Disclaimer: By now you guys have all realized I'm not using anything original. Not mine, never will be mine, never could be mine. I just like to pretend.
A/N: What on earth is wrong with the world tonight? I couldn't get fanfiction.net or my yahoo mailbox to work! Grrr! Sorry, it took so long to post this. It's partly my fault too *bashful grin* I expected to get at least chapters 4, 5, and 6 out today but I was sick which made following up on thought processes very difficult (take that last sentence as case and point), and I was talking to a very attractive friend online (*Steve*--not that you guys asked :-D), and he was sending me some really awesome music. Anyways, here's what I have so far. I hope you enjoy. Sorry again if it's not up to par. Blame it on the pounding headache & the distracting hottie.
*~* Ron's Animagus Form and Harry's Special Owl *~*
Ron jogged out onto the extensive Hogwarts grounds and looked from side to side; there was no sign of Hermione. Then a thought suddenly struck him and he looked up; no eagles either. Humph. He decided the best plan of action would be to circle the grounds, so he headed for the lake first. Taking the longer rout, Ron went up to the edges of the Forbidden Forrest and walked the perimeter of the grounds to the lake. This way he would maximize his visibility and reduce the chance of someone else holding him up. He simply had to find Hermione before she tried anything stupid. When he got to the lake he looked around for some sign of her. Finding nothing he sad down at the bank and looked at the giant tentacle breaking the surface of the water.
"You haven't seen her have you?" he asked. In response the tentacle splashed water all around it and went back under the water. Ron sighed and stood up to try the other end of the grounds but was stopped short when he beheld who—what was standing behind him.
Hermione—or what he hoped was still Hermione—stood behind him. There was the body of an eagle with an eagle's head, but it had Hermione's massively bushy hair sticking all over the place. One wing protruded from one side and her arm protruded from the other side. Both her legs were intact—if intact meant two fully human legs sticking out of an eagle torso. He wished he was one of those sensitive and caring heroes in shinning armor who would leap to her rescue with nothing but concern on their faces. He—ickle Ronniekins that he was—laughed outright.
Hermione—or the eagle rather—opened her mouth to protest but the only sound that escaped her beak was a rather high-pitched "Squawk". This sent Ron into a whole new bout of laughter and it was some time before he could compose himself enough to speak.
"I'm…sorry…Hermione," he gasped out. "Let…me…help…you!"
"Squawk!" Hermione said in agreement. This sent Ron into yet another torrent of laughter. When he finally managed to calm himself he pulled out his wand, pointed it to her and stood to his full height.
"Reparo!" He shouted.
"Squawk!" Her wing began to lengthen and the feathers shrank slightly. Her torso and head started stretching upwards as if someone were pulling on them with string. Ron watched in disbelief as she transfigured back into her natural state. It was disturbing. He had seen the insects transforming from one state to another, but this was different. Watching Hermione—his Hermione—transforming in a way that looked so, well, painful, was disturbing. There was no better word for it.
"Thank you, Ron," Hermione was a bit flustered and not a little embarrassed about needing to be rescued from her first attempt at the transformation.
"You're welcome, I think." Hermione raised her eyebrow at him, and he continued. "Are you ok? I mean, it looked like, you, I hurt you or something."
"No, that's just how the transformation works. You remember when we took that Polyjuice Potion?"
"Yeah, turning into Crabbe wasn't the most pleasant experience in the world."
"Listen," she began. "Ron, I'm sorry I snapped at you."
What?!?!?!? She was apologizing? Had this ever happened before? "Er, it's ok. I think you were right. I should hurry up and pick something."
"Yeah, you know. It's your choice. Pick whatever you want." She was looking down now. "Just make sure whatever it is I can carry it," she added.
"Right. Let's go back to the classroom and work on your eagle. Just promise me you're not going to try that alone again," he laughed. "I don't think Madam Pomfrey will take kindly to mending a patient that's half human half pigeon."
"I was not a pigeon! I was an eagle."
"Oh, right," he corrected himself. "Looked like an eagle to me," he said under his breath, and then dodged the impending fist and began to jog slightly ahead of her towards the Great Hall.
