A/N
I apologize for the long wait...on top of my snails pace writing I finally found a beta for this story, so I waited until they managed to catch up on the story.
The idea For Hedwig came from me finally watching the fantastic beasts movies, and yes, the canonical Hedwig is still in the story as Tonks owl...part of me couldnt stand the OG not being in the story in some way.
Dont own Harry Potter, all rights go to JK Rowling.
Beta'd by Alyssa Doesnt write
Harry woke up in the morning to Tonks' soft snores. Her hair had returned to her natural brown, but it was all over the place.
Stretching he sighed softly as his back popped softly. "Tonks… come on. It's breakfast time."
"Dun wanna…" she shifted over and Harry rolled his eyes, waving his hand.
The door opened and Susan and Hannah came rushing in jumping on top of her. "Tonksie!"
Tonks glared at him. "I tried the nice way. Come on… we gotta get to the great hall." He threw on his robes and grabbed his tie as he headed up to the common room.
"Morning Harry. Where is Dora?" Cedric asked upon seeing the icy blue hair Harry prefers to keep.
"She's not a morning person, so Susan and Hannah are dragging her out of bed."
The two aforementioned girls came down with wide smiles on their faces dragging a Tonks that had droopy black hair and misty eyes.
"Well, then. Let's get some food." Cedric smiled slightly, knowing it would be pointless to ask about Tonks being in Harry's room. He had discovered that the one time he and Harry had a sleepover as kids that she always did that.
Harry sat down and began making himself an egg sandwich. Tonks just began to pour herself some coffee. "So Potter, when are we going to meet this mysterious familiar you have?" Daphne sat with them, Tracey looking a lot like Tonks right now.
"Oh, I'm sure she will be here soon. She likes taking her time, but she is usually pretty punctual."
The great hall was filled with children eating when the roof illusion cleared and owls began swooping in. "Ah. Mail's here." Daphne said as her owl dropped her a letter from her parents.
"Ms Greengrass, may I ask why you and Ms Davis are at the wrong table?" The greasy-haired potions professor approached as he pulled out their schedules.
"Just eating with friends Professor. It's not against the rules outside of feasts." The professor just nodded glaring at Harry as he went away.
Harry proceeded to pet the snowy owl that Tonks had gotten, "Hey girl. Got something from Andi?" The owl hooted and held out her leg, she had always liked Harry more than Dora, probably because within 5 minutes of Tonks buying her she had tripped and dropped the cage the owl was in.
Harry untied the letter from the owl as she swiped some bacon from Tonks' plate and took off. "Ruddy owl…" she growled as she took her letter from Harry.
A cry sounded from the rafters, everyone but Harry jumped in surprise as they looked up and saw a giant snake with wings flying through the owl window.
All of the teachers shot up drawing their wands but were stunned as the snake shrank and flew straight to the Hufflepuff table.
Harry smiled at the pure white snake curled around his shoulders. "Hey Hedwig…" he scratched her chin, eliciting a low purr from her.
"An Occamy?! You're familiar is a bloody Occamy!?" Tracey sat up stunned.
Harry grinned as she hissed at Tracey. "She says she likes to think I'm her Familiar."
"You're a parselmouth as well?!" Daphne asked.
Harry pulled out a rat and Hedwig snapped it up. "Yep. It's what attracted Hedwig to me. Her grandmother wanted her to have an adventure, she was one of the few that Newt Scamander carried with him, she loved it and wanted her granddaughter to have the same experience."
The students around him stared in shock, Occamies were not found in Britain. "Mr Potter, may I ask why you brought an illegal pet into the school?" Professor McGonagall approached with the four heads following close behind.
Hedwig hissed in anger, but Harry's hand rubbed her chin almost instantly so she calmed down. "She isn't a pet Professor McGonagall, Hedwig is my familiar. We found each other when Auntie Bellatrix took us on a vacation to meet Newt Scamander. The guy was really cool and very happy that we bonded as Occamies don't bond with humans that much."
Whispers sounded throughout the Hufflepuff table at him having met one of the most famous Ex-Hufflepuff students. He may have gotten expelled, but he was still a Hufflepuff when studying here.
The professors stared in amazement, "you met Newt Scamander, Mr Potter?" Professor sprout asked
Harry grinned, "Auntie Bella takes me and Tonks every year. He gives us tours of the reserve he helped set up for different magical creatures. You should've seen the Thunderbirds in America, they were awesome."
"At least until they zap you," Tonks mumbled while rubbing her rear where she had gotten zapped.
Harry smirked, "I don't know. I found that pretty funny." She scowled at him.
Drawing her wand, Professor McGonagall spoke up again, "May I confirm your claim, Mr Potter? I have to confirm it to ensure that the ministry doesn't interfere… it is after all a 4X magical creature."
Harry nodded and both were encased in a red light which surprised them even more. "Very well Mr Potter, I look forward to our first class." She walked past as the headmaster entered with several redheads.
Sprout cleared her throat, "Here are your schedules Mr Potter, Diggory, and Ms Tonks, Bones, Abbot."
