A/N: Sorry for not updating in so long! School killed my muse and I'm just starting to resucitate it. ("Clear!") But anyways, I'm releasing this in a trilogy of chapters 8, 9, and 10 at the same time. Oh, and please don't be put off by what happens in this chapter. Just remember, the question of why will be answered in chapter 9 with Lupin.
Enjoy!
Chapter 8: The Trouble with a Transformation
--------------------
"Guys? Where are you?"
Harry had come out of the shower half an hour ago to find his friends had disappeared. Getting into his boxers and pulling on a dressing gown, he thought they had decided to go to sleep and he decided to go say goodnight to Ron. Walking into his old dormitory, he discovered Ron's bed was empty. He went down to the nearly empty common room. His friends weren't there either. He asked Lavender Brown whether she saw Hermione go to her dormitory. Giggling, she said she hadn't seen her since she had followed Harry up the stairs with Ron. Harry thanked her and went back to his room.
He was definitely panicking now. He checked his trunk, but his Invisbility Cloak was still there, so this couldn't be some awful joke. He sat down on the couch and looked at the pensieve. Then, bolting up with a sudden thought, he grabbed his wand, poked the pensieve's contents with his finger, and fell in.
Ron and Hermione were both about to faint. For half an hour, they had watched Harry being tortured by his relatives. He had been nearly drowned in the back garden's pond, forced to drink household cleaners; they watched as his eyes were burned with the acid he had talked about, his screams reverberating in their heads. They had watched as he was slashed repeatedly with his uncle's belt and stabbed several times with a carving knife along with many other gruesome things.
They couldn't get out, though they tried many times, and had resigned to watching this as a form of punishment for their curiosity. They were currently watching as a starved Harry, barely able to sit straight, let his locks hang down on his shoulders as he put eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick on. As they watched him straightening his hair with a straightener tool, they both felt an incredible pain on their shoulders. Looking around, they saw a furious Harry gripping each of their shoulders so tightly his knuckles were white and his hands were shaking. Hermione and Ron felt a force pulling them upwards, and before they knew it, they were being pulled toward the door by Harry.
"Harry, we are so sorry," Hermione whimpered as tears ran down her face.
"Harry, why were you putting makeup on?" asked Ron, wincing as Harry was still gripping their shoulders in a vice grip. Hermione winced at Ron's lack of tact. Harry swelled.
"YOU WANNA KNOW WHY?! I'LL TELL YOU WHY!" Harry yelled, letting go and standing sideways next to the door, looking at the heaps of his friends on the floor who were getting up.
"I WAS ABOUT TO HAVE TO PUT ON A DRESS AND DANCE FOR MY UNCLE! YA HAPPY?! NOW GET OUT!" Tears were streaming down his face as he pointed toward the door with a shaky finger. "OUT!"
Ron and Hermione knew there was no point trying to argue, and walked past Harry and out the door. The statue swiftly shut behind them and as they walked toward their dormitories, both of them heard those screams from the pensieve, and both felt they deserved it.
---------------------------------------------------------
Saturday was a sombre day as students headed for Hogsmeade. Ron and Hermione had both gone to Harry's door and listened. They heard no noise, but knew Harry wouldn't be asleep at 9 in the morning. They decided he must have left for Hogsmeade already. Walking down to Hogsmeade, they saw no sign of Harry, though a pretty ebony-haired girl caught Ron's eye, causing Hermione to scowl at him. She looked like the Ravenclaw from their Healing class.
"We're supposed to be looking for Harry!" she said as the girl passed, wearing a beautiful spider silk cloak in white. It made her beautiful hair stand out against the light material and many boys and girls heads turned watching the hooded figure.
Hermione and Ron searched all the shops looking for Harry, only stopping at noon to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks. As they made another circuit of the town and had decided to look for Harry in the castle, a small tea shop caught Hermione's eye.
