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 7
Whitley Haverton-Smythe was the big man in Hufflepuff. A seventh year and Head Boy, he had worked damn hard in Transfiguration, and was the only 'Puff to complete the extra credit assignment. In fact, he knew that only one other person in seventh year was even attempting it…Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw.
To say that House Hufflepuff was proud of him would be an understatement of similar scope to saying the Sun is a little warm.
Moreso, he was particularly proud of how masculine his animagus form was. Yes, he had mastered the animagus transformation.
Professor Sprout was over the moon, and Whitley had even received compliments from the headmaster.
He was a Ram. To be quite specific, he was a North Country Cheviot, and a stout thick-limbed one at that.
He had completed the transformation just before the Summer holidays. His parents had been deeply emotional, their pride in his achievement evident in their posture and bearing, when they had taken him down to the Ministry to register.
Whitley had spent most of the Summer coming to terms with the instincts and natural drives of his Ram form. Who would have thought that a Ram would have such a powerful urge to protect?
Whitley had been visiting Diagon Alley for his school shopping, when Death Eaters attacked. His first instinct had been to flee from the danger…but then he had seen one of the Death Eaters cast the Cruciatus on a third year Hufflepuff, and his instincts did a 180. He drew his wand and started firing curses at the Death Eater, drawing on all that he had learned in the DA over the last year. Within minutes, he had disabled and captured the Death Eater, and had moved on to help duel another one. Then the Aurors arrived and most of the Death Eaters fled via portkey.
Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the Senior Aurors, congratulated him personally for his defence of the Alley and his capture of a Death Eater. Whitley had been considering a career in the Ministry, but now, with the personal recommendation of a Senior Auror, he was putting serious thought into a new career.
The Minister of Magic himself shook Whitley's hand and presented him with an award for bravery, the pictures in the Daily Prophet had his parents once again deeply emotional over the breakfast table. His father had looked him in the eye over the newspaper and nodded to him. Whitley could tell his father was too emotional to speak. It was that moment when his father began treating him as a man, rather than as a boy.
In the final weeks of the Summer holiday, Whitley was the recipient of a large amount of owl mail. He had attracted the attention of a large number of folk, some of whom had insisted on sending him their underwear, to his intense embarrassment. Though none of the letters from his fellow Hufflepuffs contained anything so disturbing, they had all sent him their congratulations, even a large number of Hufflepuffs who had already graduated.
Needless to say upon returning to the school, Whitley had become a figure of respect and the role model for many of the younger 'Puffs.
Whitley was heading down to breakfast, first thing Monday morning, with his usual retinue of 'Puffs.
He was just about to enter one of the main concourses down to the Great Hall, when he froze, stopping those behind him, snatching the little second year who had been beside him, and pushing them back as well.
"Shhh. Danger." He hissed. He had become accustomed to listening to his instincts since the transformation, and wasn't about to ignore a warning like this.
The rest of the Hufflepuffs backed away, looking a little worried…what could be worrying their hero so much?
Whitley watched, wide-eyed, as Harry Potter and his friends walked…no, sauntered past him on their way to the great hall. He was terrified, but couldn't understand why. But no matter, a combination of his innate Hufflepuff stubbonness and his animal instincts need to protect his flock, meant he wasn't moving from that spot.
Ron was walking down to breakfast with his friends. They really hadn't had a chance to try out their forms yet, having only completed the transformation the previous day, and Ron was looking forward to that night…Harry had promised to lead them all out into the Forbidden Forest.
Ron just hoped they weren't going anywhere near the Acromantulas again.
Ron grinned. On second thoughts, maybe they could have some fun…
They were nearing the great hall when something disturbed his thoughts of revenge against all spiders everywhere. He could smell food. He paused for a moment sniffing. Definitely food. He looked around, and except for a few Hufflepuffs, he couldn't see anything of interest.
Ron shook his head and jogged to catch up with the others, just now entering the Great Hall.
