Chapter 14

Becoming Animagi

Harry

With school starting up they once again devoted themselves to their studies. They were according to most of the teachers essentially at the same level as 5th year students by now and could skip a couple grades if they wished, which they all declined, being in no hurry to finish their education.

He himself didn't want to lose getting to spend so much time with his friends and he was enjoying simply being a teenager.

That now included going on dates with the girls.

A schedule was soon made, with him going out with one of them every Friday night and was rotated out among the 4 of them. The way that things were worked out, he would then be going out on a date with each of them about once a month.

They didn't take anything too seriously although by the 2nd date with each of them, he was kissing all of them on the lips, just a quick kiss, but still caused his heart to melt a little each time he did it.

It really was a lot of fun for him and for the girls to be going out on dates and he was relieved to see that while they were telling each other about how their dates went, none of them seemed to be jealous of each other at least as far as he could tell and he was looking forward to many more dates with them in the future as were they with him.

That being said learning and studying magic was still the biggest priority for the study group, they were all very smart and magically powerful, but that didn't mean that they took anything for granted, they got where they were none because of an intense amount of studying and effort and none of them were about to slack off now.

One really exciting new challenge came to them shortly into the year.

Professor McGonagall at the beginning of her advanced class with them told them, "for 3rd years ordinarily this would be the year that students would learn about animagi. Normally this would mean that I would demonstrate how to transform as an animagi myself and then have you read up about other animagi, the process in becoming one, and then leaving it at that however I felt like you would all appreciate and be good enough students to enjoy a more 'hands-on' approach."

"You mean…?" Susan asked hopefully hardly daring to believe that she was serious, especially after begging Professor McGonagall several times last year and still getting a flat no.

Professor McGonagall couldn't help but grin and say, "that's right, I'm going to be teaching you how to be animagi yourselves."

Immediately all 5 of them grinned at that, eager to find out what animals they could become.

"I will warn you it is a rather long and arduous process to achieve but I feel that each of you have the qualities necessary to become rather good and more importantly responsible animagi," Professor McGonagall said putting emphasis on the word responsible and looking at them to make sure they knew she meant business if they misbehaved using their animagi forms.

They all immediately agreed and promised that they would be.

Seeming satisfied, Professor McGonagall got to work on having them get out their textbooks and study up on becoming animagi, but after asking them several questions, which any of them could answer, having already studied up on the subject extensively, Professor McGonagall just sighed and shook her head.

"I don't know why I bother anymore, as usual we can probably just skip to the practical part of the lesson and get started," Professor McGonagall said as she went over to her desk and pulled out a box of mandrake leaves.

"You'll need to keep these in your mouth for an entire month," She explained as she passed one out to each of them, "if you spit it out or accidentally swallow it you'll need to start all over."

Each of them were aware of this even though it was sure to be rather annoying to have to have a leaf in their mouths for an entire month or longer if they messed up.

As Harry placed his in his mouth he noticed that the leaf also tasted terrible. No wonder there were so few animagi out there when they had to keep this thing in their mouth for an entire month.

He did however enjoy the looks of disgust from the girls as they each put the leaves in their mouths.

"Ith tathed terrible," Susan tried to say, which was harder with the leaf on her tongue.

"It is probably best to keep it on either side of your mouth on your cheek," Professor McGonagall suggested, "keeping it on your tongue isn't particularly enjoyable as all of you have no doubt already found out."

"I sure hope that this is worth it and I don't turn out to be some cockroach or a spider or snake or something," Padma said as she pulled a face.

She at least seemed to have adjusted a bit better to having a leaf in her mouth.

"What's wrong with a snake?" Daphne asked, sounding slightly offended, "that's what I'm hoping for."

Hermione shook her head and said, "no a snake is definitely not for me, but good luck to you Daphne if you do get that.."

Professor McGonagall said, "well the animal you end up with tends to match your personality so I doubt any of you will get any animal you really don't like. After the month is up assuming you all still have your leaves in your mouth, I'll have Professor Slughorn help you use the leaves in the creation of the Animagus Potion, which should also be very difficult and time consuming to do. Then you will need to wait for a lightning storm to drink the potion and you'll have a vision of what animal you will become. If you have still decided to proceed after that I'll then help you with the process of learning how to transform and becoming animagi as well as help with registration with the Ministry once I'm satisfied that your training is complete."