"Let's check here really quick and then the castle," she said, pulling a stubborn Ron into the frilled shop of Madam Puddifoot's.
Most of the tables were filled with couples. The only table open was next to one which housed the spider silk girl looking out the steamed window at the street. As she seemed preoccupied, she never turned around as Hermione and Ron sat down to have a cup of tea. When Madam Puddifoot came by, she took their orders and filled up the stationary girl's cup. They thought they heard a slight sniffling coming from under the hooded face.
"Poor thing," murmured Hermione," she looks so morose. I wonder if she's meeting someone here.
We should ask her if she's okay. I mean, I'd want someone to talk to, even if it was a concerned stranger."
Both leaned over to the girl's table and Hermione asked, "Are you okay?"
The sniffling face turned toward them. Ebony bangs hung elegantly into those steely silver eyes, but something in them clearly had a familiar look of hatred in them....
"Harry?" Ron gasped.
"Quit looking for me and keep your noses out of it." With this, the girl in white pulled her cloak down over her face and left the shop headed for the castle.
"How did he turn his eyes silver?" asked a dumbfounded Ron, seemeingly blocking out what was concerning Hermione more. She rolled her eyes
"They were colour contacts, Ron." said Hermione.
"Colour whats?"
"Oh, nevermind, let's go."
Paying for their drinks, they left following the same route as Harry.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Over the course of the week, Harry ignored them at all costs. He worked in his private room, and as they never saw him leave, they figured he found a secret passage out of it. When they had a class with him, he would sit as far away as possible. Everybody was wondering what could have happened to make Harry avoid his best friends like that.
As Friday rolled around and Lupin returned, Harry told him right off that he wouldn't be able to attend the final lesson that night. Lupin asked if everything was okay, but Harry just shook his head and said he'd been feeling under the weather lately and proceeded to sit in the back corner half in shadow. Ron and Hermione showed up and knowing they wouldn't get a word out of him, sat down in the front. Lupin continued with the lesson, deciding to let them work out whatever was going on.
Lupin had his hands full that night. Harry hadn't shown up, so Hermione and Ron were the only ones who were to transform. Both of them had to be stunned the first few minutes while they fought with the creature, but they eventually came around, Hermione looking at her image in the mirror and howling; Ron looking in the mirror and fainting. Lupin told them once they turned back that they had been excellent.
"I do have a favour of you two," Lupin asked as they left the room. "I was wondering if you would accompany me to Harry's room and back me up if necessary. I have a feeling he's going to be something big."
"Uh..sure." Both tried not to look uncomfortable.
Harry looked up as Lupin entered the room, guessing that he was here to finish up the lessons with him. He looked darkly at Lupin as he saw the two people following him.
"Hello Harry," said Lupin cheerfully. "I thought we could finish up the lesson in your room. The other two have already transformed."
"Then why are they here?" His tone was cold.
"In case I need backup," Lupin said easily, still smiling as though he didn't notice the looks Harry was giving the other two. "So, what you do is concentrate on your animal remembering everything from steps one and two. Focus on really becoming that animal; not just sharing a body, but the two of you as one entity."
Harry nodded and stood in front of the three in the clearing next to the window. He was focusing, focusing so hard he thought he imagined getting taller, his legs and arms getting thinner, his face getting longer... He did it.
The creature looked at the three of them, finally trotting to Lupin and nuzzling Lupin with its thin face, glaring unblinkingly at the other two and unfurling its wings. It pulled away from Lupin and in one swift movement, jumped out the window and began flying silently over the grounds before the werewolf could Stun it.
"A thestral," said Lupin watching it glide into the Forbidden Forest. "Harry's a thestral."
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Hagrid!" called Hermione, banging on the hut's door. "Hagrid! We need your help!"
"What's the fire abou', Hermione?" said Hagrid, answering the door. "Oh, hello Lupin, Ron."
"Hagrid, we need to urgently find a loose thestral," said Lupin. "Right now. These two need to come to help identify it."
