CHAPTER 7
Nathaniel scanned the room for any Death Eaters standing guard. When he was sure no one was there, he walked into the room, letting his three friends do the same. The room was round and several torches lighted it. On the walls were placed incredible amount of different pictures portraying the four founders. In the middle of the room, they noticed a spiral staircase making its way upwards all the way to the top of the tower and through the ceiling. After looking around the room, the four teenagers gathered around the staircase.
"Well, I guess we're going up." Declared Ron as he tried to get look though the hole in the ceiling where the stairs disappeared.
"This is going to take forever. Can't we use Stupefy again ?" asked Harry.
"Better not. If someone is up there standing guard, he'll take us out before we even had the time to land." Mentioned Hermione.
"Well, then, I guess we're taking the stairs."
With that, they started to climb the stairs as fast as they could while making little noise. They kept a constant lookout for anyone who might be looking down. Luckily for them, no one did so they were able to climb all the way to the top without incident. This time, Harry was leading so he was the first one to reach the end of the staircase. He carefully took a peak inside the room. Several figures in dark cloaks were looking around the room, obviously searching for something. Harry looked around and saw four incredibly huge portraits of the four founders. Something odd was that unlike normal wizard photos, these didn't move. Between the portraits were displayed the belongings of the founders. Currently, the Death Eaters were looking through them.
"Come on. Go faster, you bunch of useless worms. We don't have all day. We have to be gone with the key before Dumbledore finish dealing with the fire. " Ordered a voice.
Harry looked at the person who had spoke and recognized Avery. He had been at the Department of mysteries that fateful day. Harry wondered what he meant by 'key'. The boy felt a tug on his sleeve and crouched back down and looked at his friends.
"I saw eight of them plus Avery." He whispered.
"Nine Death Eaters. That's a bit much for four students." Noted Ron.
"Maybe for normal students, but if you haven't noticed we aren't. We've been training for something like that. I think this is a good time to see if training paid off." Replied Nathaniel.
"I agree, but how are we going to go into the room without being noticed ?"asked Nathaniel. "Simple." Said Harry with a grin.
He touched Hermione's hair with his wand and concentrated. Suddenly, Hermione disappeared from sight.
"What happened ?"asked the voice of Hermione.
"I disillusioned you. Now, next."
When the four of them were all camouflaged, they quietly entered the room and spread out. Before they could do anything, there was a loud crash as one of the Death Eaters broke a crystal ball. Soon after, he yelled :
"Hey, I think I got it." He said holding something round covered in old- battered leather.
"Took you long enough. Give me that, you fool" growled Avery.
However, before he managed to take it from the other Death Eaters, a spell erupted from thin air and hit the Death Eater in full chest. The man hit the wall and fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Someone's here. Get him." Ordered Avery as he rushed to the fallen object.
Curses flew everywhere, in the general direction of where the spell had been fired, but by that time, Hermione had moved.
"Stupefy" yelled Ron, hitting a death eater who fell to the ground.
Immediately, several shoots were fired toward him, but he ducked and rolled away.
"You fools, stop firing curses in every direction. Don't you see they're disillusioned ? Look around for a shimmer and shoot it." Grunted Avery a few feet away from the strange object
They did as they ordered and stopped shooting. They looked around for any sign of a ripple in the air. Suddenly, one appeared in the middle of the group. Before they could do anything, kicks and punches flew everywhere, knocking the Death eaters. As if it was a signal, the other figures started shooting different curses at every Death Eaters. In all the commotion, no one seemed to notice Avery had grabbed the object and was running toward the stairs.
"Oh no you don't" yelled Harry as he tackled Avery to the ground. They both recovered quickly and got back to their feet.
"Crucio." Yelled Avery at the shimmering for of Harry.
"Protego." Countered Harry.
The curse rebounded on the shield Harry had summoned and handed up scorching the wall. Acting quickly, Harry attacked before Avery had a chance to continue.
"Expelliarmus."
