Chapter 16
Here, Kitty, Kitty! (Tobias)
My name is Tobias.
It was the day after we had given Harry the power to morph. I was perched on Rachel's shoulder, one of the only steady places to rest. Almost everything else was wet or damp.
You may think I didn't mind being indoors. That I was comfortable being in such a large room.
Think again.
My hawk instincts had been going nuts ever since I entered the building, screaming at me to get out of the giant cage. I ignored it as best I could.
Harry was with us. He was going to acquire his first morph.
"So, Harry, is there a useful morph around here you could use?" asked Jake.
"Mrs. Norris," Harry replied instantly.
I felt Rachel stiffen. I ruffled my feathers. Harry wanted to acquire a human?
"We can't use sentiment DNA without permission," Jake stated firmly, with a quick look to Cassie.
She looked a little queasy.
"No, no," Harry laughed, shaking his head, "Mrs. Norris isn't human. She's a cat, Filch's helper. I could go anywhere in the building and grounds in her shape."
"Oh," Jake said, visibly relaxing.
I let my feathers fall and being to preen them flat. I shuffled around a little on Rachel's shoulder, and tried to look as calm as a hawk trapped indoors could.
"If were going to go around the school, you're going to have to morph wizards." Harry said.
I fluttered off my perch and landed unsteadily on the ground. I concentrated on the human I wanted to become, and began to morph.
The first thing that happened was that I grew like a bamboo shoot. My feathers turned into hot wax and bubbled. It solidified again, this time as human skin. The skin on my legs and feet did the same. My talons split and became toes. My beak melted and sank back into my face. Teeth and lips formed inside my mouth. My tongue thickened. A large chunk of skin formed my nose.
I sighed as my eyesight dimmed. My hearing, and most of my other senses, did as well. Two large flabs of skin jutted out the sides of my head and formed ears. My head grew in size to match the proportion of my ears.
SPROOT! Dark blond hair (is there such a thing? If there is, that's what color it was) sprouted from my scalp.
POP! POP! My morphing suit appeared as my body reshaped itself, my spine becoming straighter as my chest sunk like a deflated balloon.
Gross.
POP! POP! POPPOPPOP! Fingers sprouted and grew from the ends of my wings.
Soon, I was completely human. However, I was not a wizard yet. That quickly changed. A warm sensation filled my chest, making me smile. The sensation filled my heart and mind. At the back of my head, it comforted me.
I was magical.
As soon as I finished morphing, Rachel threw my robes at me. I hurriedly pulled on my gray pants, white blouse, socks, and black robes, with the Gryffindor emblem on it. I tied my shoes up. Rachel had to knot my red-and-gold striped tie for me. I pulled my wand from my pocket and grinned as warmth spread up my fingers and filled my body, making me tingle.
I was proud of my wand. It was ebony and rowan. I lived in a rowan tree. It was eleven and a half inches long. At its core (now, I was very proud of this) was a phoenix's feather. It was excellent for levitation.
Harry had told me that his wand contained a phoenix feather, also.
"Okay, let's go," he said.
We left the Chamber of Secrets to search for Mrs. Norris.
"I feel like I'm looking for trouble," he muttered, "And usually it's trouble that looks for me."
We found the sandy-colored cat on the third floor, right by the Gryffindor common room (which I had never been in).
"Mrs. Norris," Harry said, nodding at the cat. Mrs. Norris studied him with lamp-like yellow eyes. It acknowledged him with a nod in return.
He stalked toward Mrs. Norris, who held her ground. With a trembling hand, he stretched a hand out to touch her. Once his hand was in range, she hissed and batted his hand with her clawed paw. He yelped as she broke skin and withdrew his hand. He glared at her.
Mrs. Norris hissed again, as if daring Harry to try again. He did: his hand shot out and snapped back immediately. She went for the fake. He touched her back when he had his chance and concentrated. Her face became relaxed. Her outstretched palm fell.
He rolled away when he finished. Mrs. Norris snapped back to her old self. Her ears lie flat against her skull and bared her teeth.
"Sorry!" he said, and ran down the hall past us.
"Harry! Where are you going?" Jake yelled, running to catch up.
Harry stopped a few corridors away and panted. He looked Jake up and down and said, "When you find Mrs. Norris, Filch isn't very far behind. If he found me touching his cat, I'd have detention for the rest of the year."
"Aaah. We know how you feel," Marco said with a big, flashy wink.
Harry grinned. He looked down at his hands and seemed to think about what he had just done.
"So, Harry, are you ready to morph?" Jake asked.
"Yeah. Let's go somewhere safe, though. How about Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom?"
"Sure. I guess so."
We walked into the girls' bathroom.
"Hey, Harry? Why's this bathroom called Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom?"
"Uuum… I think she can answer that question," Harry said, pointing over Rachel's shoulder.
The others hadn't seen a ghost before, like me. You can guess they were pretty shocked when Moaning Myrtle glided through the stall door.
"Yah-ha-ha!" cried Marco, jumping back.
"Were you talking about me?" Moaning Myrtle asked in her mournful voice.
"Hey, Myrtle," Harry said cautiously. "We're just here to… um, try a new spell."
She eyed him up and down. "But you're a boy. Why come here?"
"It's a… er…. nice place." He lied.
"You—you're lying!" Myrtle said. She puffed herself up and tears filled her eyes.
"No! No, Myrtle! That's not it at all! It's just—!" Harry said, but it was too late. She let loose a long wail, flew up, and dived down the toilet.
We all stared.
"Uuuh… well, I can morph now," said Harry with an apologetic grin.
"Let's do it!" Rachel said, making me grin.
"Here we go," Harry said. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to morph.
A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging! I want Harry's morphing to be in his own P.O.V. It's not a great chapter, either. I'm tired. What can I say?
Anywho, to answer your question (sorry, I forget who you are!), no, the Summoning Charm wouldn't work. I actually considered doing it before, but changed my mind. That would make everything too simple and, plus, there's a little, tiny problem. You see, the Yeerk is wrapped around the host's brain. If you pull the Yeerk out forcibly, who says the host's brain isn't going to come with it? Killing the person isn't exactly saving the person. The Animorphs, Harry, Hermione, and co. want to keep the hosts alive!
Stick around for my next chapter, "Chapter 17: Animal Instinct (Harry)"!