"Well, I'll just go grab a carcass or two and lure 'em in, right?-"
"It won't work on this one. We need you to guide us through the forest."
Confused, Hagrid accepted, and led them into the forest out of sight from the school. Meanwhile, they were explaining the Animagus bit to Hargid once they were sure they couldn't be eavesdropped on. He looked slightly shocked but promised not to say a word of it to anyone unless it became a threat to the students. Hermione grinned and pulled something out of her robes; it was a handkerchief of Harry's.
"We can make this a lot easier can't we, Professor?" she asked Remus, who catching on smiled.
"Go on, Hermione. Let's test that nose of yours."
Grinning toothily, she tranformed into her wolf self. Maybe it was seeing a wolf grin, or simply that Hermione had actually transformed, Hagrid jumped slightly. She bounded around and over to Lupin. He scratched her head, and then held out the handkerchief. She eagerly began smelling it, taking in Harry's natural smell of cherry almond, and tracing the particles of Harry's scent across the grounds to the forest, she began jogging ahead of them.
Ron and Remus lit their wands and Hagrid followed wolf- Hermione. He left in his wake a path for Lupin and Ron to walk on without getting snagged.
After about half an hour of walking, Hermione let out an excited yelp and led them into a clearing.
It was a perfectly beautiful clearing. While quite small, it had a brook running through it from a waterfall on one side, creating a silver mist that left a feeling of frost on the air; the trees let in little glimpses of moonlight and they all thought they heard a slight hissing of voices. And there, baring its fangs from a rock in the river, was the thestral Harry. Although he looked almost every part one of those dark creatures, they noticed that its legs and neck were slightly longer than a normal thestral's, its silky mane was slightly untamed, and the tail was dragging on the ground even though it was tied back with a bit of a silver ribbon...
Hermione ran back over to Hagrid from the thestral and transformed back looking slightly frightened.
"Now, take it easy, Harry," said Lupin calmly. "You won't be able to transform back if you're upset or angry-"
But an eerie voice began filling the clearing. A slight whispering as though from the mist, tickled their ears and said," You don't know what they've done to my other self, do you, Moony?" Lupin glanced quickly at the thestral, it wide eyes and mane glimmering from the waning moon's light, its stance perfectly balanced on the rock, pawing the rock with one onyx hoof.. Lupin quickly looked at Ron and Hermione. Each looked equally terrified.
"Don't look so shocked, Moony," said the voice again and the thestral gave an amused snort which sent steam from its nostrils. "You've been here before and know of its powers. How do you think I found my way here, even with my great sense of direction?"
"The pensieve..."
"Yes, you are correct. Before you leave for the castle after me, however," the voice continued, and the thestral opened its wings, stretching them to their full width. "Why don't you ask those two children what they've done to thoroughly piss my other side off. He is so angry with them he's retreated to the back corners of my mind." This statement caused an involountary shudder from Hermione and the creature on the rock glanced at her.
"What's your name?" called Lupin, looking at the thestral suspiciously.
The mist paused for a second and then replied. "Fallen Angel, the master of thestrals."
And with that the thestral took off, flying toward the tower.
"All right," Lupin said. "When we get back to Hagrid's Hut, you two are going to explain what happened. It takes a lot of strong emotion to be able to retreat into your creature's mind." And with his suddenly cold eyes, Ron and Hermione gulped as they headed away from the clearing.
________________________________
A/N: Hopefully you're all still there. This might make the story a bit more interesting, won't it? Don't worry, Harry won't be getting an operation or anything! Oh, and I don't know if romance will work its way into the story or if it does, who will be with who. I myself am a big fan of Harry/Draco and Harry/Tom, but I've also had a request for Harry/Ginny. I don't know. It's still up for grabs in my mind, so I hope my decision doesn't make me lose my readers or anything. Reading fanfictions is how I got more open-minded about couples and such, and no, I'm not anti religious or anything, but it's nice to get away from cliche romances.