Hermione looked at Ron funny, "What is it, Ron?"
Ron scratched his head, "I haven't a clue. For a moment there I'd swear I could smell food."
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Twenty metres from the Great Hall and he can smell food. Not exactly showing off those heightened senses there, Brother."
The other three were still laughing when Luna arrived.
"Good Morning Neville, what is so amusing?" Giving him a quick kiss on the forehead before sitting beside him.
"Morning Luna, apparently Ron could smell food on the way to the Great Hall this morning," Neville's eyes were almost glowing in his good humour.
Breakfast started arriving. Harry and Ginny helped themselves to something approximating their usual breakfast, though Harry seemed to be going more for fruits and cereals than his usual. Luna made quite an inroad on the cereals and a large stack of toast. Ron and Hermione picked at the toast, but made heavy inroads on the bacon, sausages and pudding. (by pudding I mean blood sausage) Neville didn't bother with the toast, but did help himself to a portion of eggs to go with the large amounts of meat.
"Hungry Hermione?" Harry teased.
Hermione looked up from eating, to see half her house staring at her. "What?"
Ginny laughed, "You're putting away as much as Ron used to." She snorted. "Ron on the other hand is eating an entire pig." She was looking at the pile of bacon on his plate.
Ron grinned, "Maybe for dinner, if we're this hungry again."
All six laughed, quiet confident laughs, while their housemates looked on wondering what had changed.
Whitley had noticed early on, that his eating habits had changed. He was now, more or less, a strict vegetarian. He knew that he had no problem eating meat, it's just that he now preferred bread, vegetables, fruit and cereals. Meat seemed to make him a little queasy, though not as badly as when he had first completed the transformation.
He was currently watching the Gryffindor table, subtly watching the six. He would have to check with Katie later, but it would appear that some people's diets had changed rather suddenly.
His eyes flew open, and he looked away quickly when most of the six paused in their eating to turn and look in his direction.
They had sensed him watching them.
From all that he had read about the Animagus transformation, nothing was mentioned, whatsoever, about how the animal forms instincts would affect the wizard. Personal experience, and a couple of long discussions with Professor MacGonnegal, gave a different story.
But this. For his instincts to be reacting so loudly to their presence, and theirs to be so keen so suddenly.
He needed to talk to Professor MacGonnegal, and soon.
Ancient Runes was just after lunch, and after escorting some of the first year Hufflepuffs who were still nervous about moving around the castle alone, he slipped into the room a few minutes late, apologising to the Professor. He sat next to Katie Bell, who only raised her eyebrow at him. He knew why, as one of the most popular people in Gryffindor, she was often quite unapproachable, particularly for boys.
"What's up?" She whispered.
Whitley's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"
"Come on Whit. I've known you for seven years. The Golden Boy of Hufflepuff is sitting next to little old me, something's wrong." She put on an innocent expression as the Professor glanced in their direction.
Whitley considered this, his thoughtful expression accidentally reassuring the Professor. "Something changed this morning at the Gryffindor table."
Katie's eyes narrowed, her whisper gaining an edge. "What do you mean, Whitley?"
The Hufflepuff shrunk back at the intensity of her gaze. "Look, it's important. You know them, have they changed?"
Katie considered him. "Show me your elbow, Left arm."
Whitley blinked in confusion a couple of times, shrugged, and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a pale, but pristine expanse of elbow.
She looked at him for a few more moments. "Harry and his friends were all eating different. Harry was only eating fruit, Ginny wasn't eating as much, Hermione was eating like Ron used to, and Ron and Neville were shovelling it in. I don't know about Luna, never really paid her any attention before."
He swallowed nervously.
She fixed her gaze on him. "Now why are you so interested?"
He swallowed nervously, "Promise you wont tell them?"
Katie's eyes narrowed, it was obviously important to him. "If it doesn't endanger them, yes."
