Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any such franchises. The only ideas that I own are my own that I write down here for you all to enjoy. And unfortunately, I've yet to make any money off of these ideas of mine. (T.T)

And now, time for some reviews!

Manetail- I'm happy to see a review from somebody who has been here from the start. I'm glad you like the way I'm doing things so far, too. And trust me, you have noidea how badly I want to just skip ahead to the Goblet of Fire and all the cute Harry and Gabby fluff. Fourth year is going to be very interesting for Harry Potter.

Glitner- I've only got a single ritual of sorts planned for this story, and I'm not too sure if I'll be doing many others. Rituals are commonly done but I want to try something different. Harry will deal with quite a bit of changes on his own and he'll be looking just fine by the end of them. As for the clothes? Well Gabby is going to have her work cut out for her with that. Harry is going to be dragged along for a very long shopping trip. Poor guy.

N. A. Wennerholm- Yes, yes it is. The exact details will vary a little bit since I'm taking inspiration from not only the mythology, but also Dungeons and Dragons. (Yes I am a D&D nerd, sue me.) You'll learn more about the specifics in the coming chapters as properties will be explained or shown at times.

Rock Drake the Destroyer- You're the first person to guess that specific version, but you're also technically correct. I'm going for the more mythological version but also taking details and inspiration from the Dungeons and Dragons version.

DS2010- It is serpentine, yes. Not a classic snake but boy is this way better. Harry's animagus form will play a large part in the story, I can promise that. It's not going to go as something achieved and then forgotten about or barley used. And I'm glad you liked the bit with Vernon getting put in his place. There will be a good bit of Dursley bashing in this story, seeing as they deserve it. Though I don't expect that the entire family will live to see the end of this tale.

AiyaKnight- I appreciate the criticism, but not every chapter can be perfect. This portion of the story isn't exactly the most fun or intense, and it does start a bit slow. But I'm trying to keep Harry's power creep somewhat realistic. He's not at Hogwarts yet where he can really learn and practice freely, so learning is gonna be a bit slow. Now that he's getting to Hogwarts things will speed up and get a bit more interesting. He's going to be a prodigy in some topics, that's for sure, but I needed to give some explanations. If I were to jump ahead to the school year and just give a short recap of how he suddenly was able to do all this stuff with his animagus form, people would throw fits. As for the week timeskip I did with his animagus training, didn't you just complain about how the chapter was basically all filler? And yet you're telling me I should have written even more details on a small portion of the chapter?

Now, onto A Tale of Wings and Fangs.

Chapter 5

Harry really didn't understand how Ron could seem so calm writing his letter despite claiming that he and his family had nearly been in the crosshairs of an attack. Not only that, but an attack from people dressed as Death Eaters, which was confirmed by the sighting of the dark mark. The entire first half of the redhead's message was about the Quidditch World Cup and about how good the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum, had been. Harry hadn't really paid much mind to that portion of the letter, instead focusing on the portion about the attack once he noticed it. Seeing that the Weasley family and Hermione had been forced to flee the campgrounds had Harry's heart pounding with worry.

At least Ron had the common sense to add that he, his family, and Hermione were all safe and uninjured. His best friends had gotten separated from the rest of the Weasley family at some point, but apparently Arthur Weasley had found them later on. The Weasley patriarch ended up saving the pair from being accused of casting the dark mark after the two Hogwarts students were confronted by someone from the Ministry named Barty Crouch.

Not knowing anything about the man, Harry continued to read. He was relieved to know that the whole family, plus his best friend, were safe at the Burrow once more. Knowing that he would be seeing Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express in just a couple weeks helped put the young wizard at ease. But above all else, Harry could feel a cold pit in his stomach as he focused on a particular part of the note.

Death Eaters. If the dark mark had been cast, it meant that the followers of Voldemort were on the move. And if the followers were making moves, then it wasn't hard to believe that Voldemort was up to something as well. Since the end of his first year, Harry had always felt like the feared dark lord hadn't actually been killed. Seeing Death Eaters acting up after so many years just confirmed that suspicion. And since the man had tried to kill Harry as a child, it was likely he would try to do the same thing. With that worry fueling his thoughts, Harry turned back to focusing on his animagus training with even more determination. The massive, serpentine form of his animagus would be an incredible boon to the wizard's bag of tricks if he managed to achieve a full transformation.

