Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.
Chapter 16 Shadow
Harry never felt so comfortable. Even though he kept replaying the events of Valentine's Day in his mind, it didn't make him as uptight as it would have before. Ginny was in his arms. They were snuggled in a corner of a couch in front of the fire illusion in the trunk. Hermione added a small warming charm so heat even emanated from the illusion, making it feel even more realistic. Ron and Hermione were on a second couch. They were becoming more obviously a couple since Valentine's Day. Harry felt more at peace than he ever remembered feeling before.
The interview with the teachers had been as nerve-wracking as Harry had expected. They had returned to the castle and Harry had led the group to the Headmaster's office. He wasn't quite sure enough of Trelawney to trust leaving her in the infirmary. What if there had been more than one Polyjuiced person? Harry thought he would feel safer if she was in sight until more than an hour had passed.
Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall had returned first. Both were rather surprised to find Harry and his friends, along with an unconscious Professor Trelawney in the Headmaster's office. Preliminary explanations of why their Divination teacher was being kept unconscious had just finished when Snape came in.
Harry would have much rather done his explanations without Snape there, but started anyway. He explained how they were late coming back from Hogsmeade (Snape snorted) and found the gates locked and how they suspected that it had been Trelawney who had passed them going towards Hogsmeade. Harry skipped over the Ginny going for help scene because he couldn't think of how she would have gotten into the castle. He got a raised eyebrow or two when he mentioned that Ginny just happened to have his invisibility cloak along, but they let him continue.
When Harry reached the part where he got captured, Snape stood and started pacing. Harry could almost feel the waves of anger pulsating from him. McGonagall caught her breath in surprise. Albus Dumbledore's eyes got very intense. Harry mentioned how Voldemort had used Legilimency for digging for the Prophecy, of which Harry had let him see the one about Wormtail; about the stress ball; and about Professor Snape. Harry was sure he had been able to control the memories seen. Professor Dumbledore's eyes had shone proudly. He then told how Snape had directed him to the Shrieking Shack and how Wormtail let him go and gave him warning of the Polyjuice. Snape even seemed surprised at this news.
Harry went on to explain how he and his friends had confronted the two Trelawneys and tried to figure which one was real. Harry told how they witnessed Wormtail's death and had to keep stunning their professor because she seemed to have gone around the bend from the stress. Harry told how he waited until Professor Snape opened the Shrieking Shack then used the invisibility cloak to get inside with Professor Trelawney. Then how his friends came in after Snape and Malfoy had left and they returned to Hogwarts.
"I didn't see your friends."
Harry kept his face forward and expressionless while he answered his professor. "That's because they had been hiding. You thought I'd be out there alone on Valentine's night?"
He could tell Snape wasn't satisfied with the answer, but had to accept it. "What was that hideous noise that was made?"
Again, Harry kept his face forward. "My father and his friends used to like to…enhance the reputation of the Shrieking Shack."
A larger scowl crossed Snape's face. "And the blood that covered the place? What do you know about that?"
"I believe Remus said that was where the werewolves from the Ministry escape ended up. Maybe they did it." He watched Snape from the corner of his eye and saw him give a shudder. He wasn't sure if it was from the memory of the shack's décor or if was from the thought of werewolves.
Harry finally asked a question of his own. "Professor Dumbledore, why would they use Polyjuice with Professor Trelawney?"
Snape make a clicking sound with his tongue as if the answer was obvious. Professor Dumbledore looked at him reprovingly then turned toward Harry. "My best guess would be that they wanted to install the double here at Hogwarts. Something similar to what they did with Barty Crouch Jr. As Sybil rarely eats with any of the other teachers, it would be relatively easy to keep up the charade."
At the end of their interview, Dumbledore brought Trelawney around. It had now been well over an hour. She instantly started babbling about lions, tigers, falcons who foretold of deadly enemies, invisible people, grims and various other portrayers of death. It was obvious that she had been through more than she could handle that evening. In a tiny corner of Harry's mind he was relieved. She would probably end up convinced that she had been overwrought and had delusions.
They were asked to escort her to the Hospital wing and to have themselves checked over as well. Harry had been glad that he would finally be able to get some headache relieving potion and maybe even some dreamless sleep potion.
They had all ended up sleeping in the Hospital wing that night. The next morning they had been told Wormtail's body had been recovered. Harry had conflicting feelings on that. He decided he'd sort them out another time. At least the Ministry was now giving more credence to the possibility that Sirius Black had been framed. It was a bit late, but at least the History books could be corrected.
They had been allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Somehow their being late was overlooked. They wondered if an Imperius Curse had been used on Filch to make him believe all the students had returned and to close the gate. They weren't complaining. They weren't about to remind anyone of the truth.
Ron was able to refill his candy stock to his heart's content. Harry, however, wanted to go to the Shrieking Shack. "I just want to make sure the door was repaired correctly. I was trying to maintain the other spell and I'm not sure it took."
