The next day went by very quickly. Transfiguration was just like their last Transfigurations class. They were still working on learning the theory behind transfiguring a living creature into a different living creature. That night they had quidditch practice for the second time that week, and Harry was helping the two Beaters get the hang of guarding all three Chasers, and helping them get used to working with each other. Most of his team got along, and the team was doing fairly well at working together, but once in a while there would be a little argument, and Harry would have to step in to stop the argument. Harry had a good feeling about the team he was on that year, and felt that they had a very good chance at becoming the quidditch champions for that year. After quidditch practice, Harry had Astronomy class. They began working once again on mapping out the stars, and labeling them to the best of their ability. Professor Sinistra had described to them some of the stars that were very clear and visible that they should definitely be able to show on their maps.
Thursday came, and Harry went to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, ready to work once again on the shielding spell. "Hello class," Lupin said, walking in the door with Tonks at his side, closing it as he entered. "Today we will continue our discussion of the shielding spell, Infragilis Contego," Lupin told them, "If you all remember how to perform it, then you may begin. If you have any questions, you may come see either me or Professor Tonks at our desks. When you think you know it well enough, come show one of us." Harry began working on perfecting the spell. He held up his wand and said out loud, "Infragilis Contego!" A yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand. It engulfed him, closing him out from the rest of the world. He could not hear what people were saying, but he could see their mouths moving. He decided he did very well, and decided to go show Lupin.
He walked over to Lupin's desk, and he felt all the eyes in the room turn to him, watching him intently as he intended to perform the shielding spell to the best of his ability. "Are you ready Harry?" Lupin asked. Harry nodded, and rose his wand, ready to perform the spell. "Infragilis Contego!" Harry shouted. The same yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand very quickly, engulfing him in a sphere in just a matter of seconds. He was fully enclosed, and as usual, he could not hear a thing. Lupin signalled for him to stop, and Harry gladly did so, as it was draining the power out of him. "Wow Harry! That was very good!" Tonks congratulated him. He heard murmurs of excitement throughout the classroom. Apparently people were very amazed at what he could do. "That was excellent! You managed to do it very quickly too! That will be very helpful to you, I suspect, Harry," Lupin said to him. "Yeah, it probably will be helpful," Harry said, winking at his fellow Order member.
The time spent that afternoon went be quickly. Harry and Ron just hung out in the common room and talked about things, like quidditch, and their classes. Harry was very excited because this was the night that he would find out what animagus forms he could take. He could not wait for his lesson that night. Hermione came back after her Arithmancy lesson, and joined in their conversation before heading down to dinner. They ate quickly, as they were very hungry, especially Harry. He had been hungry since performing that shield spell. It was as if the shield actually drained all of his energy, making him very hungry. After eating, Professor Dumbledore stood up to talk. "Ahem...I would like to remind those in third-year or above, that this weekend is the first Hogsmeade weekend! So you still have a little bit of time to get those permission slips signed if you haven't already. That is all," Dumbledore said, sipping from his goblet afterwards. Ron and Hermione walked back to the common room, and Harry made his way to the Transfiguration room to find out his animagi form.
He entered his room and saw Lupin and Professor McGonagall sitting there by her desk in deep conversation about something. He could tell it was something serious. "Hello Professors," Harry said, acknowledging that he was there. It was as if the two professors had not seen him enter. "Hello Mr. Potter, please take a seat," Professor McGonagall said, very sternly. He took a seat in the front of the room, and waited for the professors to finish talking. "Okay Potter, are you ready to hear the results from the Magus paper?" Professor McGonagall asked him. "Yes professor," he replied. "This is very amazing, and I do not know how you have done it," Professor McGonagall said, looking at the aqua-blue paper she held in front of herself. "What is it?" Harry asked, now very excited. "Do not interrupt me, Potter," exclaimed Professor McGonagall, "You have two forms. This does not necessarily mean you will be able to transform into both, as it would take a lot of hard work and effort on your part." "The two forms you will be able to take, if you should choose to, are a stag, much like your father, and a phoenix, evidently the element of wind has chosen to help you. You will be able to control the element of wind, should you develop this power," Lupin told him, looking highly fascinated by the piece of parchment he now held in his hands. "Wow!" exclaimed Harry. Was it just a coincidence that he too would be able to transform into a stag, like his father? "You are truly James' son," Lupin said to him, smiling at the thought of James. Harry now began to feel a little saddened, as he had never really been able to find out what his dad was like, although he had heard many wonderful things from Sirius and Lupin. "If you could please calm down, Mr. Potter, we will begin talking once again about the theory of transforming into your animagi forms, and transforming back into your normal human state," Professor McGonagall told him. "And just when this was getting exciting, she begins another one of her lectures," Harry thought, he was bored once again. He had become excited about something, but Professor McGonagall had a thing for taking away excitement from him all of the time.
