Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Linkin Park.

Harry's mind started whirling. Colors danced around in front of his eyes, and he could partially make out a figure in the middle. His whole body was cold and tingly, and he felt like the room was spinning.

Suddenly, the colors stopped moving around and he could very clearly see a large white Siberian tiger with bright green eyes.

"That is amazing!" exclaimed Harry.

"What do we have to do next?" asked Ron eagerly.

"Research your animal form so you can feel like you know it," said Hermione. "When you feel like you understand that animal it will be easier for you to transform."

"Be one with your form," said Ron, grinning.

"Pretty much, yes," replied Hermione. "The animal section is right here next to the animagus section. And I don't want anyone peeking at anyone else's work; we all agreed to surprise each other with our forms."

Everyone agreed and took a few books off the shelf. Harry took Large Cats: The Most Beautiful Animals in the World and A Look at our Endangered Animal Friends.

They spent about an hour in the library before realizing that it was getting late, so they took a few books back to their rooms to look at later and then headed downstairs.

"Where have you all been?" asked Mrs. Weasley, as the four of them sat down in the living room with everyone else. "I looked all over for you; I was beginning to get worried."

"We were outside," said Ron.

"We're having a bit of a private discussion right now concerning the Order," said Mrs. Weasley. "If you and Hermione want to you can stay, but we don't have anything new to report so you might find a bit boring."

"I'm tired, I think I'll go to bed," said Hermione.

"Yeah, me too," said Ron. "Harry, Ginny?"

Harry and Ginny agreed and they said their goodnights and went back upstairs to continue studying in their rooms.

"Well, goodnight," said Hermione.

"You're going to sleep?" asked Ron. "I though we were going to do more studying."

"We are, but I'm going straight to sleep afterwards, so I'm saying goodnight now," she answered.

"Oh, good idea," said Ron. "Goodnight everyone."

"Goodnight," said Ginny.

"See you in the morning," replied Harry.

They all retreated to their rooms to study. When Harry got to his room his parents greeted him happily.

"Hi mum and dad," said Harry. "I have something really cool to tell you."

"What is it?" asked James excitedly.

"I'm going to become an animagus," he told them. "So are Ron, Hermione and Ginny. We found all your notes in the library."

"Are you serious?" asked James happily. "That's great!"

"No it isn't, it's dangerous!" said Lily. "It's illegal, you're underage! Besides, it would take years."

"Actually, with dad's notes and Hermione's help we can be done in two weeks," said Harry.

"Wow, it took me three years!" exclaimed James.

"Stop encouraging him," said Lily. "Sweetheart, it's illegal. Why do you want to be ananimagus anyway?"

"I think it would be a huge advantage against Voldemort," said Harry. "And with the war going on the Ministry has enough to deal with without worrying about underage magic and illegal animagi. They'll never notice."

"He's right Lily," said James.

"Well I suppose so," said Lily.

"Do you know what your form is yet?" asked James.

"Yeah, I'm a white Siberian tiger," he answered.

"Now there's a cool animal!" said James. "At least you're not some girly animal like a bunny."

"I've got to study a bit or Hermione will kill me," said Harry.

"Of course Harry," said Lily.

Harry took out a CD player he had found in his closet and started listening to Linkin Park while he studied.

Harry found out that white Siberian tigers like to live on their own, and are endangered. They eat some kinds of deer, and wild pigs and cattle. He learned that these tigers were being poached, and he began to feel quite sad for them. He understood what Hermione meant about getting to know your form. He was already beginning to feel a special connection with his.

He studied for a few more hours until midnight when he decided to go to sleep. He had a nightmare that he was a tiger being poached by a big group of poachers, all of whom looked like Voldemort.

Harry woke up around six in the morning, still shaken up from his nightmare. He wanted to ask his dad about the nightmare, but his parents were both sleeping peacefully. He decided to go to the library, and was surprised to find Ginny and Hermione already there.

"Nightmare?" asked Ginny as he approached them.

"Yeah, you guys too?" asked Harry.

"It was awful," said Hermione. "I was trapped in a cage that was really small with no food or water."

"I was being hunted by Voldemort," said Harry.

"That sounds terrible," said Ginny. "I was being chased around by an animal that wanted to eat me."

"Does it say anything about nightmares in the notes?" asked Harry.

"I don't remember, I'll check," said Hermione, grabbing the stack of notes from beside her.

