September the First came at last. Mr Weasley had ministry cars and drivers sent to the Burrow to take them all to King's Cross Station. Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins all came to farewell them. Mrs Weasley passed Ron a packet of sandwiches and some food to share with the others on the train. Harry gratefully hugged Mrs Weasley and boarded the train. As usual, the four of the settled in the last carriage on the train. Harry and Ron carefully put the cages containing Hedwig and Pig up in the luggage rack, while Hermione let Crookshanks out of his basket. Just as the train pulled away from the station, the carriage door opened and Anya stepped in. She carried a covered cage, which Harry suspected held an owl of some kind.
'Hi!' she said brightly, as she pulled the cover off the cage. Harry and the others gasped. The cage held a phoenix!
'You have a phoenix?' cried Hermione, bending down for a closer look.
'Yes, she's been a pet of my family for many years.' Replied Anya. The phoenix blinked up at Harry. Anya carefully placed her cage alongside Hedwig's.
The long journey to Hogsmeade was made short with the distribution of Mrs Weasley's parcel of food along with the extra food Harry purchased from the witch with the trolley. Several other Gryffindors, namely Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas came in and were soon engaged in a heated discussion with Ron about the prospects of the Chudley Cannon, Ron's Quidditch team. Not long after leaving King's Cross, Harry and the others had changed into their robes. Harry carefully pinned his Head Boy badge, and when the other Gryffindors saw it, they cheered loudly. Everyone except Hermione had changed, as they drew nearer to Hogsmeade. At last, she left the carriage unnoticed and returned several minutes later. She quickly resumed her seat, and pulled a large Transfiguration textbook into her lap to read, holding it so that only her head was visible.
'What are you reading, Hermione?' asked Ginny mischievously, pulling down the book. Harry noticed the Head Girl badge straight away.
'A Gryffindor Double!' he cheered. The others followed suit. Hermione blushed furiously, but was grinning all the same.
'You mean to tell me that someone made that mudblood Head Girl?' a voice drawled from the door. Draco Malfoy had entered the carriage, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry opened his mouth to answer him, but Anya got there first.
'Is there a problem with that?' she asked politely, staring at Malfoy with her dazzling green eyes.
'Uh, no. Job well done, I say.' He replied hastily. Malfoy quickly backed out of the carriage with Crabbe and Goyle. All eyes turned to Anya.
'What did you do to him?' asked Neville.
'Oh, just this charm my mother taught me. Believe me, it comes in very handy sometimes.' She turned to Harry and grinned, who snickered.
Soon they pulled into Hogsmeade. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Anya climbed into a carriage together; the other Gryffindors took the second carriage. The carriages deposited them at the entrance to Hogwarts castle, and they all traipsed in, eager for the feast to start. Professor McGonagall was busy directing students.
'Miss Royal,' she called 'You will need to stay with me for the Sorting.' Anya groaned and remained with McGonagall. Harry, Ron and Hermione filed into the Great Hall with the others. The ceiling of the Great Hall never failed to amaze Harry. It was bewitched to look like the sky outside, which was a deep midnight blue, dotted with stars. Harry noticed the moon was new; Professor Lupin would be here then. Sure enough, Lupin was sitting at the staff table, talking with Professor Sinistra.
Soon, Professor McGonagall entered the Hall with the first years and Anya trailing behind her. The Sorting Hat was resting on a stool in front of them. It opened near the brim and sang;
I'm here to sort you one and all
To see in which House you fall
It may be you belong in Gryffindor
Where many brave people have been before
Or perhaps in Hufflepuff
Where students are made of loyal stuff
Maybe it is Ravenclaw
Those ones all know what brains are for
And if not those, it's Slytherin
If you're determined, you'll fit straight it
So sit right down and put me on
And I can tell where you belong!
McGonagall began calling out the names and gradually all had joined their new house tables. McGonagall then called for 'Royal, Anastasia' to try the hat. Anya sat on the stool and carefully tried on the hat. She looked over at Harry and grinned as the hat called out 'Gryffindor!' The Gryffindor table cheered, Harry loudest of all. Anya made her way over to the table and sat beside Harry.
The Sorting Hat was taken away and Dumbledore stood up to make his announcements.
