Harry Potter and the Eagle's Flight
By Cuthbert the Pure
A/N: Your word is my command…so here's chapter three. I was a little unsure of bits and pieces of this chapter, so let me know how you felt about it.
Disclaimer: This Universe is not mine, it belongs to JK Rowling, the silly woman that she is.
Chapter Three: Coming Home Again
The biggest surprise of the summer was yet to come as Harry left the ice cream parlor with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He attempted to enter the fireplace back to The Burrow first, but Ron shoved past him and disappeared a moment later in a flash of green fire. Angry, he tried to leave, but Hermione pushed by and disappeared a moment later. That left him and Ginny alone in the Leaky Cauldron. Only the barman stood watching them. After a moment's silence, Harry stepped back to let Ginny go first. She did so with a smile and then Harry took a pinch of Floo Powder, said "The Burrow," and then he felt that familiar spinning sensation. As he slowed down, he put his hands out to stop hitting the floor, and was met with an explosion of voices all yelling the same thing,
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!" Stunned, Harry stood up and looked around. It seemed the entire country had turned out to celebrate his birthday. Harry had completely forgotten about his birthday in the light of going back to school, but then he realized that his birthday had already passed. He attempted to say something, but Mrs. Weasley beat him to it.
"Sorry it's so late, dear, but we couldn't figure out any time to set everything up without you knowing." He nodded and looked at Ron and Hermione.
"Did you two…?" He started. After seeing them both nod vigorously, he said something along the lines of, "you bugger" amid laughter. After the initial shock of having been thrown a surprise birthday party, he was able to settle in to have a nice time with all his friends. It seemed almost the entire Order had turned up. He caught sight of Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle, and even old Mundungus Fletcher was seen in a corner with the twins. He wasn't able to catch a word of the conversation, but for some reason didn't want to know. There was no sign of Lupin the entire night. The biggest part of the evening for Harry was shortly after he arrived. Ginny approached him and gave him a tender hug. For the shortest moment, Harry caught a snatch of her perfume mixed with the smell of the shampoo she had used that morning. It was bliss. But then she broke away, muttered, "Happy Birthday," and hurried off to talk with Tonks. Shortly after midnight, Dumbledore showed up, wished Harry a Happy Birthday, and then steered him into the kitchen. It was empty. Dumbledore spoke, his voice barely audible above the noise coming from the next room,
"Remus has told me that you wish to become an eagle Animagus, Harry?"
"Yes, sir." Harry replied, slightly confused. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled,
"Harry, I must ask you not to leave the grounds as an eagle without a staff member's permission. I had to pull a lot of strings at the ministry for you and your friends to be able to become Animagi at such an early age. It would be a shame for you to waste this privilege. Do you understand, Harry?" Harry nodded.
"Good," Dumbledore continued, "now I must go. I have urgent matters concerning the Order that I must deal with. Is there anything you wish to say before I leave, however?" Harry thought for a moment and then asked,
"Sir? Professor Lupin told me it would be okay if Ron and Hermione attended the Animagus lessons with me. But, would it be alright if I brought along someone else as well?" Dumbledore seemed to ponder the question in his mind for a moment before muttering,
"I suppose it might be possible to have four underage Animagi running around at Hogwarts. Who did you have in mind?" Harry wondered whether he should tell the Professor, and in the end it supposed it would be no harm.
"Ginny Weasley, sir." Dumbledore smiled, and without another word, he swept from the room, leaving Harry completely satisfied with the way the night had turned out. Just then, Ginny came into the room. She looked around, spotted Harry and said,
"Oh, hi Harry. Hermione just told me about the lessons Professor Lupin's giving you this year. That'll be great, won't it?" Harry decided to tease her for a minute.
"Oh, yeah. I can just imagine...I can't sleep at night, so I decided to go for a little fly around the castle grounds. It'll be a lot of fun." Harry made to leave the room, but stopped when Ginny continued,
"I'm sure it will. I wish I could come. I doubt Dumbledore would want me running around with you guys all year though." She then crossed to the cupboards in the corner, searching for something.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Harry said slowly. "In fact, I think he would give you permission." Ginny looked questioningly at Harry.
"If you wanted to, you could come with us." Ginny turned full around to Harry and placed her hands on her hips,
"Harry James Potter! How dare you tease me like that!" Harry's eyes widened.
