Life, Harry had decided, was at its low point right now. Ron and Hermione were quarreling yet again, regardless of the fact that it was still the first week back. On top of that, random girls he had never talked to, much less know, had kept on coming up to him and asking him out. It was rather different then all the cold shoulders he had received last year when everyone had still believe him to be a deranged lunatic and quite frankly, he wasn't sure which he hated more; being asked out or being given death glares.
As he trudged into the Great Hall for breakfast, he looked up and down the Gryffindor table to try and avoid sitting near his two bickering friends. He really didn't need those two arguing across him to help make his morning any better. Spotting an empty seat next to Ginny, he quickly slid into the spot on the bench and grinned slightly at the youngest Weasley. "Morning, Ginny."
"Hi Harry!" she said happily as she reached across him to grab a piece of toast. "Where's Ron and Hermione?"
Harry scowled darkly. "Bickering again. I didn't feel like listening to them any longer so I just snuck away."
The redhead nodded knowingly. "Not surprised about that. I think it'll be better for all of us if those two will just admit that they like each other."
He blinked his green eyes, startled so much that he dropped the piece of bacon he had just picked up. "What? Like each other? You can't be serious?"
Ginny grinned cheerfully and nodded, spreading some jam on her toast. "Dead serious Harry. I can't believe that you hadn't figured it out by now."
"But, they're always fighting!" He objected.
Ginny rolled her chocolate-brown eyes. "It's just how they're hiding their feelings for each other. Anyways, have you had Defense Against Dark Arts yet?"
A bit put off by the sudden change of subject, Harry blinked for a moment before shaking his head. "No, we don't have it for another period. Why? Have you had her yet?"
She nodded and her expression became slightly more sober. "Yeah and she definitely knows her stuff unlike that Umbridge hag last year."
"What'd she talk to you about?"
"Lots of stuff, curses mostly, along with the dangers of Death Eaters. It's pretty neat, to hear her talk about some of this stuff, it's like she's actually experienced it."
Harry frowned slightly at that last sentence. "Experienced it? You mean like performed those curses?"
Ginny shook her head, her mouth full with toast making her unable to respond for a moment or two. "No, more like she's been under the influence. I dunno, it's kind of odd."
Before Harry could make any sort of reply, the clock hit 9:00, meaning they had to go to classes. There was a flurry of activity as students throughout the hall tried to stuff one last piece of bacon or toast into their mouths and others gather up books, muttering about unfinished homework.
"I'll talk to you later, Harry. You've got her today anyways, you'll see what I mean," Ginny said as she slung her bag over her shoulder and hurried off to her first class.
Harry watched her go for a minute before shaking himself out of his mini trance and hurrying on off to his own first period class, History of Magic.
"Where were you, mate?" Ron asked as Harry slid quickly into the seat next to him and behind Hermione.
"Hiding so I wouldn't get killed in the crossfire between you and Hermione," Harry whispered back quickly in return.
"Crossfire? We weren't exactly aiming spells at each other," Ron protested.
"That's why I left when I did," Harry replied.
Hermione turned around to face them, her expression slightly exasperated. "Would you two [i]pleas[/i]e be quite for once?"
Both boys rolled their eyes as she turned around again, but did as ordered, instead quietly playing a game of hangman on a scrap sheet of parchment of Harry's. An hour later, the bell, or what Hogwarts used as a bell, rang and everyone quickly grabbed their things, hurrying off to their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"So what have you heard about this new teacher?" Harry asked his friends, curious to hear what they knew about the new teacher.
"Nothing mate," Ron said, shaking his head as he did.
"Well [i]I[/i]'ve heard that she's a very good teacher," Hermione said very matter-factly. "The 7th year Ravenclaws said that she's very good and she knows what she's talking about."
"What were you doing talking to 7th year Ravenclaws?" Ron asked her, turning towards her.
Hermione sniffed and said, "There's nothing wrong with socializing with other houses or years as it only serves to broaden your horizon and mind."
Ron rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like "know it all!" under his breath.
As they walked into the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom, Harry thought at first that there was no one else in there except them, but upon looking over towards the teacher's desk, he saw that it was not. A woman was sitting at he desk, he assumed it was the new teacher, and Draco Malfoy of all people was stranding there leaning against the desk with a smirk on his face. Harry motioned for Ron and Hermione to be quiet as they slipped quietly into seats slightly towards the back of the room.
"Haven't seen you around England for awhile," Malfoy was saying as they sat down.
"I've had no reason to be Draco, and I've had jobs else where," the teacher replied calmly, never looking up from the papers she was grading.
