Harry Potter and The Fate We Make
Chapter 17: Form and Function
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter. Harry's animagus form alert!
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July 25, 1995
That set the tone for the next few days. A dream every night, seen from Voldemort's eyes. The only good news was that in the wake of being stymied in his attacks on the next generation or two of mudbloods, Voldemort was playing it cautious, attempting to wring information out of Snape (not that he got anything of use) and pondering his options while sending his minions out to ... encourage ... various parties to join him. Which meant Harry was spared seeing people die or be tortured, for which he was deeply grateful.
Harry spent every spare minute he could scrounge with Moody, attempting to learn occlumency. Thanks to the animagi meditations, Harry was at least familiar with trying to clear his mind, even if he didn't have much success at it. Some small progress was being made, Harry decided as he blearily stumbled down the stairs, only somewhat conscious of a worried Ginny and Hermione on his heels. At least this time his scar wasn't screaming in pain. No luck blocking the visions, but according to Moody it was early days yet.
Harry was, understandably, more than a bit frazzled by now, exhausted and edging into short-tempered. The Marauders, old and new alike, had closed ranks around him. He, quite simply, wasn't allowed to be alone. The one time someone in the Order said something about the state Harry was in (the only ones that knew of the visions were Dumbledore and Moody) they'd very nearly gotten themselves hexed into oblivion by an enraged Ginny, and the rest of the Marauders had been giving the offender dirty looks ever since.
Ginny. She'd stuck the closest to him, watching him worriedly. Harry could well understand why she'd be so worried, but he found himself vaguely amused that she seemed to be the most sensible of the lot, more so even than Remus. Sirius and Remus both tended to want to smother him, or mother-hen him to death, and while Harry appreciated the gesture, their coddling could get aggravating after a while. Ginny seemed to have a gift for knowing when everyone was getting to be a bit much and chased them off, though she refused point blank to leave him alone. When it was just the two of them, she would invariably retreat to the far side of the room and entertain herself with a book, giving him as much privacy as she could, which Harry appreciated. He collapsed into a chair and sighed.
"You didn't come flying out of bed last night." Ron commented from his spot on the other side of the table. It had been his turn to sleep in Harry's room.
"Scar didn't wake me up." Harry grumbled. "Still dreamed. Weird one, too. At first, it was like I was flying or something."
"Flying? That is weird. Normally he's in that room, yeah?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. This time though, at first, well, I couldn't see anything, but it felt like flying, you know? Only I don't think there was a broomstick involved."
Hermione regarded him for a few moments. "Harry." She said, her tone one of cautious excitement. "You've still been doing the animagus meditations, right?"
"Yeah, but ... " Harry stopped, and blinked, then looked over at Hermione. "You think?"
"It's certainly possible." Hermione offered. "Especially if you weren't seeing anything at the time. Your visions have been remarkably consistent in most regards, and that's nothing like them. Of course, it could just be a completely normal-but-weird dream, but since it's you, the odds of that are slim." She grinned at him impudently.
"Hermione!" He scolded.
"You did see something from Voldemort, though?" Ginny asked.
Harry nodded. "The vampires are definitely on his side. I think Hagrid got to the acromantulas in time ... at least the ones Aragog can influence. He hasn't mentioned them since the second night." Harry yawned. "And I just realized I got a whole night's sleep last night. If I can manage one or two more, I ought to be fine." Well, insomuch as he'd no longer be in danger of falling over and hurting himself. The visions would, sadly, probably continue to be a problem.
After he'd had a bit of a chance to wake up, he followed the others to the dueling room. He'd insisted on practicing with them, despite his exhaustion, on the strength of the knowledge that a fight could happen anytime. When they got there, they had a surprise. Neville had finally talked Augusta into allowing him to get a new wand.
Now that everyone had proper wands, and everyone but Neville had had a chance to get used to them, Flitwick took Neville aside for some concentrated practice, in hopes of settling the inevitable issues quickly. He set Harry to attempting Wingardium Leviosa wandlessly, which resulted in Harry spending the next hour staring at a feather to no perceivable effect, unless you counted his red face. He at least got some entertainment watching Neville bury feathers in the ceiling repeatedly. Poor Neville seemed to be rather stunned at how strong the spells were now. Harry guessed the wand he'd been using had been a particularly bad fit.
That done. Harry met with Moody for more work on Occlumency. Now that Harry was beginning to have some luck 'clearing his mind', Moody was moving on to the actual defenses.
"It's your mind, lad. Use what you know and what you're most comfortable with to organize it. Something you can visualize quickly and easily. And don't be afraid to get creative. Most folks that try to learn this stop at making a wall, but having things with teeth and claws will make your mind that much safer."
Harry nodded, and Moody left him to his meditating. So of course things had to get weird on him.
It was like he was in a cloud. Everywhere he looked, there was white. But despite not being able to see, he was somehow aware he was flying. And then, slowly, the white dimmed and changed, and he could see! And what a sight. He was, indeed flying. High, high above the ground. He could see for miles. Vaguely, he was aware there was something different about his sight, but the difference didn't trouble him. This was glorious. Nothing but the sun and wind and a whole sky to play in.
He swooped and dived and did loop-the-loops and all sorts of aerial maneuvers, just for the sheer joy of flying. And then, as he was flying over a meadow, a small, darting movement a little below him caught his attention, and, acting on instinct, he dove.
It wasn't until he was almost on top of the other bird, getting ready to strike, that he very belatedly realized he wasn't on a broom. When slender yellow bird's feet tipped with deadly-sharp black talons swung forward into his line-of-sight. The bird never stood a chance. Seconds later he was flying much straighter, burden tucked neatly under him, until he came to a lake. He caught a glimpse of himself, then.
