*~* Chapter Eleven: One of the Pack *~*

"Harry, you're insane, I hope you know!" KayKay laughed as Harry opened the Quidditch shed. "Why do you want to fly now, of all times?"

"I said I'd make you a flyer," he said, ducking into the shed and digging through broomsticks, "and I intend to do so!"

KayKay rolled her eyes with a grin and shook her head, turning and walking along the edge of the forest as Harry continued his quest for a couple good broomsticks.

The snow was beautiful. It frosted the trees like vanilla icing on gingerbread, and gave KayKay a sense of the fast-approaching Christmas. Only twenty-seven more days!

KayKay reflected though, that while the Forbidden Forest looked like a Winter Wonderland, it was forbidden for good reasons. Imagine how much she jumped, then, when she heard a low growl and a rustling in the brush.

The first thought that flashed through KayKay's mind was Danger! I need to warn Harry and the rest of the pack!

Looking back, she'd wonder why it didn't stand out at her that she'd thought "pack" when she surely meant "friends". She'd realize that it was her first true wolf thought, the instinct that the pack was family. It wouldn't, however, take her long to realize that this was the turning point in her struggle to become an Animagus.

KayKay turned quickly on her heel, running back to where she'd last seen Harry with the thought Protect the pack running through her head. So it took her a moment to realize that she wasn't running on two legs, but instead, four. When she did notice, she skidded to a halt, paws sliding a bit on the icy boards outside of the Quidditch shed.

She took an instant inventory of herself. The air smelled different. Not unpleasant, but different. She could smell Harry inside the shed, and she could smell the mouse that had run across the threshold a few hours ago. The air smelled cleaner too.

Looking down, she saw two black paws with sharp nails, and turning her head to look at her rear, she saw a bushy black tail tipped with white wagging happily. She tried her voice with a deep, joyful howl. It gave her shivers of pleasure, but it seemed to frighten Harry, who was just walking out of the shed. She could smell the fear, which surprised her some. Getting used to having the nose of a wolf would take some work.

Bounding over to Harry, she stood on her hind legs and put her front paws on his chest, saying "Look! It worked! All right, Harry, now it's your turn!"

Maybe it would have worked better if her words didn't sound like barking and yipping. He still looked frightened, and KayKay tipped her head to the side inquisitively before licking his cheek and winking one of her crystal-blue eyes.

"K—KayKay?" he gasped. KayKay-the-wolf dipped her head in acknowledgement before dropping to all fours and bolting off, clearly challenging Harry to a race.

"Hey!" Harry yelled, abandoning the broomsticks. Without even looking, KayKay could tell that he was chasing after her, and she howled again with joy when his command turned to a wolfish one, "Come back here!"

Turning to face him and panting with happiness, she was nearly run over as he flew past, running as quickly as he could before curving around and coming back. They romped together for a long while, playing almost like young pups. It felt so good to run fast, almost as fast as the wind, and they raced each other, both trying to trip the other one up as they wrestled in the snow. Panting, they flopped down in the snow, finally tired out. The two wolves curled up next to each other as they rested.

"Wow." KayKay said softly, turning back to herself.

"Yeah." Harry agreed, becoming normal once more. "That was so . . ."

"Cool?" KayKay supplied, looking at Harry. He'd made a cute wolf too, although she never had seen a green-eyed wolf.

"Wicked."

They smiled at each other, and Harry stood before reaching down to give KayKay a hand up.

"Come on, let's go tell the others."

They laughed at themselves as they stumbled a bit, trying to get used to having two legs again. They were still laughing and leaning against each other for support when they got up to the Common Room and stumbled over to where the rest of their friends were sitting.

"You two seem . . .happy." Hermione commented, looking at KayKay who was pushing Harry playfully while giggling like mad. "What's so funny?"

The two immediately sobered up, trying to remember what exactly had set them into hysterics. They looked at each other and immediately burst into laughter again, KayKay covering her face with her hands and practically falling off of her chair while Harry pounded his fist on the table. The three not privilege to this humor exchanged glances and waited for an explanation.

"I'd slap KayKay if it weren't for the fact that it'd only end up making her laugh harder," Megan whispered to Hermione, who nodded.

"Phew!" KayKay sighed, finally getting enough oxygen to control herself. "Okay, I'm over it. I'm calm. Honest. Harry?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Harry answered quickly, though his face was red from holding himself back. "Now, what was the question?"

