Disclaimer: I own none of JK's characters and you all know who belongs to who by now...
Author's Note: Okay, I think this is the shortest chapter yet... oh well... have fun! R&R please!
Chapter eleven
Black Cat
Christmas break ended quickly and the rest of the year seemed to fly by and soon the end of the year exams were upon them.
Maken groaned as he flung himself next to Cade at the Gryffindor table. Thorn came from her own table and sat next to him, Sparkie on her shoulder, eating an apple that he could barely hold onto.
"That was murder!" he complained as he took a drink of pumpkin juice. "I don't think I did too well on that one..."
"I'm sure you did fine," Celestial reassured him, "I don't think anyone, except for Thorn," she chuckled quietly, "Did excellent on the Potions final."
Cade nodded, "Yeah, but hey, that was the last of them. I think Charms was the easiest."
Maken shook his head, "No, it was definitely Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Celestial sighed, "No, the easiest one was Transfiguration, no doubt about it."
"I'd say which one I thought was the easiest," Thorn said mildly, "Yet, seeing as you all already know the answer, I'll not say."
"Well, personally," squeaked Sparkie, not like anyone but Thorn could understand him, "I'd think that flying lessons would be."
"There wasn't even a test on that," Thorn chittered back, "And you have wings, of course you would say that." Sparkie grinned.
"So, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Cade asked. "Since classes are over for the year?"
Maken took a bite of a ham sandwich and looked up in thought, then he said, "Why don't we continue with Animagi?"
The group of them had been practicing the skill all year and now they were on the final chapter of the book.
"I bet we could succeed in changing this time," Celestial commented, "Last time I felt so close!"
"Well then," Thorn said as she stood up, Sparkie climbing from her plate to her shoulder, "Tomorrow we'll try. I'm going to go to Severus's office. I'll see you later."
"Yeah," Celestial stood as well, "I should go see Uncle Albus."
The two girls walked out of the hall together and parted ways as Thorn headed to the dungeon and Celestial went up to the second floor.
When Thorn walked into the room, the potions master was sitting at his desk, his face in his hands. Thorn sighed. He's been thinking again. She thought to Sparkie, who sighed as well.
When Severus thought about his sister, what happened to her, and Thorn, he always hid his face. Sometimes it seemed like it was all too much for him to bear.
She walked over to her uncle and put her hand on his shoulder. "Severus?" Sparkie leapt from her shoulder to his and mewed in concern.
He looked up to her, a sad smile over his face, and said, "I'm fine, don't worry."
Thorn raised her eyebrows, a look she had learned from Severus. His general meaning of, 'yeah right.' She sat across from him and said, "I do worry, Severus."
He smiled back as strongly as he could and lightly rubbed Sparkie, who hummed in contentment, much like a cat would purr. "You've no need to. I'll be fine, I've just been thinking too much."
"Again," Thorn added in.
"Again," Severus agreed with a sad chuckle. Then, just as Thorn opened her mouth to speak, he held up his hand to silence her, and said, "Don't you apologize, like you were about to do. You always apologize when I think like this, but you have no need to."
"Severus," Thorn persisted, "I did-"
"I don't want to hear it, Thorn," Severus cut her off. He sighed and continued. "I'm the sorry one, Thorn."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Thorn assured him.
Severus sighed and nodded. "Alright. Have it your way. You were always stubborn," he joked, "Like your mother."
Thorn showed a small smile, then, changing the subject, she said, "We're on the brink of becoming Animagus, tomorrow we should succeed."
"Are you really?" Severus stated as he began shuffling through a stack of documents, "Congratulations, a feat not many would expect from first year students."
"No," Thorn agreed, "Yet it's a feat we will accomplish."
Severus smirked, then gathered the papers of the documents together. "I have to go see Professor Dumbledore. I've come up with my protection means."
Thorn nodded. "Alright." She watched him leave the room and followed after. She didn't ask what his protection means were. In fact, she already knew, but she wasn't allowed to tell anyone.
"Where are they?" Thorn asked Sparkie the next morning as she stood outside of the forest, not wearing her robes, for even without the sun it was warm enough.
Maken, Cade, and Celestial were late by half an hour. Thorn was waiting, but not at all annoyed. She figured that they had probably had trouble getting Maken out of bed.
