Digital

Chapter 7

Grangers Surprise

Edited on: 6/3/11

A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter.

Previously on Digital:

'With any luck I'll have him back under my thumb soon,' he thought to himself as he walked away.

'Soon, I will be the greatest once more, soon,' he thought, smiling to himself as he left the room.

And now the continuation:

Slowly, silently, careful not to make any unnecessary noises, noises that would inadvertently frighten Hermione, or her mother, should either of them hear him, Harry edged forward to Hermione's bed.

Slowly, gently, so not to startle her too much when she woke up, he reached out and began to shake her.

"Hermione, psst…Hermione wake up," he whispered in what he hoped was a calm and reassuring voice.

"Hmm?… Go away Harry...Too early, need… sleep," she mumbled. Turning around in her bed, she went back to sleep.

Harry smiled then chuckled. 'That's my Hermione all right. Too bad I have to wake her up, she really could do with a bit of sleep,' he thought sadly. He just knew he was about to ruin her holidays for her.

Normally he would have found this situation cute. Normally he might even have amused himself a bit, but not today. He really couldn't afford to waste any time. Knowing that it was necessary, he reached out again and shook her once more.

"Hermione, please get up I need your help, badly," Harry said, this time somewhat louder.

"Go back to bed Harry, you know your not supposed to be in the girls dorms I can help you with your assay tomorrow," she mumbled turning away from him once more.

Harry sighed then smirked. "All right, let's try this…"

"Hermione, wake up quick…Mc Gonagal is getting angry, you know better than to sleep during class."

That got her attention all right. As if shocked by a high voltage electric cable she woke up and sprang out of bed.

"Sorry professor I promise I will never…Eh!…What the hell?…," she said bewildered as she noticed she was not at school but in her own room back at home.

Still invisible, Harry had to bite his lips to keep himself from laughing at the bewildered look she made. It really was so rare to see her so confused. A look which really didn't suit her at all.

Groaning to herself Hermione sat back down on her bed.

"Oh great, perhaps Harry is right, I really should cut down on the work a bit, I'm beginning to hear things now," she mumbled to herself.

This time Harry couldn't help it and let out a small laugh.

Wide eyed Hermione turned to face him, or at least where she thought the noise came from.

"Hello, is anybody there?" she asked. She sounded a bit fearful, then again that was hardly surprising really. Who wouldn't be a bit afraid if an invisible person were laughing at them in their own room at 6.30 in the morning. He'd feel frightened too.

"Don't worry Hermione, it's me, Harry," he said.

"HARRY! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Dursleys?... Are you all right? How do I know it's you?" she said panicking slightly as she picked up her wand from the bedside table and pointing it towards his general location.

"Ask me something only the real Harry would know," Harry said, in the best calming voice he could manage, while watching her wand wearily, ready to dodge at a split seconds notice. He really didn't want to frighten her any more than absolutely necessary. Not when he badly needed her help. It definitely wouldn't do to get hexed right about now either.

Keeping her wand pointed in what she hoped was Harry's general direction, Hermione took a moment to consider what to ask.

"Ok…let's see…In our third year, what special thing did we do at the end of the year, what's the thing I had around my neck at the time, and what nick name did we give the man we met and what did we fly on at the time?"

Hermione knew that only she, Harry and perhaps Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather knew the answers to all of those four questions.

Harry for his part simply smiled then answered: "To answer your questions; we rescued my godfather Sirius Black, who we named Snuffles for security reasons because we didn't want him recognized by his real name should any of our mail for him be intercepted. We decided to rescue him from the dementors kiss because he was wrongly accused for murders which he did not commit. We did this by using a time turner to go back in time where we rode…or should I say flew on a hippogriff named Buckbeak, who's life we also decided to save after he too was sentenced to death because that git Draco Malfoy couldn't obey a simple order during Care of magical creatures class. Does that answer your questions?"

Hermione simply nodded as she lowered her wand. That was more than enough information to tell her that it really was Harry in front of her.

Seeing that she believed him Harry relaxed, but not by much. He knew there was still the problem of him breaking into her house early in the morning and the fact that he was an illegal, unregistered...digital animagus called a digimon.

