Disclaimer: I am in fact not JKR. This may come as a surprise to some of you, and I recommend a good hot cup of tea for the shock.

Chapter 8, The Animgagi

The next few days were spent wandering about in a daze. The recent chain of events was too bizarre to even contemplate. But I was in a happy sort of daze of course. Sirius, the closest thing I'd ever known to a father, had come back to me, and I spent most of my time with him in the hospital wing where he was recuperating; his time beyond the veil had taken so much out of him. Strict though she still was, Madame Pomfrey was letting me stay with Sirius regardless of the fact lessons still went on around the castle.

Sirius was in a restful, dreamy state that day, and almost as soon as he'd finished eating his breakfast he went back to sleep, with a satisfied smile on his face and a baked bean on his chin. I grinned and wiped his chin with a napkin. For the first time in days I let my mind begin to wander. Rather than the usual contemplatory meander through my thoughts, my mind turned immediately to the kiss I had received a few days ago.

Dreamily I brushed my fingers against my lips, as if trying to recall the feeling. It had been tentative and soft... an ugly expression crossed my face as I recalled exactly who had given me this most magical of things. This was the boy I'd grown to hate since the first day in Diagon Alley, when he had already begun to preach to me about "the other kind".

But then I remembered about these last few weeks, when he's been kind to me after we'd been so forcibly thrust together.

"Is it really so strange?" I wondered. "Why can't we be friends after what we've been through together?"

I made my way over to the window, still deep in thought. I stared over the grounds, taking in the sites that were so familiar to me, but would seem so strange to many others. I looked at the Quidditch pitch, the lake, and the greenhouses. Memories flashed through my mind as I considered how much this school meant to me, and how the happiest times of my life were in this place. I looked at the Forbidden Forest and immediately thought of Sirius again, after he'd quite literally stumbled back into my life in that clearing on the edge of the forest. I glanced back toward his hospital bed and smiled fondly. Looking out of the window again, I surveyed the students as they went about their duties. It was already the beginning of second lesson, and they were all milling about happily, none particularly eager to forsake the bright summer's day for the relative gloom of the castle.

At the edge of the forest, where the trees were still light and woody stood a boy and a girl. The girl was clasping her hands together by her face, head cocked to one side, like a puppy; she had obviously just asked the boy a question and was awaiting an answer from him. The boy stood with his hands thrust into his pockets, his head hung towards the ground and his feet were tracing shapes in the wood's dusty floor.

Finally, he looked up and gave a small nod. I turned away. I could practically hear Parkinson's delighted squeals of
"Oh Drakey!"

I didn't know how Malfoy could let her do that. I knew I couldn't stand to have her arms clasped around my neck as she simpered all over me. I all but shuddered at the thought.

My thoughts were directed towards the kiss again. My fingers reached my lips, tracing as before. Hadn't Malfoy kissed me? Malfoy and I were both boys, and yet there he was down in the forest with Parkinson, a girl. My brow was knotted, and I stared out of the window again, trying to fathom this boy out.

Presently I was drawn out of my daze by a hand resting on my shoulder. It was Sirius. We stood for a good five minutes watching the grounds in all of their glory, the giant squid was lazily sculling across the lake and it occupied both of our gazes.

Madame Pomfrey came up to us, a warm smile spread across her motherly countenance.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, ever so sorry to disturb the two of you, but Professor Dumbledore requests both of your presence in his office. Now, Mr. Black, if you don't feel up to anything then I shan't allow you to go. You need to make a full recovery before you leave this wing. Are you quite certain that you're ready?"

A dark looked flitted momentarily into Sirius' eyes, but was soon dispelled.
"I think I am quite ready, thank you Poppy."
She clucked irritably.
"Hmmm, well, I won't let you leave without some chocolate at least."

Sirius didn't need asking twice. With a greedy look on his face he took almost half of the outstretched bar. Grinning like a mischievous little boy he bit into it. It was good to see him having fun after all that he'd been through. We walked up to Dumbledore's office; Sirius' replies to my chatter often muffled by a mouth full of chocolate. As we walked around the corner, Sirius polished off the last of the bar. Licking his fingers he said
"Mmmm, Honeyduke's Best Chocolate"

The stone gargoyle at the foot of Dumbledore's stair sprang to one side. I stared incredulously at Sirius for a moment, and we both burst into laughter. Giggling, we went up the spiral staircase and stood in the hall outside still grinning a lot. The door opened and Dumbledore peered out. Seeing our happy faces did not seem to cheer him up, in fact it seemed to make his expression distinctly darker and more worried. He bade us come in and sit, we did so, confused at his manner, but still in high spirits. He sat; his hands never still, but twisting about one another nervously. He did not speak. I was about to ask him what Sirius and I were doing there when he did at last say something.

"Harry, Sirius. You know I care for you both deeply, and I do not want you to misunderstand what I am about to say. Hear me out. Now, few care for Sirius more than I do, and I am absolutely thrilled at his return from beyond the veil... However, this may present problems eventually. What I am about to tell you may not seem such a pressing concern now, your justified joy outweighing these problems quite considerably, and that is perfectly understandable.