"Where's Harry," Hermione asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "It's not like him to skip out on lunch."
"Maybe he finally got his owl."
"Er, what?"
"I saw him when I came looking for you. He was all upset—thought he'd slept through an owl from Snuffles or something. Maybe he got his letter."
"Ron, I'm worried about Harry."
"Why? What do you mean?"
"Well, he looks tired all the time, he's hardly around, he's been slipping in all of his classes—"
"Well that's just
because you're not around to help him with his homework anymore!"
"Ron! This is serious."
"If it were something he wanted to tell us about he would have done it already. We can't force it out of him. Whatever it is, I'm sure Harry will tell us." Nevertheless, Ron decided that he would ask Harry about his erratic behavior tonight. He took another bite of his sandwich and that train of thought was quickly discarded as he watched George and Fred pull their latest prank on a poor unsuspecting friend of theirs. And I thought being their *brother* was bad, he thought.
**
It was well passed midnight that evening when Harry came staggering into the boys' dorm. He removed the invisibility cloak he'd been wearing and threw it on his trunk. He changed quietly and opened the screens above his four-post bed.
"Out late again?" Ron's voice nearly catapulted Harry into the ceiling.
"Er, hi Ron."
"Hi Harry. Out late again?"
Harry sighed. Ron wasn't going to let him sleep peacefully tonight. "I had to take care of a few things—and send a reply to Serius."
"So you finally found the owl?"
"What? Oh, yeah. I just went to write him back."
"Yeah, you said that already." There was a silence as both shifted uncomfortably. "Harry, are you sure you're, you know, all right & everything?"
"Yeah Ron, thanks for asking. I'm ok."
Not knowing what else to say Ron just nodded and got back into bed.
"Ron," Harry's voice broke through the silence again. "Listen, I'm going to give you an owl ok? It won't be Hedwig, it'll be another one." He paused. "A, er, special owl. Dumbledore's going to enchant it to fly twice as fast as normal owls, so you know, if anything goes wrong, you'll be able to contact me right away, ok?"
"Ok."
"So, you nervous?"
"I—I don't know. We still have another month to working on the transfiguration, you know?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
"Er, right. I think I've decided what I want to transform into but I don't want to practice it with Hermione. Not until I've gotten the hang of it, you know?"
"Why?"
"Just because. You know how she is. 'No, you're not saying the spell right! It's MutaCIO, not MUTacio!' I just don't want to deal with it while I'm all nervous from doing it for the first time & stuff, ya know?"
"Yeah." Harry was so exhausted that the word was barely audible.
"Anyways, you think you could help me out tomorrow? Hermione's going to be flying and stuff so I thought I could let her do that while I practiced my transfiguration." He paused and waited for a reply. "Harry?" Still no response. "Harry?" Ron sighed and settled down into his bed. "I guess I could always ask Ginny."
**
"Why can't you do this with Hermione," Ginny whined.
"I told you," Ron snapped as he picked up his "Animagi's Guide" and flipped through the pages. "I don't want to do it with her."
"Oh, well that's got to be the best reason I've heard yet."
"Shut up."
"Fine," Ginny promptly stood up and started walking out of the dorm room. "I'm leaving."
"Uh, Ginny, this is your dorm."
"So?"
"Ok, all right, I'm sorry ok? Please, just sit down and help me. All you have to do is do the spell I taught you if anything goes wrong."
Ron's fingers shook slightly as he turned the pages. Finally, finding what he was looking for he began reading and pacing. "'The transformation requires great concentration and skill. The slightest distraction could result in horrible deformities for the novice Animagi.'" Ron paled slightly, but forced himself to read on. "'The key is to keep the mind clear of doubts—'" Good luck, he thought "'—and concentrate on the animal one plans on transforming into.' Right. Ok. Thinking."
