Ch33: Animagii

It was their first weekend at school. The weather was surprisingly warm. Lilly and her friends walked around the lake and enjoyed the fine weather until lunch. The boys had to finish some homework, due Monday, after lunch, but both Lilly and Dianna had already finished all their tasks, so they went back to the lake.

They reached their favorite secluded spot and sat down.

"You know, I've never seen you change into any of your animal forms," Dianna said.

"I haven't seen you either," Lilly retorted.

Dianna lowered her head. "I've never changed into an animal. I don't even know if I can."

Lilly looked surprised. "I'm sure you can! Judging by your aura you have practically all the talents I have. You're just less daring, that's all!"

"I'm not so sure..."

"Nonsense! You can do it, just as you can apparate and do wandless magic. Now, let's see how we can make you learn it, though..."

Lilly thought for a while and then sighed. "It just came naturally to me, so I really can't remember how I became an animagus, which means that it's very difficult for me to teach you. I wonder if somebody else could, though..."

Her face brightened a moment later. "Of course! Sirius!"

"My baby brother?"

"No, of course not! My dad's godfather, or dogfather, as he likes to say it. He and my grandfather taught themselves to become animagii. He could help you. Let's go!"

Lilly stood up, helping Dianna as well.

"Where do you want to go?" Dianna asked, a bit confused.

"To visit Sirius, where else?"

She grabbed her friend's hand and apparated them to the entrance of the Greengrass Manor, where Sirius and Daphne were now living. A house-elf came immediately and bowed low before asking them for the purpose of their visit.

"Tell Sirius that Lilly and Dianna want to ask him something," Lilly told the elf.

"I'm sorry, but Master Sirius and Mistress Daphne are currently... indisposed," the elf answered reluctantly.

"We shall wait. I'm sure it wouldn't take more than half an hour," Lilly said.

"I'm not sure, Miss. They sometimes go at it for hours..."

"We'll wait," Lilly insisted.

They were led to an elegant sitting room. The elf clicked its fingers, making two glasses and a pitcher of pumpkin juice appear on the small table. "Make yourselves comfortable, as it may be a long wait," the elf said and disappeared.

Lilly looked around. The room was furnished with antique furniture, yet it looked warm and inviting. She saw some picture frames on the wall above the small fireplace. A closer look showed most of the frames to contain pictures of the Potter family, mainly of Harry and the children, with some photos of Astoria and Scorpius. There was also a photo of a large black dog who looked extremely friendly.

"I think that's Sirius, in his animagus form," Lilly said.

"Right you are," came an amused voice from the door. Sirius came in, still tying his dressing robe. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit to?" he asked.

Dianna started blushing, noticing that Sirius was wearing nothing under the dressing gown, yet Lilly was unfazed. "I remembered you telling us of becoming animagus. I'm sure Dianna can become even a multi-animagus, but she doesn't know how to start and I'm not sure how to teach her."

"You are an animagus?" Sirius seemed surprised.

Lilly turned into a small gazelle instead of answering. Sirius turned immediately into his dog form, which made the gazelle turn into a reddish-brown dog. A moment later they both resumed their human forms.

"Wow!" gasped Dianna. "It's the first time I've seen you change. It's... fantastic!"

"I'm sure you can do it as well," Lilly said.

Sirius just looked at Lilly with awe. The girl seemed to surprise him anew whenever he thought he already knew her well.

"How did you become an animagus?" he asked her at last.

"I don't really remember. I was only four or five at the time. I just remembered I wanted to fly like an owl, and I just did it a moment later."

"You're also... an owl?"

"Or an eagle or a cat or... well, almost anything I can think of, except insects and reptiles. I tried being a fish once, but I didn't like it."

Sirius knelt in front of her. "I'm not worthy to kiss your feet, Milady," he said exaggeratedly.

Lilly laughed. "Then, Milord, will you help Dianna find at least one of her forms?"

"I can try," Sirius said, standing up again and taking a seat at the opposite side of the table.

They spent about two hours there, learning more about the marauders than about becoming animagus. Daphne joined them a bit later, wearing only an big man's T-shirt, just the way they had seen her since she had joined Sirius.

"It's been a very enlightening visit," Lilly finally said, "but we should return to school. Dinner will soon be served and our absence may be noticed."

