Throughout recess, the small group wondered what Dumbledore intended to teach Harry. Ron argued it was superpowered attack spells that could defeat the Death Eaters in spectacular combat. Hermione replied that that would be illegal and was rather inclined to defensive tactics. Edward thought it would be tactical information on how the Death Eater organization worked, on their long-term plans... But they had to interrupt the thread of their discussions because the break was over already and it was time for Edward and Hermione to go to Arithmancy class and work on numerology applied to transfiguration formulae.
After lunch, the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor joined Harry and Ron at the library where they plunged into their homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts. The two geniuses placed together had the advantage of considerably speeding up the pace of the homework, although their methods were very different: Hermione worked rigorously and very methodically, using books, amassing knowledge and memorizing it to apply it. Edward threw an idea in the air, followed by a few others, added certain knowledge or examples and when everything fell, it formed something like a perfectly sorted thought process. And when they worked together instead of criticizing each other's method, the homework ended more quickly.
By the time the bell rang, announcing the next potion lesson, Snape's homework was over. In front of the dungeon door, there were only a dozen students which wasn't surprising given the difficulty of the material where a simple error could make the whole potion fail. Soon Professor Slughorn led them into the fume-filled room, sending a particularly beaming smile at Zabini, Edward and Harry. Ed stood next to the Gryffindor trio while Ernie, a former member of the Defense courses, joined the Ravenclaws. There were several cauldrons in front of each table, each filled with a different mixture.
The potion in front of the members of the Circle smelled wonderful. Edward Elric could smell the special anti-rust oil used for Alphonse's armor, the aroma of Winry's apple pie, and the smell of old paper that he smelled in libraries... Looking around, Ed noticed that the occupants of his table all had the same little smile somewhere else. The smell must therefore be different for each of them because he knew few people who appreciated the smell of grease for metal, even if for him it evoked the reassuring presence of Alphonse.
The professor started by asking to take out their potions and textbooks but as promised, Harry had passed his to Ron to be forgiven and he had to ask Slughorn if he could borrow some while he waited for his ordered equipment from Diagon Alley. The imposing figure was very accommodating and rummaged in the old cupboard from which he drew an old, well-worn copy of the Advanced Potion-Making which he passed to Harry.
Then he started asking questions about the different potions scattered around the room and started asking the students about their contents. Each time, Hermione's six years of training allowed her to correctly name the contents of the cauldrons. Edward, who had never seen Hermione in class last year, was starting to get used to her mania for wanting to answer all the questions and didn't even try to compete with her.
Professor Slughorn seemed to be very interested in Hermione's obvious talent and began to ask her if she was related to a certain Hector Dagworth Granger, founder of the Very Extraordinary Society of Potionists. Hermione said no, but Edward would not have been surprised if one of her ancestors had a family connection with this famous character. After all, the ability to use magic had to be transmitted by genes and the blond Ravenclaw would have liked to know what part of DNA came into play in the ability to use magic... But that was a question he'd have to answer later.
Slughorn had visibly made the link between Hermione and the Muggle friend Harry had spoken of when he first met the fat professor, and obviously he had immense interest in her, much to Malfoy's amazement. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Ron trying to tell him that he too considered her the smartest. But then Slughorn spoke again:
"Can someone, other than you, lovely lady, can tell me what the effects of Amortentia are?"
Edward decided to raise his hand and answer when he saw that Hermione seemed to be having trouble holding back from speaking:
"Amortentia is a love potion- the most powerful, if I'm not mistaken."
"Oh, so it would cause love?" Slughorn asked innocently.
"No, nothing can replicate true love, it is one of the five exceptions of Gamp's law. This type of potion is content to create in its victim a deep desire close to obsession, making this potion one of the most dangerous in this room."
"Excellent response, Mr. Elric. Twenty points for Ravenclaw."
"You don't think you're exaggerating a bit," Ron whispered to Ed, looking at the potion in front of him skeptically. It couldn't be that dangerous...