The friends agreed and made their way out of town towards the supposed haunted house. All seemed a bit on edge as they looked into the woods that lined the unused road they were following. They weren't scared of any violent spirits, but more of the memory of the Death Eater's that had roamed the woods the previous night. As they neared the shack, Harry saw that the door was open. His spell hadn't taken. Harry was about to cast it again when he saw a shadow moving inside of the house. He cautioned his friends to stay quiet as they approached the door.
As Harry entered the house he heard a sound in the living room. It almost sounded like the step of a hoof. His brow furrowed as he slowly peered around the corner. There were two Thestrals in the living room, mouthing at the dried blood on the floor, furniture and walls. Harry relaxed. "It's all right." The Thestrals looked at him with their blank eyes, bared their fangs again and went back to mouthing the dried blood.
His friends, who had been right behind him guarding his back and ready to attack, relaxed as well. All three came around the corner to see what it was and Ron and Hermione gave out short screams and hurriedly stepped back out of the way. Ginny looked at them in surprise and then looked around the room in confusion. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione as he was hit with a realization.
Ron spoke first. "What the bloody hell are those things?" He was staring, appalled, at the black, skeletal horse-like creatures. One of the creatures was a little unsettled and ruffled it leathery wings. Hermione took another step back with her eyes huge and her wand up and ready.
Harry walked over to it and put a calming hand against its reptilian neck and stroked it's mane. It looked back at him with white staring eyes then returned to his interrupted meal. Harry looked at his friends with sad understanding. "They're Thestrals," he quietly stated.
Hermione was the first to make the connection. "Wormtail," she said softly.
Harry nodded and started gently shooing the creatures out of the shack. Ginny tried her best to help him. She had heard what happened and had seen the green light, but couldn't see Wormtail fall from her angle so her helping was pretty useless as she couldn't see them. Ron seemed reluctant to even get near the creatures and seemed revolted that he'd ever ridden one. Hermione also kept her distance but seemed morbidly fascinated. Once they were out, Harry did a brief search to see if anything else had made its way inside. He didn't find anything, but did show the others the noisemakers the Marauders had used. Hermione helped him with a stronger locking charm she knew and they locked up the shack again.
As they seemed to have lost their enthusiasm for the day, they returned early to the castle.
Now it was the following week. They had finished their homework for the night and were just taking some time to unwind. Ginny was leaning with her back against Harry. Harry had his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Harry savored the feeling of being able to just hold on to Ginny. He'd had very little physical contact as a child and he knew he still had some issues on initiating contact, but Ginny was helping him with that. She was very tactile and thought nothing of snuggling up to Harry without invitation. This in turn was making Harry more open to touching.
Right now he couldn't see her face but he could feel she was feeling tense. "What's the matter, Gin?"
Ron and Hermione looked over. Ginny took a deep breath and seemed to tense even more. Harry moved his hands to start massaging her neck. She moved her head to rub her cheek against his chest in appreciation. She let go of her breath and said softly, "I can't stop thinking about you not being able to change that night." Harry paused in his rubbing. "I know you haven't talked much about that other creature, but maybe it'd be a good idea to have a second form available for you to use."
Harry's memories of that dark creature rose in his mind. "I don't know. What if it's something really bad? I mean, the phoenix I knew. I can understand it. This thing…I couldn't even tell you what it was and it tried to attack me."
Hermione joined the conversation. "I'm sure it looked like it, but I did some research. My leopard made me think of it. It was pacing around like it wanted to attack, too, but it didn't. Eventually it settled down. I've looked it up and no person studying to become an animagus has ever been harmed while in the trance. If you had given it a bit more time, it might have been okay."
Ron looked at Hermione, then gave a nod. "I've thought about it, too. It doesn't really matter what the creature is. If you can transform, it's you that's controlling it. Even if you turned into a Dementor, it would still be you."
Hermione turned on Ron. "You couldn't turn into a Dementor! Humanoid forms aren't compatible to…"
Ron took her chin and kissed her. Hermione blinked, apparently losing her train of thought. "It doesn't matter. I only meant that no matter what body it had, it would be Harry's mind. It could be the most evil thing in the world and it wouldn't be because it would be Harry." Hermione seemed to take a minute to process what he said, then smiled and nodded.
Harry looked at his friends warily. "So I reckon you all want me to give the trance another go?" Each of the others nodded.
Ginny gave him a squeeze. "I think you should at least take another look. Like Ron said, it would be you. It's only a body."
Harry took a deep, shuddering breath. "All right. Let's do this before I lose my nerve. Hermione? Will you do the honors?"
Hermione beamed and came closer. It was obvious that Harry was reluctant as it took longer than usual to sink deeply into the trance. Finally he was there. He took a look around.
