Okay, so in the last chapter, I made a last second decision to change the identity of the girl. That necessitated a bit of change in the planned plot line. I went back and tried to correct anything that would be changed, but I may have missed some. If I did, I apologize. AVG chapter length I am gunning for is about 4 k. Anything over that was just because my muse would not be quiet, so do not get used to 6 k plus like the last couple.
"So this is what the rules were from a previous year?" Harry asked. He was going over a small booklet with Jasper and Carmen.
"According to what my older brother said, I heard that they change the obstacles and rules every year, to prevent anyone from knowing what is going to happen." Harry nodded, perusing the notes.
"What about this section?" He asked, tapping it with a finger. "You may not use any brooms to make your way to the school." He read aloud.
Jasper took a look. "Well spotted. It only says brooms, not other forms of transportation. I wonder…" He looked up at Harry. "You don't happen to be an animagus, perchance?"
"Nope." Harry said promptly. "For most of my life it was fascinating but I never got around to starting the process. I would be willing to work on it, but I don't think I could learn how properly before it starts. My best hope is spontaneously transforming under extreme stress, which usually means extreme danger. For some reason, I expect that to happen to me very shortly." He said sardonically, thinking back over his history.
"Is your life really that bad?" Jasper asked, eyes glinting with curiosity as he sat back in the short grass.
"Yes. Let me put it this way. Over the past several years, I have…" He counted them off on his fingers, one at a time. "Fought a possessed DADA teacher, recovered the Sorcerer's stone, killed a giant basilisk, was attacked by an escaped convict, captured by a criminal who had framed an innocent person for his crimes and who was presumed dead, was forced into a dangerous tournament I did not enter, fought a dragon, got arrested multiple times, vilified in the press, and invaded the ministry of magic with a few friends, and fought Voldemort multiple times personally. Need I go on?"
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Dang. Sucks to be you man. It's almost like you are an addition to Murphy's Law. I would have said something a tad stronger, but I didn't know if there were any kids reading this story." Jasper flopped back onto the grass, hands forming a cushion behind his head.
"What story? And I prefer to think of myself as Fate's chew toy, makes things easier all around." Harry asked, sure he missed something.
"Don't worry about it." Carmen waved her hand dismissively. "He spouts off weird things like that from time to time. You get used to it."
"Say!" Jasper sat up hurriedly, brushing off the grass blades that clung to his shirt distractedly. "What about Animagus forms? Are those allowed?"
"Didn't we just talk about that… never mind." He had already learned that Jasper could be a bit scatterbrained and forgetful at times. Harry paged through the pamphlet to humor him, double checking the relevant section. "It doesn't mention that. It just says no brooms or carpets…. I guess that means it allowable?" He shrugged, not knowing any more.
"This is awesome! We could fly in and be, like Smash! Bang! Boom with the lightening! And, watch us fly, we are the eagles that soar…" Jasper rubbed his hand together excitedly before he trailed off for a moment, looking sheepish. "Or we could, if one of us could fly. We can't. Do you know what your form is?"
Harry shook his head. "Never tried. We were always told we could never try to become Animagus until after we graduated."
Carmen shook her head angrily. "Ignore Jasper. We forgot that's how you do it over in England."
"Scotland, actually." Harry chimed in, before shuddering at the glare she laid on him for interrupting her. "Sorry. Don't know why I mentioned that, I won't interrupt again." He mimed zipping his mouth shut and motioned for her to continue.
"Anyway, as I was saying, most of the rest of the world just gives the potion to wizarding children on their tenth birthday, when they start school. Not that they can learn then, they just know what they can change into, helps them decide whether or not it is worth the effort." She snorted. "I mean, England, sorry, the UK, has this backwards system where you meditate for almost a year before transforming. Can you imagine putting all that work in and being something like a flobberworm?" She shuddered in imaginary horror. "I think I would die from shame."
"Let's get back on topic." Jasper tried to steer them back to the topic at hand. "Neither of our forms are useful for travel. Want to go see if the Prince establishment has any of the Animagus revealing potions in stock?"
"The Prince establishment? Never heard of it. We always just went to the apothecary in Diagon Alley for ingredients for potions."
Jasper sent an incredulous glance his way. "Diagon Alley? Really? Who named that?" He crowed, starting to snicker.
