Chapter 11: Unregistered Animagus

Beth lay awake in her bed thinking about the vault. You-Know-Who had only managed to get one of the relics after all. She listened to Balboa purring gently next to her pillow. She had wanted to go after the locket but Dumbledore had forbidden her to do so.

"It's far too dangerous to try and retrieve it alone. I have little doubt that it is very well guarded and you must remember that the Death Eaters are wizards that have many more years of experience than you and at least one is an unregistered animagus." He shook his head. "No, it's far too dangerous. You have already helped considerably and you may continue to help. There is much work to be done reading through the scrolls about the enchantments and spells that could be enacted with the relics."

Dumbledore had talked at considerable length about the many different kinds of spells that his research showed the relics might be able to cast. Beth couldn't help but be fascinated by it but that didn't stop her from wanting to search out the last relic.

The biggest obstacle was the fact that she still had classes. There was something inside her that wouldn't let her simply run away from Hogwarts to go plowing through Death Eaters in search of Salizar's locket. She wanted to finish her education here; there were so many things left to learn. She punched the sheets in frustration.

"There's just no time!" She hissed to herself as she rolled over. She thought once again about the relics that were tucked away in the vaults of the Owlery. A single passage in a misplaced history had implied that Rowena's relic was indeed a Chalice, and it had been correct; she could still picture Helga's black and gold shield. She wondered if perhaps Salizar's relic wasn't a locket after all. She sighed and stared at the deep blue velvet of her bed curtains. There were always too many possibilities.

Beth spent a considerable amount of time reading old letters and scrolls trying to find clues about the magic that the relics contained. She also spent a lot of time trying to repeat her transformation and long hours with Professor McGonagall begging her to transform into a cat and to explain how she managed to do it.

Every passing day made her worry that the Death Eaters would somehow find a way to breach the vault and she found herself wanting to go check at every spare moment that the relics were all safe. She was determined not to give away their secret locations with her paranoia. She instead decided to learn exactly how she had managed to accomplish her animagus transformation.

Every opportunity she was alone she concentrated hard on her animal form, as Professor McGonagall had suggested, and tried to imagine her body shrinking into that of a falcon. It never seemed to work, or if she thought it was working she got so excited that she lost her concentration.

She remained at Hogwarts over the Christmas break, politely but firmly declining Hestia's invitation to come to her home over the holidays. She had planned to spend a great deal of time in the library searching through old history books about the Slytherin house and Salizar himself. She also intended to try and use the lack of other students to practice her animagus transformation.

She hadn't counted on the fact that Draco Malfoy wouldn't go home for the holidays either. She cursed as she saw his name on the list.

"He must still be searching for the vault." She told Balboa as she hid herself away in the library, pouring over a few books that she had selected and a few that Madame Pince had selected. She peered around every so often just to make sure that he hadn't followed her into the library and several times she noticed him pretending to be studying a book at a distant table.

"Damnit!" She hissed as she shuffled the books and hid their spines and titles as she passed him on her way back to Madame Pomfrey's desk. "He's following me, I know it!"

Balboa made a curious little noise and stared at her with his bright yellow eyes. Beth sighed and hurried back to her room.

It was hard to avoid Draco Malfoy, but one clear cold day she stood at the edge of the Forest, out of view of the castle and Hagrid's small hut. She spent a long time staring at the impossibly blue winter sky trying to imagine flying through it.

She looked around one last time making sure that no one was watching before she concentrated hard on her body shifting and changing. Finally she closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself changing into a falcon.

She stood for a long time in the cold snow before she felt a strange shrinking sensation in her legs. She bit back exhilaration and concentrated on the feeling and slowly she felt herself change. She finally allowed herself to let out an exhilarated cry as she flapped her wings and soared into the sky.

It was harder to think now and her eyes kept darting downwards, tracking every small movement. She circled once before heading back towards where she had left Balboa sitting in the snow when her eyes caught something moving quickly across the snow. It looked like a boy and he was running full speed towards the castle.

Beth didn't manage a landing; instead she transformed several feet above the ground and fell in a heap into the snow. She scrambled to her feet and breathless with fear she ran towards the castle. Her eyesight wasn't as keen anymore but there was no one else with hair that pale.

"Draco!" She said as she scooped Balboa out of a snow drift. "He saw me!" She ran towards the castle but by the time she reached the doors Draco was gone. She stood panting for a few moments, knowing that even if she had caught him there would've been no way to deny it and any threats she made would have easily made the situation ten times worse.

She hurried towards Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster needed to know and perhaps he would let her explain a few things to Professor McGonagall. Surely if the two of them were on her side and it looked like she had just done it for the first time the Ministry wouldn't make charges against her.

"Headmaster!" She said as she rapped on the door louder than was necessary. It opened a second later and she rushed inside. Several of the portraits paused whatever they were doing to give her long and perhaps annoyed stares.

"Headmaster!" She panted again.

Dumbledore was checking his silver pocket watch. "That's ten seconds faster than the last time." He said, impressed, "My dear you must stop running all the way to my office. There are better ways to get exercise." He said with a warm smile.

"I managed my transformation! I did it! Just now!" She said quickly.

"Wonderful!" He clapped his hands together. "That is indeed progress! Managing your transformation in your last year is quite an accomplishment!"

"I think Draco Malfoy saw me!" She said not bothering to thank him for the compliment.

Dumbledore smiled. "I don't think that will be a problem, unless he's seen you make the transformation before."

Beth paused for a moment to think. Not unless he'd seen her transform that time at the cave in Hogsmede. She suddenly felt herself go pale.

"I think he saw me, not transform, but already transformed, in a tree…" She said slowly.

Dumbledore sat for several moments looking thoughtful. "It would be difficult to prove that two birds seen in two different places are the same person but we shouldn't be too careful. You go inform Professor McGonagall and I will inform the Ministry."

Professor McGonagall was thrilled with the news and bustled her straight back to her room to gather her traveling cloak.

Dumbledore bid them both a fond farewell as they stepped into the fireplace of his office. Beth was still trying to protest but Dumbledore only smiled more warmly at her.

"Don't worry about a thing, my dear, you'll manage just fine." He said as Beth's vision blurred and she was speeding through the Floo Network.

Beth felt like screaming long before they were done at the Ministry. It seemed that in a time of war the process no longer took months, but it did take several hours and Beth had to do the transformation several times for at least three different experts. She wondered if it was an attempt to discover if she was a fake or trying to disguise her animal or her markings. She had nearly bitten one man with her sharp beak as he'd prodded her with the sharp end of his quill.

By the time they were ready to leave Beth was dizzy and sporting several new bruises. Professor McGonagall looked a bit miffed herself at the whole process.

"Simply ridiculous!" She muttered under her breath as they stepped into the fireplace and emerged back in Dumbledore's office. "Nonetheless, fifty points to Ravenclaw for your transformation."

Beth met Balboa back in her room as she flopped down onto her bed with a groan. She fished out her bruise salve and applied it to several places on her stomach where that damned man had poked her too hard with his quill.

"At least I'll have something to tell the others when they get back and now that I'm registered I'll have to practice flying!" She told Balboa as she lay back on her bed.

She lay thinking about it for several long moments. Once she could fly she could go almost anyplace that she wanted to. Suddenly an idea struck her and a smile slowly lit her face. She could go search for the locket over the next break. She didn't have to go home, a well placed letter and she would be free for the entire summer.

Next to her head, Balboa purred loudly.