Animal Instincts

Cleo Vadir

Ron Weasley came bumbling down the staircase that led to the boys dormitory. Sleepily, he stumbled to the fire and took a seat on one of the large squishy arm chairs. Through half opened eyes he saw something breathing in front of the fireplace. Alarmed, he opened his eyes completely to see a leopard and a kitten laying peacefully cuddling in the orange glow of the warm fire. He sighed in relief, the leopard slowly got up, stretched, then gave a long yawn, exposing each of its razor sharp teeth.

"Hey Willow." Ron said sleepily. Suddenly, the leopard had turned into a sixteen year old girl. She was tall with long blonde hair and violet eyes.

"Top of the morning to you Ron!" Willow Lupin said cheerfully. Then just as suddenly as she had turned back into herself, the small calico kitten turned back into another sixteen year old girl. She had long curly black hair and ice blue eyes.

"'Ello Ron." Said Kalli Damia, equally as tired.

"Hi Kalli, so Willow, what puts you in such a good mood?" Ron inquired.

"Nothing like a night of sleeping in front of an open fire to really perk a person up." Willow said cheerily.

She pulled herself up, then immediately plopped down onto another squishy arm chair, next to the one Ron was sitting in. Putting her feet on one arm of the chair and her head on the other arm of the chair she stretched and wiggled somewhat catlike until she got perfectly comfortable, then gave a deep sigh and closed her eyes.

"Well we know whose the morning person here now don't we?" Ron said sarcastically.

"Sod off Ron." Willow said calmly with her eyes still shut.

Kalli got to her feet as well, went right over to Willow, and plopped herself right on her stomach. Willow gave a grimaced and a slight groan.

"Oye! Get Off!" She yelled in a muffled voice from underneath her cousin.

Ron smirked at the sight of the girls, rolled his eyes, and shook his head superiorly. Harry came down the staircase skipping a few steps then stumbling as he came to the bottom, which he obviously didn't see. He walked over to Ron, gave a nod of recognition, then walked over to sit where the girls were still awkwardly piled.

"Oh I see, now your dumping me for your cousin, this is great!" Harry said in an exasperated tone to Kalli making a ticking noise with his tongue.

"Well, well, what does that say about you Harry Potter? Your girlfriend dumps you for another girl and her cousin none the less. This is purely classic!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry flashed him a 'Thanks Ron' look, then suddenly picking up Kalli, then out of no where, Willow disapparated from the chair and apparated into Ron's lap. Harry nodded gratefully at Willow, then sat down in the vacant chair. Ron looked at Willow with a look of slight surprise, but pure happiness.

"They are so cute." Willow giggled to Ron.

"Uh-huh." He said without even looking at Harry and Kalli. He was only half paying attention to what she was saying and more paying attention to her.

* * *

Kalli and Willow walked down the staircase from the girls dormitory together. Willow strolled through the corridor into the middle of the deserted common room. She entered the common room from the stair case and began to quicken pace as she narrowed in on the Fat Lady Painting. When she got to the middle of the common room she tripped over a large lump on the floor. She did an amazing areola in mid air then did a face plant into the floor.

"Ow, bugger!" Willow exclaimed. "What was that bloody thing."

Kalli Damia stood there, Willow looked up at her to see that she was staring at the floor about two feet away from her sprawled cousin. Willow sat up to the best of her ability, she looked at the spot that her cousin was consumed in. Her mouth flung opened and she gasped audibly.

On the floor was a very large lion. The lion was next to an also large ostrich with a tiny blue sparrow perched on its head. Kalli and Willow both flung themselves backwards and hit opposite walls.

"What are they, who are they...Oh Bugger!" Kalli exclaimed.

"I...Uh...Er...They, us, we," Willow began to stutter, "AAAUUUGGHHH!!" She screamed loudly.

"Willow, get a hold of yourself! They have to be someone, Hello In There!" She said into the lions yawning mouth.

Suddenly the lion animagi'd back into Harry Potter, Kalli's boyfriend. Then just as soon, the ostrich turned into Ron Weasley, and the tiny blue sparrow turned into Hermione Granger. Willow and Kalli's mouths both hung opened, Harry was the one break the long silence.

"You didn't think we were going to let you have all the fun, did you?" Harry said smiling at the girls, who were still in shock.

"How...did...you...learn?" Willow said as best she could.

"Animal Instincts Will, animal instincts!" Ron said matter-of-factly.

"Very funny Ron, we're serious!" Kalli demanded.

"We learned by books, lots of books! We have been teaching ourselves ever since fifth year, when Kalli came along. And well now, now we've perfected it. Not as well as you have, Miss I've-been-doing-it-since-I-was-five." Ron said referring to Willow and Kalli.