Each of them nodded as they already knew all about this.

Professor McGonagall then set about explaining in greater detail what else they would need to do to become animagi and her own experience with the process.

After class however as they went over to the Great Hall for their lunch break, they all speculated about what animals each of them would become.

Hermione for herself guessed some sort of cat, Daphne a snake, and Susan an owl.

"I don't have any idea what I might end up becoming," Padma admitted, "I don't feel particularly connected to or really like any one animal."

"What about a cow?" Daphne suggested.

"Daphne!" Susan scolded her, "don't be mean."

"What, cows are considered sacred in India, it's a compliment," Daphne pointed out.

"I would hate to have to be milked every morning though," Padma said jokingly.

"I'll bet Harry here would be happy to milk you, wouldn't you Harry?" Daphne teased him.

He really wasn't sure what to say to that as he decided to instead make another suggestion as to what Padma might be..

"Maybe you'll be a unicorn?" Harry suggested to Padma.

"You can't transform into magical creatures though," Hermione reminded him.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall said no one ever has before, not that you theoretically couldn't," Susan pointed out, "wouldn't it be wonderful to be say a hippogriff?"

Hagrid had been promoted to Care of Magical Creatures Teacher and for their first lesson he had shown them hippogriffs, which turned out to be really cool and they even all got to ride them.

Hagrid was about to try and show them to the usual 3rd year class, but fortunately they convinced him not to as well as convinced him not to show several other much more dangerous animals to some of the older classes. Hagrid even was trying to get a manticore shipped in to show the 7th year students...yeah not a good idea.

They helped him make a more appropriate lesson plan for his classes and while Hagrid was a bit disappointed at the lack of anything terribly dangerous, at least his classes seemed to be going well as Hagrid had a vast knowledge of magical creatures and how to care for them.

"I wonder why nobody has ended up a magical creature before?" Padma asked, still thinking about being a unicorn, "you would think someone would have by now? Also yes I would love to be a unicorn but I don't think it is going to happen. I can see you as a unicorn though, Harry."

"A gorgeous unicorn no doubt," Susan said, blushing a bit as she thought of the idea.

He supposed he could see that, but he also felt like he ought to be an animal that should be able to fly. As for himself he had no idea what animal he related best with, but considering the way he felt in the air, he thought it ought to be something that could fly.

They continued to talk about which animals they would like to be and what was most likely for each of them all through lunch.

Over the next month, the study group became more and more eager to get the disgusting and bitter tasting mandrake leaves out of their mouth and find out what animals they could become.

When the month was up, they all quite happily spit the mandrake leaf into the Animagus Potion that they had each been brewing.

"Now we just have to wait for a lightning storm," Hermione observed, "which could take months unfortunately."

They would need to continue to recite an enchantment everyday until that time.

Fortunately it turned out they didn't have to wait that long as only a couple days later there was a good big lightning storm where they all went out to the top of the Astronomy tower to drink their potions.

Harry downed his potion as fast as he could as it tasted absolutely horrible, in fact it was so bad it made him wish he could instead have the mandrake leaf in his mouth for an entire month again instead.

At any rate, he managed to get it all down and waited.

For a moment nothing happened and then...he collapsed.

His head began spinning and his vision was getting all hazy as he lay there on the ground until his mind went blank.

Hermione

After downing the disgusting potion, Hermione's mind rushed over to where she saw herself now inside a huge savannah as she languished upon a tree branch.

She was however spread out on her belly as her tail whisked about.

Wait, tail?"

She looked back to see a tail flicking back and forth, which she realized with a start that it was her own tail she was somehow controlling.

She also noticed her spotted body and she immediately recognized what animal she was: a leopard.

She couldn't help but let out a cry of delight, but instead it came out a low growl.

Deciding to try out her new body in this dream-state, she managed to get off the tree branch and then...she took off at a run.

She couldn't help but feel overjoyed as she ran far faster than she normally could, it felt just so freeing as she bounded about with all 4 legs, her tail whipping behind her.

Then far sooner than she would have liked she came to, noticing that Susan, Padma, and Daphne were just now coming out of it as well while Harry still seemed to be out.

"I'm a Red Owl!" Susan exclaimed happily, "I got to experience being inside of a tree, flying around, and then look at myself in the moonlight over a lake. Ooh, I just love it and I'm so gorgeous!"

