Minerva McGonagall looked over her three favorite students. Over the past few months they had studied harder than most students ever did, determined to learn the animagus transformation before the Christmas in their sixth year. It had started because Harry Potter wanted to feel more connected with his father and godfather. He wanted some way to remember them and quietly asked for her help in a letter a few days into the summer. Albus Dumbledore had casually suggested something similar for later anyway, since having a ready means of escape or a hidden weapon would undoubtedly be a useful skill for him to have. They hadn't planned to ask if he were interested until the end of his sixth year, but he beat them to it.

Once Harry's friends found out about his extra lessons, they begged him to teach them too. His capacity as a teacher must truly be remarkable, or else their determination and devotion unmatched, for they were soon caught up and joined him in her lessons directly. They had progressed to the final step in months instead of years, truly a feat.

"In a few minutes you will take the last potion in the process. It is designed to open up your subconscious and bring forward the primal part of your mind that is connected to your inner animal. You will tap into the genetic memory of the animal for instincts like how to fly or balance in your new forms." She began. "Over the course of the next week, you will gradually notice more and more of the animal traits coming to the fore. Your bodies will slowly adjust themselves to accommodate all the animal traits until at some point, probably next weekend, your bodies will suddenly and completely change into that of your animal self. If your animal has fur, you will notice that you will need to shave much more often this week, and if you are say an amphibian your hair will likely fall out as your skin becomes moist and smooth. Don't be alarmed, once your transformation is complete you will be able to change back and forth at will and your hair should return to normal. Are there any last questions?"

Hermione Granger raised her hand even though everyone was already looking at her before the question was asked, "Professor, if we take the potion and it turns out we don't have an animal form?"

"Then nothing will happen." McGonagall said simply. "You'll fall to sleep and have odd dreams but nothing serious."

"What if I'm a snake? What changes can I expect to experience before the final change?" Harry asked. Ever since he started being more open to his subconscious tendencies, he had felt more sneaky. He found himself disappointed at mealtimes, food just appearing ready to eat seemed to have lost something. He wanted to snap into action, seize his food while it was still struggling and slowly choke it to death before eating it. It scared him the first few times he felt that disappointment at the dinner table, but lately he was almost certain he was a snake beneath his human skin. After all, the Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin, and he was a parselmouth, it just made sense.

McGonagall considered it for a few seconds, "You'll probably notice your skin hardening into scales or possibly your tongue splitting, but if that is the case you will probably undergo a forced change before the others because of the loss of your limbs."

Harry nodded, deep in thought. McGonagall looked to the others, "Well, anything else? No? Well then go ahead and take your potions. Madam Pomphrey and I will be here for you in case you have a bad reaction. No matter the outcome, I'm proud of you all for getting to this point."

00000

The images began at the fringes of his mind. Companionship, friendship, brotherhood, camaraderie, and unity. Peace, hope, compassion, and sympathy. Touches and caresses, hugs and kisses, cuddles and mad passionate love making. Protection, family, giver, provider. Son, Father, Mother, Daughter, Brother, Sister, Children, and Parents. Large cities, tiny hamlets, living alone in caves. Computers, autos, brooms, carts, planes, and trains. Adam and Eve, Mary and Joseph, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Ophelia, Merlin and Nimue, James and Lily Potter... Passion, pleasure, ECSTASY!

There was confusion and understanding. Alertness, acceptance, ambivalence, anticipation, anxiety, apathy, bitterness, boredom, calmness, contempt, depression, disappointment, disgust, doubt, embarrassment, emptiness, enthusiasm, envy, frustration, gratitude, grief, guilt, humiliation, jealousy, loneliness, panic, pity, pride, regret, rejection, remorse, self pity, shame, suffering, struggle, success, Victory, and defeat...