Sorry for getting off on a rant, I think I completely lost what I was saying.. . Anyway, onto the next chapter!
Enjoy!
Chapter 8: The Trouble with a Transformation
--------------------
"Guys? Where are you?"
Harry had come out of the shower half an hour ago to find his friends had disappeared. Getting into his boxers and pulling on a dressing gown, he thought they had decided to go to sleep and he decided to go say goodnight to Ron. Walking into his old dormitory, he discovered Ron's bed was empty. He went down to the nearly empty common room. His friends weren't there either. He asked Lavender Brown whether she saw Hermione go to her dormitory. Giggling, she said she hadn't seen her since she had followed Harry up the stairs with Ron. Harry thanked her and went back to his room.
He was definitely panicking now. He checked his trunk, but his Invisbility Cloak was still there, so this couldn't be some awful joke. He sat down on the couch and looked at the pensieve. Then, bolting up with a sudden thought, he grabbed his wand, poked the pensieve's contents with his finger, and fell in.
Ron and Hermione were both about to faint. For half an hour, they had watched Harry being tortured by his relatives. He had been nearly drowned in the back garden's pond, forced to drink household cleaners; they watched as his eyes were burned with the acid he had talked about, his screams reverberating in their heads. They had watched as he was slashed repeatedly with his uncle's belt and stabbed several times with a carving knife along with many other gruesome things.
They couldn't get out, though they tried many times, and had resigned to watching this as a form of punishment for their curiosity. They were currently watching as a starved Harry, barely able to sit straight, let his locks hang down on his shoulders as he put eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick on. As they watched him straightening his hair with a straightener tool, they both felt an incredible pain on their shoulders. Looking around, they saw a furious Harry gripping each of their shoulders so tightly his knuckles were white and his hands were shaking. Hermione and Ron felt a force pulling them upwards, and before they knew it, they were being pulled toward the door by Harry.
"Harry, we are so sorry," Hermione whimpered as tears ran down her face.
"Harry, why were you putting makeup on?" asked Ron, wincing as Harry was still gripping their shoulders in a vice grip. Hermione winced at Ron's lack of tact. Harry swelled.
"YOU WANNA KNOW WHY?! I'LL TELL YOU WHY!" Harry yelled, letting go and standing sideways next to the door, looking at the heaps of his friends on the floor who were getting up.
"I WAS ABOUT TO HAVE TO PUT ON A DRESS AND DANCE FOR MY UNCLE! YA HAPPY?! NOW GET OUT!" Tears were streaming down his face as he pointed toward the door with a shaky finger. "OUT!"
Ron and Hermione knew there was no point trying to argue, and walked past Harry and out the door. The statue swiftly shut behind them and as they walked toward their dormitories, both of them heard those screams from the pensieve, and both felt they deserved it.
---------------------------------------------------------
Saturday was a sombre day as students headed for Hogsmeade. Ron and Hermione had both gone to Harry's door and listened. They heard no noise, but knew Harry wouldn't be asleep at 9 in the morning. They decided he must have left for Hogsmeade already. Walking down to Hogsmeade, they saw no sign of Harry, though a pretty ebony-haired girl caught Ron's eye, causing Hermione to scowl at him. She looked like the Ravenclaw from their Healing class.
"We're supposed to be looking for Harry!" she said as the girl passed, wearing a beautiful spider silk cloak in white. It made her beautiful hair stand out against the light material and many boys and girls heads turned watching the hooded figure.
Hermione and Ron searched all the shops looking for Harry, only stopping at noon to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks. As they made another circuit of the town and had decided to look for Harry in the castle, a small tea shop caught Hermione's eye.
"Let's check here really quick and then the castle," she said, pulling a stubborn Ron into the frilled shop of Madam Puddifoot's.
