Chapter seven

The Great Black Family Secret

The mail came as usual, Harry got his Daily Prophet but did not open it, he decided to wait until after he was done eating. Colleen got her copy of the paper, and opened it right away. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped as she read the first page. "What?" Harry asked opened his own and he too was shocked by what he saw.

Karkaroff killed, the Dark Lord at large once more.

Igor Karkaroff was found last night, dead, in his office at Durmstrang Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is expected to be work of the Avada Kedavra curse, as there was not a drop of blood at the gruesome scene. This is suspected to be done by He-who-must-not-be-named (the Dark Lord) or one of his many followers. Those at the Ministry of Magic expect this was bound to happen eventually, for turning away from the Dark Lord some fifteen years ago. This is just the first Killing, we all know what the Dark Lord is capable of. Keep on high alert, he has no mercy, none at all.

"I don't believe it, I really can't believe it" he said after he finished. He looked at Colleen, she looked like she was going to cry, her eyes were wet around the sides. "Voldemort doesn't want to hurt you so what's wrong" he said looking at her in a strange way. "He doesn't know what the Prophecy says, he only knows that I'm in it, that's why he tried to kill me when I was I baby. And that's not why I'm sad" she said quickly.

"Then why are you sad?" he asked lowering his brow. "My uncle, my uncle is a former Death Eater" she said sadly. "So?" Harry asked. "It means my uncle is a target, like Karkaroff was" she said simply. "He'll be fine" Harry said quickly. "And not to mention I'm absolutely terrified of Voldemort" she said her voice raising.

"You faced him when you were a baby and you lived, that's more than most of us can say" said Ron butting in. She nodded and smiled "I'm gonna go and fly around the Castle" she said getting up out of her seat sniffling slightly.

Harry started to move out his seat but Hermione stopped him, "No Harry don't, she needs to cope with the fact that she is going to have to face Voldemort, she dealing with a worse fate than you are if you lose" Hermione said in a very understanding way.

"I'm going to sit by the lake, and I want to be alone" he said walking out of the great hall. He found a spot by the water and sat down, he picked up a stone and made it skim across the water. He sat there in silence, thinking about Voldemort. This is the first time he had really had a chance to think about the prophecy since Sirius died, and now that he sat down and thought about it, he was dead terrified.

He just wanted to get it over with, finish what ever had to be done. Voldemort was coming back, Voldemort was killing again, and no one knew how to stop him, the thought was terrifying. What Hermione said was now floating in his mind "She's dealing with a fait worse than you are if you lose" he thought, but what was a fate worse than death? he asked himself.

A second later he heard a dog bark, he turned around. It was a Grim, Harry was sure it wasn't Sirius, he was much too small, and it was a female, it must be Colleen he thought. The dog turned back into a person, and as he thought it was Colleen, he smiled, she sat down next to him.

"Sorry about that thing at breakfast" she said giving him a puppy look. "It's okay, I get extremely moody when ever anything bad happens" he said throwing another rock into the lake. "I was thinking, do you want to become an Animagus?" Colleen asked, completely changing the subject.

"Yeah!" he said turning his head to face her. "Let's do it, I'll tell my dad, and your dad, we could do it tonight, or…" she trailed off. "What?" he begged. "We could go do it now" she said smiling. Harry smiled and said "sure, but I want to see how you do non-wand magic first, I've been dying to see it, since you told me you could do!"

She smiled and asked "What do you want to see fire, ice?" "Ice." he said simply, and her eyes lit up. She smiled and said "I was hoping you'd say that." She opened her hand and held it up to her to her lips, she leveled her so it pointed out to the water. She mumbled something, a snowflake like object appeared in her hand, and blew out to the water, the water froze immediately.

"That's just a water freezing spell" she said happily "Incendio!" she yelled and line of fire shot out of her hand, towards the lake, melting the ice. "Let's go" she said getting up off the ground, Harry got up and the two of them walked hand-in-hand to Sirius and James's office.

James and Sirius were talking to Serena and Lily, but as soon as they entered they lifted their heads "Hello" Sirius said quickly. "What brings you here?" James asked drowsily. "Harry wants to become an Animagus" Colleen said happily James and Sirius looked at each other and smiled. Lily looked worried, very worried "Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, I've been thinking of doing it for ages" he said simply. "It hurts" said Sirius crossing his arms. "Yeah, but you didn't have to grow Antlers" said his eyes widening, he shook, uncontrollably. "Not to mention, you can change at a sudden change of attitude like this…" said Lily touching James's chest and kissing him on the check, he changed, shivering, into a stag.

