Alright now this is the next chapter. It is pretty boring ans short but due to the sequel that i will be writing for this story it was a necesary evil so that all the readers would know what was going on.
Hermione does not find out in this chapter, she will find out in the next one. I'm not really happy with this chapter as all the information is kinda just dumped in it, but it was the only way i could think of to get it in there. The next chapter should be more along the lines of the story and if all goes to plan will be the finish of this story, but keep an eye out for the sequel which is as of yet un-named.
Anyways i know this chapter sux but it was a necessary evil in order for the sequel to make any sense.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor any of its characters.
Chapter 4: Plans and Preparation.
The week after Dumbledore's Games, as the exercise had been dubbed, saw a marked difference in the attitudes of the sixth year students. Some still retained their original attitudes, but everyone noticed the different relationship between the Slytherin Silver Trio and the Gryffindor Golden Trio. At first it was just a slight change, they no longer argued and they called each other by their first names, then the relationship between Blaise Zabini and Ginny Weasley came out in the open and both faced ridicule from their houses. This was when the rest of the Hogwarts students saw the results of what had happened a week ago, suddenly the two trio's pulled together along with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. Now the eight students were inseparable, they could all be seen walking around the grounds after classes. Professor Snape received a shock one day, when he walked into his sixth year potions class, he found Blaise Zabini and Harry Potter sharing a desk and discussing their girlfriends, Ron Weasley and Pansy Parkinson were sharing a desk and were talking in hushed whispers, but his biggest shock came when he walked past his favorite student. Draco Malfoy was happily sitting next to Hermione Granger and she was teaching him how to play the muggle game of naughts and crosses on a spare piece of parchment. That was but one of many shocks for the poor potions master, on entering the Great Hall the following Saturday for breakfast, he was met with the sight of his three smartest Slytherins sitting at the Gryffindor table with the Golden Trio, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley. On one side of the table Pansy and Luna sat next to each other with Ron sitting on Pansy's other side and Harry sitting on Luna's other side. Opposite them, Hermione and Ginny were seated next to each other, Blaise was seated next to Ginny and Draco was seated next to Hermione. The eight of them were engaged in a debate about the fundamentals of becoming an animagus. When Snape stood from the head table to go and reprimand his students and instruct them to return to their house table, Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, calmly told him to leave them be and to eat his breakfast.
Dumbledore was immensely pleased with himself, it looked like his games had worked. He hadn't really cared about whether the other groups had united, but the fact that the Slytherin Trio and the Gryffindor Trio had become friends was what his original aim was. He was especially pleased with the budding relationship between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. The two former enemies were often spotted studying together in the library and had both requested to be put on prefect patrols together. So far he had yet to hear or see any romantic overtures between the two, but he hoped that in time he would see two of his favorite students as a couple. Dumbledore had been thrilled when the three Slytherin students, accompanied by their Gryffindor friends had come to his office to ask for his help in escaping from their families and Voldemort's wrath. He had granted it of course, and as he watched the debate being held between the eight students at the Gryffindor table he knew that the Golden Trio were helping the rest of their group become unregistered animagi like themselves. Yes, Dumbledore knew about their animagus forms, but had kept out of it, thinking that if their abilities to transform were kept silent it would be a great advantage to all of them during the war, those eight students were bound to be smack dab in the centre of the conflict and any advantage that they could find he would support.
"So you guys are saying that what took you two years to learn, you can teach us all in just under two months?" Blaise asked,
"Sure, the only reason it took us so long is that we didn't have much help, I mean Sirius was only too happy to help us but it was hard since he was still on the run from the ministry. Lupin gave us all Dad's research but still we had to muddle through the hard way. This time we know what we're doing so helping you guys to do it will be easy" Harry answered,
"So what is it that we need to do?" Draco asked,
"First and foremost you have to pick which animal you would like to turn into, we all chose large animals so that we could use our abilities in the war, but it all depends on what you would like to be" Hermione explained,
"I know what I want to be, ever since I found out what an animagus was I have always wanted to be this animal" Draco answered
"What animal is that?" Ron asked curiously,
"A white tiger, I always wanted to be one because my hair is the same colour as their fur" Draco answered with a pink tinge in his cheeks.
"That's great!" Harry exclaimed, "Ok Draco has his animal what about the rest of you?"
"Harry keep your voice down, we don't want to be overheard" Hermione whispered fiercely,
"Sorry Mione" Harry replied,
"Well since my brother is a wolf, and I have red hair I'll be a fox, er well a vixen actually, they are so cute with their bushy tails" Ginny grinned,
"I don't really care what I am, but if we want animals that will help us in the war how about I be a black eagle, that way I can fly overhead without being noticed and let everyone know what's going on, kind of like a scout" Blaise stated,
"That sounds like a great idea Blaise" Pansy agreed, "Id like to be a bird of some kind as well, simply because I don't get the opportunity to fly that often and also since my wand work isn't that crash hot this would be a way for me to help"
"Well what about a kestrel then? They are able to attack but are also small enough and agile enough to move fast when the need arises" Hermione suggested,
"Sounds good to me, kestrel it is" Pansy agreed happily, all eyes turned to Luna,
"What about you Luna?" Harry asked his girlfriend,
"Something with spots, spots are a good omen in a conflict" Luna answered with her usual dreamy look. Harry thought for a moment then the answer came to him,
"How about a snow leopard then? It has spots and a light colored coat nearly the same shade as your hair. They are great climbers and can hide in the tops of the trees then pounce on unsuspecting people that walk underneath them"
"Oh, that sounds wonderful, are we going to have nicknames like the Marauders did? If so I want to be called Spots" Luna replied, her dreamy look being replaced with a semi serious expression.
