Unlike the other cells in the maximum security block of Azkaban, where all that was heard was whimpering and the occasional agonised scream, the two occupants of this cell could have often been heard chatting animatedly, if there was anyone nearby sane enough to register the sound of a voice.

Strangely, these frequent talks were separated by long periods of inactivity, in which not a sound came out of the cell.

Inside though, the cell was far from inactive.

It was during one of these silent periods that Harry and Bellatrix were sitting side-by-side, each in a variation of the lotus position.

Both Harry and Bellatrix had worked almost impossibly hard over the past two months of their animagus 'quest' but after the first week of Harry's incarceration, things in cell V554 slowed down.

Now, both inhabitants of Azkaban were about to start one of their final meditation sessions.

Harry looked over towards Bellatrix, who was sitting less than six inches away. Seeing the serene look on her face was the only sign that he needed to identify that Bellatrix had entered the state of meditation.

It had taken a while to be able to slip into their calm states as quickly as they do now, but now, both Harry and Bella were able to enter their special place with little to no work on their part.

It wouldn't be long before Harry would be able to attempt his first full transformation, and Bella wasn't far behind him either. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the pride he had felt when he found his form.

Flashback

As he slipped into the meditative state that he had become so attuned to, Harry immediately felt a change.

He was no longer looking at the calm void of his mind as nothing more than some sort of ethereal being. Instead, that blankness had been replaced by the rolling sea of golden-yellow grass that was swaying slightly in the soft breeze that he felt flowing through the air. Turning his head, he noticed the blankness of the landscape, the same golden grass continuing on for, what seemed like, forever. He could feel the heat in the air around him, which wasn't out of place considering the cloudless blue sky that permitted the Sun's rays to bleach the ground. From his position in the shade from under the lone Y-shaped tree, Harry was safe from the harsh rays. Suddenly he got the urge to search for the rest of his pride.

'Wait, my pride?'

It was only now that he realised that he was alone. A sense of helplessness settled over him. He had never been without his females!

'What's happening? My females?'

A lethargic state slowly overrode his panic and he settled down, letting his head rest on his front paws.

Finally, it came to him. He had entered the next stage of meditation! He was experiencing his form in the habitat in which it lived.

With this revelation, he shook off the laziness in his bones, which he put down to some sort of instinct and rose onto all four of his recently changed paws. Slowly he began to move forwards out of the shade of the tree, which he couldn't identify. As soon as the sun hit his back, he felt the intense heat, before it settled and became comforting warmth. Still moving forward he began to gain confidence and picked up the speed. Soon he found himself prowling across the plains, the grass tickling the padded undersides of his paws. He continued at this leisurely pace for what seemed like hours before he spotted another tree in the two-tone landscape of gold and blue. As he got closer he recognised other figures rising from the shade, two of these came over to him and nuzzled his mane.

'Mane? Hang on, I'm a lion!'

He stood stock still during this mental deliberation, staring intently at the other male of this pride. He felt his instincts begin to take over and he let them, content to sit back and watch. The other male bared his teeth and growled low in this throat.

'Probably because I'm with his lionesses.' Harry thought to himself.

However, it seemed that Harry wasn't one to back off and he returned the growl, lowering his stance slightly, so that he would be ready to pounce.

The females had backed off, realising the danger in the current situation.

Harry began to take in the appearance of the other male. He wasn't huge, so it wasn't likely that he was the Alpha-male in this pride, but Harry could still see the rippling muscle under the coat of the lion. Another thought struck him, if this wasn't the Alpha-male, then who was? Where was he?

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by the other male roaring loudly, showing of his large canines. Harry returned the roar eagerly and just as loudly, if not more so. This was enough for the other male and he leaped forward, swiping at Harry's jaw with his now extended claws. Harry raised his head just fractionally, so his opponents paw glanced the underside of his mouth, drawing a slight amount of blood.

The smell of blood was all the incentive Harry needed and he launched a powerful swipe at the side of the other lions head. It was impossible to dodge, so the other lion moved his head, going with the direction of the swipe, in the hopes of cushioning the blow. It only worked slightly and instead of being a knock-out blow like it was intended to be, it only pushed him back a few meters. However, this gave Harry room to pounce and he jumped onto the top of opponent's head, attempting to fasten his jaws over his neck. Unfortunately, the magnificent mane obstructed his view and the other male was able to shake him off, landing a blow to his flank as he did so.

The two lions began circling each other, searching for a weakness or a point of attack.

