Disclaimer: See previous disclaimers, fools! : ^ b
Note: I don't think I'm going to put Harry with anybody (not until the sequel, anyway, wink wink, and I won't force you to read it); possibly some time with Cho or Ginny, but nothing serious. And sorry, no Draco romance. Oh, it won't be semi-pornographic or anything, like you fear, it'll be barely mentioned. After all, it is a last minute thing. Sorry, no H/Hr, either.
2nd Note: Harry + Ron's lesson timetable is tagged on the end. I got tired of making the characters say what they had next so that everyone knew. Oh, and I decided not to add my new fic's teaser on the end. Never mind.

Chapter 8:
Of Stores and Strange Happenings.

Death is the least of all evils.
~ A Thousand Paths to Wisdom

"That most definitely explains it." Hermione managed, still with her mouth stuck open.
"So. . . I'm guessing that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is thriving, then?" said Harry, watching the crowd of fifty or so people around the shop front, screaming for those inside to come out, so they could get in.
"Possibly." Ron answered.
Walking towards the store, they got a better picture of the situation. Most of the people in the crowd were Hogwarts students, and there seemed to be more inside. One or two were adults, obviously reporters, for the Daily Prophet and another Wizarding newspaper.
A pair of guards stood at the door, only allowing people in when others came out.
"Geez!" Ron choked finally. "They said they were doing well, but I had no idea. . .!" he trailed off.
"Well, business picked up lately, what with the students and all." came Fred's voice from behind them. "We've only just come down here, actually."
Ron just glared at him. "Where's George?"
"Just popped in to do an interview for the Daily Prophet. It's a big thing, new shops in Hogsmeade always are. Plus, there's a lot of mystery around the anonymous benefactor, and the Bagman scandal had the front page. So naturally Weasley's Wizard Wheezes would spark a lot of attention." He craned his head around the trio. "George'll be in there for a while. You should wait for the craze to die down first. Give it half an hour or so?"
"That's a good idea, actually." Hermione said regretfully, "We might as well get lunch sorted now. Boys?"
"Wha'?" Ron stopped peering in the shop window. "Oh damn, I can't see George. Okay."
Harry shrugged. "Fine by me."
George said his goodbyes, giving Harry a surreptitious thumbs up as he left, which the others thankfully didn't see. Hermione dragged the pair off to the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of Butterbeer, and an early lunch; which meant 'you two eat and drink, while I make notes in my book and try to work out how this chapter ends.', something that plagues every author (It's true!).
While Ron tried to force Hermione to eat something, she made Harry tell her about the classes he took, for her 'Education' section of the book. "Can't you at least manage a sundae?" Ron practically wailed, earning himself a stare from the only two other customers.
"Ron, calm down." Hermione snapped, giving in and taking a spoonful of ice cream. "I shouldn't even be having dessert without a proper meal."
"She sounds just like my mum." Ron stage-whispered to Harry, earning himself another sharp remark about responsibility and good examples.
Harry broke up the fight before it started. 'I must be getting good at this.' he thought briefly, saying loudly, "Where are we going next? I'm guessing Hermione wants to stop by the Quill 'n' Scroll."
"And Gladrags." Ron supplemented. "Fred and George said I could pick out a pair of dress robes, and they'd pay for them. I'm thinking of something scarlet."
"With frills?" Harry asked innocently, and pulled his legs back before Ron could kick him.
"Gladrags first," determined Hermione, "I just want to look around the Quill 'n' Scroll, I don't need to buy anything."
"We should get a copy of the Daily Prophet." Ron volunteered, standing up. "See if Fudge's admitted You-Know-Who's back."
"Nah, there'd be pigs flying if he had." Harry finished his sundae. "What happened to Rita Skeeter anyway?"
"I used her in a potion." Hermione said in a blasé sort of way. Harry and Ron stared. "Oh, honestly. I didn't really." she reprimanded. "First of all, I sent her to the Department of Magical Abilities and Talents, which means she's being fined over a hundred galleons for all the people she's spied on; it wasn't a big enough offence to go to Azkaban. Plus, she's not allowed to turn into a beetle anymore. If she does, a tracker on her alerts the Ministry."
"Nice work." Ron said in good-natured surprise. Hermione put on a self-satisfied expression. "It was nothing." she said, rising from her chair. Harry followed her lead.
As they had agreed, Gladrags Wizard-Wear was the first store. Hermione had to help Ron with selecting some robes; they all agreed that Ron had no taste whatsoever in clothes, which (unsurprisingly), made him slightly annoyed. The trio finally agreed on a scarlet one with long sleeves, made of crushed velvet, which suited Ron perfectly. Predictably, it had no ruffs or frills on it.
It seemed to be a perfectly normal shopping trip, until they entered the Quill 'n' Scroll.
Business was picking up in the other shops now, as the customers in the Wheezes store finished their buying. This meant that, along with the two staff members, there were about twenty people.
The moment Harry entered, there was an excited squeak. "Harry! Over here!" someone yelled, looking round from a bookcase. Looking closely, Harry saw it was Colin Creevey, now a fourth year. His trademark camera was still hanging round his neck.
Puzzled beyond even trying to avoid the boy, Harry advanced to the books to see what Colin wanted to tell him. "Harry! Isn't this great? Just look at this!" Colin exclaimed, jumping from one foot to another in elation. He thrust a book into Harry's hands. "Just look at it! Look!"
Dreading the reason, Harry looked.

