(A/N- Sorry it took so long to get the next chapter up! I had to work all weekend and then I have my exams this week so it was hard to get near a computer to write. Not to mention I had a major writer's block that didn't want to go away.
One other thing: When I started this story, I had no clue there was a thing called the Severitus challenge. So I guess this could be classified as one since I did bring Remus into the story.
Artfully Lime: CHARGE!!!!
severusdraco: Hurrah! Always nice to see someone reading!
RandiWeasley: Cool! Oh, by the way, I looked over what you'd said, and I think you just read the sentence wrong. I meant for Voldemort to be using the Crucio curse on Sev because he'd withheld information and was punishing him for it.
Ainsley Haynes: Of course it's craziness! But it's fun to write no less!
But, other than that, R/R please!)
The leopard sat on the bed; tail flicking idly every so often. He was thinking over the past events and was still utterly confused at times at how all this could happen to him. Harry sighed; he'd stayed directly in his father's room instead of finding his own and it looked over at the man asleep on the bed. It was a rare sight to see Severus looking so peaceful. Harry's mind was still racing, being the reason he was still awake, but the leopard's less complex thoughts helped him to not become overly stressed out. He'd always wanted a father, someone who he could look up to, and be loved by. It was just ironic that it was the Potions master instead of someone like Remus or Sirius. All these years the two of them had been living a lie and wearing the look of hatred on each other's face because Lily had not told anyone the truth besides Remus.
The leopard swished his tail in a rather annoyed way; what would Sirius do if he'd known? It was almost was a good thing he'd never found out. Harry' didn't think that his late godfather would've taken the news too well, and quite frankly, Harry didn't feel like having one kill the other.
He rolled over on his back, legs pawing the air silently as his mind still wandered. And what would his godfather have done if he'd found out about Harry's newfound Heir-ism to Godric Gryffindor? "He'd be worried that I'd get myself killed," thought the boy bitterly. Whenever he thought of Sirius, he felt sick to his stomach. He knew that he'd killed the man, him and his damn hero playing nature. Had he done what he was supposed to and asked his father to continue the Occlumency lessons, he wouldn't have seen the vision and his godfather would still be here. "Always my fault," Harry spat, although it came out like a low growl of a leopard.
Snape blinked and looked drowsily at the alternate form of his son. Something was wrong and he knew it. Gently, as to not startle Harry, he wrapped his arms around the leopard's neck, trying to comfort him. Severus was a bit worried why Harry still chose to remain in the cat's body, but dismissed it, noting to himself to not stay in that form for too long at first. The cat stiffened slightly from the embrace, he'd known his father had been awake, but he wasn't sure why he'd enveloped him into a hug.
The night was late, and Harry had yet to get any sleep and was soon drifting off in his father's arms. His body reverted to his natural form and soon began shivering from the cold. Severus sighed, moving the boy under the blankets and went over to the library, browsing over a book until he too passed out again for the night.
"G'morning there, Harry. I was wondering if you were going to wake up in time to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ahh, I see my spell casting is more adept than I thought. Those kitty ears are still attached, even after you'd changed back last night. Tsk tsk, trying to lose them that way, not so easy, now is it?"
Harry's hands flew up to his head in horror, feeling the fluffy ears still attached from last night. "Agh!!! I can't go out like this! Take um off! Take. Them. Off!"
"Now Harry...You know I said they were permanent."
"You know they're not! C'mon! This is embarrassing!" The boy whined, looking rather hurt by the whole situation. "Besides, they're red instead of my trademark black..."
"Well, that I can help out with," Severus said with a grin, grabbing his wand and changing the color to a black so they didn't stick out quite as much. "Hmm, perhaps you should ask Professor McGonagall to show you a spell to transfigure them." He added with a grin.
Harry huffed loudly, stomping out of the room feeling very frustrated. He was still annoyed at his father for last night, and the kitty ears weren't exactly helping anything.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER-SNAPE! Where in Merlin's beard HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Screeched Hermione, closely followed by the flaming red-headed boy. "We've been worried sick about you and here you are avoiding us for the past who knows how long!"
The boy ducked his head under a sheet of black hair, not wanting to have Hermione see his ears. "Sorry, been busy," he muttered.
