Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Progress at Last
"Now that dinner is out of the way, let's get to this voting business," Fred said once they all had their fill of the desserts at the Great Hall.
"Someone's eager," Ron teased his older brother.
"Yeah, well, some people aren't so close minded and stubborn that they let the name go to a vote," Fred said to Ron, "and others just have to have their name now!"
"It's not a bad thing to know what I want," Ron shrugged.
"You certainly do Redpaw, my dearest littlest brother," George said ruffling his hair before Ron moved out of the way and glared at him, though he did like the sound of his nickname being used. He was the first one with a nickname and the first to have it used.
"Come on guys, we're going," Harry said to his friends and they all followed him to the entrance door, Neville and Luna seeing this, got up from their own tables and joined them.
"Neville? You're still spending time with Harry and the others?" Hannah asked after him and he turned to look at her.
"Yeah, why?"
"Don't know, you just seemed to spend a lot of time with them lately … what are you doing?"
"I could tell you, but then I'll have to kill you," Neville smiled and she looked taken aback.
"Relax Hannah … it's a Muggle saying," Justin informed her.
"Oh … it's not a very nice saying, is it?" Hannah said a little annoyed, and embarrassed that she hadn't gotten the joke. "I'm serious Neville … what are you doing with them? Especially the Weasley Twins … you're not planning some kind of prank, are you?"
"Oh … I don't know …" Neville said, now that he thought of it that would be a good way to explain their disappearance for a full day. Sirius, and maybe even Remus, might have realized that they were missing, and it might be good if they had something to show for their absence.
"Maybe I'll skip breakfast tomorrow," Ernie said, not forgetting the last time there was a prank and the food acted really strangely.
"Don't be ridiculous," Neville said with a chuckled and before he turned to go away he added, "We would never do the same prank twice."
Neville then hurried out of the room and caught up with the others who seemed to be waiting for him in the hallway. "Sorry, my friends were just wondering why I was spending so much time with you guys."
"And you told them …?" Harry questioned.
"That I couldn't tell them … but they seemed to think that we were planning a prank," Neville said.
"A prank!" the twins said with identical evil grins.
"Well that's an idea," Harry chuckled, "but let's get going … it seems that we're going to have more to do tonight than just vote."
"Great," Hermione groaned, she didn't want to be part of any kind of prank. They didn't discuss the matter at all as they walked to the Room of Requirement, but it was clear that not only the twins, but Harry, Ron and Ginny, were thinking of ideas.
"Well the first order of business is to put our names to a vote," Hermione said as soon as they got in the room. "Then you guys can do whatever nonsense you see fit."
"It's nice to know your high opinion of pranking," Ginny giggled and Hermione rolled her eyes. She was definitely outnumbered when it can to something like this. Even Luna didn't seem like she would mind helping with a prank, though it was hard to tell because she was staring off into space.
"I supposed that we should start with Harry, because he's the unofficial leader of the group …" Hermione went on but Harry protested at that.
"No I'm not."
"Come on Harry, we all know you are," Neville rolled his eyes.
"Even we know that," Fred said.
"After all, it was you're idea to bring us all together," George said.
"And for us to become Animagi," Ginny added.
"And to make the map," Luna said.
"Face it mate, you're the leader, whether you like it or not," Ron said grinning at him.
"Well, I don't like it," Harry grumbled, he wasn't trying to lead anyone; he just wanted to share things with his friends.
"How did I know you were going to say that," Hermione said sniggering along with everyone else in the group. "Don't worry Harry, this doesn't change the way any of us think of you."
"Right," Harry pouted. "Fine then, let's pick my name already."
"Okay, well the choice is between Bolt and Fleetfoot, all in favor of Bolt raise their hands," Hermione said, raising her own hand as did the twins, Ron and Neville. Harry had decided that he wouldn't cast his vote unless he had to, but Ginny pouted when she knew Fleetfoot would be voted down, since that was the name that she had liked. Luna looked unperturbed that she was on the losing side of the vote.
"It looks like you're official name is going to be Bolt, Harry," Ron said, clapping his friend on the back and Harry couldn't help but smile at that. It was nice having the name worked out, and he could understand now why Ron had been so cheerful during dinner.
"Hermione, you go next, since you're the second in command," Ginny said.
"W-what?" Hermione said looking confused.
"Come on Hermione, you know that you are," Harry said in a teasing voice, knowing that she was just as uncomfortable hearing this as he had been a few moments ago. "I might be the idea man, but you're the one that runs everything …"
"That's just a nice way of saying you're really bossy," Ron pointed out, looking at little put out about something, but was obviously teasing Hermione as well.
"Shut up, Ron," Hermione glared at him.
"It's true though … you always seem to take over any time that we have something new to learn," Neville shrugged. "It's not really a bad thing; none of us would be half as far in our Animagus transformation if it wasn't for you … and your advice."
"I'm just wondering how far down the command chain we are?" George said to his twin.
"Who cares … it's not like we want to take any responsibility," Fred shrugged. "let's let them be in charge and we'll have the fun."