"So, what happened? Not that I don't appreciate you visiting me but what are you doing in my house at 6.45 in the morning and could you please show yourself if your speaking to me, its not nice hiding under an invisibility cloak when talking to someone," she said, wondering what had happened to make Harry come to her at such an ungodly hour of the day.

Harry for his part sighed. "Promise me that you won't scream or run away if I show myself," he said wondering how she would react once she saw him.

"Harry, what's wrong, you're scaring me…of course I won't run," she said sounding really worried now. Harry was one of the bravest, toughest people she knew of. For him to be worried, afraid even, that she or any of his friends could leave him, frightened her immensely.

"Do you remember the potion you helped me with during the last few weeks of school?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, the animagus revealing potion, you said you needed to know how to make it for an extra credit transfiguration project, you… OH!...you didn't," she suddenly said, eyes widening in comprehension as she caught on to what had actually happened.

"Yes…I did," said Harry guiltily but happy that she had caught on so fast.

"Oh Harry, you know you shouldn't have…you know it's illegal to do so without explicit permission from the ministry…Oh Harry…what happened? Are you ok?" she asked fretfully…" remembering her own misfortune with a similar potion in their second year.

"…What am I asking, of course you aren't ok, you wouldn't be here otherwise, Oh Harry what are we going to do?..."

"Hermione…,"

"How could you have been so stupid…"

"Hermione…please be quiet…,"

"You know what happens to illegal animagi who get caught…"

"Hermione…please listen…"

"They're going to put you into Askaban, you're going to get the kiss…you're…"

SLAP!

Not knowing what else to do to get the attention of the obviously panicking girl and not wanting to raise his voice too much in case it alerted her mother to his presence, Harry did the only thing he could think of doing to get her attention quickly; he de-phased and slapped her.

Not realizing his new strength, he winced as Hermione suddenly released a somewhat sharp high pitched squeal for both, the pain of the blow and the sudden shock of seeing him in his current form and cringed as her body lifted up a few centimeters of the ground and fell over backwards, from the force of his blow.

"Oh shite," he cursed, horrified at what had just happened, before kneeling down to help her.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, are you ok?" he asked mortified at what he had just done.

Hermione for her part was holding a red and rapidly swelling cheek in her hand, a few tears falling down her face. It was clear what she was in pain. You only had to look at the new bruise which was forming to know that she was.

"Listen, if you want me to leave, I'll…simply…go," Harry said his voice growing quieter, more depressed by each passing second.

Hermione however shook her head, surprising him. "No, don't go, its ok…I panicked…its ok, don't go, I understand why you did it," she said, rubbing the newly forming bruise which was appearing on her red cheek.

"Did it have to be so hard though?" she asked, quietly, her voice quavering slightly. It was clear she was in shock.

"I'm sorry, I really am, I don't know my own strength yet," Harry said, looking away slightly, not able to look her into her eyes at present and wondering what she was thinking about him.

Hermione for her part was looking awestruck at the 'creature' in front of her, the pain in her cheek temporarily forgotten. She gaped at the two meter high, majestic three quarter fox, one quarter phoenix angel hybrid in front of her.

"What are ..."

"Hermione?" came the voice of her mother from outside the door.

Hearing the voice Harry immediately phased and disappeared from view, leaving Hermione alone in the room.

"Are you ok in there?" the voice came again just before the door opened and the woman Harry had seen before walked in.

"I heard a… what happened to you?" she asked, seeing her daughter clearly for the first time. She was crying and was holding her cheek tenderly in her hand.

"Nothing mum, I… er…I… fell out of bed, don't worry about me…I'm fine," she said, releasing her face and trying to look as calm and untroubled as possible, but failing.

"Are you sure dear? Let me have a look at that bruise of yours… "

"No, really, I...I'm fine," she stuttered…. Honestly I'm fine," she repeated,…I had a nightmare, and well, as I said, I fell out of bed…hit my face on the ground…I'm fine, really, Hermione said trying to stay away from her mother in case she saw something which could somehow contradict her, or worse, somehow noticed Harry.