With that, Avery was knocked to the ground, his wand and the object flying to Harry. The boy got rid of the leather covering the object and discovered a perfectly round golden sphere. A multitude of runes were engraved on it. Harry hid it in his pocket and snapped the other wand in two. Dismissively, Harry stunned Avery and left him there. Ron, Hermione and Nathaniel were just finishing stunning and binding the Death Eaters.
Then, they assembled Voldemort's followers and used a magical rope Hermione had conjured to tie them all together. Just as they were finished, the order members rushed through the stairs, but stopped dead when they saw the nine Death Eaters unconscious and tied up.
"Well, it looks to me as those kids didn't need our help after all." Growled Moody, but Harry noticed a smile on the older man's face.
"So it would seem." added McGonagall with a relieved look.
"Good job, kids." Congratulated Lupin with a grin.
"Do you have any idea what they were looking for ?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yeah. They were looking for this." Replied Harry as he took out the golden orb from his pocket.
Surprised gasps came from all the teachers while the other members seemed clueless. Dumbledore walked toward Harry calmly and took the orb.
"Well, well, well. That's quite a discovery. Do you know where they found it ?" inquired Dumbledore.
"They broke a crystal ball and it was inside." Answered Ron.
"I see."
Dumbledore examined the orb carefully, frowning, before slipping it inside his cloak and looking back at everyone.
"Well, I think we all had an eventful day. I suggest we all go rest."
"Professor, is the fire extinguished ?" asked Nathaniel.
"Yes, it is. The people from the ministry are repairing the damage and treating the animals who have been hurt. Do not worry about them. They are fine."
With that, Harry and his friends made their way to the Gryffindor common room, while the order dealt with the captured Death Eaters. When they arrived, they all collapsed in armchairs, tired.
"Man, I can't believe we took on nine death eaters and won." Said Ron.
"Thanks to our training. I'm not sure we would have done as good if we hadn't been training for so long." Replied Hermione.
"Probably not, but Dumbledore wouldn't have sent us after them if he wasn't sure we would be fine." Noted Harry.
"Actually, I'm surprised he even asked us. I mean, he's so protective of his students, Harry in particular." Added Nathaniel.
"I think he came to realize he wouldn't be able to protect me forever. He knows one day, I'll be facing Voldemort and maybe he believes it's better for me to have some experience and training."
"Very true. On another matter, how about we start animagus transformation ?" suggested Nathaniel.
"You mean we're ready ?"
"Of course. We all are. We can't be training forever. One day or another, we'll have to try it. I prepared some potions in case one of the transformation goes wrong. It'll cancel the transformation and turn us back into humans."
"Good thinking, I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the transformation. "commented Ron.
"I suggest we wait until tomorrow. We're very tired and it wouldn't be safe to try the transformation if we're not 100% ready."
"Fine. We try before breakfast. First thing tomorrow."
*** "Now that Ron finally has woken up, we can begin." Announced Nathaniel as he looked reprovingly at Ron.
"Hey, I was tired and you didn't have to throw water in my face, you know."
"This is not the time. Now, let's begin. Okay, let me explain everything. We've been training for a very long time, but I don't think you fully understood the reason behind it. Meditation will bring us more easily in a state where only the mind exists. That's necessary if you don't want to lose control and risking the animal instinct to take over. Physical training was to make the transformation as painless as possible. The first transformation is said to be very painful for those who aren't in the best of shape. Finally, the magical training was to increase our magic potential. The more magic you have in reserve the more natural you animal- self will look. For the animagi that don't have a lot of magic, there are some signs that could give you away. Now, let's start meditating. This could be long so be patient. Focus on your goal. When you have entered the correct state, you'll notice another presence with you. That's your animagus form. Don't go looking for it. It will appear on its own. Sometimes fast, sometimes not so fast. Once you found it, you have to tame it and will it to join with you. Once that is done, the rest will follow."
The four of them took position on the floor, crossed-legged. They closed their eyes and cleared their minds. They forgot about the presence of their friends, the furniture, even the ground.