"Good point, oh dear twin of mine," George grinned.
"Now let's put Hermione's name to a vote," Ron said, "It's either Nightwing or Athena, who's in favor of Nightwing?"
Four hands went up, Fred's, Ginny's Luna's and Neville's.
"Come on, Athena is a better name for her," Ron said to the others. "Even Hermione thinks so."
"Actually I'm not sure what I want my name to be," Hermione admitted, wishing that her vote didn't matter because then she wouldn't have to decide.
"Then the vote if four to three," Harry said. "Which means that we're going to have to vote again."
"The only problem with that, Bolt, is that the vote is going to be the same," George pointed out.
"I can't believe you think Athena would be better," Fred grumbled at his twin.
"Sorry," George chuckled. It was a rare thing when they didn't think the same. "But Hermione's the brains of the operation … it seemed to fit."
"Well Nightwing matches her Animagus form better," Fred pointed out, rolling his eyes.
"But not her personality," George did the same and they glared at each other now.
"Why don't we move on to Ginny," Hermione suggested. "Just think about what name suits me better for now and we'll vote again later."
The twins didn't seemed to be listening but when Hermione asked if they wanted to vote Wildfire for Ginny, both their hands raised and they spared a grin at their sister, who just rolled her eyes at them. Ron and Harry's hand went up as well, along with Hermione's and Ginny had to admit that she liked the name better than Nipper, though she was glad she wasn't force to vote.
"So Wildfire, you've join the ranks of the named," Harry said wrapping his arm around her shoulder and she couldn't help but blush at that.
"I suppose I have, Bolt," Ginny muttered her reply.
"How about we do the twins next," Neville suggested as he looked at the still arguing brothers. "It might distract them."
"Right, so it's either Heckle and Jeckle, or Mischief and Mayhem," Hermione said. "Whose for Heckle and Jeckle?"
Only Neville and Hermione raised their hands at that.
"It looks like I'm Mischief," Fred grinned.
"No, you're not Mischief, I am," George disagreed, "Can't you even tell your own self apart, and you call yourself my twin."
"Argh, you're not going to use that old joke with these names, are you?" Ginny groaned.
"Why not, we like to cause Mischief?" Fred chuckled.
"And Mayhem," George added.
"Idiots," Ginny rolled her eyes at her laughing brothers.
"Moving on to Neville," Hermione said, over the twins' laughter. "It's either Taz or Bigmouth, all for Taz."
Harry, Hermione, Luna and Ginny raised their hands.
"Come on, Bigmouth is so much better," Fred complained.
"Actually, I agree with them, I like Taz better," Neville said, not sure if he wanted to be call Bigmouth.
"And that means that Taz is his name," Hermione said and the twins pouted. "Luna you're next. The names are between Brighteyes and Dreamwalker, all in favor of Brighteyes."
Only Harry's hand went up and he blushed a little before lowering it. "Well I thought it was a good name," he mumbled causing everyone else to chuckle.
"But obviously Dreamwalker is better for Luna," Ron said and Luna looked at him smiling.
"I do like the sound of it," she said and seemed to look off into space again as if she was dreaming.
"See what I mean," Ron whispered so only Harry could hear and the messy hair boy chuckled.
"I supposed we should do the group name before we go back to me," Hermione said, feeling awkward that she was the only one that didn't have a name yet. "The choices are between Devious Antics or Infinity's Light, all in favor of …"
"Wait a second," Ron said and Hermione looked at him. "Er … well … I was just thinking that maybe … it would sound better if it was Infinite Light … not Infinity's Light…"
"I'm not sure," Hermione frowned.
"Why don't we vote to see if we want Devious Antics or Infinity's/Infinite Light," Harry suggested. "We might not even have to choice between the two names if more people want the DA."
"That's reasonable," Hermione said. "All in favor of Devious Antics."
The twins raised their hands but they were the only ones that did. They pouted at everyone else, obviously liking the name because they caused Devious Antics on their own.
"Well it looks like we are going to have to choose between the two," Harry said.
"Why do you want it to be Infinite instead of Infinity," Hermione asked Ron.
"I just thought it sounded smoother," Ron shrugged. "And Infinite means the same as Infinity right … it doesn't really change the meaning."
"I suppose," Hermione said, though she obviously liked Infinity's better. "Is everyone ready to vote, or would you like a few more minutes to think about it?"
"Why don't we do your name first," Ginny suggested.
"Fine, all in favor of Nightwing," Hermione asked again.
Ginny's, Luna's and Neville's hand went up like they did last time, but this time their hand was joined by George instead of Fred.
"You can't be serious," Fred glared at his brother. "You convince me that Athena is better and now you're voting for Nightwing!"
"Well I thought you had a point," George said, the same glare on his face as his twin. "How was I supposed to know that you would change your mind?"
"Argh … will you two take this seriously," Ginny snapped at them. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Well what's wrong with a little Mischief," George asked nodding towards his brother.
"When it's closely followed by a little Mayhem," Fred added and they both laughed.
"Will you two be serious?" Hermione huffed, not amused. "I would like to have a name like everyone else."
