Harry Potter and the Powers of Old
Chapter 5: Transformations
"Harry dear, are you feeling well? You're not eating," Mrs Weasly said with a look of concern on her face. Harry quickly lifted his hand from under the table where he was holding Hermione's. "Yeah I'm eh...fine thanks," he said, turning crimson. Lifting the fork to his mouth, he chanced a glance over at Hermione; she was doing a terrible job of trying to conceal a smirk. Harry pretended to be offended and made a point of not looking at her for the rest of the meal.
After everybody had been excused, Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way up to the library where Hermione was supposedly going to be helping Ron complete his summer homework.
They chose a small section in the far corner of the library to sit. Ron sat sprawled across the floor with Hermione sitting cross legged opposite him, while Harry choose a soft armchair close by, sitting with Grif (Harry's name for the griffin) curled up on his chest.
"No no no Ron! You're doing this all wrong. Look...." Harry ignored the two bickering on the floor in front of him and turned his attention to Grif, stroking his fur gently. Harry was amused at the purr-like sound that Grif was making, so he continued stroking until he heard a familiar voice in his head.
'What is bothering you friend? I sense there is a lot on your mind,'the voice belonging to Grif spoke so only Harry could hear. 'Not really,' Harry thought back. 'It's just, so much has changed in my life, and I don't know what to feel. I' happy now that I'm with Hermione but I'm still upset about Sirius,' Harry said, letting out a sigh.
A few moments passed before Grif spoke again. 'It seems we have the same dilemma Harry. I have lost both of my parents and for that I feel great sorrow, however, I am lucky that I am not alone. I have you and your friends, and I know that you will help me to deal with my loss,' the griffin said thoughtfully. 'I am sure that over time Hermione will help you to deal with your feelings towards Sirius, as will I. So, for now, I would advise you not to dwell on the past, but to look toward the future,' he finished.
'That,' Harry said, 'is some of the best advice I have ever heard.' For the next half hour, Grif told Harry about his species, and about what Harry could expect to benefit from their newly formed connection.
'So you mean if you're near me, you can block intruders from my mind?' Harry asked excitedly, thinking about his occulmency lessons last year. 'Yes Harry. It makes sense; I am a part of your mind now as you are of mine. If you concentrated hard enough you would be able to feel my presence there.'
It was 9 o'clock before Ron threw down his quill in frustration. "There is NO way I'm going to do anymore work tonight Hermione!" Ron said, massaging his hand.
"My brain is tired and I have writers cramp, plus I'm not even going to take half of these subjects for N.E.W.T.'s, so there's no point!"
Packing up, Ron stepped over Hermione, then went over and threw himself down on a squashy armchair on Harry's right. "What do you lot want to do?" Hermione asked seeing the two bored faces. "I was going to study about Animagi to gain a head start for Transfiguration..."
"Are you serious...?" Ron asked in disbelief. "Do you know how advanced that is?"
"Of course Ron! That's half the reason I came over here this summer!" Hermione answered looking up at Harry. "There are hundreds of books here that I could probably never find at Hogwarts," she finished.
"Do you mean that we could all become Animagis?" Harry asked Hermione, joining in the conversation for the first time. "No Harry, we could all become Animagi," she corrected him. "But only if we have the capability, and not all wizards and witches have it."
"Oh...okay. What exactly do we have to do?" Harry asked, getting interested in the idea. "How long will it take to finish?" Ron asked before giving Hermione a chance to answer Harry's question. "Well..." Hermione said, looking through a shelf for a specific book. "I've read up about it and the first step usually is choosing an animal that you would like to be able to turn into."
Pulling out a book and smiling, she made her way over and sat on the chair to Harry's left pulling it a bit closer to Harry. "I have already chosen a cat as my animal, and if you two are going to try then I suggest you think very carefully about..."
"I'm going to be a Griffin," Harry exclaimed, cutting off Hermione. 'I'm flattered!' Grif said jokingly in Harry's head. Harry smiled and continued stroking Grif in response.
"Cool!" Ron said. "I want something with teeth...maybe a lion... No! A tiger! That's it!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione looked shocked. "You two are sure about this? There's no turning back you know." They both nodded. "Okay then," Hermione said turning to Harry. "You know that becoming a magical creature is extremely rare...there has been no record of any witch or wizard who have successfully completed the transformation in over 300 years!"
"That long huh..." Harry said with a smirk. "Well looks like I'll be the first in a while then! Let's start!" Hermione frowned before opening the book and scanning the index. "Okay..." she said turning to a page and skimming through it quickly.
"It says that once we've chosen our animal, we must picture our animal in our minds, and we must know every detail of our animal... Concentration is the key here. If this doesn't work then there's a potion that we can make, but it takes months to brew...I expect that's what your father did, Harry."