"Just because we are better at animagi than you doesn't mean you should be jealous, oh wait, maybe it does." Willow said to the rest of the gang with a maniacal grin on her face. Obviously she had gotten over the shock and returned to her sardonic, witty self.

Clicking his tongue Harry said, "Well that silence didn't last long did it?"

Kalli and Willow both glared at him. Harry smiled slightly and mouthed a 'sorry'. Willow got a look about her as if she was struck in the head with a sludge hammer. She started hooting, hollering, and jumping up and down.

"That's it, she's absolutely gone!" Ron said with a smile on his face.

Willow gave a very exasperated sigh then rolled her eyes at him. "Ron, do you have any idea how fun this could be? All of us, animals! Not very inconspicuous animals I may add, but animals none the less. We could do anything we want to!"

"Uno Probelmo Willow," Ron said, amused with his own rhyme, "Dumbledore knew you and Kalli could animagi, I guarantee you he knows we can."

Everyone looked stumped at this, except for Willow of course. She, as it seemed, always had an idea, whether it be a good one or a bad one. Willow just stood there and grinned, until everyone noticed her grinning and occasional sighs. "What is it?" Harry finally asked.

"You people, really!" Willow exclaimed. "If Dumbledore knows we can animagi, he isn't dumb, that's funny, dumb, Dumbledore. Hehe, But anyway, he knows we're going to use our powers, geez, he would probably tell us to use them. Do you really think he is going to do anything about it?" Then she continued, "I mean bloody bugger, let's do something, explore, make some mischief, anything!"

Everyone looked rather pessimistic at this proposal. Until Harry got a mischievous look himself, "Well ladies and gents, it looks like we have ourselves a fifth Marauder!"

"Smashing idea Harry!" Ron exclaimed. As Kalli leaned over and gave Harry a kiss, obviously voicing her opinion.

Harry looked at Ron who was obviously trying to figure something out in his head. "Okay so we have the famous Harry Potter, the also famous Kalli Damia, Willow Lupin…werewolf, 'nough said. Then we have Hermione Granger, a Muggle born, then we have me, Ron Weasley, Wow, I feel important!"

"Oh Ron, you know we love you." Willow said reassuringly.

"Speak for yourself!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Thanks Herm!" Ron said, obviously trying to annoy her.

Hermione got slightly red, scowled at Ron and said in a low growl sort of voice, "Don't call me that."

Ron flashed a broad grin, but when Hermione didn't return it, he quickly wiped it from his face. Kalli and Willow giggled. "We really should be getting to bed shouldn't we." Ron stated to the group.

"I agree." Willow added, then she disapparated into the girl's dorm room, or that's what everyone hoped.

Ron shook his head noticeably as he stated, "I hate it when she does that." Everyone giggled and then headed to their dorms.

Kalli and Hermione got to their dorm, which they shared with Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Willow Lupin. Lavender and Parvati were on Lavender's bed with the maroon drapes shut tightly around the large four poster bed. Willow was foraging through her dark wood and golden trunk, tossing things through the air as she searched. "What are you looking for?" Kalli demanded.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Willow muttered under her breath. She further foraged for something unknown to Kalli and Hermione. "I found it!" She exclaimed as she pulled a small piece of parchment out of her trunk. She had said it so loudly that she suddenly had Lavender and Parvati's nosy eyes upon her, she immediately held the piece of parchment to her chest and glared at them. They then pulled the drapes shut once more and continued gossiping.

"Uh, Willow? How could you find something you weren't even looking for?" Kalli asked giving Willow a wondering look.

"I was looking for something, and I found it!" Willow said, yet again stating the obvious.

"Thank you Captain Obvious! What is it?" Kalli said sarcastically as Hermione just stood there with an agreeing look on her face. Even since Willow turned her into a gerbil one of the first weeks she was there, Hermione made it a habit not to say anything to majorly offend her.

Willow got her usual maniacal grin on her face then slowly began humming and swaying. She then began chanting, " Sight fades out, fool the eyes, give forth the image, live the lives." in a sing-song voice. Then beginning from her feet, she began to disappear. Then after no time at all, her entire body had disappeared. Kalli reached out and touched the air where Willow had been, then she heard a very familiar giggle. "Stop, that tickles!" Cried Willow's voice.

Hermione gasped at the thought of air talking. "Willow?" Hermione asked, quite unsure.

"Yeah?" Willow said normally.

Kalli eyed the spot where Willow had been standing suspiciously, "Since when could you chant?"

"Since Uncle Remus, I mean Daddy, Daddy told me some of Lily's chants, I'm not incredible at them, but I'm not too bad, I do need someone to help me perfect them though, and teach me some new ones of course, right Kalli? Hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink."

