Chapter Four.
Last class on a Friday afternoon was Transfiguration. Harry slid into his chair next to Ron; he wasn't really paying attention. After this class was over he was going to the pitch to meet Katie before the try-outs.
"Now today we are going to be doing something a little bit different…" said Professor McGonagall. "…Today we are going to be doing human transfiguration. I will be testing each of you for the Animagus ability and then you are going to use the form switching spell on each other." This got Harry's attention. He had always wanted to be an Animagus after he found out about his dad and Sirius.
For the next half hour Harry and Ron turned each other into many different types of animals and objects, with the occasional interruption when McGonagall had to turn Harry back when Ron messed up the spell. "Potter…Weasley. To the front." Barked the professor as she waited impatiently beside her desk, they sprinted up to the front of the room. "Now Weasley first." She said as she waved her wand. Then a dull green aura appeared around Ron. "Very good Mr Weasley, you may sit down. You do have the ability to become an Animagus." She smiled as Ron face burst out in a massive grin. "Now Potter, turn and face me…" she waved her wand. "You also have the ability like your father Mr Potter. Please see me after class." She smile and sent Harry back down to his seat somewhat confused.
At the end of class Harry was getting nervous it was already twenty to four. "Now, Harry…" said professor McGonagall. "…the Headmaster has already informed me about the discussion the two of you had last week so you're not in any trouble." Harry relaxed a little but he still had one eye on the clock. "Now I'm sure with everything else you are doing this year, you don't want to have to sit through weeks of Animagus lessons. It is for this reason that the Headmaster and myself have chosen to give you a 'fast track' so to speak. You are to be here tonight after the feast. Now you may go Harry, you don't want to keep Ms Bell waiting." She laughed as Harry took his bag and flew out the door. He ran straight up to the dorms and dropped his stuff. All his Quidditch gear except for his broom was down in the changing rooms. He grabbed his firebolt and looked at his watch. Less than five minutes to make it down the pitches…on foot it would take a good half hour at least. Harry looked at the broom in his hands and had an idea before he opened the window.
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Katie was walking towards the Quidditch pitch to meet Harry. Honestly she didn't know what she was thinking when she asked him to come early last night. As she reached the doors to the changing rooms she heard the sound of a broom soaring. She looked out and couldn't see anyone on the pitch. She frowned, who was riding a broom if they weren't on the pitch. She turned around on saw Harry coming in to land. "Well Harry you sure do know how to make an entrance, I'll give you that." She chuckled as he hopped off his broom next to her and gave her a rather unexpected hug.
"Want to fly around for a bit before the hopefuls start showing up?" he asked she nodded and they both walked into the changing rooms and changed into their Quidditch robes. Katie grabbed her broom and started at a running mount. She soared up into the air and came to a stop near the top of the stands. She felt free up there, she always had. When she was on a broom it was like nothing could touch her, she was on her own up there, free from the pressures of the NEWTs and everything else. Harry joined her a couple of minutes later.
"So…" he asked. "How does it feel to be one of the last two remaining members of the Gryffindor dream team?" she laughed if Oliver could see them now he'd probably shout at them for being so lazy and make them run laps. Katie could already tell that Harry wasn't going to be a hard-ass captain like Angie or Oliver, he already had enough on his plate for that; but she could see the determination in his eyes. The same determination she saw in his eyes last night when he stepped onto that Duelling platform. It's kind of sexy said a voice somewhere in the back of her head, but she quickly dismissed it.
"Yeah we're all that's left of the tyrannical rule of Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnston." She laughed too. "So who do you fancy…?" she asked. Harry looked at her funny for a second and she realised her mistake. "I meant for the other chaser spots! Who do you fancy for the chasers?" she stammered and blushed brighter than Rudolph's nose.
"Eh…" said Harry, who was also blushing quite hard. "Ginny Weasley is a good enough chaser and there are a couple of others that I've seen practising on Ron but I don't know some of them might not show up…" he answered.
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They floated around up there for maybe another twenty minutes before people started showing up. They were all gathering in the centre of the pitch looking around. At five Harry flew down and went to start the try-outs. "Sonorous." He whispered pointing his wand to his throat. "All right can I have everyone's attention for a minute?" as he spoke his voice reverberated around the stadium. "Now can any first year or students not from Gryffindor please get off the pitch!" he shouted. About half the assembled crowd trudged off the pitch. This is going to be a long day he thought as he mounted his broom and flew off into the air.
The Chaser trials didn't take too long as they only had two spaces to fill. Ginny and Demelza Robbins got the starting places with Dean Thomas getting backup chaser for if Ginny needed to play seeker when Harry was injured.
Harry made Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peakes the Beaters because they clearly outflew the replacements from last year.
Keeper trials were left till last as there were only two people up for it. Ron and the seventh year prefect Cormac McLaggan. Neither Harry or Katie could stand Cormac and when Hermione confounded him from the stands they both turned a blind eye.
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"Come on Kates you know I'm better than that ginger tosspot! Just because he's Potter's best friend doesn't mean he should be on the team…just talk to potter I'll make it worth your while." Said Cormac shifting his eyebrows.
"Cormac, he out flew you and he saved more than you, get over it. Final teams aren't being posted for another week… you might just get reserve keeper." She replied without looking at him. "And no I will not go to Hogsmead with you for the hundredth time, if you were the last man on earth I'd just become a lesbian and save time from rejecting you!"
Words could not be put on how much Katie Bell hated Cormac Mclaggan. He was the only Gryffindor boy in her year and he had been that annoying from the start. He went around shouting about his connections and how entitled he was more than bloody Malfoy. She put her broom in the broom shed and made a beeline for the castle, leaving a stammering Cormac in her wake.
