Chapter 15: Marco
My name is Marco.
While it was good to know this little trip worked out well, if anyone tried to recruit even one more person then I was going to take the cube and run away in the fastest morph I've got. A fact that I made clear to Jake with a mere look as he finally reappeared on the street with the others and three more people, all of the newest three looking unsure and monitoring the area with a look of paranoia comparable to our group. Jake just nodded in return. We'd gained ten, and one of them was accidental. There would be no more.
"Are you guys coming or are you planning to stand there all night?" I called, instantly grabbing the new three's attention and spurring them into action, actually following Jake and the others. Though now they were looking at me really suspiciously. Maybe annoyedly too, it was dark, I couldn't be sure.
"They always were a paranoid bunch." Seamus muttered beside me, grinning at them and waving happily. "I guess in these times, they would have gotten a lot worse. Actually learned caution in the boys' cases."
"They weren't cautious before?" Rachel asked curiously, looking them over as they got close. I wasn't sure what she thought of them yet, but then she probably didn't know much herself. She just liked that they were gutsy.
Seamus startled the coming group as he laughed loudly in response. With the way he was holding his sides and struggling to breathe through it, you'd think Rachel had just said the world's funniest joke. "Them? Cautious? Please, you're killing me! Hermione is but the boys...they're impulsive, Ron jumps to conclusions and Harry jumps into the deep end without the slightest glance for the sharks it holds. Caution was always a foreign word to them."
"Just like tact was to you." The black haired boy stated dryly, grinning a moment later as he clasped Seamus' hand. "It's good to see you Seamus."
"Oh, the pleasure's all mine, my great Chosen One." Seamus smirked, pulling Harry into a one armed hug before turning back to me and Rachel. "This is Harry Potter. The other boy is Ginny's brother Ron and obviously, the beautiful lady is Hermione Granger. And guys, this is Marco and Rachel. I believe you already know MacMillan and Goldstein." He said, speaking in a mock snooty voice the whole way through.
"Nice to meet you." Harry smiled before turning to the other wizards. "Ernie, strangely enough, I'm not surprised that you're a leader of the DA. Keeping everyone in line?" He asked, clasping hands in a firm shake as Ernie smiled proudly.
"Yeah, and keeping them working hard too. No one pushes them to work harder than me."
"But why's Goldstein one of you?" Ron asked bluntly, making the blond in question visibly flinch. "Not that I have a problem with it or anything." He quickly amended as Hermione glared at him. Now that's amusing, it was a lot like me and Rachel, though she clearly threatens me with bodily harm before I reselect my words. Mental note, witch with Rachel-level temper. Tread carefully, she's scary. "It's just, he's not really the kind of person to take up public speaking or having anything close to that kind of attention. I mean, you never even looked too comfortable with your Prefect role mate." He added, smiling apologetically at Anthony.
"But he is still a very talented wizard. He could do it if he had to." Hermione snapped defensively, earning her a blush from Anthony at the compliment.
"I'm Seamus' new partner." Anthony broke in, though he didn't have nearly as much passion in his voice as the others did. It was pretty hard to hear him unless you were close. "I work as a medic and on stealth missions."
"And he's good." Seamus stated, almost challengingly as moved closer to the Ravenclaw. "Extremely observant, eyes and ears like a hawk and very forceful when he needs you to see common sense. Trust me, I know."
"Not to mention he came up with a plan that had the Death Eaters freaking out about a lousy study session when we needed them distracted." Ernie added heatedly, daring Ron to say anything. "Shy and nervous, yes, but he's absolutely brilliant."
"And if you guys compliment him anymore, he might spontaneously combust." Harry commented lightly, smiling at the flaming red covering Anthony's face and ears. I think it was even creeping down his neck. "Nice to see you again too Goldstein." He added with a friendly smile.
"You too Potter." He muttered, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the ground.
"Well great, now that greetings, hugs and kisses have been passed all around, can we get down to business?" I asked insistently, giving each them a raised eyebrow. I mean, it's not like we didn't have a time limit or anything.
"Right. Harry, Ron, Hermione, if you could step up to Rachel?" Jake asked, guiding everyone back into the alley. Going back to our pile of clothes Rachel grabbed the cube and held it up, bathing the confused, slightly nervous trio's faces in a pale blue glow.
