A/N: I now have two beta readers. This one was beta'd by Face of Bo's Child, as Thea is starting a project due tomorrow.

Chapter 35: Kite and Cat

Browning leaves fell from the deciduous trees of the Forbidden Forest as Harry and Minerva made their way through in search of an ideal clearing. Their feet crunched against the leaves, and their cloaks rustled. High above them, the Halloween October sky was completely clear and blue, but the morning air was nippy and not quite still. Minerva adjusted the bag over her shoulder and something clinked within. Harry followed, thrusting his hands deep into his thick cloak and jingling around the shrunken objects there as if they were coins.

"Don't break anything, Crockett. I don't want to have to buy those again."

"If I recall correctly, you didn't buy them in the first place."

"You know what I mean."

He did. It had taken weeks to assemble the supplies necessary for the potions to find their animagus forms, and Harry still wasn't convinced that some of them weren't just run-of-the-mill hallucinogenic drugs.

They broke into a clearing.

"This should work," said Minerva. "All right with you?"

Harry nodded, and they began setting up. First, they put down a large blue blanket and put stones on the corners so that it wouldn't move. Next, they set out the candles.

"I would have described this scene if you'd have asked me what witches did when I was ten," said Harry, chuckling.

"Weren't you raised by wizards?"

"Er…I just mean…Um, do you have any matches?"

"Are you a wizard or what, Crockett?"

"Oh, right," said Harry. He lit the candles with a wave of his wand.

"Sometimes I worry about you, Crockett."

"Don't."

"What were the candles for again?"

"I just thought they smelled nice, actually," said Harry.

She glared at him.

"Ok, that and they keep insects and animals away so that we aren't disturbed while we're in our trances."

Harry pulled some of the items out of his pockets and laid them out. There was a flask of water, and a large box of nuts. The instructions said to "suftain ye for lengthae trances" by leaving easily accessible food and drink. Minerva set up her end of the blanket similarly to Harry's. Minerva conjured a small tartan cushion and sat down on it. Harry followed her example (except chose plain over tartan for his cushion). Next, Minerva pulled two vials out of her bag and handed one to Harry. She shook her own in front of her eyes.

"It might take us different amounts of time," said Harry. "So if you wake up first, please don't...I don't know…draw a mustache on me or anything."

"Could you grow a mustache if you wanted to?"

"Yes."

"Without magic?"

"Are you ready to start, Minerva?" She giggled and nodded. It was easy for Harry to forget he was talking to his old head of house.

He uncorked his vial and inhaled the smell deeply. Minerva did the same, and sighed. "Not bad. Who should go first?" she asked.

"I suppose we could both go at the same time."

"An excellent idea. Will you take the time from me?"

Harry nodded and Minerva counted down from three on her fingers, and they both drank.

Harry's eyes slid shut and he found himself unable to move. He heard the light wind rustle around him and smelled the candles and fauna. His breath deepened and then he blacked out.

The next thing he knew he was scampering along a tree branch, his whiskers twitching. His bushy tail bobbed around behind him as he wound around on the thick bark. He felt strange and out of place.

He blacked out again, and found himself fluttering inches from the ground, alighting on flowers, and taking off again. He harnessed the minute changes in the air to drift…he hardly had to beat his gossamer wings at all. It didn't feel quite right. He didn't have enough mass. He didn't have enough power (besides, of course, the ability to make a hurricane on the other side of the planet). He blacked out again.

Next he was slithering through the leaves trying to find a patch of sun with which to warm his slender body. He heard something scuttle near by and froze. He flicked out his forked tongue to taste the air. A mouse. He scooted forward silently, feeling powerful and smooth…but it wasn't quite right. The world faded.

Everything was dark and warm as he tunneled his way through soft soil. His whiskers brushed against the dirt when the tunnel was too small, and he pawed at it so that he could fit. He smelled insects ahead but was so repulsed by the idea of eating them that he blacked out again.

He hoofed gently through the forest, ducking his great antlers under trees, trotting, galloping. His tail was short and tufty, and his hoofs were silent. Being a stag felt the best out of all of the animals so far. He enjoyed the feeling of galloping swiftly through the trees, the air moving swiftly through his lungs, but something wasn't quite right. The stag he was sharing fit the best of the ones he'd tried, but he wished he could fly. He reluctantly let the world slip away again.

Beat. The world whistled around him. Beat. He opened his eyes, and all of Britain spread out below him. Beat. His perfect eyes could see a mouse on the ground half a mile away. His talons would let him catch it. He banked left and caught sight of his own auburn wings stretching a meter on either side. For the first time during his trance, he felt Fawkes whooping in delight before starting a mental conversation with the bird itself who was more than happy to show off for them.

