The Birds and the... Cat.
Harry slept exhausted by the eventful first day at the Academy unaware of the soft sound of many pops as the academy's house elves came to investigate the new and much deeper bond they had felt, and as they looked at him they realized the bond was not of master and servant, it was of creator and creation, they felt the blood of their creator flowing in his veins and slowly one by one they returned to their duties.
The next day he had his first potions lesson with Madam Boire, as he expected he already knew everything but the refresher was good, he easily brewed the potion while his classmates struggled, he gave Brice a few pointers but tried not to show off.
His next lesson that afternoon was Transfiguration, Harry made better time than his classmates and arrived a minute early, upon entering the class he immediately spotted his professor, sat on her desk staring at the door, she was also in the form of a cat, it was painfully obvious to Harry that she had used the flawed method as she behaved nothing like a cat, in fact it surprised him how much her animagus form irritated him,
"Professor, if you want to surprise the class maybe pretend you are sleeping on the desk as most cats do not sit still and stare at a door, at least wave your tail about," he griped unable to hold back the criticism,
Oddly she seemed to take his advice and began to prowl around the desk as the rest of the class filed in and took their seats, allowing her to leap off the desk and transform when one of the students asked where the teacher was drawing an impressed 'ooooh' from the class, she proved to be an excellent teacher, easily explaining the wand movements and theory behind each transfiguration before having the class attempt the simple matchstick to needle lesson, Harry got it first try but quickly undid it and pretended to struggle as much as the rest unaware that McGonagall had noticed.
Monday over Tuesday's lesson began which was Charms with Professor Flitwick who was just a ball of energy he loved teaching apparently and was practically bouncing when Harry managed to levitate the feather, the rest of the day was free for study and practice.
Wednesday was the same with Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning taught by a Professor Adrien, they were taught simple offensive curses.
Thursday was History of Magic and Arithmancy, HOM was simple learn and wrote, Arithmancy was a form of mathematics which was fairly simple when you had already been taught mundane maths to a collage level.
Friday was Herbology which was interesting getting to interact with the plants that many potion ingredients came from, learning how to handle the plants gave Harry several ideas on how he could improve some potions.
The weekend was simply for relaxing, studying, or anything you wanted to do, Harry and Brice went over their notes and Harry was happy to see his med-e-specs gave no indication of illness in his friend anymore, it had grown less serious as the week went on and now Brice was healthy and enjoying many activities he had never done before, from running around chasing Harry, to climbing trees, he was ecstatic, and Harry was reveling in having his very first non goblin friend.
The first few weeks passed quickly as Harry climatised to the academy and his friendship with Brice developed, used to the routine now Harry decided to do something he had been thinking about since he saw the window in his room, after class he made some excuse to Brice and headed up to his room pushed the window open and transformed.
He had missed this terribly, the feeling of the wind around him and seeing the world rush below, he stuck to the buildings at first and circled around them noting how clean they were, defiantly some sort of cleaning enchantment, he then flew lower and around the courtyard to the delight of the students, and then headed up and out over the gardens the flowers were all colors including UV which was strange to get used to at first, he next flew over the forest and spotted many magical creatures, he recognised the unicorns and wood Nymphs also he guessed the other ones were fairies, he then spotted something, it was the Abraxion paddack.
Finding a nearby pirch he settled in to have a quick rest and watch these wonderful horses for a while, the horses gleaming coats reflected the sun like metal, a few would stretch their wins showing off the massive wingspan they all seemed to be waiting for something, suddenly they all headed to the near side towards a large metal bowl where a large man with way too much bushy brown hair and a big beard emptyed several large buckets of a deep brown liquid into the bowl, the abraxion all rushed up and began drinking, as they had their... booze? it smelled like booze, the large man spotted him,
"Well hello, you're a bit far south ain't ya? wanna watch out for the thestrals, they like to eat birds of your size," he warned cheerfully,
A bit startled Harry took off, and flew a bit deeper into the forest before landing again, he was a little worried now it had not occurred to him that he could be seen as prey, he moved close to the trunk of the tree to rest after all he hadn't flown in a week and had overdone it a bit, it was then he spotted another bird he didn't know what it was but it seemed ok, perhaps he was a little- a flash of leathery black and all that was left was a puff of feathers that floated down to the ground where he saw it.
It was smaller than the winged horse and looked sort of reptilian, the remains of the bird disappeared down it's throat, and it looked up at him, and then a second appeared, and a third, after a few minutes there were ten of them all looking at him.
Harry sat there unmoving his nerves pulled tight as the thestrals as one extended a leg and unfurled their wings but instead of flying at him the sank into a sort of bow their heads under their bodies, and as this happened a voice spoke,
"Greetings Fledgling Skyroar, we ask for permission to keep hunting in your domain," asked the voice,
Harry forgetting he was a bird replied "Y-Yes of course you can, as long as you don't hunt me,"
the thestrals made a sound almost like laughter, "we only hunt food, you are not food, you are simply young, we will protect while you learn."
Harry we really creeped out "thankyou, I'll be heading back now" and he took off quickly and flew as fast as he could, but the thestrals didn't follow.