"So how exactly does this work?" Hermione asked hesitantly, keeping herself a good foot away from the cube. Seamus told me that she was born to non-magical parents and was the high intellectual type, so I guess that she would have right to be a little nervous. Most comic books and movies depicting people gaining super powers involves a source that should kill you.
/You merely place your hand flat on one side of it. It will not harm you./ Ax said simply from his place in the darkest part of the alley. He'd had to come out of the secret house in morph and the darkness was the only way to ensure no one who passed by didn't see him return to his true form.
"We all did it and we're fine." Neville stated as they continued only to stare at the cube. Seriously, this was unnecessarily long and annoying. And no, don't bother bringing up how hesitant I was when I was offered the power, I don't care that I'm being a hypocrite. "Just go for it. It tingles, nothing more."
That seemed to be enough for Harry. His face set hard, he took a deep breath and placed his palm right on the cube.
"How is it Harry?" Ron asked, a nervous tremor in his voice, as he watched on in fascination.
"It tingles. Other than that, I don't feel anything." He replied simply, not turning away from the cube. Neither Ron or Hermione made any move to touch it themselves though.
"Would you two just do it already!" Ginny snapped, startling everyone with her outburst. Obviously, she was feeling even more impatient then me and when the two only continued to stare, startled, she walked up, grabbed her brother's hand and forced it up to the box.
"Hey! Ginny, what do you think-"
"Shut up and touch it!" Ginny snapped, successfully slapping his hand onto a cube face. All of Ron's sputtering died as he felt the power flooding into him. In fact, he actually looked like he was enjoying the moment.
"We are all fine Hermione. The Muggles don't even show signs of illness." Luna said softly, coming up to the still hesitant girl. Gently, she too took the hand of the hesitant and slowly guided it to the cube. "We have not used the power yet, but I think it will be a wonderful thing. To feel what other animals feel and experience their instincts. Imagine all you could learn from the experiences. Wouldn't it be fascinating?"
"Yes." Hermione muttered softly, not resisting as her hand met the cube and flattened against it. "I suppose it will be."
I turned to smirk at Cassie at that and it wasn't lost on her either. Luna had pulled an act of manipulation worthy of Cassie herself, using Hermione's thirst for knowledge to our advantage. And that wasn't the first similarity we'd noticed between the Hogwarts Animorphs and us. Neville was the same type of leader as Jake, bold, righteous, but willing to embrace everyone's opinions. Ginny had a fierceness to her that was quite similar to Rachel. Seamus was a bit mischievous like me. And Ernie had a fierce loyalty like Ax. I wasn't sure just how similar Anthony was to Tobias, he was far too shy and rarely spoke to get a firm grip on him, but we did seem to create a team that was similar to us in personality. It gave me some comfort, reassuring me that we chose the right people.
A few moments later Rachel lowered the cube, disconnecting the Golden Trio, and wrapped it back up in our clothes. Harry and the others just stood there a moment, staring at their hands, seeming unsure that anything was different, but they let their confusion go as they looked up to find Jake and Cassie smiling at them.
"Welcome to the 'you're crazier than catfish' club." I smirked at each one of them in turn. "As in, we're insane enough to think that a small group of teenagers actually stand a chance against a world conquering army of mind controlling parasites."
"Eh, it's no more crazy than a group of undertrained teenagers thinking that they can stand a chance against a full grown army of experienced Death Eaters." Ernie shrugged nonchalantly. "But we'll make it happen anyway."
"Fair enough."
"So, shall we get going?" Cassie asked before frowning as she took in our numbers. "Hmm, we'll have to double up this time."
"For what?" Hermione asked, turning to us questioningly.
"Thestral flying." I answered with a shrug. It wasn't like Thestrals weren't the size of warhorses or anything. We could easily take more weight. "Using spells and teleportation around Ginny and Luna apparently sets off tracers, so we have to travel by wings and no wizard has acquired a single morph yet. Plus, Tobias is elsewhere so we only have five fliers and nine passengers."
