Characters © J.K. Rowling.

Plot © Sami-Lee 2004.

Draco felt like he was about to pass out. His face was burning and he felt sick to the stomach. The little, pure-white ferret blinked at him from the parchment. He couldn't believe it was happening. Well, at least it would be easy when it came time for him to transform, he already knew what it was like to be a ferret. He cringed.

Hermione reached over and placed her hand on his thigh, he placed his hand over hers. She smiled and he smiled and then they both collapsed on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. Harry and Blaise looked at each other, still not sure if they'd get their heads bitten off if they laughed as well. Harry had just gotten over his first laughing fit, and was having some trouble keeping the rest at bay. He looked about ready to explode. Blaise was trying hard not to laugh as well, but he found Harry a lot more entertaining than Draco's dilemma.

So the four of them now knew their animals. A Black Leopard, A Clouded Leopard, A Brown Fox and A White Ferret. Not really an odd bunch, but not a very ordinary one either. Hermione had already started thinking about where they were going to get the final ingredients for potions, which would help them learn to transform. The four had decided that they would all go to one of their houses for the Christmas holidays, that way, the four of them could visit the zoo and then spend the rest of the holidays learning to transform together. The only question, then, was whose house.

"Well it definitely wont be mine." Harry protested, scrunching his nose up, "Besides, they'd be happier if I never went back there." He folded his arms over his chest and let the other three decide.

"Well, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind – "

"Mine would."

"Well of course they would, Draco – "

"Shut up, Blaise."

"No. What about my place?"

"Well..."

"It's big enough. Plenty of rooms. Basically Malfoy Manner without the Malfoy's. Beside, you know my mother, she'd love Hermione, and the fact that you finally got a girlfriend, not to mention how much she likes you, Harry." He turned to look at Harry, who blushed slightly. "My mother is one of those who chooses not to believe everything she reads. So she goes by what people tell her, and, well, she's friends with a lot of people who like you, Harry, against my fathers will of course, but she was a Gryffindor." Harry blushed even more. So it was decided – they were going to Blaise's for the holidays. Harry could barely hold his excitement. Not to mention that Blaise lived in Surrey, so he would even get to stop past his Uncle's house and pick up come clean clothes for the holidays. He didn't need to write to his Aunt and Uncle to tell them he wasn't coming, because he never went home for the Christmas Holidays, but he wrote to his Uncle anyway, advising him that he would be coming past to get some clothes. He had Hedwig deliver it to the post office in London.

When the first day of the holidays finally came, Hermione bade goodbye to the girls in her dormitory and headed down to meet the boys in the entrance hall. Draco took her hand as she caught up with them and they made their way down to the coaches that would take them to the train. They had arranged for Blaise's mother to pick them up from the train station.

The train ride was almost uneventful, until Hermione and Draco decided that they both needed to go to the bathroom and disappeared for a couple of hours. When they returned Harry and Blaise watched them as they walked in and sat down, purposely making them feel uncomfortable. Eventually they got bored and went back to their conversation. Draco turned to Hermione.

"Whoever would have thought that we'd end up friends, the four of us, it's really bizarre when you thin about it." He said, basically out of nowhere. Hermione had been having similar thoughts lately, and had also been worried about Ron. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and turned her attention back to the present, they'd arrived at Kings Cross Station.

Mrs Zabini was a slim woman with long black hair. She wore a hideously bright summer dress, well, that was Draco's opinion, and carried a slightly oversized handbag with such a long strap the bag tapped at her knees as she walked. She rushed over to them as they hopped off the train and took Blaise in her arms. "Oh, dear, I'm so glad to see you. Hello Draco, how are you, darling? And these are your new friends, I see. Hermione, Harry, I'm delightfully pleased to meet you." She took each of their hands in turn. Hermione thought to herself that she was a little too friendly, but let her take her hand anyway. They all followed her back to the large dark green Cadillac waiting in the parking lot and climbed in.

"Nice wheels, Blaise." Harry joked. Blaise blushed from the front seat. They reached the Dursley's not long after. "Great, well, here we go." Harry muttered as he climbed out of the car.

"I'll just wait here, dear." Mrs Zabini said dreamily from the drivers seat and turned the engine off, Harry nodded and thanked her.

"Wait, Harry, do you want me to come up?" Blaise's questioned surprised Harry. He stopped and turned to look back at Blaise who's stepped out of the car. Harry slowly started to nod.

