AN: I am dedicating this fanfic to one of my good friends, she actually inspired me to write this. ArielSakura. I hope you find this to your liking.

This will be a slash fanfic, so fair warning. Don't Like, don't read!

I don't own any of this, as I could never match the genius that J.K. Rowling is.

Enjoy,

~NicoDiAngeloLover7

A Lynx to the Past – Chapter 1

Harry considered himself excited to hear about the Triwizard Tournament. And for once he thought himself safe, especially with the age limit that the headmaster set. After all, the age limit had been set to the age of seventeen, being of age for the wizarding world. Harry wouldn't turn seventeen for another three years.

The students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons hadn't yet arrived and wouldn't until the end of October. The Gryffindor was curious if the entire school would be there or if a selection would be chosen to go, while the rest stayed behind. Somehow, he couldn't see himself going up to one of those students and asking. And according to Dumbledore, they would have the champion selection for all three schools on Halloween night. A date that the young Gryffindor wasn't all that fond of, something always happened on Halloween night. First year, Professor Quirrell had set a troll inside the castle; second year, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and Mrs. Norris was petrified; and third year, Sirius Black had broken into the Gryffindor Common Room. And the fact that both his parents were murdered on Halloween night and sent to the Dursleys. To Harry, Halloween was considered the worst day for him. And there was a strong feeling that something would go wrong again this Halloween.

Harry knew that Ron and Hermione were just as excited as he was. Though, Harry didn't share in Ron's enthusiasm to be the Hogwarts champion. No doubt Ron saw the idea about having fame and glory for winning the tournament. Harry doubted that Ron didn't even think about the challenges in order to get that. The Gryffindor wouldn't be surprised if Hermione lectured Ron about it, honestly. But, for once he just wanted a peaceful year at Hogwarts and to just sit back. Hermione did seem excited, if not a little wary about the tournament. No doubt, she had read up on the Triwizard Tournament and why it hadn't happened in so many years, usually because of the death tolls. And now, the ministry was trying to bring it back and they were successful so far. Probably the reason why the ministry put in the rule about being of age if they wanted to participate.

Harry wasn't sure who was going to try to enter the tournament. He knew that Fred and George had made a huge outrage about the age limit, considering they wouldn't be seventeen until the following April. Somehow, Harry knew that Fred and George would try something to enter. He knew that Angelina Johnson had spoken about entering, considering she had just turned 17. So there was at least one Gryffindor entering. Though he had heard complaints from several Gryffindors that Cassius Warrington, who was a Slytherin, was going to enter. No doubt the complaints were mainly because nobody wanted to have a Slytherin champion. Though there were less complaints about Cedric Diggory, the rival seeker in Hufflepuff. Harry hadn't been too surprised by that, Harry remembered when Diggory tried call for a rematch. He had believed it wasn't a fair match because of the dementors and where Harry had fallen off his broomstick. So, Harry was well aware of Cedric's sense of fair play. And the fact most of the student body would rather have a Hufflepuff champion, instead of a Slytherin one.

It was within the next few days, Harry seemed more tired and almost ill. Even Hermione was worried and suggested that the young Gryffindor go see Madam Pomfrey. That was something that Harry had refused to do, he already spent enough time in the Hospital Wing because of Quidditch, he didn't want to go there for another reason and be stuck there. Especially if the Mediwitch said he needed to stay there and miss out when the schools arrived and the selection. Harry was pretty sure that by now there was a bed with his name on it.

The exhausted feeling seemed to follow him, along with this overwhelmed feeling that he needed to find a place alone and hide. Harry couldn't understand why he would get that urge and he refused to tell Ron or Hermione about it. The feeling was just weird, and he didn't think it was anything worth concerning about. Harry definitely didn't want Hermione to think it was worth mentioning to one of the professors or the headmaster. Harry thought Hermione was an amazing friend, but he still thought she placed too much trust into the professors at times. And Ron had the habit of telling Hermione, somehow this felt much too personal to share. There was a silent hope that this urge would fade away, yet that hope wasn't very strong.

Harry was just thankful that the professors hadn't held any classes that week, they were fully aware that none of the students would be paying attention. Though, fifth years and above had no such luck, considering they were supposed to take their OWLS, prepare for NEWTS or they would be taking their NEWTS that year. Professor McGonagall had tried that with the previous years, and it came down to just dismissing them and having to schedule for classes to convene after the Champion selection. That didn't stop the strict professor from taking points, though. It seemed that she was the harshest on the Gryffindors, though.

Honestly, Harry was grateful for classes being cancelled for the week. Although, Hermione was despaired at the thought. You could say his mood was little irritated, though he tried to not let it show. And there was the doubt that he could probably even make it through the classes in this state. He wasn't sure what state this was, only hoping that it passed soon and quickly at that. There were some moments that it felt like his vision would be blurry and could see without his glasses. Then it was like it had never happened and the glasses were needed once more. That day had made Harry want to shake his head, like he was looking his mind. It felt like maybe he had imagined it or something, or maybe that was his mind telling him that magic probably could fix his eyesight. But yet there was something telling him that his eyesight was too bad to fix. While another thing was telling him the complete opposite. He wasn't sure which of his own thoughts were correct, but he had never bothered checking. Another strange occurrence that Harry had recalled was, one morning he had thought it was still morning. The dorm at seemed bright at the time, since he could see all around him and yet it was pitch dark in reality. The Gryffindor wasn't sure what to think of it. One moment it was all bright in the room and the next it was pitch black.

It had only happened once, so Harry simply pushed the incident out of his mind. Like the mere idea of it was something in his imagination or something he had dreamed up one night. The idea of it being real was too preposterous to think about. It seemed better to just think it had never happened.

