Harry Potter and the New Start: Questioning the Laws

Hey guys, thank so much for all of the reviews you sent my way. I'm sorry this took so long to get out! Things are a little hectic in my room right now, as it's being painted. So I was hoping to get this out before we had to disconnect the computer. Sadly, it didn't end up going that way. So again, sorry!

This chapter is in the POV of Harry, then later Sirius. Italics represent thoughts for later in the chapter.

------------------------------------Emerald's Palace

There was some sort of rule that the bed felt most comfy when you had to get out of it. Somewhere, somehow, this was a rule.

Harry snuggled closer to his pillow. His eyes were screwed shut, attempting to block out the earliest of the sunshine. It very rarely rained on their property. The weather was controlled partly by Harry's feelings. Only when he was especially sad or when Mother Nature just had to get her way did it rain in Emerald's Palace. And Harry was hardly ever sad.

His eyes snapped open when he realized why he wanted to get up so early. To prank Sirius. The bedside clock – which featured a broomstick as the hour hand and a beater's bat as the minute hand – read 7:15. It was early for them, they hardly ever got up before 9:30.

Quietly as he could, the five year old slid out of his bed. The ground below his feet was just as warm, so he wasn't shocked by the temperature change. He padded across the room to the door, where he would slip out to get to Padfoot's room, which was only a few doors down. In between the rooms was Harry's old nursery. But when he turned four, he and Padfoot had made this room his.

The room was a dark blue with sparkly white trim. Snitchs and broomsticks were a prominent factor in the bedroom.

Harry was smiling to himself as he opened the door. From behind him there was an audible crack. "Harry! What's little master doing out of bed?"

Groaning quietly, Harry turned around to face the house elf. He should have known she would want to know why he was creeping around so early. "Boo, I'm just getting a drink of water." He said, lying through his teeth. He knew it wouldn't work, but at least it could buy him time.

Waving a long finger in his face, Boo didn't buy it. "Master Harry has a glass of water by his bed." She said in a long-suffering tone. Between Harry and Sirius, she had her job cut out for her.

"All right, I'm goin' to Sirius's room." Harry said truthfully this time. He let his head bow as he waited for her to drag him back to bed.

But Boo did not. "Boy is going to be bad, isn't he?" she asked. "Master Harry is going to be pranking Master Black."

Smiling lightly, Harry nodded. "Don't tell him, okay Boo?" he asked hopefully. He was about to put his hands together and ask again when Boo's face changed from stern to mischievous.

"Harry is not making a mess for Boo and other elves right?" She asked slyly.

Knowing what she was implying, Harry quickly but on a earnest face, "No, never. I won't make a mess."

"Boo is doing things in the kitchen. Boo never saw the young Master." She said and with a final wink in his direction, disappeared.

Suppressing a whoop of joy, Harry resumed his walk toward Sirius's room. He knew he could count on Boo. The little boy looked from side to side before entering his godfather's bedroom, as though there was someone there to catch him. When he was satisfied that there wasn't he headed in.

Sure enough, Sirius was not even close to being conscious. Sirius was a hard sleeper, and nothing could wake him up – with the exception of a cry from Harry. Giggling despite his prankster training, Harry snuck up to the bathroom.

Per usual, there was glass for water sitting next to the sink and Harry grabbed it. He turned the faucet on so little so that Sirius wouldn't hear him. The water came out so slow that Harry had to wait almost a full minute to get the whole thing full.

He moved quietly, holding the glass with both hands. He tried to be careful, but the water was filled to the rim, so it sloshed out from side to side. It leaked down his hands and made little splashes on the floor. Maybe he'd filled it too high. He crossed the room slowly, and then placed the glass on the nightstand.

The dark wooden rod next to Sirius's bed caught his eye. For as long as Harry could remember he hadn't been allowed to touch Sirius's wand. But why? Sirius never said, it was just one of their few rules.

Maybe, if he bended the rule just a bit, he could use the wand and pranks Sirius real good. And maybe the prank would be so good that he wouldn't get mad. Justifying the action in his mind, Harry picked up the wand.

The wand pulsed in his hand and Harry quickly decided that he liked the magic feeling. But what to say? He heard Sirius saying the cleaning charm a lot, but that wouldn't do him any good. Deciding to wave it around a bit and see what happened, Harry raised the wand over his head.

Giving the foreign – and forbidden – object a bit of a wave, Harry couldn't even guess what happened next. A loud crack erupted and he felt himself get smaller and smaller. His whole body was changing.