"Well then, how about Harry and I just apparate with Ron to the Zoo?" Hermione suggested, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The tracers will only go off if magic is used within a few meters of the people bearing them. We'll just wait until you take off and apparate there."
"Ok, meet us in the open area closest to the main entrance." Jake shrugged before starting to morph. "We'll see you there."
Ok, whatever, I couldn't really care less about how we all got to the zoo. Not that Harry, Ron and Hermione really needed to go there right now anyway considering that they wouldn't be morphing for this mission. Shrugging myself, I just concentrated on the freaky, winged horse again and laughed as the first change was bat-like wings ripping out of my back. I bet I looked pretty evil.
"Hey, check me out, I'm like a vampire! Mwahahaha!"
...
The London zoo turned out to be...a zoo. Well, I suppose that's pretty normal and most people wouldn't think of it as dull, it was pretty impressive looking with the perfect habitats for each animal. I'm just bias. Back at home, our zoo, The Gardens, doubles as an amusement park, complete with water slides, roller coasters, you name it, they have it.
/No animal would feel out of place here./ Rachel commented, looking around the area, sounding very impressed. /It looks almost as impressive as The Gardens and the air's clean around it. Considering this is in a major city like London, it's amazing how natural it all looks./
/I'll say. They've got a pretty good collection of animals too./ Cassie agreed, really pleased with it, as all tree huggers would be. /You guys could get some really good morphs here./ She added to our riders.
"You'll have to help us pick though." Ernie called from my back, getting nods from Ginny and Neville. Looking back, I found that the Ravenclaws were paying more attention to the animals than the conversation while Seamus, also sitting on me, the lucky guy to get two passengers, just shrugged. "I know of a lot of non-magical animals around Scotland and the surrounding countries, but I don't know a great deal about any of them."
/Don't worry about that./ I replied cheerily. / Cassie's the daughter of two vets and is a world class tree hugger. If it breathes without magic, she knows about it./
/Prince Jake, I have found Harry Potter and his friends./ Ax interrupted, startling Neville into crying out as he made a sharp turn left towards the main building. /But I have also spotted a number of security personnel patrolling the area./
/Ok, then you and I will drop everyone off and return to the sky./ Jake decided, already following Ax to the three people standing near a few bushes, ready to hide if need be. /Thestral eyes are pretty good in the dark, so we'll watch out for security and warn the rest of you when they're coming to close./
"Sounds like a plan." Ginny agreed as my hooves hit the ground, right after Jake's and right Before Cassie and Rachel's. Neville and the others quickly jumped off our backs and the girls and I demorphed as quickly as we could while Jake and Ax resumed flying, ensuring us that we were safe for a good five minutes at least.
"So what do you guys think we should pick?" Neville asked, handing me our bundle of clothes and the blue box as soon as I finished demorph. I just as quickly set it down and fished out my shoes before handing Rachel and Cassie theirs.
"That depends. What kind of shape does Azkaban have? What's the layout?" Cassie asked as we headed down the left path, away from all the guards we'd seen in the sky.
"A huge, rectangular tower-like structure." Hermione answered immediately in a very informative tone, as if it was right out of a textbook. "Made entirely of stone and metal, ten floors, plus a basement and a rooftop with lookout posts at each corner. The basement and each floor each sport fifty cells with varying numbers of Dementors inhabiting them, depending on the level of security given to each floor, the fifth and sixth floors being maximum security. Aurors stay in a outposts on the roof shielded from the Dementors and monitor activity. The prison is built on a rocky island and is surrounded by a very turbulent sea filled with more sharp rocks."
"Ok, so no more than one with cow-like body structures to prevent stair related issues, creatures with good endurance would be good, manoeuvrability would be good, but we don't have to worry too much about weight and bulk if it's large and made of stone and metal. I think animals of mountain terrains would be best."
"But if every animal to show up at Azkaban preferred mountain terrains, it might be suspicious." Anthony muttered, looking a little apologetic as he focused on Cassie. "The animal gained form Animagus transformations is only intentionally chosen when you're going for the animal you most associate with. For example, if Ginny was to become an Animagus, she would transform into a horse, because that is the animal she most associates with. The Patronus charm works on the same principle. The only time the two result differently is when you become an Animagus and then something happens to change you enough so that you are best associated with another animal. Your transformation stays the same, but your Patronus changes."
