The first thing that Harry noticed when he woke up after taking the Animagus potion was that his vision was much clearer than it had been previously, from his awkward position on the floor, he could clearly make out the pattern in the grain of wooden flooring two full metres away from where his face was.
Not only that, but the colours appeared to be much brighter too, what had once appeared to be faded blue curtains stood out with its patchwork of various blues, shades he'd never known even existed creating swirling patterns that seemingly shimmered where the sunlight caught it.
His hearing had also improved, where before he could hear his relatives only because they were so loud, now it as if they were just outside of his bedroom door, he could even hear the next door neighbour complaining to her daughter about aunt Petunia.
He breathed in through his nose and noticed that his sense of smell had also increased and that he could now tell apart different scents, Hedwig, who was perched in her cage, smelled of feathers, spruce wood, and what he could only describe as the wind.
Harry lifted his head further and sniffed at the air, interested in the different things he could smell, a small part of himself was glad that the door wasn't open, as he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand the smells that his relatives gave off, after all, uncle Vernon did tend to sweat an awful lot.
After spending an unknown amount of time laying on the floor, getting used to his new senses, Harry decided it would be a good idea to see what he now was.
He rolled onto his stomach and placed his hands down in front of his chest so that he could push himself up and paused.
Hands.
He still had hands.
Wasn't he supposed to have paws or something? Possibly flippers? It was an Animagus Transformation after all.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, but shook his head, he had to see what he was first.
Harry pushed upwards, onto his knees, and then up onto his legs.
'Guess I'm still bipedal.' He thought.
He walked over to a small shattered mirror in the corner of the room, he'd managed to take the mirror before the Dursley's had thrown it away a week prior.
He paused in front of it, took a deep breath, then looked down.
A child.
There was a literal child staring back at him.
"What the fuck?"
He stumbled backwards and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
"Alright Harry, this is okay, just change back and forget this even happened," He told himself.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pushing his magic through his body as he'd done many times prior in practice, once it was spread evenly, he pushed the feeling of changing back to himself, remembering how it felt to be himself.
He thought about the duller senses, about his poor eyesight, and about the fact that he was a young teenager, not what looked like a toddler or a really young child.
Harry opened his eyes, expecting to be back to normal.
Nothing happened.
He gulped, and stumbled over to his desk, where his books on the Animagus Transformation were stacked, he'd managed to sneak them into his room without his relatives knowing so that he would be able to read them if he encountered any problems.
His favourite so far had been one called 'Animagi; Myth vs Fact' and had a comprehensible list of questions and answers.
He pulled himself up on the wobbly chair and opened the large book that was sat in the centre of the desk, flipping through the book to try and find an answer.
He paused in his flipping, closed the book, flipped it open to a random page, took a quick look at it, then closed it once more.
That was… Interesting.
Harry grabbed a small paperback dictionary from the corner of the desk and flipped through the entire book, staring at the area the book was in, once it was shut, he placed it back in the corner and sat back in the chair, processing what had just happened.
Apparently his Animagus form could retain information from just a glance.
Harry shook his head and decided to think about that after he'd solved his current problem and turned back to the hardback book.
He opened the front page and slowly flipped through them, stopping when he saw an entire section that might have answers he was looking for.
'Animagi magics and sentient species' it was called.
And if Harry had any guess, it would be that whatever his Animagus form's species was, it was definitely sentient.
The Animagus Transformation can be a tricky process, and many different things can contribute to what shape you take.
There are many minor influences on what form you take; your diet, your surroundings, and even people you see regularly are just a few examples of this.
Some major outside influences also exist, such as different energies that you may be exposed to, which is why it is recommended for a Witch or Wizard attempting the transformation to go through a purification ritual.
Harry skimmed through the rest of the page before he came to an abrupt halt and carefully re-read what he'd seen.
Sometimes a Witch or Wizard may find themselves occupying the body of a different sentient species instead of an animal after completing the Animagus Transformation.
Be warned that this type of transformation is considered a permanent change of species as there is no known reversal.
'Well,' thought Harry. 'They really should have put that warning at the beginning of the book.'
He sighed and shut the book, then looked down at his legs, noticing for the first time since he woke up just what he was wearing.
A shirt, nothing else, his trousers and boxers having obviously fallen off when he'd shrunk to his new size.
"Suppose I'll have to do something about that."
He looked around his room and frowned, leaning back in thought.
"I can't stay here anymore," he looked towards the loose floorboard where his invisibility cloak, wand, vault key, and money pouch were all hidden. "I can leave pretty easily, but where would I go?"
He couldn't go to Sirius, as he was on the run, and he couldn't go to Hogwarts, because he wasn't a human anymore and it was pretty obvious, especially for a group of people who have to know how to tell the subtle differences between Human and Vampire, or Human and Werewolf.
Other than the whole being a literal child thing he had going on, he'd already noticed a bit of an oddity in his chest area, known as a second heart.
The mass population of Magical Britain was very much against anything not human and Harry did not exactly wish to be killed or worse, experimented on by the Department of Mysteries, he'd heard the horror stories and was going to take them as the warning they were.
Harry closed his eyes and sighed.
"Well Hedwig, it looks like it's just us now."
He got up, gathered his stuff from the loose floorboard, stuffing his wand, key, and money pouch in the large pocket on the shirt. He let Hedwig out of her cage, watching as she stretched her wings then took off out the window.
He then looked around once more and made his way to the bedroom door, flinging his invisibility cloak around him, making sure none of him peaked out of the fabric, and that he wouldn't trip over its edges.
He crept down the stairs and quietly made his way past the living room where Dudley was watching the television, uncle Vernon was 'reading' the newspaper, and aunt Petunia was doing some ironing.
He entered the kitchen and made a beeline for the backdoor, he could have gone through the front, but the neighbours might find it strange, seeing the door open and close by itself.
Harry opened the door, stepped outside, then shut it behind him, the nearly silent click had him feeling more alone than he ever had before.
He took a deep breath and walked forwards into the small woodland area surrounding the neighbourhood.
He would be okay.
His eyes watered and he stifled a sob.
He would have to be.