The phoenix was on its perch throwing light from its form. It was almost back to full growth. The light created flickering shadows on the outskirts of its beams. Harry searched the shadows. "I can't see anything else here. Wait! I can hear breathing. I can hear it breathing, but I can't see it." Harry slowly sank to the floor and sat cross-legged style near to where he could hear the breathing. Slowly the creature came out into the light. "I was right next to it, but couldn't see it until it left the shadow." Harry forced himself to stay still and just watch the creature. A low warning rumble sounded from its throat as it started pacing agitatedly around Harry's seated form. "It's form is that of a wolf, but not a normal wolf. The body structure is set up like the Thestrals. It's painfully thin and has fangs. The fangs look a little thinner and sharper than a Thestrals. The neck and head have that same dragonish look to it. There are wings folded closely to his body."
Finally the creature stopped its pacing and turned its face towards Harry. "It has the same eyes as a Thestral, with no pupil but they're green instead of white." The creature tossed its head a gave a silent snarl at Harry. Harry forced himself to stay still. Then the creature bowed its head and walked up to Harry to lay down in front of him. Harry gave a sigh of relief. "He's lying down in front of me now." Harry reached out to touch the creature and ran his hand along the leathery hide. He could feel every rib sticking out. He took a good look. From the clawed feet to the tip of the leathery tail. The wolf thing had a powerful chest and though smaller than Padfoot, Harry thought he could probably have given him a run for his galleons in a fight. Especially with those teeth. Something was bothering him about the fangs the creature had, but he couldn't put a finger on it.
When Harry came out of the trance he still had mixed feelings about the creature. It was obviously very aggressive, but it did calm down for him. He supposed Ron had a point that even if that was his body, it would be him inside.
His friends were all looking at him with cautious, but hopeful expressions on their faces. "So what was planned for this weekend?"
Ginny gave him a hug and Ron came to slap a hand on his back. "I have a Quidditch practice scheduled, but I'll excuse you from it. Maybe I'll let Ginny have a practice as Seeker and give the reserves a better practice in their positions."
Ginny put her hands on her hips. "Or maybe you'll just excuse me too and just practice with the other team members." Her expression was making it an order and she had the Molly Weasley look in her eye. Harry smiled.
Ron gulped. "Or maybe you can both be excused…"
Hermione gave a smile and patted him consolingly. "It will be okay, Ron. The next Gryffindor match isn't until May, right? I'm sure they work doubly hard in the upcoming practices to make up for it."
Harry and Ginny were both agreeing so Ron brightened and nodded his head.
"They're good for each other, you know." Ginny said later.
"Yeah, they calm each other down." Harry responded. He'd been noticing a few different times where Ron was able to stop Hermione going off on a tangent of facts or Hermione stopping Ron from getting upset about something minor. So far things were working out great.
On Friday night Ginny came back from studying in the library with Ron and Hermione alone. Harry had a potions tutoring session earlier and hadn't been able to come. Harry was surprised.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?"
Ginny got a mischievous look on her face when she replied, "Oh, they said they just wanted to find a spot alone. While using the trunk was fine for all four of us, they wanted to find somewhere for just the two of them. They figured 'the room' would be able to provide."
It took Harry a moment to understand what she meant. Then his eyes opened wide. "They can't! I promised Dumbledore we would only use it for DA stuff." Harry got up and ran to get his map, then he and Ginny ran over to the Room of Requirement.
Ron and Hermione were just about to enter the room when Harry reached them. "Oi! Ron! Hermione! You can't go in there."
Ron had his hand on the door. "Why not, Harry? I mean, no offense, but snogging in front of my little sister isn't something I'm keen to do."
Harry was panting a little after his run. "I promised Dumbledore we would only use it for DA practice."
Ron's hand turned the knob and started to push the door open. "What harm could it be to just use it as a quiet…" His eyes got wide as he took in the décor of the room. "I…I see the point. Well, I guess we'll just be off then…."
Hermione's curiosity got the better of her and she pushed to door open wider. Her face immediately blushed a bright enough red to rival any Weasley. Ginny started to giggle and Harry took a look as well.
There was a large bed in the middle of the room. Harry reached out and took the knob from Ron's immobile hand and firmly closed the door. Later Ginny would laughingly tell him that Ron had been having trouble getting the room to appear, so it was Hermione who actually had made the door appear.
With the four friends firmly back in the hall Harry took out the map. "Look, you guys can borrow the map any time." He turned to the map. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Fine lines started to spread across the map. "There must be somewhere on here you can find to be alone together."
The lines on the map hesitated in their formation and it blanked out again. The friends looked at it in shock. Finally curling green letters started to form.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Tryst-Seekers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map To Secret Locations
"Mr. Prongs would like to congratulate the young romance-seeker on his utilizing this amazing tool to aid in his pursuit of 'Romantique Liaisons'."
"Mr. Padfoot would like to also extend his congratulations and further endorse the full use of the locations about to be revealed in this wondrous map."