"What would you call a potion that inhibits your behavior and thus allows the one who administers it to rape you with impunity?" Edward asked dryly. "Can you imagine what would happen to a child conceived from that false love? "
At the same time, Ernie asked what was the potion in the last cauldron. Again, Hermione had the answer: Felix Felicis, the liquid luck that made all of a user's actions successful. But like all good things, it had to be consumed in moderation or they could be poisoned. Their teacher had apparently drunk it for two days, the most beautiful of his life.
And this little miracle in the bottle was precisely the prize to be won for the person who would manage to make the best Draught of Living Death in the class. It didn't take more for all the students to flip through their potion textbooks to seek to win this fabulous prize. Even Edward was enthusiastic about it.
Ed began to prepare his potion by carefully following the instructions on his book. He couldn't help but notice that Harry's copy, already badly damaged, also had notes on the margins. For a short moment, his gaze wandered when he saw Malfoy trying to make himself seen by the professor but without much success. When he turned to Harry, he saw to his surprise his potion had exactly the right shade as in the book when Harry had never considered himself good at the subject.
When he started to stir his potion in an order not indicated by his book, Ed understood that he was not only following the instructions in the book but rather the notes on the margins. He and Hermione asked him how he had done it and Harry explained to them. Hermione refused to follow anything other than the instructions in the book, but Edward would have felt foolish not to imitate someone who obviously knew more about it than he did. So he imitated Harry and in the end his potion was almost exactly the same light pink as the neighboring Gryffindor. The two boys looked at each other and Harry huffed:
"I will explain to you later."
Slughorn approached their potions and when he saw them he raised his arms to the sky, pretending to be devastated before addressing Harry:
"By Merlin, two potion geniuses in the same class, it happened to me only once with your mother! Then he turned to Edward and said "Your potion is very slightly darker than your friend's. I hope you can keep a good heart against your bad luck. "
And thus it was Harry who received the tiny vial of Felix Felicis. Shortly after, he told his friends what had happened. Hermione's reaction was the most severe, claiming that it was not his own work when Edward and Ron thought he had only chosen to follow better instructions than those in the book. For Edward, not following a method that could turn out to be better was almost a crime and soon the two geniuses were left entrenched in one of their famous arguments about knowledge and how to access it while Ron, Harry and Ginny were trying to get into the debate.
"I say that this book is shady and that Harry better follow the real instructions!"
"The real instructions are the ones that allow us to access the given result in the most perfect way, Hermione." said Edward.
"We don't even know who this person is!"
"A genius with potions, that's for sure. Talent knows how to recognize genius!"
Finally, the argument was interrupted by Neville who came running:
"Harry, Edward, I have the Mandrakes for the Animagus ritual thanks to Professor Sprout. I exchanged them for seeds from my Mimbulus Mimbletonia!"
"Okay, now I have to get the ointment recipe. It's in a book in the Restricted Section- Moste Potente Potions, if I remember correctly. I'm sure Slughorn will give us a pass if we continue making potions as successfully as we did today," Edward said cheekily.
"You don't lose anything by waiting, Edward!" said Hermione leaving the table with an angry air.
"Can I borrow your book for a moment? I'd like to copy all the inscriptions in it if you don't mind…" Edward asked.
"No problem," said Harry, handing the book over, but it escaped from Edward's hands- still cluttered with the various rune manuals they were to read before Wednesday.
The Potions textbook fell to the ground and opened to the front facepiece. They saw the following inscription: This book belongs to the Half-Blood Prince.
Over the next week, the Half-Blood Prince's instructions were of great help to Harry and Edward. The latter had copied the notes from the margins in one whole evening. By observing well, he had seen that in addition to being a potions expert, the mysterious owner of the book had also been good enough in Charms to invent his own spells. However, Ed hadn't used any yet, waiting to try them later as he was busy with his various homework and lessons. On top of that, he had to add the preparation of the ointment for the ritual and he had to collect excellent grades in potions three times in succession to convince Slughorn to provide him with a pass for the Restricted Section.
The potion in question was not very difficult or very long to prepare. The only reason the recipe was in the forbidden part of the library was because of the strict laws regulating Animagi. Neville had helped him in the preparation of the potion. The young Gryffindor knew much more than he did when it came to preparing herbal products. It was a wonder how he could have failed in potion with such talent even if Snape's bad character and Neville's former timidity could easily explain it. But it didn't matter now: Neville had become much more assertive and even Snape didn't scare him as much. In fact, the only thing that scared him was...
