This ones a bit of a shorty...
Chapter 17 First Success
The term recommenced on a stormy January morning. The weather towards the end of the holidays had been very strange, with near blizzard like conditions switching almost instantly to sunshine. This rapid change of climate had caused the snow to thaw out with incredible speed. This in turn had flooded the lake, and many students had spent their last Sunday of the holidays watching Hagrid and Professor Grubbly-Plank rescuing the giant squid, which had beached itself.
The first lesson seemed to set a tone for the rest of the week, with Professor McGonagall giving a long lecture on the early exams they were sitting at the end of March.
"They are not," she insisted during their lesson, "a part of your final result, but I must impress upon you the importance of these exams in your preparation for your N.E.W.Ts next year."
Hermione was taking a similar tone to the teachers, and was constantly badgering Ron and Harry to do revision with her, and also to use the homework planners she had given them the previous year to organise their revision timetables.
"Come on," said Ron one lunch, exasperated, "the exams are ages off! There only practise exams anyway!"
Hermione was furious at this, and she stalked off without a word, leaving Ron open-mouthed. He made a small attempt at calling her back, but soon desisted when people started looking round, instead returning to his lunch.
*
That evening Harry and Ron headed down to Quidditch practise with Ron looking a bit preoccupied. Harry had called a practise in advance of the Quidditch match in two days time against Hufflepuff, and with his and Ron having their lesson with Professor McGonagall the following night, Harry had scheduled the practise for the night before.
Ron soon shook off his preoccupied air as soon as he took off on his broom, and Harry decided that, to give himself a bit more variation, he would try his hand as a chaser for the day, so they played two on two. Harry sided with Ginny against Lavender and Colin, with both teams trying to score in the one goal. Leanne sided with Ginny and Harry (much to Harry's relief), and soon the game was up and running.
Harry soon was lost in the game and he had a lot of fun. He had noticed he had been more upbeat ever since discovering Godric's Hollow and also, he noted, since he had been spending more time with Ginny. The game was an amusing one, with lots of trick passes, with one particularly memorable move involving Harry throwing the Quaffle up, and Leanne knocking it, with her bludger, to Ginny who had an open goal. Ginny had celebrated by hugging Harry who, without realising it, had hugged her back. Ron shot him an interesting look, one which Harry thought looked like a mix between happiness and confusion. Harry let her go, and after a few awkward moments, the game carried on without further incident.
If Ron had been thinking about what had happened during practise, he didn't mention it that evening. He had managed to pacify things with Hermione, and they now sat together, talking quietly things Harry couldn't hear, although he definitely heard Ginny's name mentioned.
Harry walked slowly up to the empty dorm room, and settled down on his bed. Things with Ginny were great, and he was getting increasingly unsure of what he thought about her...
"She's Ron's sister," he chided himself aloud, very glad that no one was around to hear him.
*
The next day passed strangely, with time seemingly lurching from one moment to the next. One moment Harry was sat in charms listening to Professor Flitwick, next he was sitting in defence against the dark arts after lunch, doing theory preparation for an advanced version of the Impediment jinx. By the end of the day Harry was beginning to feel a bit tired, but he headed down with Ron and Hermione's to Professor McGonagall's office all the same.
They had been practising for two months now, with Ron and Hermione working on their transformation and Harry, having decided to work on just one of the transformations, was working on becoming a Phoenix.
Becoming an Animagi for the first time was an immensely complex thing, involving a combination of an incantation, wand movement and more focus than the Patronus charm. Basically, the first transformation required the person transforming to focus hard on the animal, and imagine being that animal, while flicking their wand up and down once and saying the name of the animal followed by the word "Aniservia."
Ron had his arm out in front of him, his wand waving up and down and his face screwed up in concentration. "Dane Aniservia!" he yelled, but to no avail. He shrugged at Harry, and sat down for a rest.
Harry turned back to Professor McGonagall, who had been helping him.
"You must focus exactly on your animal, Potter," she was saying. "Only when you can feel yourself as a Phoenix will you be able to transform into one."
Harry nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment. "I've got wings," he thought to himself, "I can fly..." He pushed out his wand in front of him and flicked it up and back down. "Phoenix Aniservia!" Harry knew straight away that there would be a change this time, and he felt his arms spread out beside him. His fingers lengthened and flattened out as he felt his skin change into feathers. From his elbows down on each arm, golden-red feathers had sprouted, and Harry heard his wand fall to the floor as the feathers lost grip on it.