Megan studied them warily and asked, "Do we have any need to send for Madame Pomfrey?"

"NO!" KayKay and Harry exclaimed in unison.

"We were laughing so much because . . ."

"Well, it was really funny . . ."

"You'd laugh too if you tried to stand up . . ."

"And fell back down . . ."

"Because you weren't used to having two legs."

It was like a tennis match. Megan, Ron, and Hermione looked back and forth from Harry to KayKay.

"Translation . . .?" Megan requested.

"We did it. We transformed." Harry whispered.

"What?" Ron asked in shock, "Just now?"

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, so that was all the howling." Megan said.

"To answer; yes, yes, and because we finally felt the instinct of being one of the pack." KayKay said.

" 'One of the pack'?" Megan echoed. Harry nodded to her.

"One of the pack." He agreed.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *~ *

Classes began again, and Harry and KayKay's transformations seemed to give the rest of the "pack" the inspiration necessary to try even harder to become Animagi.

Hermione was next to succeed. Sometime around the Third of December, she slipped away from the group, muttering something about mailing a letter. Half an hour later, when KayKay opened the Dormitory window for an owl with a letter in its beak, Hermione flew in triumphantly. This prestigious arrival was somewhat dampened be the three-point crash landing she made on her bed, flopping over and almost falling off before righting herself and turning back to normal. Hermione was met by laughter and ecstatic hugs of congratulations from KayKay, as she giggled at herself for her bumpy landing.

Ron's victory, while less conveniently timed, was all the same rather amusing. On about the Fifth, he had been talking to Harry about some new Quidditch strategies he had for them to practice as soon as the snow melted.

"Oooh, we'll sneak that Quidditch Cup out right from underneath Slytherin's nose!" he said cunningly. "They'll never expect it!"

At that moment, he gave new meaning to the term, "Sly as a fox". He changed, right then and there, causing Harry to jump a few feet from shock. Ron-the-fox simply blinked a few times, as if trying to figure out why he was suddenly looking at Harry's legs, rather than his face.

Megan's moment of glory came the very next day, as she was on a tirade about some guy who'd been flirting with her, suggesting they cut Herbology and snog behind the green houses instead.

"And honestly! He thinks that sounds attractive?" Megan asked scathingly, "When guys are that . . . blunt, it just makes me want to . . . claw their eyes out or something!"

It's probably unnecessary to elaborate on what happened next to Megan.

It did serve to surprise Harry. He hadn't suspected that they would transform so . . . oddly. Yes, KayKay's transformation made more sense, considering she was running to warn the "pack", thinking the way a wolf would, but as for Ron and Megan . . . could clichés have anything to do with becoming an Animagus? He wouldn't have thought so . . .

But, he supposed, I guess it doesn't matter, now that we've finally figured it out.

He inhaled deeply, and let his breath out with a happy sigh. Christmas was in the air, and the halls were bedecked with holly, pine boughs, and magical twinkling lights. Harry's spirits were high, for Christmas was only sixteen days away, and for the first time ever he'd be going home for Christmas with Sirius. He'd felt a bit bad at first, thinking of how Ron would be with his family and how Megan was going home with Hermione for Christmas, leaving KayKay alone, but she ended that quickly.

"Don't be stupid, Harry!" she'd laughed, "If you hadn't decided to go home for Christmas, I would have made you. Besides, I won't be alone. I have a home here too, remember? Remus and I will have to Floo though, because he's needed for setting up security over holiday. You, being Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and all. So I won't be able to ride the train with you, Ron, Hermione, and Megan, but I'll still be going home."

Okay. So she would go home with Remus. Of course. Harry knew that. He wasn't daft.

Really.

Harry was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't watch where he was going until he tripped over something and went sprawling to the cold floor. He stood up slowly, checking himself for injuries. Nothing broken, just a sore knee.

Finding all of his body intact, Harry looked back to see what he'd tripped over. A loose stone in the floor, perhaps?

He froze. Not a loose stone . . .

An arm.

A whole body, in fact, but the arm was what he'd stumbled upon, no pun intended. Harry approached it slowly, as if the young girl would spring up and bite him. She didn't of course, she simply remained motionless on the floor. Slowly sinking to his knees beside her, Harry brushed aside the black hair covering the girl's face and felt his stomach clench.