A thousand images shot through him all at once. Clubs and fire, burnt hair and flesh, beating and thrashing and screaming. Fight instinct, predator, hunter, killer. Swords and knives, wands and staves, guns and bullets, blood pouring and guts spilling. Guttural roars, pounding fists, blood lust... thirst, vengeance, murder. Tanks, napalm, poison gas, nuclear bombs, curses, jinxes, hexes, enchantments, spells, potions, and mists. Mengle, Manson, Daumer, Jack the Ripper, Voldemort, Grindelwald, and Fenrir Greyback. Concentration camps, POWs, torture practices. Rapid-fire weapons, chemical warfare, bombs, grenades, spears and arrows. Scalping, raping, caning, quartering, hanging, tearing of flesh... bare hands. Roman Conquest, The War of Roses, The Hundred Year War, World War I and II, The Falkland Islands, Goblin Rebellions, Centaur Uprisings, Merfolk Revolutions, Genocide of the Elves, and countless Dark Wizards or Mad Men. Countless millennia of constant war, torture, violence, and murder... Isanity, Lust, Anger, Wrath, HATE...

The whole of human experience, from the day they learned to stand upright flashed before his eyes and danced across his nerves. He experienced everything from every perspective. He was stabbed, shot, hung, drawn, quartered, choked, beaten, and raped. He fell sick with ever disease, suffered, recovered, and relapsed. He lived and he died. That was something else entirely, Death... The primal, blood-stirring scream of a savage human ancestor migrating to the throat of a man not unlike himself... The primal man within him rebelled against death, refused to give in. It howled at the moon, crying out the injustice done to his brothers, refusing to submit... And the scream became his...

00000

Harry Potter could not stop screaming. He finally understood. He understood it all, and he knew it wasn't worth knowing. His throat grew hoarse from screaming and he felt hands on him, holding him down. When he tried to gasp for breath he felt something cold run down his throat. Gradually his heartbeat slowed, and the red dimmed from his sight.

"No, no, no…" He cried, tears running down his face as he struggled against whoever was holding him down. "No, I can't, I won't... NO!"

"Harry, you need to calm down." Hermione told him as she leaned over him. "The professor and Madam Pomphrey can't help you if you thrash around like this."

Harry forced himself to pretend he was calm. He struggled to hold back his emotions as he looked to his Head of House. "Give me the antidote."

"What?" She said dumbly.

"Give me the antidote. I've changed my mind. I don't want to be an animagus. I don't want this anymore. You've got to give me the antidote!" Desperation edged back into his voice.

Pity flashed across McGonagall's face and Harry hated her for it. Now that he understood, she was an open book. "Harry, there isn't an antidote. Whatever you saw, whatever you are becoming, it's alright. Everything is going to be alright."

Ron tried his hand, "Harry, I don't know why your vision lasted longer than ours, but whatever animal you become, we are still your friends. We accept you. We're not going to just give up on you."

"You have no idea what you are talking about!" Harry snapped at him. He fought to bury everything and looked to Madam Pomphrey. "There's no antidote? There's not some way to permanently block the transformation?"

"No."

"So everything I saw, everything that happened in my vision, I'm going to become?"

"Maybe not specific events if you saw any, but yes in essence that is what will happen. If it is normal for the animal to do something, you likely will while in that form. Don't worry, some things may seem distasteful now but once the instincts set in they will be perfectly normal." She added the last with reassurance.

Somehow, though Harry had constantly wished all his life to be just a normal person, reality was so much worse. Once this sank in, he visibly deflated and took on a defeated air. "I guess there's only one thing to do then. Would the rest of you give me a bit of privacy?"

McGonagall nodded and made shooing motions to the others. Harry grabbed a chair from on of the desks and walked towards the window. Once he heard the door click closed behind him, Harry opened the window and got up on the chair. He had just put his foot up on the windowsill when McGonagall stuck her head in to give him some private words of encouragement. He didn't even turn to look, just stared down at the ground so far below. He was jerked backwards away from the windowsill when McGonagall yelled, "Accio!"

A body bind and a stunner soon followed and Harry's world faded to black.

00000

On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. Why feel bad for choosing a shorter one? Harry came back to the world in a jerk. He was strapped down in a bed, probably in the Hospital wing. He tried to stare a hole in the ceiling as he quietly tested the strength of his bindings. Damn, it looks like they had him secured for now.

"Struggling won't help." Dumbledore said sadly. Harry tried moving his head but he still couldn't find the headmaster. "Why Harry? Surely you must realize that you are not alone in this. We can help you if you just let us know what's bothering you."

"Have you ever heard the story of Pandora's Box, Professor?" Harry asked.