Most of the tables were filled with couples. The only table open was next to one which housed the spider silk girl looking out the steamed window at the street. As she seemed preoccupied, she never turned around as Hermione and Ron sat down to have a cup of tea. When Madam Puddifoot came by, she took their orders and filled up the stationary girl's cup. They thought they heard a slight sniffling coming from under the hooded face.
"Poor thing," murmured Hermione," she looks so morose. I wonder if she's meeting someone here.
We should ask her if she's okay. I mean, I'd want someone to talk to, even if it was a concerned stranger."
Both leaned over to the girl's table and Hermione asked, "Are you okay?"
The sniffling face turned toward them. Ebony bangs hung elegantly into those steely silver eyes, but something in them clearly had a familiar look of hatred in them....
"Harry?" Ron gasped.
"Quit looking for me and keep your noses out of it." With this, the girl in white pulled her cloak down over her face and left the shop headed for the castle.
"How did he turn his eyes silver?" asked a dumbfounded Ron, seemeingly blocking out what was concerning Hermione more. She rolled her eyes
"They were colour contacts, Ron." said Hermione.
"Colour whats?"
"Oh, nevermind, let's go."
Paying for their drinks, they left following the same route as Harry.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Over the course of the week, Harry ignored them at all costs. He worked in his private room, and as they never saw him leave, they figured he found a secret passage out of it. When they had a class with him, he would sit as far away as possible. Everybody was wondering what could have happened to make Harry avoid his best friends like that.
As Friday rolled around and Lupin returned, Harry told him right off that he wouldn't be able to attend the final lesson that night. Lupin asked if everything was okay, but Harry just shook his head and said he'd been feeling under the weather lately and proceeded to sit in the back corner half in shadow. Ron and Hermione showed up and knowing they wouldn't get a word out of him, sat down in the front. Lupin continued with the lesson, deciding to let them work out whatever was going on.
Lupin had his hands full that night. Harry hadn't shown up, so Hermione and Ron were the only ones who were to transform. Both of them had to be stunned the first few minutes while they fought with the creature, but they eventually came around, Hermione looking at her image in the mirror and howling; Ron looking in the mirror and fainting. Lupin told them once they turned back that they had been excellent.
"I do have a favour of you two," Lupin asked as they left the room. "I was wondering if you would accompany me to Harry's room and back me up if necessary. I have a feeling he's going to be something big."
"Uh..sure." Both tried not to look uncomfortable.
Harry looked up as Lupin entered the room, guessing that he was here to finish up the lessons with him. He looked darkly at Lupin as he saw the two people following him.
"Hello Harry," said Lupin cheerfully. "I thought we could finish up the lesson in your room. The other two have already transformed."
"Then why are they here?" His tone was cold.
"In case I need backup," Lupin said easily, still smiling as though he didn't notice the looks Harry was giving the other two. "So, what you do is concentrate on your animal remembering everything from steps one and two. Focus on really becoming that animal; not just sharing a body, but the two of you as one entity."
Harry nodded and stood in front of the three in the clearing next to the window. He was focusing, focusing so hard he thought he imagined getting taller, his legs and arms getting thinner, his face getting longer... He did it.
The creature looked at the three of them, finally trotting to Lupin and nuzzling Lupin with its thin face, glaring unblinkingly at the other two and unfurling its wings. It pulled away from Lupin and in one swift movement, jumped out the window and began flying silently over the grounds before the werewolf could Stun it.
"A thestral," said Lupin watching it glide into the Forbidden Forest. "Harry's a thestral."
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Hagrid!" called Hermione, banging on the hut's door. "Hagrid! We need your help!"
"What's the fire abou', Hermione?" said Hagrid, answering the door. "Oh, hello Lupin, Ron."
"Hagrid, we need to urgently find a loose thestral," said Lupin. "Right now. These two need to come to help identify it."
"Well, I'll just go grab a carcass or two and lure 'em in, right?-"
"It won't work on this one. We need you to guide us through the forest."