There it was, the tattoo branding her as another victim, this one saying, "COME".

Harry was seized by some sort of sudden panic. He jumped to his feet, looking around wildly, convinced he was being watched but, seeing no one, he simply turned and ran back the way he had come. Who knows how long he would have kept running if he hadn't run into something solid that shouldn't have been right there in the middle of the hall.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"No, I still can't think of what to get him for Christmas," KayKay said to Hermione. "With the rest of the gang it's simple; just toss Ron a bag of Dungbombs and he's set to go. But with a boyfriend . . . it's harder, y'know? Maybe I can think of some Quidditch thing—oof!"

She was just turning the corner on the way up to the Common Room when somebody collided with her, knocking her to the ground.

"Hey, why don't you look where you're—oh, it's just you, Harry"

KayKay was prepared for him to pretend to be hurt, maybe say, "Just me? Oh, thanks", but when he just offered her a hand up and didn't say anything, not even "Sorry", she got suspicious.

"Harry? Harry, what is it?" Harry seemed somewhat dazed and unresponsive.

"Harry! For crying out loud, snap out of it!" she exclaimed, slapping his cheeks gently. He shook his head and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him back down the hallway.

"Harry, what . . .? Oh no." she said softly when she saw up ahead someone crouching by a body. Letting go of Harry's hand, she walked slowly closer, stopping a few feet back.

Madison was looking down at an Asian girl, tracing the tattoo on her temple with a fingernail. Madison wasn't facing KayKay, but she seemed to sense that someone was right behind her. She whipped her head around quickly with a small gasp. For a brief moment, KayKay got a glimpse of the real Madison Jacobs, the girl behind the sneers and scorn.

"What are you doing?" KayKay asked.

"I . . . I . . ." The mask slid back on, "I don't see that it's any business of yours Determan. I can ask you the same thing. Or better, I can ask your boyfriend! He didn't seem to be doing much different a few minutes ago."

"You were spying on him?"

"Oh, please. Like I'm one to watch. Listen Determan, I can see where this is going, and you're crazy. If I wanted your boyfriend, I'd be doing something about it, not watching him like some innocent little schoolgirl." She said, rolling her eyes but glancing at Harry all the same.

"Who said anything about Harry? You're the only one to bring it up. I dunno, Jacobs," KayKay said, looking at the ceiling and continuing in an offhand voice, "If I didn't know that you were to meticulous to make a mistake, I'd say that you just let something slip."

"Oh, come off it!" Madison sneered, giving KayKay rough shove. "If you haven't noticed, the situation here isn't about boys or desires or adolescent dramas! This is about a murder by some maniac who thinks they're the heir of some Dark Lord!"

There was a ringing silence right after she spoke, and everyone froze, save Madison, who clapped a hand to her mouth.

KayKay slowly took a step closer to Madison, scrutinizing her carefully.

"Are you . . .?"

"What's going on here?" a cold voice demanded. Everyone took an involuntary step back as Snape swept into the scene, looking at Harry, KayKay, and Hermione with suspicion. "Who discovered the girl?"

Everyone looked at Harry.

"Potter. I should have guessed," he sneered, "what with his Second Year."

"Harry wasn't responsible for that!" KayKay exclaimed.

"Funny, I don't seem to recall you having been there. Five points for Gryffindor for talking back." He said, looking at KayKay with disdain. He turned to Madison. "Odd that it was Potter who found the girl. I had assumed that it was you, Jacobs, considering that you were the one to inform me. Very well done, though. Five points for Slytherin."

"But I didn't—"

"Don't worry, the Headmaster shall be here shortly. Now go, all of you! To the Great Hall, and tell anyone else you see on your way to go with as well! The Deputy Headmistress will no doubt need to say something . . ." he stopped, then shouted, "Why are you still here? I said, GO!"

KayKay jumped a small inch, then fumbled for Harry's hand and pulled him with her, not taking her eyes off of the irate Snape until she'd rounded the corner. Hermione was right alongside KayKay, and Madison was a few paces away. KayKay eyed her suspiciously until the girl noticed.

"Honestly you guys! I didn't send any kind of message to Snape! When would I have had time to anyhow?!" She exclaimed, stopping just outside the doors to the Great Hall.

"Who knows how long you were watching before Harry—"

"Oh, for the love of Merlin! Even if I had had time to get a teacher, Snape would not have been my first choice. Even though Dumbledore's office is further away, I'd go there before to Snape!"