"What's so funny?" Both Harry and Carmen were looking at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Look, get rid of the space and pronounce it as one word, and see what you get. Diagon Alley. DiagonAlley. Diagonally. You go shopping at somewhere that describes a direction? Really? And Nocturn Alley? Nocturnally." He wiped a tear from his eye and he tried to regain his breath, slapping his knee in mirth. "That is classic Brit behavior."
Harry considered that for a moment. "I… hadn't thought of that before. Wizards, at least the English ones, seem to have problems with logic. It does seem rather funny now that you mention it. Hey, wait a minute. You never said what your Animagus forms were."
Both of his companions quieted for a moment. "I'll go first." Carmen said hesitantly. "I really don't have an Animagus form, per se… I think of it more as a different side of myself I normally don't let out to play. It's not really a good one to let loose around other people, so if you don't mind, I think I would prefer to keep it to myself."
Harry nodded his head agreeably. "Completely understandable. I have secrets of my own. We just met, no way am I going to push you to reveal something you don't seem comfortable with."
Carmen and Jasper seemed to release some unseen tension at this point, which didn't escape the eye of their new friend, but he said nothing about it, seeing as it was an uncomfortable topic for them. Carmen recovered first. "Jasper, your turn now."
He groaned and rolled onto his belly. "Do I have to? It's embarrassing." He complained. "I- OUCH!" He scrambled to his feet, dancing in pain. "Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" He yelped, hands brushing desperately at the front of his shirt, trying to dislodge what looked almost like a horde of large brown spots that were crawling over him, and, presumably, causing him pain.
"Australian ants!" Carmen was by his side in a moment. "They hate the cold. This might hurt a bit, so feel free to scream." She hit him with a freezing charm.
While this did make them let go, it also had the unfortunate side effect of causing them to bite down harder before they let go. Once they were all either dead or gone, Jasper sighed in relief. "Can you keep that up? It's numbing the bites, and I have the sneaking suspicion that this is going to hurt like hell when it stops. Plus, it helps keep me cool."
"Sure." She kept up the cooling charm on him. "Besides, now we have even more reason to go to the Prince Establishment. They also double as doctors. You need to get that looked at, some of those ants were massive."
"Everything's bigger in Australia, even the ants." Jasper joked, teeth gritted. "But if we could get there in a hurry, that would be great. I can feel them starting to swell."
Harry quickly packed up everything they had brought with them back into the container, before scooping that up. "Then what are we waiting for? Over the bridge, and into the town, to the doctor's house we go."
(Line break)
They pushed up the doors of the Prince Establishment, sighing in relief as the wall of chilled air hit them head on. "At least here some wizards seem to have discovered that muggles have come up with stuff that surpasses us in some ways." Harry muttered to himself, taking note of the massive air-conditioning units and vents.
They lugged a moaning Jasper up to the front desk, where an older woman stood, hair pulled into a bun. Her name tag read Eileen. "Welcome to the Prince establishment, how may I help you?"
Carmen gestured to Jasper. "Our friend here got bitten by some massive ants."
Eileen raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's the sixth case this week around here. I must remember to call an exterminator or something. She hustled them into one of the rooms branching off the main lobby, which (at least to Harry's point of view) contained all the elaborate equipment one would find in a muggle doctor's office, plus some instruments he didn't recognize. She examined the bites before she clucked disapprovingly. "I hate dealing with these cases. That particular brand of ants is attracted to magic. Give me a minute." She cast a diagnostic spell on him before turning and rustling through the cabinets above the sink. She pulled out a bottle and some bandages. After drizzling the contents of the green tinted bottle, which read "Essence of Murtlap" over the bandages, she pressed them over the bites before casting a sticking charm to hold them in place.
She stood back, rubbing her hands together in satisfaction. "Keep that on for the next few hours, and then you can take it off. Now, Carmen, I assume you are here for you usual?"
Carmen nodded. "Yes, A please. And could we also have one batch of Animagus revealing potion please? Charge it to the normal account."
"Of course, I will be right back. Feel free to stay here as long as you need. I'll be fetching your order right away." She bustled out of the room leaving the three alone.
They stayed silent for a minute before Harry snapped his fingers. "I knew I forgot something. Jasper, you never said what your form was."
The elf looked shifty for a moment. "Can I plead the fifth?"