"Do you like your form?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah, do you like yours?" asked Harry

"I do, it's really great," she answered. "I can't wait to be able to transform."

"Me either," said Harry.

"Here, I found it!" said Hermione. "They say that as soon as you can fully sympathize with your form you will have a nightmare where you are that animal. You only get one though, so we're okay now."

"Hey guys," said Ron, trudging into the room in pyjamas like everyone else.

"Did you have a nightmare about your form?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Ron.

"It means we're all ready for the next step," said Hermione.

"What's the next step?" asked Ginny.

"We have to brew a potion," she answered. "It's not a very difficult potion; I think the hardest thing will be getting all the ingredients."

"There must be a potions lab in here somewhere," said Harry. "We should ask Lupin about it."

"You should ask him, Hermione," said Ginny.

"Why me?" she asked.

"You can pretend it's for homework or something," said Ginny. "If all of us ask him it will look suspicious."

"That's true," she said. "Alright, I'll ask him the next time I see him."

"Is there anything we can do until then?" asked Harry.

"Not really," said Hermione. "He said he'd stop by today for lunch though, so I'll ask him then."

"What do you want to do until then?" asked Ron.

"We should start preparing for the ball," answered Ginny. "Now that Harry and I are doing underage magic anyway we can start with the decorations I planned."

It was very quiet in the ballroom. Everyone was still asleep, so they had tiptoed downstairs to start decorating.

"I want the walls to look like they're on fire, but I don't want it to burn the walls or anything," said Ginny. "There's a spell for that, right?"

"The ornamental fire spell," said Hermione. "I know how to do that."

"How long will the flames last?" asked Ron.

"Usually around three weeks unless you do the reversal spell," said Hermione. "Do you want me to show you?"

"Sure!" said Ginny excitedly.

"Aduro!" exclaimed Hermione. The room was instantly engulfed in flames.

"Will they burn us?" asked Harry.

"No, go ahead and touch it," she replied, reaching her hand into the fire.

The other three followed her lead. All they felt was a wonderfully warm feeling.

"That's great!" said Ginny. "We should leave it like that for the ball."

They conjured up tables to put the food on and set those on fire too. They also conjured up about twenty chairs and put a non-melting ice charm on them so that the chairs looked like they were made of solid ice.

"This is so weird!" said Ron, sitting on one of the ice chairs. "It's not cold or wet or anything!"

"We should probably go to the kitchen now, people are probably waking up," said Hermione.

There was no one in the kitchen, so they sat down at the table.

"I'm hungry," whined Ron.

"Me too," moaned Ginny.

"I canmake breakfast if you want," said Harry. "What would you like?"

"French toast," said Ron. "I didn't know you could cook."

"I always cooked for the Dursleys," said Harry. "I've been cooking since I was old enough to reach the stove."

"I can't cook at all," said Ginny. "It drives mum mad because she says I'll never be a good wife."

"I can cook a little bit," said Hermione. "I've made grilled cheese sandwiches and stuff. I do some baking too."

Harry made enough breakfast for the whole family, and soon people started to come into the kitchen.

"My goodness, who cooked breakfast?" asked Mrs. Weasley, as Ron passed her a plate of French toast.

"Harry did," said Ginny.

"Oh Harry, you didn't need to do that," she said. "Though I must say, these are delicious."

"Cool, French toast!" said Fred, grabbing a plate and shovelling food into his mouth.

"Harry made it," said Mrs. Weasley.

"It's good," said Fred.

Everyone was amazed that Harry was such a good cook. They all managed seconds and also enjoyed the fresh-squeezed orange juice he had made.

After breakfast Lupin came over to visit them.

"Remus, I didn't think you'd be here until noon!" said Mrs. Weasley.

"I decided to pop in early to see if I could talk to James' and Lily's portrait again," said Lupin. "Would you mind, Harry?"

"Not at all, go right ahead," said Harry.

"So, how have you been?" asked Mr Weasley. "How is Tonks?"

"Both of us are fine," replied Lupin, smiling. "And how have you been?"

"Oh, all of us are fine," said Mr Weasley.

"Lupin, do you know if there's a potions lab here?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, would you like me to show it to you?" he asked.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," said Hermione.

"Come with me then," said Lupin.

The two of them went upstairs. The other three resisted the urge to follow them and instead helped clear the breakfast dishes.