"Mr. Moony would like to comment that few could keep up with Mr. Padfoot's tom-catting life style."
"Mr. Padfoot deeply resents the implications implied by Mr. Moony…at least the likeness to a 'cat'."
"Mr. Wormtail does admit that Mr. Padfoot's ways more closely resemble a bird dog. Any bird within reach, the old dog."
"Mr. Prongs does concur with Mr. Wormtail and is surprised by his astuteness. The varied number of birds Mr. Padfoot samples is, indeed, impressive."
"Mr. Padfoot refuses to stay quiet while he is being so maligned. Mr. Padfoot would also like to point out that Mr. Prongs is no slouch either."
"Mr. Prongs would like to strongly refute the likeness of the pursuit to Mr. Padfoot. Mr. Prongs is only passing time until a certain doe opens her beautiful green eyes to Mr. Prong's charms."
"Mr. Moony would like to recall the conversation back to the map itself. The tryst-seeker is more likely interested in their own trysts and not of those of the brilliant map makers."
"Mr. Wormtail is of the same opinion and would like to explain that each location has been thoroughly tested and approved by a member of the Marauders. Mr. Moony, Mr. Wormtail, Mr. Padfoot, or Mr. Prong's own personal stamp of approval has been given. With no further ado…."
Fine lines again spread throughout the parchment. This time tiny antlers, paw prints, moon symbols and mouse prints appeared in certain rooms. Harry was frozen. This was a bit more than he was ready for. Harry could feel a hand rest on his back. He swallowed hard and thrust the map into Ron's hands. Harry turned and walked away.
He walked until he reached the common room. He could hear Ginny calling his name, but he ignored her. He made his way to the trunk. He put the Ingravo belt on and got out the Spellseye. He started firing curse after curse wandlessly at it. He wanted to tire himself out. He'd swear when he'd miss and start again twice as hard. He refused to let himself think. He just gave himself over to the rhythm of the spell-casting.
Finally, drained, he collapsed to the floor. Once again he felt a hand on his back. He hadn't even realized Ginny was down there, just watching him. Harry's shoulders started to shake. He felt he was falling apart at the seams. He felt Ginny's arms go around him. He buried his face against her and hung on for dear life.
After collecting himself, he started to speak in a quiet, but tremulous voice. "Another one dead. I didn't even like him. I mean, he betrayed my parents, but…My dad, Sirius, and now Pettigrew…they all died because of something they were doing for me." Harry refused to cry, but something was tearing at him deep inside.
"You still have Remus."
Harry felt a foreboding shudder travel down his body. "Yeah. I still have Remus."
Ginny eventually coaxed Harry out to the common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting there. They figured the map explorations (among others) could wait until they were sure Harry was all right. They knew his emotions about Wormtail's death were all over the place. Hate, disgust and gratitude made for a bad combination.
Harry did have contact with Remus via the mirror. Beyond acknowledging they both knew of Wormtail's death and the circumstances around it, they didn't speak of it. Harry imagined Remus probably had as many conflicting feelings as he did.
Saturday morning Ron was anxious to get out on the pitch. He was getting excited over his ideas of having the reserves take a larger roll in this practice. He didn't want something like a sneezing beater to be a factor in losing the game. Hermione was undecided on what to do. She volunteered to stay with Harry while he changed, but also had an essay for her Arithmancy class she needed to work on. Harry assured her that with Ginny there, he would be fine. Hermione could go off and study with his blessing.
That left Harry and Ginny. Harry was nervous. Despite Ginny's reassurances that everything would be fine, he was nervous. It wasn't the pain. He'd had that before and knew he could handle it, it was Ginny's reaction. If she reacted badly to something that was part of him….
It was part of him. Something about how it stayed in the shadows to not be seen, seemed very familiar to Harry. The relationship it obviously had to Thestrals, bad luck death omens, well…enough said. And the fangs…he still couldn't put his finger on what it was about the fangs that disturbed him.
Ginny was getting impatient. "Were you going to do it this weekend? Or did I get the date wrong?"
Harry took a deep breath. "Just – don't be scared, Ginny."
"I'll be fine. Now concentrate!"
Harry did. He focused on the spell needed to transform the first time and on the creature he had seen. Soon the pressure in his bones and muscles started and his mind was filled with the pain.
When Harry could finally open his eyes he saw Ginny was across the room staring at him with a shocked expression. She had a vibrant glow around her and looked beautiful. He closed his eyes with a whimper. She hated him. If he could he would transform back immediately, but he didn't have the strength yet. Ginny hated him. He curled up in a ball of pain.
"Harry?" Harry felt a brief touch and he flinched from it. "Harry, I'm sorry. I was surprised. I thought I knew what this body would look like, but I couldn't know. I just have to get used to it is all. Please let me help you?"
Harry turned and looked up at her. She was visibly disturbed by his eyes and he looked away. Her hand cupped his chin and turned his face back towards herself. Her hands actually touched the fangs that never quite were totally concealed. Her features were sincere as she looked into his blank eyes. "I will get used to it. Just give me a little time."
