Hello! I'm sorry for the long wait, but unfortunately I will only be able to update once every 3 weeks at least. Homework, piano (grade 5) is really time consuming and I need a break from writing sometimes, you know? Anyway. Here is Chapter 5, and thanks to Goanna for the fantastic idea. ;D
Harry groaned in pain and flipped over onto his paws. Wait, paws?! He looked down in alarm. He had paws! He looked back and saw the fur of a coyotes covering his back.
"I'm a coyote!" He barked in surprise. The others were also stirring. He could see an elegant fox already on her feet, russet coloured fur gleaming. he assumed this was Hermione, as always, having mastered the spell long before anyone else did. She was staring at him strangely. He looked at a majestic snow leopard flashing it's grey and white fur. Ron was also staring at him.
A rather feather ruffled owl was shaking its head, looking very dazed. Harry reckoned that that was Neville. His eyes were sore the more he opened them and he felt a strange tug towards the forest. He growled in discomfort and backed away subconsciously tucking himself behind a tree. He saw that Ron was doing the same and Neville was flapping his wings, obviously following his owlish instincts. Hermione's gaze, however, remained on Harry and she tucked her paws neatly beneath her as she sat down.
"Harry." She said. Harry looked at her in surprise. "Harry. What did you do?"
He was confused. "I thought of a coyote, blacked out, then woke up like the rest of you! Why?"
Hermione sighed. "Did you think of a stag?"
"A stag... That's my patronus, right? I thought of my patronus... What's wrong?"
There was a pause where even Neville stopped fidgeting. Eventually Hermione answered him.
"Take a look at yourself, Harry." After she said that a puddle of clear, shimmering water appeared beside Harry. He didn't know if he wanted to look at himself. He edged his way over and peered nervously at his reflection. He nearly choked in surprise. Instead of a coyote's face, he had a stag's face and neck! He stumbled back a few steps.
"Oh Merlin! What am I going to do?" He cried. He noticed that his voice had changed from a growl to a stag's voice.
Hermione made her way over to him and studied him closely. "Well, according to the book, you're supposed to become the animal you think about. And since you thought about both the coyote and a stag, then it's likely that you will be-"
"Half coyote half stag?!" Ron mewed in disbelief.
"Poor you, Harry!" Neville hooted.
Hermione cleared her throat. "As I was saying, Harry, it is likely that you will be able to become both the stag and the coyote. You just have to think of each of them detailedly so your magic doesn't get confused, like right now."
"So how do I change back?" Harry barked.
"Umm... You just think of yourself and think Factus Est Homo," Hermione told him, "And hopefully it will work!"
Harry closed his eyes and thought of him, average height, black messy hair, lightning scar, Lily's eyes, Gryffindor robes... Factus Est Homo! Nothing happened. Factus Est Homo! facts Est Homo! Factus Est Homo! Factus Est- He felt the same agony as his bones shifted and reshaped. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and curled himself into a ball. He felt himself growing and straightening. His hair sprouted on his head and his paws went back into fingers. lastly, his back paws changed into human feet. He moaned as his spine clicked into place and rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the lingering pain. After a few seconds it faded away.
Harry opened his eyes and saw a big, hairy face right in front of him. He screamed and started backwards, whipping out his wand and pointing it forward. Then he recognised the eyes and lowered it. Ron and his pranks! He was getting more like Fred and George by the minute.
"Hey! Not funny, Ron!" He scowled and tried to imitate Professor Snape. Judging by the looks of barely compressed laughter, his friends were very amused by his attempt. "Come on, guys, change back! I want to get to bed sometime tonight." Hermione nodded and changed back with a quiet pop. Ron managed to do it but Neville failed miserably. He squawked in despair after about 5 minutes of trying.
"Here, let me help," Hermione offered. Neville gratefully fluttered wobblyly onto her outstretched wand. He sat down and closed his large eyes again. A moment later and he tumbled off the wand, squawking something again. Then he fell onto the snowy ground with a thud and he began hanging back too.
"Someone's heading toward us!" He croaked.
Hermione turned towards Harry. "Quick, your invisibility cloak!" Harry rummaged in his robe and his hand closed around the silky material. He threw it out and Ron crouched behind Neville. Hermione, instead, chose to transform into a fox again and she raced off into the trees, her paw steps barely audible. Harry now heard the crunch of snow as someone walked towards their clearing. He draped the cloak over Ron and Neville and concentrated hard on his coyote Animagus.
"You guys, follow Hermione!" He whispered. He thought the spell and he fell onto all fours.
He immediately felt the pain and changed quicker than last time, the bones grinding together and fur sprouting.
He ducked behind a tree as the figure emerged into the clearing. He held his breath and wished for a small puddle beside him. He looked at his reflection and noticed that he had fully changed into a coyote, not a stag. He wished it away and looked back at the clearing. He saw a trail of footsteps left by Neville and Ron. Panicked, he scooped snow over them discreetly. his ears twitched back toward the clearing and heard the creaking of one of the logs as someone sat on them. He finished covering the footsteps and looked back at who the person was.
