A/N: This is where the story really takes off. It becomes less a collaboration of many stories, and much more of a single enjoyable unit. Just wait until Christmas!

Buckbeak Disclaimer: Swawkroar!

Chapter Seventeen -

In the Shrieking Shack

"Harry, I'd like to show you something I've learned after the meeting. I'd like you and a couple others to stay." Luna Lovegood had pulled Harry aside during DA, and whispered the request to him.

Harry nodded, and continued trying to offer tips to Hannah Abbott about her dissillusionment charm. She had been able to make Ernie Macmillan go half-chameleon, and at the moment his legs from the waist down were walking around on their own, and his hands moved about of their own accord. A blur of foggy colour at his waist and wrists, where the spell had dissolved made many of the younger people take a few nervous steps back. Harry wouldn't allow any of the younger group to shoot off hexes in case they accidentally hit an invisible student, so he had them off in a corner learning the four-point spell, and a few interesting new shields.

There were three new members in the younger group today, one Hufflepuff first-year, and two more Slytherin second-years. The two first year Slytherins had strategically introduced them to Harry, and they'd had a thorough conversation before Harry had realized that he was supposed to invite them to join the DA. Harry was pleased that he'd been able to interview them thoroughly before giving them any information, but wished he'd known the two first-years' intentions ahead of time. He was reminded of how sneaky and cunning some Slytherins could really be, but also of how useful the ability was.

At the moment, just under half of the room was seemingly empty. They had been practicing for quite awhile, and when Harry looked at his watch he realized that the meeting had already overrun by ten minutes. He noticed Luna speaking quietly with what he thought could be an invisible Neville and a very visible Ginny, and assumed she had just invited them to stay as well.

"All right everyone, that's it for today. Anyone who still hasn't figured out the counter charm, please come to me and I'll do it for you. If you practice these, make sure you have someone nearby who knows the counter charm, otherwise people might wonder."

Light laughter rolled through the half-invisible crowd, and Harry saw the ripples of air move in tandem towards him. He saw two invisible ripples bump into one another and fall to the floor.

"Pay as much attention to where the others in the room are please, I don't want any accidents. Are you all right...um... Seamus? And er...Lavender?"

A low grunt and a frustrated feminie exclamation from the floor was the only response.

Harry quickly rapped the head of each human chameleon that rippled the air before him, and gradually, the class reappeared.

Finally, when most of the class had gone, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna were the only ones left behind. It wasn't odd for these people to remain and help organize the room a bit, so no one had bothered to look at them twice. No one had really noticed that the room needed no organizing other than to put a few cushions away.

Luna began. "I've asked you all to stay, because as we were the ones in the Department of Mysteries last year, I know that we're the ones who are really in danger of attack. I think we can use as much help in disguise and tracking as can get."

Everyone nodded solemnly. Harry's face had gone from smiling interestedly to frowning and looking at his shoes. It was his fault that they needed extra help in stealth.

"That's why I wanted to show you this." She said, and suddenly she popped out of existence.

"What? Where'd she go?" Ron pushed himself up off of the floor where he was sitting on a cushion, and moved toward where Luna had been standing moments before. "She's disapparated! Isn't that supposed to be impossible inside-"

"Ron! Stop!" yelled Neville, and he grabbed the back of Ron's robes, and yanked him back.

All eyes turned on Neville. Neville was staring at the floor, which made them all search out what he was looking at.

"Ah! Oh my!" Hermione shrieked. She had spotted what Neville had seen, and they all eyed the place warily.

The floor moved, and suddenly Harry knew what had happened.

"You're an Animagus!" he said reverently to the small white and yellow gecko. She had seemed nearly invisible on the yellow stone floor of the Room of Requirement.

"Cool!" said Ron, sitting back down.

"How did you learn that?" asked Hermione.

Neville stretched his hand toward the gecko Luna, and tentatively touched her skin. "I like this animagus. It suits you."

The gecko looked at him, nodded her head, and blinked her large glassy black eyes in appreciation.

Neville backed away, and took a seat on one of the cushions.

Luna reappeared.

"I was given a couple of books on Animagus training by my father. He's pretty well known in his rhinoceros form."

"I don't doubt it," snorted Hermione.

Harry shuddered with anticipation. This was what he had been waiting for.

"Ever since you taught us all about combining wandless magic and soundless magic, I've been practicing. I can do it."