Confused, Hagrid accepted, and led them into the forest out of sight from the school. Meanwhile, they were explaining the Animagus bit to Hargid once they were sure they couldn't be eavesdropped on. He looked slightly shocked but promised not to say a word of it to anyone unless it became a threat to the students. Hermione grinned and pulled something out of her robes; it was a handkerchief of Harry's.
"We can make this a lot easier can't we, Professor?" she asked Remus, who catching on smiled.
"Go on, Hermione. Let's test that nose of yours."
Grinning toothily, she tranformed into her wolf self. Maybe it was seeing a wolf grin, or simply that Hermione had actually transformed, Hagrid jumped slightly. She bounded around and over to Lupin. He scratched her head, and then held out the handkerchief. She eagerly began smelling it, taking in Harry's natural smell of cherry almond, and tracing the particles of Harry's scent across the grounds to the forest, she began jogging ahead of them.
Ron and Remus lit their wands and Hagrid followed wolf- Hermione. He left in his wake a path for Lupin and Ron to walk on without getting snagged.
After about half an hour of walking, Hermione let out an excited yelp and led them into a clearing.
It was a perfectly beautiful clearing. While quite small, it had a brook running through it from a waterfall on one side, creating a silver mist that left a feeling of frost on the air; the trees let in little glimpses of moonlight and they all thought they heard a slight hissing of voices. And there, baring its fangs from a rock in the river, was the thestral Harry. Although he looked almost every part one of those dark creatures, they noticed that its legs and neck were slightly longer than a normal thestral's, its silky mane was slightly untamed, and the tail was dragging on the ground even though it was tied back with a bit of a silver ribbon...
Hermione ran back over to Hagrid from the thestral and transformed back looking slightly frightened.
"Now, take it easy, Harry," said Lupin calmly. "You won't be able to transform back if you're upset or angry-"
But an eerie voice began filling the clearing. A slight whispering as though from the mist, tickled their ears and said," You don't know what they've done to my other self, do you, Moony?" Lupin glanced quickly at the thestral, it wide eyes and mane glimmering from the waning moon's light, its stance perfectly balanced on the rock, pawing the rock with one onyx hoof.. Lupin quickly looked at Ron and Hermione. Each looked equally terrified.
"Don't look so shocked, Moony," said the voice again and the thestral gave an amused snort which sent steam from its nostrils. "You've been here before and know of its powers. How do you think I found my way here, even with my great sense of direction?"
"The pensieve..."
"Yes, you are correct. Before you leave for the castle after me, however," the voice continued, and the thestral opened its wings, stretching them to their full width. "Why don't you ask those two children what they've done to thoroughly piss my other side off. He is so angry with them he's retreated to the back corners of my mind." This statement caused an involountary shudder from Hermione and the creature on the rock glanced at her.
"What's your name?" called Lupin, looking at the thestral suspiciously.
The mist paused for a second and then replied. "Fallen Angel, the master of thestrals."
And with that the thestral took off, flying toward the tower.
"All right," Lupin said. "When we get back to Hagrid's Hut, you two are going to explain what happened. It takes a lot of strong emotion to be able to retreat into your creature's mind." And with his suddenly cold eyes, Ron and Hermione gulped as they headed away from the clearing.
________________________________
A/N: Hopefully you're all still there. This might make the story a bit more interesting, won't it? Don't worry, Harry won't be getting an operation or anything! Oh, and I don't know if romance will work its way into the story or if it does, who will be with who. I myself am a big fan of Harry/Draco and Harry/Tom, but I've also had a request for Harry/Ginny. I don't know. It's still up for grabs in my mind, so I hope my decision doesn't make me lose my readers or anything. Reading fanfictions is how I got more open-minded about couples and such, and no, I'm not anti religious or anything, but it's nice to get away from cliche romances.
Sorry for getting off on a rant, I think I completely lost what I was saying.. . Anyway, onto the next chapter!