"Well done, Potter!" said Professor McGonagall beaming. Ron looked at Harry with an odd look, which he quickly covered with an encouraging smile. Hermione didn't say anything. Professor McGonagall was smiling, looking over his shoulder, and Harry spun around.
Where Hermione had been standing, on one side of the room, there now stood a huge owl. It was still human size, but it was doubtless an owl. Its brown plumage ran smoothly up and down its back, and its wide-eyed face was blinking softly at them. Harry laughed as the owl turned its head right around, before the feathers started to recede and Hermione reappeared there.
Harry beamed at her. "Wow! Well done Hermione!" She blushed, as Professor McGonagall also heaped praise on her, congratulating her on her first success in transformation.
"Don't worry though Miss Granger, you will eventually be able to transform into a normal sized owl, but that was a huge leap you just took. Now that you know how it feels, it will be much easier in future. Now I think that is enough for one evening you three. Good luck with the match tomorrow Potter, lets not lose that Quidditch cup."
Harry, who had forgotten about the Quidditch, felt the excitement building in him as he left the room, and he turned to Ron to see if he looked as excited as Harry felt. But Ron had left the room. Harry looked over at Hermione.
"Where's Ron?" he asked.
"I don't know," Hermione replied, sounding slightly frosty, "but I know he saw me transform as I saw him before I started to turn my head around. Why would he go?"
"I don't know," Harry answered, "but I think we should find out."
They trooped up the stairs together and found Ron sat in an empty common room, looking into the fire. He didn't look up as they entered, but his ears reddened.
"Why did you go?" Harry asked. When Ron didn't answer, Harry sat down opposite him, looking at Ron. "Ron?" he prompted.
"It's just..." Ron began in an edgy voice that bordered on moaning. "I mean, you can both already transform and I'm not even close..." Harry looked straight at Ron, about to join in the sympathetic angle, but Hermione cut in furious.
"IS THAT IT?" she yelled at him. Harry knew Hermione had been building for this for a while. "HARRY AND I ARE SUCCESSFUL IN TRANSFORMING AND YOU MOAN? ALL YOU DO IS MOAN! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF IT RON! WE'RE FINISHED!" And with that, she stormed up to the girl's dormitories, leaving deafening silence in her wake.
Chapter 17 First Success
The term recommenced on a stormy January morning. The weather towards the end of the holidays had been very strange, with near blizzard like conditions switching almost instantly to sunshine. This rapid change of climate had caused the snow to thaw out with incredible speed. This in turn had flooded the lake, and many students had spent their last Sunday of the holidays watching Hagrid and Professor Grubbly-Plank rescuing the giant squid, which had beached itself.
The first lesson seemed to set a tone for the rest of the week, with Professor McGonagall giving a long lecture on the early exams they were sitting at the end of March.
"They are not," she insisted during their lesson, "a part of your final result, but I must impress upon you the importance of these exams in your preparation for your N.E.W.Ts next year."
Hermione was taking a similar tone to the teachers, and was constantly badgering Ron and Harry to do revision with her, and also to use the homework planners she had given them the previous year to organise their revision timetables.
"Come on," said Ron one lunch, exasperated, "the exams are ages off! There only practise exams anyway!"
Hermione was furious at this, and she stalked off without a word, leaving Ron open-mouthed. He made a small attempt at calling her back, but soon desisted when people started looking round, instead returning to his lunch.
*
That evening Harry and Ron headed down to Quidditch practise with Ron looking a bit preoccupied. Harry had called a practise in advance of the Quidditch match in two days time against Hufflepuff, and with his and Ron having their lesson with Professor McGonagall the following night, Harry had scheduled the practise for the night before.
Ron soon shook off his preoccupied air as soon as he took off on his broom, and Harry decided that, to give himself a bit more variation, he would try his hand as a chaser for the day, so they played two on two. Harry sided with Ginny against Lavender and Colin, with both teams trying to score in the one goal. Leanne sided with Ginny and Harry (much to Harry's relief), and soon the game was up and running.
Harry soon was lost in the game and he had a lot of fun. He had noticed he had been more upbeat ever since discovering Godric's Hollow and also, he noted, since he had been spending more time with Ginny. The game was an amusing one, with lots of trick passes, with one particularly memorable move involving Harry throwing the Quaffle up, and Leanne knocking it, with her bludger, to Ginny who had an open goal. Ginny had celebrated by hugging Harry who, without realising it, had hugged her back. Ron shot him an interesting look, one which Harry thought looked like a mix between happiness and confusion. Harry let her go, and after a few awkward moments, the game carried on without further incident.