Whitley nodded, knowing that was the best he would get. "A sudden and radical change in diet is one of the obvious signs of a successful Animagus transformation. After a few weeks the Animagus learns to control the instincts and can usually return to their normal diet." He was quoting one of Professor Dumbledore's texts.
"Yeah, so?"
"Think about it."
"Merlin. All six of them? At the same time?" She was having difficulty keeping her composure, the laughter was bubbling to the surface. "What's the problem if they have?"
"Every time I see them, it's like my instincts are screaming 'Danger' at me. I think they have large predators as Animagus forms."
"Awwww, is the little sheepy-weepy getting all scared?" She chuckled quietly.
"This isn't funny. I almost shat myself coming down to breakfast this morning. I need to know for sure, it's easier to handle when you know what they are, easier to reign in the instincts."
She laughed, attracting the Professor's attention again, but quickly schooling her expression to calm curiosity deflected that attention quickly enough. "Okay, fine, I wont tell them. I think it'll be more fun this way." She patted his arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. If they've just changed, the animal will be riding just below the surface for a while, but the texts said everything would settle down in a couple of weeks."
Class soon finished, and Whitley returned to his usual routine. Hoping to get a chance to talk to Professor MacGonnegal later.
Whitley had delayed going to dinner, so as not to encounter them in the halls. He arrived in the great hall to find that the meal had only just begun, and quickly moved to join his table.
Which involved walking past where the six were sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Harry looked up from his conversation with Ginny when Katie started laughing. "What?"
Her good humour lit up her eyes. "Nothing Harry. Now about that formation…" The discussion quickly devolved into a tactics session for the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw.
Ron was trying to keep his attention on the game talk, but his stomach was still rumbling. There hadn't been enough food yet to satisfy his higher metabolism. And strangely enough…he was feeling like…
He looked at Neville and Hermione. "Are you both still hungry too?"
Hermione was fiddling with the vegetables on her plate. She was hungry, but didn't really feel like potato right now. At Ron's question she looked up and nodded sombrely.
Neville was thinking. He had already swapped Luna his vegetables forher roast. But it wasn't enough. "You're right Ron. Dobby!"
The excitable House Elf appeared beside Neville, raving about how great they all were.
Neville interrupted him. "Dobby, we're still hungry. Could you bring us some more food?"
Dobby confirmed quite enthusiastically that he could, but asked what kind of food did they want.
Ron spoke up first. "I'm hankering for some lamb."
Hermione nodded, "Fine with me, just make sure there's plenty of it."
Neville smiled at Dobby. "Could you bring us…" He thought for a moment. "Half a roast lamb. That should be enough." He looked around at the others, nodding to himself.
"And some bread please, Dobby." Luna said as her belly grumbled as well.
Dobby arrived a few minutes later with a succulently roasted side of yearling lamb.
All conversation at the table stopped as they watched Dobby deposit the huge platter on the table in front of the famished trio, as another House elf was depositing a platter full of sliced bread in front of Luna.
Noticing the sudden silence at the Gryffindor table, the rest of the room quieted down and tried to get a look at what had caused it.
Ron sliced off one of the legs, but lost it to Hermione while he was distracted looking for Mint Sauce. "Grrr. Hey Dobby, is there any…?" He was interrupted by the appearance of a bottle in front of him. "Thanks." He turned back to the carcass and began carving off some more meat, carefully protecting it from Hermione this time.
Neville just chuckled at the others antics, and began carving off some meat for himself.
"Good choice, Ron." Hermione muttered, eyeing the pile of meat on his plate.
"I've just had this urge to eat sheep all day. Since breakfast, really. Oi." He realised she was attempting to distract him and batted her hand away from his plate.
Most of the Gryffindors had gotten over the initial shock, and were laughing their heads off, particularly Katie, who had fallen off her chair after Ron's last words.