"We should really be naked for the ritual," Neville asked, glancing a little timidly at Ginny and Hermione, whose mood seemed to worsen as Sunday, the day they had set for the ritual, approached.
"No, not completely naked. It's just that the ointment should be applied absolutely everywhere on the body and the Shamans of yesteryear found it easier to be naked for the ritual." Edward reassured him, stifling a laugh.
"You reassure me... If you saw the looks that Ron and Hermione gave each other, even you would be scared!"
"Believe me, it will be fun when I tell them that having a simple sheet to cover them will be enough for the ritual..."
"Have you ever been told that you are evil?" Neville asked him without deluding himself.
"No doubt a lot of times, why?" Ed asked with an angelic air.
On Sunday evening, around 9 a.m., the Circle met in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy in the corridor on the seventh floor. Very quickly, after they had turned in the corridor three times thinking of a room to learn to be Animagi, a door had been created and they had been able to enter an austere room of medium size with a floor of tiles cold stones and a single shelf on which were placed a few books and notebooks. Without waiting, Neville and Edward started to take out the big jars filled with ointment and passed them to the others. Seeing that none of them were moving, Edward smiled and then summoned up a large pile of sheets with his wand. The two Gryffindor girls blushed, giving Ed a murderous look, then Hermione summoned a curtain behind which the three witches could change.
Harry and Ron looked slightly disappointed but they didn't say a word as they undressed and brushed the greasy mixture all over their bodies. Everyone was too embarrassed to dare to say something out loud and it was without a sound that they wrapped themselves in white sheets which stuck to their skin from the sticky potion.
Still without a word, the girls joined them. The members carefully avoided looking at the covered figures, certainly, but everyone's anatomy was fairly well revealed thanks to the ointment. Edward lit a fire around which everyone sat while avoiding the glances of the others. Neville took out the soothsayer's sage and poppy seeds then threw the mixture in the fire before inhaling deeply the smoke which was emitted by the little campfire. After a few minutes, their pupils were wide and already they were entering a deep trance, one after another.
Harry was in the air, clouds floated below and above him, forming a thick fog around him. Sometimes he heard a piercing cry like that of a bird, but he saw nothing. Without understanding what was going on, he got up and started to look for a way out in this cottony and soft space, looking without respite for something without knowing exactly what he was looking for.
Suddenly, the clouds dissipated instantly and Harry discovered that he was floating far above the wooded ground, several hundred meters from it. He had nothing to hold on to, no brooms, no surface: nothing. Suddenly he felt himself fall into the void. He screamed immediately without holding back, thinking despite himself that the landing was going to be painful.
But while he was still falling, he suddenly saw a gray-winged bird darting at his side. Harry had never seen such a bird before but it looked like the picture he had of a hawk. The latter stared at him piercingly and to his surprise, it spoke to him:
"Why are you shouting like this? Did you ever fly like this, rushing down to the ground with delight to catch your prey?"
"Except that those times I was on a broom!" Harry exclaimed as he saw the ground getting closer and closer.
"A broom, wings, what a difference? We are made to fly, to sink into the air, wild and free, ready to catch our prey. This is what we love above all, you know it deep inside you! "
"And what should I do? I'm falling!" Harry yelled slightly annoyed by the condescending tone of the bird.
"I am you. Come and see me more and more, get to know me and there I will be as your wings!"
Harry's gaze blurred and suddenly, he felt like he saw through the eyes of the hawk: he saw everything, absolutely everything, the trees, the ground and a golden whistle in the air, his prey. He was already rushing to grab it... and darkness took hold of him.
Neville was in a lush jungle and a thousand cries of animals surrounded him. Beautiful orchids surrounded him, flowers with magnificent colors and dazzling scents given to his eyes and his sense of smell. Species of trees, which he knew only through books, were offered to him in real life, so realistically that for a moment, the young Gryffindor believed that he had been transported to this place by magic. He felt like he was in a gigantic garden and Neville already loved this miraculous place that breathed happiness.