"You could…" Jasper started to smile "If we were in America. Which we are not. There is no constitution to protect you here so… that would be a no." Harry smirked.
"Fine." He sighed. He mumbled something too low for Harry to hear.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Fine! I'm a pink fairy armadillo, alright!" He exploded, turning away and pouting.
The raven haired boy's eyebrows drew together. "A pink… what?"
"A pink fairy armadillo." Carmen explained, enjoying every moment of this as Jasper cast her a look of betrayal. "Is an armadillo that is pink, very fluffy, and lives in Argentina."
Harry pondered that for a moment. "Pink and fluffy eh? Very macho Jasper."
"Oh, hardy har har. Laugh it up." He gave Carmen an evil glower. "Maybe I should tell him about you…"
Carmen stood up from the revolving chair she had been relaxing in and pinned Jasper in place with a glare so fierce Harry shivered, even though it wasn't aimed at him. "You could." She agreed frostily. "If you felt like getting into a fight we both know you wouldn't win."
Jasper quailed and hurriedly backtracked. "Of course, of course, I was just joking." He said hurriedly, trying to appease her.
She smiled brightly. "Good. Then we won't have a problem." She sat back down, giving no sign of ever having been angry.
Harry shook his head in amusement. "You two have an interesting relationship, that's for sure."
They were interrupted by Eileen, who came into the room carrying a cup in one hand and a small wooden box in the other. She gave the box to Carmen, who slipped it in her pocket, and gave the cup to Harry. "One Animagus revealing potion, as requested. If I were you, I would be sitting or lying down when you drink it, unless you want to lose your balance and fall down." He nodded, grateful for her advice, and took a seat. He looked into the cup before looking back at the manager.
"Why is this in a cup? Most of the potions I have ever had come in a vial. And it smells great! Shouldn't it taste horrible? Not that I'm complaining, of course."
She looked amused by his questions. "The cup because not only is it reusable and easier to clean than the vial, it is also cheaper. I could have made it foul-tasting, but it would have added several extra steps to the brewing process. I decided not to. Unless, of course, you wish for me to change it?" She held out her hand for the cup and Harry moved it away from her protectively.
"No, no, it's fine, thanks, just curious." He drank it quickly before she could get her hands on it, and promptly the world blurred before his eyes.
(Line break)
He found himself standing on dry ground, but unable to see very far, as the area seemed to be solid gray. He waved his hand around and watched as the gray mist (for that was what it was) swirled around slightly. "Hello?" He called out tentatively. For some reason he felt compelled to keep his voice down even as he revealed his presence to anyone, or anything, lurking in the fog.
Nothing answered him, as his vice seemed to barely leave his mouth before dying. "Alright, so that didn't work. How about this?" He pulled out his holly wand and gave it a wave. "Lumos." The tip pulsed fitfully once before the wand began dissolving in his hand.
Dimly, he knew that he should probably be panicking about it, but the only thing he could think was 'I never really liked that wand anyway'. It probably would be a good idea not to try that with his brand new wand, after having seen what happened to the first one. Having nothing better to do, he began to walk, his footfalls muffled as he went into the fog.
After around what felt like five minutes (though it may have been an eternity for all he knew) he heard the crunch of gravel under his feet. That alone was worthy of notice, considering that it was the first sound other than the mutter of his own voice that he had heard while in this dreary fog. The second thing he noticed was that the fog began to eddy and swirl around and in front of him as he walked. That was also good news, at least to him, so he picked up the pace, increasing his speed slowly until he was almost running, desperate to get out of the fog.
He suddenly burst into clear air, causing him to jam on the brakes at the sudden change. Peering cautiously in front of him, he saw a lonely stretch of pebbled beach stretching in front of him. Quiet breakers broke on the shore as he stood there, silent for a moment. The sky was dark, with no moon or stars visible. In fact, no light at all was present, and yet he saw what was in front of him. He just knew that it was there, even if it should be physically impossible for him to have vision in these conditions.
A small lump, or perhaps a bundle, was on the beach about fifteen yards in front of him. Something about it felt important, and he slowly walked towards it, hand outstretched to touch it. At the moment before his hand made contact, a head whipped around to look at him. He saw that it was a fox, before his hand touched it's shoulder and white light exploded from the contact, blinding him.