"Oh? Too busy to see your friends and let us know how you're doing on..." She stopped, catching sight of a pointed black ear coming through his hair. "You do realize you have a lovely set of house cat ears, right?"
He coughed, avoiding Ron's smirk, "Umm, compliments of a rather snarky Professor Snape?" He tried, hoping they'd take that alone.
"Ahh, see mate, having him as a father does have its perks. I mean, who else could make you..." Ron stopped, bursting out in laughter until his face was streaked with tears. "Sorry...couldn't help myself."
Harry's green eyes narrowed, rather irritated, and stalked off towards the Great Hall. Then he remembered he had Transfiguration first thing and groaned loudly. "Great, just great. Now I'm going to have McGonagall on my case about changing these back."
The class began, everyone staring at the boy's new appearance, and even McGonagall had difficulties not laughing. Harry scowled, a rather good impression of his father, and sulked in his seat, hoping that the professor would just start the class instead of taunting him.
"Well, I was going to start the class on human transformation today, but I see Mr. Potter has already given us a demonstration on that," She snickered, still glancing at his ears with mirth in her eyes. "Anyhow, please pair up with a partner and we'll attempt changing each other into random animals. You won't pick what your form will be, that's already pretty much been determined by your birth. As Mr. Potter has already done over the summer, he became an Animagus with the help of a Remus Lupin and if he'd be so kind as to demonstrate..."
Harry was still glaring around the room, but gave up and walked to the center of the room and shifted into the large onyx cat. "Excellent Harry! 20 points for Gryffindor." She waved a hand, and dismissed him to his seat. Harry, feeling rather annoyed, decided to stay in his leopard form and sat down next to Ron and Hermione on the chair, tail flicking back and forth in amusement of his professor's look.
"Alright, since Mr. Potter seems to think he's above the class, I shall continue on with the lesson in terms that everyone can understand. What you have your partners for is to cast a simple spell on each other to determine the animal inside that you are. This will aid you in the transformation since you'll be able to concentrate on the specific animal that you are. Not all of you will be able to do it; in fact, I doubt many will be able to at all. Now, the spell is bestiate, and you'll see a small vision in your mind as to what you'll become. Let me know if you have any difficulties with this now."
Ron and Hermione were partners as Harry glanced at them with emerald eyes, those being the only thing that didn't change in his cat transformation. Hermione cast the spell first, being able to get it right on the first chance and reinforced it for Ron when he went after. His eyes glazed over, putting him into a trancelike state until a few minutes went by and he looked startled to find himself back in the room.
"I'm, I'm a fox!"
Harry grinned with those feral teeth; it made sense with Ron's hair. How could he not be a fox with that stunning red hair? Ron picked up his wand and returned the favor to his fellow classmate, Hermione going into a dream state a minute later. A big grin grew on her face as she returned to the world of the living.
"So! What are you??" Ron asked, practically jumping off the walls.
"Oh no! I'm not gonna tell you. You're going to have to wait and find out after I accomplish the feat." She said with a sneaky look on her face. The two boys glanced at her with an annoyance, but left it at that. McGonagall walked about the room, looking over the pairs and occasionally stopping and asking what they'd seen. Ron seemed proud when he mentioned his, and Hermione whispered hers just low enough that even Harry's leopard ears couldn't catch what she'd said.
"Well, that's enough for today. Class dismissed, with the exception of Potter, Granger and Weasley."
The trio groaned. Now what had they done wrong? McGonagall gazed at them for a moment. "I asked you three to stay here for a moment because I believe you're most apt to finish the transformation, well, with the exception of Potter here who's already far ahead. If either of you would like extra help, please just come see either Remus or myself. Take Harry's example of what not to do in this case."
Harry sighed softly, he knew his friends would catch up to him sooner or later, but he'd felt special having the transformation for just himself. He tried shrugging it off, noticing the odd glances he was receiving from both Ron and Hermione.
"Hey Potter!" Sneer a familiar voice. "What's the matter? Couldn't find a way to get rid of those blasted cat ears? I mean, you of all people should be able to do a simple animal transformation, right?"
