Tiger, Tiger.
After an Animagus potion gone wrong, Harry becomes a tiger and is unable to change back. Though, without the weight of the world on his shoulders, Harry enjoys his new body, until something happens to make him go back to Hogwarts in the possession of Draco Malfoy. HBP.
Pairings: Harry/Draco one hundred per cent, there will be Blaise/Luna and eventually Neville/OC. Not much more romance other than this, maybe some off screen romance, I don't know, I haven't decided yet.
Warnings: there might be strong language, possible gory scenes in the future. I'll warn you though, so don't worry if you're squeamish.
I don't own Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling or the poem 'Tyger, Tyger' by William Blake. Also anything you might recognise from other fics on this site or another is purely coincidental. Enjoy!
Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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Chapter two: In which a ferret screams Italian.
Harry awoke, groaning. His entire body felt like lead was running through his veins and his head was pounding. All around him was the sound of birds squawking and flapping their wings, dogs barking and howling, pitiful meows, chitter from monkeys. He opened one eye only to slam it shut again against the blinding light. He shifted around until he could no longer feel the sun on his face. Slowly, he opened his eye again. Cautiously he lifted his head (with great effort) and looked around.
All around him were animals in glass tanks, cages and hutches, windows that opened into the busy streets of Diagon Alley here and there. He himself was in a large cage, like you would see at the zoo just without any foliage. The cage to Harry's right held a mountain goat, which made Harry's stomach rumble. The cage on his left had a sleeping Irish wolfhound. Above the cage across from him was a Jarvey babbling away in Italian, rattling the cage bars annoyingly. Across from him lay a king cheetah with an expression of pure distaste when it looked above Harry's cage. Looking up Harry saw a capuchin monkey swinging from branch to branch. The second it saw Harry it started screeching and calling to non-existent members of its family. The silence was immediate. The howling and barking, the meowing, the cawing and flapping, the stream of Italian, it all stopped as all eyes turned to the waking tiger. The monkeys call died out as Harry stood and shook the last remains of the sleeping potion off of him. Just to humour himself, Harry roared. A proper 'I will eat you if you come any closer' roar. The cheetah echoed Harry's roar with a rumbling growl, not directed at Harry but to say that he was fully behind Harry. The calls started again, only this time much, much louder. Harry wasn't exactly happy to be in a cage surrounded by noisy animals but he had a good feeling about this so he decided to sit tight for the time being. He paced up and down, throwing a Basilisk worthy glare at the irritating Jarvey.
After two or three minutes an elderly woman came out from a door Harry hadn't seen. She held a bucket that held food most likely. Harry stopped pacing, and watched her hobble over to his cage, she was crooning softly as she went.
"Now, gorgeous one, have some chicken. We're getting some visitors in an hour so you need to look nice and strong." The woman, who was clearly a witch if her dreadful robes were anything to go by, dropped a dead, plucked, headless chicken in his cage. Harry looked at the chicken then at the woman's retreating back then at the cheetah then back to the chicken. He was used to eating entire deer not just a measly chicken. He looked back to the cheetah that seemed to be laughing at him. His expression clearly stated don't knock it 'till you've tried it.
Harry found that the minute he swallowed the chicken, his stomach was filled with the glorious taste of fresh, bloody, warm meat and he was full to the top. The chicken was obviously charmed to fill up the animal it was eaten by. Harry could feel his coat being brushed through invisibly and soon he was gleaming, he was guessing another perk to the enchanted chicken. Harry then meandered over to the water bucket that appeared out of thin air. Despite having been a human being for his entire life, Harry couldn't help but feel happy that he was now an animal. He laid his heavy head down on his massive paws and tried to wait for these visitors in peace, eventually putting a paw over his ears in an attempt to block out the noise of the chattering creatures.
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Draco and Blaise stood outside Lady Lukers Fabulously Magic Familiars, a huge shop down Diagon Alley with both their mothers. It specialised in strange and unusual creatures that witches and wizards alike made their familiars. Both of their birthdays were in the last week and their mothers chose to get them both familiars.
Blaise was looking for something powerful and deadly, Draco was looking for something more elegant and regal. Ever since Draco and Blaise had declined the Dark Lord's offer to become death eaters they had been in danger. Both of their mothers had left their fathers (Mrs Malfoy left Mr Malfoy while Mrs Zabini's late husband unfortunately mysteriously died a week before) and they felt that their sons needed some sort of protection while in Hogwarts. Draco and Blaise disagreed, but decided to go along with it to please their distraught mothers. The poor women had even owled Dumbledore to ask for Familiars to be allowed at Hogwarts, and on Draco's Hogwarts letter it had at the bottom, along with cats, toads and owls it had said Bonded familiars also allowed.
Sighing slightly, Draco pushed the door open, his nose crinkling slightly at the smell of animal and the tuneless ringing of the bell that alerted everyone and everything in the building to their presence. Howls and squawks could be heard inside the dark blue painted door. Lady Zabini and his Mother entered first, then Blaise who was then followed by Draco. Standing on the opposite side of the door was Lady Luker herself. Draco cringed at her choice of robes; magenta with maroon and teal stars splattered on it. The old woman smiled, flashing a set of crooked teeth.
Narcissa smiled politely and nodded to the owner. "Lady Luker, we have an eleven o' clock appointment to see your new wares." Lady Luker nodded "Yes, yes. My son, who catches the animals also has an appointment now so we will probably bump into them at one point or another." She then beckoned them to follow her. Draco and Blaise exchanged glances and hurried to follow their guide.
