Shifts



Harry woke up the next morning, glad that September first had fallen on a Friday this year and it was now Saturday. Harry got dressed, tried to tame his wild with a comb, but decided it was impossible and went downstairs and to the Great Hall. Hermione and Ron were already there, talking to Seamus about the timetables.

" Hey Harry! Have a good sleep?" Seamus asked.

" Yup." Harry grinned, sitting down beside Ron.

" Good morning." Alanna said sitting down at the table, helping herself to a bowl of porridge.

" Mornin' Alanna. Where's Chad?" Ron asked.

" Still asleep, the boy is a sleep fiend." Alanna grinned.

" I heard that." Chad yawned, sitting down beside Alanna. Chad's golden blonde hair was sticking up everywhere; obviously he hadn't bothered to brush it.

" Humph, obviously your companions habits are rubbing off on you Masters. I really don't understand why you hang around with this riff-raff, being as rich as you are." Came a high voice. Harry looked over to a brown-haired 16 year-old girl standing at the end of table. Beside her Malfoy stood grinning with Crabbe and Goyle.

" Hello Beverly, going for the bitch of the year award again?" Chad said, calmly.

" Of course. Afraid that your little bastard sex pet will lose her title this year?" Beverly said equally calmly. A low growl formed in Chad's throat

" Don't you ever call Alanna that." Chad growled lowly.

" Unfortunately Bev, my dear, you never learned that people could be in love without sex. How is Man of the month? Please don't tell me you used up all the Slytherin sixth years already and you are dating young Draco, or is it one of his muscle bound cronies?" Alanna asked, coolly.

" Shut up, you motherless bastard, I was talking to Masters." Beverly said to Alanna then turned to Chad.

" Poor sweet, misguided Masters, when will you learn people of proper breeding need to stick our own kind?" with that Beverly went over to the Slytherin table.

" What the hell was that about?" Seamus asked.

" Beverly Nighthawk started hitting on Chad in our third year. She asked him to be her 'boyfriend'. Chad knowing Bev's tendency for changing her boyfriend every few weeks said no. A week later Chad asked me out and we became a couple. Beverly believes I must have offered Chad something she didn't, for some reason she thinks that's sex." Alanna explained, " I hate that little b.." Alanna stopped in mid sentence, noticing the first years had come to the table, "..booger head."

" What did she mean, 'as rich as you are'?" Harry asked.

Chad blushed noticeably. " My dad works for Swiftly Brooms."

At this Ron nearly fell out his seat. " Swiftly Brooms! They're the ones who make The Nimbus series and the Firebolt!" Ron said excitedly, " You must get any broom you want!" Chad blushed deepened. " Not really, my dad just makes advertisement, besides I'm happy with my Nimbus Two Thousand, it's fast and steady, all you really need to be a Keeper. The newer models are too bloody fast for me."



***

On Monday, Harry woke up early, excited. His first class was Defense Against The Dark Arts. This year's teacher was a witch called Professor Creatura. She was well muscled with hair that was a soft brown, with gold streaks in it and her eyes were a purple- blue colour. Harry quickly put on his robes and went down to the Common Room to wait for Hermione and Ron. Hermione came down first, closely followed by Ron.

" Defense Against the Dark Arts is going to be interesting." Hermione commented as they made their way to the Great Hall, " I hope we'll be learning about Shifts today."

" What are Shifts anyway?" Ron asked

" You'll have to wait until class to find out." Hermione grinned and sat down.

Harry noted the other Gryffindor fifth years, like himself, were eating as fast as they could.

Quickly, the fifth years made their way to the DADA room and waited with excitement.

" Professor Creatura is a looker!..OW hey!" Seamus said, and then got elbowed in the ribs by Lavender Brown.

" I'm just glad we have a female Professor at last!" Hermione said.

" I'm glade to hear that Miss Granger." Said a musical voice behind them. Hermione jumped and the Gryffindors turned around. Professor Creatura stood there grinning, dressed in dark blue robes.

" Good morning student. You all excited about today's class?" Professor Creatura asked, opening the classroom door.

" Yes Professor!" Dean said sitting down beside Seamus.

" Well that's good." Professor Creatura grinned and did the attendance, " Alright class, open your books and turn to page 144."