Harry laughed at the stunned looks Daphne and Susan were giving him. "Keep your mouths open much longer a horde of Doxies may nest in there."
Both girls closed their mouths promptly and glared at him for the mental image but Harry just smirked.
Harry entered his first Transfiguration class with a smile, Hedwig happily snoozing away wrapped around his shoulders. "So… want to bet who's better at Transfiguration?"
Tonks smirked, "Don't forget who taught you to shift Harry."
Harry shrugged, "Yes yes… but as I recall, I was already doing it. You just stepped in and helped me perfect it."
The girl's smirk grew to a grin, "Oh yes. I do seem to remember a small girl who was hiding from his cousin."
Harry shrugged and retorted, "Have you managed a full gender switch Nymphadora?" The girl glared at him with pure loathing. She and Harry were experts at different aspects of being Metamorphmagi. She had more ability to shift into almost anything she wanted but Harry was capable of shifting into greater detail. Back in muggle primary, she would have no doubt she could've fully confirmed that the girl was Harry shifted if she hadn't been paying close attention to her.
As they sat down, Tonks looked around, "I'm surprised that Professor McGonagall isn't here yet… mum always said she was a strict teacher with a no-nonsense policy."
Harry turned to his friend, "You… how do you remember one conversation but forget the rest?"
Tonks glared at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Harry sighed, "She also told us what her ability is Tonks… so she's right there." He pointed to the cat as the door opened and other students started pouring in.
Tonks stared at the cat, "I guess I just forgot about that… I mean, we can never do that so why should I pay attention to the ability?"
Harry sighed and didn't answer. He saw the logic, but just because you couldn't do something doesn't mean you should ignore it completely.
A few minutes later the entire class, bar Harry gasped as with a leap, the cat on the desk morphed into Professor McGonagall. Seeing this, McGonagall smiled slightly and asked, "What gave me away Mr Potter?"
"This is a transfiguration class, the animagus transformation is one of the hardest we'll be discussing in school and lastly, you registered your form with the ministry," Harry said.
"You've researched me?" McGonagall asked.
"Not necessarily, Transfiguration is a passion of mine and you are widely considered the top authority on the subject. I studied how to identify an Animagi using your thesis paper on them a few years back." Harry replied.
The teacher blinked in surprise at the mention of the paper she had published years ago. "Well, first of all, 15 points to Hufflepuff for being so prepared. But I'm hardly the go-to expert, the headmaster is much better than I ever was."
Harry snorted, "The headmaster's usage may be better than you ma'am, but his thesis papers are all about how it's too dangerous to use the large majority of the branch of magic. He may know his stuff but you are the one who people look to when they don't bow down to him when he says don't do something."
McGonagall wanted to berate the blatant disrespect he showed to the headmaster but he wasn't wrong. Dumbledore tended to try and ban any magic he saw as even potentially dangerous. She knew that the only reason he hadn't discontinued her class was that absolutely nobody would let that happen since her class was one of the very few in Hogwarts that was good these days. So instead she started going through her normal briefing on the dangers of transfiguration and the types leading into talking about animagi and metamorphmagi. Suddenly she stopped mid-sentence. "Perhaps our metamorphmagi can enlighten us about their gift."
"Well... you can't learn the talent...we all have a base form, we're both wearing ours right now, and when we free form we normally base it on our base form." Tonks stammered out, not having expected to be called out right away.
"We are pretty much the physical embodiment of Transfiguration. Our ability allows us to shift into whatever form we like." Everyone gasped again as Harry shifted into a female, then back again, "the only downsides are that some shifts are based on our moods like if we get mad our hair might turn red...and being a metamorph means we cant become Animagi." Everyone burst into whispers as they were amazed that Metamorphs could shift so much of their bodies.
The class settled down and soon McGonagall was passing out matches to turn into needles.
Harry met Tonks glare with a smirk and jabbed his wand at the match, the wood shifting to metal.
Tonks scowled and did the same thing, creating a perfect needle, but she hated that as she compared hers to Harry's she wasn't quite as good. Harry's needle had vines stretching up the sides with Lillies sprouting all over it, and three black crows nesting at the base, one with brown eyes, one with blue, and one with violet. Signifying the four women in his life he would willingly describe as his mother. Lily Potter, Andromeda, and Bellatrix Black, and Narcissa Malfoy.
"I figured you two would be first," McGonagall said smiling. Picking up Harry's needle she stared in wonder at the mastery level of change. It truly took control to add your flair on a transfiguration. He truly did his father proudly. "15 points to Hufflepuff. " McGonagall said as she resumed her rounds.
Tonks stared at the needle, Harry had never really told her how to do that. "Tonks...you're a metamorph. When your using transfiguration think like you do when you shift." Harry sighed, he honestly thought she would've known that. After all, she had been shifting for far longer than he had so it just seemed...obvious to him.
She blinked at him and pointed her wand, a wide grin spreading as the metal changed from silver to pink, and had several lines in it that could have been designed. She was never that good at detail.
