Bolt laughed like a demon as he swiped the parchment off the table and tucked it into his pants. "Mwahahahaha! Now your souls are mine!"
"WHAT!" James Potter didn't seem to take that well at all...
Lily Evans was too busy hyperventilating to say anything.
"Oh my God! I trusted you!" Sirius Black acted remarkably like a woman sometimes...
And Remus Lupin looked as if he didn't know if he should laugh or cry.
This lasted for all of the four minutes Harry Potter, aka Bolt, and Hermione Granger, aka Wildcat, managed to keep the evil grins on their faces before bursting out into laughter. Harry fell over onto his side as he laughed, one hand smacking helplessly against the floor. Hermione attempted to stifle the laughs behind her hand only to burst into further fits of giggles.
Needless to say, the four students were not amused...
Well, three of them were not amused. Once he realized it was a joke, Remus easily gave in to the earlier confusion and laughed along with the instructors. Though there was a bit of skeptical wariness to his laugh.
Harry and Hermione stopped laughing at the same instant, giving intense stares to the four that caused Remus to choke on his giggles. It was creepy the way the two acted as if they were mentally linked as they watched the students and James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily squirmed in their spots. The soul thing had been a joke... Right?
Then Hermione's lips twitched and Harry gave another snort of laughter and the tension left the room.
"Oh thank Merlin..." Remus' whisper of relief caused Harry to start laughing again while Hermione composed herself by clearing her throat.
"First of all, it really was just a privacy contract. You will literally be unable to speak of anything you hear inside this room when not in this room. And I don't encourage trying as it tends to make one look like a fool..." There was a mysterious sparkle in Wildcat's eyes when she said this. "Basically, we just wanted to let you four know that, yes... We do know that you are nosey and yes, we will share information with you just so that we can have some peace and quiet."
Bolt had finally gotten himself under control. "First, we wanted to say that it's not exactly true that we gave up our old identities when we became Animalities... In fact, it's not even true that we lost our human forms." He noticed the students giving Hermione thoughtful looks. "And yes... That is Wildcat when not in her Animality form."
Lily's eyes widened. "But if you can turn into animals and hybrids at will, why would you indicate that you couldn't? That's more impressive than even Animagi..."
Sirius and James both looked a bit cross at that comment.
"Well, not all Animalities can return to their human forms... The new ones can't change and some that will never be fully one of us... It's more of that information we didn't share with the class."
"Can you change into a full human?" Sirius was looking curiously at Bolt's wings, wondering what would happen to them when he changed.
"Yes, actually... That's another reason we brought you here and made you sign the contract." Bolt exchanged a glance with Wildcat who, after a moment, nodded. "We're not exactly from around here..." Seeing the 'No Shit, Sherlock' looks on their faces, Bolt rolled his eyes. "Meaning that we don't even exist yet... We're from the future."
This caused the three Marauders and Lily to break out into laughter. It was Lily that first caught on to the serious expressions found on the faces of the two Animalities and rein in her giggles.
"The future? How is that possible?" The red-haired witch started to look a bit nervous.
"Simple, the future Albus Dumbledore sent us back here on a mission. But... One of the things we needed to tell you this for is... Well..." Hermione cleared her throat and looked nervously from Lily to James then to Bolt. "Bolt?"
Sighing, Bolt turned emerald eyes that suddenly seemed weary to the students. "Allow me to introduce myself..." As he spoke, he seemed to shrink, becoming a height closer to that of the human form of Wildcat, wings and hooves vanishing. His eyes remained the same but the silver tips of his hair turned black, the shoulder length locks seeming a bit on the messy side. The skin beneath the pale fuzz was still pale, though a more natural shade. The bright emerald eyes remained the same. The face was remarkably like that another young man within the room. "My name is Harry... James... Potter." He was staring straight at his father when he said this. "Hello... Dad." The emerald eyes turned to Lily. "Hey, mum."
Jaws dropped and the thud of a body hitting the floor resounded in the room which suddenly far too silent.
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"I can't believe you fainted..."
