Chapter Fourteen-The Transfiguration Master

By M-Fever

Harry wracked his brain but did not recall anyone by that name.

"What, never heard of me?" Mildred said, calmly twiddling her wand.

"No," Harry said, still staring at her.

"I'm not surprised. My heritage is rather interesting, though. Would you like to hear about it?" Harry didn't answer, but she took this as a yes. "Long ago there lived a beautiful woman and her sister. This woman married a wizard and she became pregnant. Before the birth, the wizard died suddenly during a duel. When the birth did take place, the woman died too, leaving her infant daughter alone in the world. This little girl was sent to live with a muggle family, without a clue who her parents were. Do you know why she wasn't sent to live with her aunt?"

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

"The sister of the beautiful woman had also had a child with a muggle man. She too had died. Anyway, the little girl turned out to be a squib. Without admission into Hogwarts, she lived her life as a muggle. When she married, she had a son. He too was born a squib and lived the life of a muggle. He and his wife bore a single daughter. At last, the line of squibs was broken! When a letter from Hogwarts arrived for the girl, the parents did not know what to do. The child had always been peculiar. For instance, she was able to transform her face at will. That child was me. My parents would not allow me to attend this school of Witchery. Instead they decided to smother me, try to drive the peculiarity right out of me! It didn't work. One month later I ran away from home. With my power to disguise myself, it was easy. I endured many hardships; it is true. At last I found a place that accepted me as me. I took board at a small school of wizardry in Belgium. The school was so small, in fact, that there were only about fifteen of us. I studied hard and became very powerful.

"When I was on holiday at the age of fourteen I stumbled across a piece of intriguing information. I found out about my heritage. There was a very important part of it that very few knew. The child born of my great-great aunt had become the Dark Lord. Aside from my squib relatives, I was his only remaining kin. I received news not long after that my father had passed. My grandmother, heart-broken, did too a year later. My goal in life became to find my cousin.

"I had learned long ago about the boy who had defeated him. Only a year or so younger than me, I was intrigued. He and I and my cousin all looked a bit similar. All of us with the same dark hair. You, of course, had been admitted to Hogwarts. I had become obsessed, both with you and my cousin. I hated and loved both of you at the same time.

"All this time I had become stronger and stronger in my skills. Being able to transform myself and objects became a specialty of mine. When, two years ago, I graduated from my school, I had become, I daresay, one of the most powerful witches in existence. I sought to find my cousin. I caught sight of him once, and once only. His death eaters would not allow me to approach. Not long ago I heard the news of his demise. I was enraged and swore to bring him back.

"I met Draco Malfoy over the summer. We clicked instantly. I kept my muggle and squib heritage a secret from him. I did tell him about my relation to the Dark Lord. He found it very interesting. It turned out that he hated Harry Potter as well. I found out about the position available at Hogwarts as Transfiguration professor. I applied, but Dumbledore was blind. He had already found a 'more suitable candidate.' I would not let him keep me from Hogwarts. I disguised myself as a young girl and found another at a camp who went to Hogwarts. I pretended to be her friend. She trusted me. I lured her into a sense of calm and allowed her to ride my broomstick. I forced it to buck her off. I interceded the letter her parents sent to Professor Dumbledore. Instead I decided to go in her place. Draco made one more suggestion. It wasn't the best plan, but I thought it might be fun. I decided to transfigure an animal into a human boy, control it with the imperius curse, and have it wreak havoc on the school while I continued to play the innocent. I especially wished for him to disrupt the lives of Harry Potter and whoever had taken over as Transfiguration Professor. Draco sent me a late letter telling me that Harry Potter had bought this new professor an owl. This seemed the ideal candidate."

Harry had listened silently this whole time, and his emotions were raging within him. Lover-boy was Hermione's owl! So she was the one who hadn't named him.

"On my first day of classes, I saw you. Your scar was gone. It didn't make sense. Desperate to make you notice me further I stunned two of my classmates. They had been making fools of themselves. You weren't impressed. As time went on I realized that you and this 'Professor Granger' were in love, or near to it. I was enraged. I transfigured an old cloak into a lethifold and sicked it on her. Meanwhile I was working on bringing back the Dark Lord. With my powers of transfiguration, I was able to make many near-perfect bodies. I had a bit of his father's bone from his gravesite and I also had my own blood. To bring him back completely was easier said than done. His mind was tricky. On one night I grew very close but I was disrupted when I felt my bond with the owl-boy thin. The next day I saw that your scar was back. I was pleased!