She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at the skeletal body. "You know, it almost reminds me of what Crookshanks looks like when you give him a bath, just to a greater extent. I helped Hermione once when he got into a mess. He's really quite thin under all his bushy fur. You just don't have the fur. He just withers away to nothing."
She reached out a hand and tentatively touched his back. She tried to pet him. A peaceful buzz seemed to settle in his mind as she did so. It felt great. The petting seemed to drive away the fog the pain caused and replaced it with a feeling of bliss similar to how the Imperius Curse had felt. The main difference being that no one was commanding him to do something against his will.
Ginny continued her dialog as she explored the different features of this form below her. She seemed to feel talking out loud and taking one feature at a time helped her deal with the situation better. Harry liked hearing her talk. Her voice had a soothing rhythm to his ears. He twitched one. His nose twitched, too. She also smelled good. He licked his chops.
"You've always been on the thin side, but this…I'd be worried if I hadn't heard that Thestrals were described something like this. Oh! It's okay. You just startled me when you licked your lips like that. I'm fine." Ginny was sitting cross-legged next to him. Harry put his head on her leg.
"Your skin…it's different. It's not like the hair is just missing, the skin seems thicker somehow, more protected. I wonder if you would be kept warm in cold weather? Your teeth are quite sharp." Ginny started tracing the outline of one of his fangs. Harry wriggled a little more into her lap. He just wanted to be closer to the comfort of those hands that traveled his bony frame. His tail gave a short thump.
She started tracing a ridge on his forehead. The shape was there, but the scar couldn't be seen. He shifted again and one paw was behind her while the other reached across, over her other leg. He almost had her pinned where she sat. She kept talking, focusing on his paws, tail, ears. She was fascinated by his wings, but didn't want to risk hurting him to try to unfurl them. Finally the pain was controllable and Harry lifted his gaze to Ginny's face. She smiled down into his strange eyes with acceptance. Harry was satisfied.
Harry tensed and started focusing on changing back. The stretching and condensing of bones until they shattered and the fire of them remolding along with the tearing of muscles started over again. As Harry came back to himself he found himself tightly holding on to Ginny around her waist. His head was still in her lap. He groaned.
Ginny was brushing back the hair on his head. "If you'd given me some warning I could have made you more comfortable."
Harry gave her a weak grin. "I'm not complaining. I like it here."
She lightly slapped his shoulder, but Harry could tell she was pleased. Harry turned serious. "Thank you, Ginny."
Ginny seemed to understand he was thanking her for not turning away from him. "Shadow was more than a little shocking at first, but he's not really all that bad."
"Shadow, huh?"
"Yes. Shadow. It's a rather obvious name, but fits him perfectly. I'll be curious to see what turns up when you can explore him."
Hermione came down a little later. She was disappointed Harry had already changed back, but she had been intent on getting her essay finished. "Did you take a picture?"
"I'm not sure it'd even be a good idea to have a picture of him." Ginny seemed to think it over. "I mean it's possible to have a picture of a lion, or leopard, falcon, or even a phoenix, but if anyone saw a picture of Shadow…. There would be more questions than any of us want to answer."
Hermione looked disappointed, but accepted it. "You're probably right. I'll see, what did you call him? Shadow? next week."
By the time Ron came, Harry was already feeling much better. Ginny had brought and ate lunch with him. Ron helped Harry out of the trunk. Neville was digging through his trunk for a Herbology book when they came out. He saw the shape Harry was in and was surprised. "I thought he'd already changed?"
Ron was feeling quite talkative. "Oh, he had. But Harry had a second form. He was a bit reluctant to use it for some reason, but we managed to convince him."
Ginny was glaring at Ron. Harry thought she understood how Ron didn't have a clue why Harry was so reluctant to change. Ginny understood. She was glad he had changed, but she understood why he had not wanted to. Ron made it all sound so simple.
Neville nodded towards Harry. "So what else is he?"
"Some kind of wolf," Ron answered very nonchalantly. "Hey, next weekend we plan to change together. D'you and Luna want to see?"
Neville gave kind of a sick grin. "I think Luna would love to." Harry noted that Neville, himself, didn't seem too thrilled with the idea.
Harry spent most of the weekend sleeping. It was funny how quickly you forgot how painful something was. Monday came and he was scrambling with his homework, but they did hold a DA meeting that night. Blaise and Audra had even been convinced to take a look.
The cover was that Hermione, as a Prefect, invited Audra, the Head Girl, and Blaise came along as her boyfriend. Audra had been surprised that there were several lower year Slytherins in the room. The DAs numbers had grown near to seventy and Harry was sure that some of the Slytherin younger years reported back to Malfoy on what they did here, not necessarily because they wanted to, but because it kept the peace in their common room. Harry had a feeling, though, that they mostly reported on the second half of the study group, not so much the first half.