"Shut up, James..."
"It really was amusing, you know."
"You too, Lily..."
"I wish I'd had my camera!"
"Remus! It wasn't that funny!" Sirius crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, sulking. "It wasn't my fault that the idea of you two having a kid was so shocking."
"Actually, it kinda was..."
"You shut it too, Wildcat... Or whatever your name is!" It was safe to say that Sirius didn't take well to being teased. "Who gave you that name anyway? Wildcat... Sounds like something a convict would think of..."
"You did!" Harry's cheerful voice couldn't have been happier. "You're the one that nicknamed nearly all of the Animalities."
Sirius' eyes had gone wide and he turned to look at Harry. "Me? Well... In that case. Wonderful selections." He nodded approvingly. "So do you have a name?" He directed that question to Wildcat.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course I do, but I'm not related to any of you, so my name isn't important." She flicked her fingers dismissively before getting up and pouring herself a cup of tea.
"Why aren't there any chocolate chip biscuits here?" Remus was picking through the assortment of biscuits on a tray the house elves had brought while Sirius had been unconscious.
Both Harry and Hermione cringed at the question. "Long story..." Hermione in particular looked a bit green.
"So... Er... Harry?" Lily looked more than a bit uncomfortable, her emerald gaze flicking between James and Harry as she took in their similarities and differences. While they looked a lot alike, Harry was thinner, though more wirey, and now that he wasn't in his hybrid form, he was shorter than James and slightly older. Though the emerald eyes, which she now recognized as her own, made him seem as if he were decades beyond them in age. Now that she thought about it, Wildcat's had that same sense, though there was a sparkle in her eyes at times that was just as annoying as the twinkle in the Headmaster's... "Why are you two here?"
"That's a very good question." As he had been since the revelation, James was staring at Harry.
"Well, to be honest, this is some secret training mission of Hermione's." Harry smirked at the scowl Hermione sent him for revealing her name. "Dumbledore has some special task for her and this is her first assignment. We're not sure exactly why we're here."
"To test our teaching skills in an unbiased environment." The text-book tone of Hermione's came from near the door to her room. "If you don't mind Harry, this is more your gift than my mission, so I think I'd like to go flying." She disappeared into her room, emerging moments later back in her hybrid form and wearing a pair of jean shorts and a tank top. She held a golden broomstick in her left hand.
"Sure thing, Wildcat. I'll just be here. Talking to my parents..." Harry knew that Hermione loved flying ever since a fall back into childhood several years back as well as aspects of their Auror training had forced her to face her fear of heights. He grinned at the feline hybrid and waved as she exited the room.
The eyes of both James and Sirius had been diverted by the sight of the golden broomstick. It wasn't long before one could tell they were itching to try the broom for themselves. Sirius soon started squirming in his seat at at receiving an offer. Lily, Remus and Harry were all three trying not to laugh at the two.
Eventually, James peeled his gaze away from the portrait entrance where it seemed as if he were attempting x-ray vision to see through the castle. "What kind of broom was that? I've never heard of a golden broom... Looked almost as if the end was on fire..."
Harry chuckled. "It's a special edition of the fastest broom in our time..." His eyes widened when he saw James, Sirius and even Remus practically drool at just that bit of information. "Only three were ever made..." The glazed looks on the trio seemed to deepen. "I've got another and our best mate Galleon has the third." An actual bit of drool started to make its way down Sirius' chin and Lily giggled at him. "We got them as rewards for killing a dark lord." The drool stopped and all four sets of eyes turned to stare at him.
"Harry, my boy... I think it's time you told us everything you can." James reached out, placing his hand on Harry's arm in a paternal gesture.
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While Harry began telling his parents and friends perhaps a bit more than he should, Hermione was making her way out of the castle. It didn't take long for her to have the attention of several students, particularly the seekers for the house teams, as she seemed to be in her own world. The golden Firebolt responsible for catching all of the attention this time around. By the time she reached one of the doors leading to the exterior of the castle, she had acquired a small audience of perhaps thirty curious students.
