A/N: Sorry for the delay in the update! I have been going to school and taking 16 credits while working around 30 hrs/week. So I have not had a lot of time. Thank you to all of my reviewers!
The Day After
Harry managed to sleep all through the night to the next morning. When he awoke he wondered what he was doing sleeping in his clothes, then all of the memories from the day before came back to him. "Oh no, what is he going to think of me now?" he asked himself. He decided to get up and take a shower then head down to breakfast. When he went down to breakfast he saw that Professor Snape was already there.
"Good morning Professor Snape" Harry said timidly.
Snape gave him a smile and said, "Good morning Harry. Please while we are alone, please call me Severus. I feel that we are closer than a student and teacher."
Harry gave him a smile in return. As he sat eating his breakfast he realized that he was feeling better after having talked to Pro-Severus about his memories. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad relationship. Snape noticed that Harry seemed to be in a better mood and was eating more than he had any other morning. This prompted his morning conversation with Harry.
"So, how are you feeling this morning Harry?"
Harry looked up from his meal with a smile. "Honestly, I feel much better after talking about last night. I don't know why, but I feel more comfortable around you than I ever have before."
"Well, I am certainly glad to hear that. My door is always open if you need to talk, that also applies once we return to school."
Harry looked shocked at this statement, "But sir, your Slytherins, surely they will report you to their parents."
"Yes, I am sure they will. But it will do no good, I am no longer considered a follower, I am now branded as a traitor. Hmm, I might have to take a leaf out of Moody's book and start drinking from a flask." After he said this he did something very out of character, he winked at Harry. Harry's mouth dropped open in shock.
"Pro-Severerus, I think you just made a joke!" He exclaimed. This prompted Snape to laugh. Harry just shook his head in astonishment. "This must just be a weird dream" he muttered. This prompted Snape to laugh even more.
Unkown to them a visitor had entered and was watching the exchange in a mixture of amazement and amusement. He decided to make his prescence known. "Good morning Harry, Severus." The Headmaster said with an extra twinkle in his eye. "It seems that the two of you are getting along well."
"yes sir, I would say that we are. Especially since we have not killed each other." Severus said not trying to mask his sarcasm. This caused Albus to smile and Harry to snort in amusement.
Dumbledore came and sat down at the table. "Harry, you more than most know there is a war coming, and we need you. This is why I want you to be taught something new."
Harry just look at the Headmaster wondering what he was trying to tell him. After sitting for sometime without anyone saying anything Harry decided to breach the silence. "What am I going to be taught? Swords, knives, wandless magic?"
"All very good suggestions and you will learn those in due time, for now I want Severus to teach you how to become an animagus." Dumbledore smiled at his announcement.
Harry just look gobsmacked. "I get to become an animagus?" He was shocked beyond all belief. Every since he found out about anamagi he had wanted to learn how to become one, but he never knew if he really could.
"Yes, Severus here is an animagus himself. Come now Severus, will you show us your animal?" Albus asked in a tone that was closer to commanding, but Severus sighed and shifted into...
..."How fitting, You're a falcon." Harry said in amazement.
"Yes, he is a rather beautiful falcon, isn't he?" The Headmaster asked. "Now Harry, would you like to find your form? The animal chooses you afterall."
"YES! What do I have to do?" asked Harry.
"You stand there, I will cast the spell on you and then you will go into a trance and the animal will come to you. You will wake up on your own when you have found your animal. If you do not go into a trance, than you do not have an animagus form." With that said the Headmaster leveled his wand at Harry and chanted the spell.
Within seconds of the spell hitting Harry, he was in a trance. The two adults started to chat quietly while Harry was finding his animal.
The moment the spell hit Harry knew he was going into a trance. Everything else in his vision faded away. It was like he was sitting in nothingness. There was black all around him, it felt like he was sitting on a floor, but he could see nothing. All of a sudden a bright light flared and he could see animals start to go past him. A few stopped to sniff him and eventually a wolf sat down next to him. It was a beautiful wolf with shinny black fur and emerald eyes. Faintly you could see a brown lightning bolt on its head. "I'm going to be a wolf." He thought, "I guess I can wake up now." But he didn't wake up. Animals continued to file past him and a few more sat down, the last animal to come up to him was a magnificent phoenix. This was different than all the other animals, while they were black this phoenix was white. He was such a bright white it was almost blinding just to look at and on its head was a gold lightning bolt. The eyes stood out while one was emerald green the other was as dark as onyx. With one last look at the phoenix Harry blinked and realized that he had awoken from his trance.
