took that to mean she had enough control for him to get the potions.

Changing back to human form, he went to their bags and began grabbing the potions, making sure he remembered which was which. Once he had them all, he went the Hermione and opened her vial, pouring it into her mouth when she opened it. Next he gave Ginny her potion and finished with Tracey.

A few minutes later, all three turned back into humans, smiling happily.

"How did you know that would work to help us transform, Harry?" Hermione demanded, though not as harshly as she had been demanding before.

"Because it was similar to what I imagined, just for a different animal," he told her with a smile.

"That is brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed while Tracey walked over to Harry and put a hand on his back. They didn't need to share words for them to both know how they felt about changing.

"It really is," Harry agreed with a proud smile.

…

Over the next month, the three girls and Harry helped almost the entire group transform by each person trying to think of a scene that fit each animal or type of animal that they needed. Blaise, Neville, Hannah, Fred, and Terry were having the most trouble. Neville just needed a bit more confidence and he would get there while the others just needed better scenes.

George helped Fred get his transformation about a week after he had turned into a raven, and Sirius helped Terry eventually get his. Blaise had gone to Harry for help as Harry was one of the largest of the group, but he was the only large one not a feline; that had helped him finally turn into a bear. Neville was able to help Hannah eventually turn into her horse, but it took her another week to get him to turn into his falcon.

Harry and his friends had made Sirius quite jealous as it had taken them less than a year to do something that had taken him, James, and Pettigrew three years, but he had admitted that having so many people, especially smart ones, would have made it easier.

The hand-to-hand combat was going so well that everyone could efficiently use both right and left sides for their daggers, sparring, grappling, wand-work, and even with their swords. They had a lot to learn still, but they could fight with either side, which was a huge advantage in a fight.

Classes had gone well with exams finally over and a week went by before they all found out their scores. The whole group felt that they had done reasonably well, though Hermione had finally admitted to Harry after he had cornered her and forced the chain of her Time Turner out of her shirt that she had been going back in time to get to all of her classes, and he made her promise to lighten her load for the next year.

Now there were two weeks until they went home, and everyone was spending a lot of time outside, enjoying the sun and nice weather.

…

"Ready for summer?" Ginny hissed to Harry one afternoon as they sat by the lake under a tree, watching their friends chase one another around.

"I'm not all that sure," Harry replied as Ankh moved up his leg to rest on his stomach so that he could enjoy the sun while hearing their conversation.

"Yeah, it would be odd to go home to a new place, even if Sirius has been coming up every weekend and a lot during the week so that you could get to know each other," Ginny admitted as she put her hand on top of Harry's and gave him a half smile that he tried to return but it was more of a half grimace.

"I know him, but I don't know him. It's almost as odd as going to live at Tracey's, but the feeling is different because no matter what her parents tell me, that house is more Tracey's than mine. With Sirius… it's going to be my actual house for once."

"But you'll have to get used to the idea first; I know," she finished for him, making his half-grimace turn into a very small smile.

Ginny was the only person who truly understood because he didn't show this part of himself to Tracey as he didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything. Ginny he could show them to, so he did.

"Thanks, Gin," he hissed, and he knew she needed no explanation.

…

Harry left a conversation with Professor Snape with a small smile. The professor had just told him about his mother from before they had known one another. It turned out that Snape had watched his mother for a while before knowing her, so he had begun telling Harry stories about that time.

The many stories of his parents from Snape throughout the year had been enlightening, even if his father wasn't a very nice person in them. Between Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Snape, Harry had gotten many different views of his parents, but his mother had always been the same between them. It had been his father who caused the most controversy between the three different people; Lupin was neutral, Snape against, and Sirius for his father.

In a way, Harry took Lupin's stories of his father as the facts, then took Sirius and Snape's views of those events and saw the different sides of them. It was a system that worked well, and it allowed him to learn about both of his parents without having to try and figure out what was lies and what was the truth.

Harry enjoyed learning so much about his parents, no matter how he learned about them.

Yes, this is going at a faster pace, but that's mostly because there's not much going on now that the Sirius plot is done. The next chapter is the final one of Becoming Alpha, so I'll see you all on Wednesday for that. Can I maybe get some reviews as a late birthday present? I had a very nice day with my friends yesterday, hanging out and swimming in the pool - perfect way to spend a birthday, in my opinion. Final thing: Thanks to Arnel from SIYE for Beta'ing this - I keep forgetting to do it here.

Posted: 4/10/11