Nearly skipping, a method that allowed her bare paws to barely touch the snow covered ground, Hermione was less than ten feet away from the door before she had whirled her broom into place. The Firebolt was moving before it seemed she was even properly settled, faster than any broom the current collection of students had ever heard of and a murmur of awed sounds filtered to her as the wind whipped her wild hair into an unruly mass.
Feeling the cold wind toying with the fur, Hermione curled her tail around the end of the broom and leaned forward as she raced upward. She flew out over the Forbidden Forest, catching sight of Aragog's lair before circling back. Skimming low over the lake, she grinned and reached her fingers further up the length of the broomstick. Brushing the tip of her left index finger over the magically burning engraving of her nickname, she whispered, "Wildcat..." Her right index finger followed, tracing the fiery lightning bolt on the opposite side before another whisper came from her lips, "Firebolt."
As soon as the gestures and words had been spoken, the top secret magic of the special edition Firebolt was unleashed. The already blur of speed doubled to the point where only a hybrid Animality with their enhanced senses and reflexes would be able to control the broom. A shimmering trail of gold left was left in Hermione's wake as she flew at dangerous speeds. Her feline vision spied movement coming from near the Quidditch Pitch and she veered her broom in that direction.
Arriving at the pitch, Hermione lapped the entire thing three times, taking in the Slytherin Quidditch practice session before she finally wrapped her right hand around the smoldering engravings and whispered the word, "Trio." The word triggered the drop out of hyper-acceleration and back to a more visible speed before she whipped around the pitch one last time and down to the ground. By the time the Slytherins had made it there to investigate who it had been on the incredibly fast broom, she had already vanished back into the castle through a different door than she had used to exit.
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By the time Hermione returned from her flight, Harry had filled the trio of Marauders and Lily in on the basics. The boys pouted over not getting to see the gold broom in action while Lily remained deep in conversation with Harry. Right about then, Harry finally pulled out the photo album he had brought from his room earlier.
"This is my girlfriend, Ginny." Harry showed his mother the picture of the brown-eyed, ginger haired Weasley girl.
Ever the observant one, Lily pointed out something the males viewing the image didn't notice. "That's the one you introduced in class as Bloodpaw... She's very pretty."
Sirius, getting over the disappointment, peeked at the image. "Hey Prongs, he's got your taste in women..."
Lily blushed and James just shrugged and pointed out that his own mother had ginger hair. "It's something in the Potter blood. Which makes one wonder why black hair is what we generally have." He ruffled Harry's long hair, making it stick up in a way that reminded Hermione of how he looked before he started growing out his hair.
Heading into her room for a moment, Hermione placed her broom back into her trunk and switched into her human form. This caused Remus to take notice as her clothing changed sizes with her form change and soon the two were talking about the charms placed on Animality clothing.
"They had to develop lasting instant resizer charms... Quite a few of us gain quite a bit in size when changing. Our friend Rumble..." She paused to snag a picture of Neville Longbottom in his Animality form to show Remus. "He's much smaller when not in form..." Hermione prodded the image until the bashful Rumble turned into the smaller, blushing Neville. "That's not even taking into account the stitch and clip charms on the shirts for the winged ones... Galleon needs both charms on his shirts."
"And those also get placed on the trousers, I see..." Remus smirked at the twin tigers in another picture that were laughing as they wiggled their bums for the camera. "Such charming fiances you have..."
Cheeks turning pink, Hermione snatched that picture away and tucked it into her top. "Yes... Adorable." Clearing her throat, she pointed to another image. "FireEye here needs quite a few charms on his clothing. Thankfully he was already a dragon keeper before he turned and knew what he would need." The blue hued Charlie Weasley was cheerfully demonstrating how to turn from his hybrid form into his massive dragon body while the rest of the Weasleys watched from nearby in the image.
Harry heard that nickname and turned his attention to the clothing conversation for a moment. "Startled the piss out of all of us the first time we found out he could breathe fire in his hybrid form... Nearly singed Dumbledore's beard right off!"