"A young girl is given a box by the gods but told never to open it. When she does all of the miseries of mankind fly out into the world." Dumbledore gave the short version as he came to stand next to the bed. "Oddly enough after everything else had gone, she found hope down in the bottom of that box. Cynics insist this was because hope is the cruelest trick of all, optimists say that the gods felt guilty."

"That's how I feel right now," Harry told him. "If I hadn't taken the final step I would always wonder if I could be an animagus, but now that I have I just wish I could put the lid back on the box and forget I ever looked. Professor McGonagall tells me that in a week's time everything will be normal again, but I worry about what that means. Even if I never change again, I'll have to live with the knowledge of what is within me, knowing what I could become. I have to live with those instincts, and fight them off just to remain myself."

"It's never easy to confront the darkness inside of us Harry, but you need to remember that all that really matters are your choices. If we undo the straps, are there going to be any problems?"

"No sir. Neither one of us wants to die right now."

Dumbledore tapped the straps with his wand and they loosened slightly. "I can't take them off entirely, but depending on how you feel in the morning we might let you go. I suspect that you'll inherit a few of those instincts over the night and be more at peace in the morning."

00000

By morning Harry was feeling desperate. Man wasn't meant to be caged, and Harry would say anything to get rid of the straps. In no time at all he was out of the Hospital wing and roaming the halls. Already he could feel himself changing just a bit more into that primal savage male archetype he experienced in his vision. He could feel a bit more muscle hiding beneath his skin and he already had more of a beard than he normally would after a week of not shaving. He had something resembling a plan in his head and he needed to get to his dorm. Unfortunately his friends were waiting in the Common Room for him to show up so things were going to be delayed.

"Harry!" Hermione ran up to him and hugged him tight. She was bursting with energy and practically bouncing up and down as she hugged him. He returned the hug with relish, such a soft and pliable body, so bouncy… Whoops, Harry decided he better rein that back in a bit. "What happened to you? The Professors wouldn't tell us and refused to let us into the hospital wing. They just said you had a bad reaction and needed to be watched carefully for a while."

"I just had a hard time coming to grips with what is normal behavior, that's all. They just wanted to make sure I was safe while I started to unite with the inner beast."

"So what kind of animal are you Harry?" Ron asked eagerly. "Hermione refused say until you were here, but I'm a border collie."

"Oh honestly Ron, I just wanted to be together when we talked about it. It's supposed to be a major achievement and celebrating without Harry just wouldn't be right." Hermione tried to be stern but a smile broke free anyway. "You two promise not to laugh when I tell you what I am?"

Harry and Ron nodded their agreement.

"I shouldn't be surprised I guess, it makes a weird kind of sense. I've always been very curious, and I may not really show it but I have just as much fun when we break the rules as you two…" Hermione began.

"You're stalling, just tell us." Harry said with a longsuffering sigh.

"I am a ferret."

Ron tried to stop himself, really he did but within a few seconds he was laughing uncontrollably. Harry just reached out and whacked him on the back of his head hard enough to get the point across. "I guess we will need to find a new taunt for Malfoy then."

Ron rubbed the back of his head, "You still haven't told us what you are Harry. Come on, out with it, what are you?"

"Remember how we were hoping it would be something powerful so that it could help against Voldemort? I've discovered that all in all, Voldemort isn't so bad." Harry shrugged noncommittally.

"Well if he's 'not so bad' compared to your animagus form, he better watch out the next time he thinks of doing something stupid." Ron punched his shoulder playfully, and Harry had to hold himself back because he instantly wanted to return the punch, much harder.

"How can you think that? Of course Voldemort is horrible." Hermione interjected.

"Oh I'm still going to kill him, slowly if I get the chance, but he's not the worst thing to ever happen. How many wizards are there in Britain? Ten Thousand? How many did Voldemort personally kill in the last war? I don't know but I bet it was less than two or three hundred. That's not enough to put him in the top hundred madmen worldwide. Not even if we stick to those currently living…"

"What kind of animal form gives you that perspective?" She asked.

"The most dangerous one of all," Harry gave her a mysterious smile.

In 1980 Diamondhead recorded a song that asks a good question, Am I Evil? I reached the same conclusion they did "Am I evil? I am Man, yes I am!" So if an animagus becomes the animal that best reflects them, what happens to an "everyman" character like Harry? Does he literally become a characture of the entire human race? And if he did would we like what we saw?