"Tease you? Tease you? I'm not teasing. I just asked Professor Dumbledore and he said you could come." Ginny seemed to study Harry's face for a moment, and then her eyes lit up and she let out a little squeal of delight. Harry grinned.
"Oh Harry, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. I wonder what animal I could be? I could be a lion or an otter maybe. I could even be a…" Harry didn't hear what she could be next, as he had left the room to let her ponder he own thoughts.
The next two days went by without incident. Ginny had turned out to be an excellent Quidditch player, scoring past Ron many times. He had watched her appreciatively for days, his affection for her growing quickly. However, it was all pushed from his mind when he woke up on the morning of September 1st. Mrs. Weasley bustled around madly, trying to fit extra clothes into everyone's trunk. They made it to the platform 9 ¾ on time, with ten minutes to spare. This gave Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione plenty of time to find a compartment. They found one near the back of the train, loaded their stuff into it, and then Ron and Hermione went up to the prefect cabin. Harry and Ginny were left alone. Ginny started the conversation,
"So what animal do you wanna be?" Harry frowned for a moment and then remembered the upcoming Animagus lessons. He smiled,
"An eagle."
"That's nice." Ginny replied, "you've got the right idea, I think. Something that can fly. I was thinking about a dove." Harry replied quickly,
"That suits you." Ginny frowned,
"Suits me? What do you mean?"
"Well, doves are beautiful and charming, are they not?" Ginny eyed Harry nervously for a moment before he broke the silence,
"So, you're gonna try out for the Quidditch team?" This conversation carried them well into the train ride. It lasted quite a while after Ron and Hermione had joined them and only stopped once the witch with the trolley arrived. Harry loaded up on sweets and shared them with everyone. Ron was the one to start a new conversation, speaking through a mouthful of Chocolate Frog.
"So, Ginny, why aren't you with Dean in his cabin?" Ginny scoffed, nibbling the end of a Bertie Bott's bean. It was a funny green color.
"I dumped Dean in the middle of the summer. It was right before Harry arrived. He'd stopped replying to my owls, so I sent him one telling him we where finished. Still haven't received a reply." Harry smiled inwardly and he could have sworn he saw Ron's eyes flicker in his direction before Ginny muttered, 'ughh…grass.' Harry contented himself the rest of the ride daring the others to eat Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, while he was only brave enough to discover the flavor of a golden yellow one. It turned out to be toffee.
Shortly after changing into their school robes, the train slowed down and then stopped. The doors flung open and students began piling out into what turned out to be a light drizzle of rain. Harry heard a familiar voice calling out above everyone else's,
"Firs' years, over 'ere. Fir's years…this way!" Harry grinned and yelled,
"Hey Hagrid!" Harry heard him reply,
"Hey there, 'Arry. Quick, get into 'Ogwarts before you get drenched." Harry waved back and hurried up the carriages that used to be horseless. Since last year, Harry had seen that they were drawn by Thestral's, horselike creatures that could only be seen if the viewer had seen death. Suddenly, Cedric's body lay spread-eagled in Harry's mind, his eyes blank. Harry stubbornly pushed the memory away, took one last glance at the Thestral's and hopped into a carriage. He realized then that he had lost his friends. He had arrived in a carriage where he knew only one person. Luna Lovegood peered at him.
"Hi Harry." She said airily.
"Hi Luna." He returned. He said nothing else the entire carriage ride, but contented himself to watching Hogwarts loom up into the night sky ahead of him. Smiling, he knew that he was coming home again.
After exiting the carriage and hurrying through the rain that was quickly becoming a torrential downpour, he found Ron, Hermione and Ginny standing by a very familiar person.
"Harry," Lupin said, extending a hand, "good to see you again. If you could all follow me, I would like to talk about your lessons." They followed him without hesitation. They entered an empty classroom and sat down in chairs around a circular table. Lupin smiled and extracted a few pieces of parchment from within his ragged robes.
"Now then, you will all be receiving lessons this year to become Animagi. I will be your teacher, and I would prefer that none of you reveal to anyone what you are studying for. We do not your fellows students to think that Professor Dumbledore has favorites, do we? Now, I have here your letters you sent me. Harry, you stated that you wish to become an eagle Animagus." Harry nodded.
"Hermione a cat, yes?" Hermione nodded.
"Ginny, a dove?"