He sat there listening to her for about an hour, just ranting on and on about the theory behind transformation. "This is sooo boring. More boring than listening to Professor Binns lecture about the goblin rebellions. And that is saying something," he thought to himself, a slight grin appearing on his face. "Mr. Potter, you may go back now, I think that is enough for tonight. Same time next week," Professor McGonagall told him. Harry gladly got up and left, walking back to the common room quickly, wanting to tell his friends all about his forms that he would be able to take.
He entered the common room, and saw Ron and Hermione sitting on the sofa, talking about something. He walked over to them and sat down in a chair by the sofa. "Hey Harry! How was animagus class?" Hermione asked. "Very boring! You should be glad you're not doing it!" exclaimed Harry. "I would love to!" Hermione told him. "Well anyway, I found out what forms I will be able to take," Harry replied. "What are they?" Ron asked anxiously. "Well, I will be able to transform into two different animals. One is a stag, like my father. The other is a phoenix. I will be able to fly, instead of walk around. It's gonna be awesome when I finally learn how to transform!" Harry told his friends. "I can't wait to see you transform!" Hermione replied. "Well, I'm off to get to sleep. We have Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow with Grubbly-Plank, now that Hagrid went away," Harry told them. "Yeah, I should go too," Ron agreed. And with that, they all headed off to their dormitories to get some sleep.
The next day was very boring for the trio, as they had to listen to Professor Grubbly-Plank lecture them for two hours straight on safely handling porgybesses. They listened to her tell them all about how they were very dangerous creatures, but managed to avoid telling them exactly what harmful things they were able to do. They found this very suspicious, and decided to look it up in the library after lunch. What they found was surprising. The porgybesses were very powerful, not only physically, but also mentally. They had the ability to read minds, and to heal people if they feel the need to. Harry thought that Voldemort would probably try to get help from some of these creatures, and use them during attacks, to wipe out a mob of defenseless muggles.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to the common room after researching, and began working on their homework, since they were going to have a busy weekend, with going to Hogsmeade and everything. Harry was working on his Potions essay, along with Hermione, and Ron was working on an essay for Care of Magical Creatures. They thought they wouldn't have homework at all that year in Care of Magical Creatures, like Hagrid had told them, but he had to go away, so it was now in the hands of Professor Grubbly-Plank. Harry did not like doing his homework, and sometimes wished he could just not do the homework, but knew that if he didn't, then he would be in really big trouble, especially if it was an essay for Snape.
Harry finished up his essay for Snape, and began working on his Care of Magical Creatures essay, working with Ron, who was almost finished his. Hermione joined them on working on the Care of Magical Creatures essay once she was finished with Snape's essay. They headed down to the Great Hall once everyone was finished their homework, and sat near Ginny, who was talking to some of her friends. "Hey Ginny," Harry said, sitting down next to her. "Hey Harry!" Ginny said, looking over at him, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." "WHAT? YOU CAN"T ASK HARRY OUT ON A DATE!" Ron exclaimed, spitting out his food. "I'd love to Ginny," Harry said very nicely, after shooting an angry glare at Ron. Ginny looked mad at Ron to. "Are you serious?" Ginny asked, a smile appearing on her face. "Of course!" Harry told her. "Oh my god! Thank you Harry!" Ginny replied, hugging him. Ron shot him an angry look, in which Harry replied by sticking out his tongue.
