Disclaimer: Not mine, never been mine. I'm not making a single knut.
Draco openly smirked at Hermione as she walked into their dorm Sunday night. He was standing in front of the entertainment center browsing the movie collection, looking for one to watch.
"Well, I haven't seen you since Friday. I'm guessing it went well then?"
"A simple nod or shake of the head will do," Harry's voice came from the couch, and his head popped up a second later. "We really, really don't want to know the details."
"Speak for yourself, Potter!" Draco said, laughing.
"It was…wonderful. Harry's in luck, because I really don't know HOW to describe it," Hermione said, walking over to her armchair. Draco's beanbag chair was sitting on the other side of the couch and she raised her eyebrows at it. "Really, Draco?"
It was designed as Harry's smiling face.
"What? I think it's sweet," Harry said, grinning at Draco and winking.
"I think it's creepy," she said. "So, what are you watching?"
"What about Braveheart? It sounded cool, so I ordered it. But now I'm looking at the cover and it doesn't seem as cool as I thought it would be…," Draco trailed off, looking at the man on the cover holding a large sword.
"What about Terminator 2? I love the morphing cop, what's he called? The T-1000? Awesome," Harry said. Draco's eyes lit up.
"What? I haven't seen that one yet! I forgot I owned the Terminator's! There's a cop that's a metamorphmagus? Like Tonks?"
"Um…well…kind of, I guess. You just have to watch it; it's the best of the Terminator's," Harry said. "I remember Dudley watching it a lot."
"I'm going to take a shower then go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning, boys." Hermione stood up and stretched, then winced slightly. Draco noticed and smirked at her again.
"You would think that sleeping with a Potions Master, he would give you a pain potion after shagging one silly for a whole weekend," Draco said idly, and casually moved his head as a throw pillow sailed past him. "She throws things a lot, doesn't she?" he said to Harry.
"You have no idea," Harry replied, and promptly got hit in the back of the head with another pillow as Hermione walked into her room.
Hermione was already halfway through breakfast when Harry and Draco dragged themselves into the Great Hall and sat down next to her.
"Good morning," she said, looking at their rumpled figures and trying not to laugh.
"What's so good about it?" Harry growled and reached for his cup which instantly filled with tea.
"Who needs Crucio when Mondays exist?" Draco asked no one in particular and let his head fall to the table with a thud.
Chuckling, Hermione got Draco a cup of tea as well, and tried to coax him to drink it by spelling it to repeatedly nudge against his cheek. "How late did you two stay up?"
"We just went to sleep around f-f-four a.m.," Harry said, yawning widely.
"Well, it's your own fault then, isn't it?"
"We never said it wasn't, and if you don't tell this bloody cup to stop hitting me, I won't be held accountable for my actions," Draco growled, forehead still on the table. Finally, Draco raised his head and stared blurredly at the cup.
"Coffee," he barked, and the tea disappeared, replaced with the black liquid. Draco leaned in and smelled it, a smile forming on his face. After adding his customary spoon of sugar and dash of cream, he reclined in his seat and sipped his breakfast.
"Are you both ready for the lesson tomorrow with Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked idly, leafing through a book on animagus transformations she had disguised to look like a potions text so no one would know.
The legs of Draco's chair hit the floor with a thud. "Shit, I forgot! Fuck. I'll just have to practice today and catch up."
Harry was wolfing down bacon and eggs and just nodded. Finally, he swallowed and said, "Yeah, tomorrow is a big day. We could be real animagi tomorrow. Or…," he trailed off.
"We could fail and have to keep trying," Draco finished.
"Yeah."
"Well, I think it should go smoothly. I don't see why not. And Professor McGonagall already said we're progressing faster than normal, but this is a big step, so even if it doesn't work tomorrow, it's kind of ok, because most people wouldn't be ready to even attempt this stage for another five or so months," Hermione said, closing her book with a snap.
That night, all three friends sat in the living room of the Head dorm, meditating and revising. Finally, they all just sat back and tried to relax.