By the end of the day, Harry had managed to achieve another small victory. Rather than trying to focus on the wings after his previous disaster of an attempt, Harry tried for something smaller once more. A look in the mirror set in his new bedroom wall revealed the pair of long, dangerous looking fangs replacing Harry's incisors. The change to his teeth had come far more easily than he had expected, but Harry wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Sticking with the theme of smaller changes being easier, Harry planned to move onto changing tongue next. But for the time being, it was late in the night and even the boy-who-lived needed sleep. Falling back onto the large, king size bed left Harry feeling more comfortable than he had since leaving Hogwarts. The new trunk he'd purchased from Tuskan's shop had been worth every single galleon. And even better than that, it had given him a place away from the Dursleys.

Even if one of his relatives managed to find the key to the main trunk, a key which Harry always kept around his neck on a small chain, they still wouldn't be able to access the bedroom compartment. Harry had splurged a fair bit and the room was very secure because of it. It would take some incredibly powerful magic to break into the compartment, or the password that Harry had set up. The difficulty getting in made the place perfect for when Harry needed some privacy or some peace and quiet.

- A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

As Harry dozed off, he once again found himself standing by the small lake in the forest of his dreams. For the second time, though, Harry was standing there himself rather than seeing through the eyes of his animagus form. Said giant serpent was coiled up in the same area that Harry had seen it during the previous night. Unlike the last time, as Harry stared at the beast it seemed to be sleeping. But as Harry began to move, a single golden eye opened and the creature slowly uncoiled itself.

Harry was tense and ready to run as the beast moved in closer and coiled around the boy in a loose circle. Harry had room to move, but the beast had surrounded him with it's long body. Face to face with only a few feet of distance between the two, man and beast stared each other down. But as the silence continued, Harry noticed something off. In the back of his mind he could feel a small sort of sensation, the same kind that he'd been working to tune out for the last few weeks. Focusing upon the sensation, the young wizard almost physically staggered as a wave of what he could only be described as joy flooded over him. Tracking the feelings to the source, Harry noticed the emotion coming from the towering serpent coiled around him.

As if the beast could tell what Harry had just felt, it got in closer and brushed its head against the boy's side. Due to the difference in size, Harry ended up flat on his ass, but he wasn't feeling any fear anymore. He could feel the mix of excitement and happiness coming from the massive serpent and everything seemed to make a bit more sense. Harry remembered reading that often the animagus spirit and the animagi themselves wouldn't see eye to eye. In such cases the witch or wizard would have to wrestle for control and make their animagus form submit. But there were also rare examples listed in the book of times where the animagi and their creature would be in agreement. In such cases the process was made far easier and the witch or wizard in such a bond would see some sort of benefits in their human bodies based off of their animagus form. Things such as heightened senses, increased strength, or greater agility were common cases.

Knowing that the beast wasn't a threat and that he wouldn't be attacked by it, Harry laughed as he felt the giant snake acting like a large dog. It constantly tried to nuzzle and rub against him, only stopping as Harry gave in and began to pet the creature like one would a pet. The scales under his hands were smooth and somewhat soft to the touch, and the sunlight gleamed off the emerald scales in a beautiful way. After a minute or two of Harry just petting the creature, the serpent pulled back a bit once more and gazed into Harry's eyes. The boy was struck by another wave of emotion from his animagus form, curiosity this time. Feeling a bit curious himself, Harry had a thought. The beast was a snake of some kind, so would he be able to communicate with it using Parsletongue?

"§Can you understand me?§" Harry hissed, trying to focus on the snake like the previous times he had spoken in the serpent's tongue. He was ecstatic to see the creature nod it's head once, but was even more confused when it didn't verbally respond.

"§Can you speak?§" The second question drew a negative shake of the head in response. While the serpent seemed like it could clearly understand Harry, it wasn't able to communicate back other than through sensations like emotions. Thankfully the emotional responses did give some sort of communication between the two.

Considering how the creature before him was far more intelligent than he ever could have expected, Harry felt wrong thinking of the thing as a beast or just a snake. And so, he asked a third question. "§Would you like me to give you a name?§" He hissed. Immediately the snake got closer, nudging Harry repeatedly while he was washed away by a wave of excitement and happiness.

Laughing from the emotional response, Harry smiled and leaned against the thick coils of the mighty serpent. He tried to think of a good name, disregarding any typical names like 'Scales' or 'Fang'. Finally an old memory came to mind, a book Harry had read a small bit of once when he was younger. There was a snake he remembered being mentioned that actually had a name he'd liked.