"Why?" KayKay asked simply.

" 'Why?' 'Why?'" Madison asked incredulously. "Are you shrink-wrapped?! Like Mr. Tall-dark-and-creepy is the guy you go to when someone's been murdered! No thank you." She actually shivered a bit.

"Ummm . . . when did you—"

"Uh, excuse me, but I've wrecked my self image enough already. I don't need to stand here any longer talking to a stupid Gryffindor." Madison interrupted. KayKay watched as she turned away and walked into the Great Hall before looking at Harry.

"Wow. She was really civil. Didn't call me Mudblood or anything."

* * * * *

KayKay looked over the racks of things in Honeydukes, wrinkling her nose. Sure there were plenty of sweets that Harry liked . . . but Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans weren't the type of thing that a girl gave to her boyfriend for Christmas.

Men were difficult to shop for, she decided. Boys would be happy with an action figure or bar of chocolate, but what can you get for a guy you're dating? Girlfriends were definitely easier to shop for . . . a guy could buy a ring or a necklace or earrings for a girl and everything would be fine.

And if all three matched! That could cover Christmas, an anniversary, and a birthday!

Sighing, KayKay shoved a box of sugar quills back onto the shelf and left Honeydukes to continue on her quest for a perfect Christmas gift before she had to meet the rest of the gang in—she checked her watch—yikes! Only an hour and a half, and she hadn't gotten anything yet!

As she stepped outside, the bitter wind whipped at her mercilessly, catching her cloak and making her grab at it to hold it closed as she squinted down the street.

Some shops she saw were new, others familiar. The store across from her looked new, and magical letters above the door that glittered read, "THAT WITCH".

Feeling that it was worth a peek and that it would get her out of the cold, if nothing else, she hurried in. As she brushed snow out of her hair, she looked around.

It was definitely a store targeting her generation. There were colored lights and if her ears were right, the radio was featuring, "The Weird Sisters".

She didn't find anything for Harry, but she got almost all of the rest of her Christmas list covered. She found a couple cute necklaces for Megan and Hermione; Megan's was a tiny glass bottle, filled with red pixie dust. A pewter cat wound around the bottle, and a thin chain supported it. Hermione's was the same, the exception being that rather than a cat, an owl held the small bottle of purple pixie dust.

After considering for a while, KayKay decided to get herself one with a wolf and blue pixie dust, simply for fun.

After selecting the necklaces, she looked at another rack of men's necklaces. She didn't see any suitable for Ron or Harry, but she did see a type that she knew was quite popular back in the United States. She picked one out to send to Chad and then, after a moment's indecision, one for Matt. He was her friend after all . . . and he helped so much with the trial . . .

Almost an hour later, she could be found at another store pulling out her money to pay for the gift she'd finally found for Harry. She hoped he'd like it . . .

She also hoped that Sirius didn't decide to replace the pocketknife Harry had that had rusted.

The one she was getting him was a rather nice pocketknife . . . the blade was engraved with an image of a wolf and, "Merry Christmas, Harry! From KayKay with love" in fancy, scripted letters.

Checking her watch, she placed her change in her pocket, thanked the man, and took her purchase out into the cold street with her to meet everyone else at the Three Broomsticks.

* * * * *

"Okay, so this is what we have so far . . ." Hermione cleared her throat and lifted the paper she'd just finished jotting notes on. "Four victims so far, two boys, two girls. Two were from Slytherin, one was from Ravenclaw, and one was from Hufflepuff. They were all First Years . . . and they all had a tattoo on their right temple. In order from first to most recent, they've said, "ONE'S", "I'M", "HEIR", and "COME". We're nearly certain that they're dead, and it's using a curse that isn't known by anyone yet. I think that's all the evidence. Now, who are our suspects?"

Harry, Ron, Megan, KayKay, and Hermione were seated around a table at the Three Broomsticks, drinking some Butterbeers and talking about the attack the night prior.

"Madison is definitely high on the list. She was acting really suspicious last night." Harry said.

"Yes, but if she was telling the truth, then Snape is on our suspect list too." KayKay said.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Hermione exclaimed, then continued in a whisper, "He's a spy for our side! Dumbledore knows who's trustworthy and who isn't."

"Well, there's no one to say that he hasn't been picked by You-Know-Who to do this and he's behind the attacks but not necessarily killing them? You said we were almost certain they were dead . . . but we aren't completely sure, right?"

