Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise from the Harry Potter series.
Chapter Eight: New Every Morning"New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life, and power, and thought."
John Keble, The Christian Year
"Come on, Harry! We're going to be late!"
Sirius was standing impatiently in the hallway with Remus, waiting for his belated godson to trundle down the stairs.
"Sorry!" Harry said as they strode out the door and into the cool, early March weather. "I was just... tyring to make my hair lie flat."
Sirius smirked. "Ah. A task your father deemed totally fruitless towards the end of our third year. I seem to remember it was then that he started to take up that hair-ruffling mannerism that drove your mother so insane."
Remus and Harry laughed.
"Any why would you be trying to hard to flatten your hair, Harry?" Remus asked slyly. "You wouldn't be trying to impress anyone, hmm?"
Harry went several shades of scarlet, while Sirius issued a rather odd bout of coughing in a vague attempt at stifling his laughter.
"Glad you find my torment so amusing, Padfoot," Harry chided. "Laughing at your poor godsons expense. What would my father say?"
"Your father, Harry dearest," Sirius chuckled, "would be laughing harder than me."
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Kings Cross and made the quick journey into Platform 9 and ¾. The billowing scarlet steam train had just pulled up, and groups of happy students were jostling out of the train, trunks and cages in hand.
They soon spotted Ron, Hermione and Ginny coming towards them, the two sixth year prefects seemingly bickering about who was to carry Hermione's trunk.
"I can carry it, Ron! I'm not some delicate little flower!"
"Just give it here, 'Mione, please?"
"No! Why the bloody hell do you care anyway? You've never tried to carry my trunk before!"
"I'm trying to be gentlemanly here. Could you help me out?"
"Oh, fine!" Hermione conceded, dropping her heavy trunk into Ron's happily waiting arms, mumbling irritably about "silly, outdated, customs" and "stupid Gryffindor chivalry."
"Harry, Sirius," Ron scowled darkly at the two raven-haired men who were both wearing identical grins of mirth. "Nice to see you."
"Nice to see you too, Ron," Harry said, clapping his friend on the back. "Here, it's a long walk back, so how about you give me your trunk, and that way you're still carrying Hermione's?"
If possible, Ron's scowl got even darker. "How about you carry Ginny's? Huh, Harry?" At his friend's astounded face, Ron laughed. "What do you think I am? Deaf, dumb and blind?"
Harry snuck a look at Hermione, who was rolling her eyes in Ron's direction. "Er. Yes?"
Ron laughed as they walked out of the station. "Well, I'm not. And you have my approval."
The teens face brightened. "Really? Gee, thanks Ron."
"No problem, Harry," Ron chuckled. "You still have five older, stronger and legal brothers to deal with."
....(&&&)....
Anna sat in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, her heavy eyelids drooping slowly as Molly Weasley droned on and on about the wedding as she puttered about, getting dinner ready for when the others arrived home.
"And we have to think about invitations, dear! The invitations," Molly was saying eagerly. "We could have them sone by a calligrapher, or maybe engraved, but then you have to think about the colour. We could have gold, or silver or maybe just a plain black... simple, but classic. Or maybe we could do a bright purple colour..."
Anna didn't bother telling Molly that she'd already sent out invitations by word of mouth two days ago – it was simply to risky to post written ones – as she knew it was best to let the older woman continue with no interruption as she would eventually, eventually, peter out. It just took a while.
Letting her head drop into her palm, Anna merely nodded at the woman, who was now rabbiting on about koi ponds and silk flowers to adorn the seats with.
She was so bored, in fact, that she almost cried with joy when she heard the front door open and excited voices filter into the basement. Leaping from her seat, Anna barrelled up the stairs and into the hallway.
"Hermione!" she squealed, rushing over to pull the bushy-haired Gryffindor into a tight hug. "You have no idea how happy I am that you're here. No idea. All I've been hearing about for the last five days are veils and invitations and cardholders and dresses and... ugh! Finally someone sane!"
Remus and Sirius both let out indignant cries.
"'Finally someone sane', she says," Sirius crowed. "I'm mortally wounded."
"Really, Sirius, I think Remus should be more offended than you. You never were sane to begin with. Now, come on girls," Anna said happily, levitating Hermione's and Ginny's trunks up the stairs. "We've got some catching up to do."
....(&&&)....
With a contented sigh, Harry laid back on the sofa, raising expectant eyebrows at Ron, Hermione and Ginny.
Earlier in the evening, his three friends had sought him out and commissioned him to have a private chat after dinner. It was now after dinner, and the quartet were sitting in the relative privacy of an unused room in the Black manor.