~ ~ ~

"Hermione, I have to get out of here," Harry hissed into his friend's ear, eyes darting around. Hermione looked at him blankly. "Why?" she asked, as she paid for her copy of the Daily Prophet.
To answer, Harry showed her the book. "Oh, my Lord." she gasped. "Harry, you're right. Wait outside, I'll get Ron."
He was quick to comply with the order. Smoothing his fringe (a/n bangs in American) down over his scar worriedly, he hurried to he exit, keeping his face down. To his annoyance, Colin met with him outside. "What'cha doing, Harry?" he asked, thrilled, "Did you like it? I got the picture for the cover and some of the inside photographs. Did you like them? Harry?"
"They were great, Colin." Harry growled, fighting the urge to give the younger boy a good smack in the mouth. "But next time that someone decides to write an unauthorised biography of me, would you please tell me if you're going to sell them pictures?"
Colin looked disappointed. "Alright. But I only gave them the really good ones, is that okay?"
"Yeah." Harry sighed, checking his hair still covered his scarred forehead. "At least you didn't let them have the one with the bones in my arm missing."
"Yes I did, that's on page fifty two." Colin said, proudly. And that was when the lightning bolt struck.

~ ~ ~

From out of the clear, blue sky, a sudden, golden flash of lightning raced down and smashed against the ground between the two boys. A scream rang out from one of the passers-by, who obviously thought one of them had been hit. As quickly as it had come, the brilliant coloured lightning had gone.
Colin and Harry stared at the circle of charred cobblestones in front of them. "What. . . was that?" Colin whispered to Harry, his normally cheerful face a chalk white. "I'm not entirely sure." Harry replied slowly. "But whatever it was, it wasn't something normal."
A few shoppers were staring at the pair, while a few more had continued on with their business. "But there isn't a cloud in the sky" Colin said in amazement, "It's perfectly clear. Perfectly. Perfectly!"
"Don't go hysterical on me, now." Harry said, taking action and dragging the younger boy away from the stares of the onlookers. "The Gertroot from today predicted Sun as well. Just go on, it's probably just some freak weather." Pushing the boy away from him and in the direction of the other shops, Harry looked back at the Quill 'n' Scroll. "Thank God." he muttered, seeing Hermione and Ron exiting the shop. He walked over as quickly as he could without running, and met up with the two students. "Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione questioned angrily, "I told you to wait outside. And it took me ages to find Ron."
"Sorry, Colin caught me, and something pretty weird happened." He hastily explained the lightning bolt, gesturing in the direction of the scorch mark.
Hermione stared at it interestedly. "And you say the bolt was golden?" Harry nodded. "Yeah. It came down right in front of Colin and me."
"It was powerful enough to scorch these cobblestones as well." she murmured, looking carefully at the blackened mark. She held her finger by it, crouching down. "It's hot as well. There's no way an ordinary lightning bolt could cause this much damage; the houses and stones in Hogsmeade are protected against weathering and other natural damage by spells. It had to be a lightning bolt caused by extremely powerful magic. No normal magic-user could have caused this.."
"Why'd anyone want to attack the ground?" Ron challenged, standing by Hermione's crouched figure. She glared at him, standing up again. "Of course they didn't. It was probably some accidental magic and luckily missed Colin and Harry."
"Pity they didn't hit Colin." Harry said bitterly. "That would have taught him a lesson." These phrases meant that Harry was then questioned by the others, and the whole story of the 'boneless arm' photos came out.
Hermione managed to stop Ron choking from laughing too hard, when Harry volunteered the idea of visiting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
The crowd was gone now, only a few people inside. "It's about time." Ron sighed as they entered. "I thought we'd never get in."
"I'm going to look at the prank books," Harry told Ron. "Fred and George didn't send me any of those."
"I don't really want to buy anything, so I'm going to talk with the twins." Hermione added, going to the counter. "They're probably still here."
When they exited the shop, twenty minutes later, Harry and Ron's pockets were filled with toffees, hard-boiled sweets, Gross-Out Gobstoppers and a pocket book on prank ideas.
"Eugh, listen to this one," Ron said in disgust, his nose buried in the book. "Number one hundred and seventeen; replace the victim's ceiling with rubbish, charmed to fall when the victim comes in. Variation, use mud. That's sick."
"Good idea, Ron. Variation number two, use sick." Harry said casually, making Ron look slightly ill.
"We have an hour left." Hermione declared, checking the time. "We're going to the library right now."
Harry hid a groan and glanced at Ron, who didn't seem excited with the idea either. It did however, turn out to be a good idea. Instead of the dark, slightly musty library in Hogwarts, the village library was smaller, but still had useful books. It was brighter and more cheerful, and the librarian (a man by the name of Gareth Oakes) was a lot less strict, and a lot more friendly.
By the end of the hour, Harry had finished his Herbology and Potions homework, and had finished a scroll for History of Magic.
Returning to Hogwarts later on, Harry had to admit it had been a particularly good day; even if he hadn't got to throttle Colin.

