- CHAPTER FIFTEEN -

Difficulties and Surprises

The next day there were signs everywhere of tighter security. Professor Flitwick had taught the front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black. Filch could be seen going up and down the corridors, boarding up even the slightest cracks in the walls. Sir Cadogan's portrait had been taken down, and the Fat Lady was back.

She had been expertly restored, but she was still a bit nervous after her encounter with Sirius Black. She had only agreed to come back if she had extra protection. Thus, a group of security trolls had been hired by Professor Dumbledore to guard her. They paced the corridor in a group, talking in grunts and comparing the sizes of their clubs.

The only entrances to the castle that were not being protected were those that the staff did not know about. Aside from myself, Fred, George, Lee, and now Harry, Ron, and Hermione, there seemed to be no one who knew about them. Unless they had access to the Marauder's Map, I was positive no one would find out about them either.

I had briefly thought of telling someone about the passageways, but most were already blocked off, and Black would certainly not be entering the castle through the Honeydukes cellar…or at least I didn't think he would be. It would be incredibly risky for him to do so.

I ultimately decided against alerting the teachers. I wasn't sure exactly why, but I honestly didn't think it was necessary. My mind was much more focused on trying to figure out the mystery of Peter Pettigrew's appearance on the map than anything else.

My mind had wandered in and out of focus during the course of the day. As Fred, George, and I sat in the common room I could vaguely hear Ron babbling on about his encounter with Black. The bloke would tell anyone who would listen about what had happened, and the twins were getting severely irritated.

"He's obviously enjoying the attention," Fred said rolling his eyes as Ron's story became more and more ridiculous every time he told it. I allowed my mind to float back into reality.

"Well, I'm not surprised, he's got Harry as a best friend, and you two as his brothers," I pointed out. "Everyone around him is always getting attention, he's probably just happy that it's finally his turn."

"Why are you defending him?" George asked with a look of disgust on his face.

"Well, someone has to," I told them, suppressing a yawn as I doodled on the edges of my homework. Fred had made good on his deal and helped me finish my Potions essay. It wasn't the greatest, as my thoughts were definitely elsewhere, but it was better than I could have done on my own.

I shoved my books away from me, putting my completed essay back in my bag. I had been kicking around my idea to snatch the Marauder's Map away from Harry for a while now, and I was eager to get a move on. It wouldn't be difficult. He'd probably have it up in his dormitory somewhere. All I would have to do is sneak up while no one was around and take it. Then I'd be able to solve this bizarre mystery.

"Do you have time to help us with the Vanishing spell?" George asked, twirling his wand carelessly in his fingers.

I crinkled up my nose in annoyance. It would be hard to go mystery hunting with Fred and George breathing down my neck. I did not intend to tell them about what I had observed, nor did I want them to know what I had planned. If it turned out I was wrong and I have some sort of brain defect then I'd rather they not find out and have me committed.

"Uh, sure," I said. I would have to wait until dinner or another time when no one was in Gryffindor Tower to steal the map anyway. I might as well do something productive until then.

"Mind if we go now?" Fred asked, standing up and stretching. I forced myself not to let my eyes wander to where his shirt was riding up enough for me to see his toned body underneath.

Hastily, I gathered all of my things and hurried up to my room, depositing everything on my too-messy bed. I would put it on my list of things I would have to deal with later.

Fred and George were waiting expectantly for me at the bottom of the stairs with their wands in hand.

"We ready?" I asked, pushing past the two of them. I figured the best place to practice the spell would be in an empty classroom. There wouldn't be anything to damage in there. We would normally have gone outside, but the teachers were (understandably) extremely nervous about allowing students outdoors unsupervised.

Professor McGonagall gladly gave us permission to use an empty classroom across from her own. She seemed a bit surprised to see the three of us wanting to practice school work—and during a weekend, no less—but she was pleased that the boys seemed to be taking initiative. We made a quick stop at the kitchens before heading for her classroom to borrow three goblets from the house elf staff. They were quick to give us all snacks as well, and we munched as we made our way to Professor McGonagall's empty room.

I was completely out of my element as I set up a method of practice for the twins. I chose a desk and placed the three goblets down, along with the cauldron cakes and tarts the house elves had given us.

"Alright," I told them, feeling extraordinarily foolish at the idea of playing teacher, "take a goblet to practice with."

The twins did as they were told, each whisking a goblet off to a separate desk. I took the last one to show them how to do the spell properly.

I transfigured the goblet easily into a chirping fairy, and instructed them to do the same. Both of them were rubbish at it, but I felt obligated to help them after Fred had so kindly re-written my Potions assignment for me.

"Fred," I said, "it's more of a poke of the wand, not a flick."