But the latter was short-lived because behind him a hissing sound was heard and to Neville's greatest fright, a snake appeared before him. A gigantic black cobra which stared at it as if he were its prey. Its fangs dripped pearls of deadly venom. It stared at him with its hypnotic gaze. Neville dared not look up from the dangerous reptile and remained paralyzed with fear. Suddenly a voice was heard:
"What are you doing sitting on the ground? It's standing up that we have to face the snake."
A strange animal that Neville had never seen was now standing beside him: it had an elongated face and body, small, round ears, short legs and a long, slender tail. He stared at the cobra penetratingly and the latter seemed to hesitate before advancing again.
"What are you waiting for, the snake to kill you? It's in our nature to face snakes, even if you don't know it yet! We are the master of the garden."
"We?"
"Yes, we. You and I are one. Now attack!"
And for a brief moment, Neville had the impression of becoming the strange felid and of jumping on the throat of the cobra. Then everything seemed to dissipate into nothingness.
Ginny was on a tree, trying to figure out where she could be. She saw nothing at all and wondered where she could be. It had been hours since she had been walking in circles. But finally, she could see a cave where she could take shelter. With a resolute step, the young redhead headed for the dark lair and suddenly uttered a cry when she felt something brush against her.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of me?"
"What are you?" growled Ginny, ready to fight.
"Coming from the one who improved the Hair Loss Curse, I find the question a little annoying."
"Are you a vampire?" asked the young Gryffindor, trying not to let any tremor appear in her voice.
"A name so derogatory. When you come back to see me, I advise you to learn about my diet instead of saying nonsense."
Then Ginny finally saw who was talking to her: a giant reddish bat, the wings extended over six feet and looking at her with the benevolent expression of a canine.
"Who are you?" Asked the girl this time.
"You."
And suddenly, Ginny saw the world through the eyes of the flying fox, which flew awayinto the night, seeing clearly thanks to its echolocation. Then everything seemed to be clouded and the world disappeared.
Hermione was in a comfortable library, where a soft, warm fire blazed in a small fireplace, seated in a soft armchair, patiently waiting for her animagus to be revealed to her. She had already read a few books on the subject and knew that it must be in her mind. So she was reading a book while waiting for it but nothing appeared. For the first time, she began to fear that she could not find her Anima. Putting down the fascinating book she was reading, she began to wander the huge library, looking for what could be compared to an animal but she found nothing.
Suddenly, she saw a red velvet barrier, prohibiting her from accessing a part of the library, like the Restricted Section of Hogwarts. She hesitated for a long time before starting to advance cautiously, touching the cord with her fingertips and observing the area plunged in darkness before her where she could see absolutely nothing except the mysterious shadows of shelves.
But suddenly she saw two golden eyes that were staring at her intensely, seeming to wait for her to approach. But Hermione remained on her guard and asked, a little too loudly for her taste:
"Are you my Anima?"
"Come here and you will know..." replied a haughty voice.
"This place seems forbidden ..." Hermione hesitated.
"What does it matter that we are forbidden? Since when do we let the taboos stop us? As long as we live, we will remain so: independent and no one will give us orders that we disdain."
And a beautiful long haired brown cat with golden reflections approached her, walking with a slow and haughty step.
"Did we ask permission to make polyjuice? Did we ask permission to help an innocent escape from his prison? Did we ask to form a defense group? We don't ask, we do the right thing to do without caring about the opinion of others."
"I ... We ... Are you ... me?"
"Yes. Now come, I'm going to show you what you hide deep inside and which you have repressed forever."
And suddenly Hermione was a cat with the same eyes as this one. She remembered her second year when she got stuck in feline form. But this was more extraordinary, she felt more graceful. And when it was over, she had only one desire: to do it again!
Ron was walking in the green and familiar countryside of Ottery St. Catchpole, trying to guide himself by relying on the voice that called him. The more he walked, the more the green countryside around him turned into the bush, a savannah made up of tall dry grasses and lonely black thread-like trees that rose, solitary, in the semi-desert plain. The voice was getting closer and closer but Ron felt like he had been walking for hours without rest and frankly his feet hurt. At the end, he stopped, sat down against a tree and waited, scowling, determined not to take another step. Why would it be up to him to walk first?