Harry started showing the restraining ropes he'd used on the Professors Trelawney. He and others who understood the spell walked around the classroom to help others. During the second half, Harry once again formed groups so they could study what they wanted. Most groups were formed by year so they could practice spells they deemed important from their schoolbooks. Other groups formed to practice the Patronus or other specific spells.
Soon the room was full of noise and Harry took a good look around, trying to see it from Blaise or Audra's point of view. It really was quite impressive. A large number of the school's population was here in this room, practically a whole house. Not everyone came to every session, of course, but an amazing number did. As there were so many people, the older years almost always had someone who could help the younger years with what they wanted to learn and Harry could spend more time helping the older years or specialized spell groups.
Blaise had gone by the sixth year students. They were all in the same DADA class and were covering something that he and Harry had covered the week before in Harry's potion tutoring session. The others were a little reserved to see him there, but after he was able to correct a movement they were doing wrong, they loosened up a little. After a while he wandered away, just to watch. It almost seemed like a self-taught defense class with Harry as the overall supervisor. Currently he was demonstrating a spell to the seventh years, for Merlin's sake. He had to admit, Potter was good. After a couple of tries, two of the seventh years finally understood and Potter moved on. The two who understood took over the explanations to the others.
Potter came up to the dark eyed boy. "This is more fun, isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Makes for a large classroom. Every session like this?"
"Pretty much. I asked the people from last year what they wanted and this is what we came up with. The first half I come up with something defensive I think could be useful that might not be taught at Hogwarts and then the second half we can focus on what we should be learning in class or practice whatever takes our fancy."
"Doesn't it feel odd teaching seventh years?"
Harry gave a lopsided grin. "Not as odd as it did last year!"
"A fifth year teaching seventh years? Ever think you should become a teacher instead of an auror?"
Harry tilted his head as if he'd never thought of it. "Nah. I just happened to know what they wanted to learn. I don't think I could do it for real. I just try to help with what I know."
Suddenly a blue light came their way. "Hang on. Absorbio!" Harry formed a triangle with his wand tip and the blue light hit a shield and dissipated. "Gotta keep your eyes open in here."
Some fourth years across the way apologized sheepishly for the stray spell. Harry just smiled and let them get back to work.
"What was that shield? Why didn't you just use Protego?"
"In a room as crowded as this someone could get hurt by a rebounded spell. For weaker curses, the Absorbio shield can dissipate the curse. Its drawback is that it can't deflect more than one at a time and won't hold up to more powerful curses. We should learn about them next year if we get a competent teacher."
Blaise looked at him in disbelief. "And you don't think you could be a teacher?"
Harry looked a little embarrassed that he knew that much. "Well, I learn as much in here as anyone. If someone wants to learn about something, I have to look it up so I can help him. Doing that helps me learn, too." Harry was absentmindedly rubbing his shoulder.
"What's the matter with your shoulder?"
Harry looked surprised that he was rubbing it. The aches from the weekend hadn't all left yet. "I overdid it and pulled a muscle this weekend. It's still a little sore."
A snort came from their side. Fifth years were practicing some of their hexes and Ginny had been listening in on Harry's conversation. "Yeah, pulled muscle."
Harry frowned at her warningly then gave a smile. "Blaise, have you met Ginny Weasley? Ginny, this is Blaise Zabini."
Ginny smiled impishly at Harry then turned to shake hands with Blaise. "Pleased to meet you."
Across the room came an excited shout. "Harry!"
Harry looked up to see Neville with a silver bulldog prancing around him. "Way to go, Nev!" Harry turned to Blaise. "Excuse me. This is important." Blaise nodded and Harry wove through the room until he reached Neville's side.
"Neville's been trying for a year. Harry never let him lose faith that he could do it. He does that a lot. He doesn't see it himself, but most people here would do almost anything for him." Ginny turned to look at Blaise. "I like your idea of him becoming a teacher. He really would be a natural at it. I don't think he'd let himself seriously think about it until after Voldemort's gone," Blaise flinched, "but after that I'll suggest it to him again."
"You state that like it's an obvious thing. You are aware that You-Know-Who has threatened Potter personally?" Blaise's dark eyes stared at Ginny with a serious expression.
"Yes. But did you know that Harry had another confrontation with him on Valentine's Day?" Blaise was obviously shocked. "I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I did hear Harry call him a moron." Ginny smiled at the memory. Blaise started to hyperventilate. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters didn't like that too much, but Harry got away again." Ginny was pleased that, that time, Blaise didn't flinch at Voldemort's name. She figured he was still too shocked by the 'moron' comment. "Harry's been face to face with him more times than I care to think about. He's always managed to get away. One of these times he'll figure out how beat him. I have no doubt." Actually Ginny just didn't allow herself to have doubts, because the alternative was unacceptable.