~ ~ ~

When the three had reached the Gryffindor common room, the day stated to go slightly disturbing, as the other Gryffindors in fifth year were waiting by the portrait hole. When the three entered, Dean and Seamus stopped playing exploding snap, Lavender and Patil gave identical squeals of excitement, and Neville stared at them. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked, puzzled, looking round the students. Patil clapped her hands. "We want to know how you knew it was going to happen."
Ron frowned. "What was going to happen?"
Patil looked annoyed. "Hermione! She said in Divination that Neville would be 'hurt later today, by a creature and ice'. The Floridian Ice Dragon was a creature, and it hurt him with ice."
"How did you know?" Neville wailed, falling into one of the armchairs. "I was in the Hospital Wing for hours, and you'd already predicted it!"
Harry looked at Hermione, who seemed to be getting annoyed. "Don't be ridiculous!" she blustered furiously, "That Divination is a load of nonsense; no-one should take it seriously!"
"Then why were you so angry that Trelawney didn't believe you?" Dean challenged, and then cowered back as Hermione's glare fell on him, in all it's daemonic glory. "Exactly!" she shrieked, hands balled into fists, her face rapidly changing red. "I was angry that she didn't believe I'd read it right! Not that I believed it would come true! "
"Okay." whimpered Dean, giving way to Hermione's temper. Finishing off, she rounded on Neville. "I told you not to be so stupid and have faith in Divination! IT'S RUBBISH! GUESSWORK! A STRING OF COINCIDENCES!"
"Alright!" Neville squeaked, as Patil and Lavender fled, the room, fearing that they would be next.
Straightening and calming herself, Hermione turned back to Harry and Ron, who were gawping at her in shock. "I'm having an early night." she said sharply, before turning on her heel and stamping up the spiral staircase to her dorm.
There was silence.
"Well," Ron said hesitantly, "that was a bit different, wasn't it?"
"Just a bit." Harry concurred, following the girl's plans and heading to bed. The four boys left in the room stared after them.