Harry stared down at Malfoy, being taller than he now, and was idly rubbing the pendant around his neck. All the sudden sparks shot out of it and hit the blonde boy straight in the chest. Where he'd been standing, a white ferret scurried around on the floor, scared. Harry looked surprised, he'd been thinking of what Moody had done a couple years before, but he didn't know the spell or anything to make it work. His eyes filled with fear, as he knew someone was going to have his head for this.
He shot out of the room, not waiting to see what happened to the ferret or to see the startled looks he was being given again by his friends. Not knowing what else to do, he fled down to the dungeons and found Severus in his office. The man blinked as his doors flew open, Harry trailing in right after.
"What's the matter?" He asked calmly, noting that his son was already frantic enough as it was.
"I..I..Somehow changed Malfoy into a ferret!"
"You did WHAT??" The man asked, amazement creeping in with the irritation that he mostly felt at the moment. How on earth could the boy know a spell like that already?
"I don't know! He was insulting me and such and I was thinking of what Moody had done the one time while toying with this pendant and well, you know the rest..."
"Ahh...One moment," He muttered, sticking his head into the fireplace and called Albus. "Sir, would you mind coming down here?"
Harry grumbled, upset that he'd disturbed the headmaster yet again. A bit later the old wizard appeared in the office, leaning on a cane. "You called me, Severus?"
"Yes, it seems Harry here was able to turn Malfoy into a ferret with the help of this..." He replied, lifting the pendant on the boy's neck. The stone turned a dark green, and Harry could sense it was rather displeased with being touched by anyone but himself.
"I was wondering when you were going to get around to figuring out how to use that, Harry," Albus said, that blasted twinkle in his eye settling right on the boy. "It helps you concentrate your magic into a specific area and with your wandless magic ability, creates spells that are of a most complex nature for one your age. I do suggest you find Mister Malfoy and remedy the situation, although, I must say, the lad looks rather amusing as a ferret. I believe Minerva mentioned something about it being his Animagus form if he so ever accomplishes the feat."
Severus ushered Harry out of the office right after, wanting him to go take care of the mess he'd just created. But he had to admit that it was amusing to see the Amazing Bouncing Ferret make a return to Hogwarts. He leaned back in his chair while resting his arms behind his head, gazing around the room at apparently nothing. For the moment, things were fine, but he knew Voldemort would be calling sooner or later, and he gathered that he wasn't particularly welcome there anymore...
One other thing: When I started this story, I had no clue there was a thing called the Severitus challenge. So I guess this could be classified as one since I did bring Remus into the story.
Artfully Lime: CHARGE!!!!
severusdraco: Hurrah! Always nice to see someone reading!
RandiWeasley: Cool! Oh, by the way, I looked over what you'd said, and I think you just read the sentence wrong. I meant for Voldemort to be using the Crucio curse on Sev because he'd withheld information and was punishing him for it.
Ainsley Haynes: Of course it's craziness! But it's fun to write no less!
But, other than that, R/R please!)
The leopard sat on the bed; tail flicking idly every so often. He was thinking over the past events and was still utterly confused at times at how all this could happen to him. Harry sighed; he'd stayed directly in his father's room instead of finding his own and it looked over at the man asleep on the bed. It was a rare sight to see Severus looking so peaceful. Harry's mind was still racing, being the reason he was still awake, but the leopard's less complex thoughts helped him to not become overly stressed out. He'd always wanted a father, someone who he could look up to, and be loved by. It was just ironic that it was the Potions master instead of someone like Remus or Sirius. All these years the two of them had been living a lie and wearing the look of hatred on each other's face because Lily had not told anyone the truth besides Remus.
The leopard swished his tail in a rather annoyed way; what would Sirius do if he'd known? It was almost was a good thing he'd never found out. Harry' didn't think that his late godfather would've taken the news too well, and quite frankly, Harry didn't feel like having one kill the other.
He rolled over on his back, legs pawing the air silently as his mind still wandered. And what would his godfather have done if he'd found out about Harry's newfound Heir-ism to Godric Gryffindor? "He'd be worried that I'd get myself killed," thought the boy bitterly. Whenever he thought of Sirius, he felt sick to his stomach. He knew that he'd killed the man, him and his damn hero playing nature. Had he done what he was supposed to and asked his father to continue the Occlumency lessons, he wouldn't have seen the vision and his godfather would still be here. "Always my fault," Harry spat, although it came out like a low growl of a leopard.