"§How about Asmodeus? Does that sound like a good name?§"

The now named serpent repeatedly nodded and another wave of positive emotions hit Harry like a strong Patronus charm. For what felt like an hour, Harry and Asmodeus just sat by the large lake with Harry contently petting the massive snake until he felt his mind being pulled away. He could sense the disappointment coming from Asmodeus, but the wizard was quick to remind the beast that he would see Harry again the next time Harry fell asleep.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

With less than two weeks left until he would be back at Hogwarts, Harry chose to buckle down and make as much progress as he could. The process had shifted from hours and hours of endless meditation and practice on his animagus transformation to a mix of meditation, practice, and studying the book of Battle Transfiguration Harry had bought.

The book was old and ended up having some significance to it that Harry hadn't noticed at first when he'd skimmed through it. As he opened the cover, Harry noticed the name of the author printed out against the inside of the hard cover.

Juliana Potter

Without even knowing it, Harry had ended up picking up a piece of writing from an ancestor of his family. The boy was ecstatic to find another connection to his family and his determination to learn everything from the book skyrocketed. Harry planned to make his parents proud, and he would do so by becoming just even better than his father, mother, and his ancestor.

While Harry couldn't practice the spells inside the book due to the trace, he could still practice the wand movements and the pronunciation of the spells. Once he was at Hogwarts, Harry planned to use the Marauder's Map to find a quiet, secluded room to practice the spells without being disturbed. He thought of bringing along Ron and Hermione, but a part of Harry wanted to keep the spells to himself. They were like a gift from his family and he wanted to keep them to himself.

Other than the spells that filed the book, there was also a wealth of information on dueling and battle in general. Tricks, tips, and tactics filled the book from cover to cover. Each spell that was listed had at least a page or more of ideas on practical uses for each spell. A Stone Wall spell could easily be turned into an offensive force when used in combination with the Earth Spike spell. The wall would have portions converted into long, dangerous spikes that could then be launch from the defensive position at the opponent.

It stunned Harry how creative his ancestor had been, and how much information she'd managed to pack into a single book. It felt like having a piece of his family's history in his hands. And as Harry read through the book, he knew that he had chosen the right patch to pursue.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

As Harry sat in a compartment towards the back of the Hogwarts Express, he thought back to how the previous week and a half had gone. It hadn't been nearly enough time to make any groundbreaking discoveries or changes, but every little bit counted.

The wizard was fairly certain that he wouldn't have to worry about the Dursley family bugging him at all in the future, though. The day after naming Asmodeus, Harry had thoroughly intimidated his relatives every chance he got by flashing either Asmodeus' eyes, tongue, or fangs. To say the displays of magic scared the three was an understatement. All it had taken for Vernon to drive him to King's Cross Station was a quick change of his eyes and a few nonsensical words in Parsletongue. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen the man run so fast in his entire life.

The most recent success Harry had achieved had come only the night before. He had chosen to go for a much larger task and a prominent feature of Asmodeus, his scales. The most that Harry had managed to do was cover most of the back of his hand in the emerald green scales before going to sleep for the night. But even then it was an improvement to the few, singular scales that he had managed upon his first attempt.

The partial transformations seemed to come easier after the bonding session with Asmodeus. And almost every night Harry was pulled into his mental plane to spend some time with the massive serpent. Changing his eyes, tongue, and incisors had almost become second nature to Harry with the amount of practice he put in. And with his attempt at Asmodeus' scales going fairly well, the raven-haired wizard planned to attempt a fully animagus transformation afterwards if he managed to successfully coat his body in scales.

There hadn't been much progress to make when it came to Battle Transfiguration during the wek and a half. It had been enough time for Harry to read through most of the book and practice the wand movements and vocalizations of most of the spells that had caught his interest.

It was actually one of the spells from the book that Harry was practicing as he sat in the train compartment waiting for his friends to arrive. Most of the spells that were included in the book couldn't be practiced in the small space, either due to a lack of resources needed or the spells being too destructive. Instead, Harry chose to focus on some of the most basic spells listed in the book.

The Wind Gust spell was Harry's first attempt. A spell that had various usages and a performance that varied based on the intent and power poured into the spell. It could be used to create a simple breeze or a powerful wind current strong enough to rip trees from the earth. It went without saying that the later result required a great deal of power and skill to achieve.