"My father thinks it's a pity you aren't more like your sister, Jamie of course, since Victoria's dead and all," Malfoy continued.
Harry heard a sharp intake of breath and then felt his arm jerked as he was pulled underneath the desks by Hermione. Ron let out a muttered curse as he too was pulled down and his head hit the tabletop.
"Jamie made some wrong choices and Victoria's better off than Jamie," Professor Tawny replied, her voice slightly strained. "Now get out of here Draco. I've got a class in a minute."
Even though Harry couldn't see Malfoy's face, he was almost certain that the Slytherin would be smirking. "But I'm in your class, Cousin Kay!"
"Then shut up, sit down and be ready for class, Draco. And it's Professor Tawny to you and don't you dare expect any special treatment."
Harry gestured towards Ron and Hermione and they quickly began crawling back out from underneath the desk towards the door. This definitely was a conversation that they did not want to be caught over hearing. Once they were a few feet away from the door, all three simultaneously let out their breaths, slumping against the wall.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Harry said as he stood up and went over towards the window, looking out at the rain. "But I get the feeling that something was going on there that we really don't understand."
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but shut it abruptly as the rest of their class nosily came up the staircase and towards the three friends already standing by the classroom door.
"Anyone in there yet?" Seamus asked them, nodding towards the door.
"Malfoy and the teacher," Harry replied.
"Oh. Hey Harry, Ron," Seamus said with a quick glance around before leaning towards them, gesturing for them to do the same, his voice dropping to just barely a whisper. "You seen those two transfer girls yet? One of them's in Slytherin but they've still the got looks that kill."
Immediately, Ron, and then a beat later Harry, looked up and scanned the crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins. Ron let out a low whistle as he looked at first the Gryffindor girl and then the Slytherin.
"Where'd you say they were from?" Ron asked Seamus, keeping his eyes on the two girls.
"I didn't, but the Gryffindor's from America and then Slytherin's from Italy but a Dumstrang transfer I think," the Irish boy said with a grin.
As the group moved into the classroom, Harry noticed a very odd expression on Hermione's face as she watched Ron. He would've shrugged it off as nothing if he hadn't remembered his conversation with Ginny that morning about Ron and Hermione liking each other. Laughing to himself, Harry made a mental note to tell Ginny about all this as he sat down.
"Alright settle down guys, settle down," the teacher said, standing up from her desk to come and stand in front of it, leaning against it casually. "I'm Professor Kay Tawny but you can call me Professor Kay or Professor Tawny, I'll respond to either. Now then, can one of you tell me what you've done over your past five years at Hogwarts in this class?"
Hermione's hand shot up in the air.
"Yes, Miss-?"
"Granger, Hermione Granger."
"Thank you. Go ahead, Hermione."
"First year, we learned basic jinxes and anti-jinxes, second year we learned nothing except for the so called career of Professor Lockhart, Third year Professor Lupin covered dangerous magical creatures, Fourth Year was curses such as the Unforgivables, and last year-" Hermione's voice broke off and she looked over at Harry and Ron nervously.
"What happened in fifth year?" Tawny prompted her.
"We had an idiot of a teacher who had us read all class pointless books about the theory of the spells we were supposed to be learning," Harry finished for Hermione.
"Ah, thank you," her gaze rested on Harry's scar, "Harry Potter I presume."
Harry nodded and the teacher nodded in return before turning back towards the rest of the class. "Now, you might've talked about this before, but today we're going to cover Animagus and Metamorphagus. Who can tell me what an Animagus is?" Hermione's, along with several other hands, shot up. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a very good understand of Animagus seeing how Sirius, along with Harry's father James and Wormtail, had been Animagus. "Hermione."
"An Animagus is a person who can transform into an animal at will. Not many wizards are able to do this. Because becoming an Animagus is so difficult, an Animagus can only turn into one specific animal, such as a cat, dog, rat, or stag," Hermione said breathlessly.
"Very good! Ten points to Gryffindor. Very thorough description there, Hermione. Now, what's a Metamorphagus?"
This time, a slightly smaller number of hands were raised, though Harry and Ron kept their hands up. One of the members of the Order, Tonks, was a Metamorphagus.
"Put your hand down, Serena," Kay said to the new Gryffindor in the back. "Alright, how about... you," she said, pointing to Ron. "What's your name?"
"Ron Weasley," Ron said as he put his hand down. "I think that a Metamorphagus are people who can change their appearance at will."