~ ~ ~

Tuesday morning saw the beginning of gloomy, dreary weather. Thin, grey clouds hung in the air, filling the sky for as far as the naked eye could see, like a thin, grey, gaseous vapour. Oh, sorry, it was. Never mind.. Neville, who popped down to the greenhouses to get some information that Hermione had neglected to write for him, reported that the Gertroot had changed to a russet red, confirming the suspicions that worse weather would follow.
"It's just our luck." Ron lamented as they headed to their first two lessons of Defence Against the Dark Arts. "The day we were getting our hands bitten off outside, it was sunny. Now that all our lessons are inside for the day, we get the leftover rain."
"First of all Ron, I don't think it's possible to have 'leftover rain'. And secondly, we all enjoyed Hagrid's lesson." chided Hermione, dodging a pair of huffing, puffing first-years, who fled down the corridors to their lessons. "Well, except for Malfoy and Neville." she added. "I hope Neville doesn't blame it on Prankster."
"Nah, he blames it on Malfoy." Ron said cheerfully. Harry let a small smile grace his face at this thought.
"Defence class." Ron announced, stopping in front of the doors. He peered in through the small window at the top of the door. "Looks like we're first. Professor Lupin's already here though."
Pushing open the door, he entered, Harry and Hermione following close behind. Harry took a seat by the window, and Hermione sat behind him, whilst Ron sat to his right.
Lupin looked up from the textbook. "You're early. The lesson only starts in seven minutes."
"We finished breakfast quickly." Hermione explained, probing through her bag for her own book.
Ron, who had already finished unpacking his bag, sucked on the end of his quill. "What are we doing today, Professor?" he asked in an interested voice. Lupin, however, did not fall for the distraction. "Put the Sugar Quill away please, and get out a proper one." He looked at Ron sternly, who obeyed immediately, albeit disappointedly. "Today, we're learning about Necromancers and Necroscopes. They'll be coming up on your O.W.Ls, so I thought it was best that we covered them."
By the pleased expression on Hermione's face, it was obvious that she had already read the chapter dealing with the two subjects, and was able to answer practically any question on the area under discussion.
A few minutes later, the rest of the Gryffindors filed in, and the class began.
"Today's lesson will not be practical, as it isn't possible for us." the teacher began, standing by the blackboard. "For the next few lessons; which are, I believe, a double today, a double on Thursday, and a single lesson on Friday; we will be studying the Arts of the Dead. Necromancy and Necroscopy.
"Please turn to page one hundred and fourteen in your textbooks, chapter twenty six."
There was an interlude to the previous silence from the students, which involved flicking desperately through the pages, or, in Hermione's case, opening it at the right page on the first try, something that Harry and Ron never ceased to be amazed at.
Harry guessed that it was because she read so many books, that she knew exactly how thick the pages were, and could accurately select one at will. Ron said she was just lucky. With no way to test either theory, the reason had remained a mystery to the fifth year Gryffindors. If Hermione knew why it was, she didn't say.
The rest of the lesson sped by smoothly. Necromancers and Necroscopes, Harry learnt, were the same things. Necromancers, however, used their ability of talking to the dead for Dark magic, and could also make the dead feel pain, so as to torture them. Necroscopes, although with the same powers, used their abilities for Light magic, and usually refused to harm the dead.
The Necro abilities were heightened greatly at night, and very weak during day; usually they weren't used at all in daytime.
They were all human; the Arts of the Dead, as they were known together, were simply talents, much as Parseltongue was. The last known practitioner, a Necroscope, lived in the late eighteen hundreds - Timothy Jessolen in Ireland.
It was believed that a new Necro-abled person was born every two generations, although it was deemed to be unlikely; if this was true, there would be a Necro-abled alive at the moment somewhere, and surely their abilities would have been discovered already.
Their homework recorded, their notes scribbled down (on scrap paper that fell apart as soon as you touched it), and their minds full of information, the students left the room after two hours, bursting to finish any Potions homework that they had forgotten from yesterday.
Harry and co. also raced to the library. Soon, Harry had finished another two scrolls for History of Magic, leaving only one more to do, and took out an interesting book on Necroscopes - books that mainly focused on Necromancy were in the restricted section.