The rest of the class passed by quite quickly, only a few others made any progress in making a needle, and only Harry and Dora bad managed to full change it. Though Susan and Hannah came close.
Harry looked around confused, potions was an important subject, but the classroom was so poorly set up for it...dimly lit, no ventilation, he didn't see any proper safety utensils, and he could see all of the potions ingredients squished into a cupboard. That was bad because of cross-contamination, you could easily cause an explosion even when following a recipe if you didn't properly store your ingredients with at least a foot of space from each other.
The door slammed open and the teacher stalked in, "there will be no foolish wand-waving in this class."
That confused Harry too, the first thing Andi had taught them was the spells to get ladles to auto stir...it allowed for more attention to prepping the ingredients.
"As such, I don't expect many of you to truly think this is a magic class. Not many can understand the beauty of a simmering cauldron. But for those of you who do, I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. Assuming you're not the usual dunderheads I have to teach."
Picking up the class roster he began reading off names but paused. "Ah yes. Mr Potter." you could almost feel the loathing in the name, "our new Celebrity. Tell me, Mr Potter, What would I get if I added powdered root to an infusion of wormwood?"
"Powdered root to an infusion of wormwood are the main ingredients in the Draught of living death," Harry replied, which just seemed to irritate the man more.
He nodded, "everybody gets lucky from time to time. Tell me, where can I find a Bezoar?"
"A bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat." Harry was slightly irritated, some of these answers were in the back of the textbook, mostly because Bezoar should be known to all as a cure to most poison and the Draught of living death was common in exams. He was asking questions that shouldn't be common knowledge to first years this early in the year.
You could practically hear his teeth grinding, "and tell me, Mister Potter, what is the difference between Wolfsbane and monkshood?"
This caused Harry to frown, he knew the answer, but only because of the journal his dad left that bad the recipe for Wolfsbane potion for a friend of his named Remus Lupin. That was not a first-year question. "There is no difference between wolfsbane and monkshood- they are the same plant also known as aconite."
A full-blown sneer rose on his face, "you Potters always think yourselves so superior. Just like you damn father."
Harry felt the distinctive feeling of Snape entering his mind and scowled, his back stiffening, "get the fuck out of my mind." His hair shifting to a deep red.
Snape's sneer rose into a scowl as he felt the barriers around the boy's mind. legitimens!
Everyone who was raised in the wizarding world gasped and Susan grabbed the locket her auntie had given to her in case of an emergency.
Up in the deputy headmistress's office, Amelia Bones had just dropped off the Weasley children and discussed what the youngest male would do since he missed his sorting.
Minerva sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry Mister Weasley, the sorting hat only sorts once per year. You're going to have to wait till next year to start."
Amelia stiffened, "professor, where would my niece be in class right now?"
She frowned, "miss Bones would be in Potions class right now if I'm not mistaken."
Amelia leapt up and rushed to the dungeons, the other two following close behind.
Tonks stared in horror as blood started seeping out of Harry's nose, "professor stop! You'll cause serious brain damage." She grabbed his sleeve just as the door burst open, but was flung off with a growled sectumsempra.
Harry didn't see what happened, but he did hear Tonks cry of pain and saw a flash of red liquid, and he saw red. He felt a surge of power and grabbed ahold of the piece of Snape that was so desperately trying to break into his mind and reversed the connection, seeing his mother he grabbed every memory to do with either his mother, his father or his family. Unfortunately, this gave him a massive headache at all the knowledge poured in and he could no longer hold back the pain.
Amelia stared wide-eyed as the icy blue hair that Harry usually sported faded back to his birth messy black and an emerald green aura flashed around the child. With a scream, Snape was sent flying back into the wall with a cry of pain as the connection broke and both fell unconscious. Her eyes hardened, "Minerva, you may want to start looking for a new potions professor." She flicked her wand and cuffs were placed on the man's wrists. "Someone get Mr Potter and Ms Tonks to the hospital wing. Now." "She was hit with a sectumsempra...tell the nurse that the counter is Vulnera Sanentur." Harry groaned out, but couldn't stay awake. He had powered through the pain because he knew that Snape's spell had very few people who could counter it.
Tonks sat up with a gasp and looked around. "Is Harry ok?" She asked her mother, who had been sitting next to her.
Andromeda smiled, "he hasn't woken up… Bellatrix took a look at Harry since Pomphrey is no mind healer, during the connection Harry absorbed a lot of memories...so he's probably trying to assimilate them. But no permanent damage was made. He even managed to wake up long enough to give someone the counter curse to heal you. Without it, Pomphrey wasn't sure you would've made it. Now, lay down sweetheart, you still need rest. You lost a lot of blood, and even with blood replenishing potions you still feel the effects of losing that blood."
She nodded and sat back, "alright mum..."
Andromeda's smile faded as her daughter fell asleep, oh Snape would pay. Not only did that bastard attack Harry, but also threw a lethal spell at her daughter.
