She looked at him, a picture of innocence, while his black eyes widened in shock and his jaw fell.
"Annick," Elwin said suddenly, in a quiet, acute tone of voice. "Are you sure it was a good idea to reveal yourself like this?"
"There's four of them. They look like sensible people to me; I believe they will not spread the word. Not to mention there is only a few Death-Eaters still on the loose. If they try to kill me again, they will follow the rest of them. I don't take kindly to someone attempting to take my life," Annick said coldly.
"I… well… hell," stuttered an astonished Snape, having just found his voice again.
Dumbledore laughed.
"Well, congratulations are in order, Annick. Even I cannot reduce him to such a state. But again, you are the shock-expert here."
"I don't compliment people if they can hear it," Snape mumbled. His cheeks seemed a bit redder than before, out of shock or maybe embarrassment.
"I believe that, but you can still play it to your advantage yet," said Annick calmly.
He looked at her mischievous face and the spark that danced in her eyes.
"How did you kill them all? What animal was it?"
She smiled. "Well, I think I'll never get a better ground to take off from. If that man's as perceptible as I think he is, this might turn out awfully funny," she smirked.
"Annick? Care to explain that statement?" asked Elwin carefully.
She grinned and her eyes twinkled; it was the very face he remembered seeing before a major shock.
"Your dear Matt is in for the shock of his life. As well as eleven others. Watch this."
She turned her head to the group of dragon-tamers, sitting across the room from them. They were discussing hybrids enthusiastically and didn't pay them any attention. She stared directly at Matt.
For a while, nothing happened. Then she got what she hoped for.
Matt stopped listening to the conversation and raised his head a little, as if trying to listen to a voice only he could hear. Suddenly his eyes widened, he leaped straight to his feet, and whirled around. When his eyes met hers, his face blanched.
"Annick!" he yelped, astonished.
All the conversation abruptly stopped. Now all that was heard in the room was absolute silence, interrupted only with Matt's erratic breathing.
Annick offered him a small innocent smile, and tipped her head to the side, looking him up and down, in the same way as the female dragon the day before. His face lost all the remaining colour and he could easily pass for dead if not standing.
Annick sent him an armchair from across the room; it came to a halt behind his feet in the very same moment his knees gave in. He fell straight into it.
"You're – You're an animagus?" he breathed faintly.
The smile on her face was almost tender when she stood, and made her way over to him slowly, maintaining their eye contact. He seemed unable to avert his gaze.
"Yes, Matt. I'm sorry for the shock I gave you, but I knew you would be able to sense it," she said softly.
"Erm, Annick? What's up?" asked Martin from behind Matt's armchair uncertainly.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the hybrid you saw yesterday was not a real dragon. It was me."
The eleven man from the Welsh Green and Vipertooth groups gaped at her. She smirked, her whole demeanour changing from soothing and tender to her usual smirking self.
"I became an animagus when I was eighteen. It turned out I was to become a dragon, but neither I nor my magic could determine the species. As a result, I have something from all the species. That's also the reason why I'm so lucky when searching for hybrids, Elwin," she turned to look at him, "Hybrids are more shy than pure-blooded dragons. They hide from people while they can. They're quite perceptible, too, so once they sense they were not successful in hiding, they are just as aggressive and wild as the pure-blooded ones. That's why we never knew they were actively hiding from us. They sensed we were too close before we realized what they were doing. In my dragon form, I can approach them easier; they are not hiding from other dragons. If the dragon they come across isn't aggressive, they won't attack it. The answer for you, Mr Snape, is that I am poisonous," she met his eyes for a moment, and then she turned back to the dragon-tamer group she met the day before.
"That's why I didn't attack you when I came. That's why I killed that graphorn and that's why I seemed intelligent to you. I like playing games and shocking people - or anyone, really. Hope you are not disappointed." Her voice was a little sarcastic as she remembered their talk of her being weird and damaged.
"No. It's a pity the hybrid wasn't real, but we can get valuable information straight from you when you transform. At least now we know there was nothing wrong with the animal. What are your recognizing signs?" Martin asked.
"That's the catch. I don't have any. If you don't count the fact that I'm a complex hybrid that has never been seen before and my behaviour is human. Although I can pull off the true dragon behaviour easily enough."