"Well, ok, if you're sure…I would have liked to have had a look at that bruise of yours, but I guess...…listen, I'll be leaving for work in a few minutes is there anything you want me to get you from town today? She asked trying to change the subject.

"No, thanks mum," said Hermione. A quick nod later and her mother was gone again.

Releasing a heavy sigh of relief Hermione sat down on her bed.

Harry, seeing that Hermione's mum was gone, de-phased once more and sat down beside her.

"Thanks… for not saying anything," he said quietly, doing what he could to comfort his friend.

Hermione simply nodded.

"So...what are you, do you know yet?" she asked after a while.

Meanwhile, Somewhere in England in an unknown location,

"Ah, Severus, what good news do you bring me?" asked Voldemort, dark lord and current most dangerous and feared individual in the world, from where he currently sat, high up on his golden throne.

Said lord had recently started holding a sceptre, (it was actually his staff in shrunken form) had started playing king and was currently looking down at his spy and servant. Every aspect of his voice and demeanour clearly screamed that he only wished to hear good news and that any other news would be severely punishable by death…or worse.

Said spy, on the other hand, was currently kneeling in front of him on the ground silently wondering what to tell his lord, king and master, while around him, Voldemorts 'royal' circle (not inner circle) stood, listening expectantly to what their spy had to say.

Severus Snape, spy for the order and double agent for Voldemort, or as said master currently wanted to be known; his majesty King Voldemort the first, looked up and into the red eyes of his second lord and took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Ever since the dark lords return things had been getting steadily worse.

For a split second he hesitated as he reconsidered his next words carefully, then just as quickly discarded those thoughts.

He had long chosen his path and would not change it now. Knowing perfectly that his next words could well be his last, at least on this plane of existence, he starts to speak: "Your Majesty, I bring critical news from the last order meeting, it seems Harry Potter has once again run away from his 'home' and is currently unaccounted for. Unlike the other times however, this time the old man seems to have no idea where the boy is."

"Really!" said Voldmort, not really impressed by the news, yet still interested, especially at the last part. Brightening up a bit at the notion that the old fool didn't seem to know where, his weapon; the boy, was, Voldemort allowed himself a brief smile.

True, it wasn't the first time the brat had run away, he had done so many times in fact in the past, each time he was brought back before his minions could reach him, but this was the first time the old man didn't seem to know where said boy was.

"Interesting, you have done well to tell me this," Voldemort said as he briefly considered his newest news. As a reward for your service, I shall not punish you this time."

"Thank you, you're most gracious, I live only to serve your Majesty," said Snape giving a small bow in the process.

"Indeed, 'that' you do…that you do," he said somewhat absently. "Tell me, you wouldn't by any chance know, where the boy is…would you?"

Snape shook his head. "No your Majesty, unfortunately I do not," Snape answered keeping his head low as a sign of his failure.

"A most unfortunate pity… very well, I want you to keep both ears and both eyes open for the boys whereabouts and I want to hear of it immediately without delay as soon as you know where the brat is…for now you may consider yourself dismissed."

With another nod Snape bowed once more, then keeping his head bowed he slowly edged away, bowing a few more time on his way out, never once facing away from the man while doing so. Only when he was safely out of the chamber and out of the dark lords sight did he dare to straighten up again and turn around to leave.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Magic, England

At the very same moment Harry was visiting Hermione and Snape was 'entertaining' the Dark Lord, several unspeakables from a top secret magical organization were in the process of testing their newest creation.

Tasked with their one and only mission; finding and apprehending illegal animagi in and around the British isles, this magical creation known as 'MAD' or the 'Ministry Animagi Detector' was their current newest invention and the outcome of two years worth of long hours of hard work and their crowning achievement to date.

Two of these Unspeakables, a young half blood called Claire Noname or Unspeakable 'C' to her colleagues (unspeakables lost their surnames once they became unspeakables) and Unspeakable A, her boss, (unoriginal but it works) were currently checking the first MAD results.

Beside them, on a near by wall, a large map was hanging and flashing many different colours, indicating various information on different animagi and magical creatures alike, as well as where each animagus or creature could be found.

