Chapter 4: Animagi and Other Secrets
The rest of the summer passed by uneventfully. Ron and Harry played a lot of Quidditch with Fred and George to make the time pass faster. Ron had gotten quite good at Quidditch since the last time Harry had seen him play. Finally, it had gotten to that point at the end of the summer where a voyage to Diagon Alley was needed to purchase their books and more supplies for the next school year. Harry was excited. He would finally be seeing Hermione again and would hopefully get to see this other gift that she had for him.
After Harry and the Weasleys had made the journey by Floo into Diagon Alley, Ron and Harry went off to go find Hermione. They wandered past all the stores with all the magical supplies and decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron for an ice cream cone. It was at the Leaky Cauldron that they ran into Hermione.
"Harry! Ron!" Hermione shouted excitedly as she ran up to them and enveloped them in gigantic hugs. "How've you been all summer. I wish I could have stopped by for a visit but I just got back from Bulgaria." Hermione looked kind of sour at the mention of Bulgaria. "You will never guess who's starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry and Ron were puzzled until they saw the tall, lanky figure of Viktor Krum coming towards them from the Leaky Cauldron.
"Krum?" asked Ron and Harry in unison.
"With Karkaroff gone, Krum decided that he didn't want to be around Durmstrang this year. He got into this huge fight with his parents over his decision to go to Hogwarts and just left once he got approval from Dumbledore to finish his studies here." Harry seemed more excited than Ron was that Krum would be going to Hogwarts this year. Harry believed that Ron liked Hermione and didn't like the fact that he would have competition from Krum. Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron. "Viktor needs to go to Madame Malkin's to see about his new robes. While he's being fitted, I have something very important to talk to you about." With that, the Ron and Harry trailed behind Hermione and Viktor towards Madame Malkin's Robe Shop.
Viktor and Hermione entered Madame Malkin's. After a few brief moments, Hermione returned outside. "Viktor's going to meet us back at the Leaky Cauldron in about an hour. That should give us enough time to go over what I need to tell you guys." Harry hoped this had something to do with his other birthday gift from Hermione. The group happily skipped along to the Leaky Cauldron, chatting about the enormous excitement about their summer. Hermione filled them in on the rumours she'd heard about the new Minister for Magic.
"The Ministry is trying to change the regulations about the selection of a new Minister. They want Dumbledore to be Minister, but they also want him as Headmaster at Hogwarts. The Minister can't currently be Headmaster at Hogwarts, but because of the work of people like your dad, Ron, we could see Dumbledore as the new Minister. Imagine what that would mean for Wizarding kind." The trio entered the Leaky Cauldron and sat at a secluded table in the back corner. Hermione reached down into her bag and pulled out a large, leatherbound book and set it on the table in front of Harry. "Happy Birthday Harry."
Harry examined the book. There was no title anywhere on the cover of the book. "Thanks Hermione, I think. What is this book exactly?" Harry feared that it would be an extremely old copy of Hogwarts, A History so that Harry and Ron could finally keep up with Hermione's knowledge of Hogwarts.
"I found this book in a dusty old trunk in the Krum's attic. It grabbed my attention right away and I opened it. I was amazed at what I read inside and decided that this would be the perfect gift for you and give us something to do this year since the Hogsmeade trips have been cancelled, what with You-Know-Who's return and all." Harry and Ron did a double take at the mention of Hogsmeade being cancelled. "It was mentioned in your letter from Hogwarts, if you read it properly."
"Well, get on with it Hermione," Ron said exasperatedly. "What is it? We don't have all day." Hermione moved in closer to Ron and Harry and in a voice barely above a whisper said "this book gives step by step instructions on how to become Animagi. It has all the potions and spells, instructions on how to physically undergo all the changes. Some of the potions are really difficult and require some pretty rare ingredients. Not to mention all the hard work we'll need to put into it to physically undergo the changes quickly and on command." Harry and Ron could barely contain their excitement. "We have two ways of going about this. We could do it completely on our own, or we can get help from Professor McGonagall. Being an Animagus herself she could give us instructions and pointers that she learned from experience."
Harry and Ron thought about this for a brief moment and at exactly the same time said "On our own." Harry continued, "McGonagall would probably try to talk us out of becoming Animagi. And plus, it'll be more fun to sneak around doing stuff like we always do." Hermione agreed with them. They did have a knack for skirting around the rules and doing things they shouldn't. Becoming Animagi was not illegal. It did need to be licensed, but they could get that done after.