Practicing for ten minutes left Harry able to produce a strong gust of wind inside the train compartment. He didn't try pushing too much magic into the spell incase he caused some sort of damage to the train. Instead, once he felt he could perform the spell to an adequate amount, Harry grabbed the book and looked for another easy spell to attempt.

It was as he was flipping through the pages that the door to the compartment slid open. Looking up, Harry spotted his two best friends and quickly rushed to greet them.

"You're looking good mate. Did those muggles finally leave you alone?" Ron spoke up as he made his way inside and took a seat. Hermione, on the other hand, practically tackled Harry with a hug. The small flinch from the sudden contact went unnoticed by all in the compartment and Harry did his best to quickly return the hug to his best friend.

"I'm so happy to see you again, Harry. And Ron's not wrong. You've gotten taller since I last saw you!" The bushy-haired Gryffindor replied. At first Harry was confused, but as he stepped back he realized that his friends were correct. The previous year, Harry had stood around the same height as Hermione and had been rather short. As he stood next to his best friend again, though, Harry realized that he was actually looking slightly downward at Hermione.

"Huh… I guess eating right really did do some good." Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders and returning to his seat. As he did so, he opened up the book on Battle Transfiguration and continued his attempts at finding another good spell to practice.

"Harry? What's that?" Hermione's voice interrupted his work and Harry looked up from the pages to find the girl leaning in to try and see the book in his hands. She was already reaching out towards it, her hands about to grab the hard leather cover of the book.

Instinctively Harry pulled back, not wanting to let go of a piece of his family's history. "It's a book on Battle Transfiguration. I found it when I was shopping for my school supplies in Diagon Alley." Harry explained casually. Had either of his friends looked closer, they would have seen Harry's grip tighten on the book as he held it close.

"Battle Transfiguration? Harry that sounds like really advanced magic. We haven't even had that mentioned in class yet. I don't really know if you'll be able to understand much of it, I mean I don't even know much about it. Let me see." Hermione reached out, grabbing for the book once again.

Harry's grip went slack and his eyes went wide at the words from his best friend. He barely even registered as the bushy-haired girl took the book from his hands. As he processed what had just been said, though, Harry could almost hear the angry hissing from Asmodeus in the back of his mind while a surge of anger came from the beast. The anger was echoed by Harry as he glared at Hermione.

"What the hell Hermione? I'm not some sort of idiot. And that's my book, I never said you could take it." Harry was almost shouting as he spoke.

He quickly grabbed the book and pulled it from Hermione's grasp, giving her a sharp look that she hadn't seen since the previous year when she'd gotten his new Firebolt taken away. A part of Harry's mind actually went back to that moment, wondering if his friend would try to get his new book taken away as well.

"I'm not some idiot who doesn't know how to do magic. I know what I can and can't do, and I'm just reading it to learn about the magic. My dad was great at Transfiguration so I figured I'd learn anything about the subject that I can." Harry was lashing out a bit by that point, the anger making his heartbeat pound in his ears.

"Woah there mate. She didn't mean anything from it. And it's just a book, what's the big deal with letting her have it?" Ron called out, moving a bit so that he was standing between the two. At the same time tears began to show in Hermione's eyes after the tongue lashing she'd gotten.

In response to Ron's words, Harry opened the book to the cover and turned it, letting the two friends clearly see the displayed author's name. "The big deal is that I've finally found something from my family. This was written by someone in my family, so it's important to me. One of the few things I have left from my family." Harry bit out sharply. Almost instantly he could see the guilt flashing in the eyes of his both of his friends.

With a quick apology, the conversation in the train cart slid to a halt for a few minutes. Shortly after that the Hogwarts Express began to move. Harry silently returned to his reading while Hermione and Ron began to quietly talk between themselves.

Of course, the train ride to Hogwarts wouldn't have been complete without some sort of interruption. An hour into the otherwise peaceful ride, the door slammed open and the Gryffindor trio could see Draco Malfoy standing in the entryway to the compartment. He was flanked, as usual, by his goons Crabbe and Goyle.

"I thought I smelled some filth on the train. I was hoping that you and that modblood would have gotten lost during the World Cup, Weasley." The blonde ponce taunted.

Harry, already in a foul mood thanks to the entire situation with his book, was further angered by Malfoy's insults towards his friends. Even as tense as the atmosphere was between the trio, they were still his close friends. Standing up and striding forward until he was face to face with the blonde Slytherin, Harry stared Malfoy down. It was at that point Harry realized that he was actually a couple inches taller than Malfoy, something the boy seemed to realize as well.