They began eating, and for once Ron didn't eat a lot. It was probably just because of the fact that his sister was going to Hogsmeade with his best friend the next day. "I should be able to do whatever I want. Ron can't tell me what to do," he heard Ginny say. "That's right," Harry replied. "What's right?" Ginny asked, confused. "You just said that you should be able to do whatever you want, and that Ron can't tell you what to do," Harry told her. "No I didn't. I thought that, but I didn't say it," Ginny said, looking at him very weird, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to go see Lupin," Harry told her. He got up from his seat at the table, and took off for Lupin's room. He knew Lupin would know what to do. He always did. Harry had full confidence in Lupin, and knew that Lupin would be there to help him through this thing he was going through. He didn't know why he could read people's minds, but he did know that this was just the prophecy coming true, and that it was his destiny to develop such powers that Voldemort would not be able to counter.
He entered Lupin's office, and saw him sitting at his desk reading some essays, no doubt written by his students. "Oh, hello Harry. What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the expression of fear on Harry's face. "I don't know. It's just that lately I've been able to hear what people are thinking sometimes, and I'm really freaked out by it," Harry told him. "Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore," Lupin replied. "Why do I have to tell Dumbledore everything that happens in my life?" Harry asked him, getting very angry. "Because Harry, he is in charge of the Order, and he is possibly the most intelligent wizard out in the world today. He will know what to do. That is why we must tell him," Lupin told him. "Let me get some time to thing about it first before I go and tell Dumbledore. I'll decide by the next Order meeting," Harry told Lupin, walking out the door.
He headed off towards the common room, and saw Snape around the corner talking to someone. "Severus, watch out! Voldemort is very angry!" the other figure was saying. Harry couldn't make out who it was, but he could see the person was in a dark black hooded cloak. He knew who wore those types of cloaks. This person was without a doubt a death eater. He began listening to the conversation again. "It's okay. I'm safe here at Hogwarts," Severus told the other person. "No, you are not safe. And neither is Potter. Voldemort is planning an invasion on Hogwarts. You need to warn Dumbledore," the figure said. Harry saw Snape's face go pale white. "An invasion?" Snape asked the other person, "What kind of invasion?" "Well, he wants to send in forces to take out both you and Potter," the figure said. "Oh no," he heard Snape mumble, very softly. Harry's scar began to burn, and he heard laughing. Before he knew it, all three people, Snape, the hooded figure, and Harry, were surrounded by death eaters, who were closing in on them with their wands raised.
"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Potter," one of them said. Harry did not recognize the voice. "And his backstabbing traitor of a friend," the voice continued. "Snape is not my friend!" Harry thought to himself. "Master told us not to kill him," he heard a voice. But nobody was talking. Harry knew that this was just what one of them was thinking. He decided to keep to himself, not wanting to give anything away. He heard someone else think about shooting out metal binds to constrict him. "Conglutino!" that voice yelled. Harry knew it was coming, so he could easily dodge the metal binds that had shot out of the wand. "It seems that Mr. Potter is getting better at this kind of thing," the figure said. Harry looked behind them, and saw a crowd of people walking, wearing masks. He did not know who these people were, and he wasn't sure who's side they were on. "Crucio!" one of the death eaters said. Snape fell to the ground. It was the most horrible sight he had ever seen. Snape had fallen to the ground, and blood was dripping from his ears. Snape was screaming in pain, and he looked as if he was ready to die. One of the masked men shouted, "Stupefy!" and a red jolt of light hit the death eater who had been hurting Snape. The person who was talking to Snape earlier, took Snape away, heading towards the hospital wing. Harry knew that these masked men were on his side now. "Stupefy!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at one of the death eaters. The figure fell down. The death eaters were not fighting very well, and a few chose to apparate somewhere. Dumbledore strode into the mix of fighting, and took out one of the death eaters with a swish of his wand. Dumbledore took Harry, and led him away, Harry causing a death eater to be stunned on their way out. Dumbledore took Harry to the hospital wing, where Harry laid in a bed near Snape, who was still shaking violently, and screaming in pain. He saw Cho lying next to him and remembered his plan to bring her back. He knew he had to.