"Yes, Professor." She replied. Lupin smiled and looked at Ron.
"And Ron…a Lion?" Ron replied quietly,
"That's right."
"Excellent. Your first lesson will be September 11th at Noon. You will kindly meet me outside the library, and then we will continue to the area where you will be taught. I believe the eleventh is a Saturday, so I trust you won't be late. Now, hurry back to the Great Hall before you miss the feast." They all stood and exited, Harry and Ginny being the last ones in the room. Ginny was only a step ahead of Harry. As they left, Harry's hand brushed against her thigh gingerly. Ginny seemed not to notice, but Harry certainly did.
They reached the Great Hall to see that they had missed the Sorting. Dumbledore stood up as the foursome hurried to get seats at the Gryffindor House table.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said loudly. "I see that most of you are looking hungry and undernourished, so I will not hold you away from food a moment longer. Tuck in." He sat and mountains of food suddenly appeared on the golden plates in front of them. Harry didn't feel hungry. He kept trying to steal sideways glances at Ginny, who had sat down next to him. He somehow knew that that moment of touch would replace any other dream for weeks. After Ginny noticed him looking at her for the third time, he gave up and glanced over at the other House tables. His eyes eventually wandered to the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. Hurriedly, he pointed this out to Ron and Hermione,
"Maybe he's going to another school?" Hermione suggested.
"Maybe he's dead." Ron suggested, a hint of hope in his voice. It turned out that Malfoy was just late, when he followed Snape into the Great Hall minutes later. He wondered what they had been discussing, but had no time to think on it as the golden plates and goblets cleaned themselves, and Dumbledore stood once more. He opened his arms wide,
"First, I want to welcome you all again to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, this year is going to be like no other year. Many of your fellow students will suffer losses, as some already have. I want to encourage you to console those peers in any way you seem necessary." Harry glanced over at where Malfoy had sat and saw him smirking slightly. He turned his mind back to what Dumbledore was saying,
"…wants me to remind all students that magic is forbidden within the corridors of this school and that the forest is off limits to all students. Also, this year's list of forbidden objects has been expanded to include almost every item found at the store Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." Dumbledore allowed the faintest of smiles to settle on the Gryffindor table before continuing. "And, finally, I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Hunting." Harry noticed the new teacher for the first time that night. His mind had been too full of thoughts of Ginny to even look for a new teacher. As she stood up though, Harry's mind was completely on her. They had only ever had one female Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher before and he was surprised at how different they looked. Professor Hunting was young and good-looking, with gentle curves which made a very nice body. However, Harry didn't focus on her body. Instead he focused on her face, which seemed much to gentle to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. She waved once, her brown hair bobbing on her head, and then sat down to much applause. Most of it was from male hands. Dumbledore spoke again,
"Well, that leaves it for today. I wish you all a very good year in case I don't see you. Goodnight." At that, the entire hall stood and headed towards their common rooms. It took Harry what seemed a rather long time to reach the fat lady, who was refusing to open as no one knew the password. Ron pushed past and said,
"I know it, I know it. The password's 'Bludger.'" Harry heard someone sigh behind him. He looked round and saw Neville Longbottom.
"Hey Neville."
"Hi, Harry. No too bad this year is it. The password, I mean. I might actually remember it." Harry grinned and entered the common room. He didn't bother stopping to talk to anyone as he crossed to the stairs leading up to his dormitory. He was too tired. It had been a long day, and as he undressed to get into bed, his thoughts returned to Ginny. He could see her hair rippling slightly as she flew around the forest in the back of The Burrow. He could still smell the mixture of smells from her perfume and shampoo as she gave him that hug at his birthday party. Most of all, he could still feel her thigh brush against his hand. He fell asleep and she continued to run wildly through his dreams, as he knew she would.
A/N: I know, I know. It's getting more and more mushy, and no, you won't get to see anything they do together in later chapters, so don't ask! Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter. The next one will be coming up soon, I hope.
MISC STUFF: It seems I'm updating more than once a week. Fine by me, how about you?
I would like to thank a few people before I carry on writing this fic:
JK Rowling – For creating this universe
Ryan Worstell a.k.a Mako Thunderbird – For introducing me to this site.
My brother– For introducing me to these books
My brother's English teacher – For introducing my brother to the books
Bloodless Ace – For helping me get my genders right
And finally…
The voices in my head – For telling me to write this thing.