If Ron had been thinking about what had happened during practise, he didn't mention it that evening. He had managed to pacify things with Hermione, and they now sat together, talking quietly things Harry couldn't hear, although he definitely heard Ginny's name mentioned.
Harry walked slowly up to the empty dorm room, and settled down on his bed. Things with Ginny were great, and he was getting increasingly unsure of what he thought about her...
"She's Ron's sister," he chided himself aloud, very glad that no one was around to hear him.
*
The next day passed strangely, with time seemingly lurching from one moment to the next. One moment Harry was sat in charms listening to Professor Flitwick, next he was sitting in defence against the dark arts after lunch, doing theory preparation for an advanced version of the Impediment jinx. By the end of the day Harry was beginning to feel a bit tired, but he headed down with Ron and Hermione's to Professor McGonagall's office all the same.
They had been practising for two months now, with Ron and Hermione working on their transformation and Harry, having decided to work on just one of the transformations, was working on becoming a Phoenix.
Becoming an Animagi for the first time was an immensely complex thing, involving a combination of an incantation, wand movement and more focus than the Patronus charm. Basically, the first transformation required the person transforming to focus hard on the animal, and imagine being that animal, while flicking their wand up and down once and saying the name of the animal followed by the word "Aniservia."
Ron had his arm out in front of him, his wand waving up and down and his face screwed up in concentration. "Dane Aniservia!" he yelled, but to no avail. He shrugged at Harry, and sat down for a rest.
Harry turned back to Professor McGonagall, who had been helping him.
"You must focus exactly on your animal, Potter," she was saying. "Only when you can feel yourself as a Phoenix will you be able to transform into one."
Harry nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment. "I've got wings," he thought to himself, "I can fly..." He pushed out his wand in front of him and flicked it up and back down. "Phoenix Aniservia!" Harry knew straight away that there would be a change this time, and he felt his arms spread out beside him. His fingers lengthened and flattened out as he felt his skin change into feathers. From his elbows down on each arm, golden-red feathers had sprouted, and Harry heard his wand fall to the floor as the feathers lost grip on it.
"Well done, Potter!" said Professor McGonagall beaming. Ron looked at Harry with an odd look, which he quickly covered with an encouraging smile. Hermione didn't say anything. Professor McGonagall was smiling, looking over his shoulder, and Harry spun around.
Where Hermione had been standing, on one side of the room, there now stood a huge owl. It was still human size, but it was doubtless an owl. Its brown plumage ran smoothly up and down its back, and its wide-eyed face was blinking softly at them. Harry laughed as the owl turned its head right around, before the feathers started to recede and Hermione reappeared there.
Harry beamed at her. "Wow! Well done Hermione!" She blushed, as Professor McGonagall also heaped praise on her, congratulating her on her first success in transformation.
"Don't worry though Miss Granger, you will eventually be able to transform into a normal sized owl, but that was a huge leap you just took. Now that you know how it feels, it will be much easier in future. Now I think that is enough for one evening you three. Good luck with the match tomorrow Potter, lets not lose that Quidditch cup."
Harry, who had forgotten about the Quidditch, felt the excitement building in him as he left the room, and he turned to Ron to see if he looked as excited as Harry felt. But Ron had left the room. Harry looked over at Hermione.
"Where's Ron?" he asked.
"I don't know," Hermione replied, sounding slightly frosty, "but I know he saw me transform as I saw him before I started to turn my head around. Why would he go?"
"I don't know," Harry answered, "but I think we should find out."
They trooped up the stairs together and found Ron sat in an empty common room, looking into the fire. He didn't look up as they entered, but his ears reddened.
"Why did you go?" Harry asked. When Ron didn't answer, Harry sat down opposite him, looking at Ron. "Ron?" he prompted.
"It's just..." Ron began in an edgy voice that bordered on moaning. "I mean, you can both already transform and I'm not even close..." Harry looked straight at Ron, about to join in the sympathetic angle, but Hermione cut in furious.
"IS THAT IT?" she yelled at him. Harry knew Hermione had been building for this for a while. "HARRY AND I ARE SUCCESSFUL IN TRANSFORMING AND YOU MOAN? ALL YOU DO IS MOAN! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF IT RON! WE'RE FINISHED!" And with that, she stormed up to the girl's dormitories, leaving deafening silence in her wake.