"Back off Malfoy. I'm sick and tired of hearing you prattle on." Harry warned. He could hear the faint hissing in the back of his head once more. The feelings of anger from Asmodeus echoed by Harry's own anger.

Pulling out his wand, Malfoy didn't back down. Instead, the poor fool chose to dig his grave even deeper. "And I'm sick of seeing you around Potter. The world would have been so much better if your mudblood whore of a mother never spread her legs."

It was the wrong thing to say, the wrong time to say it, and the wrong person to say it to.

It only took a split second for Harry's wand to rise to chest level with Malfoy. And as the blonde stared down the last of the Potters, Malfoy could have sworn that for a moment Harry's eyes turned a vibrant, golden color. He didn't have much time to think about it before Harry put his wand to use and spit out a spell with more venom than he'd ever used talking with the Slytherin student.

"Ictu Ventus!"

For a single, small moment everything was silent. And then the loud roar of wind echoed around as a massive torrent of air force erupted from the tip of Harry's wand. The blast threw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle off their feet and drove them into the opposite wall of the train car with a loud thud. Being angry at the time of casting, Harry hadn't paid as much attention to how much energy his was pouring into the spell. The end result ended up being far more powerful than he'd intended, but it still did the job.

Giving Malfoy and his cronies one last glare, Harry promptly slammed the compartment door shut and moved back to his seat. It was only as he began to calm down that he noticed his wand felt a little bit hot in his hands.

Those thoughts were pushed aside as the sound of Ron's laughter filled the space. "Mate! What was that? You just blasted Malfoy on his ass!"

Turning towards his friends, Harry could see Ron laughing and looking towards the door. Hermione, on the other hand, just gawked with her jaw on the floor.

"It was just a simple Wind Gust spell, nothing too hard." The young wizard replied causally, as if he hadn't just blasted his school bully off his feet.

The conversation from that point on lightened up a bit, the earlier anger mostly forgotten amongst the trio as they discussed their summers. Harry made a point of not mentioning anything about his animagus training or even a hint of his strange dreams. After the way that Hermione had acted with his book about Battle Transfiguration, the raven-haired boy found it hard to trust his friends with such an important secret.

He found out more information about the World Cup, learning who Barty Crouch Sr. was, and how the man had aggressively dismissed his house elf when it had been found with Ron's wand beneath the dark mark hanging in the sky. He was happy his friends hadn't been hurt, though. But immediately he found himself disliking Crouch from the sound of how the man acted.

Harry fed the pair a highly edited version of his summer, explaining that his aunt and uncle had simply backed off and ignored him. Harry had been able to exercise and eat whatever he'd wanted over the summer, which likely explained his sudden growth spurt. He also explained how he had been studying heavily, considering that the time he'd been 'sick' had been well used to study some material about Transfiguration. He didn't hide how much more of an interest he had in the subject, and thankfully the two seemed to understand the reason behind it and didn't argue against it.

Before the golden trio even noticed it, the Hogwarts Express had stopped and the entire group was on their way to the majestic castle for yet another year at the school. As Harry sat in the carriage, pulled by the thestral horses, he could feel the cold pit of worry growing in his stomach. He needed to learn, to get stronger. Voldemort and his followers weren't going to leave him alone, and something had gone wrong every year since he'd first come to the magical world. The next time something happened, Harry swore that he would be ready. He wouldn't rely on luck or the adults in his life. The best thing that he could trust were his own instincts.

Gazing up into the massive castle that was Hogwarts, Harry braced himself for another year and whatever was set to come his way.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

And that is Chapter 5 done.

Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference I made with the name of Harry's animagus form. I personally love the name Asmodeus since it sounds badass.

Here we learn a bit more about Harry's bond with his animagus form. Next chapter we'll all finally learn exactly what it is as well as some of the common characteristics and abilities that it has. I originally intended to include that portion in this chapter, but the chapter really was dragging on a fair bit. I'll include it in the next chapter to give it some more space as well as make sure you guys all get this chapter today.

To everyone still reading and reviewing, I appreciate it all so much. I attempted one story before this in the past and it has aged badly. I look back at it and hate how I did most of it. Compared to this story, I've had more likes and people following the story in a single week than my previous story has had in the years since it was posted. A sincere thanks to everyone that has liked this story and supports it.

Until next time everybody! Stay tuned for more!