Harry would have been surprised, but Ginny wouldn't, to learn that after the meeting the younger Slytherins pulled their wands on Blaise and Audra and threatened them to keep their mouths shut about the first half of the class. They only allowed talk of the second half of the practices to get out in the Slytherin common room. With some amusement Blaise and Audra agreed.
Saturday was Ron's seventeenth birthday. Harry had given him a set of books recommended by Griphook. Ron had been a bit disgusted that Harry would get him books at first until he saw what they were. He was quite anxious now to get some time to look through them.
It was a cold, but clear day and Ron was happy. Harry wished he'd give it a rest about being of age. Harry still had another five months to go. Sometimes it was the pits being on the younger end of the class. Harry felt the muggle equivalent was probably like the feeling of being last to take drivers' ed. Ron and Hermione would be able to go for their apparition licenses right after Hogwarts got out. Harry would still have to wait half the summer.
Mid-morning the four animagi friends along with Neville and Luna made their way to the Forbidden Forest. Neville and Luna were only planning to watch the transformations. Even Neville had some curiosity about the forms. The only one he'd actually seen was Harry's phoenix. Being a Gryffindor, he was curious to see a lion up close in a safe environment. Harry would have rather not have to change to Shadow at all. He still didn't like the form even though he knew Ginny had a point that it would be good to know what that form could do. You never knew when something of it could come in handy.
Ron started the transformation. It was his day and the others didn't begrudge him his chance to show off. A Gryffindor being a lion was quite something. It was also a strong, large animal, which said something about his magical strength.
Hermione transformed next, followed by Ginny and Harry with his phoenix form. Neville looked around at the different animals. "You're making yourselves a right little zoo here."
After a couple of minutes of Neville and Luna admiring their different forms, the teens changed back. Ron looked at Harry. "What about your wolf thing?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure you want to see it? It's not very nice looking." He turned towards Neville and Luna. "We're not sure what it is. It looks similar to a Thestral, but mixed with a wolf instead of a horse."
Neville braced himself, Ron and Hermione looked curious, Ginny smiled encouragingly at him and Luna just had her usual slightly unfocused look about her. Harry took a deep breath and changed.
Ron and Hermione immediately gave a startled shout and stepped back. Instantly their wands were up.
"Move away from him slowly, Ginny," said Ron in a low, tense voice. The wolf's head ducked as if it had been hit.
Ginny glared at Ron and Hermione while Luna calmly made her way to Harry and started to pet him. "Whatever is the matter with you, Ronald Weasley? This is Harry! Remember, 'Doesn't matter what the body's like, it's still Harry inside'? Ring any bells?"
Harry sank to his belly and put his head down. Luna seemed fascinated by his form. Neville, too, seemed more curious than cautious. They had both been able to see Thestrals all their years at Hogwarts. Harry supposed the shock of the form wasn't as new to them.
Neville came closer, too. "Are those wings, Harry? Are they like the Thestrals?"
Harry got up and obligingly spread them out. He was curious himself. The wings seemed powerful, but light. Of what Harry could see, they reminded him of a dragon's wing. Light bones ran through it, with a thin, but strong membrane holding it together. He wondered if he would to be able to fly as fast as the Thestrals had the year before.
Harry chanced another glance at Ron and Hermione. Ron had lowered his wand and Hermione's was no longer in sight. She was beginning to get that analytical gleam in her eyes. Upon meeting the strange looking eyes of Shadow, however, Ron tensed again. Ginny was trying to pull him closer.
"Just take it one feature at a time. Shadow's really not that bad. A bit on the thin side, but Harry's always been thin." Ron slowly started to relax again.
Luna was doing something by Shadow's mouth. She was gently pulling the upper lip back to view his teeth. "So, Harry, what kind of venom do you think you have?"
Harry blinked in shock. He instantly transformed back to himself. Luna still had hold of his lip. "Venom? What do you mean venom?"
"Why, your fangs, of course. They're very similar to a cobra's fangs. They're longer than usual and recede back so you can't bite yourself, just like the snake's."
Harry was beginning to feel he was about to turn as green as Ron just got. He just sat there feeling floored. That's what had been bothering him about the fangs. They weren't the tearing kind like the Thestrals or a wolfs. They were slimmer and curved back. The bit you could see when the mouth had been closed weren't vertical, but more horizontal.
Neville was looking at Luna inquiringly. "So Harry's wolf is part snake? Cobra?"
Luna finally let go of Harry's upper lip. "Looks that way. Wolf, Thestral, King Cobra. Interesting combination. I almost wish my dad could see him. I don't think he'd believe me otherwise."
Now that was saying something. The Quibbler was widely known for believing in stories most others scoff at. If Luna thought her dad wouldn't believe in Shadow….
Neville started to laugh quietly to himself. Ron looked over in disbelief. "What do you find so funny about this?"