~ ~ ~

"That was an interesting first lesson." Hermione thought aloud as they left the library. "I would have thought he'd have gone over dark creatures that were likely to come across; in the first war against You-Know-Who, he had an army of them."
"Yeah," Ron pointed out, "but if he did get a Necromancer on his side, that would be a big help to him. After all, some of the more powerful Necro-abled could call up zombies just by wanting it."
Harry, remembering his notes, contradicted him. "Only two of them, and only for a short while. Even then, it was only once for each, when they were in extreme danger, and it just happened; they didn't try to call them up."
"But they still did it. And let's face it, if You-Know-Who managed to get a Necromancer, he'd have no qualms about using a magical amplifier, or some Dark magic to make him more powerful."
"Or her." Hermione added. She adjusted her bag. "Oh, Harry. Don't forget, Prefects meeting after Transfiguration."
"I won't forget." Harry promised. "We'll just be having it in the Transfiguration room for today?"
"Yes, but the rest of the meetings will be in the Prefect's room." Hermione confirmed. Harry looked blank. "Oh, honestly." she half-sighed, half-snapped. "Second floor, two doors along from the History of Magic classroom. The door won't open unless you're wearing a Prefect badge."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Should you be saying this stuff around me? I could steal your badge and sneak in anytime, now."
"You're perfectly honest, I know that for a fact." The girl heaved a sigh. "It's a pity we can't steal Malfoy's badge, though. Just imagine the fun we could have with it."
"I'll tell you what isn't very fun." Harry interrupted in horror. "We're five minutes late for Transfiguration!"
Ron swore loudly, and Hermione disappeared down the corridor before even scolding him.
"Three times in two days," Harry groaned, as the pair raced behind Hermione. "I swear, someone really hates me."
"Quite a. . . lot of. . . people. . . actually. . ." Ron puffed. "And no jokes. . . about. . . being out of. . . breath, and Weasley's. . . Wizard Wheezes. . . alright?"
"I'd be a bit of a hypocrite." Harry gasped, stopping too late and running into the classroom door. "Umpf!"
"Graceful." Ron commented, pausing to catch his breath. "Let's face Fate."
"Or one p.o'd* teacher." Harry said, sarcastically. Opening the door, they walked in.
"Finally." Hermione said. "I saved you some places, sit down."
Hesitating only for a second, the boys glanced at each other, shrugged, and took their seats. "Please, please don't tell me that Professor McGonagall is late." Harry asked, wide-eyed at the thought. Ron looked at Hermione questioningly.
"Strange isn't it?" Hermione queried. "This is the first time ever that she's been late."
"More than just strange." Harry said thoughtfully. "Malfoy's been missing a lot - I've only seen him a few times, and usually he makes no effort to get out of my way. Then yesterday, Snape was late for Potions. . . and now the strictest, most rule-abiding, punctual teacher is late?"
"Good point." Ron frowned. Hermione looked interested. "Snape was late as well? Do you think they're connected?"
"Don't try to investigate. I've had enough of that for the last few years." warned Harry, occasionally looking at the door. "I'll admit, it's weird, but even if it is all related to each other, we shouldn't do anything about it. I don't want to ruin Gryffindor's winning streak by having having a couple of hundred points taken away."
"Maybe Snape and McGonagall are having an affair." Ron suggested wickedly. Harry shuddered.
Hermione was quick to reply. "Neither of them are married, so it wouldn't be an affair. Besides, that doesn't account for Malfoy."
"Malfoy might have nothing to do with it." Ron reasoned. "Could just be a coincidence with h-"
The door opened abruptly, cutting off his argument, and the professor swept in. She gazed around the classroom, taking the Gryffindor's faces in. "You're all here. Good." she said smartly, and strode to her desk. "Today, we'll be discussing Animagus' in more detail. You'll remember that we went over the basics in third year, but today, we'll be broadening your knowledge of it. First of all, is anyone here interested in becoming an Animagus?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air, as well as, surprisingly, Neville Longbottom's. A flicker of shock caught McGonagall's face as she caught sight of him, and then was gone. "That's very interesting. Now, the reason I ask this is because I have an Activus Crystal from South America; tribe Wizards and shamans were the inventors of the spell, as you learnt."
"Activus crystal?" Ron whispered to Harry, leaning across the table. "Wasn't the spell to activate our forms 'Activus Animagus'?"
Harry nodded. "I've never heard of the Crystal, though." he muttered back. "It might have been somewhere in my book - I didn't read all of it."
"If Mr Potter and Mr Weasley would like to pay attention?"
Ron winced. "Sorry, Professor."
"Good." McGonagall opened one of her desk drawers, and took a fist-sized, white gem out. Something - a pale blue - twisted inside, like the interior of a marble.
"This," she said, "is an Activus Crystal. The North American shamans and Wizards believed that every person was born with a Spirit Guide; an animal that best represented their personality. It could be anything, from a slug to an elephant.
"They also believed that although a person could choose any animal to change into, it would be easier to transform into their Spirit Guide form. Because of this, they made an Activus Crystal; one for each tribe or village.
"When held, and certain words said, you are then put into a relaxed state, like a trance, which shows you your ideal form, or Spirit Guide. Since I had to pull in a lot of favours to get hold of one, do NOT break it. I will be letting each of you; or possibly just Miss Granger and Mr Longbottom try it, and discover their perfect Animagus body." She looked, once again, round the room, at the eager faces. "I take it that you all want a go?"
Nods from everyone. McGonagall tutted. "Very well, then. As soon as you've seen your forms, write it down on a piece of parchment. When everyone's finished, we'll go through what you were, if you want to say so. However, if there's so much as a crack on it by the end, it'll be a months worth of detentions. Clear?"
Yet more nods from everyone.
"Good. We'll go round in seating order. If, by the end, you want to become an Animagus, come an see me. Don't forget that it takes months to years of hard work to complete the transformation, so don't expect it to happen overnight." (Ron suddenly burst into a giggling fit at this, and hastily changed it into a series of coughs).
"Mr Thomas, you're first. The words are 'Activus Magus'. Make sure you have a tight hold on it, or you'll drop it when you go into a trance." She passed the malformed gem to the boy, who took it as it would shatter at any second.
"Activus Magus." he said excitedly, and his body suddenly became loose. He looked relaxed, his eyes closed and head slumped forwards slightly. Parvati Patil gave a small shriek of glee, which the teacher thankfully didn't hear; and after a quarter of a minute, Dean's eyelids sprang open. He hurtled upright, clutching the gem. "That was cool!"
"Thank you for that information, Mr Thomas. Write it down, and pass the Crystal on to Mr Finnigan."
Seamus Finnigan, Dean's best friend, took the Crystal with a little less care than Dean. Saying the words, he went into the same trance, and came out just as excited, about twenty seconds later.
Hermione was next - she was sitting just behind Seamus. Her trance lasted around thirty seconds, but she came out practically dancing with exhilaration. She almost threw the Crystal to Ron in her giddy adrenaline rush, and hurried to write her change down. Harry tried to peer at it, but Hermione hid it from his view with her arm.
Shrugging it off, Harry turned back to look at Ron, who was just coming out of his daze. Instead of looking excited, however, he looked positively amazed and pleased. "Here." he said, thrusting the crystal into Harry's hands.
The Crystal was quite light; now Harry could see it closely, he realised the light blue inside was hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny dots, which swirled around each other and inside the gem. Although the Crystal itself was twisted and malformed, it wasn't rough - it was smooth, and milky white. "Activus Magus." he told it, and felt himself rushing away form his body.

