I own nothing of the marketing empire birthed from J.K.Rowling's fevered genius, and get nothing from this save the brief satisfaction of favourable reviews…
Harry Potter and the Forgotten Shards
Chapter 1
The trip so far had been quiet.
Well there was that brief few moments when Malfoy had burst in to taunt Harry, but six wands sticking into his face quickly dissuaded the blonde Slytherin from anything more than a girly "meep" and a strategic withdrawal.
Quiet.
Luna Lovegood had her nose buried in the latest copy of the Quibbler, upside down as usual. Her wand was tucked behind her ear, and she appeared to be concentrating on something…her usual dreamy faraway expression absent for once.
Neville Longbottom, sitting beside her, was slowly tapping his new wand against his knee. Lost in memories, he stared off into space, eyes unfocussed.
Ginny Weasley was staring out the window. The silence was driving her nuts, and the urge to leap up and do something was barely contained…subtle fidgeting the only sign of unrest.
Opposite Luna sat Ron Weasley. He was quietly shuffling a deck of tarot cards. Sure, he knew Divination was a complete bludge, but Kingsley had taught him a couple of card tricks over the summer, and he had practiced them to the point he could perform them without paying too much attention.
Hermione Granger was reading beside him, and appeared completely immersed in the weighty tome sitting across her lap.
It was all a show. They were all really paying worried attention to the last person in the compartment.
Harry Potter. The-Boy-Who-Lived.
Who was currently staring out the window, a look of deep concentration etched into a face lined with grief. The summer had not been kind to him. He was severely underweight, his skin a sickly pale colour.
His eyes, however, blazed with an intensity rarely seen before as he suddenly turned to face his companions.
"Animagi!" His whisper tore away the silence like a peal of thunder. "We should become Animagi."
The rest of the 'Ministry Crew' stared at him blinking. Of all the things he might have said, that was not remotely what they had been expecting. This was the most animated they had seen Harry since the disasterous events of the previous year.
Neville spoke up, voicing the question they all wanted to ask. "Why?"
Harry looked each of them in the eye briefly, before sucking in a breath. "To honour his memory. To honour the memory of the Marauders." His voice dropped away to almost a whisper. "To have something of him that cannot be taken away…" Harry looked out the window, unable to face them any longer.
Neville sat back thinking hard. Luna folded up her paper, dreamily looking across at Hermione. Ron was grinning wildly at the idea of getting one up on his twin brothers, who despite idolising the Marauders had never managed the transformation. Ginny was watching Harry closely now.
Hermione spoke up next, eyes narrowing as she closed the tome on her lap. "You do realise just how hard it is, don't you? That it is illegal to be unregistered? That not everyone is even capable of achieving it? What…"
She cut herself off as Harry pulled out a battered diary and dropped it on her lap. It looked as if a dog had spent some time gnawing on it.
Harry drew his wand and tapped the cover. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Everyone's eyes widened at the very familiar Marauder catch-phrase. Writing began to appear on the books cover. The Marauder's Guide to the Animagus Transformation.
Hermione was the first to drag her eyes away from the book in her lap. "How?"
Harry smiled sadly, "Professor Lupin gave it to me early in the holidays. According to him, Sirius and Dad created this from their research. I've read it."
The compartment fell quiet for a few minutes.
The silence was broken this time by Ron. "So Harry, what is your animagus form? You've had all summer, after all." Ron sounded a little…upset.
Harry's eyes glittered with good humour, "Well, you see, that's the thing, isn't it…"
"Just spit it out," Ginny growled, likewise upset at being left behind.
"I haven't done it yet."
"WHAT?" Four voices practically shouted.
"Why not, Harry?" Luna asked quietly, speaking up finally.
Harry turned to Hermione, "Look up page Seventy-Three."
Hermione looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then started flipping through the battered pages, quickly becoming engrossed in the book.
After no response from her for a couple of minutes, Ron reached out and lowered the book so everyone could see the page she was reading…the title said it all.
"Achieving Magical Animagi Forms," Ginny whispered.
They all looked at Harry in disbelief.
"That's impossible…" Hermione started.
"No, just impossible for normal wizards and witches. With enough power, anything is possible." Harry cut her off, explaining.
"Then how?" Hermione asked. "In case you had forgotten, we are normal wizards and witches."
A sly grin slipped across Harry's face. "Later." He turned to look out the window again. "I'll explain later."
The others looked at him with varied expressions of disbelief, anger, frustration, exasperation, curiosity, and hope. His communicative phase, however, was over and they returned to their respective thoughts.