Hey, guys. It's been a very long time... I'm really, really sorry about that. I went off to uni to begin research over the summer, and it started out really well, but I very quickly got sick. At first it seemed like just a common cold, but then with the start of term it turned into dizziness, walking into walls, being unable to eat, you get the idea. They ran some tests and found out that my resting heart rate was at around 140, when it should be around 70 bpm. They went through all the basic questions, from 'was she drugged', 'is she anemic', all the way up to 'is her liver failing?'. They never figured out what it was, but it got to the point where I was hospitalized, and they were worried my heart was failing. Luckily my heart didn't fail, I didn't need a heart replacement or anything like that, and I slowly improved. They finally decided it was 'sodium deficiency', even though that doesn't really make sense because that SHOULD have shown up in the blood work. But hey, I'm almost better now, my resting heart rate has been around 90 (which is still 20 beats too high). I still sleep all the time and am having issues with some of the symptoms... But term has finally come to a close, so I have time that I'm not spending at doctor's appointments/working on papers.

I have a week before the start of spring term, when everything will surely go to shit again. So, I want to formally apologize for not writing over the last few months and also not logging in to update you guys on what was happening. I shouldn't have disappeared without a trace like that. Hopefully, you guys aren't too upset with me, and hopefully you're still interested in the story I had begun to tell so long ago. Consider this my formal declaration:

I will finish this story. Even if that means spending my entire winter break writing, I'm going to do it.

Because if you guys are still willing to read this after half a year, then you deserve to see how it ends.


The children were concerned for Tavish and his burned arm, and they couldn't help but wonder why he came out scarred while they were all fine. Perhaps it was some strange justice that the universe sought out for the time Tom Riddle left Harry Potter with a scar, or perhaps the scar had another meaning all together. Either way, the children were children and, as children do, the thought was soon pushed from their mind by their general enthusiasm. How concerned would you truly expect a group of twelve and thirteen year-old's to be?

They talked to each other excitedly about each of their forms. Everyone was indeed the same creature as their patronus, although now they had a great deal more details. The one thing the children did not talk about was the shadowed figure that asked them so many questions; even to children, those questions and answers were too private to share. After more than two hours of sharing their visions, Rom finally reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook.

"So, I'm sure you're all wondering what we have to do next," Rom said, flipping to a dog-eared page in his book. "We have completed phase one, and now we can officially begin stage two of becoming animagi."

"Fantastic," Serafin said enthusiastically, rocking forward from his seated position and onto his knees so he could see the open pages of the book. They were covered in Rom's handwriting, which was surprisingly neat scrawl for a young boy, and the page was covered in arrows and lines.

"So," Rom began, dragging his finger along the page to gather his thoughts, "From as near me, Mum, and Da could tell, within stage two there are seven tasks you have to complete. The stage will conclude with your first ever physical shift, which you will then spend all of stage three honing."

The other children nodded eagerly. They had all heart the summary of the three stages many times before; first, learning yourself and your form; second, enabling the shift; third, mastering the shift.

"Come on, what are the seven tasks, then?" Jack said impatiently, leaning forward. Rom flipped his notebook over to the next page, which was clean of arrows and lines. Clearly his thoughts were organized by this point.

"Well, the first task is a dream awakening," Rom said. "Everyone has a dream, generally different dreams from one another, where they have to overcome their greatest fear and then they shift into their animagus form. Theoretically, this only happens when you know your form and you know with absolute conviction that you are ready to change your life forever."

"Change your life forever?" Flynn asked, somewhat uncertain.

"Yeah," Rom said. "Becoming an animagus is a permanent decision, and so you can't do it unless you're absolutely sure you're ready for it."

"Alright, how do we do it?" Teddy asked.

"You don't do anything," Rom said with a shrug. "It just happens, whenever you are truly and completely ready to adopt an animal form."

"Oh," Teddy said, his face falling. "So it's just a waiting game."

"Mostly," Rom agreed. "You can work through it while you're awake, though. Any reservations you have, you can work through them, so on and so forth. Until you're ready."