Ginny stared at her with eyes that that lit up. "You mean we could do this if we could continuously combine the two?" She turned to Harry. "I would have thought that you would be amazing at this! Haven't you even tried?" Hermione and Neville both looked incredibly shocked. Being the only ones who had been able to use wandless and soundless magic combined meant they probably wouldn't have to work too hard to learn. Hermione more so than Neville, since Hermione was more adept at transfiguration.

Harry blushed, and smiled at Luna. "I thought I should take a look at the manuals or something before I just went ahead and did it. Remus flat-out refused to tell me anything he knew about it, and I was finding it a little difficult to get my hands on any information. It's illegal to even have a manual if you don't have the proper training papers. And the ministry really frowns on those who don't take the approved course to learn."

Luna interrupted. "The manuals mostly just had information on what happens if things go wrong, and how to repair them. The incantation is actually pretty simple. You need soundless magic, because you won't be able to speak as an animal, and wandless magic, because your clothes and of course your wand disappear into your animal body when you change over. And you need to combine the two so that you can change back into a human. It is pretty advanced transfiguration, but it's related to most basic mammalian transfigurations. I know we can all do it."

"I heard that you can't choose your animal. Is that right?" Ginny asked.

"No, you don't choose. The animal is a part of you. Sometimes it's symbolic of your personality, sometimes it chooses itself based on your inherent features or your name. Most of the time, it's a bit of everything."

Harry remembered how Sirius' Animagus had been a large black dog. Probably the choice had been more because of his name than anything. Sirius was the name of the Dog Star, and it was what his godfather had been named after. He imagined his Animagus wouldn't follow such a simple path. He momentarily pictured himself turning into a big hairy pot, and nearly laughed aloud at the stupidity of it. "How soon can we learn this?" He asked.

"If we can talk about it right now, and maybe you guys can get in some more practice combining wandless and soundless, then we could do it as soon as we find an appropriate place." Luna answered.

"Why can't we do it here?" asked Neville, who looked a little nervous. He had thus far proven himself quite adept at wandless and soundless magic, but his transfiguration skills were rather nonexistent. Harry figured he would need a bit of help to get the incantation just right.

"Well," said Luna, "We don't know what your Animagus will be, and the instincts of an animagus are a little difficult to control at first. We need to find a place outside the castle. If your Animagus ends up being an alligator or something, we'll have to watch out. I think my dad knows a story of a wizard about a hundred years ago who turned himself into a scorpion and accidentally stung one of his friends on the toe. That's why they always want to have a testing officer monitor progress when anyone learns."

Harry nodded. "Luna's right." He said. "There's no guarantee that we won't go off and eat one another."

"How will we keep away from each other then?" Ron asked curiously. "We still have to monitor each other don't we? Just to make sure things go all right?"

Luna thought for a moment. "It's probably best if we find a place with two rooms. One that we can charm to be impenetrable, and another that we can wait in for five minutes or so while the initial instincts of whatever animal you are dies down. We'll want to find a place away from the school somewhere, so any noises we make wouldn't be overheard."

"What about the shrieking shack?" Ginny suggested.

Luna looked confused. "Isn't that the place in Hogsmeade that's haunted?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, haunted by our third year defense teacher." Everyone else broke into giggles.

"What do you mean?" Asked Luna. "What does professor Lupin have to do with that house?"

Harry smiled. "Well, you know he's a werewolf." Luna nodded. "So they planted the Whomping willow over that secret passageway out to the shrieking shack when he was in his first year here. He used the shrieking Shack as his monthly wolf-pen."

"Oh, that's a good idea." Luna said dreamily. "It must have scared off all those ghosts. That's why it's been silent all these years."

Harry looked confusedly over at Ginny, who was trying to suppress giggles, and she shrugged.

"If we have a place, then maybe we could go out there and try out our animal forms in about a week. I'll lend you guys some of the books tomorrow, and you can read up on it."

"Sounds good." Harry smiled at her.

They left the room of requirement thinking their way through the London Zoo.

All of them except Luna, who had gone off to the Ravenclaw tower, approached the portrait hole. Harry suddenly paled, and shuddered.

"What is it?" Ginny asked him quietly, since they were straggling slightly behind everyone else.

"What if my animagus is something like a snake? What if I have too much of Voldemort inside me to be safe in animagus form even behind an impenetrable charm? What if I become a basilisk or something? I could be really dangerous!"

Ginny had no answers. She just shrugged. "Then we'll find a way of knowing. I'm pretty sure you won't. You have too much good in you."