Thursday came, and Harry went to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, ready to work once again on the shielding spell. "Hello class," Lupin said, walking in the door with Tonks at his side, closing it as he entered. "Today we will continue our discussion of the shielding spell, Infragilis Contego," Lupin told them, "If you all remember how to perform it, then you may begin. If you have any questions, you may come see either me or Professor Tonks at our desks. When you think you know it well enough, come show one of us." Harry began working on perfecting the spell. He held up his wand and said out loud, "Infragilis Contego!" A yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand. It engulfed him, closing him out from the rest of the world. He could not hear what people were saying, but he could see their mouths moving. He decided he did very well, and decided to go show Lupin.
He walked over to Lupin's desk, and he felt all the eyes in the room turn to him, watching him intently as he intended to perform the shielding spell to the best of his ability. "Are you ready Harry?" Lupin asked. Harry nodded, and rose his wand, ready to perform the spell. "Infragilis Contego!" Harry shouted. The same yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand very quickly, engulfing him in a sphere in just a matter of seconds. He was fully enclosed, and as usual, he could not hear a thing. Lupin signalled for him to stop, and Harry gladly did so, as it was draining the power out of him. "Wow Harry! That was very good!" Tonks congratulated him. He heard murmurs of excitement throughout the classroom. Apparently people were very amazed at what he could do. "That was excellent! You managed to do it very quickly too! That will be very helpful to you, I suspect, Harry," Lupin said to him. "Yeah, it probably will be helpful," Harry said, winking at his fellow Order member.
The time spent that afternoon went be quickly. Harry and Ron just hung out in the common room and talked about things, like quidditch, and their classes. Harry was very excited because this was the night that he would find out what animagus forms he could take. He could not wait for his lesson that night. Hermione came back after her Arithmancy lesson, and joined in their conversation before heading down to dinner. They ate quickly, as they were very hungry, especially Harry. He had been hungry since performing that shield spell. It was as if the shield actually drained all of his energy, making him very hungry. After eating, Professor Dumbledore stood up to talk. "Ahem...I would like to remind those in third-year or above, that this weekend is the first Hogsmeade weekend! So you still have a little bit of time to get those permission slips signed if you haven't already. That is all," Dumbledore said, sipping from his goblet afterwards. Ron and Hermione walked back to the common room, and Harry made his way to the Transfiguration room to find out his animagi form.
He entered his room and saw Lupin and Professor McGonagall sitting there by her desk in deep conversation about something. He could tell it was something serious. "Hello Professors," Harry said, acknowledging that he was there. It was as if the two professors had not seen him enter. "Hello Mr. Potter, please take a seat," Professor McGonagall said, very sternly. He took a seat in the front of the room, and waited for the professors to finish talking. "Okay Potter, are you ready to hear the results from the Magus paper?" Professor McGonagall asked him. "Yes professor," he replied. "This is very amazing, and I do not know how you have done it," Professor McGonagall said, looking at the aqua-blue paper she held in front of herself. "What is it?" Harry asked, now very excited. "Do not interrupt me, Potter," exclaimed Professor McGonagall, "You have two forms. This does not necessarily mean you will be able to transform into both, as it would take a lot of hard work and effort on your part." "The two forms you will be able to take, if you should choose to, are a stag, much like your father, and a phoenix, evidently the element of wind has chosen to help you. You will be able to control the element of wind, should you develop this power," Lupin told him, looking highly fascinated by the piece of parchment he now held in his hands. "Wow!" exclaimed Harry. Was it just a coincidence that he too would be able to transform into a stag, like his father? "You are truly James' son," Lupin said to him, smiling at the thought of James. Harry now began to feel a little saddened, as he had never really been able to find out what his dad was like, although he had heard many wonderful things from Sirius and Lupin. "If you could please calm down, Mr. Potter, we will begin talking once again about the theory of transforming into your animagi forms, and transforming back into your normal human state," Professor McGonagall told him. "And just when this was getting exciting, she begins another one of her lectures," Harry thought, he was bored once again. He had become excited about something, but Professor McGonagall had a thing for taking away excitement from him all of the time.