"Alright... Well, what do we do after that?" Lucy asked.

"After that, the second task is to choose your mark. Every animagus form has some physical trait in common between their human and animal forms. So, for example, McGonagall has spectacles as a human and square, glasses-like marks as a cat."

"You just have to choose something?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "That should be a piece of cake."

"But then you have to cast a spell to anchor that trait as your bridge between human and animal forms," Rom said, furthering his explanation. "The reason you have a trait in common is to forever link your two forms. Otherwise, they'd be disconnected and you wouldn't be able to go back and forth so easily."

"Oh, alright," Jack said. "So, first we have a dream, then we cast a spell. What after that?"

"After that is sensory training," Rom said, flipping the page in his notebook once more. "Your first shift is supposed to be notoriously uncomfortable, because all of your senses change from the senses of a human to that of an animal. You have to learn how to handle extreme sounds, sights, tastes, so on and so forth. That would be why McGonagall had to hold a mandrake leaf in her mouth for a month, because a little known effect of mandrake is that it amplifies every flavor you put in your mouth."

"Okay... Well... Those aren't so bad," Severin eventually ventured. "They make sense enough. What about the last four?"

"Well, those are a long way off and we don't really have to worry about those just yet," Rom said. "But, the first one is a dream, the second one's a spell, the third one is sensory work, the fourth one is a potion, the fifth one is a behavioral shift, the sixth one is a 'ghost shift', and the seventh one is the final spell - or rather, set of spells - that will force you to shift into your animal for the first time."

"That's not so bad, we should be able to have that done within the month," Jack said cheerily, and Rom just laughed. "What?"

"The potion alone takes two months to brew, and you shouldn't do that until the third step is done because it has to be timed perfectly," Rom explained.

"Oh," Jack said with a sigh.

"It hardly matters," Lucy said, and everyone looked at her with surprise. She was smiling and said, "We've been working so hard all year, and we're already a third of the way there. Now, the way I see it, all we have to do right now is wait. Wait for a dream. So, basically, we have a little vacation!"

"True!" Jack said, perking up at her words.

"I've always liked vacations, myself," Flynn agreed, his eyes lighting up, "I myself have had plenty of... ah, things... I've been wanting to do with free time..."

"Aye!" Serafin said, catching on to Flynn's meaning immediately. Jack's face lit up as well.

"Oh, no," Rom sighed, "Look what you've done, Lucy. Now there will be nothing but pranks until everyone's had their dream awakening!"

"Oops," Lucy said, grinning mischievously.

"I vote," Tavish said, speaking for the first time in the conversation, "That we all go get some butterbeer to celebrate."

"Aye!" Flynn said, jumping to his feet. The others chorused their approval and followed his lead, and soon the group of happy children was making their way out of the girl's lavatory and back to outside the Gryffindor commonroom, so that Teddy and Jack could retrieve their stash of Butterbeer that they had been saving for just such a celebration. Tavish went back to his own dorm room and soon returned with a half a handle of firewhiskey, along with a few glasses. They then walked down the hallway, wondering just where they could possibly go to drink it, when a door seemed to appear out of nowhere. They peeked inside and found tall windows and a stone floor covered with cushions and a low table - perfect for the group of friends to lounge around, laugh, and enjoy their butterbeer. And so that's just what they did; they enjoyed their drinks, and each other's company, and reveled in their new-found success.


Reminder Note:

Remus Lupin = Romulus "Rom" Lukeson = a wolf = "Moony"

Sirius Black = Serafin Blake = a dog = "Padfoot"

James Potter = Jack Porter = a stag = "Prongs"

Lily Evans = Lucasta "Lucy" Ethans = a tiger = "Tigerlily"

Fred Weasley = Flynn Weaver = a squirrel = "Chitters"

Severus Snape = Severin Snider = an eagle owl = "Nightwing"

Tom Riddle = Tavish Ryder = a phoenix = "Firebeak"