And jerked out of the meditation with an exultant whoop that brought the New Marauders thundering into the room.
"I'm a hawk!" Harry yelled, bouncing nearly as much as Fred had when he'd seen his animagus form.
"Wicked!" Ron breathed, then let out a laugh. "Though it's not much of a surprise. I kind of always figured you for something with wings, the way you are about flying."
From the grins on the others' faces, they'd been of much the same mind. Sirius and Remus came scrambling in then, having been a bit further away than their younger counterparts.
"A hawk!" Harry said, grinning hugely. Sirius gave a whoop and danced a jig, while Remus just grinned widely, shaking his head amusedly at Sirius' antics.
"Could you tell what kind of hawk?" Hermione wanted to know.
Harry sighed and shook his head. "I got a glimpse of myself, but it was really quick, at the end of the vision. I might recognize a picture of it, but I didn't know the name straight off."
Hermione leaped to her feet and rushed off, then came back a few moments later with a book on birds. Everyone crowded around as Harry flipped through to the hawk section. After a long few minutes, Harry pointed to a picture. "There, that's it! A peregrine falcon. And I know what my mark is. My eyes. I caught a glimpse of them in a lake I flew over. They were green, but in these pictures, they're all gold." He was just relieved beyond measure that the scar had not been in evidence, at least not in the quick glimpse he'd gotten.
Hermione hauled the book over so she could see, and read the excerpt, only to start laughing. "This is so you, Harry, listen to this. The Peregrine Falcon is generally considered as one of the fastest birds in the world, reaching speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour when diving after prey. They are a spectacular hunter, often flying very high, and then diving at extreme speed to strike prey in mid-air. They prey almost exclusively on other birds, only rarely hunting mammals."
"Blimey, it's like they wrote that with Seekers in mind!" Ron said, goggling at the book.
Harry just grinned hugely, enormously happy that his animagus form would let him fly whenever he wanted. He'd always loved flying, moreso even than quidditch.
"This." Sirius proclaimed. "Calls for a minor celebration. Let's go see what Winky and Dobby can whip up."
So they invaded the kitchen. "Now we have to figure out a name for you, too." Fred pointed out. "We've got mine sorted, and Neville's decided he likes Baloo. Naming you's gonna be tough, though."
Harry had to admit Fred had a point. This was going to be tricky. He'd have to think it over.
That, it turned out, was not to be the only good news of the day. They trooped in to lunch to find the Daily Prophet on the table, courtesy of whichever adult had brought it today (since they couldn't exactly have a subscription linked to the house). The front-page article ... was all about Hagrid. And this time, it wasn't a smear piece about his giant ancestry. It was all about the complete mess-up that had been the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets, and the even bigger mess-up with the second opening.
It was kind of horrifying to find out (for sure, he was taking everything the diary told him with a bucketload of salt) that Tom Marvolo Riddle had, indeed, been the one to 'capture' Hagrid. That his word, and his word alone, was enough to see Hagrid's wand snapped, without even a token attempt to verify the accusation. Not to mention what Fudge had pulled the second time around, tossing Hagrid into Azkaban without even bothering to do ... well, much of anything.
Fudge was doing a massive tap-dance, trying to evade blame. He was crying foul on Dumbledore, saying Dumbledore should have acted sooner the second time, that he should have blocked off the area where Myrtle was killed, that he should have evacuated the school when the Chamber opened again. There wasn't anything in the paper about Dumbledore's response to the comments, but Harry was willing to bet he was or would be doing a massive tap-dance of his own to try to calm things down. The next few weeks ought to be really interesting.
At the very end of the article, though, were the words that produced much rejoicing amongst the New Marauders.
"Compensation for his wrongful imprisonment in the matter of the second opening of the Chamber has been offered Rubeus Hagrid, and, pending a verdict of innocent in an upcoming trial regarding the first opening, his expulsion may be reversed, and he be allowed to own and use a wand."
"Oh, Hagrid will be ecstatic!" Hermione said, all but bouncing.
"Ron and I can be witnesses! We talked to Aragog!" Harry realized. "He confirmed he wasn't the creature in the Chamber. And seeing as I /fought/ the thing, and know darn good and well it was no acromantula down there ... " Not to mention, he knew how the Chamber opened, and unless Hagrid was a parselmouth, he'd not have been able.
Ron's eyes lit up. "Yeah! And Hermione can testify too, she's the one figured out what the thing was originally." He pointed out.
Harry grinned down at the paper. "One step closer. Seeing all this ... " He waved a hand at the paper. "Will at least make people want to give you a proper trial, Sirius, so that it's airtight that you're guilty. Or so they think. And that's all we need. You, a courtroom, and some Veritaserum."
Hermione and Ron nodded. Sirius looked a little shaky and a lot hopeful. "Would be nice, pup." He said. "Augusta's doing a bang-up job so far."
Harry hugged Sirius. "The second we get a whiff of them wanting to do the trial, I'll talk to my lawyer. Get things set up." He promised.
"Wouldn't that ... look odd? Your lawyer representing him?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"Yeah it would, if he did. But I can ask him for someone he knows that's good." Harry pointed out. Hermione got a look on her face that said 'D'oh, I knew that!'.
Winky was only too happy to ply them with all sorts of finger foods and as much butterbeer and pumpkin juice as they could handle. Eventually, lunch came to a close and they broke up again. Energized by the morning's successes, they decided to hit the books again, though with only limited success, as they kept getting side-tracked by discussions of animagi, judicial procedure as seen in the wizarding world, and rather intense speculation on what Fudge and Dumbledore would do to attempt to keep their respective fats out of the fire.