Harry turned to the page to see a drawing of man, who had what looked a pair of bullhorns, tattooed on his right forearm, turning into a bull.

" Can anybody tell me what a Shift is?" Professor Creatura asked

Hermione of course was one of the few people who raised their hands; oddly enough Neville raised his hand too.

" I know you know the answer Miss Granger, but if you don't mind I'll ask Mr. Longbottom." Professor Creatura faced Neville, " Yes Mr. Longbottom?"

" A Shift is somebody who has the natural ability to change in an animal." Neville answered in a shaky voice.

" That's correct Mr. Longbottom, ten points to Gryffindor. "

" In other words, a Shift is a wizard or witch whose a natural born Animage, expect they can turn into any animal they want." Professor Creatura said pacing back and forth, which Harry soon discovered she did when she taught.

" Now, a Shift has to change into a certain animal once a month and live the entire night out as that animal, and even though they are up the entire night, they enter the morning refreshed as if they got a full night's sleep. In fact, the longer a Shift tries to resist this monthly shift, the more tried they become."

" The animal the Shift turns into once a month, is the very first animal they turn into, when they are about three months old. This animal usually leaves it's mark on the Shift. As you can see in the picture the man who changes into a bull has a mark that looks like bullhorns on his arm. The mark can be anywhere or anything, it may even look like a wound inflicted by such an animal. A person with lets say a. lion Shift, might have a paw print on their back, or a claw scratch on their arm. A Shift usually exhibits some signs of it's True Animal, as it's called. A Shift with a cat shift might be very graceful, a Shift with a wolf shift might be loyal and a social animal. Any questions?" Professor Creatura stopped her pacing and looked around the class. Dean raised his hand

" Do your parents need to a Shifts for you to be?"

" No, Mr. Thomason, a Shift can be born from any regular old wizard and witch."

Ron raised his hand.

" Yes Mr. Weasley?"

" Can anybody be a Shift?" Ron asked.

" No Mr. Weasley, I'm afraid not. Only pure blood wizards and witches can be Shifts. Any other questions?" Harry raised his hand.

" How come we haven't seen any Shifts around today? I mean they seem to be very opened about what they are, why wouldn't come out and say their Shifts." Harry asked.

Professor Creatura took a deep breath and sighed. " Well since I'm suppose to teach the history of Shifts I might as well tell you." Professor Creatura began.

" Back in the days of You-Know-Who," The class collectively shuddered. " You-Know-Had his fortune told by a True Seer, not some crack pot predicted death at every turn." Harry had good feeling he knew who Professor Creatura was talking about. " The said this " The Lion shall strike down the snake in his moment of power. Well it was quite obvious that You-Know- Who was the snake, but who was the lion? Well He decided that it must mean Shifts, so he started killing them off by the hundreds. Mothers wept when their children changed into a Shift or the first time. The older Shift did not have a chance, but parents hid or protected newborn Shifts. Some people still believe that there are still Shifts out there, hiding, but with some many of You-Know-Who's followers around and Him being back in power, it no wonder that they're hiding still." Professor Creatura sighed. " Ok, your homework is to write a story about yourself if you were a Shift, what animal would you be, what kind of mark you would have and where would it be, and what would you do in your Shift form. Dismissed." Professor Creatura said.

The Gryffindors left chatting to one another about what animal they would chose.



***

Hello everybody, this is a baby fic I decided to add on. Anyway I'm writing this because one question has bothered me. " How do they get caramel in the Caramilk bar?" No wait! That isn't it. " How do they come up with a school motto that mean 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'?" This is what I think happened.



" How about 'Snakes rule'?" Slytherin suggested.

" No bloody way." Gryffindor said.

" Come on you two! We need to pick a good, yet intelligent motto!" Ravenclaw said.

" Where the hell is Hufflepuff! She was supposed to help us!" Slytherin snarled

At that very moment the door opened and Hufflepuff walked in. She was covered in soot and ashes, and smelt a lot like sulfur.

" What the hell happened to you?" Gryffindor asked.

" I'll sum it up by saying never tickle a sleeping dragon!!!"

And the rest is history.

Sorry, I couldn't remember the founder's first names.

~Aqua_Bolt~