It was early afternoon of his birthday now, most of the owls had
returned with messages of thanks for the presents. The last he did was to
who sent him the potions with a question of who they were. Harry didn't
really expect an answer, but the familiarity of the handwriting was driving
him mad. Varg, the name he'd finally settled on for the little wolf cub,
was sleeping next to his feet. "Only you Hagrid..." He muttered, hoping he
could find a suitable place to hide the pup until he was rescued by the
Order.
Realizing belatedly that his stomach was growling from a lack of breakfast, Harry raced downstairs to find his Aunt, Uncle and Dudley sitting at the table eating lunch. "Skipping out on lunch, you ungrateful boy?" Vernon spat, his eyes dancing around dangerously.
"I would've thought you'd be rather pleased. Of course, I could always write to those lovely men you meet earlier in the summer and mention to them that I could always use some real food rather than this wilted lettuce you call food..." Harry said, moving towards the hallway to go back to his room.
Vernon spat, and Harry swore he could hear a hissing from his Uncle's mouth. "You tell those...people...that you're fine and that they don't need to burden themselves with the likes of you."
Harry rolled his eyes and picked up a small sandwich, more to shut up his uncle than anything else and headed back up towards his room. He nibbled distastefully at it as he picked up the Animagus book from Remus. Skimming over the first few chapters, his attention turned nowhere else, not even to notice Varg making a mess on his floor. The book called for him to relax his mind, freeing it of the human nature that it normally was, and to simplify his thoughts. With his Occlumency lessons from the previous year, that wasn't particularly hard anymore. Next he was to focus his attention on his animal form, and seeing as though he didn't know, made it very difficult. He felt his skin tingle as a black layer of fur pushed through, darker in some spots than others. A tugging came from his tailbone as it stretched a bit, and a long tail swished freely as it passed over the back of his pants. "Whoa...wicked cool." He thought, losing strength as the change was happening, and collapsed onto his bed.
"Harry! Harry, wake up!" Was the next thing he heard. Harry groaned slightly and rolled over to where he saw Remus sitting next to the bed. Only it was in the hospital ward of Hogwarts instead of his room on Privet Drive. "Great. Now what did I do?" He thought to himself. The place was coming back into focus as a couple of minutes rolled by.
"Remus..? What am I doing here?" Harry groaned, a sickening feeling running through him as he tried to sit up. A strong, but gentle hand pushed him back down into his bed. "Harry, lay down, you're still very weak. I believe I may have made a mistake in sending you that Animagus book so soon. Alerts went up as you attempted to change and we found you collapsed on your bed, half human, half animal. Quite an accomplishment for your first time, but also very dangerous without a proper instructor to watch over you, or at least another person."
Harry grimaced, realizing just how stupid he'd been, but he was curious about one thing. "Remus? Just what kind of Animagus am I?" He couldn't help but ask.
The man smiled softly and placed a hand on Harry's head and gave his messy hair a ruffle. He was surprised at the length it'd grown to, down about to Harry's shoulders and how his cheekbones had become more prominent since he'd seen him last. "A rare one Harry, very rare. A black leopard."
At that moment Poppy Pomfrey came bustling in, waving her arms at Lupin. "You! You were supposed to let me know when Mr. Potter here woke up! Off with you now, he still needs the rest of his medicine and rest, lots of rest if you ask me. Ohh, that boy can't go two weeks without landing himself in some kind of trouble!" The witch commented, irritated that he wasn't listening. "Out!" She screeched, finally dragging the werewolf by the ear until he was out of the room.
Harry grinned, amused by the display between nurse and werewolf. "Another bloody man who can't spend two weeks out of my ward!" She mumbled to herself, forcing about a dozen or so large vials into Harry's hand, demanding he drink them now. "Come now Mr. Potter. Professor Snape had to specially make these for you, the least you could do is take them."
He glowered at the potions before him. Made...by Snape? Should he trust the man, even though he was in the Order, he was still a greasy git. Sighing, he knew the answer to that as he downed the potions and suddenly felt a great warmth flood through his body. "Guess Snape is good for something after all..." He muttered, placing his head back onto the pillow and drifting off into a deep sleep again.
A clattering of feet came into Harry's hearing a few hours later, leaving him to wake up to a horde of people standing over him. "HARRY!" He heard, guessing straight away it was Hermione as he was strangled with a hug. "Uhh, hi there Hermione." He mumbled softly, trying to shove her away gently. "It...wasn't this bad, was it?"
Professor Dumbledore stepped infront of the group of Weasley's, Remus and Hermione, and to Harry's surprise, Snape, with an expression of almost concern on his face. He shook it off and glanced at the Headmaster. "Harry, you were asleep for three weeks. We weren't sure if you were going to wake at all. Attempting to become an Animagus without a qualified instructor." He shook his head, "Remind me to take away Remus's owl privileges," Dumbledore said with a small twinkle in his eye. "You were very lucky the house had alerts on it otherwise the Dursleys might have been left with a lovely, and not to mention hungry, black leopard roaming around the house with not an inclination as to who he really was. Now, as there is only about a week before the semester starts, I do intend to keep you under my eye for the remainder. As for the rest of you, I'm sure you'll be able to see Harry once you're back at school and he's more himself."