"I'm so nervous," Hermione said. Both boys just nodded. "I mean…what if I come out a field mouse?" At that, they all burst into laughter.
"Hey, that's not as bad as me if I come out a dodo bird!" Draco said, making them laugh harder.
"I think it's cool that I won't be my patronus, though. I was worried for awhile that I'd become a stag," Harry said a bit soberly.
"There's no direct correlation between a patronus and an animagus though. For some, it's the same, but not usually. An animagus form comes from within you, your every fiber and being, whereas a patronus comes from within…but can be changed. Once you become an animagus, you can't change it. But your patronus can be manipulated and changed by your heart," Hermione explained.
"So…does that mean that Snape still loves my mum?" Harry asked hesitantly. He wanted to know, but knew it would probably be a touchy subject with Snape's current girlfriend in the room. He was right; her knuckles went white as she gripped the chair she was sitting on and gave a forced smile.
"I'm not sure. I've yet to ask him about that part of his life."
"You should leave well enough alone and NOT ask about it. Trust me, Hermione," Draco said.
Hermione wanted to trust Draco, but for the rest of the night she couldn't shake the image of Lily Potter from her mind.
"Well, it's a big step today. If this goes well, I will have three new animagi in this room. If not, then we continue working. Just know that you should all be very proud of yourselves for getting this far, this fast. If it doesn't work, then you are still way ahead of others," Professor McGonagall said after they had finished meditating and revising. "I'm going to put up screens between all three of you so you won't be distracted by the other person trying to change at the same time.
She transfigured a couple standing screens between the three friends that were taller than the boys and long enough to hide about ten people behind. Not knowing what animals they may or may not turn into, McGonagall didn't want to take a chance of one of them being large and still distracting the others because it peeked out from behind the curtain.
"Harry, Draco, Hermione," McGonagall said, staring at each of them as she said their names, "please close your eyes. Reach deep inside of you and feel for that pull that you all felt the last few sessions. Relax, and let it wash over you; let it pull you now."
All three students stood still, but with relaxed facial expressions. They didn't notice the Potions Master slip into the classroom to watch, nodding his hello to the Transfiguration teacher. He sat behind the desk that she was leaning on.
"Harry, Draco, Hermione," McGonagall began again, "please transform now."
There were a few moments of silence where even Snape leaned forward in his chair, expecting the worst. Suddenly, all three students began to blur and curl into themselves slightly. Less than a minute later, three animals stood where her students once were.
"Now, please change back," she told them, holding her breath. A minute later, the students were standing before her again.
"Oh, bravo!" she exclaimed, clapping. Snape gave a slow clap as well, a half smile on his face, impressed against his wishes. The three friends were all grinning and clapping for themselves as well.
"Now, change back again, so I can mark down what you are and then let you all see."
Snape got up from his chair and came around the desk after they were back in animal form. He was anxious for the reveal for them.
McGonagall conjured three large covered mirrors in front of each student.
"I'm going to let you see yourselves first, then I will remove the screens."
All the covers flew off the mirrors, and three different animal noises of surprise filled the room, making the two professors laugh. McGonagall waved her wand and the screens disappeared. The animal sounds were louder this time.
Where Harry stood was a lion. A full grown lion with a mane that was almost completely black and extremely shaggy. Harry sat back on his hind legs and used one massive paw to sweep the shaggy mane off his forehead. There was no trace of a lightening shaped scar on his forehead and he breathed in relief, although there was a slight patch of fur that was slightly lighter than the rest where his scar usually was. His eyes had even changed color, surprising him. They were a yellow color now.
Draco was most definitely NOT a ferret; he was a peregrine falcon. His eyes were the same gray as always, but it made him look even fiercer. He had studied different types of birds after he found out that he would most likely become one, and remembered that peregrine falcons could fly at speeds reaching 320 km/h. He couldn't wait to test it out.