"You came here from Hogwarts? How did you manage to do it?"

"We just apparated, as we must do now. Bye, uncle Sirius. We shall come again another day." Two soft pops later, Sirius was looking at the empty spots on the couch, wondering if these girls will ever cease to surprise him.

The girls went to the library as soon as they finished dinner.

"So, that potion can help me find my animagus form and set my mindset. We should find the exact recipe for that potion, though," Dianna said.

"We can do it, but I still think you don't really need it. Sirius is quite a powerful wizard, yet not much more than Neville, while you... You should be able to do anything, if you just turn your mind to it and leave your fears behind."

"Maybe you're right, but I feel that the potion would give me the confidence to reach that 'inner animal' Sirius was talking about and embrace it. I'm not as fearless as you, you know."

"Oh, I have fears. Quite a lot, really, but I never let them govern my actions or my thoughts. You should do the same."

"It's easy for you to say," Dianna sighed. "I can only promise to try."

Their search was interrupted by Narcissa giving birth to another boy. Harry was considering to call the child Regulus, after Sirius's brother who had stolen Voldemort's Horocrux, but Sirius wanted to use that name for his and Daphne's child. With Narcissa's consent he decided on Remus, to commemorate is friend and mentor, the marauder who died during the last battle. Hermione was delighted with the idea and bot Dianna and Lillian thought it was a nice name.

It took the girls a long time to find the animagus potion's recipe. They eventually found it in the restricted section. It was almost Christmas by then, so they decided not to brew it until they were back to school.

They were surprised that Sirius brought them a vial of the potion when he came to visit for Christmas, along with Daphne Who was expecting to give Sirius a son in less than three months.

Dianna was quite reluctant to take the potion, but Lilly was anxious for her to advance her animagus talents. Dianna tried it two days after Christmas. It had the effect of putting her in a magical sleep for almost two hours, making Lilly worried. Once she woke up, Dianna didn't say anything about what happened, despite Lilly's insistence. It was more than a week, when they were back to school, before she opened up to talk about it.

"It was like a weird dream, almost a nightmare. It wasn't frightening by the actions in it. I mean – nothing bad was threatening me but I was just overwhelmed by what I saw. It was like using 'fast view' on the video player you've shown me. I saw all kinds of animals. I was all kinds of animals. I soared to the sky and plunged into the sea and ran in the jungle and even burrowed into the earth and I was still me, no matter what form I took. It was fascinating and frightening at the same time. It was also very fast. I needed all this time to just understand what I saw. I still don't know what it really means, though. It may take me some time before I come to terms with it."

"It's quite clear to me," Lilly said. "You can choose whatever animal you want to become any moment and be natural in that form as long as you like, just like me. What would you want to try first?"

Dianna smiled. "A bird, of course. An owl or an eagle, probably. Then I'd like to try a cat and a dog. I'd like to try being a dolphin in the summer, when we go to the sea, though."

They made a plan. Despite their likings, they decided to start with small furry animals, as the cold and windy weather wasn't encouraging for any kind of bird. It took Dianna several weeks before she found the courage to transform into a white cat, but once she did, it continued quite smoothly.

By Easter she was already able to become any mammal she wanted. A few weeks later she joined Lilly as an eagle or an owl, soaring high above Hogwarts.

"It's so much fun flying like a bird! It puts to shame broomstick flying," she exclaimed.

"Not really. Brooms can reach speeds which no bird can and they can also be maneuvered in ways most birds can't, but I agree that using your wings is more fun," Lilly said.

"We haven't told our friends yet," Dianna said, sounding a bit reluctant.

"I haven't told them about me either. It's not that important, really and they can't inadvertently tell anything they don't know. If we ever marry them, though, they'll need to know."

"Marry? We're only thirteen! Why should we think of marriage?"

Lilly turned serious. "I don't know. I'm still too young for that, and yet I feel like I'm soon going to be married. It excites me, but it frightens me much more. So what if I'm a powerful witch? I'm just a child. I still want to experience everything other children my age experience. Yet I feel it will not come to be."

"Are you a seer as well?" Dianna sounded concerned.

"I hope not, yet... Well, maybe it's just my period which makes me moody."

"It must be."

A.N.: Sorry for the delay. RL ha been taking its toll on me lately

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