Harry felt a little better.

"For all we know, I could become a basilisk." She muttered.

Harry turned towards her. "No way. Not you."

"At least if I do, you would be able to talk to me." She smiled half-heartedly, and they climbed inside the portrait hole and up to their dormitories.

000000

It was actually another two weeks before all of them felt comfortable enough using combined wandless and soundless magic to even give their animagus forms a try.

Harry had been a little impatient waiting, and had used his time to read the animagus manuals front to back, memorizing as much of the information as was possible. The others were pushing their powers to the maximum to catch up to where Harry was. In the end, they were all quite satisfied that they could perform the complex transfiguration without too much difficulty.

Neville had a hard time explaining to professor McGonagall why he had suddenly become so adept at animal to animal transfiguration. She had caught him turning his pet toad Trevor into a cockatoo at the breakfast table one morning. She hadn't noticed that Neville had done the transformation completely soundless and wandless. After she had heard his mumbled reply of, 'I thought it could be useful to know.' She promised she would somehow find a way to let him retake his transfiguration OWL exam with the all of the fifth years, and possibly let him join the sixth year class next year. He would be a year behind everyone, but at least he would still get the Exceeds Expectations OWL.

Neville obviously felt this was something worth celebrating, because he cheered and soundlessly conjured a handful of confetti and tossed it into the air, right into McGonagall's face.

McGonagall seemed a little suspicious of them after that, and Harry reccommended that they stay as far away from her as possible while attempting any strange feats of magic. McGonagall herself had the Animagus form of a tabby cat, and if she saw and understood too much, they could end up in a lot of trouble.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and an invisibility-cloaked Neville worked their way through the darkened castle toward the front doors. They all made sure to disillusion each other before starting off, so the only things visible were the floating marauder's map, and a faint glow from Hermione's wand.

They had a close call with Mrs. Norris and Filch. Both of whom were prowling the third-floor corridor. Harry saw Mrs. Norris heading towards them on the map, and quickly grabbed at the faint ripplings of air around him, and pulled them all back into a broom closet that was hidden behind a large tapestry.

"What is it? He heard Ginny ask in a whisper. Her breath brushed over the back of his neck and sent shivers down his spine.

"Mrs. Norris." He answered in a croak.

Harry waited until the two dots on the map had passed them over and headed toward the fourth floor. He whispered, "Come on."

They made it out to the entrance hall with no further interruptions, and slipped one by one out the door and across the grounds to the Whomping Willow. The tree's branches began to shudder and sway upon their approach, sensing the intruders.

"All right Luna, go ahead." Harry said.

They all watched as Neville's hands appeared near ground level and released the small white and yellow gecko that had rested there under the invisibility cloak. It sat placidly on the ground, and looked up expectantly.

"It's the little knot there that looks like an umbrella." He told her, and only then remembered that she couldn't see his finger pointing. He lowered his arm abruptly.

The gecko understood however, and turned, scrambling through the grass and twining itself about the roots of the whomping willow. Then she skittered up the trunk to press the small knot with her nose.

They watched as the waving limbs of the tree were paused in mid-sway. Then they moved in and slipped, one by one, through the open space between the roots. Harry went first, then Neville with the gecko-Luna cradled in his hands beneath the cloak, then Ginny and Hermione, then Ron.

Harry quickly rapped each of them on the head with his wand to remove the disillusionment charm, and Luna's gecko form lengthened and grew back to human size and shape. Neville let the large hood of the invisibility cloak slip back so that it revealed just his head.

They ran the length of the passage and entered the Shrieking Shack in just over a minute.

"Nice place this." Said Luna softly, trying to catch her breath.

They couldn't really tell whether she was joking or not. The walls were covered with millions of scratches and cracks, and the wooden floor was covered with broken chairs, tables and general debris. It creaked hauntingly with every step they took. All of the exits and windows were boarded over, except for one large picture window, which faced the forbidden forest, and had a loose piece of ragged plywood across it. Jagged marks along the upper window frame looked suspiciously like antler scratches, and Harry ran his finger along them in the dark.

The rest of Neville' body appeared as the invisibility cloak swished to the ground. "I don't know how good I'm going to be at this." He whimpered.

Harry touched his arm in sympathy. "You've got an animal in you somewhere Neville. Don't worry. This is just bringing it out. Remember your fish?"

"Yeah." Neville muttered, still looking nervous. "If I'm a fish, make sure to put me into some water quick."