Ron shut his eyes in an unnaturally tight manner and began thinking as hard as he could about his animal of choice. Ginny giggled silently when she saw his tongue sticking out and his fists clench. "Mutacio," he said suddenly. He felt a stinging sensation on his head as his red hair began to fluff in a very un-human like manor and soon it began spreading all over him. The sensation crawled all over his body as it did so, leaving him feel like someone were scratching him with unbearably long fingernails. Covered in red fur, whiskers started to sprout from his now scrunched and wet nose. The sensation created by this process was utterly indescribable. He felt like sneezing and sniffing everything in sight at the same time. Suddenly it was as if someone had put the summoning charm on his face. It elongated slightly to create a shadow of a muzzle and his fingers began to web together and be covered by fur. This is it! He thought. I did it! I did it! I did—hey, what's happening? Suddenly everything stopped. Ginny looked at her brother with eyes wide with wonder.
"What are you?"
"Can't you tell?"
"You can speak?"
"I can talk?!? Ok, something's wrong. I'm not supposed to be able to talk. Hold on." He turned towards the mirror on the dorm's wall and nearly fell over himself in shock. There, sitting in a very strange position was a half-man half-feline that looked like it was in an inordinate amount of pain.
"D—does it hurt?" Ginny asked.
"Not anymore."
"It looks horrible."
"Thanks."
"Sorry, it just looks like it hurts a lot."
"Ginny,"
"Huh?"
"Are you going to do the 'reparo' or am I going to have to claw your eyes out?"
"What? Oh! I thought since, you know, you could talk, you could do it yourself."
"Good point." Ron fumbled with his wand trying desperately to get it between his paws until he finally gave it up. "Ginny, please?"
"What will I get if I do?"
"To go the rest of the day without scratch marks all over your freckled face!" he growled.
"Ok ok, sheesh! Calm down!" She held her wand up at him. "Reparo. Now leave me alone."
"I have got to master it Ginny."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you have got to get the counter spell down."
He decided the best thing to do would be to work on getting the counter spell down first since Ginny wasn't going to be patient for much longer.
**
Ron spent the next two weeks working on the transfiguration. The real reason he didn't want to practice it with Hermione around was because he wanted to surprise her with his choice. It wasn't anything special, and he felt foolish running around secretly for something so small, but he wanted to see the look on her face when she saw. He wondered what she'd think when she saw him transform successfully into his animal of choice. Would she be amused? Irritated? By the end of the last week of November Hermione had gotten her eagle transformation down pat and was starting to worry about Ron. He hadn't transformed yet as far as she had seen, and she was reminding him daily of how little time he had left. She was sure he wouldn't be able to do it in the short time they had left. On that Friday she was getting her things in order and running over the checklist of assignments she wanted to complete before their trip when she heard a knock at the door.
"Can I come in?"
It was Ron. She turned and scowled at him. "You should be practicing your Animagus transformation Ronald. I can't believe you haven't even picked an animal yet. We've got two weeks left; you realize that, don't you? I'm really worried Ron."
"It's ok," he said. "I figured it out. I picked my animal."
"Really? What is it? That's great! Have you practiced it yet? You'd better hurry up or you'll never get it mastered in time!"
"Hermione, it's ok. I—I've been practicing it for a couple of weeks now."
"You have?" She was flabbergasted. "Why didn't you tell me? All this time I've been worried and going crazy thinking you'd never get it in time and you'd already been practicing!"
"Whoa, calm down! I'm sorry!"
"So?"
"So what?"
"So are you going to tell me what you picked?"
He smiled. Showtime. "How about I show you?"
Hermione crossed her arms and watched him expectantly. Nothing happened at first. He just looked at her watching him. "Well?"
"Oh, right. Sorry." Suddenly his form began to shrink. Thick red fur spread all over his body, whiskers sprouted from his nose and his entire shape transformed. Hermione gasped in shock. Sitting in front of her was an Orange Tabby almost identical to her Crookshanks except its' eyes were deep brown. It walked over to her leg and began rubbing itself against her. She didn't move. Suddenly it stepped back and began to transform again. Ron stood in front of her with a look of shock on his face.
"Er, sorry," he motioned towards her leg. "I didn't realize I was doing that. It's weird, you know. Like Sirius says, your emotions and stuff are less complex. Anyway, I'm a cat, in case it wasn't clear. Right. I'll be going now." Ears red, Ron turned around and walked back out the door of her dorm leaving her staring blankly at the spot where he had been standing.