Yet her wait wasn't a long one, five minutes later the three Gryffindors appeared. None of them was in their school robes. Celestial was wearing a maroon skirt and a black top, Cade a black tank top and black shorts. Maken, unsurprisingly, was in his pajamas.
"You ready?" She asked them as she began to go into the forest.
"Yeah," Cade said as he followed her into the trees, Maken and Celestial behind him.
When they entered their clearing they began right away, all of them impatient on finally becoming an animal. They each went to their own side of the clearing, for safety purposes. If the transformation went wrong the effects could be disastrous.
The final step was to focus your energy on changing. Putting all of your effort into becoming what animal you thought fit you best.
Thorn took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She clenched her hands and pushed all of her mind wise power through. Then she felt something extraordinarily. She felt tiny prickles as her clothes morphed into her skin to form her fur. She felt her ears prick up as they grew, and felt her body adjust to the tail forming at her tail bone. Her nails grew longer, and thicker, and her teeth grew into mighty tigers fangs.
Then it was over. She had succeeded. She blinked and looked down at her hands. They were no longer hands. They were large paws. She was a large tiger, black in coloration, grey stripes slashing her body. She noticed one more thing to make her markings. On her left for leg there was a patch of reddish silver right where the dark mark was.
Sparkie, she called out with her mind. He had flown off to take cover, just in case. Her voice had not changed mind wise, but she knew that her voice outside it would be a tiger's roar.
You live! Sparkie replied in a melodramatic voice, It's a miracle!
Haha... Thorn then looked around for the others. "Maken!" She called, or rather, roared. At his end of the field she saw a white form, which was small in proportion to her, yet tigers were large cats.
She walked over to him, the black pads on her paws absorbing the strain with surprising ease. She felt Sparkie land on her back and continued on.
When she approached him and saw what form he had taken, she was not the bit surprised. "Maken?" she growled lowly, wondering if he could understand her.
He leapt and turned to her, his white ears forward, his grey eyes showing shock at what lay ahead of him. Thorn noticed that a black heart surrounded his left eye. Then he tilted his head to the side curiously and said, "Thorn?"
She could make out his words, but he seemed to be talking in a hard accent. "Yes," she nodded her large, feline head, then she said, "I should've known."
Maken grinned a canine grin, "Yeah, I've always been fond of wolves." He looked over her once again, then said, "I've never seen a black tiger before."
"Nor have I, now, to the others." They walked to where Cade was, finding two forms in the distance, one was black, and the other golden.
"That must be them," Maken said. "Cade!" he howled, "Celestial!"
The two animals looked to them and came forward, Celestial by air, Cade running below her. When they reached each other they all began laughing, save for Thorn, who merely chuckled.
"Cade! I love it!" Maken exclaimed as he circled his friend.
Cade barked a laugh, his tail curled above his back. "Well, I've always been into huskies." Cade was a dog, an Alaskan Husky, to be precise. He had a black coat, a white C around his right eye. Sparkie pointed out that on his chest, there was a heart with a missing piece.
Celestial nodded her golden, feather clad head, and said, "Yeah, all of you are wonderful animals. Not surprising to me of any of you." Celestial was the largest of them, her golden feathers turned to fur in her mid back. Her forelegs were those of an eagle and her hind were lions. Huge wings erupted from her shoulders. Around each eye a white crescent moon was etched.
"Yes, and you as a griffin surprises no one either," Thorn stated.
Celestial smiled. Everyone else seemed to be talking with a strong accent, yet they could make out what each other were saying.
They changed back to human, and then to animal again, making sure that they had the hang of it. By the end of the day they could change into their animals without effort.
"Thorn," Celestial said as they sat around a small flame as the sun set, "I couldn't help but notice, in your tiger form, you had an odd mark on your left arm."
Thorn looked to the cover, then back to Celestial and nodded, "Yes," then, she stood up, and continued before any of the others could question her about it, "Well, we should get back, Auquius!" a jet of water flowed from her wand to the fire, putting it out.
The trip back to the castle didn't take nearly as long when they could run the distance on four legs instead of two, and, in Celestial's case, fly.
Back at the castle the four of them went to their corresponding houses. When Thorn climbed into her dormitory her fellow Slytherins were asleep. She silently changed into her bed clothes. They had done it, she was thinking, they had succeeded.