Harry was floating in emptiness. He was totally cut off the rest of the world. There was only himself. He didn't even know what he was. He only knew he WAS. Harry realized that's what Nathaniel had meant by saying the place where only the mind exists. Harry knew he was currently in that state. He instantly had to fight the urge to look for the other presence. It was so tempting, but he knew he would only scare his animagus. So he resigned himself to wait.
He didn't know how much time had passed. To him, it had been hours, but maybe for the others, only a few minutes had passed. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't alone anymore. He could definitely feel the other presence. It was strong and ferocious. It seemed agitated and nervous, making it dangerous. Harry tried as best as he could to calm the other presence down by sending reassuring waves to the presence like he had learned in his books. The animagus seemed to recoil at the sensation, afraid. Harry concentrated even harder and knew that if he had a body, he would be sweating. He sent waves after waves of reassurance, trust and love. Finally, when Harry was starting to get exhausted, the presence seemed to accept him. Harry could feel it examining him for any sign of threat. Then, suddenly, the presence darted straight for him. Harry was immediately assaulted by emotions, feelings and urges. Harry was overwhelmed by the rush of unfamiliar feelings. Luckily for him, he recalled his Occlumency training with Dumbledore. Concentrating, he built walls to protect himself from the invasion.
The feelings stopped, but Harry couldn't see the animagus anywhere. He guessed it had merge with him. Before he could do anything, pain assaulted him next. His meditation fell apart, his trance disappeared. Only his Occlumency walls remained.
Harry could feel himself changing. His bones were changing position, his internal organs shifted from their place, his face distorted. Pain coursed through his veins, but he couldn't help but be happy. He was finally becoming an animagus. It felt like he had been transforming for an eternity. He could hear his own bones snapping into place, new ones appearing. Then came the perspectives. He suddenly could smell things he had never been able to. His hearing was sharp and precise. His vision was incredibly accurate. Harry got up and felt four powerful legs under him. He felt the power he now had. He suddenly started running like a mad, rolling on himself.
He had began chasing his own tail when suddenly, a roar echoed through the room. Harry stopped dead and looked around. He found a magnificent gray puma standing elegantly on top of an armchair looking down at him. Harry could've sworn he could see amusement in the other feline features.
"Who is it ? Hermione, Nathaniel or Ron ?"
The puma jumped down and approached Harry. The two cats looked directly into each other eyes and Harry immediately identified Nathaniel as the gray puma. The other cat had bright purple eyes which was impossible for a normal cat. Nathaniel seemed to recognized Harry somehow, because next thing he knew, Harry was playfully pushed to the ground by Nathaniel. The two played together for a while before a they were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a cat meowing. They turned toward the source of the sound, a orange cat with some stripes of a darker shape of orange which was standing on its rear paws, calm. Harry approached the cat and looked at it, trying to express his confusion. He wanted to know who it was, but didn't know how to ask.
The cat suddenly walked away, soon followed by Nathaniel and Harry. The cat stopped just in front of Ron who was still meditating.
"Well, that means Hermione is the cat."
Suddenly, Harry realized he still didn't know what animal he was. He knew he was some kind of large cat, but other than that, he had no clue. He pounced toward a nearby mirror and looked at himself. He was amazed. He had become a white tiger with bright green eyes, but the amazing part was that no visible lightning bolt shaped scar could be seen. Harry looked at himself on every angle, but no sign of scar. Harry was so happy to finally not have the scar on his forehead.
When he went back to Hermione and Nathaniel, he found them laying near Ron, obviously waiting for the boy to take on his new form. Harry laid down near them and placed his head on the side of Nathaniel's body. Hermione laid down between Harry's paws. They waited like this for a long time, but Ron still hadn't moved. Suddenly, a clock sounded and when they looked at it, they realized it was noon. They had missed breakfast and if Ron didn't finish soon, they would miss lunch too. They looked anxiously at each other, than at Ron before, resigning themselves and getting back to their previous position. However, they bolted right back on their paws when they saw Ron changing. He shrugged drastically. His face took on a look of pain before transforming. A beak replaced the mouth and feathers started to appear on his body. Soon, Ron had taken the form of a falcon. He was completely brown except for his beak which was yellow at the base and gray at the tip.