"Now, you are both familiar with the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort of course. So you are both aware that eventually Harry will have to face the Dark Lord. It is a certainty. Now, no offence intended here Harry, but Lord Voldemort is a considerably more powerful and well versed in the Dark Arts than you are. Now, you will recall that at the end of your fifth year you only defeated Lord Voldemort due to your great love for Sirius and your anger and terrible sadness at losing him.

"Harry, to put it bluntly, now that Sirius has returned, I am concerned you will have lost this ability. There is nobody on earth you care about more than your Godfather, and unless Sirius dies once more at the hands of Lord Voldemort, we will have to find another method for you to channel your power into killing him."

I was aghast. Determined to prove Dumbledore wrong, I tried to recall that overwhelming sadness that had been weighing me down and clinging to me since Sirius had fallen, but it was gone. It had disappeared the moment I saw Sirius' face once more.

"There will be another way." I replied, with a certainty borne of desperation. Dumbledore smiled sadly.

"I'm sure there will be, Harry. I'm sure there will be. Now, if you're ready Sirius, I have prepared some quarters for you to stay in the castle, as I am certain you won't want to return to Grimmauld Place. Harry, well, I think it's high time you returned to your lessons."

In Potions I encountered Snape for the first time since Sirius' return. He seemed less than happy about this and determined to take it out on me. With his nastiest sneer he placed Malfoy and I together again. I could see Malfoy visibly blanching when Snape announced the pairings for the lesson.

"I do apologise for making you work with this imbecile Mr. Malfoy, but Potter's incompetence is so great that he needs someone with a brain to guide him."

Malfoy just nodded at this, it looked as if he'd be sick if he opened his mouth. Today we were making a potion that enabled us to change into an animal for a set amount of time. It worked in the same was as the Animagus spell, but this was temporary and only affected the drinker for a few hours, after that the potion wore off and the drinker could no longer change at will. The potion also revealed what animal the drinker would become were the drinker to become an Animagus. I smiled warmly at Malfoy. All he could manage in return was a sort of petrified whimper. He set about making the potion, not meeting my eyes.

Eventually Snape stood at the front of the dungeon and said smoothly

"Now class, let us see what your attempts have produced." At this point he looked at Malfoy "some will be infinitely more successful-"he whipped his gaze around to Neville "than others." Malfoy turned to me and nervously mumbled

"Potter, you should take it first because I didn't let you do much and it's only fair and oh and um when you want to change back, just will yourself as a human again and you really have to wish for it..."

I was slightly amused. I never would have though the great Malfoy would have been reduced to this because he was embarrassed at having kissed the wrong person.

I wondered for a moment whether he might be trying to poison me, but took the vial of iridescent, electric blue liquid anyway. I raised it to my lips and swallowed it. It was amazing. It gave such a cool feeling, like light kisses all the way down the inside of my throat. The feeling spread to all parts of my body, to the very tips of my fingers. I knew I had changed.

I padded over to the floor length mirrors Snape had placed along once side of the dungeon wall. I stared in, and came face to face with my eyes. The same eyes as I'd always had, bright green and almond shaped. The rest of me was not the same. I was a huge, sleek, black cat. I was a panther. This was wonderful.

After a while of staring in disbelief, I willed myself to become human again. I got up and looked around the dungeon. All around me the students were transforming with awed looks on their faces. Over in the corner, butterfly Parvati was fluttering around a delighted Lavender's head. Neville, who had got his potion correct after all, was a duck billed platypus, and was flopping around clumsily under a table. Seamus was a loveable Collie dog, which gamboled around the dungeon madly. Pansy Parkinson was a magpie, perched on a desk cawing harshly. Blaise Zabini had turned into a Siamese cat, sitting regally, purring. They were all laughing madly as they came out of their animal forms.

I turned to Malfoy and smiled. "It's your turn." He nodded, still not looking at me, and gulped down the potion. Immediately he transformed into a graceful swan.

He was silver, like his eyes. His feathers glistened like molten metal. He beat his massive wings once and curled his graceful neck around and began preening his feathers. Swan Malfoy looked me in the eye, and his were the same captivating silver as they'd always been.

Author's Notes:

Um, yep, Draco has got together with Parkinson. He doesn't want to, but Harry will in time understand what he put Draco through. As soon as Harry shows any interest, Draco will drop Pansy. Harry will show interest, but not yet! I'm sorry for all those that want me to skip the story and just get to the beautiful slashy bits, but we'll get there eventually, I promise. I feel so cruel... oh you chaps are going to hate me with what I've got planned out...

Oh by the way, the friend I showed this to didn't quite understand what I meant with those potions so I'm putting a little explaination to be sure. They're basically temporary Animagus spells in a bottle. If you take it, for a few hours you are an Animagus, but then the power wears off, unlike with an Animagus who can transform at will for the rest of their lives (I assume) You transform instantly when you drink it, but you can change back again during the set time period.