A/N: From now on this fic and my two other active ones are going to be on a rotating update schedule. First Darkest Night, then La Cazone della Luna & Guided By A Star. This fic is winding towards the end finally; it's been a long ride. In this chapter Sirius teaches the kids about their animagus forms and meets with Albus Dumbledore.

Chapter 31- Fur, Claws and Manipulators

Sirius was beaming proudly at the young students inhabiting the Black villa. The four students couldn't see his expression as their eyes were currently closed, deep in meditation as they attempted to bring forward their Animagi forms. He was so proud of them all that he could hardly stand it, they had studied the theory and meditation on their own the previous year, but now they were well on their way to being fully-fledged Animagi by the end of this year or a little bit afterwards.

Blaise Zabini was the one showing the most talent for the transformation so far, the Italian boy's calm, resourceful attitude was a clear benefit for the Mind Arts and Animagus transformations were more about the mind than manipulating magic like Minerva preached about Transfiguration at Hogwarts. The four students were passable Occlumens and their practise in mediation to clear and focus the mind sped the process greatly.

The boy opened his eyes, grumbling slightly. "I don't think I made any progress today."

Smiling broadly at the boy Sirius replied, "I would look in the mirror before saying that, Blaise."

As Blaise stood Sirius caught sight of the furred tail and sniggered. "You've got another appendage, Blaise."

Blaise caught sight of the tail and grinned broadly, moving to stand in front of the mirror. In addition to the tail he had sprouted a pair of black tipped yellow ears and his eyes had turned a golden colour with vertical pupils. "I'm a feline of some sort," he said happily, looking at the ears. "Some kind of jungle cat I think."

Pansy opened her eyes, huffing in exasperation. "Why are these forms so difficult to concentrate on, Sirius?"

"It's because your Animagus form is an animal that truly describes you to your deepest level," Sirius explained. "Though people try to learn as much about themselves as they can, few ever truly know their deepest truths due to the fact there are often aspects of our personalities we tend to ignore. You have fur on your face by the way," Sirius added blandly.

"Oohh," she squeaked, running over to stand next to Blaise. The fur on her face was dark red and her nose had darkened to almost black as well. "I wonder what I'm going to be?" she questioned out loud.

"Something annoying, no doubt," Draco teased in a soft drawl as he exited his own meditation. He didn't need a mirror to examine the pads on his fingers and the claw-like fingers. He also had a tail, white and black in colour and slightly thicker than Blaise's.

"Prat," she said in a strangely hissing growl before smiling affectionately. "You've always been that way, so luckily I will ignore you just as I usually do. You have a tail, by the way."

Draco vehemently denied his yelp of surprise later, but it made everyone in the room besides Rial laugh. Running the long appendage through his fingers he grinned and marveled aloud, "It's so soft. I hope I'm not some fuzzy puffball, though."

"What," Rial said in a mock-surprised voice as he slowly exited his trance, "you don't want to be a super cute and cuddly ball of fluff? And here I thought that was your life's ambition."

Draco huffed and was about to correct his boyfriend when Rial frowned and said, "My skin is really itchy," before proceeding to tug off his shirt.

Sirius had to work at it not to gape at his son's skin. It was hard and the teens were already staring with open surprise and awe. The skin of Rial's upper torso and arms was patterned in an intricate network of small scale-like patches of ivory. Closer to his chest and throat they turned silver while on the outer edges of his body they turned a brilliant pale blue. His eyes were also a very pale blue, Sirius realised in surprise.

He stood and approached his son, who was staring in surprise at the intricate patterns. Staring at the intricate patterns he wondered to himself what kind of Animagus his son would be. Pansy was the first to speak. "Is he some kind of snake?"

Rial himself answered that one, "No Pansy, they feel kind of soft. I don't think they're scales."

After a second Sirius identified what they were and snorted to himself. Trust Rial to get one of the hardest Animagi types to master. "They're feathers, Rial. You're a bird of some kind, fitting with your love of the sky. Though I don't know of an ordinary bird with silver, ivory and pale blue feathers."

"Figures that I'm exotic, magical or both along with a bird," Rial grumped. He was smiling however, so Sirius didn't acknowledge the slightly grumpy tone.

Instead he looked toward the large grandfather clock and sighed. "I have to leave you now if I'm going to make it to my meeting with Albus on time. Discuss your possible forms with each other and then focus on returning to normal. Blaise, Rial, you'll have the tougher time of it since you also have to remember to change your eyes back to normal. Try and concentrate on the sensation of your body changing back as it will help you in future for speeding up your transformations."

He was almost out the door when he remembered the message he'd been entrusted with. "Draco, once you're done your father and Remus would like to speak with you. Also, you four need to study tonight for the Potions test Severus is giving you tomorrow, he asked me to remind you about it."

He heard the four groan slightly as he let the door go and hurried down the corridor. It made him want to laugh, away from Hogwarts and students still were worried about Severus' tests. He did let a broad smile cross his face as he remembered why Remus and Lucius wanted to speak with Draco.