"Hermione, you said that some of the potions were really difficult and required some pretty rare ingredients. Where are we going to get them? Snape'll know that something's up if all those ingredients go missing," Ron wondered. Hermione smiled proudly.
"A lot of the ingredients are rare, but I was able to pick them all up in Bulgaria. I was going to buy the more common stuff that I didn't already have today when I went to restock my potion supplies. I bought enough for the three of us because I thought it would be fun for us all to do and I read in that book that it helps with becoming an Animagus if you have support from other people. All that's left now is for us to decide which animal we want to become. Most people say that the animal chooses us the way the wand does, so when you're reading about the animals one animal will jump out at you and you'll know that is the one for you."
The rest of their hour without Viktor was spent discussing how cool it would be to become this animal or that one. Finally, Viktor showed up and they continued on with their shopping for school supplies. Harry was thinking quite seriously about what animal he wanted to be. He wondered if he should follow in his father's footsteps and become a stag. Slowly his mind drifted through all the animals he had ever studied in Care of Magical Creatures and he finally narrowed it down to two. Harry wanted to either become a gryffin, the mascot of Gryffindor and one of the animals on the watch, or a phoenix, like Fawkes, Dumbledore's bird. Gryffins were powerful creatures, but the phoenix had tears that could heal and could lift many times their own weight. Having tears that heal could help out greatly seeing how much trouble seems to find Harry and his friends.
Finally, it came time to when Harry and Ron needed to meet up with the rest of the Weasleys to return to the Burrow. They agreed that the four of them would sit together on the train to Hogwarts and said their goodbyes until tomorrow. As Ron and Harry walked back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet the rest of the Weasley clan, Harry told Ron talked excitedly about becoming Animagi.
"I think I've decided what animal I want to become," Harry said.
"Already? It hasn't even been a full two hours since Hermione said that we could become Animagi!"
"It's like Hermione said, the animal chooses you. Once I started to think about it, two animals popped into my head right away. The gryffin and the phoenix. The gryffin is a really powerful creature, and so is the phoenix, but the phoenix has healing tears and has many magical powers that are still yet undiscovered by humans. I think when I become an Animagus I want to transform into a phoenix." Ron was amazed at how quickly Harry's animal called him. Ron started to worry that maybe he couldn't be an Animagus because the only animal he thought of was a rat, and that was only because he missed his rat Scabbers. Even though Scabbers ended up being another Animagus, Peter Pettrigew, a Death Eater also known as Wormtail, he was still a good pet. Ron decided that before they left for Hogwarts tomorrow, he'd have decided what animal he wanted to become.
Finally, Ron and Harry met up with the others and one by one travelled back to the Burrow. Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside and once everyone started to go through the gate handed him back his watch.
"The Ministry's most powerful wizards checked for all kinds of charms known to them and even other dark charms that You-Know-Who could have come up with and nothing came up. I want you to be really, really careful this year. You know what You-Know-Who has planned and it's possible that the wizards who checked this over overlooked something that could be important. Promise me you won't go looking for trouble this year." Mr. Weasley looked very strained and exhausted. His eyes were dark with circles from lack of sleep.
"I promise I won't go looking for trouble and that I will be careful. What with the Ministry trying to get Dumbledore as Minister nothing can happen around Hogwarts this year." Harry realized that he said too much when Mr. Weasley blanched.
"You know that we're trying to get Dumbledore as Minister of Magic? If that much is known then who knows what else is being leaked out of the office. Oh dear, things are happening all over again, exactly like they were the last time You-Know-Who rose to power. Where did you hear this from?" Mr. Weasley looked extremely worried.
"Hermione told me and Ron earlier. I don't know where she heard it from because she just got back from Bulgaria. I wouldn't worry too much though Mr. Weasley, Hermione knows everything."
Mr. Weasley got even paler. "Harry, when you go back, tell Mrs. Weasley that something important came up and that I needed to go to the office. Do not under any circumstances say that you know why I'm going in. I'll explain it fully to her when I return."
Harry took a handful of Floo powder and travelled back to the Burrow. He found Mrs. Weasley waiting expectantly for him to arrive at the fireplace. "Where have you been, I was beginning to worry about you. Where's Arthur? He should have been through already?"
"About that, Mr. Weasley told you not to worry about him, he should be home soon, he just had to run into the office to sort some stuff out. He told me to tell you he'd explain everything to you when he got back." As if to see if Harry's story checked out, Mrs. Weasley glanced at the clock and saw Arthur's hand pointing at work. Mrs. Weasley grumbled and started to make supper. Harry darted upstairs and went to tell Ron everything that had just happened since he had returned to the Burrow.