"You're starting to sound like McGonagall," Fred muttered as he managed to make his goblet grow wings. He was frustrated, and I was frightened to realize I found it cute.

"I know," I said crinkling my nose at the thought, "It's scaring me."

The twins proved to be quick learners when they put their minds to it. Both of them managed to make rather ugly-looking fairies the same colour as their goblets had been. Impressed with them, we continued to work at it until they had both mastered the spell. It took just over an hour.

"Why on earth can't you pay this much attention in class?" I asked, bewildered by how easy the spell seemed to come to them now. "It would save us all so much time!"

"Maybe it's not our fault," George suggested.

"Yeah, maybe it's McGonagall," Fred agreed. "You're just a better teacher than her I reckon."

I smirked at him, rolling my eyes as I tucked the chairs back under the desks. The three of us were preparing to leave when something caught my eye.

I squinted out of the window and into the trees outside and made out the figure of what looked like a large dog. I took a step closer to get a better look at the thing, but it vanished almost as soon as I had spotted it.

I took a few more steps toward the window, searching for the dark shadowy object that had ducked into the trees.

"Juliet," George said from behind me, "You coming?"

I tore my gaze away from the window and turned to face the boys. They were eyeing me with curiosity in their eyes.

"What are you doing?" Fred questioned, quirking his eyebrow at me.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

I joined the two of them at the door, casting one last look toward the window where I was certain I saw two dim eyes staring out from the forest.

Stealing the Marauder's Map from Harry didn't go as smoothly as I had planned. That night Harry had decided to skip dinner and instead stay in the common room. This caused difficulties, as I certainly wasn't going to be able to sneak past him and up to his dormitory without him asking some questions.

The next night proved just as exasperating. I had made it up to his dormitory and spent nearly fifteen minutes searching through his belongings only to find that the map was not there. I searched for as long as I dared before heading back to my room empty handed.

On the third day I had planned to give it a go one last time after classes ended. I was seated in Transfiguration class absentmindedly vanishing objects for Professor McGonagall's next lesson. The boys had all managed to get away without being assigned extra homework because of their success with producing fairies. My mind was extraordinarily distracted by my plans for try number three at snagging the map, so I barely registered the praise I was receiving from Professor McGonagall.

"Hey, how large of an object do you think you'd be able to make disappear?" asked Fred from beside me.

"I dunno, why?" I mumbled, staring off into space.

"Because, if you keep this up, soon you'll be able to get rid of Snape," he answered cheerfully.

"Or you…" I suggested.

"Ha, ha," Fred replied sarcastically.

"I have the power to," I told him.

"Yeah, well you wouldn't," Fred said confidently.

"How would you know?" I asked him.

He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall dismissing the class. I grinned to myself at the sound of the dismissal. Soon would be my third—and hopefully final—attempt at stealing the map from Harry.

Fred and I stood up to join George and Lee as they exited the classroom, only to be stopped by Professor McGonagall.

"Juliet, may I have a word with you?" she asked, taking me completely by surprise.

I quirked my eyebrow at her. I wasn't sure what surprised me more…the fact that she wanted to speak to me, or that she referred to me as Juliet. She almost always addressed me as "Miss Christie".

I stopped in front of her desk as the boys shot me confused looks. I shrugged at them and they trudged out of the room without me, leaving me alone with McGonagall as everyone else in the class filed out.

"Have a seat," she told me, waving her hand toward a chair sitting in front of her desk.

I sat down and looked at her, confused. My mind was running through anything I could have done to get me into trouble. I came up blank. Recently I hadn't been doing much trouble-making.

"You have nothing to look so worried about," she reassured me seeing the look on my face, "you're not in any trouble."

"What?" I asked. "Then what am I here for?"

She gave me an un-amused look.

"As you know, you are quite exceptional at Transfiguration," she said with a small smile on her lips, "more than exceptional. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be able to achieve an 'Outstanding' in your OWL."

The feeling of confusion deepened further. She wants to talk to me about my grades?

"Professor Dumbledore and I have been talking, and we have decided that you are the best student that we've had in this class in many years," she continued.

I stared at her, feeling completely dumbfounded. I was the best Transfiguration student? How could that be? I was good, sure, but the best? And why on earth would she want to talk to me about my grades if I was doing well?

"So," she pressed on, "we have decided, that if you should accept, that it would be extremely worthwhile for you to learn how to become an Animagus."

She paused and I stared at her disbelievingly. An Animagus? That was extremely advanced magic. I didn't even know students could have that kind of opportunity.

"Miss Christie?" she asked, seeing my look of shock.

"A-Are you serious Professor?" I asked her, baffled by her statement.

"Of course I am. Do you think I would joke about something like this?" she asked.