"So what did you guys want to talk about?"
The three changed worried glances, with Ron and Ginny both looking to Hermione to take up their request.
"Well," the studious girl began, "Harry, we were... talking last week about how dangerous the next few years are going to be for us, with Voldemort back now, and we were just sort of mulling over how we're all so unexperienced and disadvantaged when it comes to facing Death Eaters, and it sort of lead to this idea that the three of us have become rather... fixated on..." Hermione trailed off and looked to her redheaded accomplices for support.
"And what idea might that be?" Harry asked warily.
Ron cleared his throat. "We were thinking that we should become Animagi."
"We know it's dangerous and illegal and all that," Hermione rushed on, "but it would be such an advantage to have during battle, I mean think about it..."
"Hermione," Harry said reprovingly, "when have I ever cared about something being illegal and dangerous?"
This elicited a snort from Ginny. "Never."
"I think it's a brilliant idea," he declared, still chewing over the concept in his head. "But it's awfully hard. How would we do it? And how long would it take."
Hermione dipped her head. "I know, I know, and I was thinking that maybe, maybe, Anna and Sirius might help us. It took Sirius, your father and Pettigrew two and a half years, and they were only in second year, so I figure with Anna and Sirius's help, it might be done in a year, maybe even less. But would they help us?"
"It could happen," Harry mused. "But that would mean everyone else finding out... Dumbledore, Remus, your mother..."
"I reckon we could talk mum into it," Ginny piped in. "I'm sure she'd agree after a bit of persuading."
Hermione thought for a moment. "So, really, the first thing is to get Anna and Sirius's assistance."
"Leave it to me."
....(&&&)....
"So then she was rabbiting on about where we should have it; about how we couldn't possibly have it here at Grimmauld Place, but I said we couldn't have it anywhere public, so then she went off on this thread about having the wedding at the Burrow and all the flowers that are blooming and IT NEVER ENDS!"
Anna and Sirius were splayed on top of their bed, Sirius sitting upright against the head of the bed, with Anna lying down, her head resting in her fiancé's lap. Sirius, smirking softly at Anna's theatrics, was gently weaving his fingers through her thick, brown hair, his other hand tracing the contours of her face.
"Sweetie, just tell her that you don't want her help."
Anna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, like I could possibly tell Molly Weasley that I don't want her help planning my wedding. The woman's a goddamn Nazi!"
"Says the daughter of Lord Voldemort," Sirius chuckled. "You can live for years as Voldemort's prisoner, but you can't stand up to a simple housewife?"
Anna jabbed her fingers sharply into Sirius's chest. "That woman is no 'simple housewife,'" she scolded. "No one who can walk down the aisle with Arthur Weasley, raise seven children, not to mention Gred and Forge, is a 'simple housewife.' Molly Weasley is a force to be reckoned with."
Sirius laughed, his eyes crinkling at their corners. "I jest, I jest!" he placated, holding his hands up in surrender. "Hopefully one day you'll be as much a 'simple housewife' as she is."
She snorted. "Seven children, Sirius?" Anna said. "You'd be lucky to get even one out of me."
Sirius's eyebrows rose. "You don't want children?"
Anna shrugged. "I've never really allowed myself to think about it; I always sort of assumed that you'd want to concentrate on Harry."
He nodded. "For a while, but not indefinitely. Someday... I'd like to have children. Or a child. Whichever."
She sat up now, her eyes trained directly on her husband-to-be. "Really? You really want to have kids?"
His only answer was a nod.
"I thought that you wouldn't want any, so I never mentioned it; just tried to erase the prospect from my head. I'd rather have just you than children with someone else."
"Anna," Sirius murmured deeply, his lips softly touching hers, "I would love to make a family with you."
She let out a shriek of joy and flung her arms around him, kissing his face fervently. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!"
Sirius laughed, his hands tracing over Anna's stomach. "I would certainly hope so."
She crawled on top of his lap, her arms hanging loosely about his neck. ""Maybe we should practice now," she said seriously. "You know what they say, 'practice makes perfect'. Wouldn't want to make any mistakes when push came to shove."
Just as their lips met in a long, lingering kiss, there was a soft knock at the door.
Sighing, Anna manoeuvred herself off of Sirius. "Rehearsals will have to wait for later."
He smiled. "We have all the time in the world."
Grinning back to him, Anna raised her voice and called, "Come in!"
The door swung open, revealing a lanky, raven-haired young man. "Congratulations," Harry said, staring pointedly at Anna as he made his way into the room, "the entirety of Britain now knows that you love Sirius."