'Welcome to another school year,' he spoke brightly, his blue eyes were sparkling in the candlelight that lit the Great Hall 'As you all know, the Forbidden Forest is precisely that; forbidden. As is Hogsmeade for all students younger than third year. Now, I can see some very hungry students, so I will stop talking so you can start eating!' as Dumbledore resumed his seat, the tables became covered with dishes upon dishes of food.
'So Harry,' began Anya, ladeling some soup into her bowl 'have you figured out how to change into your animagus form yet?'
Harry nearly spat out his stew.
'What?! I'm not an animagus!'
Anya laughed at this.
'I'll take that as a no then. I'll have to show you after.' She winked and picked up her soup spoon.
Harry spent the rest of the feast wondering what she'd show him. He had an idea of what he'd like to see, but she really didn't know him well enough to show him that sort of thing. Harry grinned to himself at this, but scolded himself at the same time.
'Naughty boy!' Anya whispered slyly in his ear.
'What?' said Harry, surprised but still blushing.
'I'm not going to show you that tonight. We'll save that for another night.' She grinned evily. Harry felt his face turn even redder.
'If you're reading my mind, quit it.' He replied.
'Done. But keep your thoughts clean.' Anya winked at him again.
Soon after all the plates had been cleared, Hermione and Harry got down to the business of being in charge. They ushered all students from the Great Hall and sent them to their common rooms. Hermione led the way to the Gryffindor common room, concealed behind a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.
'The password's "fiddlesticks"' announced Hermione. The portrait of the fat lady swung open to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Harry looked around the room and breathed in its familiar smell. This place was home to him. He'd missed it terribly while he was away. While Harry had been looking about the room, Hermione had sent the Gryffindors to their rooms.
'Classes start bright and early tomorrow. Go to bed!' They'd grumbled, but no one wanted to get on the wrong side of the Head Girl. Harry remained in the common room with Hermione and Anya. Hermione yawned suddenly and decided to go to bed. After wishing Harry and Anya goodnight, Hermione headed up the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories. Anya watched Hermione climb the stairs and then turned to Harry with a grin. Then right before his eyes she transformed into a phoenix.
'Wha-what?' was all he could stammer at the brilliant bird that sat before him swishing its tail feathers. Anya turned back into herself again and laughed at Harry.
'You can't tell me you've never seen anyone transform before?' she giggled.
'No, it's just, it was a bit unexpected. How long have you been an animagus? It takes years to become one.'
'I've been able to transform all my life. I'm a special kind of animagus. Not only have I been able to do it for as long as I could remember, I can change into any animal I want.' To demonstrate the point, Anya immediately transformed into a sleek tiger and back before Harry's eyes.
'Can I do that to?' he asked her. She nodded.
'You're first transformation has to be the phoenix though. I don't know why it just has to be that.' Harry nodded at this.
'I know. I had these dreams that I was turning into a phoenix after I found out about you.' He grinned at her. She returned the grin.
'Now, all you have to do is focus everything on becoming a phoenix. You need a perfect picture of one in your mind.'
Harry concentrated on his memories of Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix. He concentrated on becoming a phoenix and as he did, he transformed. Harry the Phoenix sat on the floor in front of Anya, quietly blinking up at her. He then transformed back.
'Wow!' he exclaimed 'That was so, so…I don't know, just marvellous.' The look on Harry's face was so priceless that Anya couldn't help but burst out laughing.
'What?' he asked, blushing.
'It's just that you looked so excited then.' She explained, still wheezing slightly with laughter. She managed to contain herself somehow.
'Do want to try another animal?' Anya asked Harry. He nodded and closed his eyes. A moment later a large lion stood in the Gryffindor common room. The lion padded around for a moment and then transformed back into Harry.
'How devoted you are to Gryffindor, Harry.' Said Anya.
'I've always wanted to be a lion,' he retorted 'this seemed the perfect opportunity.' Harry checked his watch.
'Shit,' he muttered 'We'd better go to bed, it's getting late.' Anya nodded at this and headed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, calling goodnight over her shoulder.
Harry felt like doing a jig in the middle of the common room. He was an animagus! And without all the years of hard work. Harry headed up the staircase to his dorm, deciding on the way to ask Anya what else he could do in the morning.