The rest of the summer passed by uneventfully. Ron and Harry played a lot of Quidditch with Fred and George to make the time pass faster. Ron had gotten quite good at Quidditch since the last time Harry had seen him play. Finally, it had gotten to that point at the end of the summer where a voyage to Diagon Alley was needed to purchase their books and more supplies for the next school year. Harry was excited. He would finally be seeing Hermione again and would hopefully get to see this other gift that she had for him.
After Harry and the Weasleys had made the journey by Floo into Diagon Alley, Ron and Harry went off to go find Hermione. They wandered past all the stores with all the magical supplies and decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron for an ice cream cone. It was at the Leaky Cauldron that they ran into Hermione.
"Harry! Ron!" Hermione shouted excitedly as she ran up to them and enveloped them in gigantic hugs. "How've you been all summer. I wish I could have stopped by for a visit but I just got back from Bulgaria." Hermione looked kind of sour at the mention of Bulgaria. "You will never guess who's starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry and Ron were puzzled until they saw the tall, lanky figure of Viktor Krum coming towards them from the Leaky Cauldron.
"Krum?" asked Ron and Harry in unison.
"With Karkaroff gone, Krum decided that he didn't want to be around Durmstrang this year. He got into this huge fight with his parents over his decision to go to Hogwarts and just left once he got approval from Dumbledore to finish his studies here." Harry seemed more excited than Ron was that Krum would be going to Hogwarts this year. Harry believed that Ron liked Hermione and didn't like the fact that he would have competition from Krum. Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron. "Viktor needs to go to Madame Malkin's to see about his new robes. While he's being fitted, I have something very important to talk to you about." With that, the Ron and Harry trailed behind Hermione and Viktor towards Madame Malkin's Robe Shop.
Viktor and Hermione entered Madame Malkin's. After a few brief moments, Hermione returned outside. "Viktor's going to meet us back at the Leaky Cauldron in about an hour. That should give us enough time to go over what I need to tell you guys." Harry hoped this had something to do with his other birthday gift from Hermione. The group happily skipped along to the Leaky Cauldron, chatting about the enormous excitement about their summer. Hermione filled them in on the rumours she'd heard about the new Minister for Magic.
"The Ministry is trying to change the regulations about the selection of a new Minister. They want Dumbledore to be Minister, but they also want him as Headmaster at Hogwarts. The Minister can't currently be Headmaster at Hogwarts, but because of the work of people like your dad, Ron, we could see Dumbledore as the new Minister. Imagine what that would mean for Wizarding kind." The trio entered the Leaky Cauldron and sat at a secluded table in the back corner. Hermione reached down into her bag and pulled out a large, leatherbound book and set it on the table in front of Harry. "Happy Birthday Harry."
Harry examined the book. There was no title anywhere on the cover of the book. "Thanks Hermione, I think. What is this book exactly?" Harry feared that it would be an extremely old copy of Hogwarts, A History so that Harry and Ron could finally keep up with Hermione's knowledge of Hogwarts.
"I found this book in a dusty old trunk in the Krum's attic. It grabbed my attention right away and I opened it. I was amazed at what I read inside and decided that this would be the perfect gift for you and give us something to do this year since the Hogsmeade trips have been cancelled, what with You-Know-Who's return and all." Harry and Ron did a double take at the mention of Hogsmeade being cancelled. "It was mentioned in your letter from Hogwarts, if you read it properly."
"Well, get on with it Hermione," Ron said exasperatedly. "What is it? We don't have all day." Hermione moved in closer to Ron and Harry and in a voice barely above a whisper said "this book gives step by step instructions on how to become Animagi. It has all the potions and spells, instructions on how to physically undergo all the changes. Some of the potions are really difficult and require some pretty rare ingredients. Not to mention all the hard work we'll need to put into it to physically undergo the changes quickly and on command." Harry and Ron could barely contain their excitement. "We have two ways of going about this. We could do it completely on our own, or we can get help from Professor McGonagall. Being an Animagus herself she could give us instructions and pointers that she learned from experience."
Harry and Ron thought about this for a brief moment and at exactly the same time said "On our own." Harry continued, "McGonagall would probably try to talk us out of becoming Animagi. And plus, it'll be more fun to sneak around doing stuff like we always do." Hermione agreed with them. They did have a knack for skirting around the rules and doing things they shouldn't. Becoming Animagi was not illegal. It did need to be licensed, but they could get that done after.