Finally, Harry found one. He barged into the side of the other male, knocking him over. Before he had a chance to rise, Harry leaped onto his exposed underside. The other male snapped at his paws but was unable to move. Then, just as he was about the snap again, Harry caught his opponent's lower jaw in his own and began to munch on it, ignoring the agonised roars that were being given off. He yanked his jaws away, pulling the other jaw with him, before he dealt a blow to the now exposed throat of the former proud lion, killing him instantly. He pushed the corpse out into the sun and settled down in the shade to clean his wounds.

The two females that were there were joined by the other three that had stayed lying down when Harry entered the camp, and they made their way over to nuzzle Harry.

After licking his coat clean, with the help of his new lionesses, one thing became clear.

He was the Alpha-male here now.

End Flashback

Bella had been so pleased when Harry told her of his recent outing as a lion that she gave him hug that would have rivalled Molly Weasley, which was a huge feat, especially taking in the fact that Bella has been in Azkaban for who knows how long.

It wasn't all bad though, as, just when Harry thought his eyes would pop out and his ribs crack, Bella loosened her grip and relaxed into Harry, causing Harry to return the embrace. They had stayed like that, in comfortable silence, for so long that they fell asleep.

That had been Harry's best morning in Azkaban because, although he still hadn't admitted it, even to himself, he had a bit of a crush on Bella.

The new state of meditation became the norm for Harry. Similar 'dreams' had occurred every session, varying from hunting herds of zebra to just wandering the savannah with his pride. After a week of consecutive visions, he was convinced that his form was a lion.

Bella had also reached the second stage of the meditation and was originally having trouble deciphering her form, but with a little help from Harry she could have a firm guesstimate at what her form was.

Flashback

"Harry?"

He looked down at Bella, who was laying down next him.

"I don't know what my form is. I keep having the 'visions'," she said, making quotation marks in the air with her first two fingers, "but I don't know what animal I am."

Harry pondered this for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"Tell me what happens, perhaps I can help you."

Bellatrix smiled before agreeing.

"It's always night time. I'm flying really, really high. When I first looked at my body, I thought there was nothing there, but now I can see that I am just black. I can't see myself against the night sky, just a slight sheen on what, I presume, are my feathers."

Again Harry though about this and started suggesting birds that are black.

"A crow?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"A raven?"

Another shake.

"An owl?"

Shake.

He suggested a few more, which all received a shake of the head, before asking Bella to describe the instincts that she feels when she is experiencing the life of her inner animal.

"I always get the urge to sing. Loudly. I always feel better when I sing and I feel as if the whole world has stopped to listen to me sing." She blushed cutely. "The only other thoughts going through my mind when I'm flying are joy, deep joy, and sorrow. I feel really happy, but also unbelievably sad at the same time. Sometimes, if I concentrate, I can see fire. Lots and lots of fire. It's a bright flame, almost an inferno, that jus that a tinge of black in it, almost as if it isn't natural."

The singing part of Bella's thoughts put a firm thought into Harry's mind as to what her form was, and the fire aspect only cemented that. A phoenix. Bella was a phoenix. Is it possible to get black phoenixes? It is now.

End Flashback

After this, Harry and Bella had once again fallen asleep together, and neither were complaining.

Almost a week later, Harry's visions changed. Instead of the hot savannah, he was now in a dark, damp and dirty forest. It was cold and he was slithering across the ground, making it obvious that he was some sort of snake, and a large one, at least twice the girth of Nagini, though only slightly longer. This was confirmed when he spotted a forked tongue poke out and taste the air.

Could this mean that Harry had two forms? As far as he knew, and his knowledge on animagus was quite extensive dew to his reading up on the subject, such a thing had only been reported twice before in known history.

So Harry had been experiencing two different visions. One was almost certainly a lion, and one was a snake of some sort.

The type of snake was identified when Harry experienced hunting as the snake. Except is wasn't really hunting.

In the forest there were all sorts of creature, both non-magical and magical. A lone doe was trotting through a copse of trees when Harry was hunting and he began pursuing said doe. Whatever Harry was expecting was blown away when he caught up without making a sound. Suddenly, he hissed, drawing the doe's attention. He looked the doe in the eye and it dropped dead, stiff as a plank.

Harry was a basilisk!

Obviously he wasn't as big as the one from the Chamber of Secrets, which was almost a thousand years old, but the capability to kill with just a look was terrifying. He was drawn from this by the feeling of his jaws suddenly opening. He took the doe into his mouth whole, before injecting it with his venom. Within seconds, he felt the doe start to break down and he swallowed it.

Harry hadn't got to sleep with special arrangements that night, despite Bella's joy at him having two forms. The reason for this being that, after discovering that they both enjoyed it, they slept in each other's arms every night now anyway.

To Harry's relief, the next night, he discovered that, on top of the thin layer of clear scales on his eyes that every snake has, he had clear screens that came down over his eyes, similar to eyelids, that prevented his killer glare from… err… killing.