(Line break)
The first sensation he recognized when he woke was that of the pain in his lower back. After that, it was the words that he vaguely recognized. Something about somebody waking up. Then it all came flooding back to him at once, and he sat up with a gasp. Or at least, he tried to. He ran into hands about half-way up that pushed him back down onto the bed (for that was what he was laying on). "What?"
"Rest." Jasper said firmly. "Relax first, then we can talk. Something went wrong when you drank the potion. Can you tell us what happened?"
"Sure." He explained what had gone on during the mist, and when he finished he saw that Carmen had a troubled face. "What is it?"
"Harry… There is no such thing as gray mist. The two colors are black, if you do not have a form, or white, where the animal appears to you. You certainly should never touch the creature that appears to you."
Harry shrugged as best he could from his prone position. "Well, I wish someone had bothered to tell me all that. I'm British, remember? I would have no way of knowing what to do. And why do I have so much pain in my lower back?"
The three people by his bedside, including Eileen, exchanged worried glances. "Yes… about that… we think that something… unusual happened when you touched the fox."
Harry waved a hand dismissively. "Great. More impossible, unlikely, and improbable things occurring around me. Like I said earlier, I'm a play toy of fate or something, the number of time stuff like this has happened to me is unreal. You kind of get used to it after a while. What happened?"
"Well…" Jasper licked his lips nervously. "You may kind of… sort off… maybe have a tail."
He did his best to stay calm, even though Harry wanted to jump up screaming. "A tail." He repeated, trying to keep his voice even. "I assume, because it was a fox that I saw, that it is a fox tail?"
"Correct."
"Great. I take back what I said earlier. You never get used to this. And I am definitely something for the universe to make fun of at this point, no if's, and's, or but's about it." He flopped back with a sigh. "Can I at least try to stand up now? I think my tail does not like being laid on."
Jasper turned to look at the worker. "Eileen? Is that all right?"
The older woman shrugged. "I don't see why not." Not waiting for any further confirmation, Harry quickly got to his feet and walked around a bit, making sure he didn't lose his balance due to his new addition. He looked back to see the other three still staring expectantly at the bed, where… another version of him still lay there? That didn't make sense. He was pretty sure he didn't split himself apart.
"Harry? Are you going to get up?" Carmen asked, still looking at his doppelgänger in the bed.
"Guys, I'm over here." At the sound of his voice coming from behind them, they jumped, before wheeling on him.
"But… You're still there…" Carmen said, gesturing back at the bed.
Harry frowned. "Yes, I noticed that. I don't think it's me, let me try something." He snapped his fingers, concentrating hard on his wish for his alter ego to disappear. It suddenly faded, and Harry smiled, pleased with himself. "Huh. Learn a new thing every day."
Jasper sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Completely putting aside the fact that you just did some sort of wandless, wordless magic, how are you feeling?"
Harry spun in place, did a few jumping jacks, and walked a few paces. "I feel fine, honestly. The tail feels natural, with no extra weight. Although, I could see it being a problem, remembering to compensate so I don't get it caught on something when I walk by." He peered over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of the red fox tail he now possessed.
"You do realize you could, I don't know, grab hold of your tail so you could see it? No need to break your neck to look at it." Eileen pointed out reasonably.
He looked sheepish for a moment. "Right. Forgot about that." He gathered the tail in his hands and pulled it around so he could see. "Huh. It's bigger than I expected. If I have the tail, does that also mean that…?" He trailed off, focusing hard, and shivered as a pair of pointed ears appeared on the top of his head as his normal ones vanished. "So that's what it felt like. No wonder Hermione freaked out. It feels kinda ticklish." He said, twitching them back and forth before stroking them gently with one hand.
"Interesting. So what does that make you?"
"No idea." Harry shrugged. "I have basilisk venom and Phoenix tears in my veins as well, so, at this point, anyone's guess. I feel more natural without the tail and ears, at least for now." He quickly got rid of the ears and tail. "That's better. Now, is my wand okay?" He reached into his pocket and felt a pile of wood bits. He pulled them out and placed them on the table for everyone to see.
"I'm going to go ahead and assume that's bad." He said, staring at the remnants of his wand. Sure, he liked his new one better, but this was his first wand he had ever used. That gave it a special connection, at least to his mind.