It ended too soon for Harry. Before he knew it, he was back in his body in the clearing on his pillow and able to move. The first thing he noticed was that the light had changed completely. It was no longer early morning; Harry guessed it must be mid-afternoon. The air hadn't gotten much warmer, but the dew had evaporated. Minerva was still sitting across the blanket from him. She sat frozen upright with her eyes closed and a blank expression on her face.

The sensations in Harry's body took that moment to come back to him; he was starving and his legs were falling asleep. He picked up the flask of water and the box of nuts and laboriously stood up. He paced in the clearing, popping handfuls of nuts into his mouth and taking swigs of water from the flask. The leaves crunched under his feet, but he was too busy recalling the flight of the bird to notice.

In his month and a half of study since his encounter in Minerva's bedroom in the middle of September, he'd decided to try to become a normal animagus, to be able to transform into a non-magical animal. If he succeeded, he would try to change his form into a phoenix. It made sense that his non-magical form had been so close to a phoenix.

The objective of the trance had been to find his form, and, once he had found it, observe enough details to identify the specific species once he was back. Sometimes, according to the book, finding the specific species could be the most difficult part. Harry understood that if he'd gotten some sort of rodent it might have been harder, but Harry already knew what he was. The two-meter wingspan, the sharp talons, the keen eyesight—he was certain that his form was the Red Kite.

Red Kites were a species of birds once common in the United Kingdom in the 1400s to the point of nuisance, and had since almost completely died out. Harry had learned about them in Care of Magical Creatures because they had begun to live almost exclusively in the Forbidden Forest after King James II of Scotland had ordered them to all be killed. Despite learning about them in class, kites were not magical creatures. They had adopted a brighter red color since moving to the Forbidden Forest, but had shown no real signs of magical capability.

It was just past four in the afternoon when Minerva finally woke up. She stretched and yawned like a cat before looking up at Crockett, who'd been pacing for quite some time thinking about the actual transformation process.

"What time is it," she asked. She reached for her food and water.

"Just past four," Harry replied. Minerva raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Maybe a little over an hour," said Harry. "How did it go?"

"Fine," she said through a mouthful of salami and crackers. "It was strange," she said. "Have you ever experienced anything like that?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "I've had some weird out of body experiences. This one wasn't so bad comparatively."

"So, did you find your animal?"

Harry nodded. "I got a Red Kite. And you?"

"A tabby," she said smiling. "I can't wait to try it out."

"I suppose it'll be a couple of months, but, yeah. I can't wait either."

"Months?" asked Minerva, shocked. She stopped eating.

Harry frowned. "Well, yeah. We have to do each part separately and then…" he trailed off as Minerva's face fell. "Didn't you read the books?"

"Well, I did, but I thought you could help it go faster," she said in a moment of candid honesty.

It was also the first time she'd acknowledged his abnormal power. He frowned.

"I didn't realize you assumed that," he said. She suddenly looked so much younger—younger than him. He realized that he'd almost taken on a mentor role with the animagus project—but how stupid he'd been to think she had never noticed his extra powers. She was a bright woman, after all, but her comments always led Harry to believe she thought Harry's stories to be bragging and his magic to be tricks and sheer dumb luck.

He looked at her and contemplated her face. He'd been planning to do the whole transformation the normal way so that he could help Minerva, but if the cat was out of the bag about his powers, maybe he could move them both along faster.

He grinned suddenly. "Well, alright."

As he'd been pacing for the hour before Minerva woke up, he had contemplated how he'd do his own transformation if he were to do it his own way rather than the normal way. He could just…do it, but how would he help Minerva?

"Well, so, the book says, to go piece by piece. It says that smaller pieces are easier than larger pieces, and once you know how to transform one piece of the anatomy to the animal and back, you never forget. When you finish all the pieces, you can turn into the whole animal and back. It takes so long, because you have to find each part of your body and change it…but I think we can make that go faster. I think I could do my whole body at one time, and I could help you, too."

"Well, you can't just transfigure me," said Minerva. "Animagus transformations are different from normal animal transfiguration."

"Yes," said Harry, "but I think I can help anyway."

"So, are you ready?" she asked.

"What, now?"

"Well, yes, now. If you're up to it," she challenged.

"Alright, alright," said Harry. "Um…" he was suddenly self conscious. "This is going to be really strange for you. See, I…Well, I can, um…"

"Spit it out, Crocket. I know you're a special snowflake. Just tell me what I need to do."

"Fine. I can manipulate my aura and I'm going to use it to get inside your head and show you what you need to do to get into your form." She was gob smacked. "If…that's ok with you," he added.