"So we'll also throw in one or two other creatures that provide more power. With us there too, it won't be a problem." Rachel shrugged.
/Guys, make a left at the next turn. It'll keep you clear of the guard./ Jake called, immediately changing our direction. Following the path, we ended up entering the reptile house.
"Great. I hope it's still clear." I muttered, as we walked in. Jake and Ax wouldn't be able to see inside, if someone had been hanging out with the scale society...well, we'd have to run.
Fortunately, it was devoid of human life, or much of anything conscious. A few snakes were moving around here and there as we walked down the path, hissing at us from their habitats, but for the most part, they were all still. But, considering reptiles don't tend to have eyelids, it was still pretty freaky, walking through a dark hallway with eyes staring at you the whole time. The others didn't look to thrilled to be there either and everyone looked relieved to have left reptile land. Or thought we did.
"They look deadly." Ginny muttered as we reached a fence blocking our path from a pond surrounded by small, grass fields. Lounging around in the water, with only its head resting above the surface was a creature that could send chills down your spine just by looking at you.
"Alligators." Cassie muttered as Rachel shuddered. "Huge jaws capable of ripping prey to pieces, long, sharp claws, decently fast on land, much faster in the water and covered with scales so hard that even a bear has a great deal of difficulty so much as scratching it."
"And we know that from experience." Rachel mumbled, staring at the creature with open disdain. "That is the one powerhouse on the planet I really don't like."
"Only because its DNA clashed with yours and almost killed us all on live TV. Not like it was anything major." I grinned, getting a glare in return before turning to our older, taller, magical, oh, and did I mention taller, friends. Like I didn't have a size inferiority complex before we started associating with people one and two years older than me! At least the younger girls were only my height. "So, anyone up for their first DNA sample?"
"You want one of us to touch that thing?" Ron cried, looking at me like he thought I could just jump off a cliff. "It'll rip our arms off!"
"Hey, if it does, then when you morph, they'll grow back." I shrugged, my form looking thoroughly uncaring. "Besides, you're at risk of that no matter what animal you acquire. If it's worth using against the Yeerks in battle, and your Mouldy guy too I guess, then it's just as dangerous for you to go near one."
"Look at us, we do this all the time." Rachel agreed, keeping her back pointed squarely at the habitat as she spoke to the nervous looking wizards. "We've all touched a wolf, a shark and either a rhino or an elephant. Marco's shaken hands with a gorilla and I've stood down a grizzly bear.
"And Jake sat on a tiger." I chuckled, remembering that first trip to The Gardens. That was horrifying at the time, but now, I've learned to see the humour of the tiger's sleepy face looking up to see just who's big butt was using him as a couch. "Rachel's even grabbed one of these guy's cousins by the tail and we've been doing it for over a year. We were thirteen when we started this close and personal thing with the super beasts. Why can't you do it?"
"It could be tricky." Ernie muttered, shifting gaze back and forth from the five alligators to Luna and Ginny. "There's a lot of them and with two underage witches here, we can't use our magic. How do you stop them from killing you when you acquire them anyway?" He asked, running a hand nervously through his hair.
"Nine times out of ten, when you acquire an animal, it goes into a trance that lasts until ten seconds after you break the physical connection."
"Only nine out of ten?" Seamus gulped, taking a decisive step back from the reptiles. "If those guys are the one, then whoever goes in will have five giant mouths ripping him apart."
"If none of you want to acquire an alligator, you don't have to." Cassie said reassuringly as I rolled my eyes.
"But if you're going to be like this at every habitat then this was a waste of all our time." Rachel continued as I nodded in agreement.
"I'll acquire one." Luna said calmly, stepping up to the high fence before anyone else could respond, stunning Ron, Anthony and Seamus. "But I might need some help. I don't know any Muggle techniques for keeping reptiles away."
"There are none." Hermione muttered before her nervous face hardened and she strode right up beside Luna, Harry and Neville right behind her. "But we can come and help distract the others while you acquire one."
"I think I'll take one myself." Harry nodded in agreement, turning back to me. "Just to make sure I got this right, I touch it with my bare hand and concentrate on its form. That's it to acquire it, right?"