"Sure, thanks Blaise." Blaise nodded in turn and followed Harry up to his uncle's door. "But let me warn you, my Uncle is the worst kind of muggle." Harry smirked and rang the doorbell. An annoyingly loud tune rang out through the house and Harry heard his Aunt bustling down the hallway to open the door. When she did, she frowned upon seeing Harry.

"Oh, it's you. Well, hurry up and get your things then." Harry nodded and stepped inside, Blaise followed.

"By the way, Aunt Petunia, this is Blaise Zabini, Blaise, my Aunt Petunia." Petunia scrunched her nose up at Blaise's name and smiled extremely fakely. Blaise smiled genuinely and followed Harry up the stairs. They were greeted at the top by Dudley. Harry sighed.

"Move Dudley." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Who's your friend?" Dudley teased. "He your boyfriend?" Harry had certainly had enough from Dudley. He glared at him, his hand gripping his wand.

"Yes, you got a problem? Now MOVE." Harry yelled. Dudley stared at him in horror, then looked at Blaise. Blaise had his mouth open, the same way he had when Draco's animal had revealed itself. He recovered quickly, then smiled at Dudley and shrugged, following Harry into his room. Harry shut the door behind him.

"Harry – "

"Don't say it. He's been like that since we were little kids." Harry interrupted, not wanting to have the discussion with Blaise in his bedroom at the Dursley's. Blaise frowned.

"No, I think I'll say it anyway," Blaise said, looking around Harry's room as he walked over and sat on the bed. "You said I was your boyfriend. That's not something people just say to make their cousins get out of the way." Blaise was smiling, and he noticed that Harry had turned bright red when he turned around. Harry opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Blaise had jumped up off the bed, crossed the room in three steps, grabbed Harry and kissed him.

Blaise's house was huge. There were enough bedrooms for them all to have their own, but Mrs Zabini insisted that Draco and Hermione share – "If you have separate rooms, you will just sneak into each others rooms all holidays anyway, so you might as well share and save the hassle." Draco and Hermione laughed as they took their bags into their room. Harry's room was down the hall from Draco and Hermione's and next to Blaise's.

By the time they'd settled in their rooms, which were lovely, Hermione had commented to Mrs Zabini, it was dinnertime, and the four of them made their way down to the dining room chatting excitedly. The dining room was enormous, at least a quarter of the size of the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione gaped at it in awe. In the far corner was a large, elaborately decorated Christmas tree, with presents littering the floor beneath it, the lights winding around it flashing elegantly. They sat down at the huge table.

"Mum, is Dad coming to dinner?" Blaise's tone sounded as though he already knew the answer.

"He's away on business." Was the only answer she gave him. He rolled his eyes and started eating, the others followed in suit.

The next day, the four of them woke early and got ready to go to the zoo. Hermione couldn't help but swoon over Draco in his navy blue short-sleeve button up shirt and jeans. She took a hold on his arm and didn't let go the whole way to the train station, Harry and Blaise found it quite funny. They were going to catch the train because Mrs Zabini had an important meeting and didn't have time to drive them; Blaise later explained that her important meeting was with her manicurist.

Draco had never been on a muggle train before. He'd been to Blaise's house plenty of times in the holidays, but he'd never had to catch muggle transport before. Hermione held his hand, promising him it would be ok and all the horrible muggles wouldn't bite. They bought their tickets and went to wait on the platform. Draco spent the whole time muttering about all the muggles - their ugly clothes, their obliviousness to everything. Harry, Hermione and, funnily enough, Blaise fit right in.

"Blaise, you really don't seem like someone who should be in Slytherin, you know?" Hermione said, letting go of Draco's hand to link her arm around his waist. Blaise nodded.

"I know, but, when I sat on that stool, the hat was telling me I would do very well in Gryffindor, I said I wanted to be in Slytherin with Draco, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The hat argued back, telling me that with loyalty like that I should definitely be in Gryffindor – But I wanted to be with Draco, so I'm a Slytherin, simple as that." He shrugged. Harry stared at him, his mouth open. "What?" Blaise asked, looking at Harry warily.

"You're kidding, right?" Blaise narrowed his eyes and shook his head, having no idea what Harry was on about. "I mean, the same thing happened to me, only, it was the other way around. The hat kept telling me I'd be perfect in Slytherin, that I had all the talents I needed and the passion to succeed, but I begged the hat to put me anywhere but Slytherin, only because I'd heard such bad things about it, so the hat put me in Gryffindor." It was Blaise's turn to stare wide-eyed. Then the two boys grinned.

Hermione noticed the grin shared by the two boys more than Draco did. She knew it meant more than what it seemed. She resolved to ask Harry about it later on at the zoo. In the meantime, as the train pulled up and the four of the climbed on board, she let her hand slide back down into Draco's, he squeezed it lightly and she smiled to herself. The train took 40 minutes to reach the London Zoo, where the four hopped off.