"Well, this is…different," Snape said, staring at where Hermione once was. "I've heard of cats, and panthers, and tigers, and even a mountain lion. I've never before seen an animagus turn into…a lynx."
Hermione turned around in a circle, looking at herself at every angle in the mirror. She thought she was pretty cute, actually.
"A Eurasian lynx to be precise, Severus, and a beautiful one at that," McGonagall said, coming over to mark down Hermione's features. It seemed that the only human characteristic that carried over were her eyes.
Draco started squawking and flapping about, bouncing on his feet in celebration. He hopped over to Hermione and started beating her with his wings, and making a noise that may have been laughter. Hermione started batting at him and was grinning, while she jumped around. Harry sauntered over and after looking at them for a second, simply slumped over and fell on them, yawning loudly.
Draco started squawking indigently, stuck underneath the massive lion, but he wasn't heard very well because both professors were laughing hysterically.
"What did I miss?"
Both professors turned towards the door to see Dumbledore surveying the scene with amusement. He looked somewhat surprised to see Snape laughing hard enough to produce tears. Finally McGonagll was able to explain what Harry did to his friends and Dumbledore chucked heartily.
"Will you all change back for me, please?" the headmaster asked, and watched as the animals changed back into three students. Harry was still lying on top of his best friend and boyfriend, smiling widely.
"I can't believe we're anamagi now!" Hermione exclaimed once they all returned to their Head dorm.
"I'm so happy with my animal," Draco said as he sat down in his bean bag chair.
"Even though it's completely stereotypical and I know I'll never hear the end of it from Severus, I'm happy I'm a lion," Harry laughed, sitting next to Draco and enlarging his bean bag.
"I think your lion is hilarious," Draco remarked.
"Why?"
"You're Scar!"
"What?"
Hermione started laughing at Harry's confused look, and knew where Draco was heading.
"In The Lion King! The bad lion was named Scar and he was the only one with a black mane. And I think it's funny that the one thing you didn't want to carry over to your animagus form was your scar, but you came out looking like an animal named Scar!" Draco was rolling in his chair by this point, laughing.
"How long have you been waiting to point that out?" Harry asked amusedly.
"Ever since McGonagall lifted the screens," he replied, shrugging. "I tried saying something but I guess no one else speaks falcon."
The next morning at breakfast, Hermione was engrossed reading over her homework for Muggle Studies that she didn't notice the black falcon flying towards her until Draco poked her with his fork.
"What?" she asked irritably. In response, he lifted his eyes to the bird flying at them.
Hermione rolled her eyes as it dropped the letter in front of her.
"Maybe you should read it in Dumbledore's office, Hermione," Draco asked, stopping her before she opened it. She could tell he was remembering when she ran out of the hall before and lowered her eyes a bit in shame at the memory.
She finished eating calmly and then rose and headed out of the hall with her friends striding with her. When they reached the headmasters office, Snape was already inside pacing.
"You took your time," he snapped, and Hermione scowled at him.
"What does Lucius have to say, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked gently, ignoring Snape like usual.
Rolling her eyes again, Hermione slit open the letter and opened it. Her eyes scanned it for a second and then she paled, dropping the letter to the floor and covering her mouth with her hands; her eyes were wide with fright.
"Hermione! What's wrong?" Harry asked anxiously, stooping to look her in the eyes, but careful not to shake her, not with the Potions Master there.
"Ah…," Draco said. He had picked up the letter and read it, going a bit pale himself.
"What does it say, Draco?" Snape asked irritably. He was standing behind Hermione with his hands on her shoulders now, glaring at the offensive paper.
Draco turned the parchment over and held it up for everyone to see. The writing was large and clear and only a sentence long:
You're lucky this wasn't a portkey.
A/N: I just want to thank everyone for reviewing, again. Please continue to tell me how you're liking (or not liking) this story. I know this was a short chapter, but I felt like this was a good ending for it, and didn't want to drag it on for the sake of length. More updates soon!