"Oh no, that's not obvious Will!" Kalli said sarcastically, flashing Willow a broad grin.

Willow returned it then asked Kalli, "So how 'bout it Kal?"

Kalli gave a very fake sigh then said, "Well if I have too!"

Willow flung herself at Kalli and wrapped her arms around her cousin's middle. "Thank you, thank you!" She cried to Kalli.

"No problem Will, but you really do have to stop keeping stuff this important from me. And will you please become visible again?" She said trying to glare at the place where Willow would be, but knowing Willow, she would be moving on purpose.

"Uh oh." Willow said quietly, in a tone Kalli didn't like, but Hermione rather enjoyed.

Kalli's mouth dropped opened as she said in a hushed voice, "You didn't, oh Will, how could you?"

Kalli could picture Willow's expression as she said quietly, almost to herself, "I knew I forgot something."

"Willow!" Kalli exclaimed, "How could you be such a blonde?"

"I didn't mean too, I thought I had the visibility chant. Bugger!" She answered Kalli. "Well, I guess it's time for me to send an owl to Uncle Re-, I mean Daddy."

"Well I would guess so!" Kalli said, getting slightly angry at her stupidity, but still trying to conceal the giggles.

Hermione just stared at the spot where Willow should have been. Then she reluctantly said, "I will go look up anything I can in the library."

Willow, staring at Hermione, even though no one else knew, "Thank you." She said also reluctantly.

The three girls scattered, Hermione to the library, Kalli to somewhere else, and Willow to the owlery. Willow walked through the heavy door to the owlery, she scanned the shelves of owls, Harry's great white snow owl, Ron's little ball of feather's Pigwidgeon, and the Willow's large dark gray, light gray, and black tawny, named Featherbrain. She walked toward the owl with a piece of parchment rolled up in her hand. She softly stroked the sleeping owl, it immediately opened its big green eyes, didn't see anything, squawked loudly, then took off toward the rafters. "Featherbrain!" she screamed after the owl, "Get back here! It's me, come Feth, please baby!" She pleaded with the owl.

Featherbrain skittishly approached her master. Willow picked up some hay in her invisible hand. Featherbrain tried to land where Willow's arm should be. After missing about three times he made it onto the outstretched arm. "Good boy, good boy." Willow cooed to the owl. She quickly tied the parchment onto Featherbrain's thick leg, when she was done Feather spread his extremely long wingspan and took off through the window.

***

"Willow, are you in awake, actually, are you even in bed?" Kalli called over to Willow's bed.

"I'm sort of in bed." Willow said from Kalli's bed, right beside her cousin. Kalli screamed loudly, feel out of bed, grabbed her maroon drapes hanging around her bed, and pulled them off of her four-posted. "Sorry Kal!" Willow apologized profusely.

"Don't…do…that…to…me!" Kalli said quietly. Looking at her cousin curiously, "Willow, your reappearing!" She said excitedly. Willow was a very light color white, still very transparent, and very hollow.

"Smashing!" Willow exclaimed.

Kalli squinted to see Willow better, "Well at least we can kinda see you now." She said not to sure if her cousin was visible enough to be classified as seeable. "Come on, let's go to breakfast."

***

Ron looked up and down their section of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "Hey, where's Willow?" He asked eyeing Hermione and Kalli.

"I'm right here." Said an apparently vacant seat next to Kalli. "I had a mishap with an invisibility chant."

"What happened?" Ron asked seriously.

Kalli looked at the spot where Willow was, and could tell from the slight bit of her that she could see that she was quite embarrassed. "She did an invisibility chant, but she didn't have the visibility chant to reverse it, so until Uncle Remus sends us an owl with the reversing spell, our Willow is going to very, very slowly come back to visibility."

"Until she is half visible, because this is the first time she tried that chant, it isn't very powerful." Hermione added in, then when she noticed the looks of no one knowing where she could have possible have gotten that information she added, "I went to the library."

"So what your saying is that Willow turned herself invisible, and can't become visible again until Uncle Remus's owl arrives?" Ron asked seriously.

When Kalli and Hermione both replied with "Uh-huh" in unison, Harry laughed so hard that he nearly had a steady stream of pumpkin juice coming out of his nose.

Harry and Ron both stared hard at the chair where Willow was, squinting to see her better, then breaking the silence Ron said, "Oh, now I see her, a really clear, milky transparent...you know, she's almost looks like a ghost."

"Well thanks Ron!" Willow exclaimed, looking down at herself, the disdain on her face shown that she couldn't see herself either. "Should we go check the owlery?"

"Willow, you just sent the owl, it won't be here yet, wait a little while." Kalli said soothingly.

"You aren't the one that is invisible!" She roared, "I would like to be able to be seen by the time I graduate!"