He sat there listening to her for about an hour, just ranting on and on about the theory behind transformation. "This is sooo boring. More boring than listening to Professor Binns lecture about the goblin rebellions. And that is saying something," he thought to himself, a slight grin appearing on his face. "Mr. Potter, you may go back now, I think that is enough for tonight. Same time next week," Professor McGonagall told him. Harry gladly got up and left, walking back to the common room quickly, wanting to tell his friends all about his forms that he would be able to take.
He entered the common room, and saw Ron and Hermione sitting on the sofa, talking about something. He walked over to them and sat down in a chair by the sofa. "Hey Harry! How was animagus class?" Hermione asked. "Very boring! You should be glad you're not doing it!" exclaimed Harry. "I would love to!" Hermione told him. "Well anyway, I found out what forms I will be able to take," Harry replied. "What are they?" Ron asked anxiously. "Well, I will be able to transform into two different animals. One is a stag, like my father. The other is a phoenix. I will be able to fly, instead of walk around. It's gonna be awesome when I finally learn how to transform!" Harry told his friends. "I can't wait to see you transform!" Hermione replied. "Well, I'm off to get to sleep. We have Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow with Grubbly-Plank, now that Hagrid went away," Harry told them. "Yeah, I should go too," Ron agreed. And with that, they all headed off to their dormitories to get some sleep.
The next day was very boring for the trio, as they had to listen to Professor Grubbly-Plank lecture them for two hours straight on safely handling porgybesses. They listened to her tell them all about how they were very dangerous creatures, but managed to avoid telling them exactly what harmful things they were able to do. They found this very suspicious, and decided to look it up in the library after lunch. What they found was surprising. The porgybesses were very powerful, not only physically, but also mentally. They had the ability to read minds, and to heal people if they feel the need to. Harry thought that Voldemort would probably try to get help from some of these creatures, and use them during attacks, to wipe out a mob of defenseless muggles.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to the common room after researching, and began working on their homework, since they were going to have a busy weekend, with going to Hogsmeade and everything. Harry was working on his Potions essay, along with Hermione, and Ron was working on an essay for Care of Magical Creatures. They thought they wouldn't have homework at all that year in Care of Magical Creatures, like Hagrid had told them, but he had to go away, so it was now in the hands of Professor Grubbly-Plank. Harry did not like doing his homework, and sometimes wished he could just not do the homework, but knew that if he didn't, then he would be in really big trouble, especially if it was an essay for Snape.
Harry finished up his essay for Snape, and began working on his Care of Magical Creatures essay, working with Ron, who was almost finished his. Hermione joined them on working on the Care of Magical Creatures essay once she was finished with Snape's essay. They headed down to the Great Hall once everyone was finished their homework, and sat near Ginny, who was talking to some of her friends. "Hey Ginny," Harry said, sitting down next to her. "Hey Harry!" Ginny said, looking over at him, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." "WHAT? YOU CAN"T ASK HARRY OUT ON A DATE!" Ron exclaimed, spitting out his food. "I'd love to Ginny," Harry said very nicely, after shooting an angry glare at Ron. Ginny looked mad at Ron to. "Are you serious?" Ginny asked, a smile appearing on her face. "Of course!" Harry told her. "Oh my god! Thank you Harry!" Ginny replied, hugging him. Ron shot him an angry look, in which Harry replied by sticking out his tongue.