"Well Harry, did you meet your animal?" Severus asked.
"Yeah, I met them. But is it common to have more than one animagus form?" Harry asked. As soon as he asked he got his answer because both Severus and Dumbledore had their mouth hanging open in shock.
"Harry, no one has ever had more than one animagus form, just like no one has had a magical creature for their form." Dumbledore stated calmly.
"Oh, well, I guess that makes me twice as special huh?" Harry was trying very hard to stay calm. But he really hated to be different from other people. He finally just sighed and shook his head, "Am I ever going to be normal?"
"Sorry Harry, but I doubt you will ever be what you term normal." Albus said with a smile. "Now can you tell us about your forms?"
So Harry proceeded to tell them that he was a Wolf, a black panther, a hawk, a cobra and a phoenix. When he got to the phoenix the headmaster stopped him right after he said that he was white. "Are you sure that you were white Harry?" Dumbledore asked, starting to get excited.
"It was kind of hard to miss, I was almost blinded by how white it was, and it had a gold lightning bolt on its forhead." Harry couldn't believe that the headmaster would ask such a question.
"I am sorry for the seemingly stupid question Harry, I only ask because there was a prophecy made about Merlin's heir long ago. It stated that the heir would fly upon white phoenix wings and bring peace to the darkened land. Many people have tried to claim to being Merlin's heir as there is a lot of money that would be inherited with it, but no one from the true line has come forward. Severus, can you brew a potion that would tell us Harry's lineage?" Dumbledore was getting himself worked up. If Harry was Merlin's heir than there was no way they would not win this war against Voldemort.
"I will get right on it, it should be ready by dinner." With that Severus stood up and walked to his private potions lab to begin the brewing.
Dumbledore headed back to the school to finish up some paperwork with the promise that he would be back for dinner. Harry wandered around aimlessly thinking about all that had occured to him. In the span of two weeks he had been beaten, rescued by his least favorite professor, had a breakdown, found that he had 5 different animagus forms and found out that he might be Merlin's heir. He honestly didn't know if he could handle anymore. Finally he laid down to take a nap. His head was hurting from thinking too hard.
That night everyone ate dinner silently. They were all wrapped up in their own thoughts. When the last remnants of dinner was taken away Severus sighed and took out the potion. "The potion is done, it just needs three drops of your blood Harry." He handed Harry a small knife. Without hesitation Harry cut the tip of his finger and watched as three drops fell into the potion turning it an emerald green to match his eyes.
They poured the potion onto two pieces of paper one with Potter written at the top and the other with Evans written at the top. "Sir, why are we following my mom's line? We know that she was muggle born."
"It never hurts to check Harry." With that they all took a look at the lines forming on the parchment with Potter written at the top. When all of the writing was finished they saw that Harry was related to many people through distant relations. Among them were the Blacks, Snapes, Delacours, and Weasleys. He was very thankful not to be related to Malfoy in anyway. At the top the founder of the Potter line was none other than Godric Gryffindor.
"Well sir, I didn't know that I came from Gryffindor's line, but it looks like I do not have Merlin's blood in me afterall." Harry was secretly relieved that he would not be any more different.
"Do not jump to conclusions yet Harry, we still have your mother's line to look at." Harry just shrugged and grabbed the parchment from where it was sitting. He followed it back and there on the top was Merlin himself. Harry almost fainted. When the two adults noticed that Harry paled at the sight of the top line they took the parchment and looked for themselves. They could hardly believe that Harry was heir to both Gryffindor and Merlin.
"Harry, I think it would be a good idea if you took a dreamless sleep potion tonight. This has been a long day and I think that you could really use the sleep tonight." Harry took the offered potion without saying a thing and silently walked to his room, took the potion and fell asleep.