Ron shook himself and ruffled his wings before finally taking notice of the other three animals present in the room. He tried to approach, but fell right to the ground, not having realized he wasn't human anymore. After several attempts, he finally got the hang of it and started bouncing to move. Then he tried to fly, but failed miserably.
Nathaniel turned around and walked away only to return with a book in his mouth. Using his paws, he opened the book at a particular page before pushing it with his nose toward Ron. The other three looked at the page which said :
Bird animagi usually have great difficulty to master flying. This is due to the unfamiliarity of having wings instead of arms. The solution to this problem is to allow the animal instinct to partially take over the body. At first, this is difficult because the animal spirit tries to take over completely. With practice, the animal and human mind will fuse together and become one which greatly helps to master the animagus form. After the fusion of the two minds, it is common for the animagus to have animalistic urges and instinct in human form. In some cases, the animagus conserves the enhanced senses of the his or her animagus form.
With that, Ron turned away from the book and then stopped moving. Harry guessed he was trying to fuse with his animal self. Looking at his two other friends, he noticed they were doing the same and that he was the only one not currently fusing his human and animal mind. He quickly reentered in meditation where only the minds existed. He could now clearly see the tiger and himself. He approached slowly, but surprisingly, the tiger came to him and started turning around him. He sent waves of love and reassurance and soon after, he had fused with the tiger. Now, there was only one mind in his body.
Harry opened his eyes just in time to see Ron spreading his wings and taking off. He flew around the common room for a moment before landing again. By that time, Hermione and Nathaniel had finished fusing with their animal selves. Ron landed on the window sill and looked outside at the beautiful day.
With that, the four of them ran or flew out of the room in the corridors with the idea of going outside. Just as they descended the marble stairs leading to the entrance hall, Harry caught a delicious smell coming from the Great hall. His friends seemed to have smelt it as well because they had stopped too. Then, without thinking they rushed into the Great Hall.
Nathaniel scanned the room for any Death Eaters standing guard. When he was sure no one was there, he walked into the room, letting his three friends do the same. The room was round and several torches lighted it. On the walls were placed incredible amount of different pictures portraying the four founders. In the middle of the room, they noticed a spiral staircase making its way upwards all the way to the top of the tower and through the ceiling. After looking around the room, the four teenagers gathered around the staircase.
"Well, I guess we're going up." Declared Ron as he tried to get look though the hole in the ceiling where the stairs disappeared.
"This is going to take forever. Can't we use Stupefy again ?" asked Harry.
"Better not. If someone is up there standing guard, he'll take us out before we even had the time to land." Mentioned Hermione.
"Well, then, I guess we're taking the stairs."
With that, they started to climb the stairs as fast as they could while making little noise. They kept a constant lookout for anyone who might be looking down. Luckily for them, no one did so they were able to climb all the way to the top without incident. This time, Harry was leading so he was the first one to reach the end of the staircase. He carefully took a peak inside the room. Several figures in dark cloaks were looking around the room, obviously searching for something. Harry looked around and saw four incredibly huge portraits of the four founders. Something odd was that unlike normal wizard photos, these didn't move. Between the portraits were displayed the belongings of the founders. Currently, the Death Eaters were looking through them.
"Come on. Go faster, you bunch of useless worms. We don't have all day. We have to be gone with the key before Dumbledore finish dealing with the fire. " Ordered a voice.
Harry looked at the person who had spoke and recognized Avery. He had been at the Department of mysteries that fateful day. Harry wondered what he meant by 'key'. The boy felt a tug on his sleeve and crouched back down and looked at his friends.
"I saw eight of them plus Avery." He whispered.
"Nine Death Eaters. That's a bit much for four students." Noted Ron.
"Maybe for normal students, but if you haven't noticed we aren't. We've been training for something like that. I think this is a good time to see if training paid off." Replied Nathaniel.
