Chapter 7
The eighth-years were enjoying a peaceful breakfast when the portrait opened, and in walked Hermione and Joseph. They were greeted by their friends, before immediately being bombarded with questions after.
"Alright guys, we'll answer the rest over lunch" Hermione stated. "But we have to see Professor McGonagall."
"Also, she asked us to tell you guys to be in the Transfiguration classroom at one o'clock today" Joseph added. "She knows all of us don't have any classes at that time, so don't try to avoid it."
The Head Boy and Girl left, and everyone wondered why the headmistress was asking for them; advanced lessons in Transfiguration was the first that came to mind.
"Maybe she'll talk to us about re-evaluating what careers we want" Blaise suggested, all eyes turning to him. "I mean, we're all different people now. Maybe those who wanted to be aurors have second thoughts now. Living through the war is essentially like the life of an auror; risking your life day to day."
Harry thought about it and wondered if he still wanted to be an auror. There was a voice inside him telling him it was what he should do. Harry did want to do something that helped the community, but after having so many near death experiences in the past seven years, he wasn't sure he wanted to be an auror anymore. He also didn't want to be doing the same thing over and over again for the rest of his life. We wanted a career where he'd gain more knowledge and learn new things
"You're going to be an auror, right Harry?" Draco asked.
"Maybe" Harry replied. "What are you going to pursue?"
"I'm just going to be a potioneer. Not as exciting as your career, or Joseph's, he's going to be a healer"
'A healer?' Harry wondered.
On paper, being a healer ticked all the boxes for Harry; it was a profession that would allow him to help people, he wouldn't be risking his life daily, and he'd be able to learn new things. As immediately as he got excited over the idea of being a healer, Harry deflated. To become a healer, he needed training as a mediwzard, both professions which require high grades in Potions. The only way Harry could think of to get a high enough grade was to go back in time to when he was a first-year, and convince his younger self to try his hardest in Potions, even though Snape's a huge arsehole.
The eighth-years were all at the Transfiguration classroom and at one, Professor McGonagall walked in in her animagus form, turning back into a human when she reached the front. "As you all know, I sent Mr. Duskgem to Durmstrang and Ms. Granger to Beauxbatons over the weekend. It is because you will be receiving advanced lessons."
Books then flew from her desk, and two landed on each desk in front of the students. One had a blue cover with golden letters, while the other was one with a black cover, making the title nearly unreadable, but both books had a similar word in them; animagus.
"Durmstrang and Beauxbatons teach their students about animagi, the latter more on theory and the former on actually becoming one. They've kindly lent us these books, so please do your best not to damage them" Minerva said, sending a pointed look in Seamus's direction.
Harry skimmed both books, excited to get started. He'd always wondered how Sirius and his dad became animagi, and wondered if he could do it too.
"Now, we will be covering theory first for the key to mastering any form of magic is to understand it in its entirety" Minerva said.
The remainder of the time, everyone was intently reading. They first began with the laws concerning animagi, their differences with werewolves and metamorphagi, and the more well-known theories of how wizards are able to turn into animals. At the end, Professor McGonagall asked them to answer a quiz on the back of the book, saying that the result will determine which animal class their form will come from, which they we all doing now in their common room.
"Favourite colour?" Hermione asked, and everyone around her wrote their answers down on their parchment.
"What does colour have to do with anything?" Ron asked.
"It helps identify your true personality" Joseph explained. "Red means courage and strength, but also violence and anger, purple means royalty but also suffering, and so on."
As much as he loved the colour read, Harry wrote down green. While red represented a lot of good things in his life, green was the colour Harry thought about when he wanted to calm down. They finished in under half an hour and handed their papers to Hermione, who cast a spell which automatically computed the results of each paper. Majority of them, including Ron, Harry, Neville, Seamus, Justin, Susan, Draco and Luna were in the mammalian class. Hermione, Joseph, Theodore, Daphne and the Patil twins were in the aves class, which didn't really surprise anyone, since birds usually represented intelligence. Everyone excitedly began to speculate what their animgus form would be.
The common room cleared, and left just Harry, Draco, Joseph, Daphne and Theo. Daphne and Theo were discussing a paper they had to write, while the other two Slytherins were engrossed in their books.
"So, how was Durmstrang?" Daphne asked the Head Boy.
"Cold. I had to wear a coat indoors" Joseph replied. "But their lessons were quite interesting."
As he reached for his tea on the coffee table, Harry noticed a dark red line near Joseph's collarbone, and he wasn't the only one that did.
"What's this?" Draco asked and traced the red line.
"It's nothing. Joseph replied immediately, swatting the blonde's hand away.
Glaring, the blonde took out his wand and casted a spell that made the taller Slytherin's robe fly off and his shirt unbutton, showing several similar lines all over, making him looked like he'd been cut.
"How is that nothing?" Draco asked with wide eyes.
"They asked me to participate in a session of their Duelling Club" Joseph answered.
"They let them use lethal spells?" Daphne asked, her face was a mix of shock and anger.