"You still have your spare right?" Jasper asked, feeling odd to be the voice of reason. "Will it still work?"
"That's a good question." He fumbled for it, finally grasping it. "Son of a-" He cut himself off as he yanked his hand away from the wand, sending it flying across the room. "It burned me!" He complained, showing them the thin char mark that ran across the palm of his hand.
"Interesting…" Carmen mused. She carefully picked it up, bracing to be burned. When nothing happened, she brought it over to him. "Want to try again?"
"Why not? I assume you can heal this, right?" He asked, glancing at Eileen. At the nod, he sighed. "Oh well." He laid a finger on it before he snatched it back like he was touching a hot stove. "Nope. Still burned me."
"I think I know what your problem is." Carmen pulled her wand and held it out to him. "Touch it." He did as instructed, though cautiously; and nothing happened. "I thought so. Eileen, could you heal his hand please? We need to go see Olivander." After his hand was healed, the three said goodbye to Eileen and thanked her for her help before going to see the wand maker.
(Line break)
The bell above the door tinkled as they entered and Olivander was in front of them almost instantly. "My, my, back already Mr. LeBeau? What seems to be the problem?"
"My wand burned me. Twice." Harry pouted petulantly, upset that he needed to make yet another trip to the shop.
"Mr. Olivander, I think I know why. Do you happen to have a piece of willow wood somewhere in this shop?" Carmen asked politely.
The old man stared at her intently. "Of course I do, I make wands for a living, and I have most types of wood. But why…" He shrugged and went to grab the piece of wood from one of the shelves. He brought it back and offered it to Harry to touch.
He did so and cursed again. "Crap, that hurts! Why do you have me keep doing that?" He whined, shaking his hand in pain.
Mr. Olivander didn't answer, instead staring at him with new eyes. "Kitsune…" He whispered.
"Excuse me? What did you call me?"
"Kitsune. A Japanese prankster fox, that can shapeshift between human and fox forms. They are very clever, and are distantly related to the trickster known as Old Man Coyote in the United States. "
Carmen nodded. "Exactly. He has all the signs. The tail, ears, and a brand new massive weakness to willow wood. Though I have never heard of a Kitsune that could vanish their ears and tail before. Glamour or hide it, yes, but make it disappear…"
Olivander nodded thoughtfully. "If anyone could do it, it would be this young man right here. I warrant that he has a new affinity for fire magic, and could throw the odd fireball."
"I can throw fireballs? So like Fleur?" Harry asked, interested that he may actually get something good out of this.
"I would imagine so. You cannot touch your wand, correct? Let me see what I can do about that." He reached beneath the counter and fiddled with something. A drawer popped open and he pulled out a massive book, almost a foot and a half thick. It was caked with dust and looked ancient, as though it was on the verge of falling apart. "Olivander family secrets." He said, by way of an explanation. "Tools and tricks of the trade. What I am looking for is something I can coat your wand with to enable you to hold it."
"Like a candle?" Jasper asked, having been an interested spectator to this point.
"Along those lines. I was thinking metal myself, but wax might work. The problem there is, again, fire magic. It would melt right through the wax. Ah, here we are." He pointed to a specific page, no. 23601. "I think an iron coating would work well, the only problem is that iron is resistant to magic, think of it as a magic insulator. That would mean the magic could not escape past the iron, so I would need to make hundreds of tiny holes. It will be hard, but I think I can handle it."
"How long will that take?" Harry asked.
"Probably two hours or so. I could do a rush job, but it would be lower quality. Do you care if I add in some extra charms and such?" He queried, head tilted to one side.
"Like what?"
"I was thinking one that would let you extend it and use it like a pole, or a Bo staff. Something like that. Most wizards won't expect you to expand your wand and swing a metal club at their head. Wizards do not tend to do well with physical violence."
"Go ahead. Could you also make a holster for it, like something that can go on my belt?" He asked hopefully.
"With ease. Come back in two hours, Mr. LeBeau, and your wand will be done, or my name isn't Olivander!" He scurried into the back rooms, leaving the three friends at the counter.
"Soooooooooo…" Jasper drew the word out. "Who's up for a game of Poker?"
"What's poker?" Harry asked innocently. The look in Jasper's eye could best be described as that of a predator at that moment. He would be wearing a different expression a few hours later.