"Special snowflake indeed," she muttered, still looking slightly alarmed. "No wonder Albus likes you so much."

Harry felt a twinge of pain as Minerva mentioned Albus. Harry hadn't heard from Albus since he'd left on his academic dragon blood tour over a month earlier. He occasionally spotted mentions of Albus in the Prophet saying that he was speaking about his dragon blood discoveries at some university in America or even Britain sometimes, but had no specific information about his activities beyond that, nor did he know when Albus would return. Albus hadn't written, and, fearing his wrath, Harry hadn't written either. Minerva's stony reluctance to talk about Albus suggested that she hadn't been receiving any mail either, but Harry never asked.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Well, let's get on with it then," she said.

"You really want me to do it?" asked Harry.

"I suppose. It'll save me months of time that I don't have. In case you haven't noticed, I've been running a school and will be for Merlin knows how long."

Harry shrugged. "Alright. Whatever you say. We should sit down. This is going to be quite odd."

They arranged their cushions face to face on the blanket and sat cross-legged across from each other. Harry put his wand on the blanket between them.

"Er…We should hold hands," said Harry. Minerva smirked at him but took his hands as he offered them. "Don't panic," he said. "This is going to feel strange. Just relax."

She took a comically large deep breath to show him that she was ready. Then, he felt out to her with his body aura through their fingers.

"Crockett…"

"Yes, Minerva?"

"My fingers are tingling."

"Yes, Minerva."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting to know your body so that I can help you change it," he said as he moved up her arms with his aura. He was in all the way to her shoulders when he sneezed.

He jerked forward, and one of Minerva's arms twitched.

"Crockett! Was that you? I didn't do that! Stop, please! Get out! Something isn't right."

Harry backed out of her hastily and she dropped his hands.

"What's the matter?"

"Harry, I'm not sure about this. It's my body and you're …and we've been spending so much time together and I don't want to get the wrong…idea."

Harry looked at her incredulously before closing his eyes and massaging his temples in frustration.

Harry sighed. "Minerva." He sighed again. "I fancy blokes. I'm going to feel you, but I'm not going to feel you up. I just want to help you with your transformation."

"Blokes?" she asked, ceasing her panicked fidgeting.

"Yes, blokes."

"But you were married to a woman," she protested.

"And now I'm not," he replied simply.

"Blokes?"

"Blokes, chaps, men."

"Why didn't you say so?"

Harry grimaced. "Albus thought you'd come up with all sorts of stories about me and him and you'd never stop teasing him."

"I tease him anyway."

Harry smiled.

"Alright. Well, then. You'd best get on with it. Don't burst any of my arteries, please," she said.

He looked up at her in surprise. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Just…don't linger," she said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he reassured, taking her proffered hands.

He started the process again of moving up through her arms. He could feel her discomfort and fear when he got to her chest, but she didn't make a sound. Their hearts began to beat in time. When he got to her stomach, he could feel it digesting the snack she'd eaten, and he could feel her nervousness. He moved lower, and Minerva tensed. He quickly finished her pelvis and legs and then started back up higher, working on her neck. When he got to her face, Harry could feel her blush, and then he could look out through her eyes.

"Are you ok?" he asked, paying special attention to use his own mouth and not hers.

He felt her nod. "This is really weird, though," she said through gritted teeth.

He couldn't help using a little of his body-aura magic to calm her down a little, and he could feel it when she physically relaxed.

"Ok. Next, I'm going to use my magic to sort of get inside your magic like how I did this. Is that ok?"

She nodded.

He felt for his magical aura in the wand between them, and let it reach out to Minerva. Minerva's magic was in her body (like anyone but Harry) and was strongest in her wand hand (Minerva's right hand), the mind, the eyes, and the heart. Seeing this helped Harry understand why it was easiest to curse someone with eye contact.

Minerva gasped, and Harry could feel her surprise and awe in her physicality.

"Is that you?" She was growing short of breath. "You're so…powerful." Harry helped steady her breathing and evened out her temperature.

"Minerva," he said through his own mouth, finding his own body out of breath with the effort and concentration he was using on Minerva. "I need you to remember what it was like being the cat. Feel it."

Minerva frowned in concentration, and Harry could feel flicks of sensation…rough paws, light fur, a swishing tail…He helped her enhance the memory into sensation until he could feel the cat in Minerva's whole body.

"Ready? Ready to shift?"

She nodded with her eyes still closed.

Harry used his magic to guide her magic all over her body, turning each part into the part of cat it was feeling. He felt the sensations of her body changing even more from memory to reality until she was a foot off the ground and purring, quite pleased with herself. Upon completing the transformation, Harry pulled out of her magic and body and looked at her through his own eyes.