They began eating, and for once Ron didn't eat a lot. It was probably just because of the fact that his sister was going to Hogsmeade with his best friend the next day. "I should be able to do whatever I want. Ron can't tell me what to do," he heard Ginny say. "That's right," Harry replied. "What's right?" Ginny asked, confused. "You just said that you should be able to do whatever you want, and that Ron can't tell you what to do," Harry told her. "No I didn't. I thought that, but I didn't say it," Ginny said, looking at him very weird, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to go see Lupin," Harry told her. He got up from his seat at the table, and took off for Lupin's room. He knew Lupin would know what to do. He always did. Harry had full confidence in Lupin, and knew that Lupin would be there to help him through this thing he was going through. He didn't know why he could read people's minds, but he did know that this was just the prophecy coming true, and that it was his destiny to develop such powers that Voldemort would not be able to counter.
He entered Lupin's office, and saw him sitting at his desk reading some essays, no doubt written by his students. "Oh, hello Harry. What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the expression of fear on Harry's face. "I don't know. It's just that lately I've been able to hear what people are thinking sometimes, and I'm really freaked out by it," Harry told him. "Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore," Lupin replied. "Why do I have to tell Dumbledore everything that happens in my life?" Harry asked him, getting very angry. "Because Harry, he is in charge of the Order, and he is possibly the most intelligent wizard out in the world today. He will know what to do. That is why we must tell him," Lupin told him. "Let me get some time to thing about it first before I go and tell Dumbledore. I'll decide by the next Order meeting," Harry told Lupin, walking out the door.
He headed off towards the common room, and saw Snape around the corner talking to someone. "Severus, watch out! Voldemort is very angry!" the other figure was saying. Harry couldn't make out who it was, but he could see the person was in a dark black hooded cloak. He knew who wore those types of cloaks. This person was without a doubt a death eater. He began listening to the conversation again. "It's okay. I'm safe here at Hogwarts," Severus told the other person. "No, you are not safe. And neither is Potter. Voldemort is planning an invasion on Hogwarts. You need to warn Dumbledore," the figure said. Harry saw Snape's face go pale white. "An invasion?" Snape asked the other person, "What kind of invasion?" "Well, he wants to send in forces to take out both you and Potter," the figure said. "Oh no," he heard Snape mumble, very softly. Harry's scar began to burn, and he heard laughing. Before he knew it, all three people, Snape, the hooded figure, and Harry, were surrounded by death eaters, who were closing in on them with their wands raised.
"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Potter," one of them said. Harry did not recognize the voice. "And his backstabbing traitor of a friend," the voice continued. "Snape is not my friend!" Harry thought to himself. "Master told us not to kill him," he heard a voice. But nobody was talking. Harry knew that this was just what one of them was thinking. He decided to keep to himself, not wanting to give anything away. He heard someone else think about shooting out metal binds to constrict him. "Conglutino!" that voice yelled. Harry knew it was coming, so he could easily dodge the metal binds that had shot out of the wand. "It seems that Mr. Potter is getting better at this kind of thing," the figure said. Harry looked behind them, and saw a crowd of people walking, wearing masks. He did not know who these people were, and he wasn't sure who's side they were on. "Crucio!" one of the death eaters said. Snape fell to the ground. It was the most horrible sight he had ever seen. Snape had fallen to the ground, and blood was dripping from his ears. Snape was screaming in pain, and he looked as if he was ready to die. One of the masked men shouted, "Stupefy!" and a red jolt of light hit the death eater who had been hurting Snape. The person who was talking to Snape earlier, took Snape away, heading towards the hospital wing. Harry knew that these masked men were on his side now. "Stupefy!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at one of the death eaters. The figure fell down. The death eaters were not fighting very well, and a few chose to apparate somewhere. Dumbledore strode into the mix of fighting, and took out one of the death eaters with a swish of his wand. Dumbledore took Harry, and led him away, Harry causing a death eater to be stunned on their way out. Dumbledore took Harry to the hospital wing, where Harry laid in a bed near Snape, who was still shaking violently, and screaming in pain. He saw Cho lying next to him and remembered his plan to bring her back. He knew he had to.