"Hermione, you said that some of the potions were really difficult and required some pretty rare ingredients. Where are we going to get them? Snape'll know that something's up if all those ingredients go missing," Ron wondered. Hermione smiled proudly.
"A lot of the ingredients are rare, but I was able to pick them all up in Bulgaria. I was going to buy the more common stuff that I didn't already have today when I went to restock my potion supplies. I bought enough for the three of us because I thought it would be fun for us all to do and I read in that book that it helps with becoming an Animagus if you have support from other people. All that's left now is for us to decide which animal we want to become. Most people say that the animal chooses us the way the wand does, so when you're reading about the animals one animal will jump out at you and you'll know that is the one for you."
The rest of their hour without Viktor was spent discussing how cool it would be to become this animal or that one. Finally, Viktor showed up and they continued on with their shopping for school supplies. Harry was thinking quite seriously about what animal he wanted to be. He wondered if he should follow in his father's footsteps and become a stag. Slowly his mind drifted through all the animals he had ever studied in Care of Magical Creatures and he finally narrowed it down to two. Harry wanted to either become a gryffin, the mascot of Gryffindor and one of the animals on the watch, or a phoenix, like Fawkes, Dumbledore's bird. Gryffins were powerful creatures, but the phoenix had tears that could heal and could lift many times their own weight. Having tears that heal could help out greatly seeing how much trouble seems to find Harry and his friends.
Finally, it came time to when Harry and Ron needed to meet up with the rest of the Weasleys to return to the Burrow. They agreed that the four of them would sit together on the train to Hogwarts and said their goodbyes until tomorrow. As Ron and Harry walked back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet the rest of the Weasley clan, Harry told Ron talked excitedly about becoming Animagi.
"I think I've decided what animal I want to become," Harry said.
"Already? It hasn't even been a full two hours since Hermione said that we could become Animagi!"
"It's like Hermione said, the animal chooses you. Once I started to think about it, two animals popped into my head right away. The gryffin and the phoenix. The gryffin is a really powerful creature, and so is the phoenix, but the phoenix has healing tears and has many magical powers that are still yet undiscovered by humans. I think when I become an Animagus I want to transform into a phoenix." Ron was amazed at how quickly Harry's animal called him. Ron started to worry that maybe he couldn't be an Animagus because the only animal he thought of was a rat, and that was only because he missed his rat Scabbers. Even though Scabbers ended up being another Animagus, Peter Pettrigew, a Death Eater also known as Wormtail, he was still a good pet. Ron decided that before they left for Hogwarts tomorrow, he'd have decided what animal he wanted to become.
Finally, Ron and Harry met up with the others and one by one travelled back to the Burrow. Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside and once everyone started to go through the gate handed him back his watch.
"The Ministry's most powerful wizards checked for all kinds of charms known to them and even other dark charms that You-Know-Who could have come up with and nothing came up. I want you to be really, really careful this year. You know what You-Know-Who has planned and it's possible that the wizards who checked this over overlooked something that could be important. Promise me you won't go looking for trouble this year." Mr. Weasley looked very strained and exhausted. His eyes were dark with circles from lack of sleep.
"I promise I won't go looking for trouble and that I will be careful. What with the Ministry trying to get Dumbledore as Minister nothing can happen around Hogwarts this year." Harry realized that he said too much when Mr. Weasley blanched.
"You know that we're trying to get Dumbledore as Minister of Magic? If that much is known then who knows what else is being leaked out of the office. Oh dear, things are happening all over again, exactly like they were the last time You-Know-Who rose to power. Where did you hear this from?" Mr. Weasley looked extremely worried.
"Hermione told me and Ron earlier. I don't know where she heard it from because she just got back from Bulgaria. I wouldn't worry too much though Mr. Weasley, Hermione knows everything."
Mr. Weasley got even paler. "Harry, when you go back, tell Mrs. Weasley that something important came up and that I needed to go to the office. Do not under any circumstances say that you know why I'm going in. I'll explain it fully to her when I return."
Harry took a handful of Floo powder and travelled back to the Burrow. He found Mrs. Weasley waiting expectantly for him to arrive at the fireplace. "Where have you been, I was beginning to worry about you. Where's Arthur? He should have been through already?"
"About that, Mr. Weasley told you not to worry about him, he should be home soon, he just had to run into the office to sort some stuff out. He told me to tell you he'd explain everything to you when he got back." As if to see if Harry's story checked out, Mrs. Weasley glanced at the clock and saw Arthur's hand pointing at work. Mrs. Weasley grumbled and started to make supper. Harry darted upstairs and went to tell Ron everything that had just happened since he had returned to the Burrow.