Disclaimer: I want Siri and Remmie. But I can't have them, because I'm too big to sit on Santa's lap.

Chapter Eleven: A Wild Jungle

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

--Sir Winston Churchill

Sirius smirked behind his coffee cup as five pairs of angry footsteps, accompanied by an odd clippity-cloppity sound, hurtled down the stairs, all sorts of vulgar profanities spilling from their owners lips.

"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU CHANGE US BACK THIS INSTANT!"

Sirius looked up and surveyed the house's occupants, who were all staring down at him with vicious glares, each sporting an amusing array of animal appendages.

"Whatever is the problem? I see no differences to your appearance," he remarked calmly.

Ron, who was fiddling with his fiery lions mane, glared at Sirius. "What did you do, Black!"

Sirius smirked, particularly impressed at Hermione's long, fluffy bunny ears. "Tell me, Hermione," he joked, "do you have a tail?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, eliciting a small snort from Anna, who seemed to be rather enjoying the huge feathered wings attached to her back, but evidently not her beak shaped mouth. "This is quite a bit of Transfiguration, Sirius, how did you do it?" she chirped.

Remus scowled darkly, an odd contrast with his slimy green skin and yellowed eyes. "We never should've let him cook us dinner last night!

Harry laughed, seemingly being the only one not incensed by the prank Sirius had played. "Didn't you say you put this in the Slytherin's pumpkin juice one Halloween?" he asked, pawing the ground with his great hooves.

Sirius nodded, happy that Harry had remembered such a small detail. "We did. Do you remember, Moony? Ah, Severus Snape, the famed flapping flamingo."

Harry chortled and dipped his antlered head in amusement. "Nevertheless, how long will we stay like this?"

Sirius waved a hand dismissively. "'Till lunchtime. No longer."

Ron growled softly before whipping around and stalking out of the room, followed by the others.

Hanging back a moment as she reached the door, Ginny, ruffing her frilled-neck, poked her blue tongue out at Sirius, winked, and followed her friends out, scaled tail swishing from side to side.

It was only after they left the room that Sirius allowed himself to burst into laughter.

(&&&)…

"Now, breathe in to the very bottom of your stomach. Hold it... hold it… hold it… and breathe out."

Hermione lay on the soft-carpeted floor between Ginny and Ron, her shoulders pressed back into the floor and her hands flat beside her.

"And again. Breathe in, to the very bottom of your tummy. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. And breathe out. Just listen to the sound of my voice. Empty your mind of all thoughts. Relax. I want you to keep breathing in and out deeply, and each time you inhale, feel all of the tension leave your body. You feel good, you feel fine, you feel perfectly relaxed...Each and every deep breath that you take allows you to go deeper and deeper...each and every sound that you hear allows you to go deeper and deeper. Nothing will disturb you, concentrate on each of the words and ideas presented to you."

The room was silent. Anna's voice, which last Hermione had heard hovering somewhere to her right was gone, and in its place, a heavy silence.

"I want you to feel each and every muscle in your body relax completely."

Hermione vaguely sensed someone crouching down beside her, a warm presence stirring on the edge of her mind.

"Your bones are beginning to feel heavy, like lead. Starting from your legs, and all the way up to your arms. Everything is very heavy, like lead. There are no thoughts in your mind. You are completely and utterly relaxed."

The voice stopped again for a few moments, allowing Hermione and the others to fall into an even deeper relaxation, before it changed to a deeper, huskier voice than Anna's soprano.

"You're sitting upon an old log in the middle of a very, very dark rainforest," Sirius's voice began instructing. "In the distance, you can here birds chirping, and the wind in the canopy. An animal crosses your path. It can be any animal of your choice, the very first thing that comes to mind."

Immediately, Hermione saw a sleek black leopard in front of her, bending down to sip from a stream.

"I want you to concentrate solely on this animal. I want you to feel the texture of its skin, smell its scent, feel the power in its muscles. Focus."