Hermione sighed slowly. "No . . . "

"Okay, so put it down," he said, "these are just suspects, after all. We aren't making accusations."

KayKay though carefully as Hermione rolled her eyes but scribbled the professor's name down. If a professor was a suspect for that comment, then so many other people were too . . . like the girl who had found the first two bodies. What was her name? Jaymi? She didn't like the idea that a fellow Gryffindor was doing this, but it was hard to overlook that no Gryffindors had died.

Then again, what if Voldemort or his Heir was somehow playing with the minds of the victims? Then in a sense, their hands bore their own blood . . . and it would be harder to tag people as suspects because the location of anyone at a given time didn't matter if their minds were being controlled.

And even further, if it was another scenario in which Voldemort was controlling the Heir's action, as he had with Ginny Weasley, then anyone was a suspect.

KayKay propped her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands. It was like turning in circles. If only they had different evidence . . . something easier to trace back to someone.

Motive . . . who would have a motive? she thought glumly. Anyone who was an Heir to a Dark Lord. THAT would be the motive. And since we don't have enough evidence to find out who the Heir would be . . .

She shifted positions, sitting back in her chair and looking up at the ceiling. Okay, so who would BE Heir to Voldemort? If it's a blood heir, then it's probably someone in Slytherin, someone with mean, pureblood parents or something, that's another arrow towards Madison . . . but then again, I doubt Voldemort was the paternal type. I can't picture him raising a kid. So then what if it isn't someone related to him? We're back to it conceivably being anyone.

It made her head hurt to try to think of it. KayKay drained the rest of the Butterbeer from her mug and stood up.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting a headache from all of this thinking in circles. What do you say that we head back to Hogwarts and tackle this again tomorrow?"

"A good idea, if we weren't going home for the holiday tomorrow." Megan said sarcastically. "But I agree. I'm ready to go to bed, and I still have to pack. Let's catch a carriage back to school and tackle this again after Christmas. I think nearly everyone's going home after all this attack business."

Harry threw a few coins on the table to pay for the group's Butterbeers, and they all headed back to the security of Hogwarts, where they all began to pack to go home for Christmas, many of them for the first time.

KayKay tossed fitfully, as a nightmare unfolded in her mind. She was running through the forest as a wolf when she saw a snake slithering over the dead leaves that littered the forest floor. She began to follow it, but as she got closer, the snake moved faster, and it was all she could do to keep it in sight. As she went, she saw bodies. The first four were the one's of students that had already died, but as she got further along she saw new bodies until at a clearing she stopped and looked down at her friends; Hermione, Ron, Megan, Harry, Remus . . . all with tattoos on their temples.

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, but before she had time for reality to sink in, she heard rustling behind her. Turning around, she stumbled back in fear, as a snake, as wide around as she was with a human face and slender arms . . . clearly a female . . . rushed out at her, fangs bared, hands outstretched.

"NOOOOOO!"

KayKay sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily as she looked around at the Dormitory she was so familiar with, trying to get her racing heart under control. She wiped at her tearstained face and took a deep breath.

"It was only a dream . . . just a dream . . ."

She settled back under the covers, thankful that no one had woken up to her yelling. She fell back asleep and dreamt of Christmas trees and gingerbread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, me again. *jeez, will the girl ever shut up???* No. *fiendish grin*

Okay, I've kicked this into high gear, and I'm aware that all this stuff in the story is getting dumped on you--hey wait, what do I care? Haha. No really, just kidding. So again, if something in particular confuses you, don't hesitate to ask me at Bengalette06@aol.com. I invite inquiries with open arms!

It's so strange, to be into this Christmas stuff and it's not even Halloween yet. I feel somewhat disoriented when I see Halloween things, because in my story and in choir we're already getting into Christmas. Oy. I keep humming Christmas carols and getting strange looks. I also, after writing this stuff for a while, go outside and blink in confusion for a while when I don't see any snow.

*shrugs* Maybe it's me.

Okay, I know I say this aaallllllllll the time, but: Please review! Please? PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE, you don't want me to BEG do you??? I'm not going to demand 20 reviews before I post again like a lot of writers on this site, I'm happy with one even, it's like a little ego-booster that gives me stamina to type more, and we ALL like THAT, don't we?

Don't we???