Snape blinked and looked drowsily at the alternate form of his son. Something was wrong and he knew it. Gently, as to not startle Harry, he wrapped his arms around the leopard's neck, trying to comfort him. Severus was a bit worried why Harry still chose to remain in the cat's body, but dismissed it, noting to himself to not stay in that form for too long at first. The cat stiffened slightly from the embrace, he'd known his father had been awake, but he wasn't sure why he'd enveloped him into a hug.
The night was late, and Harry had yet to get any sleep and was soon drifting off in his father's arms. His body reverted to his natural form and soon began shivering from the cold. Severus sighed, moving the boy under the blankets and went over to the library, browsing over a book until he too passed out again for the night.
"G'morning there, Harry. I was wondering if you were going to wake up in time to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ahh, I see my spell casting is more adept than I thought. Those kitty ears are still attached, even after you'd changed back last night. Tsk tsk, trying to lose them that way, not so easy, now is it?"
Harry's hands flew up to his head in horror, feeling the fluffy ears still attached from last night. "Agh!!! I can't go out like this! Take um off! Take. Them. Off!"
"Now Harry...You know I said they were permanent."
"You know they're not! C'mon! This is embarrassing!" The boy whined, looking rather hurt by the whole situation. "Besides, they're red instead of my trademark black..."
"Well, that I can help out with," Severus said with a grin, grabbing his wand and changing the color to a black so they didn't stick out quite as much. "Hmm, perhaps you should ask Professor McGonagall to show you a spell to transfigure them." He added with a grin.
Harry huffed loudly, stomping out of the room feeling very frustrated. He was still annoyed at his father for last night, and the kitty ears weren't exactly helping anything.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER-SNAPE! Where in Merlin's beard HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Screeched Hermione, closely followed by the flaming red-headed boy. "We've been worried sick about you and here you are avoiding us for the past who knows how long!"
The boy ducked his head under a sheet of black hair, not wanting to have Hermione see his ears. "Sorry, been busy," he muttered.
"Oh? Too busy to see your friends and let us know how you're doing on..." She stopped, catching sight of a pointed black ear coming through his hair. "You do realize you have a lovely set of house cat ears, right?"
He coughed, avoiding Ron's smirk, "Umm, compliments of a rather snarky Professor Snape?" He tried, hoping they'd take that alone.
"Ahh, see mate, having him as a father does have its perks. I mean, who else could make you..." Ron stopped, bursting out in laughter until his face was streaked with tears. "Sorry...couldn't help myself."
Harry's green eyes narrowed, rather irritated, and stalked off towards the Great Hall. Then he remembered he had Transfiguration first thing and groaned loudly. "Great, just great. Now I'm going to have McGonagall on my case about changing these back."
The class began, everyone staring at the boy's new appearance, and even McGonagall had difficulties not laughing. Harry scowled, a rather good impression of his father, and sulked in his seat, hoping that the professor would just start the class instead of taunting him.
"Well, I was going to start the class on human transformation today, but I see Mr. Potter has already given us a demonstration on that," She snickered, still glancing at his ears with mirth in her eyes. "Anyhow, please pair up with a partner and we'll attempt changing each other into random animals. You won't pick what your form will be, that's already pretty much been determined by your birth. As Mr. Potter has already done over the summer, he became an Animagus with the help of a Remus Lupin and if he'd be so kind as to demonstrate..."
Harry was still glaring around the room, but gave up and walked to the center of the room and shifted into the large onyx cat. "Excellent Harry! 20 points for Gryffindor." She waved a hand, and dismissed him to his seat. Harry, feeling rather annoyed, decided to stay in his leopard form and sat down next to Ron and Hermione on the chair, tail flicking back and forth in amusement of his professor's look.
"Alright, since Mr. Potter seems to think he's above the class, I shall continue on with the lesson in terms that everyone can understand. What you have your partners for is to cast a simple spell on each other to determine the animal inside that you are. This will aid you in the transformation since you'll be able to concentrate on the specific animal that you are. Not all of you will be able to do it; in fact, I doubt many will be able to at all. Now, the spell is bestiate, and you'll see a small vision in your mind as to what you'll become. Let me know if you have any difficulties with this now."
