The canonical characters from the "Harry Potter" books and movies belong to Joanne K. Rowling, as does the Wizarding World and all associated concepts. Ms. Rowling is utterly unaware that I or my stories exist, and is probably happier for it. This story is written to serve as nothing more than an outlet for one of my hobbies. I'm doing it because I felt like it and am not planning to realize any sort of monetary award for it.
The plot for "Harry Potter & The Search For Peace" is mine.
The second week of October brought success to Harry and Ron in their Occlumency project. They had Savage check their shields. While they could not throw Savage out of their minds, both Harry and Ron had managed to stop him from viewing their memories. Savage had appreciated their efforts rather excitedly and had told them some exercises to improve the defence.
However, what the friends were really pleased about was that now they were ready to find their animagus form. So, they sat in the library deep in meditation, hopeful to see their forms. And they did see them. Harry and Ron opened their eyes at the same time, looked at each other and shouted, "I saw." They hugged each other.
"But I saw two animals," Harry said. Ron's eyes gleamed with happiness. He had seen two too. But the look on Harry's face was of confusion. So, containing his excitement, Ron did the best imitation of Hermione's voice and said, "I will explain." Harry chuckled despite his confusion.
"Imagine that our body is big box. Inside this box is a vessel which contains our magic. Some people have big vessels, some have small. Someone like Dumbledore's vessel will be bigger than the average. That will explain his power. Someone like Filch has so small vessel that he cannot even use the magic within it." Harry nodded at the explanation, wondering how Ron knew this.
"The vessel grows till the age of ten or eleven, which is why Hogwarts begins at eleven. If you remember the early lessons in our first year, we were told to imagine what we wanted the spell to do. So, we learned to control our magic since that age. Sometimes, in cases of emotional upheaval, you might lose control." Ron grinned at Harry as they both remember Aunt Marge.
Ron took him to the training room in the basement. The room had some practice dummies and was covered with cushioning charms. Ron took his position in front of one of the dummies and took a deep breath. He fired a stunner and to Harry's surprise, there was hole in the dummy. "I tried to use more magic than I usually do. You try." Harry did so. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the feeling of magic. He remembered the feeling when he had first held his wand. He called to that feeling and fired a stunner. The dummy broke into two parts. Ron clapped.
"Things like Animagus and Patronus depend upon how much magic you have available. That is why so many wizards and witches have problem with them. You are powerful, that's why you could cast a corporeal Patronus at thirteen. Turns out I am too." Ron's ears were slightly red by this time. "What did you see?" he asked rather quietly.
"A phoenix and a wolf. Both black with green eyes. And both have the scar," Harry muttered the last line slightly annoyed. Ron laughed, "I am a lion and a brownish dog. Blue eyes. Bloody hell mate, you have a magical creature." Harry looked at him confused so, Ron continued, "Phoenix is a magical creature. They can flame travel, their tears have healing powers, they can carry a lot of weight. When you will change into one, you will be able to do that."
"So now," Harry passed his hands through his hairs, "we try to change into our animals. But what if something goes wrong?" The green eyes looked into the blue ones and they rushed towards the Floo. "Headmistress's Office, Hogwarts," Harry threw the Floo powder into the fire and then his head. Ron heard him tell her to come over. Five minutes later, McGonagall was sitting with them. Her stern expression reminded Ron of all their adventures over the years. He muffled a laughter.
"So, what is it that you two have done now?" McGonagall asked. Harry and Ron took turns in telling her everything. Her expressions changed from stern to surprise to proud. "Excellent both of you. And yes, I will provide you all the help you need. First you should read about the animals you can change into. Mr. Potter, I will suggest you to first try your wolf form since it is non-magical." They nodded obediently. Why would they not listen to Minerva McGonagall?
"Potter," Robards called Harry, who had been busy helping Lavender with something. He approached Robards, Ron followed. "How is the Patronus coming along?" Robards asked. Harry gave the room full of trainees a glance.
"They are good, except Lavender, McLaggen and Wilson," Harry answered after a thought.
"What's wrong with the latter two?"
"They don't listen. They have tried many books but…."
"Brown, McLaggen, Wilson, here all three of you," Robards barked. The three trainees hurried. "You both," Robards pointed a finger at McLaggen and his partner, "are going to follow Potter's instructions. No book can teach you the Patronus charm. Dismissed." Both the wizards went away, not before giving Harry a glare.
"Brown, sometimes our memories may not be powerful enough to produce a Patronus. You can always try to construct one. Try imagining Greyback getting caught, being punished. You can decide your own punishment for him." Lavender looked thoughtful at the advice and excused herself to practice. She had changed admirably. Harry had trouble associating her with the girl he went to school with.
"Which team has the strongest Patronus among the lot? Apart from you two?" Robards asked. Harry shared a look with Ron. It was Susan and Ernie; Susan's Patronus was a badger and Ernie's was a boar. He said so to Robards, who immediately called for the former Hufflepuffs. "You four are going to Muggle London. Dementors have been spotted. I have a Portkey for you which will leave in ten minutes. Once you reach there, you will meet two people from the Department of Magical Creatures. They will give you return Portkeys for emergency. You will corner the Patronus, they will capture it in whatever equipment they have. You will escort them to their Department."
Robards took a deep breath and looked straight at Harry, "Potter, you are in charge. But when you deal with the head of Department of Magical Creatures, let Weasley do that. Amos Diggory is not very impressed with you." Harry nodded, wondering how many people were not impressed with him.
Robards had expected the Dementor mission to go on very smoothly, especially since he knew how powerful Potter and Weasley could be. Therefore, he was very surprised when Weasley's Patronus reached him and spoke in his voice, "Reinforcements needed." He, along with Aurors Savage and Proudfoot, hurried to the location.
The Dementors were all captured but his trainees looked miserable. Potter was unconscious, while Bones and Macmillan looked awful. Weasley looked furious. "These people are bloody incompetent. They cannot produce a Patronus, they gave us password protected Portkey but not the password," Weasley bellowed.
"There were too many Dementors, sir," Bones added. "We could not handle it. Ron moved us away from them, while Harry tried to control them. We were in no condition to apparate." Robards could feel his magic trying to get away. He willed himself to calm down. And ordered Proudfoot to take the Dementors to their destination. Savage converted Potter's shirt into a Portkey. Everyone held onto it and were transported to Saint Mungo's.
The door to her office opened so violently and urgently that Minerva half expected Harry and his friends to enter with one or other theory about what was going to happen in school. She reminded herself that it was not possible since one of the aforementioned people was sitting in front of her, practicing Transfiguration, while the other two were in London. She looked at the person who had entered and was surprised to see Neville Longbottom standing in front of her. His face was hard but she could see the fear in his eyes.
"I received a letter from the Aurors," Minerva heard Ginny and Hermione gasp (few things surprised Luna Lovegood), "Harry is in Saint Mungo's."