"How long will it take this way?" Harry asked impatiently. "The shortest time recorded was two days, but that was a long time ago," Hermione answered. "Alright," Ron said speaking up, "let's get a move on then. What did you say? Just imagine out animal?" "Yes Ron, if you can try to imagine yourself changing into your animal...imagine how it would feel."
10 minutes passed without anybody saying anything. Harry had his eyes shut and was concentrating hard on the image of a Griffin. Grif was helping Harry define the Griffin's details until they were near perfect.
'Very good!' Grif praised Harry. 'It's very lifelike! Now, imagine yourself turning into this Griffin, Harry.'
Another 15 minutes passed before a shriek from Hermione broke the others' concentration. "I think I did it!" she exclaimed. "But you two...you were changing. Harry was almost fully transformed, and Ron...your skin; it had black and white stripes!"
"Great!" Harry said happily. "And it only took us a little while." He thought for a short moment before turning to Ron. "White tiger, mate?" he asked.
"Yeah," Ron answered enthusiastically. "Wanted to stand out." Hermione smiled before standing up and signaling for the others to do the same.
"Quick!" she said. "Let's not leave it too long. We have to transform fully then back into ourselves, and then cast one spell to bind the animal to us. Just imagine yourself turning into your animal," she added, noticing the blank looks she was receiving. "We'll do the spell together afterwards."
They held their heads down and concentrated hard. After a few minutes, Harry opened his eyes. The library looked different; it looked bigger and brighter. Harry felt much stronger than usual and his eyesight was very near perfect. His hearing had improved beyond that of any human. He could hear Mrs. Weasly talking on the ground floor. He could hear the steady breathing of all of his friends. More intense than the hearing however, was a new sense that Harry hadn't experienced before. He was picking up different feelings; he could sense anticipation coming from Ron and eagerness from Hermione. It was Grif's voice in his head that snapped him out of his thinking. 'Harry...you've done it, as have your friends.' He waited for the words to sink in. 'I don't think any of you fully realize yet, you may want to alert them.'
It was at this time that Harry fully realized what had happened; he had fully transformed into a griffin. Looking down near his feet. There was Grif, a miniature version of himself. 'It's times like these when I realize how young you are' Harry thought-spoke as Grif was trying his best to stay on his feet. Turning around, Harry was surprised to see, standing up with their eyes closed, were a white tiger and a large ginger cat.
Harry growled to get their attention and laughed to himself at their reaction. They both jumped upon seeing Harry fully transformed, then they jumped again realizing that they were too.
Ron was particularly fond of the tuft of red hair on the end of his tail and spent a few minutes trying to catch it. Hermione took this as an excuse to rub herself against Harry, which He was enjoying immensely. They spent another ten minutes like this before Hermione changed back.
Coughing hard after she transformed, she spoke two Harry and Ron. "Time to change back," she said. "The final spell must be performed now." Harry could have sworn he heard Ron's feline form groan before he too changed back.
"Okay," Hermione said taking out her wand and pointing it at herself, indicating that Harry and Ron do the same. "Think hard about what it was like being your animal, and say the spell like this: Animans Adnexus!" Hermione said loudly.
A white light erupted from her wand, engulfing her for what seemed like forever. Once it faded, Harry gave her a concerned look but she waved him off with her hand. "What are you waiting for? Hurry!"
Ron looked at Harry and shrugged. They both performed the spell with the same results as Hermione. "Wow!" Ron said, impressed at his own spell casting. "Now that is what I call tiring! Harry, I'm going to bed. 'Night."
With that, Ron left the library, shuffling his feet along the way. Harry looked to the floor where Grif was already curled up, fast asleep. Hermione seemed to be following the same train of thought as Harry because, in a matter of seconds, she was at his side resting her head on his arm.
"You know Harry...that really was tiring," she said in a quiet voice. "I know Hermione, do you want to get some sleep?" Harry asked. She looked up into his eyes for a moment before she spoke. "I do want to seep yes but...I don't want to leave you yet."
"Well..." Harry started but was cut off by a yawning Hermione. "I'm sorry Harry," she said, giving him a lingering kiss. "But I don't think I can stay awake any longer."
Harry nodded in agreement, picking up Grif as he did so. The young couple made their way out of the library and up to their rooms. "Well...I'll see you in the morning, I guess," Harry said, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah Harry, you will," Hermione said. Harry leaned in to give her a kiss. He tilted his head a little to the left as his lips met hers. Harry was surprised when he felt Hermione's mouth open slightly, allowing her tongue to venture into Harry's.
The kiss lasted a few minutes before Hermione broke it. "Goodnight Harry," she said with a shy smile on her face. Harry watched as she walked into the room that she and Ginny shared, and he had a strong desire to follow her, but decided against it. Turning, he made his way along to the room he shared with Ron, who was already asleep. As Harry fell on to his bed, he quickly fell asleep as well.