"I agree, but how are we going to go into the room without being noticed ?"asked Nathaniel. "Simple." Said Harry with a grin.
He touched Hermione's hair with his wand and concentrated. Suddenly, Hermione disappeared from sight.
"What happened ?"asked the voice of Hermione.
"I disillusioned you. Now, next."
When the four of them were all camouflaged, they quietly entered the room and spread out. Before they could do anything, there was a loud crash as one of the Death Eaters broke a crystal ball. Soon after, he yelled :
"Hey, I think I got it." He said holding something round covered in old- battered leather.
"Took you long enough. Give me that, you fool" growled Avery.
However, before he managed to take it from the other Death Eaters, a spell erupted from thin air and hit the Death Eater in full chest. The man hit the wall and fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Someone's here. Get him." Ordered Avery as he rushed to the fallen object.
Curses flew everywhere, in the general direction of where the spell had been fired, but by that time, Hermione had moved.
"Stupefy" yelled Ron, hitting a death eater who fell to the ground.
Immediately, several shoots were fired toward him, but he ducked and rolled away.
"You fools, stop firing curses in every direction. Don't you see they're disillusioned ? Look around for a shimmer and shoot it." Grunted Avery a few feet away from the strange object
They did as they ordered and stopped shooting. They looked around for any sign of a ripple in the air. Suddenly, one appeared in the middle of the group. Before they could do anything, kicks and punches flew everywhere, knocking the Death eaters. As if it was a signal, the other figures started shooting different curses at every Death Eaters. In all the commotion, no one seemed to notice Avery had grabbed the object and was running toward the stairs.
"Oh no you don't" yelled Harry as he tackled Avery to the ground. They both recovered quickly and got back to their feet.
"Crucio." Yelled Avery at the shimmering for of Harry.
"Protego." Countered Harry.
The curse rebounded on the shield Harry had summoned and handed up scorching the wall. Acting quickly, Harry attacked before Avery had a chance to continue.
"Expelliarmus."
With that, Avery was knocked to the ground, his wand and the object flying to Harry. The boy got rid of the leather covering the object and discovered a perfectly round golden sphere. A multitude of runes were engraved on it. Harry hid it in his pocket and snapped the other wand in two. Dismissively, Harry stunned Avery and left him there. Ron, Hermione and Nathaniel were just finishing stunning and binding the Death Eaters.
Then, they assembled Voldemort's followers and used a magical rope Hermione had conjured to tie them all together. Just as they were finished, the order members rushed through the stairs, but stopped dead when they saw the nine Death Eaters unconscious and tied up.
"Well, it looks to me as those kids didn't need our help after all." Growled Moody, but Harry noticed a smile on the older man's face.
"So it would seem." added McGonagall with a relieved look.
"Good job, kids." Congratulated Lupin with a grin.
"Do you have any idea what they were looking for ?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yeah. They were looking for this." Replied Harry as he took out the golden orb from his pocket.
Surprised gasps came from all the teachers while the other members seemed clueless. Dumbledore walked toward Harry calmly and took the orb.
"Well, well, well. That's quite a discovery. Do you know where they found it ?" inquired Dumbledore.
"They broke a crystal ball and it was inside." Answered Ron.
"I see."
Dumbledore examined the orb carefully, frowning, before slipping it inside his cloak and looking back at everyone.
"Well, I think we all had an eventful day. I suggest we all go rest."
"Professor, is the fire extinguished ?" asked Nathaniel.
"Yes, it is. The people from the ministry are repairing the damage and treating the animals who have been hurt. Do not worry about them. They are fine."
With that, Harry and his friends made their way to the Gryffindor common room, while the order dealt with the captured Death Eaters. When they arrived, they all collapsed in armchairs, tired.
"Man, I can't believe we took on nine death eaters and won." Said Ron.
"Thanks to our training. I'm not sure we would have done as good if we hadn't been training for so long." Replied Hermione.
"Probably not, but Dumbledore wouldn't have sent us after them if he wasn't sure we would be fine." Noted Harry.