"I'm glad," Anna smirked from the edge of the bed. "Such joyous tidings should not be concealed."
Harry grunted, grimacing disgustedly. "Whatever..." Dragging a chair over to the bed and plonking down on it, the bespectacled teens face took on a more serious tone. "Look, I came here to ask you two a huge favour, and I know because you are both such wonderful, great, loving, intelligent people, you'll help me out."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Alright, kiddo, what do you want?"
Harry frowned. "Hermione and the others sought me out tonight to propose this idea the three of them had – "
"Uh-oh," Anna interrupted, "any idea that Hermione comes up with is either immensely difficult or completely insane."
Ignoring this, Harry continued. "– and I think it's a really, really good idea. The problem is in talking all you guys into it."
'Well," Sirius huffed, sending his godson an apprehensive glance, "just be out with it. What do you want to do?"
Harry paused for a moment. "We – that is Hermione, Ron, Ginny and I – want to become Animagi."
Sirius exhaled. "Yep, definitely of the completely insane nature."
"Oh, come on!" Harry ventured. "You and my father started doing it when you were twelve and Anna did it when she was in her last year, and it's not as if we're utterly incompetent, and Hermione beat all of your OWL scores, and I know it's a good idea, I mean, what an advantage! The three of them are in so much danger, being so close to me, and what if they get caught by Voldemort or something? They could use it to get away! And I know that if you two agree to it then I won't have any trouble getting leeway from Dumbledore and the Order, because they all respect and admire you both – "
"Alright, alright," Sirius interjected. "You can finish now. I get your point."
"Good," Harry laughed, "because I lost track of my point long ago."
Sirius thought for a moment, his eyebrow closely furrowed.
After a while, he sat up straighter, taking hold of Anna's hand. "Okay, I'll let you do it. On one condition."
"What's that?"
Sirius grinned. "You let me and Anna help you."
....(&&&)....
Grinning maniacally, Harry burst into he and Ron's room. "He said yes!"
The teen was immediately swamped by a flurry of red and curly brown hair, amidst cries of, "Merlin!" "Are you serious, Harry?" and "Oh my goodness!"
Laughing, Harry extracted himself from the entanglement of limbs and seated himself on his bed.
"How did you talk them into it?" Ginny asked hurriedly, her face flushed with excitement.
"It wasn't too hard," he answered. "I mean, it was such a good idea in the first place. I just had to make it so Sirius thought he was the one who came up with the idea of teaching us himself." He smirked, winking. "Harry Potter, Master of Manipulation."
They laughed, collapsing onto the bed opposite from Harry's.
"This is brilliant!" Hermione finally said, gazing up at the ceiling. "And maybe we could even speak to Professor McGonagall, see if she can't count the transformation as a part of our Transfiguration assignment."
Harry, Ron and Ginny rolled their eyes.
"Whatever, Hermione."
"This is so cool," Ginny smiled. "We're going to be able to become animals!"
The room once again erupted into a cacophony of voices.
"What kind of animal do you want to be?"
"I'd love to be some kind of bird... maybe an eagle?"
"No, no, no, I wanna be something strong!"
"I'd prefer something really nimble; sneaky like."
"Why? So you can sneak into the girls dormitories?"
"I bet Hermione's a hedgehog. Or maybe an owl..."
"A hedgehog? A HEDGEHOG? Ronald Weasley, why on Earth do you think I'd be a hedgehog?"
"I dunno... you always seemed sort of... spiky."
"Well, if I'm going to be a hedgehog then by all accounts, you'll be a centipede!"
"Well, that's a bit rough..."
"Well, you'll just have to deal with it!"
Ron laughed. "Well, whatever it is, I just hope it's not a rat."
A/N: La di da di da... not hugely happy with this chapter but I'm tired and it will have to do. Please review! But one small thing about said reviews: as much as I love them I would really, really, really, appreciate it if they were a little more than one sentence. If you have a problem with the story or don't like the chapter for whatever reason, I would really like to know why so I can redeem myself and fix it up. Reviews that simply say "Hmm..." aren't of much use to me. Don't really suffice in the How Can I Make This Better department. So yeah. But thankyou kindly for all the lovely reviews, keep them up!
Last thing, in one of the fics I read the author recently did a Q/A type thing, and it seems like a good idea seeing as though I don't personally answer the reviews reviewer by reviewer. So, I you have any longstanding questions that have yet to be answered or just would like to know them, add it to a review and I'll do my best to answer it.
Katemary
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I'm begging you here,
Please review!