Several hours later, after a dinner brought by the house-elves, the foursome of students said their goodnights and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Cleaning up the small mess of pictures and blankets that had somehow accumulated around their own common room, Harry and Hermione soon went to their own beds as well.
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For the next two weeks, Harry and Hermione taught their tolerance classes. When not teaching, they could be found seemingly everywhere as they wandered the castle. About every other night they met with James, Lily, Sirius and Remus in their common room. Eventually Hermione would lure Sirius and Remus out to give Harry extra time alone with his parents. During these times she would often seem to turn into a five year old, managing to convince the two into such silly games as tag or hide and seek.
What most didn't know, was that when the new hybrid instructors could not be found, they were quietly stalking the Slytherins... Or at least one Slytherin in particular. They didn't approach him outside of class matters, but they used their Auror stealth training to simply observe the young man known as Severus Snape. Eventually, they decided that he had a chance and would eventually become the Nightshade they loved to hate.
On the last day of classes before the Hogwarts students packed up to head home for the holidays, they gave their final lessons and began to say goodbye to the friends they had made. Though neither knew exactly what the purpose of the mission was, they did know that it was complete and the portal was waiting. It was time for them to go home.
"Are you sure you have to leave?" Lily's lower lip was red from where she had been gnawing on the poor abused thing.
"Yeah, but don't worry, I've arranged for Christmas presents to be sent to your homes for you." Harry grinned before hugging his younger mother tight.
Lily was near tears as she laughed. "If I only wanted you around for presents, that would make me feel better."
"Don't worry, Lils... You'll be seeing him again in a few years!" Remus' cheerful call caused the girl to blush brightly and James to give her a playful leer.
"Ugh! Did not need that image!" Harry mimed ripping his eyes out.
James gave an irritated snort. "Don't do that! There aren't enough eyes like Lily's out there as it is..." He winked at his girlfriend.
Off to one side of the room, Hermione was packing her last few items before their trip home that night. "For the last time, Sirius... I am not going to take you into the future with us!"
"Why not? There can never been too many of me! I'm adorable! I'm sexy! I'm lovable! I come in convenient huggable size!"
Hermione snorted a laugh at that. "Absolutely not! One Sirius Black is too much in any time." She messed up his hair enough to distract the Marauder and allow her to finish packing her trunk. The trunk was soon shrunk and slipped into the pocket of her shorts. "Don't worry, you'll see us soon, no doubt... Well, soon for us."
Both she and Harry sighed at the same time, reluctant to leave when they knew that no one would remember them once they had gone. It was one of the few reasons they hadn't bothered to try to tell them enough to change the future.
"Can we have the password for this room then?"
"Fine!" Hermione told them the password only to be engulfed in a hug from the canid animagus.
"Now who's going to attempt to kill us!" Sirius became overly dramatic at the prospect.
"I'm sure someone will manage..." Hermione shoved him off and headed over to where Harry was saying his goodbyes. And just in time too, she could tell that her best friend was having trouble keeping his emotions in check. "Harry, we have to go before the portal closes."
Harry gave Hermione a look of relief that managed to break her heart even as she knew this was tearing him up inside. "I guess that's it then..."
With a few last hugs all around, not to mention one big dog pile instigated by Sirius, the time travelers left the four teens in the common room and went to Dumbledore's office. Albus was not present in his office and, after a quick 'see ya' to Fawkes, the duo slipped into the corridor and all the way to the end where the active portal awaited. Taking deep breaths and clasping hands, they stepped through the portal.
Once on the other side, they both turned to see that the portal had gone dead. It didn't take long for the two to fall into a hug as Harry succumbed to the emotions that he had been holding back for longer than anyone would ever realize. Hermione held her friend, offering what comfort she could while her amber gaze remained locked on the black space that had once been alive with magic.
A/N: I don't like this chapter, at all. My muse went on strike and it took forever to come up with anything... Hopefully the next chapter will come to me more easily. Anyway, Happy Holidays to those that celebrate them!