~ ~ ~

He was drifting in creamy swirls that were overlaid on a light grey background. Silence was one of the first things he noticed, and then a glimmer of movement far away.
Feeling a strange urge to find it, he walked across the barren landscape of his trance world, seemingly floating across the thin air unthinking of how. Curiously, even though the movement seemed to be miles off (how had he seen that far, anyway?), he managed to walk there in two paces (but his strides were no longer than normal, so how?). The ground felt more solid here (even though there was no ground), and Harry could see what the creature was. The scenery suddenly shifted, into a long cliff edge, mountains in the background. A red clouded sky hung over them all. Under the creature, a pink waterfall poured over, although there was nowhere it could have come from.
But all that took Harry's attention was the beast.
Lying on a ridge was a lion, but a bizarre one; it's orange-brown mane was smooth and flat, falling down against it's neck. It's long tail, instead of ending in a clump of hairs, curved into a brush-shaped, light brown at the tips. The lion's ears were long and pointed, thin at the bottom, and rising into an elegant top, even thinner. The eyes were slanted, with points - but the most extraordinary thing was the wings.
Rising out of the top of it's front legs they were feathery and golden, the lowest feather of each wing pointed out, longer than those above it. Of the wings, slanted eyes, like those of the beast, were patterned on it, becoming smaller as they went higher.
Moving slowly, it twisted his head round to him, and gazed intently into his eyes.
'Remember me.' it said quietly.
And then, Harry woke up.

~ ~ ~

For some reason, he wasn't wearing his glasses. Blinking the fuzzy feeling away, Harry knew where he was - he'd seen it enough times without his glasses. 'Why on Earth am I in the Hospital Wing?' he briefly thought, reaching out to the bedside table and taking his glasses.
Putting them on, he looked around. There was no-one in the room; even Madame Pomfrey was missing. His hand felt itchy and as he raised his other hand to scratch it, he caught sight of the palm. The hand that he'd used to hold the Crystal was burnt. Dried blood covered it, so he knew he must have only just been brought in - otherwise Madame Pomfrey would have cleaned it. Glad that it didn't hurt, he sat up and looked at the clock.
It had been about six minutes since his turn with the Crystal, according to the timepiece. Trying to remember his form, Harry recalled what had happened. There was a lion - a winged one - lying on a ridge. And it had spoken. It hadn't sounded like English though; it sounded similar to when Harry spoke Parseltongue on purpose.
If he listened carefully, he could hear a faint hiss in the voice of a snake, or in his own Parseltongue; with the lion, he could hear a hint of a growl. Shaking the confused thought out of his head, Harry tried to work out what it meant. How had he understood the beast? And what was it?
His contemplation was interrupted by the nurse arriving. "You're awake." she noted, putting down the bowl of water she was carrying. "Just wash that blood off in here, and we'll find out what happened."
Obeying, Harry gingerly dipped his hands in. The water was ice cold, but with his hand burnt and still warm, it was a pleasant relief. Using one hand, he gently scraped the blood off the other, wincing slightly. The scabby blood whirled around the bowl, settling on the bottom and turning the water red. When he felt that his hand was clean, he took it out of the water, under Madame Pomfrey's watchful eyes.
The itching had gone now, so he lifted his hand above the bowl to look at it.
Imprinted on the palm of his hand was a tiny, winged lion's outline, in gold. It had it's wings spread and was rearing up, claws outstretched, as if in battle.
Letting out a small gasp, he pulled his hand closer, flinging drops of water around him. It was still there.
Looking closer at it, he saw the tiny figure had ruby eyes, barely noticeable on the two inch tall creature.
"What is it?" Pomfrey said worriedly, edging closer. "Do you have a deep cut?"
Harry shook his head. "No. It's. . . it's. . ." Unable to explain, he showed her the mark. The woman was