They first went into a room filled with chickens in cages. Lady Luker waved her hand "The chickens are all modified for exterior and interior cleansing of the creatures that eat them. It cleans out the fur to get rid of any Chizpurfles and kills any bacteria on the inside of the animal." They all nodded, trying to get away from the flurry of feathers. The next room was the pet accessories. Draco and the others would have to come back after they had bought their familiar so they could get the right collars and beds.
Lady Luker then let them into the reptiles. Glass cases lined the walls. In one there was a fire crab, in the next was a gold plated boa. Draco shook his head politely. "We were thinking of bigger, more powerful animals that can move swiftly and silently, if that is alright with you." Narcissa smiled at Draco's polite tone. Lady Luker nodded gleefully. "My son brought in a few big animals not three days ago, if you wish to see them Mister Malfoy?" Draco offered a thin lipped smile to the woman and nodded.
Into the next room they could hear a whinging voice grating on their ears around the corner "But Mu-um, no-one with have a tiger, it'll protect me." "No Ron. It's the better part of 1900 galleons, you know we can't afford it. Why not get that sweet little monkey.. oh, he's reserved." A smothering voice was then heard. Draco and Blaise exchanged gleeful looks. The Weasleys were getting their youngest Weasel male a familiar.
They rounded the corner to see the Weasel, the Weaselette, Momma Weasel and a tall man with excessive arm tattoos. Ron was red faced and was staring at a huge Siberian tiger longingly. Mrs Weasley was rummaging through her purse, and Ginny was staring slack jawed at who just rounded the corner. The man smiled at Lady Luker, so Draco assumed that this was her son.
"Mother, these are the Weasleys. Their getting a familiar for Mr Weasley here." The man said to Lady Luker. Ron finally looked up. His face went very pale, then very green, then very red. Draco smirked and then sauntered over to the tiger cage. The creature was huge, easily 800lb. His eyes were the strangest shade of forest green with silver flecks, perfectly Slytherin, but that just complimented his fur. He gazed straight back at Draco, almost like they were old friends and he was trying to remember Draco's name.
"Hey there." Draco whispered to the magnificent beast lying in front of him. The tiger blinked slowly. It then stood and glided on silent paws over to the cage bars. "Be careful, sir, he's wild. Probably imported from Siberia for illegal ring fights." The man warned Draco. "Is he magic?" Blaise asked. "He has 'bout the same amount of magic as I do, if not more than me, real powerful, that one." Draco nodded and whirled around to his mother.
"This one, please Mother." Narcissa smiled at Draco's choice of familiar. Blaise clapped his friend on the shoulder. "What do you think Draco? The mountain goat or the super rare king cheetah?" Draco smirked at Blaise's fake indecisive guise. "I don't know Blaise, it's a really tough choice." Draco played along, tapping his chin with a manicured nail. "I'll take the Cheetah please Lady Luker." Lady Luker chuckled, nodding.
"If you ladies would come with me so we can arrange the paperwork." Lady Luker, Lady Zabini and Narcissa walked into another room, leaving Draco and Blaise alone with the Weasleys. "Ron, I'm going to step outside for a minute, go get a Daily Prophet." Mrs Weasley smiled at her children and hurried out of there.
The Jarvey chose that moment to scream something out in Italian, making Blaise chuckle. "What?" "She just called you albino." "I'll take him." they turned to look at Ron, who had crossed his arms and had a smug look on his face. "If it insulted Malfoy, then he's mine." A growl had them turning back to the tiger, who was throwing green daggers at Ron. Ron stumbled back, surprised. Draco grinned maliciously at Ron "Even a tiger knows you're beneath me." Instead of growling, the tiger let out a huffing sound which sounded strangely like a chuckle.
"Well, he has a sense of humour." Blaise said, smiling. Draco on the other hand looked thoughtful. "He can clearly understand English, spoken at least. I wonder if he can read." The tiger nodded slowly, as if Draco was stupid. Blaise smiled and turned back to Ron "I find it funny that you're getting an Italian speaking Jarvey, who clearly can't understand English, when you use such crude English yourself. Oh, and it's actually a girl." Ron glared at Ginny who had smothered a chuckle. Blaise on the other hand winked at the red headed girl who promptly flushed.
Ron opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the harsh bell at the door. They all looked to the door, surprised to see Lady Longbottom and her grandson. "Neville go chose a pet, dear, I needed to talk to Lucinda (Lady Luker)." Neville nodded and walked slowly toward the group of pure bloods.
Draco was shocked to see not a bumbling round faced boy who was scared of his own shadow but a grown man, proud and straight backed. He nodded to Ginny , smirked at a red faced Ron, and stared at the two Slytherins for a moment before nodding to them slightly. They returned the greeting, nodding back to him.
"Come for a familiar Malfoy, Zabini?" he asked quietly, eying the Irish wolfhound. Blaise replied "Just as you are, Longbottom." Neville looked up and smirked. "Have you chosen yet? I think I'll go with him." Neville asked, pointing at the grey dog. Blaise inclined his head toward the cheetah, smiling. Draco waved his hand toward to silent tiger that blinked at Neville.
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That is chapter two. I know some of you complained about the length but I promise that all of the chapters will be longer, once I've gotten all of the unimportant stuff out of the way. Please feel free to point out any mistakes and I'll sort them out right away. Also I have a poll up now for Harry's new name, please vote.
As always,
I'm secretly annoyed with you
0_o