The small Gryffindor felt smaller for some reason. It was like his mind was everywhere all at once and these insistent thoughts didn't seem to want to stop or pause. There were a few moments where Harry felt he was hearing something his friends couldn't, a déjà vu from his second year when he could hear the Basilisk in the walls. He honestly didn't want to remember that year, something to do with being considered the Heir of Slytherin, Hermione being petrified, and Ginny almost dying in the chamber.

If Hermione and Ron noticed Harry's continued isolation, they didn't mention it to him. There were moments during the day that the urge to be alone was too hard to ignore. The young Gryffindor didn't understand it much, but sometimes it was like his feet would walk for him.

It would be a few days later that Harry felt like screaming. It would take him several moments to realize he was the one screaming. He knew nobody would hear him, he had followed one of his urges to find somewhere isolated. Harry knew around this time that nobody would be around as he went to one of the abandoned towers. Even if someone passed by, the wind would cover any escaped sounded. Though he had no idea that he would be screaming in pain at the time. It felt like someone was trying to rip his body in half. There was something changing or shifting within him and it hurt…

The small Gryffindor had let out a hiss of pain, his body was hurting all over. The pain was excruciating, and it had to be lasting over an hour. Harry had honestly no track of time for how long it's been since the first stab of pain had hit. His body had balled up in itself, as if it was trying to ease some of the pain. Harry doubted that curling his body helped any, if anything it probably made the pain worse.

The Gryffindor could swear his eyes were playing tricks on him, it was hard to tell as he was still hurting all over. But he could have sworn that he saw claws coming out of his hands. What the bloody hell was happening to him?!

When the pain eased up slightly, Harry tried to breathe but it came out more as gasps for breath. It was a hard process to try to center his thoughts. The pain didn't give him much time to adjust before it hit him again. A howl escaped Harry's lips before he could clam his lips shut. His body was literally trembling. It made it hurt to even breathe. Harry's mind frantically thought about if he had just gone to see Madam Pomfrey, maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. And Harry was fully aware that nobody could hear him or know where he was. His scrambled thoughts kept repeating on why he followed that urge in the first place. Somehow, the young Gryffindor knew if he didn't follow that urge, his body would force him to.

Harry then let out a screech of pain, the feeling that something was shifting was not leaving him. Harry never put it together that this pain could be similar to what Remus went through every month. Harry didn't even have time to form any next thoughts, because next thing he knew, he was passing out.

The fourteen-year-old felt disorientated when he came to. He wasn't quite sure what happened, though he recalled feeling a lot of pain. He had to blink a few times to try to clear his jumbled thoughts. What he noticed first was that his vision seemed to be a lot clearer. Harry had never been able to see that well for as long as he remembered. He wasn't quite sure why, though the small Gryffindor hadn't noticed that his glasses were a few feet away on the ground, currently broken. His body still felt really sore from whatever happened. Harry didn't doubt that he would feel pain if he tried to move.

That thought didn't stay in Harry's mind for long. He had finally tried to sit up and felt strangely small. And that was saying something, considering that Harry was a lot smaller than everyone his age. That was when Harry caught a glimpse of his 'tail.' That's when everything made a little more sense, especially catching a glimpse of his paws and claws.

The small Gryffindor freaked out. He didn't even wait to have second thoughts, he darted out of the abandoned tower. Leaving behind the broken glasses and the discarded Gryffindor robe that would no longer fit. Did he have to be considered a freak of nature to turn into a feline? What was Hermione and Ron going to think? What was the school going to think? Would anyone figure out what happened to him? Would his disappearance even be noticed? And how was Harry going to reverse this and get back to being human? Was there was a way to reverse this? Would he wind up being stuck as a feline for the rest of his life?

There were too many thoughts going into Harry's head. And with no solutions to fix any of it. Though, maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. Although, to the young Gryffindor, everything was a bit grimmer and more frightening. But that was before things had gone from bad to worse, especially with Harry being on the seventh floor.

It almost seemed like good news, but apparently, he caught them off guard. And unlucky for Harry, there was a window right behind him. A stunner was sent straight at Harry and he wasn't fast enough to dodge it. The small feline wasn't even used to this new body yet. Harry didn't even notice that they looked immediately guilty after it happened, he only felt betrayal and hurt as his tiny body slammed into the window and shattered it. And he fell.

Hermione was frantic and it seemed Ron had been tuning her out for the past hour. Unlucky for Ron, the nearest object was a book.

"What the bloody hell!"

The bookworm just huffed in annoyed, "well if you had been listening, I wouldn't have to hit you with a book!"

"Bloody hell that hurt…"

"Quit whining," Hermione rolled her eyes.

There were tiny snickers in the background. Only thing Ron could do was glare at the twins, who started whistling innocently. They clearly found this entire thing amusing.

"What are you on about?" Ron finally asked.

"Well, if you had been paying attention, you might have noticed that Harry's been missing all day," Hermione snapped.

"He'll turn up later on, he always does," Ron brushed off.

"That's not the point, Ronald! He's always at meals and nobody has seen him the entire day! We always see him throughout the day!"

"Maybe he wants some privacy and quiet," even the excuse sounded pathetic to Ron.

Hermione was quiet for a moment, even she had noticed that Harry tended to be more subdued and craved isolation. She wondered if it was because of this tournament or if people were trying to make a big thing about his fame again. She didn't think it would be because Harry wasn't feeling well, though he refused to visit Madam Pomfrey. Hermione wished that Harry would stop by to see what was wrong, though she knew he hated being in the Hospital Wing. Considering the fact that Harry was there more than not, she couldn't hold much blame for her friend for wanting to avoid it like the plague. If the case was that Harry wanted to get away from the attention, she couldn't blame her friend for wanting to be alone for a bit. But it still worried her that Harry was gone this long.