strangely silent.
"I think you had better see the headmaster." she finally said, expressionlessly. "You've still got your robes on, so you'd best go right now. The password's the same as before." She took the bowl and almost inaudibly, left the room.
Harry stared after her in puzzlement for a second, and the rose and put his shoes, lying by the side of the bed, on. He too left the room, heading for the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the head's office.
"Smarties." he said shakily, his head still spinning with thoughts and ideas. The grey figure moved aside, and Harry ascended the stairs, two at a time.
When he reached the door to the office, he knocked twice, and waited for the reply that came almost immediately. Entering, he saw Dumbledore sitting behind his long, antique desk.
The man looked up as he entered. "Harry? What seems to be the problem?"
Harry regained his voice. "I was in Transfiguration, and I was trying an Activus Crystal. When I came out of my trance, I was in the hospital wing, and I had this." he said nervously, his heart rate doubling as he showed the mark to the headmaster.
Dumbledore looked at it, appearing to note every detail of it's shape. "When you were in your trance," he questioned, "did you see this creature?"
"Yes." Harry replied earnestly, seeing Fawke's eyes upon him. "What is it? I've never heard of a winged lion before?"
"It's a Golden Griffin." Dumbledore replied calmly, leaning back in his seat. "Gryffindor's house animal, actually."
Staring at his headmaster in shock, Harry remembered where he was. "But I thought the lion was!" he blurted loudly, voicing his amazement.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Not so. When a Golden Griffin has it's wings folded, it acts like a disillusionment charm. You wouldn't see them if your life depended on it. Gryffindor, however, decided to have his house picture with it's wings tucked away, which makes it look like a lion."
Harry was silent for a moment. "But the lion on the house shield looks different from how I saw the Griffin."
Dumbledore looked up at this. "How so?" he said sharply.
"It's mane was. . . neater, I suppose. Longer, and flatter." Harry said, trying to remember. "It's ears were different. And it's eyes." He realised the headmaster's gaze was fixed on him. "Very interesting." the man whispered, sounding like he was talking to himself. "Slanted? Were it's eyes slanted?"
"Yes." admitted Harry, his curiosity growing by the second. "How did you know?"
Dumbledore waved it away. "That is a question, that I cannot say, yet." He sighed deeply. "It's a pity, that you won't have the chance to change into it now. . . just make sure that you do register as a falcon, won't you?"
Gaping like a fish, Harry stared at him. "S-sir?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Ever since I found out about the Marauders' abilities, I had a few sensors put up, so anyone completing the transformation with 'Animagus Activus' would be written down with their form, in one of my books. Imagine my surprise when I saw you and Mr Weasley written there?"
Harry stopped his aquatic impression. "Oh."
"You have full permission to use your abilities for fun; but nothing that will hurt anybody, and stay out of the Forest." He gave the boy a serious look. "And if you choose to change, tell Miss Granger where you're going, and for how long. I'm being extremely lenient with you, here."
"Yes, sir. Thanks." rushed Harry, wondering at his luck. "Sir, what happened to me?"
"Well," the man replied, "according to Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, who were brought up here - for certain reasons that you might wish to discuss with them - you were holding the Crystal, when the blue Vision spell inside turned red. It burned onto your flesh, Professor McGonagall removed it as fast as she could, and took you to the Hospital Wing. The rest, you know.
"I think you should skip the rest of Transfigurations. Miss Granger and Mr Weasley are in the Gryffindor common room. Please, don't be late for Charms."