"God Lily, how do you do that" said Serena in amazement. James turned back, and readjusted his glasses. "You could do it to me every time" he said running his fingers threw his messy hair. "I bet you'd be a stag like your dad, judging on your Patronus, and Colleen's Patronus, and her Animagus form…" Sirius started but Harry cut him off. "You don't get to choose your animal form?" Harry asked crossing his arms for warmth.

"Lord no!" exclaimed James, "it's an Animal that is most like you, or closest to you." "Oh!" he said, feeling really stupid now. "Don't worry, it's a common misconception" Colleen added smiling slightly.

"So when do you want to do it?" Sirius asked happily. "Now?" he said scratching the back of his neck. "Let's do it" said James smiling ear to ear. "I don't want to watch" said Serena leaving the room. "I have papers to grade" said Lily, also leaving the room. "I'll go get the ingredients in Snivellus's room" said Sirius picking up a potion bag. "I'll go with you, to make sure you don't get into a fight with him" said Colleen following Sirius out the door.

"I'm amazed, simply amazed" said James. "What?" Harry asked really confused. "You and Colleen, I mean you are the detention duo one day, and the next day you are a couple, amazing" he smiled ear to ear. Harry shook his head "How bad exactly does it hurt to grow antlers?" Harry asked nervously. "Bad, nothing that either Sirius or Colleen could possibly imagine" he said sitting down at his desk chair.

"Moony told me you have the Marauder's map, do you really?" James asked curiously. "Yep, I do" Harry said smiling. "I thought it was destroyed" James said. Sirius and Colleen walked in with a bag full of Ingredients. Colleen sat down on the floor, she opened the potion bag, and started to pour the potions into a cauldron. A half an hour Colleen was finished with the potion.

She poured some of the Potion into a viol and stood up to hand it to him. He took the viol, but something strange happened, Colleen fainted. Sirius stood there with an alarmed look on his face. He bent down and picked her up, and walked out of the room, towards the hospital wing. Harry looked at his father and set the potion on James's desk. They followed Sirius out of the room.

Sirius laid her limp body down on a bed, Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office. "What happened" she asked Sirius. "She fainted" said Sirius sadly. "Do you know why?" asked Madam Pomfrey impatiently. "Oh I know why, I just don't want to think about it" said Sirius looking at his daughter. "Then, what can I do?" her voice getting more impatient every second.

"We need the family healer, no one else can do it" Sirius said shaking his head. Colleen opened her eyes and looked around. "Are you all right?" Sirius asked sitting down on the bed. "I'm fine, a little weak, but fine" she said sitting up. Sirius left the room a minute later. "I don't get it, why is he so upset?" Harry asked sitting on the bed.

"I know why" said James leaning on the wall. "What?" asked Harry turning around to face him. "It's a very touchy subject for Padfoot" said James crossing his arms "Something his father made him do." The next thing Harry knew Serena was all over Colleen and kissing her, and asking if she was all right. "I'm fine, I'm fine" she said calmly.

About five minutes later Sirius entered the room with a very dark looking wizard. Harry saw the look on Colleen's face, she looked terrified, absolutely terrified. Sirius led the other wizard over to where Colleen sat. "What the hell?" asked Colleen sounding incredibly alarmed.

"I know why you fainted, and I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later" Sirius said looking at her with a bit of pity on his face. "What?" asked Colleen impatiently. "There was a family tradition, that was started centuries ago, that was, well rather strange. The tradition was to enter a bit of lion blood into the blood stream." Sirius said sadly. "You're kidding, that's, that's OUTRAGEOUS!" Colleen said starring in awe at Sirius.

"You might die if you don't do it Colleen!" roared Sirius. "Fine I'll do it, but I won't be happy about it" said Colleen. "At least you dad didn't tie you down, and nail a nail into your head" Sirius said. "Are you kidding me?" asked Harry. "No, I have a gape in my forehead" said Sirius touching his head.

"Can we get on with it?" asked the other wizard impatiently "The only reason I came was because your mother would have wanted me too" he said pulling a package out of his medical bag. "And of course she'll need the blood of the two previous Resurrectors" he said opening the package he just pulled out of his bag, it contained two small shots, and one very large and thick one.