"Yep. That's all it takes." I nodded with a smirk. Maybe there was hope for these guys after all.
Luna had done it again. The others needed the push and her decision to jump in proved to be just that. Three of the others were inspired enough to help out instantly. Hopefully, the other five would come around after Luna's success.
"Let's do this." Neville muttered, pale, but determined as he hopped on and over the fence. Cassie, Harry, Luna and Hermione went right behind him while I started morphing gorilla. There was no way they would be able to climb up the fence when they were done at all, let alone in time to avoid those killing machines, so I thought it was best that I get ready to help out.
As black fur and muscles grew all over my body, I watched with weakening eyes as they approached the water. It was obvious that the alligators had noticed their presence and were coming in close as Luna stepped close to the water's edge.
"Stay a good foot away from it and be ready to jump back." Cassie warned as Harry and Neville followed suit, Hermione opting to grab a thick branch that had fallen from one of the few trees in the habitat before standing a few steps behind them. "Once it thinks its target is in range, its jaw will snap open and it will shoot up like lightning. You want to grab it the instant its mouth closes and try to keep its mouth shut while you acquire it. Same thing with distracting, if you can keep its mouth shut and pointed at you, you should be-"
She didn't finish though, for at that moment, one reptile got bored and, with speed I could barely follow, surged up, its huge, deadly jaw heading right for Neville's head.
"AAHHHH!" Not ready and thoroughly terrified, Neville barely managed to stumble back, the gator's teeth missing his nose by inches. Which would have still been ok, but he stumbled onto the bottom of his robes and fell to the ground, the alligator following and pinning him there.
"NEVILLE!" Harry screamed, jumping back from his own snapping gator to find a third one joining the original. Fortunately, it got distracted before it could bite off his foot as Hermione's branch came down on its mouth with very impressive smack.
"Don't stand there, do something! Ron cried, whipping around and throwing his hands up at me, panic flooding his face.
/Like what?/ I snapped, raising my own arms in a 'look at me' fashion. I was still a half morphed mess. They had better chances surviving right at that moment than I did. Growling, he just turned back to the conflict in a cross between fear and anger.
Fortunately, Neville had the right idea. The alligator's constant thrashing suddenly came to an immediate halt as he closed his eyes, his face expression a terrified determination.
"Got it!" He cried shakily, his arms following its lead as they held up the very heavy munch monster. "Now can someone help me up?"
"Sorry, a little busy right now Nev." Hermione grunted batting away at her alligator like a barbarian as she backed away. She was irritating it, that was for sure, but she wasn't going to do much more without going for the eyes and she wasn't going to do that. Looking around again, I found Cassie weaving back and forth, successfully leading one in circles safely away from the others while Harry was quickly getting backed up toward the fence as his attacker continuously snapped at him, peddling forward on short legs that really had no right to be moving so fast.
Luna on the other hand, was actually happy and content. She'd managed to put her gator into a trance while I wasn't looking and was now rubbing her hand along its back like it was a cat, smiling dreamily at the others. She really was something else.
"Cassie's scale buddy's noticed Neville's trapped and not being eaten." Rachel shouted, drawing me back to the actual conflict to find that Cassie was failing to hold her gator's attention any longer and Harry was two feet from the wall. To make it worse, somehow Hermione was getting driven towards the water. If she ended up there, her only options would be magic or a very gory death.
"That's it!" Seamus snapped just as I'd finally finished my morph. Turning back to the others the gorilla's equivalent of a shocked smile crossed my face as Seamus, Ron, Ernie and Ginny all charged right at the fence and over it, battle cries flying from their lips as their bodies flew either beside or on a gator. Ginny sat on the back of the one attacking Harry and wrapped her legs tightly around its neck so that its snapping mouth could only open halfway. The shock of it all left the gator distracted and gave Harry all the time he needed to place his hand on it and acquire it, calming it instantly.
Seamus rolled right beside the one charging at Neville and planted both feet into its side as hard as he could, the unexpected action and the gator's footing succeeding in knocking it off balance while Ernie helped push Neville's original attacker off of him before all three pulled each other to their feet and ran right back toward us at the same time I reached my hands out for Harry and Ginny and hauled them back up to the safety of the footpath, Luna following quite happily after them.