"That's what a Duelling Club is essentially about; train students to counter lethal spells and curses" Joseph explained. "That's why majority of the magical schools don't have them anymore, but Durmstrang keeps everything relatively safe."
Draco was tracing the lines on his friend's body, looking sadly at them. Harry then recalled the memory of him and Draco fighting in the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and using Snape's curse on the blonde, making him cringe. Theo returned carrying a bottle, the substance inside looking more like a lotion than a potion, and offered it to Joseph.
"I'm fine, Theo" the raven said and tried to wave off his friend, but the brunette just grabbed his wrist. The two stared at each other intently, as if arguing through their stares.
"Joseph, please let Theo heal your cuts" Draco said with pleading eyes to the taller male.
Joseph looked at the blonde and muttered something about mother hens before he stood and left with Theo, who kept his hand around his housemate's wrist. Draco sighed in relief and relaxed, leaning back against Harry.
"He reminds me of you, sometimes" he said, and Harry gave him a confused look. "He's always helping his friends but when we try to help him, he shrugs us off."
"It just means he cares a lot about you guys" Harry replied with a smile.
"You have to take care of yourself before taking care of others" Draco scoffed, resting his head on Harry's shoulder.
Harry smiled and wrapped an arm tightly around the blonde. He then looked up to see Daphne looking at the two of them with an intrigued expression. She did so for a minute before excusing herself. Harry wondered why she had that look on her face.
'Was it because Draco and I are really close?' Harry thought before shaking his head.
That couldn't have been it; everyone knew how close he and Draco had become. The Slytherins were relieved that he had become so comfortable with someone new. Perhaps Daphne was giving them that look because they were too comfortable with each other. He looked at the blonde, who made no indication of moving soon. It had been two weeks, and he still didn't know the nature of Draco's relationship with his housemate. Draco always acted differently with Joseph. There were things that he did with the raven-haired Slytherin that he didn't do with any of his other friends.
Harry was told that the two had been friends the longest, but it still seemed out of character for Draco. Harry sighed, he had tests tomorrow and he couldn't afford to have his thoughts focused solely on Draco. He didn't know what he preferred at this point; being able to remove the blonde from his mind long enough to focus on his academics, or to find out everything he wanted to know about Draco.
Narcissa Malfoy paced around her temporary bedroom, it was the guest room in her sister's house. When Narcissa left Malfoy Manor, she had no idea where to go where no one would find her. She would have been easily identified in places like the Leaky Cauldron and the Hog's Head, and going to other Malfoy properties was out of the question. She then remembered her sister, Andromeda. Narcissa was hesitant at first, thinking there was no way Andromeda would've taken her in given their history. But she was delightfully taken aback by how her sister welcomed her with open arms. Since arriving here, she wondered how different her life would've been had she been closer to Andromeda rather than Bellatrix when they were growing up.
The sound of crying brought the blonde out of her thoughts. She followed the noise down the stairs and into the lounge where she found her sister cradling her grandson, trying to calm him.
"I'm sorry Cissy, did Teddy wake you?" Andromeda asked.
"No, I was awake" Narcissa replied. It had been a little over two months, but the sisters still treated each other with simple courtesy, which was to be expected. Even though Andromeda opened her home, it would take a while for them to completely bury the hatchet. She took a seat a watched as her sister tried to calm the boy.
"Nymphadora was like this when she was a child" Andromeda said with a smile. "She would wake us in the middle of the night, and it'd take hours to calm her down."
"Here, let me try" Narcissa said and stretched her arms out.
Andromeda looked at her sister for a few minutes before gently handing the child to her. Teddy quieted, looked up at his aunt, and Narcissa looked down at him. His cheeks were streaked with tears and his lip trembled, threatening to let out more screams. Suddenly, Narcissa had an idea and she began to gently rocked Teddy back and forth while humming a song she had sung to Draco when he was a baby. Teddy stilled and eventually, he started smiling. His hair changed to mimic Narcissa's own platinum blonde locks. Narcissa was slightly surprised, but immediately recovered, and returned to rocking her great-nephew. The young metamorphmagus feel asleep in her arms soon after.
"He's taken a liking to you" Andromeda said with a smile, and Narcissa smiled back at her.
"I remember every single night Draco cried and woke us up" Narcissa said. "From when we just brought him home to even when he had his own bedroom and woke up due to a nightmare, that song always calmed him down. Most especially when we were living with that monster. Draco and I hid away in the gardens, I'd hold him, sing to him and for a few moments each day, we could pretend that we were safe.."
Narcissa stared down fondly at Teddy for a few minutes before standing and walking towards her sister.
"Take care of yourself and Teddy" she said as she gently handed the boy over. "I'll visit frequently and perhaps have you over some time."
"Where are you going?" Andromeda asked.
"Home. My son needs me" Narcissa replied and climbed the stairs to pack.
Andromeda rocked the boy in her arms, and looked down at him with a smile before gently kissing his head. "Well done, my boy."
AN: I'm aware that the process of becoming an animagus is different in canon. I had written this story before I came across that information.