"No," I said quickly.

She gave me a small smile and continued.

"If you choose to learn how to become one, we would alert the Ministry at once. We have already talked to your parents about it. They think that it would be a wonderful experience for you, and feel that you should take this opportunity. We have scheduled a time for them to come and talk to Professor Dumbledore and myself about the subject, if you choose to accept. You already have an extremely bright future ahead of you, but this could change your life forever. What do you think?" she asked seeing that I still had a baffled look on my face.

"I think it's unbelievable Professor," I answered. "But I had no idea that this could even be an option for students."

"It isn't common," she told me. "There are only a handful of registered Animagi in Britain to begin with. It is extremely complex magic, but Professor Dumbledore suggests we do our best to help bright students achieve the most they can while at Hogwarts. This has never been attempted within the castle walls before."

"So… why me?" I asked.

"As I've said, you are the most talented Transfiguration student this school has seen in years. We are offering you this opportunity because we think you could succeed. I, myself being an Animagus, strongly recommend you taking this road," she told me. "It is an extraordinary gift to have."

"I'd love to," I answered suddenly.

There was nothing to think about. This was an amazing opportunity and I needed no time to think about it. Who wouldn't say yes?

Professor McGonagall's smile reached the crinkles of her eyes. She looked very pleased.

"Good. Now, the more you understand Transfiguration, and the better you are at it, the less time it will take you to become an Animagus," she told me looking me.

"I would like you to read this book." She took out an ancient-looking book from beneath a pile of parchment on her desk and handed it to me. "It will explain everything that you will have to go through, and you should be able to figure out how long it will take you to complete the process."

I nodded and took the book from her. My mind was swimming with excitement and disbelief.

"You are to complete the reading so you have a full understanding about what you are doing. Unfortunately you will not be able to choose the animal you will be transformed into. They are assigned to the person based on their personality."

"My personality?" I asked. "How do they choose that? Do all Animagi have to go through that?"

"The Ministry carefully monitors Animagi," she told me. "Anyone wishing to become one must register, and they are assigned an animal based on their personality. This allows for an easier transformation."

"About how long will it take Professor?" I asked her, stuttering slightly. This was a big deal.

"Well, with your knowledge and understanding, I would hope that you would have learned it before the end of next year, if not sooner. That is, of course, if you continue over the summer with the program. Like I said, the more you understand it, and the more effort you put into the process, the less time it takes," she replied.

I nodded and smiled as the realization of what was going on sinking in.

"Would you be the one teaching me?" I asked her.

"Yes, though it doesn't require much learning, once you understand it. The hard part is actually being able to complete the final transformation." She explained.

"Alright…" I said slowly, not really knowing what to say next.

"It is a wonderful gift, and I'm sure you would enjoy it. I will make one suggestion though," she said.

"Yes Professor?" I asked her.

"I don't think it would be wise for you to be telling all of this to everyone, especially at the moment. Perhaps it would be best if you only told a select few about this, and if you could possibly wait until it is finalized," she said smiling.

"Of course Professor," I told her. I really had no intention of telling anyone other than the twins, and maybe Lee about this. It would be much more fun to lurk around undetected.

"That will be all for today, Miss Christie," she said kindly. "We will have a further meeting when you've finished the reading."

I smiled again. "Thank you Professor and I will be sure not to let this slip," I told her, smiling mischievously. I got up from my seat with the book in hand and hurried to the door.

"And that includes the Weasley twins especially," she called to me as I left the room.

I smiled to myself as I practically skipped down the corridors to the Great Hall for dinner…having completely forgotten about my mission to steal the Marauder's Map from Harry's room. The elation I was feeling from McGonagall's announcement had me completely deterred from my original path. It seemed it was going to take much more effort than I had anticipated to solve this mystery.

I now couldn't wait until my parents came to the school so I could talk to someone about it. I had only known of this for a few minutes and already I was itching to tell someone.

Realizing that I was still holding the book Professor McGonagall had given me, I quickly shoved it into my book bag just as I entered the Great Hall.

I quickly made my way to the Gryffindor table. I was extremely hungry having missed the first fifteen minutes of the feast.

"Hey, what did McGonagall want?" Fred asked as me as I sat down across from him.

"Oh, just wanted to talk to me about my essay," I told him, fully aware that I must look extremely suspicious, grinning so widely. "She said that if I keep up my studies, that I will be able to achieve an 'Outstanding' in Transfiguration," I added seeing their disbelieving faces.

"Is that all?" Lee asked. "I could've told you that," he said.

Fred and George exchanged suspicious glances before turning back to their food.

I smiled at all three of them and started eating, now extremely happy, despite both the Animagus and Map-stealing homework that waited for me.