"I'm some sort of green snake," Daphne admitted, "it was kind of weird slithering about instead of walking but it seemed that I had no trouble adjusting to it."

"That should only be during your dream-state," Professor McGonagall explained, "you'll find it will be much harder learning to use your new animal bodies in training."

"What animal did you get Hermione?" Padma asked her.

"I'm a leopard," Hermione admitted happily.

Padma grinned widely and said, "ooh, I'm a big cat too, I'm a panther!"

Both of them couldn't resist giving each other high fives at that as Hermione grinned too, happy that Padma ended up with an animal so similar to her own. It would also help in giving each other pointers hopefully in transforming. The fact that Professor McGonagall was also a cat would also help them immensely in learning to transform.

"Us cats need to stick together," Padma told her.

"I'm glad each of you girls found out your animals and that you are pleased with the results," Professor McGonagall praised, looking particularly at Padma and Hermione as she had a bit of a bias towards cat animagi, being one herself.

"What about Harry though?" Susan asked worriedly as she noticed that he still seemed to be asleep.

"Wake up sleepy head," Daphne said before teasingly adding, "I just got naked for you."

"That ought to wake him up," Padma observed.

"Yes, if it were true and Harry somehow knew that," Hermione argued, "anyway we should probably just let him sleep until he wakes up on his own."

Professor McGonagall nodded and said, "it is indeed best not to disturb anyone in their dream-state. It can cause problems for them later on."

They each excitedly talked about their new animal forms they would be attempting to achieve to each other.

….

Harry

Meanwhile Harry felt like he was only just coming out of a dense fog...wait was it actually fog?

With quite a bit of surprise, he realized that he was actually inside of a cloud and looking through the bottom of the cloud, he could see land way down below him.

How was he so high up in the air he wondered?

He could however hear wings flapping...his wings.

He then let out a sound in confusion but it came out as a snort.

Now tilting his head back, he was shocked to see a shiny black horse's body but with massive black wings attached.

He was a Pegasus! A flying horse!

With complete surprise but also utter joy he flapped his wings harder, enjoying the sensation of feeling himself go higher up into the cloud before then swooping down as he went lower.

This was even better than riding a broomstick, he was the one able to fly himself and he enjoyed swooping and spinning in the air for a long while.

Finally however he felt himself coming out of it.

He opened his eyes, looking confused as to his surroundings.

"You okay Harry?" Susan asked him worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He reassured them.

"What animal did you end up getting?" Hermione asked him curiously.

He smiled and said, "I'm a Pegasus."

….

Being a Pegasus was a source of great interest to both him, the girls, and the Animagi community at large because he was in fact the first magical creature animagi that there had ever been. Well being magical wasn't exactly true, which might have something to do with it, he didn't have any particular special powers beyond the ability to fly or some heightened senses like each of the girls now had such as a keener sense of smell, which could be both good and bad depending on what they were smelling.

For other heightened senses, he noticed that he himself was now physically stronger and had far greater endurance and stamina than he had before. Hermione and Padma seemed to be faster and more agile even as humans, Daphne could now speak to snakes as well, something that she was excited and proud of rather than be ashamed of it, and Susan could now see in the dark.

They were however looking forward to what they could accomplish in their full animal forms even if it would take awhile and they each celebrated each small achievement, managing to get a claw or a talon or a hoof.

Now out of their dream state however, actually becoming animagi was proving a challenge, Professor McGonagall said it could take years before they were capable of reliably achieving a full transformation and they of course had other things to do besides working on it so progress was slow.

One particular subject that he found that he actually did excel at and enjoy was Defense Against the Dark Arts. He simply hadn't realized it until now as before this year they simply hadn't had a competent teacher, but their new teacher Professor Lupin soon proved to be more than capable as he covered many different potentially dangerous magical creatures and how to handle them.

In one particular lesson however he and each of the girls were faced with their greatest fears as they took on a boggart, a creature that took on the form of whoever the person they faced greatest fear was.

"You're afraid of clowns?" Padma couldn't help but laugh a little at Daphne as her boggart took on the form of a giant clown.

"What? They just freak me out is all," Daphne insisted in annoyance at having her greatest fear found out. At any rate she cast the Riddikulus spell and immediately the clown turned into a jack in a box.