It was perhaps the right solution because the voice became more distinct and finally began to speak to him:
"So you don't want to learn more about yourself?"
"I already know enough about myself, I am stubborn like a mule, lazy as... well, a lazy person, arrogant like a rooster. It's good, I think I have brought together all the faults of a good herd of animals. Could you show yourself now?"
"That's right, we are lazy, ready to let the lionesses do the work for us. We are proud, we refuse to be dictated by those we despise or abhor, we refuse to take insults, but we are also noble, courageous when necessary."
And the lion approached: he had a haughty bearing, a red mane similar in color to the Weasleys'. He walked nonchalantly as if he owned the land, he was beautiful, he was noble and Ronald Weasley, the last boy in the family, the one from whom nobody seemed to expect anything new, could not help saying to himself that he could not transform himself into king of animals. And yet, the lion compared to him, in quality and faults ... He said "we" as if he were only one being. So Ron said hesitantly:
"So, all you just described is us? Is it me?"
The lion gave a roar of approval and suddenly, Ron found himself in the skin of the lion, dominating the other species by his power and his majesty. It only lasted a brief moment before everything passed out in his eyes.
Luna walked quietly through the undergrowth which looked like that of her house. Half-humming, she seemed to have completely forgotten why she was here: she resumed her usual rituals: skipping a stone from the stream, picking a flower in a grove, looking for a four-leaf clover in a carpet of green grass. She knew where she had to go to meet her Anima despite this willy-nilly path, but she still wanted to follow the little rituals she had given herself to reach the place indicated.
Finally, she arrived in the clearing where her mother rested and sat quietly, observing each tree to determine which animal was not in its usual place. Finally, she saw it, a barn owl with curious silver-gray eyes in a nocturnal bird, which stared at her in broad daylight as if it were trying to probe her.
"Hello," said Luna. "You are my Anima, aren't you?"
"Indeed. I am the animal part of your being, a bird representing flair, sadness, reflection, intelligence, and the ability to see beyond appearances. All that you are at the bottom of you, I am."
"So you are me and one day I will be you."
"One day maybe. You saw what should have been impossible to see for the mortals of the world of men, it is for this reason that your Anima was fixed so early."
"I'm not sure I understand." said the young Ravenclaw, surprised not to understand something.
"It doesn't matter. Now come with me, Fly and discover what is invisible to those who have no eyes to see!"
Luna spent a pleasant moment flying among the trees, seeing everything, even in the almost complete darkness but far too quickly, she left this animal envelope and her mind fell asleep.
When Edward opened his eyes, it didn't take him long to find out where he was: from the stinging heat that was burning his automail ports and the ruins he recognized, he was in Xerxes. That surprised him a lot: the teen had never really been able to endure the heat with his automail and he expected more to find himself in Resembool, in his childhood home even if he had burned it years ago. Edward was already starting to get tired of the damn heat that burned his brain and he was not the patient type... So he exclaimed:
"Why did I have to meet my anima in a bloody desert?!"
"The Anima represents the oldest part of your mind, the almost animal part of instinct, of survival, of your roots and therefore it is buried very deep in your unconscious. Your roots are here." said a voice from an invisible being.
"I was born in Resembool, though." Edward objected.
"Because this is where your oldest roots lie: your father was from Xerxès where he lived his life as a slave then a free man. Whether you want it or not, you and your brother are half Xerxian and you inherited both physical and spiritual traits." resumed the voice.
"And so... you are my Anima, my animal part, right? Why don't you show yourself?"
"I do not want to." The voice replied childishly.
A drop of sweat dripped from Ed's face as he had to refrain from swearing or laughing. But hey, on the one hand, his Anima answered questions, so you might as well enjoy it…
"Are the Animagi a kind of chimera?"
"No, even if the most successful like the four who helped you were lucky, if we can say it, to be transmuted with an animal that was in touch with their soul. Thus, they supported the transformation better than others. The doctor thought that this success was only due to the Philosopher's Stone. It was only partly true."
"I see ... This is really interesting. I wonder if there are any worlds where men have their Animas revealed to them or something like that ..." murmured Edward plunged in his reflections.