Seamus Finnegan, sitting on the other side of Ron, stopped laughing, a thoughtful look on his face. "Okay, this is ridiculous, even for you Ron. Why are you all so hungry? You're not pregnant are you?"
Ron almost choked. Hermione's jaw dropped open as she stared at Seamus. And Neville just chuckled to himself while slicing off another big chunk of meat.
Any reply they might have given was quickly drowned out by the hysterical laughter of the rest of the Gryffindors.
Their dinner finished, most students drifted out of the Great Hall. Soon only a handful of Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw remained behind.
Whitley had watched in horror as the three Gryffindors had demolished half a roast lamb, and had overheard Ron's statement.
With a resigned sigh, Whitley realised it would be some time before he could risk adopting his Animagus form on the grounds of Hogwarts…despite the sweet, sweet grass.
He noticed Professor MacGonnegal leaving, and quickly left to catch up with her before she retired for the night.
"Professor?" Whitley had caught up with her not far from the Transfiguration classroom.
"Ah, Mr. Haverton-Smythe. Do come in, I have no doubt you wish to discuss something. Yes?" Minerva MacGonnegal opened the door and preceded him into the room. "Have a seat, and tell me all about it."
Whitley sat down in one of the chairs at the front of the class, paused for a moment, then got out of the seat and moved away from it.
MacGonnegal watched the boy sit in the same chair Hermione Granger had occupied only a couple of hours before, then quickly get out of it again. "Frightening, isn't she?"
"What? How?" He paused to collect himself. "What do you mean, Professor?"
"The chair you just leapt out of was the very chair Miss Granger sat in earlier this afternoon."
His face paled. "Then…?"
She nodded. "Yes, as best I can tell all six of them have successful done what we have. They are Animagi."
"As best you can…They did it on their own? They haven't registered?" Shock was plastered across his face. "But...?"
"How did they manage it? I expect that Mr. Potter had a little help from his Godfather andMr. Lupin. I believe they wrote a book on the subject along with Potter's father." MacGonnegal nodded. "In the meantime, I suggest that if it gets too hard to bear, that you go to Madam Pomfrey and ask her to prescribe a Calming draught." She sighed heavily. "I know it's the only way I making it through sixth year Transfiguration with Miss Granger sitting less than two yards from me."
Whitley was shocked by this admission. "Thank you Professor. Have you any idea what their forms are?" He asked hopefully.
"No. Though the impression I get is that Mr. Potter and MissLovegood are not predators, nor is Miss Weasley though I have seen her eat meat. It is the other three, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley that are predators. Strangely enough, it is Miss Granger that causes the greatest reaction in me."
"I get it worst from Mr. Weasley, and he was talking about having an urge to eat lamb today." He shuddered.
Minerva patted the young man reassuringly on the shoulder. "It should only last a short while. Then everyones instincts will settle." She thought for a moment. "I feel I may have to confront them shortly. Though I find it hard to believe that Miss Granger has not come in to claim the extra marks."
He looked at his timepiece. "Well, I have a study group to run. Goodnight Professor."
"Goodnight Mr. Haverton-Smythe."Minerva MacGonnegal sat for a few moments, took a vial of calming draught out of her pocket, took a long pull from it, and slumped back in her chair.
Author Note:
There ya go. Another chapter done, and nothing further revealed about the six. Bwa ha ha ha ha.
As for poor old Whitley, yes he is an OC. While discussing the direction of this story with Finbar, we considered the relative rarity of Animagi in the Wizarding World and figured that in each year only a couple of people would attempt the transformation, and of those not all would succeed. The ones that did succeed, and did it openly, would be something of a celebrity. We needed another Animagus to react to their presence besides MacGonnegal.Whitley is a great guy. He is good academically, he tutors younger 'puffs, he protects them from bullies like Malfoy. Cedric Diggory was his role model, and fulfilled a similar role to the one he fills now. He'll be popping up again in later chapters.
Next chapter...Snape.