"Yeah, lets have nicknames" Ginny chimed in excitedly,
"Well I don't know what they could be, I mean, it's a good idea but what could they be? They should be something to do with either our animals or their abilities" Hermione replied,
"I'm Spots!" Luna stated with a decisive nod. Harry grinned and dropped a kiss on her lips,
"Alright Spots"
"Well it also makes sense if we also take names that although they identify us as what we will transform into, it will be hard for others to pick up on it" Hermione added, then turned to Draco, "I have the perfect one for you Draco" Draco looked pained for a second before asking warily,
"What is it?"
"Silver. Not only for your hair or in this case fur, but also for your eyes, and yet nobody would guess that its your tiger name" Draco gave a small smile and nodded,
"I like that, alright that's my name. What about you Blaise?" he asked turning to his best friend,
"I've already said mine, thought I never thought of it as a name before" Blaise replied,
"What was it?" Ron asked,
"Well I'm going to be scouting right? I'll be called Scout"
"That works" Harry agreed,
"Well since I'm a fox and yet I'm a girl how about Vixie for me, if I was Vixen then people could put two and two together, but Vixie is similar but also different enough not to be noticed" Ginny explained,
"You are a Vixen though" Blaise teased,
'Urk, I did not want to hear that" Ron grimaced, Ginny laughed,
"Ok so who still needs names?"
"Just Harry, Ron, Pansy and Hermione" Blaise answered,
"I have one for me, its not very flattering but it would work and if people heard it then they would just think that it was a nickname that someone called me because of my voice" Pansy stated,
"What is it?" Hermione asked
"Screech. It's the sound that the kestrel makes, but also how my voice sounds when I get excited, if anyone was to hear it they would think that it was a derogatory name that was given to me" Pansy answered,
"Are you sure that you want to be called that?" Hermione asked dubiously,
"Sure, it will be fun putting it over the other students, having them thinking its an insult, when in actual fact it's a pet name of sorts" Pansy grinned,
"Harry you should be Sleek, because of your sleek black coat. Nobody would pick up on that" Luna put in, Harry nodded in agreement,
"Alright"
"Now its just Ron and I that need names, the obvious one for me is stripes, but I think that it would indeed be too obvious, but what else are tigers known for?" Hermione commented.
"Swimming" Blaise stated,
"Their Stealth" Ron piped up,
"Their ability to camouflage themselves" Pansy added,
"That's it!" Draco exclaimed,
"What?" Hermione asked perplexed
"Their camouflage, we'll call you Cami, its to do with tigers and their abilities, but is abstract enough so that nobody else will pick up on it"
"Draco my man. You're a genius" Blaise grinned, Draco gave a smug smirk, reminiscent of his previous attitude,
"I know" Hermione rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed him in the ribs,
"Oof! Hey!" Draco protested, rubbing his offended ribs,
"Oh quit being such a baby" Hermione retorted,
"It hurt, its not my fault that you have such pointy elbows" Draco pouted, Hermione raised her eyebrow,
"Would you like my pointy elbows to make contact with a more vulnerable part of your body?" she enquired sweetly with a pointed look at his lap. Draco gulped,
"No that's fine"
"Thought so" Hermione finished then turned back to the rest of their group. They were all watching the two of them with identical looks of amusement on their faces. Hermione ignored them and turned to Ron, "Ok so its only Ron that needs a name, the only things I can think of that wolves are known for is, prowling, howling, stealth and the fact that they hunt in packs. Although we could always call him Timber because he does transform into a timber wolf"
"I like Prowler. It suits me, I'm always on the prowl for food" Ron admitted,
"That's true" Harry smirked.
Draco tuned out of the conversation as he watched Hermione out of the corner of his eye. For the last week he had been wrestling with himself as to whether he should tell Hermione the truth that he had found out when they had been locked in that room. He had often wondered about the mysterious girl he had met in that room in the kitchen hallway while he was hiding out from Peeves and Filch. Draco had even gone back to that room several times to see if she would be there, to find out that it was Hermione that he had lost his virginity to had been a big shock, and he had been glad that he had learnt more about her before that bomb had been dropped on him. He didn't know how it had happened, but during the course of the three games, he had found himself developing a crush on the Gryffindor bookworm, and yet now that they were all friends he was reluctant to reveal the information he knew, or his crush for fear that it would ruin their friendship and cause Hermione to start acting weird around him all the time. Eventually, Draco came to the decision that if Hermione hadn't worked it out by the time they had all learned how to transform, then he would tell her everything, the truth about that night and about his developing feelings for her. He wasn't being a coward, he would drop hints, but he figured that after knowing her for the two months he might better be able to gage her reaction to the news. He really had no idea at the moment of how she would react when she found out that he was the guy who took her virginity. Draco was brought back to the conversation when Hermione gently nudged him with her shoulder,
"Earth to Draco, are you ready?"
"Huh? Sorry zoned out for a moment. Ready for what?"
"We're all heading up to the Room of Requirement to start on your training, I'm going to start on the Animagus potion while Ron and Harry help you guys to start with all the exercises that you need to do in order to transform" Hermione replied,
"Oh, yeah I'm ready. Lets go" the eight of them rose to their feet and headed out of the Great Hall. All unaware that a pair of twinkling blue eyes were following them.
Ok people read and review. I know its boring but as i mentioned at the start it sets the scene for the sequel so it was needed, if i had left it out the when the sequel came out it would be hard to follow. I'm not to happy about how it turned out but the next chapter should be better. NO FLAMES PLEASE.