The white-blond hair immediately revealed the identity. What is Malfoy doing here? He didn't follow us, did he? Harry thought. Then Draco spoke. His voice wasn't the demanding one he used in Slytherin, or the insulting voice he used to snarl at Harry or his friends.
"..." He mumbled something to himself. Harry's ears pricked and his hyper-hearing picked up on the words.
"Tomorrow is my first session with Potter about our bond." He murmured. "Why do I find myself not hating it? Why would I spend two whole periods with Scarhead? It's just wasting my time!" He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. Harry's eyes widened. The Slytherin Prince having imperfect hair was not something he had ever wanted to see.
"He's actually okay to be around, you know." Malfoy seemed to use some sort of spell. A pale person sat opposite from him on a log. It was like a pensive in some ways, Harry decided. There were some colours swirling around in it. He could see green, black, orange and light, very light pink. If he had been a human he would not have noticed it, but since he was a dog, he could see things that the human eye missed. It seemed that not even Malfoy knew it was there. Harry stared at the 'person'. It seemed to record what Malfoy said and colour each piece of information a different colour depending on his mood. There was one little fragment of pink, Harry counted.
"I wish I hadn't messed up the first time we met." Malfoy paused. "Or on the train. Damn father and his teachings. He said that the Weasley family was just like Mudbloods. I don't get what's wrong with them, but you know what father does when I disagree. He once gave me the Crucio curse for patting Dobby. I was only 4 then. Life is so unfair sometimes."
Harry frowned. There was black and blue pouring into the person now.
"Ugh. And then Granger had to teach them how to be Animaguses. It's going to be much harder to spy on them now." He buried his face in his hands and flicked his wand. The person disappeared and he changed smoothly into a white owl, just like Hedwig. In fact, identical to Hedwig. He flew into the air and soared gracefully towards what Harry assumed was the door.
Harry padded towards the log where Malfoy had sat on. He sniffed around and found that a small stone had been left under the log. It glimmered with many colours. Harry assumed that it was Malfoy's. He picked it up in his mouth and ran off towards the door. It was still warm where Malfoy had held it. Harry tried not to lick the stone and reached the door. Now, how do I get out? he wondered.
He pressed his nose to the door and nudged it slightly. It swung open and he went through. Harry decided that he would just put the stone in Malfoy's robe pocket. He raced silently to the dragon. It was curled up and snoring little puffs of steam. Harry changed back to a human and held the stone tightly.
"Dragon Emerald," He hissed. The dragon's tail twitched in its sleep and the door opened to let him through. He closed it quietly behind him and walked to Malfoy's door. It was typical Slytherin colour. Harry hesitated before opening it. Thank Merlin he's not in there! He thought. He looked around the room. It was exactly like his. A robe was hung neatly the back of a chair and Harry approached it. He swept his wand over it to check for spells and found none. While he was putting it back in his pocket, he accidentally brushed it on the stone.
The same person that he had seen in the Room Of Requirement's clearing appeared. Harry paused. He knew he should put it back, but he was curious as to what the pink stood for. He looked carefully but he couldn't find it anywhere. He groaned and changed into his coyote again. Now he could see it, right in the centre of where the heart would be. He raised his paw and tapped on it gently. It swirled around and popped out. He heard Malfoy's voice say something too quiet even for his coyote form to hear.
He tapped on it again and pressed his ear right up against it. He heard the start of it. It sounded a lot like "If only..." Harry prepared to press it again when he heard Malfoy's voice arguing with the dragon. He changed back quickly and painfully and tapped the stone with his wand again. The figure disappeared and he slipped it into Malfoy's robe pocket as he had planned. He then tiptoed out and closed the door quietly behind him. He slipped into his room just as Malfoy stormed in. Peeking through a crack under his door Harry saw him slam the door closed as Malfoy went into his room.
"Ah, good. I thought I had lost you, stone. What would I do if Potter got hold of this?" His voice drifted through the two doors.
What could be in that stone that is so important? Is it about the pink piece? Could that have been about... me? Harry thought. He had to find out some way or another. And somehow now he knew Malfoy had a heart, maybe living with him wouldn't be as bad that Harry would want to switch with Pansy.
Finally finished this! Do you think I'm taking the romance a bit too far? And Goanna, I know, it's called 'gay' but the thing is, the rating of this story is T, technically for 13+ and it can include some swearing, romance and blood. I won't take the romance up to M.
P.S: And also, I'm not going to include much swearing in this fic, or blood, maybe a bit more of romance but nothing more than everyday stuff (handholding, kissing etc.)
I know this is shorter than Chapter 5 but it's still 2k+ so don't kill me, Goanna!
IceMistyWolf