It was still hard to believe his best friend was having a child, let alone with Lucius Malfoy of all people. Remus had confessed of a giant crush over the elegant blonde from school years but in their previous lives the relationship wouldn't have had a chance at being acknowledged, let alone growing like it had. Remus was happy, healthy and spoiled and for that alone Lucius Malfoy had Sirius' eternal gratitude. It was an enormous burden off his shoulders, not having to worry about his best friend anymore.

No, now all he had to worry about was his son, a manipulative old coot named Albus Dumbledore, a corrupt Minister named after chocolate and a psychotic Dark Lord who called himself Voldemort. Everything is just peachy, he thought sarcastically.

However they were moving slowly and irreversibly forward and the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel was almost in sight. It was all Sirius could do to hold himself to a walk as he eagerly approached it, looking forward to the day when he could simply sit back and enjoy his life with family, friends and Severus. He smiled fondly at the thought of the Potions Master and strolled through the wards protecting the Black villa.

He concentrated fiercely on Hogsmede village and spun tightly on the spot, closing his eyes. When his feet hit ground again his eyes popped open and his wand was in his grip. Auror training was fierce and he highly doubted he would ever lose his precautions learned at the Academy. Not when one of his mentors had been one Alastor Moody, a twitch and hex happy enthusiast of the old days when Aurors had permission to execute criminals on the spot and use Unforgivables without possible punishment.

As he strolled toward the school he began counting in his head how many times he'd heard Alastor shout 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE' in his hearing range over the years, often startling trainees so badly that they accidently hexed the old Auror or someone else in their group. It was both a form of entertainment and one of the most basic ways to block another from his thoughts. Though Sirius wasn't as good an Occlumens as some, he knew enough to keep all but the most determined of individuals out of his head. He would most certainly be able to feel Albus rooting around before he gained any important facts.

He strode down the long hall to the Headmaster's Office, rolling his eyes as he said, "Bubble gum."

The gargoyle moved to the side and he headed up the stairs as he grimaced at Albus' awful passwords. Personally Sirius thought the man's obsession with sweets had done something to his brain. Those twinkling eyes just weren't normal. He braced himself and rapped once on the door with his knuckles.

"Come in," Albus' cheerful voice replied.

Grinding his teeth Sirius took a quick moment to begin mentally reciting the Auror Academy handbook in his head before opening the door and moving to the open chair.

"Lemon drop?" Albus proffered.

"No thank you," Sirius said politely, while he resisted the temptation to see how many of those blasted candies Albus' throat could hold at once. And then accidently add one more. And no, he most certainly was NOT holding any grudges toward the Headmaster, absolutely not.

"First of all, Sirius, thank you for coming. Secondly, I heard from Kingsley that you were quite reluctant to speak with him, even referring to him by his surname. What brought about this animosity, may I ask?"

"There was no animosity involved at all, Albus," he said, affecting a puzzled expression. "I had turned in my resignation to the Order of the Phoenix and we were in a work setting. I don't affect any familiarity with the Aurors outside of my cousin Nymphadora. I can't afford to as a senior Auror in my department Albus, surely you can understand why."

"Of course," Albus waved a gnarled hand idly, "you can't be accused of favouritism, after all. But, my dear boy, were you really just friends with Kingsley because you were both in the Order?"

Gritting his teeth at the form of address Sirius took a couple of deep breaths and said, "So it seems, Albus. Shacklebolt and I may have shared a common goal then, but I butt heads with him severely on a few topics, some of which are at work. As his actions prove recently with him badgering me to join the Order and bring Rial back to Hogwarts I really see no reason to continue the friendship. I don't like being told I may not know what is best for my son, you see."

"Hmm," Albus replied, popping a lemon drop in his own mouth. He pensively sucked on it for a long moment before he said, "Have you heard anything from Severus or Remus recently, out of idle curiosity?"

Idle curiosity my arse, Sirius snorted to himself. "No, actually I'm slightly worried about Remus myself; I know he was planning on spending some time with the various wolf packs, if that helps any."

"And there is no way to perhaps make you consider bringing Rial back to Hogwarts? I worry about that child you know. Some of the traits of his house are less than desirable in such a young man."

"None at all, Albus. Rial is safer and happier educated… elsewhere," he waved his own had in a negligent gesture, purposefully keeping Rial's possible locations vague.

Albus looked at him for a long moment and huffed a small sigh. "Thank you for your time, Sirius. I hope you eventually change your mind, your input and that of Severus and Remus are greatly missed."

"If I see them I will pass that on," Sirius promised, once again being vague.

He strode out of Albus' office and down the stairs. He needed to meet Bill Weasley in Diagon Alley in two hours; the red-head had some possible information on Fudge and the late James Potter. Whistling slightly he smirked and thought, I LOVE bugging Albus.

A/N: There you go, nice and long! Things are moving right along now, aren't they? As far as Animagus forms for the kids, try and guess what they are. I was quite tempted to put a curly beige tail on Pansy and have her be a pug, but I decided not. Enjoy and review, please!