"All right, All right, we'll behave, we promise," the twins said together.
"Okay, for the final time, who is in favor of Nightwing?" Hermione asked testily.
Only Neville's, Luna's and Ginny's hand went up, the twins, Harry and Ron liked Athena better.
"Fine then my name is Athena," Hermione said.
"So you're voting for Athena … but the last time you said you weren't sure …" Ginny said pouted.
"Well I think the twins helped me to see which name I really wanted with their stupid antics," Hermione shrugged.
"They weren't stupid," the twins pouted.
"They did help you see what you wanted," Harry added to their defense.
"Whatever," Hermione said. "We should vote on the group name now."
"All in favor of Infinity's Light," Harry said.
Hermione, Luna and Ginny raised their hands but the boys seemed to like Infinite Light better.
"I suppose it does sound a little better," Hermione sighed grudgingly. "Well it looks like we've got everything settled. Everyone take out your map, I think we should add this to them."
Everyone did as they were told, Fred giving Harry's his, because Harry had given his map to Fred for the time that Sirius was using the Marauder's Map this year. Hermione cast a spell over all of the maps so that when Luna, who had the prettiest penmanship in the group, wrote INFINITE LIGHT, on the top of her map, it appeared the same on all of the maps. Then, in a much smaller print, each of them wrote their new nickname down, each using their own ink that was the same color of their individual maps.
"Very good," Hermione beamed at her own map. "Now if you want to talk to only one of us, you don't have to say our names anymore, you just have to touch the quill to the name of the person you want to talk to. If you want to talk to everyone, just touch the group name."
"Cool," Ron grinned.
"Now that we got that all settled, let's get to the prank planning part of the meeting," Fred said.
"First I want to try something," Harry said, looking at Hermione pointedly and she sighed. Of course he would want to try the potion, he wasn't about to be distracted by that even with everything that was happening right now. The only good thing she saw about doing this now, was that Harry seemed more focus on the transformation than he did this morning. She gave him the vial, still anxious, and hoped that nothing horrible would happen.
Harry swallowed the potion down, while trying very hard not to spit it up. Why did all potions have to taste so bad? Would it kill wizards to make a potion that tasted good? He didn't really think about that long, as he waited for the potion to take effect.
"You have to wait a minute before you can try to transform," Hermione said to him, though she had warned him about this before.
"I know," Harry said, as he felt it work through him.
"What does it feel like?" Ginny asked him, not liking the face he was making.
"Well it doesn't hurt," Harry said. "It's just odd … like I can feel it as it pass ever part of my body."
"Good," Hermione said, looking slightly less anxious, "that's how it was described in the book."
"Okay, I think I'm ready," Harry said, the odd sensation having pass over everything and was now starting to fade.
"The book said that if you've already started trying to transform without the potion, you should do all the steps you have done before over again," Hermione said.
"Oh course it would," Harry sighed; because he knew that though he had already learned those transformation, it wasn't easy to repeat them … it took him several moments of concentration. That's why he was surprised when it had only taken second before his foot turn into a paw. He smiled as he moved on, each part of the transformation that he had already learned only taking him a few seconds. Finally when he got to something new, such as turning his torso, it had taken him ten minutes, but still he laughed at how much easier this was. He had been trying for four days worth of Animagus training to get it, and he wasn't sure if it was ever going to happen. However, now it felt like his body didn't resist the change as much … like the potion had made his muscles and organ more pliable. He realized quickly that the next step in his transformation, his hand, wasn't going to be quite as quick as what happened with the torso … he had been working on that for days before this after all … but he could still feel the effects of the potion speeding up his efforts at the transformation.
"Hermione, you're brilliant!" Harry beamed at her after he had tested his transformation abilities and was now back to normal. Everyone else seemed to be talking about the up in coming prank that they were going to do, though they had watched Harry as he went through the transformation at first, they had already concluded the potion had worked.
"You don't feel any adverse effects?" Hermione asked. "You're not sick or your insides feel all twisted or anything like that." '
"Nah, I feel normal," Harry said. "The potion is working perfectly."
"Good," Hermione let out a relieved breath.
"Does that mean the rest of us can use it too?" Ron asked; the other looking at them now.
"Yes, I think so, though we should wait until the next time," Hermione said. "Well, unless you want to give up in this pranking nonsense and work on the transforma …"
"Next time sounds perfect," Fred interrupted her like she knew someone would. "Why don't you join us Bolt, my dear boy, we can use you're keen insight on the matter?"
"I'd be honor to help you, Mischief," Harry chuckled and went to join the others, Hermione following him reluctantly.
A/N: Okay, I named the group Infinite Light because I thought it sounded a little better, but if people say they liked Infinity's Light better I can easy change the vote for this. I would also like to say that Hermione's name seemed to be the closest vote of all the people (I counted both the poll and people that voted in their reviews), which is the reason why I had it cause so much trouble with her vote in this chapter. I myself wasn't really sure which way I wanted her name to go, which also contributed to the confusion, but I decided to just go with the most votes which was Athena.