Harry nodded. "Right. Well this is the same as that. It's something natural. Every wizard has it in them, it's just a question of finding it."

Neville smiled halfheartedly, and Harry patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine." Luna said breezily, and she launched into an explanation of what they needed.

"This room here should do. We need to be able to see in to make sure the person is all right, but keep ourselves separate. You all know the incantations? Both the one to change you into an animal and the one to bring you back to human?"

They nodded.

"Good. What we'll do, is get you to do the first, then the second really fast. It won't give you a chance to really settle into your new body, but it might give us a glimpse of what you're going to be, and we can make sure you don't get stuck halfway. If you become a fish or something," she looked pointedly at Neville, "then we can try it again once we've got some water on hand."

"I'll close my eyes too, that way, if I become a basilisk, you guys won't get killed." Harry stated, trying to joke about it, but failing to hide his actual concern.

Luna shrugged him off airily. "Oh, don't worry. You can't turn into any creature with inherent magical abilities. It isn't in the manuals, but my father told me."

Harry gaped. He hadn't thought of that. Maybe he would be a stag, like his father after all... "Right." He said, feeling slightly foolish.

"Good. Neville, since you're the one who's so nervous about this, I suggest you go first." Luna tried to usher him into the Kitchen area.

He resisted. "Why me?"

She turned to pull on his arm. "Because I want you to show them how it's done. I know you can do it, so just get it over with. Let's not prolong your nerves any."

Neville actually let her pull him into the kitchen, then as soon as she'd gone, Hermione put an impenetrable charm on the open door, and Neville closed his eyes.

A minute passed while Neville got comfortable. It looked like he might have made an attempt a few times, but Neville remained standing where he was.

A sudden creaking sound signaled a transformation of some kind, and Neville disappeared from Harry's view. Then another creak, and Neville was back in his human form. Hermione gasped. Harry's eyes had been too slow to take in Neville's animal form, but obviously Hermione had.

"Did I do it?" Neville asked hopefully.

"You sure did, Neville."

"What was I?" He asked, looking questioningly at everyone who stood watching him with their mouths open.

"Not anything dangerous, I assure you." Hermione smiled. "Try it again! There's a floor-length mirror on that wall over there. You can see for yourself."

Neville walked over to the semi-cracked mirror, and closed his eyes, concentrating again on the incantation and the feel of his body.

A small creak sounded, and there sat Neville the Pug.

He opened his eyes, and was immediately staring intently at himself in the mirror.He had faun coloured fur, great sad-looking bulbuous eyes, a worried frown on his black lips, and furry black ears that were turned back with nerves. As soon as he caught sight of himself, the ears pricked forward, and the tiny mouth opened.

Out came the loudest snort any of them had ever heard come from something so small. Then he barked, and Neville was eagerly scrabbling at his reflection in the mirror as though it might be a playmate for him.

Everyone standing outside the door laughed. Ron exclaimed, "Neville, you look great!" and Neville turned to him, wagging his tail in excitement. It was as if he was saying "Look! I did it!" Then he began to chase his tail, and run flat out in figure eights.

He might have been small, but Neville as a pug sure could run. Harry had never been much of a dog-lover, but he could clearly see that Neville was. He was yapping and jumping, and running around insanely trying to prove that he had found exactly the right shape. He would have had such fun with Sirius. Harry thought wistfully, remembering how Sirius used to chase squirrels to amuse Harry.

After five minutes or so, Neville was able to calm down enough to remember who he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He changed back into his very flustered self. Obviously the excitement of the moment was enough to make the transfiguration look simple.

"That was amazing!" he puffed, slightly out of breath. "It felt so natural!"

"All right, My turn!" said Hermione eagerly. She removed the impenetrable charm, let Neville out, and took his place.

Harry put the charm on the door, and they all just stared at Hermione curiously.

She closed her eyes as well, and thought of the incantation. A creak, and again, she was beyond Harry's sight. Another, and she was back. She hadn't needed much time to prepare herself, so no one was really ready for the magic.

"Did I get it?"

"Did you see what she was?" Ron asked. "It was too fast for me."

Hermione moved towards the mirror, and tried again.

There stood Hermione, the great horned owl. She hooted her surprise at coming face to face with speckled brown feathers, and immediately launched herself into the air in surprise.

Five minutes of ooing an ahhhing over Hermione's sudden ability to fly about the kitchen was enough for her and she changed back, looking exhilarated.