"Very good. Another ten points to Gryffindor. Yes, that's correct," the teacher said. A moment later, Harry heard a pop from the back of the classroom and he, along with everyone else turned around to see what it was. The new girl, Serena Walters, who'd before had black hair, was now sitting there with light blonde hair.
Kay sighed. "I thought we had figured this out back at Japlin, Serena, no changes during class."
"But I can't help myself, Professor!" Serena said innocently. "Keeping my hair one color is so boring! And besides, we are talking about Metamorphagus."
The teacher rolled her gray eyes. "Get up here Serena." As the girl grinned broadly and stood up to come forward, Kay turned back to the class. "Serena's a Metamorphagus as you probably all have just realized by her display of hair color changing. She could take on the appearance of anyone of us in this room, though I'd imagine the changes to one of you boys would be a bit more difficult for obvious reasons."
Serena made a face at that comment. "I refuse to change into one of them Professor Kay. It's kinda painful and all."
Kay nodded and glanced around the room until her gaze seemed to randomly rest on the other transfer student, a red-haired witch whose ice blue gaze could kill. "Alright Serena, I want you to turn your features into a mirror of Miss..."
"Mazacoli, Isabel Mazacoli, but most call me Maz," the teen said with a deadly calm, her expression insolent.
"Thank you, Miss Mazacoli. Alright, so try and make your features exactly like Maz's," she continued, unfazed by the Slytherin's unfriendly tone.
The American nodded and then closed her eyes for a moment. The entire class held their breath with anticipation, even the Slytherins becoming quiet for the first time as the teen balled her hands into fists with concentration and then with a more audible pop, she looked like an almost exact replica of the Italian girl. Simultaneously, the class broke out into applause. Well the Gryffindors did at least. Only three of the Slytherins did and they broke off immediately as Malfoy shot glares at them.
"Nicely done Serena, now change back if you will. Oh and fifteen points to Gryffindor," Tawny added the last part almost as an after thought. "Are there any curses that can effect either an Animagus or a Metamorphagus or things that can go wrong when transforming or changing form? Simply because of their special powers I mean." Several hands shot up, Hermione's, of course, among them. "Alright, how about we go around the room, starting with Miss-" She pointed towards Parvati.
"Parvati Patil, Professor Tawny," the girl said.
"Parvati, and then behind her. So tell me your name before you talk so I won't have to stop so frequently because I don't know your names. So go ahead Parvati."
'Well, my dad told me that there's records in Egypt of Animagus who got stuck halfway through transformations. That's why you see all those pictures of people with animal heads," Parvati said cautiously.
"Excellent. Parvati's one hundred percent correct on that. Some wizards attempted to transform before they were really ready and they got stuck. The muggles thought that these wizards were Gods, hence why Anubis, in Egyptian mythology has the head of a jackal," she embellished.
"Bloody hell!" Dean exclaimed. "You mean those Gods were actually wizards?"
"Precisely, Mr.-"
"Dean Thomas, Ma'am."
"Thank you Dean. Yes, the ancient, so-called Gods were actually wizards. Some were Animagus or Metamorphagus, while some were not. But for all of them, the power went to their heads. Alright," she glanced behind Parvati at Malfoy. "Draco, your hand was up I believe."
Malfoy smirked as he leaned back in his chair so that the front two legs were off the ground. "There's a spell called the [i]Nan Revertan[/i] that also requires a potion to be drunk by the person the spell's being sued on. Use it on an Animagus while they're in animal form," Malfoy's smirk grew larger, "He'll be stuck an animal for th rest of his life."
The Professor ignored the snickers of the Slytherins and Malfoy's smirk as if he were a performer of such a curse himself. "Correct. The [i]Nan Revertan[/i] curse became a bit popular back in the medieval times when there were a larger number of Animagus than we have today. Can anyone tell me what the [i]Nan Revertan[/i] is for Metamorphagus?"
Hermione's hand shot up again.
"Hermione?"
"It's a curse called the [i]Metan Reverto[/i] and is a bit more complex than the [i]Nan Revertan[/i] because Metamorphagus can take more than one appearance."
"Excellent. The [i]Metan Reverto[/i] is infamously harder to do correctly than many other potions known to witches and wizards. Continuing on then, you are...?" Kay said briskly.
"Blaise Zabini and I've heard that the Cruciatus Curse effects Animagus in different ways than it does other people," the shortish Slytherin boy said from where he was sitting next to Malfoy.
Harry glanced sharply back over at Professor Tawny, the conversation he, Ron, and Hermione had overheard before class, coming up to the front of his mind. There was definitely something else going on here that Harry and the rest of the class didn't know or even vaguely realize.