"Some time later I realized that you must have found out something of my plan. In class you kept droning on about punishments. You even had the indecency to mention the penalties for using the unforgivable curses on fellow humans! I use them only on animals turned human. There is a big difference... The idea that you disliked me so much began to gnaw away at my nerves. My hate for you overtook me and I announced it. I had an alterior motive though. Class was nearly over. When I ran outside I immediately morphed into that stupid little mudblood Granger. I used a combination severing and vanishing charm of my own invention to remove my Hufflepuff crest. When you came out you believed me to be her. This was my only chance to get my deepest heart's desire. One kiss was all I ever wanted. It was wonderful, Harry... even if I do hate you, and believe me, I do hate you. You killed the greatest wizard ever known. Someone who could have given me power... perhaps have seen me as an apprentice. Now I'm stuck in this horrible school playing the part of an adolescent, stuck watching you and turtle-girl make googley eyes at one another. My only vent is to make these pathetic copies in hopes of reviving the Dark Lord." She stopped. Harry was staring at her very hard. Hermione was squirming in his pocket.

"You're a little sick, you know that?" he said. "You can't bring people back to life by replicating their body!"

"What makes you so sure?" Mildred asked, clicking her tongue. There was a grin playing at the edge of her mouth.

"Because they wouldn't have the same memories, never mind magical ability!"

"You're very thick, did you know that? I was sure that you were one of the few people who would understand my genius, but I guess not." The essence of a grin was spreading and it looked as if it was taking her some effort to keep it at bay. Harry's wand was still clutched in his hand. If he could just distract her enough to be able to stun her...

"Fine, explain it to me!"

"Did I not say that I have some of his father's bone?"

"Yeah, are planning to make a recipe out of him?"

"In a way. I also said that I have my own blood. By mixing these I can bring back some of his DNA. DNA... such a muggle term, isn't it? As for magical ability, I've had a theory in mind for quite a while." She paused, the grin becoming more and more prominent. Harry absentmindedly noticed that her grip on her wand had become less relaxed and a bit more firm.

"What would that be?" Harry asked. In truth he was just playing for time, trying to decide on the best spell to use. Expelliarmus sounded good to him.

"Over the years Harry, I have heard quite a lot about you. I've heard that that scar on your head is not normal. It is supposed to link you to my dear cousin. It is my thought that it contains magical residue directly related to him. If I could only have that scar..." The grin had fully spread over her face and the glint in her eye was downright creepy.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry shouted. Mildred's knuckles were white as she continued to grip her wand, which was tugging so hard that it looked close to snapping. Without thought Harry yelled again. "STUPIFY!"

Mildred was too quick. "IMPEDIMENTA!" she shouted. The result was that both fell flat on their backs. Impedimenta was short-lifed. Harry was for once glad about it. In front of him, Mildred looked as if she were trying to morph, but was having trouble. Hermione had crawled out of his pocket and was now moving across the floor toward Mildred. She was running as fast as she could. It looked as if she was trying to get to Mildred's wand. The curse on Harry broke off and he scrambled to his wobbily legs.

SNAP! Hermione's jaws closed around Mildred's wand and it broke in two. Mildred was rocking gently on the ground now and Harry only had time to stuff Hermione back in his pocket before she opened her eyes. To his horror they had turned bright red. Scare tactic, Harry thought.

"YOU FOOL! You think I need a wand? I can change into any figure I want, so long as it's human. Besides, there is something else to do my job for me."

"She's bluffing," Harry thought to himself. Nevertheless there was something about her blood-red eyes that gave him an uneasy feeling. Mildred held up her hand and snapped her fingers. There was the sound of a door opening behind Harry. The muscles in his neck tensed and he turned slightly. A long dark corridor had opened behind him. To his horror, something was moving through the darkness.

"Oh Tom!" Mildred called sweetly, as if to a young child. Harry felt as if he were about to be ill. Through the darkness came the figure of a man of about fifty. His hair was dark and his eyes were blue. He was younger than Voldemort had been when he had died last spring. This figure had his old body from back when he was at large. The prickle in Harry's scar increased.