"Yes, there are. I believe they are called Daemons. And stop looking surprised! I too had contact with the Truth, after all, I am you."
"So why are you hiding from me?"
Because it is in our nature; people take us for insignificant little beings but they don't know what we are hiding: we are cunning, we are clever, we know how to defend ourselves and adapt to the harshest conditions around us. We are the desert fox."
And an animal appeared just behind Edward: a sort of beige fox, with very long ears, a fairly long nose, long whiskers, and a small flat tail. But he was very small, at most eight inches. He had a golden coat and eyes of the same color.
'It's beautiful.' was all Edward thought before he found himself in the body of the fox, chasing its prey in the dark. Then his vision blurred and he returned to the world of the living.
The fire was out when the members of the Circle woke up one after the other, each sporting an immense smile as they looked at each other with immense joy and without embarrassment, until they realized that they were still wrapped in their sheets. The girls disappeared behind the curtain to change while the boys did the same on their side. Everyone had a hard time resisting the temptation to say everything they had seen, but they still managed not to reveal anything. Finally, they were all together and they all looked at each other, their eyes bright:
"Okay, who's starting?" Edward asked.
"I am a lion, can you believe it? A lion with a majestic red mane, the symbol of nobility and courage! The king of the beasts is my animagus!"
"Curiously, I'm not surprised... a feline who lets the lionesses hunt for him and you who let me do your homework for you..." said Hermione in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"He told me that, too..." Ron mumbled embarrassed before questioning her "And what are you? A lioness? Please, especially not a bookworm!"
"Actually I am a long haired brown cat." said Hermione proudly,
"Oh, at least it will be easy for you to transform yourself considering our second year..." said Ron thoughtlessly.
"What are you implying?" growled Hermione.
"Um, and you Ginny, what is your Animagus?" Harry asked to put an end to the argument that was looming.
"A huge bat who advised me to learn about its diet... And the first who dares to laugh gets a Bat-Bogey to the face!"
"In fact, although having a bad reputation, the biggest bats are insectivores or fructivores- in short, they prefer fruits." Hermione said in an encyclopedic tone.
"I didn't recognize my animal," Neville mumbled ruefully. "Could you help me, Hermione? It was a small animal like a big rodent, but also like a cat. It attacked a snake that was going to attack me."
"In that case, I know what it is!" Hermione exclaimed before continuing: "A mongoose like in Rudyard Kipling's stories. He wrote a tale in his jungle book about a mongoose who exterminated cobras in his master's garden. His name was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi."
"Wow, you know that," Ron whispered admiringly.
"My parents read this to me before I went to bed when I was little." said Hermione, blushing slightly.
"And you, Luna, what was yours?" Edward asked.
"A white lady." Luna replied before adding: "A barn owl. She has a beautiful mask in the shape of a heart and she is very nice."
"And you Harry," asked Hermione, impatient to know what her friend could turn into.
"I think he was a hawk, in any case, he was very fast. I flew with him for a moment, I felt like I was on my Firebolt!"
"A good dive speed… Hmm... I'll show you several pictures of hawks and you can tell me what it looks like, okay?" said Hermione.
"I'm fine. How about you Edward?"
"Some sort of desert fox."
"A fennec, then! It must have had big ears, right? It's the smallest canine in the-"
"Hermione, shut up!" Harry, Ginny, and Ron shouted at her when they saw that Ed seemed ready to attack.
"Oops ... But it is a very cute animal! And I find that ... Oh! The curfew, I had completely forgotten it, we must all return to our common rooms, it's past midnight!"
"What, already?" lamented Ron.
"Yes, already. And tomorrow, Harry has an important appointment, right, Harry?"
"Yes, that's right,"said Harry, remembering the meeting with Dumbledore.
One by one, the members of the Circle returned to their respective common rooms, taking care to avoid the patrols of Filch, Mrs. Norris, and the Aurors who wandered the corridors.
Original Author's Note:
Well, that's all for today. And yes, the Animagus have a connection to the Daemons from the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman. After all, I made it so that the Gate could lead to different universes, so why not that one? I hope you enjoyed it and it doesn't seem too inconsistent to you. Thank you for reading, don't hesitate to leave reviews if you liked it or if you have any questions!