A few moments passed as each of them were left to focus only on the animal before them, and Hermione began to feel a tingling sensation along her spine.

"You can feel the animal underneath your hand, feels its heart beating, the blood flowing in its veins."

Shivers racked Hermione's body, starting from the tips of her toes. It seemed as if her very blood was alive, pulsing and pulling in her veins. Her skin tingled imperceptibly.

Again, the voice changed.

"Now, I want you to imagine you are standing atop a hill in a deep fog. As you listen to my voice the fog begins to clear, little by little. I'm going to count to five, and when I reach five your eyes will open and you will feel wide awake. One… I want you to wiggle your toes… two… three… wiggle your fingers… four… the fog is almost completely gone now… and five."

Hermione's eyes snapped open.

"How are you feeling?" Anna asked, offering her hands to Hermione and Ginny.

"Good," they answered simultaneously as they groggily got to their feet.

"That animal in the forest, that's not what we're going to turn into, is it?" Ron asked with a worried tone.

"No," Sirius answered him. "You just need something to focus on. You can't choose your own Animagus. The animal you turn into corresponds to your personality."

"Thank Merlin!" Ron exclaimed with a relieved sigh.

"Why?" Harry asked. "What was your animal, a flobberworm?"

Ron shook his head and immediately turned a fierce shade of red.

"What was it Ron?" Ginny prodded.

Ron cleared his throat. "A rabbit."

The room was suddenly filled with raucous laughter.

"Aw, it's alright Ronnie," Ginny cooed. "The bunny rabbit is a very fierce and noble creature."

Sirius snorted. "And tell me, Ronald," he said, with a raven eyebrow raised slyly in Hermione's direction. "Did it have a little fluffy tail?"

Ron's stormy blue eyes glanced quickly over Hermione, but it was not missed by the Gryffindor prefect who blushed a pretty pink to match Ron's scarlet.

Anna, as observant as ever, quickly held up her hands to stem the laughter. "I want you four to be practising emptying your mind of all thought and going into that deep relaxation once a day. Some of you found it difficult and I had to help you out, but you really must practice getting it right yourselves."

"But don't do anything with the animal, completely skip over that part," Sirius interjected. "It's dangerous to do that by yourself in case something happens and there's no one to help you out."

"What could happen?" Ginny asked.

"Well, as you progress you begin to turn into your Animagus, but not fully," Anna explained. "For example, as I was doing the transformation one afternoon I sprouted feathers."

"Ah, I see," Harry said, nodding gravely. "Well, we best not do it on our own, then. Wouldn't want Ronnie here to grow bunny ears, now would we?"

(&&&)…

Hermione stepped up to Harry and gave him a tight hug. "I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express next week, Harry."

"I'll see you then," he smiled, returning the hug. "And don't worry about Ron, he'll come to his senses soon."

Brow furrowed, Hermione went to question her friend but was instead pulled into a tight embrace by Anna. "I'll miss you, 'Mione," the older woman said, her voice muffled by Hermione's curls. "You must write to me when you are back at Hogwarts, yes?"

"Of course I will," Hermione laughed as Anna released her. "Thank you so much for having us. You too, Sirius," she said as she gave the older man a quick embrace.

"Yes, thankyou!" Ginny and Ron chorused from the doorway.

"Nonsense," Sirius said, waving it off. "It was a pleasure having you."

"It was a pleasure being here," Hermione told him as she kissed Remus on the cheek, grasping his hand briefly. "Stay well, Remus," she said quietly. It was a full moon the next night, and already the lycanthrope was looking incredibly fatigued.

"I will," he assured her. "Take care, Hermione."

With a final wave to the occupants of Grimmauld Place, Ginny, Ron and Hermione followed Mrs Weasley out of the house and into the deserted street.

"We're going to walk you to Kings Cross Station, Hermione," Mrs Weasley told her. "And then Portkey to the Burrow from Platform 9 and ¾'s. Are you sure it's safe to catch a train home by yourself?"