"Good! Everything seems to be in order…the minister has been hounding me about 'him' for quite a while, by 'him' I mean Black, maybe now we can finally catch him," said A as he gave one last satisfied look at the map only to spot one particular dot which was different to the rest. It had Harry Potter written on it. His interest quickly peaking to new heights, he took a closer look.

"That's… interesting," he mumbled. "I didn't know Potter had an animagus form," he said out load, catching the attention of his subordinate.

C looked at A and frowned. "He doesn't, or at least he shouldn't," she said looking up from her work.

"Well now he has...what does blue stand for?" A asked, interested.

"Blue? ...there is no blue," said C surprised, leaving her work and walking up to the map. A made room for C and let her have a look.

"That's strange," she said frowning as he looked at the particular dot with the name Harry Potter on it.

"What strange," asked A.

"I know of every colour of very dot on this map but this one is new," said C looking thoughtful. "I mean; green outlined dots indicate current registered animagi, grey dots indicate current unregistered animagi… we even have purple dots for werewolves and vampires, black for other darker creatures and whites for unknowns, which are those under specific charms which hide their identities,… but I've never seen blue before?" she said looking at the lone blue dot on the huge map of the British isles.

"Oh! So there is no such thing as blue?" A asked surprised. C nodded. "Really?...then what's that?" A asked pointing straight at the blue dot.

"I don't know…there is not supposed to be any blue…" C said taking a closer look at the blue dot.

"Hmm let's see Crescent Lane,' Nr. 15…Granger Residence, a muggleborn with the name of Hermione Granger lives there with her two parents, names: Emma and Dan Granger, according to our magical records Dan is a muggle, Emma is a squib. Granger has no past history of being an animagus, neither does Harry Potter. Would you like me to check it out sir?" she asked looking up at A.

A thought for a while but then shook his head. "No!…The minister has been complaining about our department interfering with the muggles, besides, he recently ordered our department another cut. I'll send the auror department a memo. Let the aurors handle this one for once," A said before moving away.

"Are you sure?" asked C uneasily. "This could be important." Somehow she had a bad feeling about this one.

"Everything is important in our area of work…but I don't care. That's an order… take the rest of the day off…you earned it," said A, while turning off the map.

"Ok," said C shrugging. It was not like she had another choice anyway.

"Come let me invite you to dinner…" said A, handing her her coat.

C smiled.

Minutes later they were gone.

Back at the Granger Residence

Harry finally finished explaining to Hermione what had happened to him during the last few weeks and was now waiting patiently for her answer.

Hermione, for her part had immediately taken out her pen and some parchment the moment Harry had started telling her his story and was presently sitting at her desk, jutting down a few last second notes. After a while she stopped and raised her eyes from the paper to look at him once more.

"So, let me see if I understand everything correctly: Sometime during the last few weeks, you decided to become an animagus, because you thought it would give you an extra edge against Voldemort, correct?" she asked looking right at Harry.

"Yes," Harry said nodding.

"You asked me for help in brewing the animagus revealing potion, not because you were working on an extra credit project for Professor Mc Gonagal, but because you wanted to become one, correct?

Harry nodded again.

"We are going to have a little chat about that later," said Hermione before continuing with her notes.

Hearing this Harry cringed slightly but nodded.

"You, took the potion and found, not one, but two animagus forms, something which I might add is extremely rare and has only happened six other times in history. Not only that but one of your animagus forms was a magical creature, a phoenix, which is even rarer than two animagus forms, something which has only happened twice before in history…the last one being Merlin himself…RIGHT?" she said, her voice becoming somewhat shrilly in the process.

"Yep!"

"Finally… to put the icing on the literal cake, with the help of an ancient book written by the same Merlin…the greatest wizard of all time… one which I really want to read by the way… you somehow manage to mess up the transformation and become; a sort of hybrid Fox-Phoenix 'digital' creature known as a Digimon…CORRECT?"

"Yes, that about sums it up," said Harry nodding again, smiling sweetly.

"I see!" said Hermione, with that her eyes rolled up as the days stress finally caught up to her and she fainted.