Ron had actually gone on to tackle the last gator right before it could push Hermione into the water. He ended up in a tangled mess, but proving that he could be a quick thinker, he apparated before they'd even stopped rolling and appeared with a pop back by the reptile house. They must have been far enough from Luna and Ginny now because Hermione grabbed Cassie as she ran up to her and followed suit, appearing right next to her redheaded friend with Cassie looking very uncomfortable.
"That was like being sucked through a straw half your body's width." She cried, rolling her limbs as I pulled the last of the others up mere seconds before the nearest gator snapped back to reality.
"That was nuts!" Hermione cried, still clutching her stick to her chest with white knuckles as they came back to us. "And you guys do this every time you need a new morph?" She went on, staring at us as if we were crazy while I started demorphing.
"Well, usually we acquire animals used to being handled, or only one at a time, but yeah." Rachel shrugged before turning to each of the gator fighters with a large smile. "But I am so proud of you. Now that's the kind of kick butt, disregard for danger attitude you'll need to fight the Yeerks with. And now three of you can become them."
"Only you'll be even more dangerous." Cassie nodded, calming herself down. "You'll have their bodies, their instincts and human minds."
"That was mental!" Ron yelled, sucking deep breaths in and out. "To do that without magic..."
/You guys need to get moving! You've been too loud!/ Jake shouted, effectively cutting Ron off with his own mild panic. /You have two guards coming fast from the other side of the reptile house./
"I'll take care of it." Anthony muttered, quickly turning into a run back the way we came. "Just make sure that I can find you." He called back before disappearing within.
"What's he planning to do?" Rachel asked, looking ready to go after him, only for Cassie and Ginny to herd her in the other direction. "He's told that's where they're coming from and he heads for them? What's he thinking."
"That he's a charms master and can make them forget they ever heard a thing." Luna said airily, immediately soothing Rachel.
"As long as he has enough distance from us so as to not set off our tracers." Ginny added, letting Rachel go as she continued on under her own power.
"I think he's trying to make up for before." Cassie muttered, turning back sympathetically to watch as Anthony disappeared into the shadows. "He was the only one of you not to jump in and help. He probably feels pretty upset with himself. He sure looked dejected."
"He'll get over it when he pulls our butts out of the fire. Or again, in my case." Seamus shrugged, though he stilled looked a little concerned before pressing on. "And speaking of morphs, what should we go for next? Presenting ourselves as chew toys for a pride of lions maybe?"
"Um, no!" Hermione stated with an air of finality. "I vote for going for something fairly harmless and working our way back up to our demise."
"Did you have something in mind?" I asked, not quite managing to hold back all my attitude and getting warning looks from both Cassie and Rachel, strangely enough. It wasn't that I didn't see her point. They'd just done their first really dangerous thing without magic ever and almost ended up reptile chow. I would have preferred something less dangerous for my first morph than a gorilla and five alligators was a lot more dangerous. They probably would benefit from adjusting to touching less dangerous creatures and working their way up. The problem was that the Hogwarts group could only be out of school for so long before people got suspicious. It was probably far too late for that already and the longer they were missing, the worse it would be when they returned. We had to be quick.
"I was thinking about going in there." Hermione responded slightly snippily as she pointed to an aquatic habitat with walls of thick glass on three sides and a waterfall at the back. Growing curious, I walked over to a podium and saw the word otter clearly engraved in a metal plaque.
"Why an otter?" I asked, letting my attitude slide as genuine curiosity took over. Hermione struck me as a very focused individual who, in this situation, would keep her eye on the prize and go for useful animals. Not that otters weren't cool or useless or anything, it was just that their skills had a very specific set of scenarios.
"Because my Patronus is an otter." She admitted, suddenly turning a little sheepish, but heading up the habitat regardless. "I really want to experience one."
"Then go for it." Cassie smiled encouragingly, moving up beside her. "Though I don't know how you'd get your hand on one, unless you jump and the decide to play with you instead of sleeping." She added with a slight frown.