"This is fascinating," sounded the voice of Professor McGonagall from behind her. "I've never heard of anyone transforming into a magical animal. Even less if he doesn't have any sign to tell him apart from the real animal."
"I always was rather good at staying under the radar and unseen even before I started learning the transformation. That may be why I am unrecognisable in my animagus form. Or it could have something to do with the fact that I wanted to work with dragons when I was learning to transform. I wished to be able to get closer to them and get to know them all. Maybe the magic behind the transformation caught up onto it and made it happen," Annick replied thoughtfully and smiled at her with a little shrug.
"So, you're not too disappointed, guys?" she turned to the dragon-tamers once again.
"Nah!" chorus of excited voices answered. They were already looking forward to all the photos they could take and the hybrids they would be able to see with her help.
"You saved Matt! Who would keep telling me I'm insane if you didn't save him? I would die from boredom by next week!" Charlie added with a wide grin.
"Oh, yes, you. Listen, Charlie, if you tell me one more time to open that beak of mine, whatever form I am in, I'll slap you. Even better if it's my dragon form."
Matt sniggered along with others.
"Oh, yeah," the redhead blushed. "Sorry 'bout that."
"That reminds me," she looked straight at George, the one who said that bit about genes. Her eyes took on that strange intense quality again. "I assure you I'm fully capable of 'uncontrolled fury', as you put it, but if you don't want to experience it first hand, you'll never say it to me again."
George looked a little put off by that stare. "Uh, OK, sorry. I thought you were a real dragon though. It wasn't a normal dragon behaviour."
"Hence why I flew away rather than show you the real dragon behaviour," Annick nodded easily and smirked again, her posture relaxed once more.
Matt rose from his chair and gazed into her eyes searchingly. After a while he gave up whatever it was he was doing.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome. Did you know I was no dragon? I thought you were looking at me quite suspiciously."
"I can't say I knew you were not a dragon. I only knew that you and your stare gave me such a weird feeling that I never felt with another animal or human before. That's why I recognized you now. When you started staring at me, I felt it again. Even if it didn't happen only yesterday I would have recognized it."
Annick was looking at him intently. After a few seconds, he squirmed.
"Well, obviously it doesn't matter if I'm looking back at you or not."
She laughed quietly and stopped staring.
"You're a very interesting person, Matt Rovens," she stated slowly and clearly, carefully pronouncing every word, as if tasting it.
"Dinner's ready! Get to the dining room before it gets cold!" Emilyn yelled an order across the corridor.
Everyone was starving already, so they all got up in one hasty movement and obliged Emilyn happily.
When Elwin's group halted by her to let her join them on their way to kitchen, she turned to Professor Snape. She opened the pack that she only just put down from her back. Some things couldn't be shrunk magically and the backpack was where she kept them all, along with her shrunken luggage.
"Mr Snape. I assume this day turned out to be quite a success for you, didn't it?"
"It did. I've wondered for years what could attack and kill them so cleanly and so fast."
"See," she grinned a sweet, innocent smile, pulled out two horns from her pack and offered them to him.
"Now it's an outright happy day, what do you say?"
Snape took hold of the horns and looked at them in disbelief.
"Graphorn," he gasped in wonder, and raised his head to look at her.
"Indeed. Unless I am very much mistaken, the poor murdering thing didn't survive it yesterday. Take it as a reward for you help in killing the bastard who had my family killed. I am very grateful."
"Are you just giving it to me? Do you realize how much they are worth?"
"After six months of no horn on market? Sure I know. However, I acquired them. They are mine, and I can do whatever I want with them. I am giving them to you. You better take it, who knows what other chance you'll get."
"Thank you very much," he said quietly, his eyes boring into her intently. She simply smiled and nodded.
"Well, the dinner's calling our names; we should get there before those overgrown babies eat it all."
In the corridor Elwin turned to her one more time.
"Erm, Annick," he started quietly. "While talking about that uncontrolled fury…?"
He trailed off, leaving her to catch up.
She shook her head immediately. "No."
"Oh," Elwin nodded, relieved. "That's great."
"If you think so… it just means they weren't lucky enough yet if you ask me. I don't think they gave up. Too dull for that."
AN: Another chapter that made it through the second round of editing. Thanks to Blue Leah this is really going a lot fasten than I through it would.