Harry thought back to yesterday. He had just finished meditating, when he noticed that instead of his hands and feet, he had four sandy coloured paws, each complete with claws. At first he panicked, but Bella calmed him down so that he could focus on changing back. He concentrated on what his hands and then feet looked like before the said limb extremities suddenly felt like they were melting, before the paws were replaced by hands and feet.

He could now change his hands at will into paws, and he was almost able to change his feet as well.

Harry was finally pulled out of his reminiscing to notice that Bella was still meditating next to him. He shuffled over slightly and joined her.

=0=

=000=

=0=

Hours Later

Harry felt good! He was proud, magnificent and undeniably beautiful. He looked down, noticing the golden paws again; only the golden fur didn't stop there this time, it continued up towards his shoulders and neck. He then realised that he was an all-fours. He turned his head to the side to get view if bushy mane that was somewhat reminiscent of Hermione and a golden flank. Beyond that he caught sight of a swishing tail.

He tried to exclaim, but it came out as a roar, stirring Bellatrix from her meditations.

With a slightly irritated expression she began asking, "What are you… oh."

Her irritation was replaced by an ear-to-ear grin as she realised what had happened.

"You're beautiful!" she breathed in awe.

She began to approach Harry slowly, hand extended, aware that his lion instincts could make this dangerous.

Currently, Harry was trying furiously to suppress such instinct, but eventually he knew he was going to lose this battle, so he tried to let off his desire to eat the human, in an ear-splitting roar.

Bella jumped back in surprise, before she realised what he had done. She smiled again before again reaching out to run her fingers through his mane.

The feline in Harry enjoyed the stroking of his coat, and, now that he had successfully rounded up his lion instincts, he settled down to enjoy the stroking from Bella.

"I think you should try and change back now Harry." Again, her voice was nowhere above a whisper.

He growled his agreement before he concentrated on turning back to his human form. The melting feeling returned before he felt himself standing once again on two legs. It wasn't to last though, as he felt himself fall flat on his face from the change in his centre of gravity. He didn't get a chance to get up though as he was ambushed by a raven haired maiden.

Bellatrix engulfed him into another strong hug, all the while beaming up at him.

Harry suddenly felt a strong urge to do something. He leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers, only enough force was applied for it to seem as if a feather was tickling his lips, but the taste if her lips against his was unbelievable.

After a second he pulled back, to meet the astonished eyes of Bellatrix. He blushed a deep red, before stammering out something about his lion instincts. He failed to notice the huge grin on Bella's face though as she pulled him back towards her before once again their lips connected. Both their eyes slid shut as they engaged in a slow, passionate kiss that resembled a waltz. A good minute passed before they separated. Staring into each other's eyes, they slowly fell asleep, with Bella lying on Harry's chest and his arms holding her close.

=0=

=000=

=0=

Four days later, Bella made her break through. She was startled from her meditations by a shrill, but relaxing, call. She opened her eyes, only to realise is was her that was making the noises. She looked down a short black beak towards her feathered body. Her black feathers sparkled in the half-light that permeated the barred hole in the door. Turning to Harry, who was still meditating, she pecked him softly on the finger.

Nothing.

She pecked him again, a bit more forcefully.

Still nothing.

Just as she was about to peck him again, his body began blurring. She turned away, retreating to the other side of the cell. When she turned back Harry was gone and the biggest snake she had ever seen was in his place. Then she remembered that this was a basilisk.

'Don't look at his eyes. Don't look at his eyes.'

Although Harry had told her about his discovery of his 'eyelids', she doubted that he would be able to recognise his surroundings and the fact that he was in basilisk form for him to lower them straight away. On top of this, she had also transformed, which would only serve as a further distraction.

She continued to look at the wall until he felt a soft finger stroking her silky feathers. She turned her head to see Harry staring at her in awe, mirroring her look from when he first transformed into a lion. She cocked her head slightly in amusement before concentrating on herself as a human.

She experienced the melting sensation before she was once again her in her five-foot-eight body. She could still feel Harry's finger stroking against her upper-arm. She coughed, causing him to start and break out of his trance, a light blush touching his cheeks.

She decided to make it up to him and threw her arms round his neck. She began to rise towards his lips before he stopped her.

"Bella, stop." He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. "Do you care about this?"

Bellatrix was having trouble understanding this poorly worded question so he decided to elaborate.

"Do you care that we are doing this and you are twelve years older than me?"

A hurt look flashed across her face before she covered it up.

"No. I don't care. Why? Do you?"

Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding.

"No… no I don't care"

Her beautiful eyes lit up at this and he leaned down to her waiting lips.

He smiled into the kiss as he thought, 'Of all people, I can't believe I'm falling for Bellatrix Black'