"He'd be perfect if I could only infuse some of the flesh from around your scar into him," Mildred said, sounding perfectly maniacal now. The figures on the floor gave the slightest signs of stirring. "I spent a lot of time perfecting his brain pathways. I transfigured every last cell to get just the right pattern of deoxyribonucleic acid. I think that the real key to his production might have been that I used a snake as a starter. Hampsters just weren't working for me. Besides, this way he's already a startlingly good parsel-tongue. It took me months to perfect a perfect memory transplant potion. I had a very hard time tracking down the right ingredients during my down-time... I'm sure to get an A in potions though! That Snape character seems to have taken a liking to me, even if I'm not in his house." Harry had an ominous feeling in his stomach. Hermione's robes and wand were lying on the floor in a heap and he hoped he could get to them before either of them did. Barely even moving his mouth he said in his softest voice, "Accio wand." Hermione's wand flew into his hand. One wand in his right hand and one in his left he held them up to either side of him.

Mildred clicked her tongue. "Uh, uh, uh!" she said in disapproval. "Tom, show him what I've taught you, darling." The oddly blank looking Voldemort stepped forward a bit and, Harry wasn't really expecting it, simply grabbed the wand right out of his left hand. "Crucio," he said lightly. The faintest of tickles went through Harry's body. This Voldemort definitely needed some practice, or at least some magical ability in the first place.

"That all you got?" Harry asked, laughing out loud. "Invinetascartum!" he yelled. (Note, that's not real Latin, I'm lazy.) Harry didn't know what possessed him to use this particular curse. It had simply been the first thing to pop into his head. He whipped around as he said it so that both Mildred and "Tom" were hit. It affected Tom much more. He began to scratch all over as if covered in invisible chicken pox. The thing about the curse was, that by scratching the curse only got worse, so the victim eventually felt as if he or she were on fire.

"STOP SCRATCHING YOU FOOL!" Mildred yelled, though she was resisting with all her might to rub at herself and seemed to be doing a bit of a dance on the spot.

"Itchy," the faux Voldemort whined, though he seemed to make a slight effort to stop. Mildred screwed up her eyes in concentration and suddenly began to take the same shape as her minion. She winked at Tom and they both began stalking around Harry in a circle, apparently in an effort to confuse him.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry cried again, pointing at the one of them with the wand. Hermione's wand flew into his hand once more. Harry was starting to find their meaningless taunts exhausting. An idea had just come to him. He had not, after all, been such a loser at Transfiguration that he could not play the game himself. He wouldn't risk reverting Hermione back himself, that was a job for McGonagal, but he didn't mind reverting the fake Voldemorts. He quickly muttered a spell at one of the figures on the floor and it suddenly turned into a still rabbit. "Ennervate," he muttered at it. After he had done this it seemed rather pointless. Something behind him made a noise. Apparently when he had said ennervate, the other wand had performed on one of the other fake Voldemorts. It stood and looked livid. Now he had another one to deal with.

"You're very lucky your little girlfriend broke my wand Harry," Mildred said, though the voice sounded like Voldemort's. "I've discovered great things about transfiguration... It is my belief that it is the most valuable subject, as you can turn anything into anything else. Brilliant!" While Harry had been turning around in an effort to keep all in sight, one of them had made a dash at his pocket. Harry's heart stopped. The small turtle formerly known as Hermione was being held up in the air and their was a gleam in the eye of her captor that gave him and uneasy feeling. "We'll surrender her if you surrender the extra wand. After all, fair's fair." Mildred had morphed back into herself and was revealed to be the one holding Hermione.

"Accio turtle!" Harry said, automatically. Hermione didn't budge, though one of the Voldemorts on the ground came flying toward him. Harry only had time to dodge it, but it gave him an idea and he quickly muttered an incantation to revert it back into a turtle. Harry picked up the duplicate turtle and looked proud, though he hadn't yet figured out how he could pull off a switch.

"Come now, that won't work," Mildred said pleasantly.

"Sure it will," Harry said back, though he still was unsure of what to do. "Accio Hermione!" he shouted, as Mildred seemed to lessen her grip for a half second. Hermione came flying safely into his hand, causing Harry to drop his second wand. It rolled right up to Mildred and, with Harry's hands full, she picked it up. Harry stuffed each turtle into his pockets and looked livid. "If it's a fight you want, let's settle this properly and have a duel!" Harry said.

"A duel?" Mildred said, her eyes brightening. "That's the best idea I've heard all day.

"I know the perfect place," Harry said, smiling because he finally had a plan.

A.N.: I had seriously thought that she'd be defeated by now, but I've run out of time to write for today, so I'll have to continue later. Congrats to Desolation Lily for figuring out the owl thing. There's probably two chapters left, I think... unless I can wrap it up in one.