"Actually, I'm surprised he even asked us. I mean, he's so protective of his students, Harry in particular." Added Nathaniel.
"I think he came to realize he wouldn't be able to protect me forever. He knows one day, I'll be facing Voldemort and maybe he believes it's better for me to have some experience and training."
"Very true. On another matter, how about we start animagus transformation ?" suggested Nathaniel.
"You mean we're ready ?"
"Of course. We all are. We can't be training forever. One day or another, we'll have to try it. I prepared some potions in case one of the transformation goes wrong. It'll cancel the transformation and turn us back into humans."
"Good thinking, I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the transformation. "commented Ron.
"I suggest we wait until tomorrow. We're very tired and it wouldn't be safe to try the transformation if we're not 100% ready."
"Fine. We try before breakfast. First thing tomorrow."
*** "Now that Ron finally has woken up, we can begin." Announced Nathaniel as he looked reprovingly at Ron.
"Hey, I was tired and you didn't have to throw water in my face, you know."
"This is not the time. Now, let's begin. Okay, let me explain everything. We've been training for a very long time, but I don't think you fully understood the reason behind it. Meditation will bring us more easily in a state where only the mind exists. That's necessary if you don't want to lose control and risking the animal instinct to take over. Physical training was to make the transformation as painless as possible. The first transformation is said to be very painful for those who aren't in the best of shape. Finally, the magical training was to increase our magic potential. The more magic you have in reserve the more natural you animal- self will look. For the animagi that don't have a lot of magic, there are some signs that could give you away. Now, let's start meditating. This could be long so be patient. Focus on your goal. When you have entered the correct state, you'll notice another presence with you. That's your animagus form. Don't go looking for it. It will appear on its own. Sometimes fast, sometimes not so fast. Once you found it, you have to tame it and will it to join with you. Once that is done, the rest will follow."
The four of them took position on the floor, crossed-legged. They closed their eyes and cleared their minds. They forgot about the presence of their friends, the furniture, even the ground.
Harry was floating in emptiness. He was totally cut off the rest of the world. There was only himself. He didn't even know what he was. He only knew he WAS. Harry realized that's what Nathaniel had meant by saying the place where only the mind exists. Harry knew he was currently in that state. He instantly had to fight the urge to look for the other presence. It was so tempting, but he knew he would only scare his animagus. So he resigned himself to wait.
He didn't know how much time had passed. To him, it had been hours, but maybe for the others, only a few minutes had passed. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't alone anymore. He could definitely feel the other presence. It was strong and ferocious. It seemed agitated and nervous, making it dangerous. Harry tried as best as he could to calm the other presence down by sending reassuring waves to the presence like he had learned in his books. The animagus seemed to recoil at the sensation, afraid. Harry concentrated even harder and knew that if he had a body, he would be sweating. He sent waves after waves of reassurance, trust and love. Finally, when Harry was starting to get exhausted, the presence seemed to accept him. Harry could feel it examining him for any sign of threat. Then, suddenly, the presence darted straight for him. Harry was immediately assaulted by emotions, feelings and urges. Harry was overwhelmed by the rush of unfamiliar feelings. Luckily for him, he recalled his Occlumency training with Dumbledore. Concentrating, he built walls to protect himself from the invasion.
The feelings stopped, but Harry couldn't see the animagus anywhere. He guessed it had merge with him. Before he could do anything, pain assaulted him next. His meditation fell apart, his trance disappeared. Only his Occlumency walls remained.
Harry could feel himself changing. His bones were changing position, his internal organs shifted from their place, his face distorted. Pain coursed through his veins, but he couldn't help but be happy. He was finally becoming an animagus. It felt like he had been transforming for an eternity. He could hear his own bones snapping into place, new ones appearing. Then came the perspectives. He suddenly could smell things he had never been able to. His hearing was sharp and precise. His vision was incredibly accurate. Harry got up and felt four powerful legs under him. He felt the power he now had. He suddenly started running like a mad, rolling on himself.