~ ~ ~

By the time Harry left the headmaster's office, there were three questions he wanted answered.
One: What was it that Dumbledore thought was interesting, and why wouldn't he tell him.
Two: Why did the Griffin appear on his hand in the first place.
Three: What was there to discuss with Hermione and Ron, and why were they, too, missing the rest of Transfigurations.
His third question was answered when he reached the common room, and saw his two friends talking, sitting in the armchairs by the fire.
"Hey." he said cheerfully, taking a seat.
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked anxiously, looking at the boy. Harry nodded. "Fine as I can be. I've got a weird mark on my hand though."
There was silence.
"Is it of a magical creature?" Hermione said urgently, while Ron looked startled. "Is it the same creature you saw in your trance?" Harry looked at her strangely. "Yeah, it is. How did you know?"
"We have the same." Ron answered, trying to calm down. "Just after you - you know, passed out, we both got these weird pains on our hands."
"And when we looked, there were the outline of the same animals from our trances. Our Spirit Guides." Hermione finished. "I have a Black Unicorn, rearing up on my palm. Ron has a red Phoenix in mid-flight."
Harry gulped. "I have a Golden Griffin. Rearing, like Hermione's." he whispered, holding out his hand for them to see.
Ron looked between the two others. "Something really weird's going on." he said worriedly. "Dumbledore didn't have a clue about why we had them, but you could see that he knew what they were."
"He knew about you two being Animagus' as well." Hermione added. "There are sensors."
"Yeah, he told me." Harry said quietly. "What I want to know is, why have we got these?"
Hermione stood up immediately. "I'm going to check the library. There must be something. We're the only ones, you know. No one else got them."
Harry swore.
"I'm going to find out what's going on." Hermione stated. "I'm going to the library." she then said again. "Are you coming?"
"Definitely." Ron agreed. "Things are getting weird, and I want to know what's happening."
"One for all, and all for one." Harry smiled faintly. "Let's go."



About the Black Unicorn and Golden Griffin: The Black Unicorn, I actually thought up when I was planning the story. Then I read another fic (I can't remember the name, sorry) with Harry becoming a Black Unicorn. Darn! Well, I didn't want to get rid of a good idea, so I let it stay. Let's face it, with Harry able to fly, and Ron a cool-looking fox, why stick Herm' with a boring old pole-cat, even if it has a pretty pattern?
Harry's Golden Griffin - I'm afraid that I did get this idea from HP and the Psychic Serpent. Sorry! You see, I wanted something that could fly, but I also wanted a lion (because of Gryffindor's animal). Barb answered both desires. (Please forgive me!)
Oh, I found a really good 'Golden Griffin' picture, which I based it on - I didn't want to copy Barb word for word. Unfortunately, you can't post pictures here, and I don't have my own site. Believe me, it's a damn good, professionally painted pic, so PLEASE e-mail ryshora@hotmail.com to ask for it - I'm afraid I don't know who painted it, so tell me if you know.
So, are the strange signs just a plot hook, something important, or a mixture of both? You'll soon find out!

| Harry's Lesson Timetable |
| (And Ron's) |


Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 Divin. DADA Free Time Herb. Free Time
2 Divin. DADA Free Time Herb. HOM
B - - - - -
3 HOM Trans. Charms DADA Trans.
4 Potions Trans. Charms DADA Trans.
L - - - - -
5 COMC Charms COMC Divin. Potions
6 COMC Charms COMC Divin. Potions
7 Herb. Potions HOM Trans. DADA
8 Herb. Potions HOM Charms COMC
- - - - -
M Ast. Ast.

B = Break Please note, you can take extra tutoring in a
L = Lunch subject if you wish.
M = Midnight Please ask the teacher involved.
Break = 30 minutes (Also, please realise that 'Free Time' is meant for homework,
Lunch = 12:30 - 2:00 revision or relaxation from Astronomy. No messing around!)
Each single lesson = 1 hour long Astronomy lessons are an hour long.
Lessons start: 8:00
Lessons end: 6:30


* p.o'd is short for 'p*issed off'. I don't know whether Americans have that slang, so I thought I'd better add this note here. This is also the reason why I may change the rating to a PG, although probably not. I mean, it isn't as though I said anything really rude. Oh well, who knows. By the end of this fic, it'll probably be PG-13 to R anyway. No, not because of swearing or *coughadultsituationscough*, but because I can't resist a bit of violence. Heck, you think Harry and Certain-Other-People-Who-I-Won't-Mention-Because-It-Would-Spoil-The-Plot aren't going to use their powers? Heck, no way!


Please, e-mail me for timetables, O.W.Ls, etc, and now the Griffin pic.