"I'm not quite sure how you came by that information Blaise, but yes, that's right. Depending on the level of the wizard, an Animagus can revert to part s of their animal form while they're under the Cruciatus Curse," Kay said with a nod. "Anyone else?"
Neville cautiously raised his hand and at a nod from the teacher, put it down and said in a slightly trembling voice, "There's, there's a type of magical being that hunts Metamorphagus and then feeds on their powers."
"Damn those things are evil and annoying," Harry heard the American girl mutter underneath her breath.
"What's your name?" Kay asked Neville.
"Neville Longbottom," he replied nervously.
"Well, Neville, you're right, there is a creature called the Javna that does hunt Metamorphagus. Javna are dangerous to any wizard, but especially so to Metamorphagus. They're most populous in America, France, Canada, and there's also a decent sized population up in the Shetland Islands. Does anyone know how they kill?" Hermione and Serena were the only ones to put up their hands. "Serena, you don't count. Hermione?"
"The Javna will use one hand to hold down the victim and use the other, the right one, to suck the powers of the Metamorphagus out of then-" Hermione broke off abruptly and bit her lip nervously before continuing. "Well, let's just say it's really horrible."
"The Javna then reverts to its natural, incredibly ugly form and eats the Metamorphagus," Serena said in a deadly calm, almost flat, voice, her expression stony. Harry frowned slightly as he turned around to look at her. There was something in the Metamorphagus's expression and tone that told him that there was something personal here, more personal than there just being the chance that something like that could happen to her. He turned back around and learned over towards Ron. "Hey, Ron, you notice anything...odd about that American girl when she said that just now?"
Ron shrugged slightly. "Not really, mate. Wasn't concentrating on her expression too much. We should do these foreign exchange or transfer things more often."
Harry rolled his bottle-green eyes at his best friend's one track mind. "Sorry Ron, but you're a bit hopeless sometimes. First Fleur, now Serena. Take a look around good old Hogwarts sometime. Foreign's not always good."
He sputtered at Harry's comment. "That- that- what the- foreign- that- not fair- what- way low-"
Harry started to laugh, but quickly turned it into a cough as he heard Professor Tawny begin to talk again as Lavender finished saying something.
"Good discussion guys. Now, let's see, five points to everyone who brought up good points or answered questions... so that's twenty to Gryffindor and fifteen to Slytherin. For homework, if you could be either an Animagus or a Metamorphagus, which would you choose, and why. I want decent sized answers here guys, not just a sentence or two. If you want extra credit, there was one wizard or witch who was an Animagus and a Metamorphagus and one Animagus who could transform into two animals. Find their names and some other essential details and relevant pieces of information and bring them to me. This is due Monday, guys. Class dismissed."
There was a flurry of activity accompanied by the sounds of chairs being pushed back hurriedly and students talking about the lesson.
"Well, I thought that was quite interesting," Hermione said matter-a-factly as they walked out of the classroom and down the staircase. "I learned a lot of things I hadn't known before. What did you two think?"
"We didn't really have to do anything and Gryffindor got 55 points, so I wonder how our class went, Hermione," Ron said sarcastically.
"Merely because we didn't have to do much in class doesn't mean she's necessarily a good teacher, though in Professor Kay's case, I think she is. Serena Walters has had her before at Japlin-"
"Japlin? Where the bloody hell is Japlin?" Ron asked.
"It's a small wizarding school in the United States in a state called New York. Honestly Ron, you should pay attention to the rest of the wizarding world once and awhile!" Hermione said exasperatedly.
But Harry heard none of their conversation, or rather very little, only a few occasional, random words. He was already thinking about the homework assignment. There'd been plenty of times when he wouldn't have minded being a Metamorphagus so people wouldn't see the "famous Harry Potter and his scar" all the time, but he was drawn towards being an Animagus. His father and Siruis had both been Animagus, illegal Animagus, but Animagus all the same. His father had been able to turn into a stag and Sirius a big, black dog. That was actually something to consider, becoming an Animagus. The three of them could probably figure it out seeing how they had Hermione on their side.
"Harry? Hey Harry, you still with us, mate?"
Harry jumped in a inch or two in the air as Ron's voice pierce into his thoughts. "Yeah, yeah, sorry, spaced out for a minute." He paused for a moment, contemplating on whether to continue or not. "Hey guys, Professor Kay gave me an idea there, back in class."
"Well?" Hermione prompted him.
Harry glanced around and then said a quieter voice, "What do you think about becoming Animagus?"