Ron and Hermione were partners as Harry glanced at them with emerald eyes, those being the only thing that didn't change in his cat transformation. Hermione cast the spell first, being able to get it right on the first chance and reinforced it for Ron when he went after. His eyes glazed over, putting him into a trancelike state until a few minutes went by and he looked startled to find himself back in the room.
"I'm, I'm a fox!"
Harry grinned with those feral teeth; it made sense with Ron's hair. How could he not be a fox with that stunning red hair? Ron picked up his wand and returned the favor to his fellow classmate, Hermione going into a dream state a minute later. A big grin grew on her face as she returned to the world of the living.
"So! What are you??" Ron asked, practically jumping off the walls.
"Oh no! I'm not gonna tell you. You're going to have to wait and find out after I accomplish the feat." She said with a sneaky look on her face. The two boys glanced at her with an annoyance, but left it at that. McGonagall walked about the room, looking over the pairs and occasionally stopping and asking what they'd seen. Ron seemed proud when he mentioned his, and Hermione whispered hers just low enough that even Harry's leopard ears couldn't catch what she'd said.
"Well, that's enough for today. Class dismissed, with the exception of Potter, Granger and Weasley."
The trio groaned. Now what had they done wrong? McGonagall gazed at them for a moment. "I asked you three to stay here for a moment because I believe you're most apt to finish the transformation, well, with the exception of Potter here who's already far ahead. If either of you would like extra help, please just come see either Remus or myself. Take Harry's example of what not to do in this case."
Harry sighed softly, he knew his friends would catch up to him sooner or later, but he'd felt special having the transformation for just himself. He tried shrugging it off, noticing the odd glances he was receiving from both Ron and Hermione.
"Hey Potter!" Sneer a familiar voice. "What's the matter? Couldn't find a way to get rid of those blasted cat ears? I mean, you of all people should be able to do a simple animal transformation, right?"
Harry stared down at Malfoy, being taller than he now, and was idly rubbing the pendant around his neck. All the sudden sparks shot out of it and hit the blonde boy straight in the chest. Where he'd been standing, a white ferret scurried around on the floor, scared. Harry looked surprised, he'd been thinking of what Moody had done a couple years before, but he didn't know the spell or anything to make it work. His eyes filled with fear, as he knew someone was going to have his head for this.
He shot out of the room, not waiting to see what happened to the ferret or to see the startled looks he was being given again by his friends. Not knowing what else to do, he fled down to the dungeons and found Severus in his office. The man blinked as his doors flew open, Harry trailing in right after.
"What's the matter?" He asked calmly, noting that his son was already frantic enough as it was.
"I..I..Somehow changed Malfoy into a ferret!"
"You did WHAT??" The man asked, amazement creeping in with the irritation that he mostly felt at the moment. How on earth could the boy know a spell like that already?
"I don't know! He was insulting me and such and I was thinking of what Moody had done the one time while toying with this pendant and well, you know the rest..."
"Ahh...One moment," He muttered, sticking his head into the fireplace and called Albus. "Sir, would you mind coming down here?"
Harry grumbled, upset that he'd disturbed the headmaster yet again. A bit later the old wizard appeared in the office, leaning on a cane. "You called me, Severus?"
"Yes, it seems Harry here was able to turn Malfoy into a ferret with the help of this..." He replied, lifting the pendant on the boy's neck. The stone turned a dark green, and Harry could sense it was rather displeased with being touched by anyone but himself.
"I was wondering when you were going to get around to figuring out how to use that, Harry," Albus said, that blasted twinkle in his eye settling right on the boy. "It helps you concentrate your magic into a specific area and with your wandless magic ability, creates spells that are of a most complex nature for one your age. I do suggest you find Mister Malfoy and remedy the situation, although, I must say, the lad looks rather amusing as a ferret. I believe Minerva mentioned something about it being his Animagus form if he so ever accomplishes the feat."
Severus ushered Harry out of the office right after, wanting him to go take care of the mess he'd just created. But he had to admit that it was amusing to see the Amazing Bouncing Ferret make a return to Hogwarts. He leaned back in his chair while resting his arms behind his head, gazing around the room at apparently nothing. For the moment, things were fine, but he knew Voldemort would be calling sooner or later, and he gathered that he wasn't particularly welcome there anymore...