They had decided to make a day of it, instead of just visiting the four animals they needed. So they headed off to follow the trail that led around the zoo. They started with the nocturnal creatures. As they entered the dark, Draco felt Hermione's grip on his hand tighten considerably, he squeezed her hand again for reassurance, then let her hand go and put his arm around her, pulling her close to him, she put her own arms around his waist and snuggled closer to him, their steps in compete unison.

Harry and Blaise had wandered ahead and little, and, upon noticing that Hermione and Draco were getting mighty comfortable behind them Blaise spend up a little, urging Harry to keep up.

"What's up? Why are we going so fast? We'll lose them." He questioned Blaise, who smiled in the dark; it was just light enough for Harry to see it.

"We'll wait for them outside the nocturnal enclosure. Harry, I needed to talk to you about yesterday morning." Harry stopped walking, Blaise stopped as well. Looking back, he couldn't see Hermione and Draco anywhere.

Hermione had taken a hold of Draco's hand and stopped walking. Draco stopped when he felt her tugging his hand and turned to face her. She looked beautiful. He told her so and she giggled, then she reached up and took a hold of his collar, pulling him into a romantic, passionate kiss. He let his arms embrace her and pull her body closer to his. She stopped kissing him and looked up into his eyes, he smiled at her. She then pushed him up against the wall, he stopped smiling for a moment, shocked by her sudden action, then started smiling again as he pulled her up close to him and started kissing her once more.

Harry had also found him self dragged into a corner. Blaise stared at him for a moment before talking. "Were you serious?"

Harry looked at him quizzically for a moment, then he nodded. Before he knew what was happening, Blaise was kissing him once more.

Draco stopped kissing Hermione and kissing her forehead, stepped away from the wall, she smiled. "Sorry," He said apologetically, "But you can't go getting me too excited in public, or we'll both be in trouble." He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and hugged her close to him. "And we don't want to leave Harry and Blaise waiting. She giggled harder and they continued around the corner. "Then again, maybe we should head off on our own, seeing as Harry and Blaise seem terribly busy." He smirked. Hermione was looking at him, confused, before she followed his line of sight and noticed Blaise and Harry, she let out and excited squeal.

Harry and Blaise stopped kissing and looked up, both boys flushing furiously red. "About bloody time, mate." Draco exclaimed, slapping Blaise on the back. "And not a bloody bad catch, if I may say so myself." Draco winked at Harry who blushed even more, if it was at all possible. Blaise beamed stupidly, and then he and Harry laughed.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around Harry's neck and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I knew you could do it. Congratulations." She said, smiling. Harry thanked her.

"In the mean time, what have you two been up to?" Blaise asked, elbowing Draco in the arm.

"Same, same." Draco said, smiling lopsidedly.

After they'd left the nocturnal enclosure, the cool, crisp winter air had helped Harry loose his blush and helped Draco, well, calm down a little, and the four of them decided to get something to eat, even though it was early. As they sat there eating their hot chips, which were smothered in way too much tomato sauce, Harry decided to voice something he knew at least Blaise was thinking as well.

"You know, I hope the transformation is easy, because I don't really fancy eating raw meat for the next few weeks." Blaise laughed and agreed wholeheartedly, Hermione and Draco also agreed.

"I can't believe of all the animals – "

"Draco, maybe it was a sign when Crouch turned you into a ferret, maybe he just used a spell which changes a person in the animal that they're linked with."

"You just need a logical answer for everything, don't you, 'Mione?" He winked and then hugged her. She ley her head on his chest and put on of her legs over the bench so that she was straddling it, leaning back against him. "Well, lets get what we came here for, the sooner we get back, the sooner we can learn the transformations and hopefully be animagi by the time we return to school."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. Then she got up and headed over toward a big sign. Draco followed her over, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the back of her neck.

"This is gonna be really hard." Blaise said to no one in particular.

"What is?" Harry asked, turning away from the couple to look at him.

"This," He pointed to Harry then himself, "Us. It's gonna be hard, we can't be like that in public, so open and carefree and – "

"Why not?" Harry asked, raising one eyebrow. "The only person stopping you is yourself." Blaise nodded, he agreed, but they both knew it still wouldn't be easy.

Hermione had located the whereabouts of all four animals, and they headed first to the big cats enclosures. "Ok, so how exactly are we going to do this? Just walk up and rip their fur out?" Harry asked Hermione as they approached the leopards.