Okay, this wasn't what I wanted! Harry thought frantically. He tried to give himself a once over, but was quickly alarmed to see yellow paws. He was on all fours too, and was hardly taller than where the blankets hang down from the bed.

Panic rising, Harry tried to figure out how to get to Sirius. He shouldn't have touched the wand, bad things happened when you touched a wand. Never again would he wave something wooden and circular around in the air again.

The bed was so much higher than he was. How would he ever manage to get up there? Harry jumped up in the air, but couldn't quite get high enough. Sirius! Get up!

Sadly, his mental yells came up as nothing in whatever form he was in. Looking wildly down at himself, Harry forced himself to be calm.

Claws, I have claws! He thought happily, he could claw his way up! Testing out his theory, Harry jumped up and stuck to the blanket with his claws. This proved to be harder said than done, as he fell right back down. That hurt!

Steeling himself, Harry marched backwards a few steps. He broke into a run – which was a bit harder now that he had two extra legs – and leaped. This time when he got his claws into the blanket, they stayed in the blanket.

With all his arm strength, which as a five year old wasn't a lot – and pulled himself up. Almost there, come on

Kicking with his legs, Harry got all the way up and collapsed on the bed. After a minute of breathing time, he started to walk on Padfoot. Maybe I'll get a prank in anyway. I was gonna pour water on him...

Self-control long gone, Harry started licking Sirius's face. Wake up time, Padfoot!

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Sirius moaned and waved his hand in front of his face. How dare that other dog lick his face? He was in the middle of a dogfight with some other dog. You do not back down in the middle of a fight.

It only took a minute for him to realize that the dog was in fact a lion cub.

Eyes snapping open immediately, Sirius pushed aside the strange animal. "How in hell did a lion get in here!?" he yelled, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

The animal immediately backed off, running to the edge of the bed and looking at him with big green eyes. Sirius's own silvery blue eyes narrowed. He knew those eyes. That green was pretty hard to duplicate.

His hand instinctively reached over for his wand. His eyes widened when he didn't feel it in its customary space. Looking around, he was surprised to see it was on the ground. "How'd it get down there?" He muttered.

He looked at the glass on the table, who would fill at glass that high? And he didn't have a glass of water either. His wand was on the ground, a strange glass of water had materialize and now he had a lion cub sitting on his bed – a lion cub with familiar green eyes.

Realization dawned on his face, he turned back slowly to look at the little frightened cub. "Harry?" he whispered. Slowly, the cub nodded but did not venture back up the bed.

His godson was a lion.

With unheard of speed for Sirius Black during an early wakeup call, he shot down to the end of the bed. Carefully, he picked up the cub, who was now staring at him looking as relieved as an animal could get. "Did you touch my wand?"

Again, the cub nodded.

This was exactly why rules were in place. Rules such as, "Harry never touches wands". His godson had managed to transfigure himself into an animal. Quite the feat for a five year old. "Okay, baby, did you say any words?" he asked as soothingly as he could. Lion or not, he could read Harry's eyes. And they were currently displaying some intense fear.

The lion – who he now knew to be Harry – shook his head back and forth. Sirius couldn't help but consider him cute. "You know, you make a pretty cute lion." Sirius snickered.

Growling for all he was worth, Harry tried his best to look intimidating. It failed miserably, and he soon gave it up.

Sirius grabbed the wand from the floor. "Okay, let's hope I know what you did." He muttered. But animal hearing caught it. Harry looked panicked again. "Don't worry, Emeralds, I'll change you back." He assured the distraught little boy.

Whispering a few quick words, Sirius pointed his wand and the animal in his lap. The small creature quickly grew and front legs returned to their arm status. Harry blinked a few times. "Am I a boy?"

"You most certainly are." Sirius said as he pulled his godson into a bear hug. "Now, do we understand why wands aren't toys?" he said as patronizingly as he could. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I guess you've got it." Sirius said sheepishly.

They hugged again and Harry silently thanked god that he wasn't an animal anymore. "Okay, Baby, what do you say to some pancakes?"

"Yum!" Harry cried happily. Sirius picked him up and the two left the room

From the corner, Boo smiled. They didn't ever need to know about her camera, did they?

I'm not entirely sure I'm pleased with the chapter. This is actually one of the last fluffy ones there will be. We swing back into the drama within a chapter or two. As you might have been able to guess, I don't feel I'm very good with fluffy things like this. It also takes me longer to write, which is why updates have been a bit slower than my normal standards. I just wanted to give everyone an idea about their lifestyle though.

Please, crappy or not, review!

Stars Enchantress