He took one of the smaller shots out of the package, and said "the first two should be no problem, but the lion blood" he said shaking his head. He took the first needle and slid the needle into her skin, she flinched slightly, he did the same with the second needle. He picked up the third, she looked at it fearfully "Two ounces of Pure African Lion blood" he proclaimed, Colleen swallowed hard.

He lowered the needle, and wedged it into her skin, he sunk it in rather deep. Colleen screamed from the pain, tears streamed down her cheeks, he finally began to push the red/orange colored liquid into her body. She screamed even louder, Sirius almost started to cry, from looking at his daughter in pain.

He took the needle out, the oozing hole started to bleed, Colleen fell back onto the bed in pain, her eyes pink. Madam Pomfrey came over to her with a roll of bandages. She wrapped the wound carefully. Colleen held her arm, and closed her eyes. "How do you fell now?" Sirius asked. "I wish I were dead!" she said in pain.

The dark healer left the Hospital wing. "She needs her rest, she's been through a lot today, so be on your way" said Madam Pomfrey. Everyone left, Harry got to the door, but he heard Colleen call "Harry don't go, please, I want to talk to you." He walked back over to her. She looked incredibly pale, paler than usual.

Harry sat down on her bed. She smiled at him weakly. "Sometimes I think my dad is a git" she said rubbing her arm "I mean really" she said sitting up. "I've known Sirius for two years, and he's never done anything like that before." said Harry. "Umm, why don't you go take the potion, it's 9:30, the potion needs to settle in your stomach for ten hours, so you can try your first transformation at 7:30" she said happily.

"Are you ok?" he asked, changing the subject completely. "I'm fine, just go, alright, I'll be at lunch, er I think I will, well I'll see you later anyway" she said smiling slightly. "Alright" he said, kissed her on the cheek and left.

He found Hermione in the hallway, and she began to speak "I heard a scream, what happened?" she asked nervously. "Colleen, Sirius, long story" he said. They walked down to Sirius and James's office, Harry told her the whole story.

Hermione left Harry, as they approached the office. He said good bye to Hermione and walked into the office. James sat there twirling his wand in his hand, starring at the potion, which sat in the same place it had when he had set it there. "Where's Sirius?" Harry asked, James looked up from the potion. "He went for a walk with Serena" he said simply.

"Well are you going to take the potion?" James asked anxiously. Harry nodded and walked towards James's desk, were the potion sat. He picked up the potion, and drank it, it taste absolutely horrible, but he knew he had to drink it all, and he did.

James looked at him, and smiled wickedly. "Disgusting, right?" he said, his smile getting wider. Harry nodded, and wiped his lips with his sleeve. "Nauseating, but bloody worth it in my opinion" said James taking the vial. "I agree completely" said Harry.

"Hogwarts hasn't changed a bit since I was in school" said James looking out the window of his office, which overlooked the Quidditch pitch. "Except the teachers" said Harry happily. "I don't believe Binns is still here, he's been here for millenniums!" he said turning back to Harry "He's been dead longer than Godric Gryffindor himself!" Harry snorted with laughter, and nodded his head in agreement.

"The first Hogsmeade weekend is in a week, I need to get a new owl, and possibly see what they've got at Zonko's!" said James excitedly. "Really? they haven't posted in the Gryffindor common room yet" said Harry happily.

They talked about Quidditch and everything that has happened in the last fifteen years, until it was time for lunch. They walked up to the great hall, were they separated at the grand oak doors.

Colleen sat at the Gryffindor table, across from Ron, talking happily. Harry moved towards them, and sat down next to Ron. Ron looked at him, and winced slightly, then said "What happened to you?" "What?" Harry asked suspiciously. Colleen reached into her bag, and pulled out a black makeup compact, opened it to show the mirror, and handed it to Harry.

"Harry look in the mirror, the potion is taking effect" said Colleen smiling broadly. Harry looked in the mirror, and saw what they were talking about, he looked sick, and his face pure white. "Potion?" asked Ron, sounding really confused. "Animagus potion" said Colleen grabbing a fork and forking up some spaghetti.

"No one tells me anything! Since when do you want to become an Animagi?" Ron asked lowering his voice. "This afternoon" said Harry happily. "Our group is turning out to be like your dad's group, it's so strange" Ron said stuffing his mouth.