A few minutes later Hermione and Lupin came back downstairs together.

"Do you guys want to see it?" asked Hermione.

"Sure," said Ginny, and the four of them went upstairs.

"It's really convenient because it' hidden inside the library," said Hermione. "This is great because now we can go back and forth between the library and the lab without anyone noticing."

They entered the library and Hermione led them over to a corner in the back.

"You have to put your right hand on the wall and say 'snivellus is an ugly git'," instructed Hermione. "Apparently it was James' idea."

They all grinned, put their right hands on the wall and said "Snivellus is an ugly git!"

They sank through the wall and found themselves in a small dark room lit by everlasting candles. There were cabinets full of ingredients and a few gold cauldrons stacked nearby.

"Why are potions labs always so dark?" asked Ron irritably, as he bumped into a small desk.

"Sunlight damages potions ingredients," explained Hermione, taking a few ingredients out of the cabinets. "I thinkwe have everything now, can someone grab a cauldron?"

Harry took a cauldron from the stack and they went back into the library. Ginny brought over the book with the potion in it and read the instructions to Hermione.

"Add some dried newt and stir clockwise three times," said Ginny. "The next thing is kind of weird. We need tears from all four of us."

"Tears?" said Ron. "You mean we have to cry?"

"Yeah, that's what it says," she told them.

They all leaned over the cauldron and pinched themselves until they cried.

"What's next?" asked Hermione, wiping tears from her eyes.

"A drop of sphinx blood," said Ginny. "Stir counter-clockwise five times."

"Is that it?" she asked.

"Yup, that's it," she replied.

"Is it the right color?" asked Hermione. "I haven't seen too many magenta colored potions."

"It looks exactly the same as the one in the book," said Ginny.

"When can we take it?" asked Ron.

"Right now," said Ginny.

They each poured themselves a small glass and exchanged nervous looks.

"Alright, on three," said Harry. "One…two…three."

It tasted sort of like bananas.

"That's not so bad," said Ron.

"Um guys?" said Ginny. "Look at your skin."

All of them had big purple blotches all over their skin.

"Oh great, what do we do now?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," said Hermione, beginning to panic. "How long do these last?"

Ginny read through the instructions of the potion again. "It doesn't say!"

"I'll check the marauder's notes," said Ron, grabbing them from the table next to him.

"What if they're permanent?" said Ginny.

"Wait, it says here the last twelve hours," said Ron. "What time is it?"

"10:30 am," said Harry.

"The Order meeting is at seven, we'll have to stay home," said Hermione.

"What do we do until then?" asked Ron.

"Well, I have an idea, but you and Harry won't like it," said Ginny.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"Liquid foundation," said Ginny.

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"Make-up," said Hermione.

Both boys exchanged fearful glances.

"Come on, it's in my room," said Ginny.

A few minutes later the blotches were still a bit visible, but they definitely looked better.

"We should fake sick all day and stay in bed," said Ron. "There's a lot less chance of anyone noticing that way."

"What should we be sick with?" asked Harry.

"Hermione and I can say we have cramps," said Ginny.

"Gross," said Ron.

"I can say my scar is hurting," said Harry.

"I'll say I have a stomach-ache," said Ron.

"Alright, back to bed then I guess," said Hermione.

All of them headed to their rooms and tried to fall asleep. None of them were tired though, since it was midmorning.

"Good morning Harry," said Lily, as Harry got back into bed. "Why are you going back to bed?"

"I got purple blotches all over me from the potion," said Harry.

"They don't last that long," said James. "And I can barely see yours."

"Ginny made us put on make-up," said Harry. "I've got to fake sick so Mrs. Weasley doesn't find out about the potion."

"Okay, we'll let you sleep then," said Lily.

Harry tossed and turned for about an hour until Mrs. Weasley came to check on him.

"Hermione told me your scar hurt, is everything alright?" she asked.

"I'm alright, I've just got a bit of a headache now," he told her.

"I brought you up some lunch," said Mrs. Weasley. "Chicken soup and homemade bread."

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry.

"You call me if you need anything, okay?" said Mrs. Weasley, stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind her.

Harry ate his soup and bread, feeling guilty that Mrs. Weasley was waiting on him even though he wasn't really sick.

A/N: I know this isn't the best ending, but this is my longest chapter ever and I really want to get it posted. Please review!