"No problem, Luna and I will go see Anthony. He shouldn't be too far behind." Ginny shrugged, grabbing her fellow Hogwarts girl and heading back to where we could see Anthony approaching.
"Perfect." Hermione grinned, instantly catching on and pulling out her wand. She waited just long enough for the other witches to get out of range before aiming her wand at a sleeping ball of fur and moving it into a swish and flick movement. "Winguardium Leviosa!"
"Oh, wow, cool!" I grinned as I watched on. The little otter had started floating the second Hermione finished chanting, slowly and gently rising into the air by a good two feet before floating along towards her. It only took a minute for it to reach her and land softly in her arms. The contact with her skin did bring it into a startled awakening, but Hermione acted fast and started acquiring it, instantly settling it back down.
"You really are a beautiful creature." She muttered with a fond smile, gently petting its fur. "I have a feeling that I am go to very much enjoy turning into one of you." She held onto it for a few more seconds before conceding to our schedule and gently letting go into the water that snapped the energetic little guy right out of his daze and had him swimming away.
"You looked quite motherly with that little one Hermione." Ernie commented happily, getting a light hearted shrug from her in return.
"What can I say? Otters are such sweet little things."
"But not the best animal for our mission." Rachel mentioned, albeit hesitantly as the missing three rejoined us. "So if we are going to play with the more gentle creatures before going after your much needed firepower, we need to hurry this up."
"Very true." Neville nodded, growing very firm. "I say we go on with the smaller creatures, but as soon as we come across another useful one for tonight, even if it's the next habitat, we go for it. Agreed?"
"Agreed." We all said simultaneously.
...
The next one we entered turned out to be full of deer. Harry took one look at a stag and practically flew after it, scaring it so much that the dangerous antlers almost gutted him. but it all turned out good. Apparently this zoo had the different continent exhibits thinly separated, because not long after, we took a right, as advised by Ax, and found ourselves staring at a simply huge, common Warthog from Africa. Strangely enough, that got Ernie going. The guy waited just long enough to know that they were asleep before jumping into the habitat and slowly creeping up to the biggest, ugliest pig of the lot. The overgrown sausage machine did start to stir as he got close, but the acquiring trance knocked it right back out and Ernie came back to the group with a smug look on his face, completely unperturbed as Seamus, Ginny and I took turns teasing him about his choices and the close resemblance to a pig he already had.
"Meh, my Patronus is a boar. I accepted it long ago." He just shrugged as we moved on, Cassie informing us that they were actually really powerful and dangerous anyway.
Ginny decided to go small and simple for her first attempt at acquiring DNA and chose a possum that happened to be hanging out on a park bench. It took a little help from Cassie to catch it, but it was a simple one, nothing worth teasing or mentioning again. The same held true for Seamus' DNA sample, a fox he snagged while it was snooping around for a meal.
It was at an exhibit two animals away from the bench however, that the next moment worth remembering occurred. Anthony pulled us to a halt. Right in front of a pack of decently large carnivores.
"The sign says painted wolves." He muttered as he turned to Cassie, fixing her with by far the most intense look I'd ever seen on his face. "They look strong. What do you know about them?"
"That they're a lot like their bigger, grey cousins." Cassie responded immediately. "Intelligent pack animals that hunt in groups and should never be taken lightly. High senses of smell and hearing. You want to acquire one?"
"Yes." He nodded, jumping up on the ledge. I guess Cassie was right. He was showing all the signs of a sense of inferiority and a need to prove himself. Against his better, highly attuned, judgment apparently. He was set to jump into a vicious wolf pack alone.
"Then we better help you." Rachel shrugged, moving to step onto the ledge with him.
"No!" He snapped shocking everyone still with, from what I could tell both from what I'd seen and from his friends' reactions, a very uncharacteristic intensity. "Just make sure Ginny and Luna stay back so I'm free to cast shield and freezing charms. I...I need to do this on my own."
AN: And they're finally getting their first morphs. This is where I feel need to point out that magical morphs don't really come in until later stories that I'm assuming a lot of people are keen for me to write. Anyway, how'd everyone like this chapter? Between finally getting to the zoo, Luna and discovering that I really like Marco's perspective, this one's one of my favorites.