Mrs. Weasley complained, arguing why Harry shouldn't just be allowed to stay at their house for the time, saying that he'd need to gather supply for the upcoming year. Dumbledore shook his head and waved the family and Hermione out, leaving only Remus and Snape in the ward along with Poppy. "You know Professor, Mrs. Weasley was right. I am going to need my supplies..."
"Ahh, my dear boy, no need to fret. In a couple of days when you have recovered fully I shall have a duo of Order members escort you into Diagon Alley where you'll be able to restock on what you'll be needing." He chuckled and swept out of the room, leaving the two men standing over him. It was odd seeing Snape there, and almost worried. He would've laughed had it not most likely brought about a swift snarl and detention. The man gave him a final look and followed suit to Dumbledore's actions and left as well.
"You know Remus, I could sworn I'd just saw a look of concern on Professor Snape's face." Remus chuckled to himself, remembering to mention that to him. Harry managed to get out of bed, struggling to get to his feet and stretch his stiff legs. It surprised Remus just how much he'd grown just in those two weeks time. His body had gotten taller, fleshed out a bit and his face seemed so familiar, just, not James for a change. The hair was what really made the appearance so different. After having seen Harry for three years with short, messy hair, it was shoulder length and for the first time he'd ever seen, actually behaving.
"Well, what do you know? Maybe the git does have some feelings," The werewolf chuckled, moving behind Harry and giving him a big bear hug, or rather a big wolf cub.
This brought about Harry's memory. "Varg!? Where is he? Hagrid had sent me a wolf cub for my birthday, obviously he thought it was amusing, but a wolf can't be set loose in the Dursleys house! I mean.." He was cut off there by a hand calming him down. "Calm down Harry, we found him and all your belongings and they were transported here, although the cub was sent back down to Hagrid. Good lord, I wanted to kill that man myself for sending that thing."
Harry smiled inward, remembering something else. "Remus? Do you know of anyone else besides my normal friends who would send me a birthday present? I received a present of rare potion ingredients from someone the day I was found, but there was no name on it."
Remus stroked his chin for a moment, "I do believe I do, but I'm not sure if I want to be the one to tell you that. I think the culprit should have to identify them self," He grinned, removing himself from the room and leaving Harry with a bewildered and slightly annoyed look on his face.
Realizing belatedly that his stomach was growling from a lack of breakfast, Harry raced downstairs to find his Aunt, Uncle and Dudley sitting at the table eating lunch. "Skipping out on lunch, you ungrateful boy?" Vernon spat, his eyes dancing around dangerously.
"I would've thought you'd be rather pleased. Of course, I could always write to those lovely men you meet earlier in the summer and mention to them that I could always use some real food rather than this wilted lettuce you call food..." Harry said, moving towards the hallway to go back to his room.
Vernon spat, and Harry swore he could hear a hissing from his Uncle's mouth. "You tell those...people...that you're fine and that they don't need to burden themselves with the likes of you."
Harry rolled his eyes and picked up a small sandwich, more to shut up his uncle than anything else and headed back up towards his room. He nibbled distastefully at it as he picked up the Animagus book from Remus. Skimming over the first few chapters, his attention turned nowhere else, not even to notice Varg making a mess on his floor. The book called for him to relax his mind, freeing it of the human nature that it normally was, and to simplify his thoughts. With his Occlumency lessons from the previous year, that wasn't particularly hard anymore. Next he was to focus his attention on his animal form, and seeing as though he didn't know, made it very difficult. He felt his skin tingle as a black layer of fur pushed through, darker in some spots than others. A tugging came from his tailbone as it stretched a bit, and a long tail swished freely as it passed over the back of his pants. "Whoa...wicked cool." He thought, losing strength as the change was happening, and collapsed onto his bed.
"Harry! Harry, wake up!" Was the next thing he heard. Harry groaned slightly and rolled over to where he saw Remus sitting next to the bed. Only it was in the hospital ward of Hogwarts instead of his room on Privet Drive. "Great. Now what did I do?" He thought to himself. The place was coming back into focus as a couple of minutes rolled by.
"Remus..? What am I doing here?" Harry groaned, a sickening feeling running through him as he tried to sit up. A strong, but gentle hand pushed him back down into his bed. "Harry, lay down, you're still very weak. I believe I may have made a mistake in sending you that Animagus book so soon. Alerts went up as you attempted to change and we found you collapsed on your bed, half human, half animal. Quite an accomplishment for your first time, but also very dangerous without a proper instructor to watch over you, or at least another person."