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Everyone expected the first weekend of term to be quiet and cosy as the students complained about their weekend homework for the first time in three months. However it appeared that Dumbledore had other plans.
After the feast he stood up at his lectern. "Now before you all go off to your common rooms full from our marvellous feast, I would like to make an announcement. Students from third year and up were not notified at the start of the year as they usually would be of the dates of the Hogsmead weekends. This was due to the fact that we were unsure as to whether or not the trips would be going ahead this year due to the threat of attack posed by the forces of Lord Voldemort." He paused as the hall burst out in a flurry of whispers
"I am however pleased to announce that the Ministry has posted a full garrison of Aurors in the village so the outings are to continue. The first Hogsmead visit is to take place this weekend and there will be two more visits before the Christmas Break. I would also like to remind all students eligible to visit Hogsmead, that ONLY seventh years are allowed to leave the village to visit places like Diagon alley etc. Now I believe I have taken up enough of your valuable time. Time to go back to the common rooms." Harry looked over at Katie and followed her out of the hall. Acting on impulse he immediately decided that he was going to ask her out to Hogsmead tomorrow.
"Katie! Wait up." Shouted Harry as they reached the first floor corridor. She stopped and turned around to see Harry sprinting after her. She stepped off the staircase so they wouldn't be blocking it.
"Hi." She said as Harry caught his breath after catching up to her. He smiled and didn't say anything for a minute, but then it kind of all came out at once.
"HiKatieIwaswonderingifyoumaybewantedtogotohogsmeadwithmethisweekend…?" said Harry who even though he was high on adrenaline because he just asked a girl he'd fancied since he was twelve out. Felt like he was going to pass out.
"Sorry?" she asked looking confused. Harr blushed having to repeat himself in what was already hard enough to go through the first time. That initial impulse that made him want to chase after her in the first place was starting to fade.
"Ummm…" He mumbled. "I was wondering…if…maybe you might want to accompany me to Hogsmead tomorrow?" Well done Harry, you managed to sound cheesy and yet still fancy as fuck. He thought as she just stood there.
"Like…" the breath caught in her throat. "like a date?" she asked. He nodded sheepishly as they both went bright red. "Yes Harry, I'll go with you. It's a date." She smiled, kissed him on the cheek and ran up the stairs towards the portrait of the Fat lady.
Harry simply stood there for a moment, astonished before realising he still had to go to Professor McGonagall's office. And with that he was sprinting off down the corridor.
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"Ah Mr Potter, please sit down." Said professor McGonagall. Harry sat at the comfy chair in front of her desk. She sat down on the opposite side after fixing herself a stiff drink. "Now Mr Potter, as I said earlier we are going to fast track your Animagus training. This is a slightly more dangerous method, but the Headmaster has cleared me to use it on you. Basically what we're going to do is give you a potion that will turn you into your Animagus form, but you will initially be in the form of one of its young and you will be able to change back when you have gotten used to your body and have matured to the appropriate age. Do you wish to proceed?" she asked taking a sip of her drink.
Harry just nodded and she handed him the potion. He stood up and threw back to potion back. He felt suddenly dizzy. He could see McGonagall looking at him with a worried expression on her face. He then felt a stab of pain in his scar and blacked out.
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When he woke up the first thing he saw was two white paws out in front of him. McGonagall walked around the desk with a small mirror. "Now Mr Potter that is unusual I've only ever seen one other Animagus like that but that person is still taking the long road round…" She placed the mirror on the ground and Harry stumbled over to it. Whatever he was he had four legs and a long tail.
He looked down into the mirror. Looking back at him was a white tiger cub. He looked at the forehead of the animal and sure enough right on the edge of his head there was a spot of dark fur running against his other stripes in the shaped of a lightning bolt. His eye colour stayed the same piercing green.
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For the next three hours Harry padded around McGonagall's office, as he steadily grew in size. At half past eleven McGonagall stood up and came around the desk "Alright Harry I think you're grown enough that you can attempt the change back. Now I want you to concentrate and try to picture yourself in human form. Then I want you to try and push that image outwards and turn yourself back." She said in a firm yet worried voice.
Harry did as she said he pictured himself in his school robes and tried to change back. It didn't work. He tried again and it still didn't work. He started to panic. He tried one last time, letting out a colossal roar that made McGonagall jump back in fright. The roar dulled and turned to a load scream until Harry sat crouched on the floor. He gripped the table next to him to help himself up. He was covered in sweat, but very clearly human.
"Very well done Mr Potter, how many tries did it take you may I ask?" She looked at him with a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
"Three" panted Harry, who was still leaning heavily on the table.
She nodded. "Yes. That's about the average with this way. Most people panic and resort to using their animal rage to push their humans selves back to the surface." She said before sitting back down. "Now as you are still underage you are not required to register with the ministry until you come of age. Because of the method you used you will now be able to change back and forth with the speed and efficiency of someone who had been doing it for more than ten years. Do not abuse this power Harry I will know if you do…" she sat back in her chair. "I should also warn you that if you choose to explore the forest in your new form that centaurs will not distinguish between Animagus and real animal. Also even if you change in front of them they will kill you for trespassing on their territory as you have already have been given a warning by the centaur Bane…" she pursed her lips. "…Now Mr Potter off to bed, or if you meet up with Ms Greengrass on the way you could finish out the rounds that you missed tonight." She smiled. Tonight was one of his rare nights patrolling with Daphne, Cormac Mclaggan, and Susan Bones.
Harry smiled, got up and walking slowly made his way towards the seventh floor and his nice warm bed…
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