She was, indeed, a tabby cat of average size with rectangular markings around her eyes where her spectacles had been. Harry grinned and let out a whoop of triumph. Minerva rolled her big, green eyes at him and nodded as if to say "get on with it."

"You look great," he told her. He conjured a mirror brought it down to her. She looked through at herself, her eyes dilating to slits when she caught a glimpse of the sun behind her. She looked back up at him expectantly and meowed.

"My turn, then," he said.

He sat back down on his cushion and closed his eyes. He remembered his talons, his wings, his beak. He felt his feathers and the lightness of his bones, the dexterity of his tail. Then, he let his magic loose and changed the memory to reality.

He opened his eyes to find himself face to face with the tabby cat Minerva who looked mildly startled. Harry opened his mouth to make a witty comment, but what came out was a piping cry that pierced through the forest. Minerva scampered backwards in alarm before approaching again. Harry hopped from the blanket and onto the floor of the clearing before stretching out his wings. It was just as he'd felt in the trance, only it was his own wings he moved rather than feeling the wings of another bird. He glanced quickly at Minerva before launching himself into the air.

Flight with his own wings was better than riding a hippogriff or thestral, and better, even, than riding a broom. He circled over the forest a few times, feeling the strength of his shoulders and how much his forked tail maneuvered him. He spotted the clearing again easily, and swooped down into it. Minerva wasn't on the blanket anymore. It only took him a moment of looking about to spot her motion in a branch of a tree. He took off again and landed next to her with another cry of delight. She meowed hello, and took a playful swipe at him with one of her paws. He snapped back at her with his sharp beak jokingly before swooping back to the ground.

He looked back up as Minerva paced across the branch back towards the trunk. Then she stopped, eyeing the trunk nervously. She glanced up at Harry, and if she'd been human, Harry could tell she would have been blushing.

Could she not get down? Harry laughed (which came out more like a squawk), remembering how cats are always getting themselves stuck in trees, their claws being curved in a way more suited to climbing up trees than down. Minerva glared over at him as she pawed the trunk.

Harry flew back up to the branch and then jumped off and landed lightly on the ground, trying to illustrate a suggestion that she should just jump down.

She shook her head.

He flew back up and hovered above her, reaching out his talons to carry her down, but she batted him off with a paw. Resigned, Harry went back down to the ground. Really, the fall was not that far.

Minerva looked at Harry for a moment, and then waved her paw in a way that said quite distinctly, "go away."

Harry didn't move.

She waved more insistently, and Harry shook his head. Minerva bristled, her ears went back, and she outright hissed down at Harry. Harry burst into a squawking fit of laughter. Minerva glared at him from the tree. Finally, with one last withering look at Harry, she gripped the claws of her front paws on the trunk of the tree as if she were going to climb higher. Then, she moved her back paws below herself, and started to back down the tree.

Harry toppled over laughing, and had to flutter his long wings to right himself. Minerva hissed over her shoulder at him and slipped down the trunk a few feet before catching herself. She slowly inched her way down backwards before finally reaching the ground. She slunk back to the blanket, glaring at Harry. Harry stopped himself from laughing and went to join her on the blanket. The sun was setting, and the forest was getting quite dark. The Halloween feast would start at 6:30, and the party would begin at 8 o'clock. There was to be music and dancing and costumes, all of which needed to be chaperoned by the Deputy Headmistress and Professor Crockett, among others. They had to get back.

They settled onto their cushions on the blanket and Harry watched as Minerva closed her eyes. She opened them a minute later and looked around. Then she frowned (as much as a cat can frown, anyway), and closed her eyes again. Her scowl deepened as the seconds ticked by, and Harry realized she was having trouble changing back to human. She opened her eyes and looked at him pleadingly.

Harry sighed and closed his own eyes. He felt out his body aura, now totally different than it had been. The beating of his heart had changed, as well as the temperature of his blood. Now that he thought about it, his emotions were different. They were stronger and fainter in different places. Now Harry understood what Sirius had meant when he'd explained how his dog form had allowed him to survive Azkaban without going mad.

Harry felt out for the magic in his wand and began trying to remember what it was to be human. He tried to remember the sensation of fingers, of his eyes at his height, of hair instead of feathers…nothing. He couldn't feel it.

Panicking slightly, he tried harder. The wind on his skin, the wiggle of his toes…nothing. He couldn't make himself feel the human sensations.

He opened his eyes, and his terrified gaze met the wide eyes of the cat, Minerva.

The forest grew darker.