Chapter 2 - Of Discovery and A List of Labour

His eyes fluttered open, responding to the soft, but naggingly annoying morning light. Blinking a few times to adjust to the brightness coming in through the small, dirty window, the black haired boy's pale lips curved into a tiny smile, as he savoured the peaceful silence that reigned the house. At that moment, there was no Aunt Petunia to give him work, no Dudley that would beat him up, and best of all, no Uncle Vernon. Not uttering a sound, Harry Potter looked out the window, and, deciding it was still early enough for him to stay in bed, sighed, and yawned widely, throughoutly content.

In his opinion, -not that it mattered very much to anyone- this was by far the best, most peaceful moment in his entire life.

I could purr, if I was a cat right now...

There was no rush to get up and out of bed, judging from the colour of the sky, and the brightness of the light, Harry had concluded that it was at least an hour before eight, his normal get-up-and-make-breakfast time. (According to his Aunt, of course.)

Getting out of bed, the pale skinned boy stretched, and went to change clothes, putting the dirty ones in a pile in the corner. As he suspected, the door was locked, and the doorknob stayed firmly stuck when he tried opening it, which meant that he wouldn't be getting a shower any time soon. Shaking his head, Harry picked up a shirt that looked clean from the top drawer and pulled it on. It looked ridiculously large front ways on him. But, on the other hand, it came to Harry that the washed out red shirt didn't come down so close to his knees anymore. Maybe he had grown a little?

Remembering the dream that he had dreamed the other night, Harry walked across the room from his dresser towards his bed, knelt, and pulled out the large, blue book on Animagi. He stood, and sat down on the bed in front of him, not caring about the fact that he was supposed to make it look "nice" as his Aunt had said. Turning to the section where he had left off, Harry found the page, and started reading again.

...Once you have found your spirit guide, it will give you a reasonable idea of what your own Animagus form will be if you attempt to transform.

Spirit guides most often come to people in the form of animals, but sometimes, this will differ for certain people. Magical animals will usually signify a more powerful wizard, and the larger the animal is, the harder the Animagus transformation will be. For witches and wizards who's power level is above average, it would not be uncommon for them to become a smaller, common magical animal such as a kneazle, or an owl. Other wizards and witches with more powerful magic, the more magic they possess, the uncommon the Animagus form will be.

In history, it has been rumoured that Merlin possessed two Animagus forms, one of which was a phoenix. Here, the known human magical Animagi have been listed below, in approximate order of discovery.

- Symris Snape-Slytherin (Deceased)- A Basilisk Animagus

- Emryn Arzul-Weinth (Deceased)- An Kneazle Animagus

- Ador Black (Deceased)- A Grim Animagus

- Godric Gryffindor (Deceased)- A Golden Gryffin Animagus

- Salazar Slytherin (Deceased)- An Ashwinder Animagus (See Index)

- Albus Dumbledore - An Eastern Phoenix Animagus (See Index)

- Minerva Finnigan-McGonagall - An European Kneazle Animagus (See Index)

- Sirius Black (Deceased)- A Magical Breed of Dog Animagus (See Magical Creature Hybrids, Index)

- Severus Snape - A Magical Raven Animagus

- Lilly Evans-Potter (Deceased) - An Oriental Unicorn Animagus (See Index)

Harry laughed when he saw Sirius's name on the list. So he was a magical Animagus, and part Grim after all! Looking higher up the list, Harry giggled when he saw the name Ador Black as a Grim Animagus. It seemed to run in the family.

Wait 'till I tell Remus about that. I bet he didn't know! Harry paused. Well, if he did, we still can have a laugh about it!

Still grinning, Harry read down the list, his eyes widening when he saw that his potions professor was a magical animagus, (of all people!) as was his mother!

Oh wow. Mum was unicorn animagus! She must've been really powerful to actually manage that!

Flipping to the back of the book, Harry found a magical index, magicked to fit the book, and containing all sorts of creatures. With the index, he was able to find out that the Oriental Unicorn was indeed a smaller type of unicorn that liked to live in the warmer parts of Japan and China, and that it avoided civilization like a plague. It appeared that although the Oriental Unicorn was white in colour, it's hooves and horn were red, a colour that the Chinese thought of as good luck.

Harry smiled when the thought struck him. A unicorn in Gryffindor colours…

Satisfied, the scruffy, black haired boy flipped back to the page with the list of magical Animagi, and turned one page forward. His eyes lit up at the heading at the top of the page:

Shape shifting

Harry grinned widely, and continued reading, absorbing the information like a dried sponge. He couldn't wait to try it out!

A tired, bruised Harry Potter dragged himself up the stairs, wincing as he stepped on his bad ankle. Not only had Aunt Petunia given him an extravagantly long list of chores, but she had also let Dudley beat Harry up when he had accidentally let one of the dishes slip out of his hands. Harry was also pretty sure that both his ribs and his right eye would bruise overnight, as would his fingers. Dudley had somehow managed to rap his hard Smeltings stick on his cousin's knuckles, which was why the much shorter teenager had dropped the plate onto the kitchen floor in the first place.

Merlin. I hate this place.

Opening his door, Harry went straight to his not-so-clean bed, and flopped down onto the little mattress, making it wheeze out air, and it's springs groan softly. He took out the Animagus book from under the bedcover, as he heard his bedroom door being locked, and flipped to the book marked page, reading on.

Shifting to a sitting position atop his bed, Harry put the blue and gold book aside, and mentally went over the instructions one last time. Closing his eyes, he concentrated.

He was in front of the black wolf again, it's green eyes sparkling with mischief and it's tail raised high. It sat, and watched the boy in front of it.

"Who are you?" The scruffy haired child in front of the large wolf asked, clearly unsure of what to do.

Unnatural silence reigned the magically summery scene, the grass waving gently in the breeze. The boy's voice sounded odd and hollow, dispersing easily around the animal and into the crystal blue sky

"You." Was the echoing answer the boy received. Power filled the air, giving the boy a sense of overwhelming awe.

He blinked.

A winged lion stood close to the dark pair, and a different sort of voice was heard in the air, joining the first.

"We are you, child.

Your coming awaited,

Child.

The time to move,

Has come."

As suddenly as the mysterious voices had started, they stopped, leaving the black haired boy with a deep sense of foreboding. He shivered, but his closed eyes flew open when a warm glow encompassed him.

Harry felt his body dissolve, if that was the right word for the sensation he was feeling. Emotions flooded him; he was blind and deaf to what was happening, knowing only that he existed, somehow.

And then all went black.

Harry's eyes fluttered open, his mind dimly registering that he was lying on his bed, he looked at the alarm clock on his desk, and his last fuzzy thought, was that he had turned sixteen. He smiled, drowsily checked under his pillow that his wand was there, and, still grasping it, fell into an exhausted slumber.

I.. did.. it.

A flash of white enveloped the boy, and he was no more.