"We talk to them." Draco said before Hermione could answer.

"What?" She asked, walking up to where Draco was standing next to the clouded leopard's cage.

"We just tell them what we want, they're animals, they're much more intelligent than we take them for, you know. If we just ask, they'll understand." He seemed dead set in simply talking to the cats. Hermione thought it over for a moment. But Draco didn't wait for her to finish; he walked over and called the leopard down. She hopped down off her rock and walked slowly over to the edge of her cage, letting him stroke her spotted fur.

"Hello Beautiful," She purred loudly, "I have a favour to ask, Blaise over here is learning to become an animagi, and he's a clouded leopard, just like you, lucky boy, isn't he? We need something distinctly related to you for his potion, can you help us?" She purred loudly again and stood up, rubbing her back along the wire fence, she stopped and turned, facing Draco and nosing the fence where some of her fur had rubbed off. Draco turned around and smirked at Hermione, who without expression, walked over to join Draco by the cage. She removed a mall plastic zip bag from her own bag and took the fur, placing it inside and zipping the bag shut. She then placed it back into her bag.

Draco patted her again and thanked her, before they headed over to find the Black Leopard. Draco found it a little harder to get the Black Leopards attention, as he was busy basking in the warm afternoon sun. Hermione commented that if all leopards were this stubborn, then it really was the perfect choice for Harry. Harry crossed his arms and claimed that he wasn't that stubborn, he then refused to talk to Hermione.

Draco, after final coaxing the leopard down, managed to get him to let him scratch him behind the ear, when Draco removed his hand he sprinkled the hairs from the giant cat into the bag Hermione held out for him. Blaise stroked the giant cat as they turned to leave, thinking of how magnificent Harry would look once he'd learnt to transform.

The fox wasn't as eager to help as the cats were, he decided it was a game and every time he got close enough for Draco to touch him, he'd run away again at lighting speed, his snout curled up in what almost looked like laughter. Draco only got the furs by chance, when he'd grabbed for the fox and managed to get it's tail, the fox got away, but Draco got the fur he needed, he gave it to Hermione who slipped it into her bag.

Finally they came to the small rodent enclosure. Draco shivered as they walked in. "You want me to do this one, Dray?" Blaise asked, placing his hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco reached down and took Hermione's hand, nodding to Blaise. Blaise walked over to the ferret cage. "Hey there little guys. You wanna help out a friend?" The little ferrets turned around and looked at Blaise quizzically, then hey skipped over to the front of the cage and sniffed his fingers inquisitively. He patted each one of them on the head and explain Draco's situation. One of the little white ferrets turned around and stuck his tail out of the cage so that Blaise could pull out the needed fur, he handed it to Draco who then went over to the cage and bent over so that he could look in.

The ferrets were quite happily running around, playing with each other and the toys they'd been given, they were very quick and agile. Draco smiled; maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be a ferret after all.

They saw the chimps and orang-utans, the lions and the tigers, the elephants, the seals and the snakes before they left. Harry had a little chat with his friend the python who'd he'd accidentally freed the holidays before he found out he was a wizard. Unfortunately they'd caught her and put her back in her cage, Harry explained to her that he wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school or else he'd free her again. She didn't mind, she said, she was getting used to the cage. Harry smiled before he followed the others back to the train station.

Back at Blaise's, the four of them went down to Blaise's room and took their potions down from the shelf where Hermione had stored them because it was cool. They each took their allocated potion and added the fur.

"Ok then, this is it." Draco said, holding up his beaker. "Cheers."

The other three held up their own beakers and clinked them against each other. "Cheers!"

They drank the potion and, one after the other, looked as though they were going to be sick. They dropped the beakers and ran to the bathroom. Luckily, they didn't throw up, and the nausea passed quite quickly.

"Do you guys feel ok?" Hermione asked and the three boys nodded. They then turned the book to the page of the Black Leopard. Hermione read the description aloud, and Harry closed his eyes under Hermione's instruction, visualising himself roaming through the jungle, prowling, marauding. He imagined himself with large, strong paws padding soundlessly through the foliage, his strong tail whipping the leaves behind him as he walked. Her heard his name being called...

Harry opened his eyes when he heard Hermione calling his name. "Harry. My God. You did it."

Ok, so there's another chapter. This is actually gathering some plot. Hmm. Anyway, I've noticed I'm kind of slanting toward the whole Harry and Blaise relationship, I'm sorry, I just prefer writing Harry, I guess. But there should be another good scene with Herm and Dray in the next chapter, so come back soon! Oh, and a review would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Sami.

Miaow.