Neville looked back at them with a smile still on his face. "Well, you know that I've had Trevor for years. I've always been interested in amphibians. But I've also been interested in reptile's. But there is no way that Gran would let me keep a snake in the manor. You know how often Trevor gets away. Could you imagine the reaction to a snake?"
Hermione was now looking curious. "What does that have to do with Shadow?"
"Shadow? Good name that. Anyway, the King Cobra eats snakes. I just think that's a good sign." Neville looked back at Harry with a small smile on his face. "If you need some help figuring out what the venom does, I have Professor Sprout's permission to use the Greenhouse Testing area?"
Hermione was now interested. "What's the Greenhouse Testing Area?"
Neville shifted slightly. "You all know how I like Herbology. I've spent a lot of time that past couple of years sort of hanging out by the Greenhouses, offering to help Madam Sprout. She's taught me a few things not in the regular classes. There are a lot of poisonous plants. The Venomous Tentacula to name just one. There's a whole testing area for seeing what kind of poisons a plant may have or what it may do to a person. I would imagine the venom could be tested in the same way."
Hermione's eyes were shining. "Do you think I could help you? Oh, that would be so wonderful!" Ron rolled his eyes.
"Sure. We'll have to be careful, though. We don't want Professor Sprout knowing what we're testing."
Hermione was just bubbling with joy now. Ginny took over the conversation. "That's great, but until everything is ready for that, we might as well find out more about Shadow and what he can do. Harry, change back."
Harry's gaze swung to Ron. Ron looked back at him a bit embarrassed. "They're right. I'm sorry I reacted badly. But the eating snakes thing is a good sign. Not that I expect you'll eat…." Ron just sort of drifted off, leaving his sentence hanging.
Harry gave a laugh. "I don't expect to eat him, either. There must be some other way." Harry's gaze moved around his circle of friends. "Are you all okay with Shadow?"
Hermione nodded. "It was just the shock. I know you said those creatures we saw two weeks ago were Thestrals, but I still wasn't ready. I'm ready now. I've made a list based on your description of things we should test. Shadows obviously a magical creature so we should test if he's invisible, like the Thestrals are…or were." Hermione got out a notebook.
"I can see him, but I can't see Thestrals," Ginny said.
"Okay, that's done," she marked something off on her notebook. "What about flying?"
They all looked at Harry expectantly. Harry changed to Shadow, unfurled his wings and took off in the direction of Hogsmeade. Before he knew it, he was high over the town. Whoops! He hadn't meant to actually go that far. He turned around and headed back. He lightly landed in front of his friends.
Ginny's eyes were wide. "I don't think I'll be able to beat that in a race. I bet you're as fast as the Thestrals are. I had never flown as fast as I had with them."
Hermione was scribbling in her notebook. "You said you couldn't see him when he was in the shadows. Do you think it was just because he's black and hard to see or do you think there's something more? Why don't we move a little deeper where there are more shadows and we can test it?"
Neville decided he'd go back to Hogwarts and see what he could set up and get as supplies for the testing. He planned to meet with them in another two hours. Luna also decided to head back. She would keep Neville company for a while.
The four friends traveled deeper into the Forbidden Forest. The canopy got denser the farther they went in. Hermione stopped them. There were large boulders that cast substantial shadows. Harry walked into one, and to his friends eyes, disappeared.
"Oi, Harry?" Ron followed him into the shadow and bumped into him. "It's like the shadow makes him invisible. I can touch him, but I still can't see him."
"Hmmm," Hermione was writing furiously in her notebook again. "Not too useful during the day, but dead useful at night."
They tested a few more things. Harry had pretty decent night vision and could see something around living plants and animals. Hermione thought it may be the life force. His nose was sensitive to decay or death. Ron and Hermione also were more sensitive to smells in their forms. Finally they figured enough was enough and decided to just play for a while in their forms.
Harry could fly as Shadow, but couldn't land in the trees. His claws weren't made to hold on, so he changed back to Flame.
When their two hours were up, Hermione herded them back to Hogwarts. She was anxious to meet with Neville and see what testing they could do. Ron got the Marauder's Map so they could track where any other students or teachers may be while they did their testing.
They met up with Neville, near Greenhouse twelve. The coast was clear so Neville brought them inside. Neville had about twenty-five jars set up to collect venom. Harry changed into Shadow and bit through the cloth top of the jars. He was able to inject venom into twenty-three jars before he felt that was the last he had. He changed back. "Sorry, that's all there is for now."
Neville nodded. "That's more than I thought you'd have. If it holds true with the King Cobra, you'll have as much as this again within 48 hours. We'll get started on the testing and let you know what we find." Hermione was bouncing with excitement next to Neville. Harry looked at Ron and Ginny and shrugged. Harry, Ron and Ginny left. They would keep watch for others with the map. If someone did come by, he could flash Hermione out of there. They headed to the trunk to spend time alternating between one keeping watch and the other two practicing spells. It was a long afternoon.