He had began chasing his own tail when suddenly, a roar echoed through the room. Harry stopped dead and looked around. He found a magnificent gray puma standing elegantly on top of an armchair looking down at him. Harry could've sworn he could see amusement in the other feline features.
"Who is it ? Hermione, Nathaniel or Ron ?"
The puma jumped down and approached Harry. The two cats looked directly into each other eyes and Harry immediately identified Nathaniel as the gray puma. The other cat had bright purple eyes which was impossible for a normal cat. Nathaniel seemed to recognized Harry somehow, because next thing he knew, Harry was playfully pushed to the ground by Nathaniel. The two played together for a while before a they were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a cat meowing. They turned toward the source of the sound, a orange cat with some stripes of a darker shape of orange which was standing on its rear paws, calm. Harry approached the cat and looked at it, trying to express his confusion. He wanted to know who it was, but didn't know how to ask.
The cat suddenly walked away, soon followed by Nathaniel and Harry. The cat stopped just in front of Ron who was still meditating.
"Well, that means Hermione is the cat."
Suddenly, Harry realized he still didn't know what animal he was. He knew he was some kind of large cat, but other than that, he had no clue. He pounced toward a nearby mirror and looked at himself. He was amazed. He had become a white tiger with bright green eyes, but the amazing part was that no visible lightning bolt shaped scar could be seen. Harry looked at himself on every angle, but no sign of scar. Harry was so happy to finally not have the scar on his forehead.
When he went back to Hermione and Nathaniel, he found them laying near Ron, obviously waiting for the boy to take on his new form. Harry laid down near them and placed his head on the side of Nathaniel's body. Hermione laid down between Harry's paws. They waited like this for a long time, but Ron still hadn't moved. Suddenly, a clock sounded and when they looked at it, they realized it was noon. They had missed breakfast and if Ron didn't finish soon, they would miss lunch too. They looked anxiously at each other, than at Ron before, resigning themselves and getting back to their previous position. However, they bolted right back on their paws when they saw Ron changing. He shrugged drastically. His face took on a look of pain before transforming. A beak replaced the mouth and feathers started to appear on his body. Soon, Ron had taken the form of a falcon. He was completely brown except for his beak which was yellow at the base and gray at the tip.
Ron shook himself and ruffled his wings before finally taking notice of the other three animals present in the room. He tried to approach, but fell right to the ground, not having realized he wasn't human anymore. After several attempts, he finally got the hang of it and started bouncing to move. Then he tried to fly, but failed miserably.
Nathaniel turned around and walked away only to return with a book in his mouth. Using his paws, he opened the book at a particular page before pushing it with his nose toward Ron. The other three looked at the page which said :
Bird animagi usually have great difficulty to master flying. This is due to the unfamiliarity of having wings instead of arms. The solution to this problem is to allow the animal instinct to partially take over the body. At first, this is difficult because the animal spirit tries to take over completely. With practice, the animal and human mind will fuse together and become one which greatly helps to master the animagus form. After the fusion of the two minds, it is common for the animagus to have animalistic urges and instinct in human form. In some cases, the animagus conserves the enhanced senses of the his or her animagus form.
With that, Ron turned away from the book and then stopped moving. Harry guessed he was trying to fuse with his animal self. Looking at his two other friends, he noticed they were doing the same and that he was the only one not currently fusing his human and animal mind. He quickly reentered in meditation where only the minds existed. He could now clearly see the tiger and himself. He approached slowly, but surprisingly, the tiger came to him and started turning around him. He sent waves of love and reassurance and soon after, he had fused with the tiger. Now, there was only one mind in his body.
Harry opened his eyes just in time to see Ron spreading his wings and taking off. He flew around the common room for a moment before landing again. By that time, Hermione and Nathaniel had finished fusing with their animal selves. Ron landed on the window sill and looked outside at the beautiful day.
With that, the four of them ran or flew out of the room in the corridors with the idea of going outside. Just as they descended the marble stairs leading to the entrance hall, Harry caught a delicious smell coming from the Great hall. His friends seemed to have smelt it as well because they had stopped too. Then, without thinking they rushed into the Great Hall.