Hermione nodded. "I live only an hour and a half out of London. I'll be fine, Mrs Weasley. Mum and Dad are going to meet me at the station."

"Alright," Mrs Weasley conceded, and Hermione fell into step beside Ron.

"Any plans for the rest of the week, 'Mione?" Ron asked conversationally.

"Not really," she answered. "Visit with my parents, maybe a couple of Muggle friends from primary school. What about you?"

"I'm going to work in the shop with Fred and George at Diagon Alley. Get some extra money, you know?" he told her.

"Oh, okay," Hermione mumbled. "Looking forward to going back to school?"

"Oh, yeah, totally. I can't wait." Ron snorted. "Honestly, Hermione, what a stupid question to ask!"

"Sorry, Ron, I was just trying to make conversation," she replied, somewhat indignantly.

"Yeah, about school! Merlin, Hermione, must you always talk about work? Do you think of nothing else?"

Hermione stopped walking and stared at Ron in complete and utter shock. "Is that what you really think?" she asked quietly. "That all I am about is books and homework?"

Ron fidgeted uncomfortably, seemingly becoming aware he had gone to far. But it was too late to back out now.

"Well, yes, a little."

Hermione felt crushed.

"Well," she retorted snappily, "if that's how you truly feel, perhaps I should not spend so much of time with you and find someone who appreciates me for the woman that I am. I apologise for being so insipid."

And with that, Hermione held her nose high, stamped off, and didn't look back.

(&&&)…

On Easter Sunday, Harry Potter awoke to a most frightful sight.

At first, it was only a vague blur, but once Harry snatched his glasses from his bedside table and fixed them to his face, he gave a loud yell and scooted back against the headboard of his bead.

A tall, maniacally grinning Easter Bunny stood over him, a wicker basket swinging from its paw.

"HAPPY EASTER, PRONGLET!" the rabbit cried, pelting the young man with colourfully wrapped Easter eggs.

Brow furrowed, Harry's mouth hung agape. "Sirius?"

There was an amused snort from the other end of the room, and Harry peered around the now joyfully jigging bunny rabbit to see Anna leaning against the doorway, a laughing smirk pasted on her face.

"Sirius thought it would be fun to dress up as the Easter bunny for your first real Easter," she informed him. "We figured the Dursley's wouldn't have included you in their celebrations, so Sirius took it upon himself to give you some real childhood memories to replace the other ones with. So it follows that there are currently about three hundred chocolate eggs hidden around the house. I think he went a bit overboard," Anna finished, gazing rather worriedly at Sirius.

Harry nodded and hopped out of the bed. "Maybe just a bit. Where'd he get the costume?"

"Transfigured some old clothes," Sirius told him, pulling the mask of his face. "Come on Harry, let's have an Easter egg hunt!"

"But you already know where all the eggs are, Sirius," Harry pointed out as they entered the hall.

"Negative, my young man. I used my wand. An old spell I used to use on James's socks. See, I figured that if I didn't know where they were, I could hardly be the culprit, now could I?"

"A unique way of thinking, Sirius," Anna mused as Harry chuckled mirthfully.

"Yes, I always thought so," he replied.

"I found one!" Harry exclaimed, holding up a large egg that was wrapped in bright pink paper.

Anna sighed. "One down, two hundred and ninety nine to go."

A/N: My apologies. I do realise that took an obscene amount of time. I don't really have an excuse. I just sort of… lost completely all interest in Harry Potter. I know. How crazy is that? And in that time I got really into Lord of the Rings fics. But, never fear, I'm not about to take on an epic tale about Legolas and his cute little bottom. Anyway, please review, perhaps that's all I need for some inspiration, it's amazing how far a few words can go.

As far as the Animagus thing goes, as you are probably aware, we've never really been told how the transformation happens, so I'm just going to have to make it up.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed your holidays.