"No less worse than my apparent fear of failure," Hermione noted of her own boggart's appearance of Professor McGonagall appearing to tell her that she had failed all of her classes.

Harry was next to take on the boggart and Professor Lupin seemed very reluctant to let him proceed.

"Perhaps we ought to end it now," Lupin suggested.

"What do you think my fear is going to be?" Harry asked, wondering why he was trying to stop him from proceeding.

"Lord Voldemort," Lupin admitted gravely.

Harry had admittedly thought of him, but he couldn't really be afraid of someone that he had never met, nor had any cause to worry about seeing again. He had been told that Voldemort may indeed be still out there, but he'd seen no evidence of this or that he was a real threat. Bellatrix Lestrange was still out there and she seemed scary, but she was still only just one witch and he hadn't met her either.

He had also thought of other things that might scare him, dementors for one. The one on the train had certainly been terrifying but it wasn't as scary when he had managed to use the Patronus Charm to chase it away.

He was however grateful that Amelia had put her foot down and insisted against Fudge's plan to put them into the school for protection against Bellatrix Lestrange. Still he just couldn't see dementors as his greatest fear.

"I actually have no idea what I'm most afraid of," Harry admitted.

At that Lupin reluctantly allowed him to face the boggart.

As the boggart took form in front of him, he was totally surprised at what he saw: he saw himself, curled up in a ball and in a corner and looking back at him with hopelessly lonely eyes.

The sight made him gasp in completely shock. This Harry looked even worse than he had been back in the Dursleys, alone and unwanted and unloved by everyone in the world.

It made him want to weep and cry.

Lupin looked surprised as he insisted, "fight it Harry, change it into something else."

There was a long pause as Harry fought within himself to try and change the image into something different, but it was hard for him as his mind couldn't help but harken back to the time not so long ago, his entire childhood really when he had felt this way growing up at the Dursleys.

He however felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You aren't alone anymore Harry," Hermione told him reassuringly, her own eyes filling with tears.

"You'll never be alone again," Susan agreed as she also took his other shoulder.

"We love you Harry," Padma added as she also joined in along with Daphne.

His heart bursting with gratitude for his friends and their support of him as he pointed his wand at the boggart and yelled, "riddikulus!"

The boggart's form immediately changed to many different forms of himself surrounded by all 4 of his friends, who were all looking at him with friendship and even love.

If the joyous moment or the fact that boggart was forced to assume so many different forms at the same time Harry couldn't be sure but it soon proved to be too much for it and it exploded into a million pieces.

Once it had, Harry couldn't resist moving for a group hug with all of the girls as he told them, "thanks girls, I'm so very lucky to have all of you, I don't know what I would do without you."

Hermione sighed as she told him, "we don't know what we would do without you Harry."

It being their 3rd year they were all now able to go on Hogsmeade trips and true to their word they made sure to stay together and in well populated areas.

Still Harry couldn't help but shake the feeling that they were being watched. He tried to shake that feeling as it seemed he was always being watched in public by at least somebody, his fame making him rather susceptible to that.

You could also argue that it wasn't even just him, the girls seemed to be attracting some attention from boys, not that he could blame anyone, they were very attractive after all.

Of course you could argue that he was biased, and even though he knew that there were of course better looking girls out there, at least to him, Hermione, Susan, Padma, and Daphne were the most attractive and beautiful girls in the whole world.

In truth he was actually making a lot of other boys jealous, especially since he was now going on dates with the girls, making him feel very lucky to be doing so.

The girls had also gotten even closer to him and more protective and caring of him ever since the boggart incident, he knew now without a doubt that his friends loved him and that would never change no matter what, maybe not romantic love just yet for any of them, but still love and that was very comforting to him.

Still this feeling of being watched was different somehow, like they were being hunted.

Protectively he had his wand out scanning for danger and focused on making sure each of the girls stayed safe.

"You sense or see danger Harry?" Susan asked him worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but it doesn't hurt to be safe than sorry," He noted.

Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he figured it was better to be paranoid than dead.

With that, each of the girls got out their wands just in case as they moved through Hogsmeade.

They did however relax a bit as time went by and nothing happened as they went and had butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, bought some candy, and mostly just browsed around before returning to Hogwarts.

Thereafter he usually used any Hogsmeade weekends for his dates with the girls which only seemed to get better and better each time as they relaxed and simply enjoyed their dates.