"Harry, your turn." Said Luna. "I'm curious to see what your animal is."

Harry took the charm off the door, and stepped past Hermione, who was going the other way. "Hey Neville, do you want to go out in the forest and explore in our new forms? We could check out their forms later!" She turned back to the other three. "We'll try to guess who's who when we come back."

Neville nodded. "All right, but as a flightless creature, I need you to keep a lookout for strange beasts. As much as I like professor Firenze, I've heard that his friends aren't all that nice." Everyone laughed,and Hermione wrinkled her nose. It seemed that she now had a job. "That's all we owls are to you aren't we. Post delivery and spies." She smiled at him to let him know she wasn't serious.

They both closed their eyes, and the small dog and owl slipped out behind the loose piece of plywood at the window and were gone.

Harry shook his head. "Promise me you'll let me know if I'm a snake, and I won't ever do this again."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Get on with it already!" He put the impenetrable charm back on the door.

"Right." Harry closed his eyes, and focused on the feel of his body. He could feel his skin tingling right at the scalp, and longed to itch it. He felt his heart pounding, and his toe twitched.

He thought the word 'Transanimagus' and he felt his arms stretch out before him. He felt his forehead lengthen, and his tailbone push out from his behind. His clothes and wand sort of melted into his skin, and he felt hair growing everywhere. At least I know I'm not a snake He thought to himself. It wasn't painful at all, but sort of... tingly.

He immediately thought the word 'transhominid' and felt his body return to its original state. The hair receded, his nose and eyes squashed back where they belonged, and his hands left the floor to rest back at his sides.

He opened his eyes. "What was I?"

The other three were smiling at him with expressions of disbelief mixed with humour.

"You're going to have a devil of a time hiding as that animal." Ron joked.

Ginny giggled. "Kind of stands out, doesn't he?" she commented.

Harry couldn't take the suspense. He walked over to the mirror, and closed his eyes.

'Transanimagus' he thought quickly, and felt himself become four-footed once more.

He opened his eyes to the sight of his own feet. Paws actually. He was looking at the floor. He looked up, expecting to see another dog of some type, and came nose to nose with a gigantic lion. He gasped, but it came out as a grumble from deep in his chest.

He stared at himself, and analyzed.

He had smooth golden fur all over except his mane, which was large, black, and looked overly mussed as if it had been in a windstorm. A stressed grey patch of fur in the shape of a firebolt on his forehead disappeared into the unruly mane, where one or two grey strands made the lion look overly aged. His slitted eyes were flickering from emerald green to yellow as he moved his face, and the fur around them held distinct brown circles where he knew his glasses should have been. His whiskers prodded the mirror, he was so close.

He suddenly realized that he could not smell this other lion that stood before him, and for some reason this vexed him. He could, however smell the humans standing just outside the door, and they smelled sweet. He lumbered towards them, and growled fiercely. When they didn't flinch or move, he stared intently. Trying to impress upon them his ferocity. His whiskers singed slightly just before the opening, and he dared not pass any further. He did however, pad lightly back and forth before the opening, and try to smell these three anomalous creatures.

After a short time of growling and pawing the invisible barrier, he remembered who he was. He knew what he was, and felt the new instincts slide slowly into the back of his mind. Was this what his father had done? Had his father felt like ramming into his friends with his antlers or something? He didn't know what the natural instincts of a stag were, but he certainly now knew those of a lion, and in a lot of ways, he was grateful for the impenetrable charm on that door.

The three outside the door had been talking to each other and to him as well, but he only now understood the words.

"Come on back out, Harry. I want to try!" Ginny said, hopping from foot to foot.

'Transhominid' he thought, and returned to human form. This time, humanity felt different. Somehow more unnatural, and he longed to experiment as a lion. He now understood why Hermione and Neville had gone out to the forest so quickly. They had tasted freedom, and couldn't wait for more.

"You're right Ron. This form is going to be a bit difficult to hide. I'll probably be safe from Remus though if I ever decide to hang out with him on a full moon."

Luna, Ron, and Ginny laughed.

As much as he was curious to find out what Ginny and Ron's forms were, he was almost desperate to be a lion again, and slink between the trees. "I'm going to test this new set of claws out on a tree somewhere." He said. "I'll try and find Hermione and Neville too."

He pulled the plywood away from the back window, knowing he would never fit behind it as a lion. He closed his eyes. 'Transanimagus', he thought, and slipped into the forest.