Harry grimaced, realizing just how stupid he'd been, but he was curious about one thing. "Remus? Just what kind of Animagus am I?" He couldn't help but ask.
The man smiled softly and placed a hand on Harry's head and gave his messy hair a ruffle. He was surprised at the length it'd grown to, down about to Harry's shoulders and how his cheekbones had become more prominent since he'd seen him last. "A rare one Harry, very rare. A black leopard."
At that moment Poppy Pomfrey came bustling in, waving her arms at Lupin. "You! You were supposed to let me know when Mr. Potter here woke up! Off with you now, he still needs the rest of his medicine and rest, lots of rest if you ask me. Ohh, that boy can't go two weeks without landing himself in some kind of trouble!" The witch commented, irritated that he wasn't listening. "Out!" She screeched, finally dragging the werewolf by the ear until he was out of the room.
Harry grinned, amused by the display between nurse and werewolf. "Another bloody man who can't spend two weeks out of my ward!" She mumbled to herself, forcing about a dozen or so large vials into Harry's hand, demanding he drink them now. "Come now Mr. Potter. Professor Snape had to specially make these for you, the least you could do is take them."
He glowered at the potions before him. Made...by Snape? Should he trust the man, even though he was in the Order, he was still a greasy git. Sighing, he knew the answer to that as he downed the potions and suddenly felt a great warmth flood through his body. "Guess Snape is good for something after all..." He muttered, placing his head back onto the pillow and drifting off into a deep sleep again.
A clattering of feet came into Harry's hearing a few hours later, leaving him to wake up to a horde of people standing over him. "HARRY!" He heard, guessing straight away it was Hermione as he was strangled with a hug. "Uhh, hi there Hermione." He mumbled softly, trying to shove her away gently. "It...wasn't this bad, was it?"
Professor Dumbledore stepped infront of the group of Weasley's, Remus and Hermione, and to Harry's surprise, Snape, with an expression of almost concern on his face. He shook it off and glanced at the Headmaster. "Harry, you were asleep for three weeks. We weren't sure if you were going to wake at all. Attempting to become an Animagus without a qualified instructor." He shook his head, "Remind me to take away Remus's owl privileges," Dumbledore said with a small twinkle in his eye. "You were very lucky the house had alerts on it otherwise the Dursleys might have been left with a lovely, and not to mention hungry, black leopard roaming around the house with not an inclination as to who he really was. Now, as there is only about a week before the semester starts, I do intend to keep you under my eye for the remainder. As for the rest of you, I'm sure you'll be able to see Harry once you're back at school and he's more himself."
Mrs. Weasley complained, arguing why Harry shouldn't just be allowed to stay at their house for the time, saying that he'd need to gather supply for the upcoming year. Dumbledore shook his head and waved the family and Hermione out, leaving only Remus and Snape in the ward along with Poppy. "You know Professor, Mrs. Weasley was right. I am going to need my supplies..."
"Ahh, my dear boy, no need to fret. In a couple of days when you have recovered fully I shall have a duo of Order members escort you into Diagon Alley where you'll be able to restock on what you'll be needing." He chuckled and swept out of the room, leaving the two men standing over him. It was odd seeing Snape there, and almost worried. He would've laughed had it not most likely brought about a swift snarl and detention. The man gave him a final look and followed suit to Dumbledore's actions and left as well.
"You know Remus, I could sworn I'd just saw a look of concern on Professor Snape's face." Remus chuckled to himself, remembering to mention that to him. Harry managed to get out of bed, struggling to get to his feet and stretch his stiff legs. It surprised Remus just how much he'd grown just in those two weeks time. His body had gotten taller, fleshed out a bit and his face seemed so familiar, just, not James for a change. The hair was what really made the appearance so different. After having seen Harry for three years with short, messy hair, it was shoulder length and for the first time he'd ever seen, actually behaving.
"Well, what do you know? Maybe the git does have some feelings," The werewolf chuckled, moving behind Harry and giving him a big bear hug, or rather a big wolf cub.
This brought about Harry's memory. "Varg!? Where is he? Hagrid had sent me a wolf cub for my birthday, obviously he thought it was amusing, but a wolf can't be set loose in the Dursleys house! I mean.." He was cut off there by a hand calming him down. "Calm down Harry, we found him and all your belongings and they were transported here, although the cub was sent back down to Hagrid. Good lord, I wanted to kill that man myself for sending that thing."
Harry smiled inward, remembering something else. "Remus? Do you know of anyone else besides my normal friends who would send me a birthday present? I received a present of rare potion ingredients from someone the day I was found, but there was no name on it."
Remus stroked his chin for a moment, "I do believe I do, but I'm not sure if I want to be the one to tell you that. I think the culprit should have to identify them self," He grinned, removing himself from the room and leaving Harry with a bewildered and slightly annoyed look on his face.