He landed back in his room and changed back, that had been very disturbing those thestrals had talked to him right? how did that work? was it normal for wizards and he just hadn't heard about it?
He pulled out his vault key and asked for books on speaking to animals, he had expected very little but several books appeared, it was time to do a little research.
His research didn't come up with much, the magical language of snakes, the goblins language, mermish ect. he did find that some wizards have a natural affinity to be able to communicate with animals even magical ones although this was non verbal, also animagi also had a heightened ability to communicate with and even influence animals, could this be a result of his perfected version of animagi, perhaps if he were to teach someone else the transformation they could verify the ability to speak to animals? or maybe could he help an animagi who had used the flawed version to perfect their form? if he could the profit would be well worth the effort.
Harry spent the next week or so going to class, eating, and researching, much to Brice's worry, after he confronted his friend though and Harry explained he was researching some family magic Brice backed off when Harry explained that family magic was extremely private and it was very rude to ask about it, but thanked him for his worry.
Harry asked via a school owl (he kicked himself for not just buying his own) Ragnok for a background check on Minerva Mcgonagall and if he could trust her, Ragnok sent back a full report and also a suggestion of a magical oath, Harry was shocked that Ragnok though it was that important but trusted his advice, he would have to reveal some truth to her to gain her trust but not all.
After his latest transfiguration lesson he waited for the other students to file out telling Brice he'd see him later, when they were all gone Harry closed the door,
"Something I can help you with Mr Evans?" McGonagall asked him,
"possibly professor, but there is a problem," he answered,
"Problem? what would that be Mr Evans?"
"well professor it has to do with family magic?"
"I was led to believe you are mugg... mundane born Mr Evans?"
"Sorry professor I have secrets and I don't know you well enough to trust you that much,"
Surprised McGonagall asked, "Well what is it you are asking then?" feeling slightly affronted,
Harry stepped closer and handed her a Gringotts document to sign as well as an oath to take, "I mean no offence professor but I do require certain protections,"
She read the document with increasing shock, who was this boy? why would he need such protection? and how was he able to get such co-operation from goblins?!
She sat for quite some time reading and re reading the document, it included an iron-clad oath she would have to take as well as placing a drop of blood on the document for Gringotts to file, there seemed no real downside she just couldn't discuss, disclose, or even infer the information until released from the oath, the fact it had a release clause surprised her as an oath like this would usually be a permanent undertaking.
After checking over and over McGonagall could find no real problem, it mainly boiled down to keeping whatever the boy discussed a secret, but she did have a question,
"Is the subject of this oath Dark Magic or dangerous? will it place anyone at risk? and does it involve risk to myself or you?" she asked with conviction,
"no, no, and slight at worst," Harry answered,
Taking out her wand Minerva McGonagall took the oath exactly as it was written, she then used her wand and placed a drop of blood onto the document which instantly rolled up and vanished back to Gringotts, Harry smiled.
"Professor, you are an animagus correct?" Harry asked,
"Yes I am Mr Evans, I did mean to ask you how you knew," She stated,
"well..." Harry smiled and transformed, he flew around the room and changed back,
Her eyes were wide "So young!"
Harry felt good at being able to show off a little, "Professor what is the procedure for becoming an animagus?"
"Well you spend several months meditating until you connect to your inner animal then take the potion which forces the transformation and you then try to duplicate the change without the potion it is difficult and not many can do it," she explained,
"Wrong, that is an incomplete and flawed version, meditation is required but not the type you described, you have to find a place which provokes an almost irresistible urge to act in a way that seems odd, for example my place was a cliff where I had the urge to just jump off and soar among the clouds, in hindsight it was a perfectly normal feeling, for a bird," Harry corrected, pacing around his excitement rising,
"Ok so why do you need my help?"
"I believe that since your transformation is flawed, I see it as more of a transfiguration not a transformation as my research shows it takes concentration and is uncomfortable, I think if you were to go through the process correctly and take another dose you would gain a true animal form," He continued,
"what do you mean a true form?"
"Well for example I have access to the instincts of the Falcon, my rational mind is in control but the instincts guide my ability to use the form, the change from one form to another is almost instant and feels completely natural, and any exercise I do as a Falcon is translated over to my human form," Harry answered,
"exercise is translated? what do you mean?" McGonagall asked,
Harry shrugged and took off his robes, underneath was a pair of light trousers, but what caught her attention was how toned his body was, his muscles were so defined they looked almost drawn on, he was also bigger than he appeared to be with his body hidden under the robes which he put back on as soon as the professor seemed to take it in.
"O.k. what do you need from me then Mr Evans? how can I help?"
"simple, all i need you to do is walk around the grounds until you find a place where you really feel an overpowering urge to act like a cat," he answered with a grin, "oh and a blood sample for me to test, I have a hunch I want to check,"
After providing Harry with a vial of her blood the two parted ways, Harry was headed to his room and the small lab he had purchased from Gringotts, while professor McGonagall both looked around for the inspiration and tried to reconcile the quiet thoughtful boy she thought she knew with the wild eyed mad scientist he had transformed into and the fact that the animagus transformation that had been so hard to achieve was actually a flawed version of the real thing, after all there was no way Gringotts would back it if it wasn't.